The real Easter is in the computer

1. From Slate.com:

Charlotte (age 5) dangled Easter (a Webkinz bunny) out the window. Then let go. Tears. Pandemonium. This is precisely the stuffed animal death that parents fear. Except Eva (age 7) made Charlotte see that it wasn't in fact a death. The real Easter, she convinced her weeping sister, was not the lost bunny. The real Easter was in the computer. The run-over toy didn't matter, really, because it was just that, a toy, "like there could be a toy of you and me, but that wouldn't be the real you and me," as Eva explained it.

2. I recently read Altered Carbon, a sci fi novel in which 25th century technology allows any person's digitized consciousness to be re-installed in any organic or synthetic body - which has no more significance than a Webkinz bunny. Those who can afford proper backup are able to survive any disaster without losing more than a few hours of life experience.

3. Yesterday Sophy sent me this New York Times article on SugarSync, which backs up your files from and makes them available to multiple PCs, Macs and phones. 10 GB of storage costs $25/year, and 250GB costs $250.

I wonder how much space it'd take to digitize the real you?

Comments

[Rich Miller]

Hmmmm... since backup sizes are related to the volume of information they contain, wouldn't it cost more to digitize smart people? I could see my kids using that to get out of their homework. "I'd learn that algebra lesson, Dad, but it would only increase your backup costs - whereas playing the Wii would be a storage-neutral activity."