Paper: A Ubiquitous Technology
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Something I have to confess to every technofile, social bumblebee and early adopter. It’s something I won’t ever regret even though I’m an environmentalist at heart and in many ways my obsession contributes to pollution. My obsession exists because I’m an animal called human and entirely wound up in cultural heritage and tactile experience of the world around me. I confess that I love paper. I’m obsessed with paper. It’s more than something to scribble on – it’s a superior technology.
In a lecture several years ago on Artificial Intelligence, Professor Ray Williams described the measure for success when we talk about a replacement for paper. We can safely say we’ve made a paper substitute (electronic or not) when we can show it feels and acts like paper, when we can roll it up and put it under our arm and take it into the toilet. When we can scribble on it with anything that makes a mark, tear off a corner and put it in our pocket, or swat a fly or a spider (not that any of us would bring on the bad karma of killing living creatures). Without a doubt in my mind until we at least meet that criteria we’re not going to be able to hold up our gizmo and say – replacement for paper.
And the price of picking up a pen and writing on a piece of paper? We can’t underestimate that factor in paper’s ubiquity and widespread adoption.
Another advantage of paper. Alright it decays, but how often do you expect the format or file structure of paper to change or the technology of your visual system to be too advanced to read content just a decade old? Paper is ubiquitous. We can screw it up and unfold it, pin it to the wall, produce fine art or gross vandalism (with a fine line between). Paper is a technology far superior to anything that has tried to challenge it. Paper makes love to our fingers. Paper seduces our minds with a history of ideas.
