snapshots from Portland’s First Thursday in December 2007
First Thursday at PAC: Panels and Memory
Back in the old days, a strong powerful memory was one of the greatest virtues, representing the internalization of a universe of external knowledge. Seneca the Elder could repeat 2,000 names in the order they’d been given to him. The Roman Simplicius could recite Virgil by heart backward. We’re swiftly replacing our internal memory with external memory, in this case a vast sea of little yellow superstructures supporting experience. Memory Machines’ parable of the 3×3 outsourcing of memory posits both an ode to something lost and something found.
