Old vs. New, The Final Showdown Pt. 2: Revenge of the Printed Word.

In part two of my defence of the old guard of information, the printed word, I think it’s necessary to discuss the fact of time vs. space mediums. As we see with the craze surrounding 2012, or even in the past with the Y2K crisis, we as a society are obsessed with our destruction. We are fascinated by old and dead cultures, and as well consistently hypothesize the end of our own. Another inherent aspect of the human condition is the need to be immortal. We long to be remembered past our time, to have a legacy for others to know about. To be forgotten many hold is a fate worse than any death can bring and yet some still state that an information system such as digital media is the way of the future. While I love technology, and surround myself with it, I understand that it cannot last. Internet pages die when servers shut down, the information stored in CD’s corrupt as time progress or if a slight scratch is created. While I know books cannot last forever as they succumb to their own form of data corruption, moisture and mould, old media has inherently a much larger lifespan then new media. This is evident with the dead sea scrolls, some of which have lasted since 150 BCE. In our destruction based society it is impossible that something that may not last as long as the average human lifespan to completely replace old media. In conclusion to this, I’m sure riveting, series I must state that I do not hate new media. I have a love for it that is obscene, but I am merely trying to state that to say that it will completely replace the printed word is to not understand the nature of humanity.