6 ms·

"because you're mucking about with a stupid phone instead of enjoying the moment with your family." This, a thousand times over. Was at the beach last week, th

"because you're mucking about with a stupid phone instead of enjoying the moment with your family." This, a thousand times over. Was at the beach last week, there was a seal sunbathing on a rock 50m from shore... Around me I could hear people complaining they couldn't see it properly - because all weren't looking at it, rather at the crappy digital zoom on their phones. I just looked at the fucking thing, these eye things work pretty well. I'd rather be present and use my meat-based memory than have a "memory" on my phone of an event I viewed through a glass, darkly. Also, 16gb 5s here, space I have to think about quarterly, if that.

icebraining 11y ago
I'd rather be present and use my meat-based memory than have a "memory" on my phone of an event I viewed through a glass, darkly. I'm going to blow your mind: you are actually allowed to do both.
- shiven 11y ago
  ... you are actually allowed to do both. Allowed, yes. Capable, not likely. Multitasking is overrated and actually counterproductive when writing to the meat-store inside your skull.
  - kranner 11y ago
    There's a wide range of variation between being glued to a camera and using no camera. The last time I was at a scenic spot, I took four pictures in one minute and then put my phone away. The pictures do help with recalling the whole experience, such as the wind in my face (it was on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean).
  - randallsquared 11y ago
    This is why lifelogging is so important. I don't want to have to be distracted from my life making sure that I preserve memories in a higher-fidelity format than meat, but I do want to preserve those memories. Further, the ones that mean the most to me later are almost always spontaneous and unplanned, so a manually operated camera isn't especially useful for them, anyway. I want full recording of everything I see and hear at qualities high enough that I can go back and look at things I missed the first time. I thought Google Glass was the start of that, but it looks like it's going to be a few more years.
    - flycaliguy 11y ago
      There is no way that the experiences you will have while recording everything will be the same as without. Unless you think you are going to live forever and get super bored in 300 years, just live your life and live in the moment.
      - icebraining 11y ago
        There is no way that the experiences you will have while recording everything will be the same as without. If the recording is completely passive, as randallsquared was saying, why not?
        flycaliguy 11y ago
        Because people do not act the same when they are being recorded and when every statement they make can be reviewed in the future. Unless you are secretly recording them, don't count on an experience not filled with awkward self consciousness. You may find that a significant amount of people will not want you around them, including the staff of any buisness you are in. If you think this is good, like some sort of pressure to make the public more accountable for what they say... I would warn that instead of an ethical wonderland you may find yourself in a panopticon pressure cooker with the status quo in power.
        randallsquared 11y ago
        In most situations where people are currently recorded constantly, the recording doesn't seem to produce social awkwardness. Nearly every urban public or semi-public space is this way; one may argue that cities are pressure cookers, but it's not clear to me that the reason is ubiquitous recording. In any case, as the tech to record becomes ever smaller and less obtrusive, there will ultimately be no way to know whether you are being recorded digitally. Therefore society and people's reactions will adjust.
        flycaliguy 11y ago
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Who said anything about multitasking? You do one, and then the other!
  - Tiquor 11y ago
    Snapping a picture then enjoying it with your eyes is not multitaskkng. It's just doing something one after the other.
ubernostrum 11y ago
I'd rather be present and use my meat-based memory than have a "memory" on my phone of an event I viewed through a glass, darkly. Neal Stephenson, writing in 1999: I was in Disney World recently, specifically the part of it called the Magic Kingdom, walking up Main Street USA. This is a perfect gingerbready Victorian small town that culminates in a Disney castle. It was very crowded; we shuffled rather than walked. Directly in front of me was a man with a camcorder. It was one of the new breed of camcorders where instead of peering through a viewfinder you gaze at a flat-panel color screen about the size of a playing card, which televises live coverage of whatever the camcorder is seeing. He was holding the appliance close to his face, so that it obstructed his view. Rather than go see a real small town for free, he had paid money to see a pretend one, and rather than see it with the naked eye he was watching it on television. And rather than stay home and read a book, I was watching him. Americans' preference for mediated experiences is obvious enough, and I'm not going to keep pounding it into the ground. I'm not even going to make snotty comments about it--after all, I was at Disney World as a paying customer.
mcphage 11y ago
> I'd rather be present and use my meat-based memory than have a "memory" on my phone of an event I viewed through a glass, darkly. I'd rather have a digital memory, as poor as it may be, than rely on my meat-based memory which is terrible at the best of times, and many important events I lose quickly, without a way to refresh them periodically—like a photograph. So awesome for you that your memory is great, but that's not universal.

