Monday, November 12, 2012

Rise and Shine --- Survival

Good Morning and here we are again.
So, late last week I was fortunate enough to check out the new Titanic exhibit at the Franklin Institute.
There are plenty of the usual things you expect, like pieces of the ship, jewelry, clothes, plates and other items picked up on the ocean floor.
What struck me, though, where a couple things, one visual and one thoughtful.
Those who put the exhibit together recreated parts of the ship that actually can make you feel like you are climbing aboard an ocean liner. The grand staircase made famous by the movie is there (they even had a fake ship captain and passenger walking down the steps). There is a first-class room and a third-class room. You can see the differences between having money and not were just as far apart 100 years ago as today.
There is one area where you are walking down a recreation of one of the ship's hallways. It's fascinating and eerie at the same time.
While I was driving home, though, something hit me. All these material things survived at the bottom of the ocean for nearly 100 years. There were postcards that actually look like they might have been purchased yesterday. There are full men's suits and more bottles than at a bottle shop.
If the Titanic went down today, I guess in 100 years they'd find a bunch of dead iPhones or laptops sinking into the sand. We wouldn't get the photos or the writings.
Blogs don't survive in salty water.
Will we be a lost society because of it? Will future archaeologists just joke about the cloud just floating away?
Something to think about.

No comments: