Saturday, September 03, 2011

Random Thoughts about "The Information"

From a passage in "The Information", there is a reference to the storage of the stories of mankind as a method of providing cohesion for the human condition, and therefore, our genes. In a modern world teaming with the rapid development of information technology, are we overlooking the obvious? In that, with the electronic tablet, the laptop computer, the Cloud, are we all becoming the scribes of our immediate lives and not the watchful stewards? The actual question is are we allowing the rapid ability of capturing and disseminating information through electronics to produce a great loss by overlooking the fact that this new technology has no real permanence? By permanence, I mean true long term storage and accessibility without requiring any external energy source. Cave walls, clay tablets, paper, albeit each brought with it a hinderance of decoding the symbols, but all are deciphered and no form of energy was required for their preservation, transcription, or meaning to be revealed. Are the contents of a laptop, an iPad, or a smartphone any where near that level of energy independence? The book may be found - If the power suddenly failed, have we put the collective of newly created intelligence at risk?

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