a face and two hands

My problem with the digital clock is it’s existential nature. It sees itself fixed in each moment without regard to that moment that lives ahead or behind. On the good old dial style analog clock one can see at any moment relationships between the marks upon the face. Half past, quarter til, high noon, five after. These establish us in relation to other moments. We are not isolated but in community. And best of all we can anticipate.

We understand our time, our moments and hours by the company our hands keep. The red readout on the digital clock stands alone and worst of all when the power goes out he flashes off an on at noon and midnight caught between the day and night in a pulsating panic crying out to be renumbered, unable to move on.

Give me a face and two hands and I will be happy. In this digital world to see beyond one's self may be more important than we think. What do you think?

On a positive note

One of the great things about this world of electronic communication is the ability to hear from (and have conversations with) people you would never have the chance to meet in your day to day life. This ability to transcend the confines of space and geography is truly amazing. For instance I was visiting my daughter's blog and noticed that some of her followers were from around the world and I realized that to travel to that country and track down a particular individual would be extremely expensive (not to mention difficult.) And yet, here we are for a mere few dollars a day able to talk with the world. Score one point for the positive value of electronic communications. Do you have another positive? or how about a negative?

Time please

Today in class I asked two of my classes to raise their hand if it had a watch on it. Out of over thirty-five people in the room I was the only one with my hand in the air. In faculty meeting later that day I made the same request. All but one faculty member had a hand in the air. What does this mean?

I have always been intrigued by tools and technologies that were present at one time and now cease to exist. For instance the milk bottle, in this day of green-minded activism, should we revive milk bottles and delivery routes? What about Stop & Shop’s PeaPod delivery service? My friend, Walter, can wax eloquent on the way in which the whaling industry came and went in America.

Here is the question: What industry, technology or tool have you seen go out of use but perhaps might be worth revisiting?

Chips & Wires

Too much information… that’s how it feels every time I go on the computer. Facebook, email (what was my password for that other email address?) Blogs, RSS feeds, tweets and beeps and buzzes. Wait a minute my computer is huffing at me…. O yes now I remember, it’s my daughters instant messaging thing that I’m supposed to ignore. Ah for the days when all it would say is “You’ve got mail” (Does anyone still use AOL?)

It really is kind of spooky how this thing has a life of its own. I still freak out when the IT guy moves my cursor from the other side of the world. Even freakier is when the machine freezes up and your only recourse is to turn it off and even then it stays on. I swear, one time I even unplugged it and its blue screen stared steadily on, mocking my supposed superiority. I get shivers every time I think about that scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the line that HAL delivers in his smarmy mechanical voice “I’m afraid I can’t do that Dave.”

These machines… they seem to have a life of their own. And yet…Here I am reaching out into the very real and concrete world of people through a cold and ethereal technological tool. Would I prefer a person sitting beside me in front of the fire or watching the sunset in an adorondack chair overlooking the bay chatting? Sure, but then again I couldn’t talk to people half way round the globe without this set of chips and wires.

So here is a question I really wonder about: “What are the benefits and liabilities of this world of technology we now live with daily?”

P.S. I’d love to hear from the Luddites∗ but they probably won’t be on line. Are there still people in America that don’t have computers? How would I find out?