Almost every law, every test case for every decision was established prior to 1940. The whole world was settled prior to 1940. On paper.
Yes, I know that the world is growing and continually changing blah blah blah, but so many good ideas came to us without a single electron sparking a single phosphorescent molecule on a computer screen.
How many devices do I need now to express an idea to another individual?
And here's another thought about digitalization:
Hundreds of thousands of documents can be accessed -- saving tremendous time and energy in making copies or thousands of dollars in gathering people to a central location.Now, I don't know about you, but before the Internet, I would search 4-5 books for an answer and do a quick scan of the Reader's Guide, and I was done with my searching. Whatever I found by the end of that search was what the patron got. Seriously, who the hell has time to review hundreds of thousands of documents? Now, when I search for something, someone always comes along behind me and searches the net again and says, "but did you find this?"
To participate in today's world, I need an account here, but I also need an account there. I need a login name, a screen name, and a password. I need to keep my accounts active. I need to update my account if my information changes. I can finish a phone call in 80 seconds, whereby one or more queries are received and one or more responses fulfilling the queries are given. A similar series of questions and responses might take 11 minutes using an electronic "chat" format.
For all the time the modern world claims to save us, I have less time to enjoy the pleasures of it.
Paper is my friend. I could lose a 500 page electronic file with a mouse click, but I'd never lose it's print counterpart.
The only time I ever lose a sheet of paper is when I take an office memo and accidentally on purpose wipe my ass with it. Which is every day. Sorry, can I get another copy of that?
