Chapter 1: Failing to Forget the “Drunken Pirate”
In Chapter 1, Mayer-Schonberger introduces the binary of remembering and forgetting through the story of Stacy Snyder. Snyder was a well-qualified, single mother who lost her teaching career because of a questionable photo of her that surfaced online. Mayer uses Snyder's story, and many others, to illustrate how the sophistication of technology has made it harder to forget than to remember. This fundamental shift of consciousness is dangerous to our society and even contrary to our human condition. While these technologies based on "remembering" have brought us revolutions in medicine and science, they can jeopardize our privacy and safety.
By championing the value of forgetting and warning about the dangers of "perfect memory", Mayer wants us to "remember how to forget in the digital age."
Chapter 2: Remembering and Forgetting
In Chapter 2, Mayer-Schonberger gives his readers a background of memory. He begins with explaining the biological process of remembering. There are two types of memories: declarative, which involves a conscious act of remembering something like an event or idea, and procedural, which involves remembering something through repetition. These memories are opposed to the act of forgetting. How we forget is a debate among scientists. Some believe forgetting is mechanistic, and we literally lose a link to a memory. Others believe that our forgetting and remembering is a dynamic process, and our brain chooses what we remember according to our preferences.
The rest of Chapter 2 is devoted to the development of ways humans remember things. Back in primitive times, language was developed as a way to explain ideas or memories to others. Centuries later, language was still being used as a tool for memory through the oral passing-down of epics. However, although the main ideas are usually conveyed and remembered through language, details often get forgotten or misconstrued, so that the story ends up not entirely true to the original.
The language problem was solved by the development of external memory. Painting was the first way of recording experiences. Then came script and the writing down of memories. For a long time, however, obtaining writing materials like paper was very expensive. Only rich and powerful people like Ptolemy could keep a library (the first attempt at perfect memory). Libraries later became public, but it was still expensive and time-consuming for scribes to write out entire books. In 1450, Gutenberg created the printing press, which made making copies of books/memories much easier. Martin Luther helped the mass-production of external memory by translating the Bible into the German vernacular. Still, buying a book was expensive for the common person. Finally with the advent of the newspaper, penny press, and yellow-back books, external memories were available for the general, middle-class public. Having newspapers created a common memory in society, and changed their relation to time.
More currently, cameras, video cameras, and audio-recording devices have made it simpler to record memories. However, with a higher number of recorded memories comes the difficulty of retrieving and organizing them. Mayer-Schonberger ends the chapter saying, “Until recently, the fact that remembering has always been at least a little bit harder than forgetting helped us humans avoide the fundamental question of whether we would like to remember everything forever if we could. Not anymore.”
Chapter 3: The Demise of Forgetting
Mayer-Schonberger presents the idea in chapter three, “The Demise of Forgetting,” that we have entered an age where everything is recorded. He gives the example of Gordon Bell, who has compiled all records of his life – from snapshots taken every 30 seconds from a device hanging from his neck to every email he has ever sent – into a “gigantic external memory of his life” (51). Through this example, Mayer-Schonberger explains the shift from analog to digital form, and the vast improvements it has brought to the storage of information. He therefore comes to the thesis of this chapter: “remembering has become the norm, and forgetting the exception” (52). The main drivers of this shift, as explained in detail throughout the chapter, are digitization, cheap storage, easy retrieval, and global reach.
The development of digital media sparked a revolution in technology. Analog readers were faulty in that they would accrue an amount of “noise” so that each subsequent copy would accumulate more “noise” and make a copy of a copy very easy to detect. Perfect copies did not exist in analog, therefore making the original of significant value. Digital copies, however, were rendered perfect. There was no discernable difference between copies, or even the breakdown that occurred from too much use with analog media. This reduced the value of originals greatly, so that sharing became very popular. Also, digitization streamlined the use of different media. Sound, video, text, and photos could all be viewed on the same digital device which is more efficient than having separate devices for each medium. Digitization also protects the information, as unless the physical storage is destroyed, the information will not decay the way that analog forms would. Sharing is a big part of digitization, and using streamlined devices enables users to combine media to create new forms. Users can write over the original product and create new works to share with others.
