In William Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, computer viruses were more than just malicious bits of invisible code. They were terrifying three-dimensional AIs that darted through the Matrix like monsters. The famous Chinese icebreaker program used in the novel is described as a kind of chrome wasp, viciously penetrating data networks and replicating, hivelike, as it devoured information.

I suppose it was inevitable. Microsoft this week announced that it would be discontinuing its Encarta product line, effectively bringing to an end the decades-long multimedia encyclopedia wars. The winner? Wikipedia, of course, which is now the destination for approximately 97 percent of Internet encyclopedia queries.

Everyone has a weakness, and mine is spatial thinking. Also, bad Italian horror films. And a particular variety of narcotic neurostimulants you can only get out of Switzerland. But these are stories for another time -- let’s get back to spatial thinking.

Sometimes I feel I’ve missed my calling. Although I’ve had several rewarding careers over the decades -- astrophysicist, MLB shortstop, Interpol director, this sort of thing -- I’ve always dreamt of being an architect. As George Costanza has taught us, pretending to be an architect is every young person’s dream.