Old skin for the new ceremony

My favorite way to digest information is something that’s on public access television called ‘Book TV.’ It has authors talk about their newest scribbles for forty-five or so minutes, and then answer questions from the audience.

This format is great, as most authors only have one or two fresh ideas per book, and as such, these ideas ring loud and clear with this format.

(Youtube has a never-ending amount of content just like this, so I’m never running out of talking heads to listen to.)

My second preference for absorbing ideas is to read books that come to me by chance. I don’t force books on myself, and since I usually can find the author presenting his ideas in the forementioned way, it’s actually quite rare where I have to rely on this ‘traditional’ method to digest the ideas of others.

With talks and books, I’m more or less covered when it comes to getting information. Sure, this leaves oodles of holes in how much information I get, but I don’t put too much stock in the average nugget of ‘info’ floating out there in the first place, so this one-two punch works for me.

Antiquing

It’s interesting to note, though, that these two methods are pretty old-fashioned. In the first instance, it’s just gathering around the campfire for story time. And in the later instance, the written word can stand in when the ideas can’t be heard aloud.

So, to be frank, in order to get information, I rely on technology that dates back to 150,000 years ago, and in the case of books, technology introduced in 1440.

Cemented methods

I may be the exception, but I find it a little concerning that with all the technological advancements in the 20th century, why antique methods for relaying ideas have yet to be out-done.

(I don’t count Twitter’s fire hose approach of relaying emotions and ad hominems to be valid here, although it’s certainly a decent tool for getting the latest latest.)

The spoken word and written word are still king, if you ask me. I’m not against a face-lift to these tried-and-true methods, but I do find it curious why something novel never took hold in the last fifty years.

In fifty years from now, how will ideas be zipping around from one brain to another?