Comments on: Timeless vs Real Time

By: Living Real-Time: Read It Now; Search, Don’t Bookmark by @ScepticGeek

Living Real-Time: Read It Now; Search, Don’t Bookmark by @ScepticGeek — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:39:36 +0000

[...] Timeless vs. Real Time, I waxed lyrically about the waning shelf-life of digital artifacts. My philosophy about stuff that [...]

By: Mahendra

Mahendra — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:06:41 +0000

Ellie, we are all emotional. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and the feedback.

By: Ellie K

Ellie K — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:45:26 +0000

This is so true yet it required many years for me to realize. Now I treasure greeting and holiday cards, and pictures of loved ones. As well as their books and other tangible physical possessions.

I may be a sentimental woman, but as those I love depart this world or grow older or infirm, it brings comfort to me and many others when I retrieve these small treasures from photo albums and keepsake boxes. I don't stockpile all sorts of stuff, but even one or two items like a book or a copy of a family member's first academic research paper from 40 years ago is enough to elicit exclamations of surprise and draw us closer together. And comfort me when I am alone.

Thank you, Mr. Mahendra. I'm an emotional statistician, I must confess.

By: marfi

marfi — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:57:21 +0000

Gorgeous, though… if I were the first @ev's tweet or the first @Obama tweet I will live much longer And the list of exceptions grows on and on

By: Mahendra

Mahendra — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:42:45 +0000

Thank you for sharing, Rob.

That looks like an interesting effort. It is almost as if my post were a prelude to your site. True, no answers yet.

By: The IT Skeptic

The IT Skeptic — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:17:37 +0000

Great work.

How do we make work such as this and other blogs more permanent? Not to mention all those jpeg photos, or at least the ones that matter? I wrestle with this at www.digitalfamilytrunk.com - no answers yet.

By: Mahendra

Mahendra — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:17:56 +0000

Coming from you, this is a huge compliment for me. Highly appreciated, thank you.

By: Mahendra

Mahendra — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:16:52 +0000

Two sides of the same coin, facing opposite directions.

I hate to dissect it like this, but this wasn't a post to be taken literally. That's the reason it was written not in my voice, but as if the artifacts were speaking themselves, and why it was all in italics.

You are correct, Pierre – this was a lyrical post, born out of romanticism and nostalgia. A piece of creative writing, not intended to be debated.

By: Pierre XAVIER

Pierre XAVIER — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:23:38 +0000

Timelessness is an illusion.
Books cards, photos, diaries… but also paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc. most end up in the trash can or the incinerator. People don't consider every scrap of human life as memory. And unless you are among the happy few, all these solid material production of human intelligence and talent evaporate into oblivion.
Real time is also an illusion.
Although most of our digital acts are to be lost in the crowd or forgotten in the next couple of minutes, it does not mean that some (or all) will not be archived somewhere and kept for future digital archeologists. Tweets, JPEGs, mails, IMs, but also posts, comments, links, votes, etc. are part of a vast connected web of collective conscience. Again, it depends on people and not on machines or tools, that human intelligence and talent productions become common culture or collective memory.
Opposing timelessness and real-time is symptomatic of a nostalgia for the realm of material things, and the attachment to them. We no longer live in a material world and things are no longer the only mean of fixing memory. Should we accept or not this reality is irrelevant. Memory is shifting. And so is culture and use.
We need real time to manifest a collective conscience. We also need timelessness to build the former upon a collective culture. These are two sides of the same coin.

By: asuph

asuph — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:58:19 +0000

you have an amazing ability to express in simple words jargon without losing either its meaning or punch! lovely post