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My biggest issue with all digital is that it makes discovery more difficult. I recall as a child seeing books of my relatives and family friends and having my

My biggest issue with all digital is that it makes discovery more difficult. I recall as a child seeing books of my relatives and family friends and having my imagination sparked by them. Or just flipping through a book, not being able to read or understand it, but just looking at the pictures. I've gone so far as to buy some coffee table books and visual dictionary books and atlases for my son just to spark that same feeling of discovery. I think we are going to lose something important there when everything is in a digital playlist locked up into a proprietary platform that may not be around for more that a dozen years or so. I know that my comments are more specific to books, but this also applies I think to music, and art, any visual medium.

hnzix 5y ago
The problem with digital discovery is lack of good curation. Physical objects can be curated by your parents, friends, etc and are easily accessed. Whereas most digital discovery algos just chum my recommendations with what's overall popular in a category. I don't want the "latest smash hits", I want to see a respected curator with excellent taste uncovering new gems.
climb_stealth 5y ago
I'm glad you mention this because I forgot all about it. My dad had a cupboard full of CDs. I would go through them as a child and listen to albums just based on the covers. I can still recall a few of them. > I've gone so far as to buy some coffee table books and visual dictionary books and atlases for my son just to spark that same feeling of discovery. I very much like that!
xyzzy21 5y ago
That's also why I prefer physical retail to Amazon: discovery. Especially for "engineering" components or systems. A physical electronics shop with bins of components is FAR SUPERIOR to finding both new and correct components than online sources like Digikey. You often "find what you didn't know you needed" for the same or different project or discover a new project idea from what you find by accident. This also is why physical libraries and bookstores are superior to Amazon: you can discover books you weren't looking for and quickly assess the "breadth of a subject" in ways that can never be done (or at least never ARE DONE) online. The internet is in many ways the worst invention ever that we really have never truly needed. I saw a reality "Super CME risk to internet" story and honestly I DO NOT SEE A DOWNSIDE to this! Being cut off for some months would be as healthy to people and society as COVID and lockdowns were to people realizing they DO NOT need their old jobs (and now there's a labor shortage for marginal, low-paying work - which is probably mostly a good thing overall).
pharmakom 5y ago
I have discovered so much more music in recent years than I did in record stores (I'm an age that straddles the line between CDs, iTunes and streaming - iPod generation?), mostly through YouTube. One video leads to another, leads to a comment, leads to a blog post ... I love it! I can lose hours exploring music this way. Equally, I can see how collecting had been ruined by the Internet. In fact, I rarely even collect what music I discover, since access is so easy on-demand. And who is satisfied by a stamp collection in a world with eBay etc? Perhaps collection has been replaced by curation?

hnzix 5y ago

The problem with digital discovery is lack of good curation. Physical objects can be curated by your parents, friends, etc and are easily accessed. Whereas most digital discovery algos just chum my recommendations with what's overall popular in a category. I don't want the "latest smash hits", I want to see a respected curator with excellent taste uncovering new gems.

climb_stealth 5y ago

I'm glad you mention this because I forgot all about it. My dad had a cupboard full of CDs. I would go through them as a child and listen to albums just based on the covers. I can still recall a few of them. > I've gone so far as to buy some coffee table books and visual dictionary books and atlases for my son just to spark that same feeling of discovery. I very much like that!

xyzzy21 5y ago

That's also why I prefer physical retail to Amazon: discovery. Especially for "engineering" components or systems. A physical electronics shop with bins of components is FAR SUPERIOR to finding both new and correct components than online sources like Digikey. You often "find what you didn't know you needed" for the same or different project or discover a new project idea from what you find by accident. This also is why physical libraries and bookstores are superior to Amazon: you can discover books you weren't looking for and quickly assess the "breadth of a subject" in ways that can never be done (or at least never ARE DONE) online. The internet is in many ways the worst invention ever that we really have never truly needed. I saw a reality "Super CME risk to internet" story and honestly I DO NOT SEE A DOWNSIDE to this! Being cut off for some months would be as healthy to people and society as COVID and lockdowns were to people realizing they DO NOT need their old jobs (and now there's a labor shortage for marginal, low-paying work - which is probably mostly a good thing overall).

pharmakom 5y ago

I have discovered so much more music in recent years than I did in record stores (I'm an age that straddles the line between CDs, iTunes and streaming - iPod generation?), mostly through YouTube. One video leads to another, leads to a comment, leads to a blog post ... I love it! I can lose hours exploring music this way. Equally, I can see how collecting had been ruined by the Internet. In fact, I rarely even collect what music I discover, since access is so easy on-demand. And who is satisfied by a stamp collection in a world with eBay etc? Perhaps collection has been replaced by curation?