The Temporary Age
Posted: Friday, December 19, 2008
by Michael Ramzy
delusionthread.com
Look back through to the beginning of history and you find different ages and stages of life spread throughout time. The last couple of ages are the easiest to remember: Stone, Iron, Metal, Industrial . . . seems as though we humans are adept at not only naming these ages but also at leaving some trace reminder of that age for all time.
The cavemen had their cave-wall drawings, of course, yet many other ancestors left markings or drawings to remain for all time. Stone dowels or tools, ironworks, metal weapons, etc.
Some names I have heard or read are, in no particular order, as follows: The Second Dark Age, The Computer Age, The Digital Age, The Age of Fear, The Second Industrial Age, The Green Era, The Carbon Age, The Muslim Era, The Age of UnReason . . . and several others. The themes seem to be computers, the environment, government intervention, or religious hysteria.
I was thinking about calling this The Temporary Age for the simple reason we are leaving nothing for those who come twenty generations ahead of us to decifer who we are. Some of our buildings might survive, perhaps, yet everything else we know will have turned to dust. Our tools and weapons are plastic. Our lives, and the lives we cherish, are forever preserved, right? Yet everything these days is digital. No carving on walls for us. Remove the electricity and remove the life.
In every age we humans have left something for those who come twenty or thirty generations ahead. I wonder how those six thousand years from now will judge us. Will they think we made some extraordinary technological leap to break with the past? Or will they think our age a mere pit-stop in the evolution of Man, a temporary respite?
I wonder.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Man the Builder and Creator, "Homo Faber", will eventually succeed in deleting any permanent record of himself from the history books. Future anthropologists and sociologists will be hard pressed to adequately analyze and interpret any "raw data" this "Temporary Generation" has left of itself.The technological rush for "better-faster-stronger" could be the root cause of this age's undoing.
Notice this untimely progression in the life of the vinyl record album. The once cherished 78 rpm record that our grandparents enjoyed became in a few short years the single 45 rpm ( a technological miracle at the time). The multitasking LP with three playing speeds (33, 45 and 78 rpm) became the rage when the needed technology was invented to play them.
The vinyl album was effectively replaced by the Eight Track and then cassette tape. The technology required to enjoy these advancements made previous enjoyments and technology obsolete. If you couldn't afford the "new technology" you were out of luck and had to live vicariously through your friends and associates.
The current day marathon to DTV ( digital television) proves once again how desperate we are to eliminate mass communication from the market place. This time though the technology is being forced on to the consumer. If you can't afford to rent the necessary electronic translator then you are outta luck once again.
The long term effect of our quick-paced lifestyle and technological advancements will definitely leave no recordable evidence for future generations to discover who we were , what we did and how we coped through this fast paced time of constant change and unrest and economic upheaval.
This is an insightful and well thought out article. Good work.
Thank you very much. Keep reading and writing.
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