I read old books for the sheer joy of it. I have some that I’ve collected and compared to websites like archive.org and google and the online pdfs are altered! Images and sections missing. AI is already rewriting them.
Oh, I love that movie too! I haven't found many people, anyone actually,lol, who is able to appreciate it. I enjoyed hearing that about you!
Picking out books, paper, new journals and even stationary are all personally meaningful and such fun things to do with people you love. Thank you for your thoughts💝
Even in a strictly physical sense, paper lasts longer than any newer media, from photo film to records to CDs to USBs. Books can last 500 years without trying if they're kept dry.
More importantly, books degrade in an analog way. Torn edges or missing pages don't destroy the whole text. All newer media degrade digitally. One crack and it's done.
We too love paper here'bouts! We used ta have this wonderful store in NYC called Pearl Paint--only art students worked there so they all "knew their stuff" an' weekly I'd go ta get a special sheet (for books, prints, writin', etc)--some made with rice, some made with cotton, some had nifty inclusions like flower petals--each a work of art 'fore the artwork wuz made!
Also--I love the paper on the old books (includin' the marble "end papers!" Today's machine printin' is too smooth, too white, too slick by half--it lacks TOOTH! (as often duz the writin' too!)
Meantimes, yer a' channelin' the written word (an' ink!) along with Charles Eisenstein this very week! Could 'a said "jinx" over some similarities! Thus n' such, I think you'll like his essay, starts out with his love 'a fountain pens! (nifty things them too!)
I never throw out paper that can be used to communicate silently and secretly. So, junk mail with one blank side...goes into my scrap drawer. I know that's goofy. But there very well could come a day --
I appreciate your mention of "Only Lovers Left Alive," which is (as if by accident) a vampire movie. It moves at an almost languid pace, not unlike a book read with respect.
I have treasured memories of wondering through used book stores, especially those with delightfully musty smells! I haven't encountered one in decades. The surviving ones--mostly chains--have floor space dedicated to books of crap, and many have wasted available room on items which aren't even books.
But enough ranting. You continue to grace us with thoughtful and thought filled words.
as with most of your writings, i want to do more than just “like”. but what other words can i add to yours? yes, paper and hard copies of books, art, and even CDs, DVDs, vinyls —- notebooks and journals and our own libraries (large or small) - treasure these. protect them, pass them down to your heirs. because a time is coming, and already now is, when these treasures will be “hunted” and those who seek will want to destroy them. for the very reasons you describe. truth is the enemy of evil.
Your beautiful essay landed hard, Karen. They often do! I thought you were going to address the whole paper ballot thing, justifiably, but you took it in a delightfully different direction.
I have a particular penchant for art that is real -- actual books, painted canvas, live theatre. So much so I took on ChatGPT in a recent essay called Art vs AI: Bring it on, ChatGPT.
Here's an excerpt that feels particularly relevant:
"Right now, ChatGPT is a novelty. It will pop up on websites and instruction manuals and real estate listings, with its manufactured smoothness and correct syntax, and up everyone’s writing game. For those who choose to use it, it will speed up the process.
Eventually, though, we will tire of it. We will want something different, and in this case, “different” will mean “real.” We will hunger for words labored over by human beings the way the body craves homemade soup after too many gummy bears."
Ernst Cassier analyzes the non-rational thought processes that go to make up Culture. He demonstrates that beneath both language and myth there lies an unconscious “grammer” of experience, whose categories and canons are not those of logical thought. He shows that this pre-logical “logic” is not merely an undeveloped state of rationality, but something basically different, and that this archaic mode of thought still has enormous power over even our most rigorous thought, language, poetry and myth.
I hope you've read Walter Ong's brilliant 1980 work, "Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word," which describes the profound psychological transformation that alphabetic literacy brought to humans individually and culturally, and the role of "secondary orality" as a constant (though variant-looking) cultural form w/o a cultural that has finally externalized memory.
The Print Revolution was more overtly disruptive, and the early modern era in Europe bears many frightening analogies with political & sociocultural dynamics today.
I read old books for the sheer joy of it. I have some that I’ve collected and compared to websites like archive.org and google and the online pdfs are altered! Images and sections missing. AI is already rewriting them.
Oh, I love that movie too! I haven't found many people, anyone actually,lol, who is able to appreciate it. I enjoyed hearing that about you!
Picking out books, paper, new journals and even stationary are all personally meaningful and such fun things to do with people you love. Thank you for your thoughts💝
Even in a strictly physical sense, paper lasts longer than any newer media, from photo film to records to CDs to USBs. Books can last 500 years without trying if they're kept dry.
