It's been argued that digital media will never surpass the richness and quality of analogue: Vinyl records will always sound better than digital files, film negatives record light through a real chemical process; they don't imitate or fabricate the illusion of light with combinations of 1's and 0's, etc. It's a delusional impulse, this desire for the "real thing." While we may understand the "real thing" physically and semiotically changes with time, we long for and expect stasis – the comfort of simplicity in a binary code.
The fear of instability isn't unfounded. Information is inevitably lost with each generation of reproduction. After Massasoit and William Bradford died, their sons and grandsons began manipulating and finding loop holes in the pact that mutually safe-guarded both parties. The genuine respect and gratitude the pilgrims held for their native neighbors evaporated in just one generation, as values and subjectivities changed.
How productive is it to preserve the integrity of that first generation?
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