I am very curious about what life was like when Messengers were the primary delivery system, when a person had to go to another person to report new developments or send messages. All the news had to come from a human being.
Apart from there probably being a lot less news to deal with on a daily basis, there was always a human face connected to any bit of information.
I’d imagine that there was an altogether quieter mind then. Perhaps the mind created its own news coming into it – but I would like to know what that must have felt like.
Even letters had to be passed from one human hand to another. Now most of us get our news from the small rectangles that dominate our lives. Some of us even get most of it from our social media networks – perhaps an attempt to re-connect the human face to the new delivery system?
And now, as I write this, I looked up to see a cluster of police officers and two EMTs surrounding a woman with a large bag. I don’t know what is going on – but I can see all their faces from this café where I’m sitting. If I read this event in the news, it would be meaningless – but in front of me, with all those faces, it is a captivating bit of news.
The Hamlet Project 