The ghost of technology past
I was between 40th and 41st Street along the route of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I was joined by friend Ben from high school and his friends at King’s College. (What was that? Two degrees of separation?) The Beach Boys were there, riding a float. As they passed, Ben shouted, “I have your vinyl!” I thought he was joking, at first. But he confirmed the fact that he had a record player in his apartment along with a collection of vinyl records.
From the technological perspective, it is quite interesting that someone would maintain such an archaic device. The compact disc is far superior—smaller, no speed knob, skip tracks with the push of a button, etc. What is more interesting is our reaction to it: “Whoa! Cool! Can we listen to it when we get back?”
Why are we so fascinated with old technology? It is not just turntables, but old cars, candles, and cash. We love our techy toys, but we are also nostalgic about the devices of our past. What makes us like this old junk? Is it that we can understand how these devices work, as opposed to using some well designed user interface? Do these devices remind us of something good that we no longer have?
In forty years, will we pull out our iPods from a box in the closet? Will we show them off to our grandchildren, who think it is the coolest thing ever? “Grandpa, you mean all the music you listened to was inside that white box?” Who knows what they will be listening to then? But if history is any lesson, then the technology we expect to be in use by everyone in the future may be used by no one—replaced by better toys. But will still bring out these laptops, PDAs, iPods, game stations galore! And we will wonder both how we got along with it and how we got along without it.
Comments
Posted by: Britt
Posted on: November 29, 2005 10:06 PM
That is so cool about the Beach Boys. I sing to their CD on my drive home, but thats besides the point. To answer your question, YES. I do think that we will look back at ipods and be fascinated and have a love for them. I think that our fascination with the past is that we can no longer go back to the times where such items were the norm. We have some kind of emotional connection to something that we can no longer experience. Perhaps one day there will be a time machine that will allow us such experiences. Who knows?
Posted by: zach newman
Posted on: December 1, 2005 06:52 PM
seems to me like we break out the old out of date stuff when it has sentimental meening to us. for example i have a baseball bat in my room that originally belonged to my great grandfather. its old, probably rotting and weighs about 10 lbs, but i keep in on my mantle instead of some of the other bats i used in little league even though i could hit the ball a lot farther with the bats i have from little league because my great grandfathers bat is important to me because its the only connection i have to my great granfather.