Steve Eskow wrote: >Taran says: > ><<At the end of the day, people should probably try something new every >day. It doesn't have to be technology, it can be walking a different >route or maybe eating something new. That's the difference between >stagnancy and progress.>> > >Like all advice, Taran, this piece is a mixed blessing. A half truth. At >most. > >I live in a rich community in a rich state in a rich nation. A nation where >every message seems to be, throw out something old and try something new >every day. > >So: perhaps we need a counter-movement: > >At the end of every day, try something old. > >An old piece of clothing. An old book. An old idea that needs a little work >to make it useful again. > >For example: turn off all the new media and read an old book. The bible, >perhaps. Or Tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE. > >(Without enrichment, without links to sound and images and interviews with >Tolstoy's great-great-grandson. After reading the unenhanced original, the >DVD is ok.) > >Or: try talking to someone. > >If our online communities grow and prosper, and our local communities wither >and die because we stop talking to neighbors, what a monster have we >technoromantics uncaged. > >The great gift of this technology is that allows me to communicate with >Taran, who otherwise would be lost to me. > >That's why the divide can't be narrowed without it. > >But I must learn to restrain my joy at these new powers and turn the machine >off every day so that I might talk to neighbors. > >So: in order to get a truth, we might put two half-truths together: > >Try something new every day; > >Try something old every day. > >Steve Eskow > > To many, doing something old is doing something new. I packed my copies of Newton's Optiks and Principia today. :-) When I read them, they were new. New to me. I agree, there is much to be learned in books, and elder things. The essence which we try to capture is in many of those books, and eludes us even when we capture it.
Yes, for clarity - try something new; try something old. But if it's old to you, try something new to you. :-) -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxgazette.com http://www.a42.com http://www.worldchanging.com http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
