I saw an amusing newspaper comic the other day in an office hallway.
It’s the future, say, 100 years from now.
People are walking along, carrying and reading electronic books, much like Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad.
They are wearing special goggles, which allows them to read the text in 3-D.
But it comes along that there are complaints with the devices, and they are in need of revision.
What is needed, according to the comic, is an easier way of reading a “book” without having to have all the electronic gear.
So, massive amounts of research is done, finding the form that allows easy page-to-page text navigation, is portable and aesthetically pleasing.
What they end up inventing is the classic book — paper, binding, glue. They become not only quite usable but are also pleasant to look at when shelved away, joining others of its ilk.
It is kind of funny how this evolution happened, at least in the comic. How forward-thinking people are, only to go back to an idea’s origin after all other options have been used up or at least tried.
I don’t think ebooks are going to go away. I think they’ll just add to the books continuing to be published, which is still big business. Just another avenue of getting the word out, so to speak.
But I think the comic touches on a bigger issue: how we tend to come full circle at times.
Take food, for example.
For years now, there has been a growing push for more organic products; even major manufacturers are being pulled in this direction.
Of course, people are paying for it, ironic as that sounds.
It wasn’t that long ago when all the food we got and consumed was already organic just by its very nature. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, etc.
Then industrialization came along, shifting the process of production to the point where we are facing foodstuff being genetically engineered — like when an apple is able to sit in a fridge for months with little change in its composition.
People buy it, sure. Whether they are aware of what they are buying is another matter.
But the organic folk come along and start offering what we had before the industrialization of food, which in most cases is a good thing.
The price is higher in some cases. I mean, I was at Sundance the other day, finding on the shelves basic loaves of organic, sliced bread for $6.50 and organic nonwhole milk for over $6.25 a gallon.
Another example of cyclicism would be WiFi, such the separation it was from a direct-wire connection not long ago. Most places have it, catching on to the boon of convenience it offers to its users.
But studies are coming out now about how harmful this type of connection is for health reasons. Such strength of these concerns is taking the form of a Portland, Ore., father suing Portland Public Schools in January to have WiFi replaced with wired internet connection (Morrison v. Portland Public Schools). Even the Council of Europe has issued a proclamation (Resolution 1815), stating strong steps need to be taken to reduce exposure to these electromagnetic fields.
I don’t think any of the above three notions would be considered old-fashioned thinking. Well, to some, perhaps.
If anything, though, it just shows that it is worth taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, keeping in mind what we think is important and has value in our lives and, if possible, pushing until those ends are realized.