People leveraging objects from outside the snap
We don’t have to dig that far into our histories to find when the only information we have are things left by those who came before: paths (which could also be non-human fauna), buildings, furniture, pots, clothing. As time continued it’s trudge forward, we added writing: our first information technology.
Some of those things last millennia (stone buildings), some rot and return to the earth in a matter of months if they aren’t cared for (clothing). But they are still tangible pieces of the past that can be seen and used in time beyond their source.
As we’ve developed tools, we’ve added incredible depth and breadth to the available input from the past. We have rich sound recordings on various media. We have visual recordings that are a precise, non-interpretive reflection of reality. They are still only pieces; there will still be things happening outside of the capture of sound waves or the frame of the lens. But what they’ve captured is a richer, more nuanced form of the past brought to the now than we had before.
In terms of data points? Our available data is so rich, so varied, so subject to interpretations that I wrote over 50 pages as a very basic introduction to how they can be pulled together. Many of us mostly depend on our information technology and libraries to manage it.
The data contained in digital information technology can even be interpreted by a program. No learning curve, no ideating, no memory needed: pop in parameters, and solutions spit out.
The data in our digital information technology is also, possibly, transient. It has only one form of access (electronic) even if the interface and tools are getting richer. If we lose our electric technology, none of these histories will survive. They will be lost quicker than a shirt left in the woods.
Technically, because we’re always using tools we already have, those objects of history are part of people in a snap.
Springboards
Devlin, H. (2023, February 9). Discovery of 3m-year-old stone tools sparks prehistoric whodunnit. Theguardian.com.
Frederickson, E. (2025, May 1). Archaeologists found 11,500-year-old tools that reveal an incredible human adventure. Popular Mechanics.
Goman, C. K. (2011, November 28). How culture controls communication. Forbes.
| The British Museum. (2024, August 1). The Babylonian Map of the World with Irving Finkel | Curator’s Corner S9 Ep5. Youtu.Be. |
The British Museum. (2024a, June 13). We found a lost temple using maths sent by an ancient Sumerian god.
Wikipedia contributors. History of writing. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.