Digitization has been successful largely because of its availability. Technology has advanced so quickly that “by the time one has filled up her hard disk, a newer one is available with double or triple the amount of storage capacity” (65). The rate of increase is only slowed by “switching costs,” which occur when a newer piece of technology is not backward compatible, such as upgrading a VHS to a DVD player. Newer technology tries to combat this by working with older technology, as the Blue Ray player works with both Blue Ray disks and DVDs. This is not true, however, of hard drives, since as long as the information can be accessed, users do not care about the internal “plumbing” of the device. Thus, the wide availability and inexpensive means of storage allows everything to be stored cheaply. Mayer-Schonberger explains that it is more cost efficient to simply allow all the files to be stored automatically than to routinely go through and eliminate ones that are not used. It is also helpful to have a back-up system, even if the evidence is not always desirable. The author references the vast availability of storage on the web through sites like Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Google.
With the vast amounts of data we can now save and peruse as we please, we need a way to retrieve our information. The ability to search for information within among data increases the value of the information (73). Easy retrieval, however, didn’t used to be so easy, and we came a long way from the first manuscripts to the wonders of Google. Mayer-Schonberger recounts the evolution of organization, from filing to indexes. Other forms of media such as photography or videos little or no such indexing – the user must manually flip through images or fast-forward through a VHS tape to find what he is looking for. Even when computers were first developed, programmers followed a very cataloguing style of organizing, similar to books. “[T]he humans designing the first generations of digital systems were caught up in real-world metaphors of information organization” (75). Ted Codd formulated the more advanced form we know today with the concept of “relational databases” that stored information like a grid, allowing more flexible search terms. The next step in search revolution came with “full-text indexing” that allowed chunks of text to be searched within a document or file, allowing for more than just the tags associated with a file to show up. The author’s only argument against Easy Retrieval is that these searches remove the files from context. Instead of browsing a text and picking up relevant background information on the way, the user only receives a snapshot of the result. I think this is a weak argument against such a valuable social tool.
None of this information could be as widespread and successful without Global Reach. The Internet afforded the possibility of connecting users in their homes to vast stores of knowledge: held together through the digitization process, cheap storage, and easy retrieval. As technology advances, connection speed has gone up and cost down, thus allowing for the globalization of the Internet. Three things have facilitated the development: packet-switched structure of the Internet, fiber optic cable for broadband connections, and facilitating retrofitting existing infrastructure to meet demand without physically laying new cable (80-81). The widespread availability of the Internet allows for sharing of information between users, although Mayer-Schonberger warns that once information is shared, the user no longer has control over it. He argues that it is difficult to keep information about a user private on the Internet, and that security is never truly safe. However, he does acknowledge that it is now almost impossible to exist “offline” and that we must embrace the digital age with caution.
In Chapter 1, Mayer-Schonberger introduces the binary of remembering and forgetting through the story of Stacy Snyder. Snyder was a well-qualified, single mother who lost her teaching career because of a questionable photo of her that surfaced online. Mayer uses Snyder's story, and many others, to illustrate how the sophistication of technology has made it harder to forget than to remember. This fundamental shift of consciousness is dangerous to our society and even contrary to our human condition. While these technologies based on "remembering" have brought us revolutions in medicine and science, they can jeopardize our privacy and safety.
By championing the value of forgetting and warning about the dangers of "perfect memory", Mayer wants us to "remember how to forget in the digital age."
Chapter 2: Remembering and Forgetting
In Chapter 2, Mayer-Schonberger gives his readers a background of memory. He begins with explaining the biological process of remembering. There are two types of memories: declarative, which involves a conscious act of remembering something like an event or idea, and procedural, which involves remembering something through repetition. These memories are opposed to the act of forgetting. How we forget is a debate among scientists. Some believe forgetting is mechanistic, and we literally lose a link to a memory. Others believe that our forgetting and remembering is a dynamic process, and our brain chooses what we remember according to our preferences.
The rest of Chapter 2 is devoted to the development of ways humans remember things. Back in primitive times, language was developed as a way to explain ideas or memories to others. Centuries later, language was still being used as a tool for memory through the oral passing-down of epics. However, although the main ideas are usually conveyed and remembered through language, details often get forgotten or misconstrued, so that the story ends up not entirely true to the original.
The language problem was solved by the development of external memory. Painting was the first way of recording experiences. Then came script and the writing down of memories. For a long time, however, obtaining writing materials like paper was very expensive. Only rich and powerful people like Ptolemy could keep a library (the first attempt at perfect memory). Libraries later became public, but it was still expensive and time-consuming for scribes to write out entire books. In 1450, Gutenberg created the printing press, which made making copies of books/memories much easier. Martin Luther helped the mass-production of external memory by translating the Bible into the German vernacular. Still, buying a book was expensive for the common person. Finally with the advent of the newspaper, penny press, and yellow-back books, external memories were available for the general, middle-class public. Having newspapers created a common memory in society, and changed their relation to time.
