I was listening at an excellent podcast episode from “99% Invisible”, about how the US flag got designed and crafted. It happens to be that there is an actual surviving specimen of the Star Spangled Banner (not our anthem, but an actual flag), which is now housed at the Smithsonian.
An object like this, is part of a nation’s history. It represents all the events that happened around it and that it was a witness of, and it makes us wonder about the people that came before us and that crossed its path.
It made me think, with all the technology advances, how will such a human thing of saving a keepsake to remind us about something of importance will change? This flag was made with the technology available at the moment. Fabric, needle, and thread.
How will mementos from the future look like?
I am already accustomed with having a copy of the first Mac, or the Motorola “brick”, but I still cannot bring my head around on how will we look back in time to a piece of code, a 3D printed object, or an NFT minted decades ago.
Perhaps our human frame of mind requires an upgrade.