"Knowledge is hard to lose these days". This is a quote from the podcast that really stayed with me. We might not know what something means, but with one click of the mouse we can definitely find it's meaning.
This podcast neither changed my mind, nor did it solidify my stance regarding Mr. Carr's article. It did, though, make me really think about how the evolution of storing information began. In my previous blog, I talked about how Google has rewired our brains and made us far less patient. This topic was not talked about in the podcast. There was no feeling of impatience, but actually an overwhelming feeling. Looking back, people seemed to feel they had "too many books, and too little time". There was an overwhelming amount of information, that did not have enough storage. This started the trend of storing information for later retrieval.
As much as we try, it is impossible to let go of information. Since storage has been a possibility, information has been saved. I see this as a very positive thing, because people can be enlightened by information they can learn about the past. Jardine speaks about her son asking her what a certain word means, and all he had to do was Google it for more information. This information could not be let go.
"Ever since human cultures have existed, people have needed to store and share information. Arguably, the first information storage device was biological: Memorized data in a person's brain. Memory is neither reliable nor long term, and retained information is available only to the memorizer and those within speaking distance. Other methods were needed" (Museum of American Heritage). The evolution of information storage has gotten us to where we are now. Information is stored and shared at incredible rates.
This podcast was quite educational, and I learned many things I didn't know before about storing information. There are many parallels to this and the article we read last week. People may be getting more impatient when waiting to get information, but that desire for the information can be traced back very far in history. This is not the end of this evolution, either. With all the advances we are making, there will be even more efficient ways to store and share information.
"Brains to Bytes: The Evolution of Information Storage." MOAH-Museum of American Heritage, Science & Technology Museum-Palo Alto, California. Museum of American Heritage, 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://www.moah.org/exhibits/archives/brains/brains2bytes.html>.
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