More currently, cameras, video cameras, and audio-recording devices have made it simpler to record memories. However, with a higher number of recorded memories comes the difficulty of retrieving and organizing them. Mayer-Schonberger ends the chapter saying, “Until recently, the fact that remembering has always been at least a little bit harder than forgetting helped us humans avoide the fundamental question of whether we would like to remember everything forever if we could. Not anymore.”
Chapter 3: The Demise of Forgetting
Mayer-Schonberger presents the idea in chapter three, “The Demise of Forgetting,” that we have entered an age where everything is recorded. He gives the example of Gordon Bell, who has compiled all records of his life – from snapshots taken every 30 seconds from a device hanging from his neck to every email he has ever sent – into a “gigantic external memory of his life” (51). Through this example, Mayer-Schonberger explains the shift from analog to digital form, and the vast improvements it has brought to the storage of information. He therefore comes to the thesis of this chapter: “remembering has become the norm, and forgetting the exception” (52). The main drivers of this shift, as explained in detail throughout the chapter, are digitization, cheap storage, easy retrieval, and global reach.
The development of digital media sparked a revolution in technology. Analog readers were faulty in that they would accrue an amount of “noise” so that each subsequent copy would accumulate more “noise” and make a copy of a copy very easy to detect. Perfect copies did not exist in analog, therefore making the original of significant value. Digital copies, however, were rendered perfect. There was no discernable difference between copies, or even the breakdown that occurred from too much use with analog media. This reduced the value of originals greatly, so that sharing became very popular. Also, digitization streamlined the use of different media. Sound, video, text, and photos could all be viewed on the same digital device which is more efficient than having separate devices for each medium. Digitization also protects the information, as unless the physical storage is destroyed, the information will not decay the way that analog forms would. Sharing is a big part of digitization, and using streamlined devices enables users to combine media to create new forms. Users can write over the original product and create new works to share with others.
Digitization has been successful largely because of its availability. Technology has advanced so quickly that “by the time one has filled up her hard disk, a newer one is available with double or triple the amount of storage capacity” (65). The rate of increase is only slowed by “switching costs,” which occur when a newer piece of technology is not backward compatible, such as upgrading a VHS to a DVD player. Newer technology tries to combat this by working with older technology, as the Blue Ray player works with both Blue Ray disks and DVDs. This is not true, however, of hard drives, since as long as the information can be accessed, users do not care about the internal “plumbing” of the device. Thus, the wide availability and inexpensive means of storage allows everything to be stored cheaply. Mayer-Schonberger explains that it is more cost efficient to simply allow all the files to be stored automatically than to routinely go through and eliminate ones that are not used. It is also helpful to have a back-up system, even if the evidence is not always desirable. The author references the vast availability of storage on the web through sites like Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Google.
With the vast amounts of data we can now save and peruse as we please, we need a way to retrieve our information. The ability to search for information within among data increases the value of the information (73). Easy retrieval, however, didn’t used to be so easy, and we came a long way from the first manuscripts to the wonders of Google. Mayer-Schonberger recounts the evolution of organization, from filing to indexes. Other forms of media such as photography or videos little or no such indexing – the user must manually flip through images or fast-forward through a VHS tape to find what he is looking for. Even when computers were first developed, programmers followed a very cataloguing style of organizing, similar to books. “[T]he humans designing the first generations of digital systems were caught up in real-world metaphors of information organization” (75). Ted Codd formulated the more advanced form we know today with the concept of “relational databases” that stored information like a grid, allowing more flexible search terms. The next step in search revolution came with “full-text indexing” that allowed chunks of text to be searched within a document or file, allowing for more than just the tags associated with a file to show up. The author’s only argument against Easy Retrieval is that these searches remove the files from context. Instead of browsing a text and picking up relevant background information on the way, the user only receives a snapshot of the result. I think this is a weak argument against such a valuable social tool.
None of this information could be as widespread and successful without Global Reach. The Internet afforded the possibility of connecting users in their homes to vast stores of knowledge: held together through the digitization process, cheap storage, and easy retrieval. As technology advances, connection speed has gone up and cost down, thus allowing for the globalization of the Internet. Three things have facilitated the development: packet-switched structure of the Internet, fiber optic cable for broadband connections, and facilitating retrofitting existing infrastructure to meet demand without physically laying new cable (80-81). The widespread availability of the Internet allows for sharing of information between users, although Mayer-Schonberger warns that once information is shared, the user no longer has control over it. He argues that it is difficult to keep information about a user private on the Internet, and that security is never truly safe. However, he does acknowledge that it is now almost impossible to exist “offline” and that we must embrace the digital age with caution.
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