Built To Last?
Written by Deb Dorchak - February 16, 2010 2 Comments
Lately the History Channel is chock full of Armageddon-type shows with everything from how the planet will be destroyed from forces in the universe to mega natural disasters lurking right in our back yards. It’s fascinating stuff and poses a lot of questions. After watching several marathons full of these shows it really makes you think how fleeting our existence is on this planet – and it makes you wonder if anything we’re doing today will really matter at all a few hundred or a couple thousand years down the road.
Life After People is one of the shows I’m hooked on. The premise is simple: What would happen on earth if people just disappeared? They don’t say how everyone disappeared. Could have been a plague, or it could have been zombies (at least that’s what Alan, my friend’s 4 year old son seemed to think). Could have been anything. The fact of the matter is the human race is completely gone.
Nothing Lasts Forever – Or Does It?
What I found most interesting about this whole concept is the way nature eventually reclaimed everything. Global warming, pollution, being Green and all that in the end didn’t matter. Nature (according to the theories) would eventually clean out everything and life would go on.
Very few of our modern marvels seemed unable to withstand the tests of time and elements. Without humans around to maintain our national monuments, bridges and cities, all of them will eventually fall into disrepair and disappear.
This led me to another thought. Think about how much we’re pushing to put everything online and “go paperless”. Is that really such a good idea? As humans we have this need to leave behind some kind of legacy. Our ancestors did it. They carved stories into stone, built huge temples and other monuments just to say “We were here!”
After several thousand and sometimes even millions of years, we’re still finding these bits of history. But what about our history?
Virtual Legacy
Everything we do these days is on our computers. We write our stories, create our art, send letters and keep journals all in the virtual world. What if there was no more electricity to run computers? A CD or DVD would be nothing more than a pretty shiny disc with no way for future explorers to view what’s on it. All the empires we’ve built from our websites and blogs – gone. With digital cameras there won’t be any film or photos left either, unless people still bother to print them out and put them in actual photo albums.
It won’t be like today where we might find an antique stash of correspondences of love letters between a Victorian couple in an attic to give us a glimpse into the everyday life at the turn of the 20th century. There wouldn’t be any stone tablets to decipher or treasure filled tombs to unearth.
All our information will be locked away behind lifeless monitors and dead keyboards.
Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing
Earlier this year I spoke about the trends for 2010. In that post I said that business would be moving out from behind the monitor and back into the real world.
Now, take this a step further. The internet is not the whole world. It’s a tool to connect you to the world. How can you use it to create something solid, something that will stand up over time? If you’re making art, do you make prints? If you write, will you publish your work in an actual book? Or will it all just float for eternity in the ether?
The beauty of everything we do online is it started out as a physical product. Somewhere along the line, in a relatively short period of time, that balance shifted. Use the internet as a tool to create reality, not the other way around.
Take a look at what you do online, whether it’s for fun or for a living. How can you build something to last?
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Read the Comments
2 Outstanding Responses to "Built To Last?"
Betsy Wuebker on February 16, 2010 at 2:21 pm | Permalink
Very important message! It’s good perspective to realize that there is an entire world out there who doesn’t inhabit the one online, except maybe peripherally. I can remember reading a book called War Day years ago, which was one of those post-apocalyptic type books like The Road. Anyway, none of the cars worked because electronic ignition systems were shot due to nuclear effects. All the ways the things we rely upon were delivered were affected so that new ways had to be devised and shared. Great reminder that online can be ephemeral. Thanks.
Betsy Wuebker’s last blog post… Roaming Through Michigan
Deb Dorchak on February 16, 2010 at 2:40 pm | Permalink
You’re welcome! Yeah, it really is odd to think about that everything we do these days doesn’t really “exist”. Already libraries are wondering how they’re going to continue since fewer and fewer people are coming in to check out actual books and are only interested in using the free online services or DVD rentals. Newspapers are suffering and so is the Post Office.
I can’t help but think that if we continue electronically, that one day when humans aren’t around anymore we’ll end up disappearing as mysteriously as some ancient civilizations did, you know? Very odd thought.