_     _             
                        _ __ | |__ | | ___   __ _ 
                       | '_ \| '_ \| |/ _ \ / _` |
                       | |_) | | | | | (_) | (_| |
                       | .__/|_| |_|_|\___/ \__, |
                       |_|    ...2019-10-09 |___/ 

I am concerned that we may have lost ourselves,

the time in which I grew up was fascinating, as I am certain it was for most who got to grow up.

The 90s was a digital time

For something to be what it is, its opposite must exist too. In the 90s, analogue existed as the thing that was opposite to digital, being quickly replaced, on its way out.

It was not entirely a technological change. It was a cultural

one too, as we moved somewhat further away from the material world into a meta-state. Our bodies inhibiting the old world, struggling to upload our culture and our mind, moving into a different plane of existence.

It was exciting, and we scrambled to catch up, maybe we didn't have time,

to grab on to everything we owned, maybe we did but found no place to put everything in our new worlds.

Maybe we've forgotten what it was

How a photograph has changed. It became an image file, then it became an image. It gained new properties, it could be endlessly and with luck, perfectly replicated and distributed.

But it lost something that maybe everything lost

It lost us, it lost human connection, when it vanished from paper it lost being held, it lost the human hand holding it to be looked at, it lost its place in the physical world, in the wallet of a loving parent, in the pocket of someone with a secret crush. It lost being a medium for shared experience, being passed around. Maybe sitting together in front of a tablet and sharing that experience is exactly the same, but maybe it is not. Maybe it lost being the only one, or one in a few, its rarity. Maybe it lost being lost, and fondly remembered. Maybe it lost being unique and cherished. Maybe it lost the ability to be missed. Maybe its physicality tied it to our minds in a different way.

The physical connection

The object, may have inherent properties for which there are only weaker, virtual substitutes if any at all.

This change may cause us to change our perception

to something potentially less rich.

Can we even remember the world which we escaped from?

If we could have seen our future with those eyes from back then, would we have wished for it or would we have done all we could think of to avoid it?

What have we lost ?

Depth, maybe. Wide ranges. Vast distances. The cool air, the scent of forest, the sound of rain? ourselves?