Primitive instinct
Desmond Morris, an author of “Naked Ape”, point out in his book “The Nature of Happiness (2004)” that even human life is modernized, our primitive instinct as a hunter won’t disappear.
In this age, however, it is difficult to satisfy this instinct in a way actually hunt or kill animals. As a substitute, our brain feel similar satisfaction by hunt money, hunt book, do sports, or collect toys.
I have been thinking why analog media is so comfort for me, and not digital media. For me it is difficult to feel this kind of satisfaction on digital media. If I turn a computer off, shuuun, files on a monitor is disappear. All files are virtual. So I print almost all files I wrote on the computer, and then filed.
Why I return to analog media. Perhaps, it can be explained by the primitive instinct as a hunter. I like to collect my thought with cards. As I write cards, I see how many I wrote. It has certain thickness. I like to count them I write at the end of work. I like to see a dock full of cards I wrote.
I think paper won’t disappear even our life is more digitalized or virtualized. Or we already see it after heavy digital/virtual experience in this age.
January 5th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
You are right. Paper endures. I am getting older now and still can find the notes and ideas I wrote on paper twenty or thirty years ago.
Not so with virtual files. Many projects on which I lavished much attention have been lost to computer failure or changes in digital storage management systems.
I have learned many new ideas from your site for research and writing. Thank you!
November 11th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Chinese, Japanese, Egyptians had it right all along. Paper rules! Furthermore, paper is EMP-proof (electromagnetic pulse). Just thought I’d point that out, didn’t mean to frighten anyone…;)