WORLDS GONE TO ETHER

 

A dear friend told me more than ten years ago that her physical bookshelves were emptying. For reasons of space saving, she had gone from squeezing in more volumes to replacing them with eBooks. She’s an avid reader, for whom books are not an occasional pastime or a distraction. Books are her passion.

 

 Mind you, she’s also a librarian.

 

The day a librarian is giving up her stacks of physical paper books is also the day our reality has moved to the ethernet.

 

That day is almost here.

 

Has your bank been imploring you to forgo paper statements? Have your utility companies stopped sending paper bills and even offered discounted bills if you go to “autopay?” Has your doctor been sending medical test orders to the lab virtually, no paper orders anywhere? Have your plane/train/bus tickets gone to an app on your phone with no paper backup needed?

 

You know what I’m saying.

It saves some trees. Hooray. It also saves space. It moves records of reality from our physical spaces to another realm, one that is microscopic by comparison.

 

This post from some months ago got me thinking about my post today. Even traditional publishers have realized the precious space of weatherized warehouses need not be, because POD books (Print On Demand) have become indistinguishable in quality and will do for those who like to hold a physical paper book. They print a physical book only after it’s ordered and paid for/sold.

 

Despite the title of this post, it is not about the afterlife. It is about the digital world replacing the physical in many spheres. This leaves more room for us, wretched creatures, while we’re still inhabiting the physical.