The World Theatre VII - Another MetaPost

How does this post thing work? Those blogs that are updated more often are in a better position? Are the ones with more followers? Followers for what? Oh, yes, for the advertising business.

Certainly there are many kinds of blogs and this one in particular looks a bit like an opinion column of a newspaper, but the difference is that I am not paid to write in it, nor am forced to make entries at specified intervals, although try to do them regularly. I state this with some resentment, because my opinion of the opinionated is not very good in general. Let's be honest, we all have our opinions on something, even if not needed. Of what use is the opinion of a celebrity, whether a writer’s, politician, filmmaker or media personality? Being a good writer provides someone better judgement? I do not know, but I suspect that when one is forced to write about many topics so often, either one of the two: his/her documentary repository and inspiration are endless, or the quality and interest of what he/she says dilute over time (which eventually is the case).

This blog is going to go through the same process, I am afraid (if that initial interest ever existed at some point in time).

The World Theatre II - Metapost

It's incredible the amount of messages crossing the network. Words, words, and words in the largest community of people that the world has ever seen. Forums, blogs, chats and declarations that occur in real time or half real time and then die, or later are taken up, as sounds that go with the wind but that someone is able to recover.

Have you ever considered that they all are like echoes of conversations that will remain, perhaps, many years longer than their authors? I do not want to sound tragic, but have you imagined how many existing posts in the network may belong to people who have already left us?

No doubt, the post we do in weblogs will last more than the sound of a conversation in a village street, and if that makes us happy, we can pretend that this is our timeless legacy to posterity. But be careful, it is only an illusion of eternity. Computers are renewed, bits of information are lost here and there, the networks may suffer radical technological change in the future, and even a huge solar storm could wipe out the memory banks.

Whether we like it or not, a server does not have the durability of a stone wall carved in hieroglyphics. However, if the bloggers legacy must serve future historians and anthropologists, we should wonder about the validity of what we write with an aim to remain on the network. Perhaps it is better that it is all lost over time, isn’t it?