I went to see some concerts up in Dallas a couple weekends ago, and was struck by how many people were taking pictures with their mobile phones and calling people and holding their phones up for them to hear. What surprised me wasn’t that people were doing it, but rather that they were doing it constantly, and in such great numbers (in my own bad cameraphone shot to the right, you can sort of make out the glow from some phone screens. And that’s Coldplay on stage, if you were wondering).
That got me to thinking — at what point do we quit having actual memories and start relying just on our digital ones? Plenty of people seemed more involved in taking photos all the time, or trying to record songs on their phones, then actually watching and listening to the show. It’s as if being able to document they were at the concert — via photos, music, messages or phone calls — was more important than actually being there. Is that the flip side of having so many media recording devices with us all the time? Recording something “for posterity” takes precedence over the experience?
The excellent 43 Folders had a post a while ago on creative cameraphone uses, and they’re all about using it as a “a ubiquitous capture device” to document all kinds of things. It’s sort of the same concept, replacing our own memories with digitally stored ones, although the motivation is a little different. The memory of where you parked the car is something more functional than emotional, and using a picture to supplant your memory of it is pretty reasonable.
But trying to replace those more emotional memories seems a little odd to me. Perhaps it’s just a reflection of how technology has changed our perspective — maybe people don’t make a distinction between their own memories and their recorded ones any more.
Really interesting idea!
Actually, I read an article a while ago (can’t remember where) and they asked various scientists to extrapolate what the world would be like, based on our current knowledge and progress. In other words, not sci-fi, but genuine predictions.
One of the forecasts would be that by the end of the century, all a person’s thoughts and experiences (including a film from their point of view captured by a micro-camera in their eyebrow) would be digitised. If such a thing were available today, you could experience say, your grandfather’s life in WW2, as an example.
Also as the thought processes were digitised too, you could effectively ask him a question and he could answer it, even if he’s never been asked that in his real life.
Very spooky and starts leading to thoughts about “What it is to be human” and other such deep stuff.
Personally, I think people will resist going quite this far, but it looks as if it’s going to be perfectly possible.
Many people make the mistake that we’re somehow at the end of history. Stuff like this reminds us that we’re somewhere in the middle and may even be still at the beginning.
Russell
Yes, the same thing is happening at clubs, everywhere.
I was watching a band do a show that was all Led Zep tunes and watched a guy recording a video and send it off to a friend… and this was a cover band
Your post reminds me of all the youth today that are growing up with their whole lives on video. Their birth, every major event, graduation, etc. I wonder what will become of all that footage - will people eventually get into editing their lives into a movie to post online?
>>>Very spooky and starts leading to thoughts about “What it is to be human” and other such deep stuff
Take a look at the writings by Ray Kurzweil - he has a new book out too. He’s big on the topics of “mind uploading” - “transhumanism” - the “Singularity” and the incredible exponential technology curve that we are riding upon.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/
And yes, we are just at the begining, and the greatest challenge is just around the corner.
People don’t realize what the eponential curve is or what it will mean when we are further along it. The best way to explain it to people, is that there have been significant events and advancements thoughout our history that have shaped the world. If you plot those points on a timeline, you’ll see that the frequencey increases over time. Now overlay this idea with the exponential growth curve of technology, and you’ll see an increase in “significant” events to the point that every day something will be announced that will be considered significant to humanity. This would then extend to every hour, every minute…
And the question is, can humans survive that? Can we assimilate, change and adjust to such a dynamic world? Chances are, we’re going to need an upgrade ourselves to handle the future.
cool post Russell, thanks
Err… it was Carlo’s post
Russell
Hi Russell, I’ve been multitasking a bit too much today - sorry about the mixup.
Thanks for the post Carlo
BTW - didn’t Microsoft release a device like a pendant or necklace w/ a camera inside that snaps photos throughout your day?
I believe people are starting to use the term, “Life Caching” to describe this self digitizing of one’s life.
hmm… make something like that with bluetooth, ahve it talk to your mobile, and folks can publish their lives online in near realtime with associative GPS coords to display their path through life. At the end of the year, login to the system, kick up the time rate, and watch your path and photos unfold, showing you the last year of your life.
All very possible today!
three things:
1) insight from jan chipchase (fellow nokian) at http://www.janchipchase.com/blog/archives/2005/10/vanity_reflecte_1.html
2) check out the movie ‘the final cut’. shallow movie, but deep implications (i would love to do a remake or write a book based on the movie).
3) gotta mention lifeblog again (and, no, it’s not my product anymore, but i do work for nokia)
Yes indeed this is becoming a recurring ritual amongst mobileYouth. whilst I was living in Korea last year I witnessed (and participated) in co-location experiences at the cinema - where a few of the audience were “sampling” short video-bites of the movie - as well as saving them they were also sending these video bites to friends who were elsewhere - creating a real-time co-location experience. This also occurred whilst I was at a coffee bar in Jeju-Do when friends of my wife sent us video bites of a concert they were attending of the pop-idol Rain! so we were able to participate in the experience that was taking place a few hundred kilometres away in Seoul in real-time. This is normal behaviour in Korea and Japan for the mobileYouth. I have also recently witnessed this behaviour in Amsterdam - where along with our client Vodafone we created a commercial brand experience - ” Vodafone - Dance Valley Reporter” where chosen teenagers were given Vodafone’s UMTS handsets to report live from the DanceValley event in Amsterdam - which proved to be very successful amongst our test audience in co-location experiences.
danny baker mentioned this phenomenon in his football column in the times recently: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,23530-1764975_2,00.html
Thanks for all the great comments!
Gideon, you’re referring to Microsoft’s SenseCam, which David Pescovitz wrote about on TheFeature - http://www.thefeaturearchives.com/100478.html
Carlo’s thoughtful post on life through a viewfinder reminded me of my decision, long ago, to leave my camera at home because it had become a barrier to experiencing life. A memory of a rock concert through a viewfinder just wasn’t what I had in mind. Yet, the network transforms everything it touches: I see World Rally Championship fans, each stationed at a different part of a stage, exchanging shots to enhance the total shared experience in a kind of “hive mind” model.
The good news might be that this weaves a web of social relationships to bind us together.
short memory vs perishable digital
new thriller