NY Times: How to Lose a Legacy

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/how-to-lose-a-legacy/?scp=1&sq=%22lose%20a%20legacy%22&st=cse

On July 12, 2010 Ellen Lupton wrote about the conflict of legacy artifacts:

"An “heirloom” is an object steeped in family history, handed down from generation to generation: your mother’s wedding dress, your grandma’s espresso cups, your great uncle’s underwear. You can’t buy an heirloom at Pottery Barn or Ikea. It comes via gift, bequest or a heated sibling brawl. But who’s to say you actually want this stale old stuff?

The desire to pass objects on to one’s offspring is part of our longing for immortality. Even folks in the “die broke” crowd, determined to enjoy their remaining assets rather than leave them to the ungrateful grandkids, may secretly hope the family will love and honor their dearest possessions. In a culture of scarcity, useful things are rarely discarded, but in a land of superabundance and incessant newness, inheriting a household packed to the windowsills with books, furniture and memories of drunken holiday infighting can be more burden than blessing."

Total Recall covers this conflict.  Jim and I wrote about the other side--too many have a claim to a single artifact.  To us the issue is clear--get rid of physical stuff and replace it with more accessible and reproducible bits hat you can enjoy more often through a screen saver or videos.  Pass on the artifact while you have control and insure that it goes to someone who will appreciate it. Capture the precious artifact or whatever in gory detail including video, audio recordings, photos or 3 D photos and then share these bits widely with all of those who would have otherwise "fought" over it, or who would have discarded it.

NY Times: For Web’s New Wave, Sharing Details Is the Point --TMI

I couldn't help noticiing the New York Times article on 4/22/10 that described Mark Brooks desire to make sure the whole Web knows he spent $41 on an iPad case at an Apple store, $24 eating at an Applebee’s, and $6,450 at a Florida plastic surgery clinic for nose work. This flies exactly against what we believe and describe in Total Recall--lifelogging is great; blogging aka blabbing to the world about trivial details about your own life is kind of stupid.

The belief is that by being able to mine this data something good will come of it--most likely that the cybertown dump will hold stuff of value if properly processed and recycled. Ideally marketers will come to these dumps, process the bits, and turn them into gold. The only gold here is for the dump operators who will try to offload the properties to Google. The big losers will be the exhibitionists who deposit their refuge in hopes of getting a notice in the New York Times or a $0.10 return on each receipt deposited.

Ironically the LA Times reported on 4/24/10 featured the article: Blippy says it has fixed glitch that exposed users' credit card numbers. The article went on to describe the upside for Blippy and the Venture companies that valued the company's few weeks work at $46 Million.  

New York Times article on SenseCam

A Little Black Box to Jog Failing Memory, By YUDHIJIT BHATTACHARJEE, NYT, March 8, 2010.

A nice article on SenseCam with a focus on memory-loss applications.

Two years ago, Mr. Reznick, who has early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and is now 82, signed up for an experiment intended to help people with Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders. The concept was simple: using digital pictures and audio to archive an experience like a weekend visit from the grandchildren, creating a summary of the resulting content by picking crucial images, and reviewing them periodically to awaken and strengthen the memory of the event.

Socrates on the impact of technology for memories

I am often asked if e-memory technology will have a negativity impact on our human memories: will our bio-memories get flabby from lack of exercise if we rely too much on e-memories? This concern is nothing new; in fact, it is literally ancient. Here is Socrates, as quoted by Plato, convincing Phaedrus that this new-fangled technology called writing will lead to forgetfulness and only the “semblance of truth.” The emphasis added is mine.

Socrates: At the Egyptian city of Naucratis, there was a famous old god, whose name was Theuth; the bird which is called the Ibis is sacred to him, and he was the inventor of many arts, such as arithmetic and calculation and geometry and astronomy and draughts and dice, but his great discovery was the use of letters. Now in those days the god Thamus was the king of the whole country of Egypt; and he dwelt in that great city of Upper Egypt which the Hellenes call Egyptian Thebes, and the god himself is called by them Ammon. To him came Theuth and showed his inventions, desiring that the other Egyptians might be allowed to have the benefit of them; he enumerated them, and Thamus enquired about their several uses, and praised some of them and censured others, as he approved or disapproved of them. It would take a long time to repeat all that Thamus said to Theuth in praise or blame of the various arts. But when they came to letters, This, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; it is a specific both for the memory and for the wit. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.

Phaedrus: Yes, Socrates, you can easily invent tales of Egypt, or of any other country.

Socrates: There was a tradition in the temple of Dodona that oaks first gave prophetic utterances. The men of old, unlike in their simplicity to young philosophy, deemed that if they heard the truth even from "oak or rock," it was enough for them; whereas you seem to consider not whether a thing is or is not true, but who the speaker is and from what country the tale comes.

Phaedrus: I acknowledge the justice of your rebuke; and I think that the Theban is right in his view about letters.

You can read the entire dialog at http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/phaedrus.html

Lifebio.com: Helping everone create their own biographies!

I've watched a number of my friends create and publish autobiographies and celebratory biogrpaphies aka Festschrifts for their family and friends. This is a daunting task. LifeBio's tools with hundreds of questions are essential for people who want to pass on  their wisdom and stories to their progeny but cannot just gettiing started. Even those who are creating (auto) biographies the structure, checklist, and community provided at www.LifeBio.com will be useful.

"LifeBio was founded in 2000 by Beth Sancers and, since then, thousands of clients and dozens of communities have utilized LifeBio.com, the Memory Journal, other biography tools, services, and training available.

Beth states 8 princicples that have motivated and guided LifeBio:

1. Every person’s unique life experience should be acknowledged and celebrated.
2. All people, ...should be given the opportunity to pass on wisdom and values,..
3. People of all ages and backgrounds learn about themselves ...by telling and sharing life stories.
4. Life story questions must be meaningful and complete to ensure people’s stories are rich...
5. Every opportunity to involve families, volunteers, and youth in hearing and recording ...
6. When it comes to life stories, each person chooses what they wish to share or not share.
7. Sharing our stories helps all of us continue to learn, grow, and plan for the future.
8. Life story preservation is critical. ...ensure a lasting legacy ...honor the person’s journey."