Comments on: Maximum Freud http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2010/05/maximum-freud-video/ Challenging your thinking, pushing your imagination, creating the future Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:41:44 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: admin http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2010/05/maximum-freud-video/comment-page-1/#comment-6421 admin Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:56:27 +0000 http://www.futuristspeaker.com/?p=1077#comment-6421 Nicely stated. You've touched on some areas that change very slowly. Over the years paper has evolved from papyrus, made from the papyrus plant, to parchment, made from animal skins, to vellums and all the various materials used in papers today. Each iteration is an improvement over the past, but still a form of paper, a technology used to convey information. When we look at how much of our lives today are the same as someone 1,000 years ago, we find many areas where life, and the technologies of the time, haven't changed all that much. At the same time, however, the areas of change have far outweighed the areas that have stayed the same. Ratcheting forward 1,000 year, how many areas of similarity will still be there. Will we be some super advanced civilization where absolutely nothing is the same, or will we regress and look exactly like people 1,000 years ago. My guess is something we cannot yet comprehend. If we intend to get rid of paper, we need to insure the new technology is better and more durable. Durability is not really our long suit. Digital information is too easily lost, and not decipherable over time. But that won't stop us from moving in that direction. Each failure point creates an opportunity. Every technology that hasn't changed or evolved also creates an opportunity. If we learn anything from humanity it is that people and society are a very fluid dynamic. Change is the only constant. Tom Nicely stated. You’ve touched on some areas that change very slowly.

Over the years paper has evolved from papyrus, made from the papyrus plant, to parchment, made from animal skins, to vellums and all the various materials used in papers today. Each iteration is an improvement over the past, but still a form of paper, a technology used to convey information.

When we look at how much of our lives today are the same as someone 1,000 years ago, we find many areas where life, and the technologies of the time, haven’t changed all that much. At the same time, however, the areas of change have far outweighed the areas that have stayed the same.

Ratcheting forward 1,000 year, how many areas of similarity will still be there. Will we be some super advanced civilization where absolutely nothing is the same, or will we regress and look exactly like people 1,000 years ago. My guess is something we cannot yet comprehend.

If we intend to get rid of paper, we need to insure the new technology is better and more durable. Durability is not really our long suit. Digital information is too easily lost, and not decipherable over time. But that won’t stop us from moving in that direction.

Each failure point creates an opportunity. Every technology that hasn’t changed or evolved also creates an opportunity. If we learn anything from humanity it is that people and society are a very fluid dynamic. Change is the only constant.

Tom

]]> By: Thumbsly http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2010/05/maximum-freud-video/comment-page-1/#comment-5122 Thumbsly Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:29:20 +0000 http://www.futuristspeaker.com/?p=1077#comment-5122 I have a pencil on every desk, and a pen. Yes, the pencil is plastic, and the pens are either ballpoint or fiber-point. But those are improvements of a sort, not obsolescence of the basic devices. And the pencils in the shop are wood that I sharpen with a blade. In the shop, I also still use a triangle or a carpenter's square, and sometimes a hand saw. I carry water to some plants with a bucket -- plastic, but the same sort of device because it does exactly that job. I eat with a plate, fork or spoon, and napkin. I use a leather belt for my pants, and wear sweaters that could be hand-knit as a few were. The items you consider as "technology" are obsoleted because that is what they are, not basic processes or tools for basic activities. When the "paper trail" is removed, the absolute loss of data follows it. Yes, fire could destroy paper, but there are protected places for the most important papers. The number of scrolls that have survived thousands of years is amazing, and instructive. There still is no remotely similarly long-term electronic storage means; and the more we rely on such obsolescing technology, the more drastic the losses can be. I have a pencil on every desk, and a pen. Yes, the pencil is plastic, and the pens are either ballpoint or fiber-point. But those are improvements of a sort, not obsolescence of the basic devices. And the pencils in the shop are wood that I sharpen with a blade. In the shop, I also still use a triangle or a carpenter’s square, and sometimes a hand saw. I carry water to some plants with a bucket — plastic, but the same sort of device because it does exactly that job. I eat with a plate, fork or spoon, and napkin. I use a leather belt for my pants, and wear sweaters that could be hand-knit as a few were. The items you consider as “technology” are obsoleted because that is what they are, not basic processes or tools for basic activities.

When the “paper trail” is removed, the absolute loss of data follows it. Yes, fire could destroy paper, but there are protected places for the most important papers. The number of scrolls that have survived thousands of years is amazing, and instructive. There still is no remotely similarly long-term electronic storage means; and the more we rely on such obsolescing technology, the more drastic the losses can be.

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