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Friday, December 5. 2008

CD Rot, and St. Augustine on Time

One of my personal rules since my�formal education ended has been�to make sure I learn a�minimum of ten interesting things per day.

I learned about CD rot today.

Indeed nothing is permanent except (we, or some of us,�believe) God. The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that our whole universe gizmo-thingy�is set up that way. As it happened, last night, at a�dinner out, a hunting buddy mentioned re-reading St. Augustine's chapter in The Confessions�about time.�My confession was�that I did not remember that chapter at all. I do recall learning that God is a timeless entity and that God's time is not our time -�but not in Augustine. And I also confess that the entire subject of time is a mystery to me.

Anyway, here's a short essay on Augustine on the subject of time: Time as a Psalm.

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 17:59 | Comments (9) | Trackback (1)

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Many years ago when I had responsibility for a recordings archive I got a phone call from a music school seeking advice on maintaining their archive. Before the days of easy computer recording, they wanted to purchase some digital or analog master-quality recorder and be sure that the recordings would be playable in 100 years -- I think that they'd promised that in a grant application or something. After I went over the various problems of the various options available, she said something like "surely in this day and age there is some format that, barring fire, flood, or breakage, can be guaranteed to sound just as good in 100 years as it does today. I assured her that we had the track record to show that 78 records fit her new requirements perfectly if they were properly stored.
#1 DOuglas2 on 2008-12-05 18:36 (Reply)
First of all, while I am neither a physicist or a theologian, I have studied both subjects extensively, and have yet to find a serious contradiction between the two disciplines.

On the subject of time, God is omnipresent and eternal. Time is a property of the universe God created, as is space, but neither is a property of God Himself. Just as He is equally present at all points in space, He must also be equally present at all points in time, past, present, and future. Thus I think it is somewhat improper to stay that God was present at the creation; I think it is more accurate to say that even now God is present at the creation, and at the Final Judgment, at at every point in between. To state otherwise is to ascribe to god our own limitation of having to experience time only one event at a time.

So when the prophets and indeed Christ Himself spoke of the future, they were speaking of events that had, in a matter of speaking, already happened in a future known only to God.
#2 Dan on 2008-12-05 19:15 (Reply)
Oh my... is this a chance to open up the free will versus destiny debate. Always a popular topic.
#3 Luther McLeod on 2008-12-05 21:58 (Reply)
Interesting. So Christ knew the other two Abrahamic religions were going to be major players and one would spend centuries trying to wipe out the others? oops... Lost my time and space continuum: Will spend centuries trying to wipe out the others..

Luther. Is that free will or destiny? Habu recommends genocide of one of those Abrahamic religions. What do you think God thinks of us messing with his creations like that?
`
#4 Meta on 2008-12-05 22:21 (Reply)
Well... from what I just read, yes. All was/is foreknown. So... I don't think God thinks much of anything about it. It just is, you know. He doesn't play favorites.
#4.1 Luther McLeod on 2008-12-05 23:34 (Reply)
He doesn't? All is known ahead of time? I guess we humans aren't supposed to know that because if there is one thing for certain in that scenario is that it wipes out the concept of sin.
`
#4.1.1 Meta on 2008-12-05 23:42 (Reply)
Platonic thought came to an Eastern religion and declared, �There�s a new sheriff in town!� Now pebbles on the shore of a vast ocean contemplate the heavens.

I�m going to separate myself from the debate and listen to a loop of Elvis Costello�s God�s Comic while a contemplate some aspect of my computer�s programming I find quite mysterious. I like to do this now and then and compare my knowledge of this finite, confounding machine with the infinite mystery of a surmised God. It keeps me from blathering on about things I couldn�t possibly know.
#4.1.1.1 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-12-06 10:13 (Reply)
CD's degrade? I read quite a bit about the subject back in the day when making the transition from film to digital. The technology will be obsolete soon anyway. Until the day we all burn indestructable platters with all of our industry and memories in a universal and eternal digital format, back up and convert, back up and convert, lest those cherished bits should be rendered obsolete or deleted.

As for time, my perception of time is as a puddle. Quite non-linear most days, but I do try to see things lining up. Really though, I enjoy an immovable present. I will miss it when I go the way of the CD (or at least I will spend a fraction of the present contemplating what I will be unable to miss in my abscence).
#5 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-12-05 22:57 (Reply)
Really, I have so much to learn before I go, such as how to spell "absence".
#5.1 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-12-05 23:01 (Reply)

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