Analog speed

A face-to-face chat between two or more people runs at analog speed. A group discussion, a conference, a parliamentary session, a rally, even a protest is conducted at analog speed. Writing, sending, receiving and reading a letter are all analog operations. They obey human time. As the agents set the temporal constraints, the technology follows. Space matters and it’s circumscribed. Time matters and it’s constricted, subject to limitations shaping the communication. The experience of this type of communication is embodied. Patience is required. To keep the interaction going is to let it slide towards concession and away from intransigence. Two faces in action are more than talking heads, more than competitive texts, more than combat – or at least they can be. At analog speed, things grow and die organically, like everything else in nature. Here and now is different than there and then. And all there-s are different, just like all instances are different. Replication is impossible, because time is allowed to shape each process and leave a mark on every part. When we live at analog speed, we can pause to admire the scenery, and even stop and start afresh, on a different path. We’re never overrun because we’re the only ones allowed to run things over. At analog speed, there’s plenty of room…