codgers

Yesterday Ted and I spent a lot of time discussing the future of digital technology. As one can imagine, this meant we spent most of the time cross-referencing Radio Lab and On the Media. Ted and I both live on the fringe outskirts of technology, hesitating to ever stick a toe in those frigid waters. And yet that was most of our day.

Suffice it to say, we are both fairly anxious about the whole ordeal. We talked of stock market crashes and reality, virtual reality and avatars, morality and plurality... it went on and on. And as Ted grew more anxious, I grew more relaxed. My calmness came because, as we discussed it more and more, the more I realized how I was still adept at solving problems without a computer. Here were 2 people, both not very well informed, hashing out many a problem verbally. Often we could see that there were problems solved by computers, but there were still problems we could solve on our own- for instance, the problem of distilling meaning. As Ted worried that meaning would be lost, I watched as we established meaning between the two of us over and over again.

It's such an adventure having old friends. You can learn more about yourself in an afternoon with a great one than you can in a whole week of interacting with newbies. You might learn different things from new people, but once you have gathered their various and sundry impressions it is good to repeat them back to an old friend. They become like a sieve to help you sort the wheat from chaff.