evo•lu•tion
A process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse condition
to a higher, more complex, or better state.
(Merriam-Webster)
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Occasionally we like to look back and reflect on Phrenicea's
first steps and our progress so far. (What we immodestly
consider the history of the future!)
Here we'd like to share some of that progress with you. By clicking on the images, you
can download the short story that started it all, or view
several snapshots of the website as it developed over time.
Allow us to indulge you with the evolution of the Phrenicea scenario!
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Click image to download
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Way back in May 1999,
at the height of the dotcom boom, the short story "The Engagement of Phrenicea"
predicted the demise of the Internet and web — and suggested both would be replaced with a central controlling entity called Phrenicea.
That following November, in an attempt to sell the short story online — well in advance of Stephen King(!) —
it was uploaded to fatbrain.com, a hyped-up e-publishing website, to be sold as "eMatter."
Then in March 2000, at about the same time Fatbrain was re-coined
MightyWords,
it was decided that a portion of the short story's content would be translated into a website. But
should we name the website Phrenicea?
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Click image to view
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Happy Birthday Phrenicea.com!
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"Ten [or more!] years is a long time on the Internet" -Time magazine
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The brand new phrenicea.com website — uploaded April 2000.
All of three pages, it generated fantastic excitement —
among ourselves! Imagine that these pages could be viewed by anyone worldwide!
It was really a thrill at the time.
The format was a hideous Microsoft FrontPage template plus
some elementary HTML code. (Thank goodness we were not yet
known to any search engines!)
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Click image to view
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By mid-August 2000,
the official Phrenicea logo is launched, along with a more readable
format. Typically defying conventional wisdom,
we adopt the use of frames with orphan pages that are problematic
to search engine directories.
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Click image to view
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In October 2000,
the discovery of how to display linked images by our still-novice
webmaster enhanced the visitor experience.
When the dotcom bubble burst and our overblown e-publishing dream vanished, we
decided to present the entire scenario on the web and later
offered the short story for free.
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Click image to view
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Phrenicea today.
Often misspelled and mispronounced, the site is still a work in progress.
The web version of the scenario is now quite beyond the original short story.
Not yet a household word, Phrenicea continues to extend its reach across cyberspace.
We like to think — some would say thankfully — that there's no other site quite like it.
Our overarching goal is to continue to be bold, defy convention and branch out into uncharted territory.
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Chronicling the Future®
Use of this website
constitutes acceptance of the Phrenicea® Terms and Conditions.
This page belongs to
www.phrenicea.com
Entire site ©2000-2025 John Herman. All rights reserved.
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