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Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

nytimes.com

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Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#21

Post by was_hellbanned »

msvan wrote: post #15
interstitial wrote: post #6

Road trips with multiple cars were down right dangerous. Cars weren't as reliable back then, and you could never tell if one car had disappeared from a flat or car trouble. Meeting points, pulling over, middle men for pay phone tag. The CB radio did change things -- watch movies from the CB era and you see the rise of information exchange. Today you can still have a car chase on the I-70 in the middle of Utah and the…

But when we get self-driving cars this avenue will disappear as well. Technology will de-dramatize our lives.

I experienced plenty of drama when my rear wheel began to tear itself apart riding out of Cambria, CA, or when a rear flat turned out to be the sidewall disintegrating 60 miles out of San Francisco. Bicycle touring will give you all the drama you could desire. Meanwhile, I'd love the predictability of entirely automated transport in my daily life.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#22

Post by justinpombrio »

elwell wrote: post #20
bridger wrote: post #8

I'll bet life was more romantic before spoken language. People weren't busy talking or thinking in anything but emotion and memories of senses. Let's long for those days.

I don't know if your post is entirely serious, but I like it.

Imagine falling in love with someone in perfect silence, knowing them entirely through their actions, having only the feeling of their presence.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#23

Post by mynameishere »

drawkbox wrote: post #13

I was watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles the other day and much of the whole plot would not exist with modern tech. Also, horror movies have a hard time now as well. For some reason they have to be so far away as to get no reception or in some sort of zone that won't allow it. I think Under the Dome highlights this a bit as well. But there are new plot lines and possibilities. At least flip phones have been remo…

"No signal"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZVcRccCx0

...I actually wonder why they don't just pretend cell phones don't exist. I mean, if you can imagine ghosts and zombies, etc, do exist, why not?

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#24

Post by jff »

mynameishere wrote: post #23
drawkbox wrote: post #13

I was watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles the other day and much of the whole plot would not exist with modern tech. Also, horror movies have a hard time now as well. For some reason they have to be so far away as to get no reception or in some sort of zone that won't allow it. I think Under the Dome highlights this a bit as well. But there are new plot lines and possibilities. At least flip phones have been remo…

"No signal" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZVcRccCx0 ...I actually wonder why they don't just pretend cell phones don't exist. I mean, if you can imagine ghosts and zombies, etc, do exist, why not?

I actually see that pretty often. When the movie requires it, people forget that they have cell phones. It's the same way the horror movie universe apparently doesn't have horror movies, or people would know not to split up or have sex while camping.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#25

Post by derleth »

justinpombrio wrote: post #22
elwell wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if your post is entirely serious, but I like it.

Imagine falling in love with someone in perfect silence, knowing them entirely through their actions, having only the feeling of their presence.

> Imagine falling in love with someone in perfect silence

All primates have vocalizations of some kind. All apes have fairly complex vocalizations. Humans are an extreme case, but we're not entirely sui generis; it's pretty well guaranteed that any species recognizable as proto-human would not be courting in complete silence.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#26

Post by jamesaguilar »

dmm wrote: post #17
nullymcnull wrote: post #10

"In my day, we lived and loved with so much more depth of feeling. Not like these kids today with their [x]'s and their [y]'s."

I know what you're talking about but where does it end? Are all comparisons to the past that are anything but glowing about the present invalid?

They're not invalid, but lacking backing data they may have a high probability of being wrong.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#27

Post by sspiff »

noonespecial wrote: post #19

Sometimes I think I was lucky to be one of the last people ever to experience "love in the time of snailmail" and one of the first to experience love at the dawn of IM. I know exactly what its like to write those "long, heartfelt missives" and check a mailbox like a crack addict and I also know the thousand tiny thrills one got from that new "ICQ" client's happy little " uh-oh! ". Which is better? More "real and hear…

I'm a little to young to have known love in a time of snail mail, but I agree with the point of your comment: some mystery and romance my have disappeared, but romance is still to be found in other places, even in the new technologies that obsoleted the old.

Generations before us also felt like they were missing out on life and love because they were born decades to late, this is nothing new. People will feel the same about life at the advent of the Internet in 20 years.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#28

Post by simbolit »

joe_the_user wrote: post #3

Hmm, Book plots, movie plots and real-life drama in many ways revolve around missed connections. TV shows where everyone has a cell phone now have to use the device of turned-off, missing etc phones. A world of perfect connections would theoretically have no drama but since connections are never perfect, we would never have that. On the other hand, in the technologically connected world, missed connections become tec…

well, if i think about real life the drama appears because of actively (though not always entirely conscious and willful) missed connections. people not telling things, forgetting to tell things, not feeling like talking right now, not feeling like talking at all, feeling embarrassed, etc...

there is lots of drama with perfect potential communication. because - lets face it - that is all technology is only ever to give us. potential.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#29

Post by InclinedPlane »

joe_the_user wrote: post #3

Hmm, Book plots, movie plots and real-life drama in many ways revolve around missed connections. TV shows where everyone has a cell phone now have to use the device of turned-off, missing etc phones. A world of perfect connections would theoretically have no drama but since connections are never perfect, we would never have that. On the other hand, in the technologically connected world, missed connections become tec…

I think missed connections are just a crutch, a plot-writing cliche that was popular just because it was so easy. But I don't think it's necessary for great story writing.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#30

Post by InclinedPlane »

msvan wrote: post #15
interstitial wrote: post #6

Road trips with multiple cars were down right dangerous. Cars weren't as reliable back then, and you could never tell if one car had disappeared from a flat or car trouble. Meeting points, pulling over, middle men for pay phone tag. The CB radio did change things -- watch movies from the CB era and you see the rise of information exchange. Today you can still have a car chase on the I-70 in the middle of Utah and the…

But when we get self-driving cars this avenue will disappear as well. Technology will de-dramatize our lives.

Hardly. It'll just change the drama to something more meaningful. It used to be dramatic just to get news across continental distances, but when that stopped being the case it didn't exactly cause an end to drama in the world.
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