More importantly, books degrade in an analog way. Torn edges or missing pages don't destroy the whole text. All newer media degrade digitally. One crack and it's done.
We too love paper here'bouts! We used ta have this wonderful store in NYC called Pearl Paint--only art students worked there so they all "knew their stuff" an' weekly I'd go ta get a special sheet (for books, prints, writin', etc)--some made with rice, some made with cotton, some had nifty inclusions like flower petals--each a work of art 'fore the artwork wuz made!
Also--I love the paper on the old books (includin' the marble "end papers!" Today's machine printin' is too smooth, too white, too slick by half--it lacks TOOTH! (as often duz the writin' too!)
Meantimes, yer a' channelin' the written word (an' ink!) along with Charles Eisenstein this very week! Could 'a said "jinx" over some similarities! Thus n' such, I think you'll like his essay, starts out with his love 'a fountain pens! (nifty things them too!)
https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/machines-will-not-replace-us
I never throw out paper that can be used to communicate silently and secretly. So, junk mail with one blank side...goes into my scrap drawer. I know that's goofy. But there very well could come a day --
I appreciate your mention of "Only Lovers Left Alive," which is (as if by accident) a vampire movie. It moves at an almost languid pace, not unlike a book read with respect.
I have treasured memories of wondering through used book stores, especially those with delightfully musty smells! I haven't encountered one in decades. The surviving ones--mostly chains--have floor space dedicated to books of crap, and many have wasted available room on items which aren't even books.
But enough ranting. You continue to grace us with thoughtful and thought filled words.
as with most of your writings, i want to do more than just “like”. but what other words can i add to yours? yes, paper and hard copies of books, art, and even CDs, DVDs, vinyls —- notebooks and journals and our own libraries (large or small) - treasure these. protect them, pass them down to your heirs. because a time is coming, and already now is, when these treasures will be “hunted” and those who seek will want to destroy them. for the very reasons you describe. truth is the enemy of evil.
HOW TO WATCH TV NEWS, by Neil Postman and Steve Powers. Penguin Books, copyright 2008.
With New and Updated Material by Steve Powers.
TECHNOPOLY: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, by Neil Postman. Vintage Books Edition, April 1993.
Your beautiful essay landed hard, Karen. They often do! I thought you were going to address the whole paper ballot thing, justifiably, but you took it in a delightfully different direction.
I have a particular penchant for art that is real -- actual books, painted canvas, live theatre. So much so I took on ChatGPT in a recent essay called Art vs AI: Bring it on, ChatGPT.
Here's an excerpt that feels particularly relevant:
"Right now, ChatGPT is a novelty. It will pop up on websites and instruction manuals and real estate listings, with its manufactured smoothness and correct syntax, and up everyone’s writing game. For those who choose to use it, it will speed up the process.
Eventually, though, we will tire of it. We will want something different, and in this case, “different” will mean “real.” We will hunger for words labored over by human beings the way the body craves homemade soup after too many gummy bears."
Here's the link if you're interested: https://marypoindextermclaughlin.substack.com/p/art-vs-ai
Thank you for continuing to bear the standard for paper, in all its dependable magic.
LANGUAGE AND MYTH, by Ernst Cassirer :
Ernst Cassier analyzes the non-rational thought processes that go to make up Culture. He demonstrates that beneath both language and myth there lies an unconscious “grammer” of experience, whose categories and canons are not those of logical thought. He shows that this pre-logical “logic” is not merely an undeveloped state of rationality, but something basically different, and that this archaic mode of thought still has enormous power over even our most rigorous thought, language, poetry and myth.
Wonderfully written piece and so deliciously rebellious in its truth. Thank you for this.
Too true! My Reflections for a Sunday last week was about Ray Bradbury.
https://open.substack.com/pub/khmezek/p/reflections-for-a-sunday-ray-bradbury
Aloha Karen & happy St. Patrick's Day.
Today, most people believe reading books increases ignorance and watching TV makes you intelligent.
Last year I bought the 60th Anniversary Edition of FAHRENHEIT 451, by Ray Bradbury, With a new introduction by Neil Gaiman. www.RAYBRADBURY.com.
“One of America’s most beloved writers…A great storyteller, sometimes even a myth-maker, a true American Classic."
I hope you've read Walter Ong's brilliant 1980 work, "Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word," which describes the profound psychological transformation that alphabetic literacy brought to humans individually and culturally, and the role of "secondary orality" as a constant (though variant-looking) cultural form w/o a cultural that has finally externalized memory.
The Print Revolution was more overtly disruptive, and the early modern era in Europe bears many frightening analogies with political & sociocultural dynamics today.
Once again, beautifully stated. Thank you.
keep hard copies of everything. if it's on pdf, print it out