...we came in?
The modern man – like you and me – would hardly ever think of communicating using the Egyptian hieroglyphics with each other. It is a thing of the past and we’ve moved forward with great inventions of the writing system forming words from alphabets and sentences with words and so on. We’ve evolved; hieroglyphs can now rest back at the museum. Perhaps one day, as many would agree, the newspaper will find its home next to the obsolete Egyptian writing system when we gradually mature into the eGeneration powered by our iGadgets.
Will Google Fast Flip on iPad replace the newspaper? Will a digital photo frame replace the Monet on your wall? Will LCD’s replace your seaside apartment window? Will technology replace... you? "iMan Express ver.1, RC 14".
However, wouldn’t it be startling if you suddenly discovered you can read Hieroglyphics and regularly communicate with such a language without even realizing it? Fire up your iPod, Windows 7 desktop or Android phone and it’s all there. Although quite not the same, they’re called “icons”. Who doesn’t understand artworks such as a human head with a bubble, a closed envelope, a paper with a pencil, the triangle pointing right, a circular toothed gear and... Naaaaah!!! Bring me back to the modern civilized world!
Yes, the newspaper may become obsolete, so may all forms of paper, natural wood, cane sugar and – perhaps one day – organic meat. These are all resource inefficient and ecologically harmful. So we go on shun all and keep designing blog themes and interfaces that mimic paper; varnish plastic furniture brown with painted wood grains; chemical substances that taste like cane sugar; drink wine with a pitiful tofu that’s prepared like fillet steak.
I surprisingly vividly remember the crisp elegant voice of John Houseman introducing himself as “Professor Kingsfield, Charles W.”, his role of a stern law professor in a popular TV series. An uncle mentioned of the series just the other day during a conversation at a party, how it inspired him and his friends to go study in the United States. What’s surprising is that I later realized that Paper Chase aired during early eighties when I was around 5 years old. More than 25 years ago!! I can tell you more: the show aired at 10:30pm every Tuesday on Channel 9 (Bangladesh had 2 TV channels then – 9 and 6). Same time on Saturdays was Dallas (first season) – which I was not allowed to watch because it was too mature for my age. Channel 6 was more for the young audience, showing BJ and the Bear on Sunday (weekend then) mornings; Kojak and Hawaii Five’O in the evenings around 6.
25 years of organic memory vs. 5 years of electronic data and still the former can champion the task with no competition. Earlier the same day my friend, an exasperated little man, arrived at my door with his computer CPU. The hard disk crashed with all his 5+ year career’s architectural drawings. Apparently he never realized before why computer data would require regular back-up while we never back up our memories in an entire lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment