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I think that physical representations of data will become more and more important and useful. Like a totem, a card catalog isn’t really needed anymore but it r

I think that physical representations of data will become more and more important and useful. Like a totem, a card catalog isn’t really needed anymore but it represents something and may as well have something like that in the “real world” as the interface to the actual info. I used to wear a mechanical watch not because it told time but because it was a physical thing that represented complexity and architecture and time. etc etc As a kid, I read these books by Gordon R Dickson, the Final Encyclopedia. And the it was a giant place that had all the information in the universe and an AI to sort and deliver it. But it was neat because it was a place, like a temple. This was before the internet so it really could be distributed, but the idea of having limited interfaces stuck with me as a kid.

lioeters 3y ago
Your comment made me imagine a "card" catalog where each card is some kind of wireless transparent display or e-ink screen. It would provide a tacticle, physical representation of data that one could flip through to navigate the information space. It would be costly, and probably not practical or useful at all, haha. Speaking of card catalogs, every time this topic comes up, it reminds me of a book I really enjoyed about index cards. > Why the card catalog—a “paper machine” with rearrangeable elements—can be regarded as a precursor of the computer. Paper Machines: About Cards and Catalogs, 1548-1929 - https://web.archive.org/web/20220531211447/https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/paper-machines https://web.archive.org/web/20220531211447/https://mitpress....