icebraining 11y ago

I'd rather be present and use my meat-based memory than have a "memory" on my phone of an event I viewed through a glass, darkly. I'm going to blow your mind: you are actually allowed to do both.

shiven 11y ago
... you are actually allowed to do both. Allowed, yes. Capable, not likely. Multitasking is overrated and actually counterproductive when writing to the meat-store inside your skull.
- kranner 11y ago
  There's a wide range of variation between being glued to a camera and using no camera. The last time I was at a scenic spot, I took four pictures in one minute and then put my phone away. The pictures do help with recalling the whole experience, such as the wind in my face (it was on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean).
- randallsquared 11y ago
  This is why lifelogging is so important. I don't want to have to be distracted from my life making sure that I preserve memories in a higher-fidelity format than meat, but I do want to preserve those memories. Further, the ones that mean the most to me later are almost always spontaneous and unplanned, so a manually operated camera isn't especially useful for them, anyway. I want full recording of everything I see and hear at qualities high enough that I can go back and look at things I missed the first time. I thought Google Glass was the start of that, but it looks like it's going to be a few more years.
  - flycaliguy 11y ago
    There is no way that the experiences you will have while recording everything will be the same as without. Unless you think you are going to live forever and get super bored in 300 years, just live your life and live in the moment.
    - icebraining 11y ago
      There is no way that the experiences you will have while recording everything will be the same as without. If the recording is completely passive, as randallsquared was saying, why not?
      - flycaliguy 11y ago
        Because people do not act the same when they are being recorded and when every statement they make can be reviewed in the future. Unless you are secretly recording them, don't count on an experience not filled with awkward self consciousness. You may find that a significant amount of people will not want you around them, including the staff of any buisness you are in. If you think this is good, like some sort of pressure to make the public more accountable for what they say... I would warn that instead of an ethical wonderland you may find yourself in a panopticon pressure cooker with the status quo in power.
        randallsquared 11y ago
        In most situations where people are currently recorded constantly, the recording doesn't seem to produce social awkwardness. Nearly every urban public or semi-public space is this way; one may argue that cities are pressure cookers, but it's not clear to me that the reason is ubiquitous recording. In any case, as the tech to record becomes ever smaller and less obtrusive, there will ultimately be no way to know whether you are being recorded digitally. Therefore society and people's reactions will adjust.
        flycaliguy 11y ago
- icebraining 11y ago
  Who said anything about multitasking? You do one, and then the other!
- Tiquor 11y ago
  Snapping a picture then enjoying it with your eyes is not multitaskkng. It's just doing something one after the other.

ubernostrum 11y ago

I'd rather be present and use my meat-based memory than have a "memory" on my phone of an event I viewed through a glass, darkly. Neal Stephenson, writing in 1999: I was in Disney World recently, specifically the part of it called the Magic Kingdom, walking up Main Street USA. This is a perfect gingerbready Victorian small town that culminates in a Disney castle. It was very crowded; we shuffled rather than walked. Directly in front of me was a man with a camcorder. It was one of the new breed of camcorders where instead of peering through a viewfinder you gaze at a flat-panel color screen about the size of a playing card, which televises live coverage of whatever the camcorder is seeing. He was holding the appliance close to his face, so that it obstructed his view. Rather than go see a real small town for free, he had paid money to see a pretend one, and rather than see it with the naked eye he was watching it on television. And rather than stay home and read a book, I was watching him. Americans' preference for mediated experiences is obvious enough, and I'm not going to keep pounding it into the ground. I'm not even going to make snotty comments about it--after all, I was at Disney World as a paying customer.

mcphage 11y ago

> I'd rather be present and use my meat-based memory than have a "memory" on my phone of an event I viewed through a glass, darkly. I'd rather have a digital memory, as poor as it may be, than rely on my meat-based memory which is terrible at the best of times, and many important events I lose quickly, without a way to refresh them periodically—like a photograph. So awesome for you that your memory is great, but that's not universal.