“A single thread in a tapestry, through its color brightly shine,
can never see its purpose in the pattern of the grand design”– Prince of Egypt
Our Facebook walls, Twitter streams and Google photo libraries create a digital tapestry that we are all weaving into a fabric of our collective past. Each of us have a thread of 0 and 1’s spinning behind us. These threads are becoming individual expressions of curated experiences. Advances in A.I. are allowing us to interact with these threads in a new way that I feel has, and will continue to have, a profound impact on how we live and experience our connected lives.
How we each choose to interact with our threaded timelines has an impact on the greater tapestry.
“Your life is written in indelible ink. There’s no going back to erase the past, tweak your mistakes, or fill in missed opportunities. When the moment’s over, your fate is sealed. But if look closer, you notice the ink never really dries on any our experiences. They can change their meaning the longer you look at them.”
– The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
When it gets to the point of having to block and sever another’s thread – one that was once so closely tied – it creates gaps and holes in the collective tapestry; a bad break up that leads to timeline bleaching. Whiting out once beautiful moments – moments that were chosen to be displayed for all to see. We are being given this digital bleach each day as we are notified with glimpses of this tapestry.
What happens? And how do we react when someone else takes that bleach to our own thread? Deleting things they don’t wish to be a part of the design…
Google scans my photos and videos, searching for emotional context. It scans for smiles and moments of elation and excitement. It surprises me with edited videos, composed with beautiful music and effects. It’s becoming an Artistic Assistant of my own life. A digital director having artificial discernment of times in my past totally forgotten. It can do so, in such a way, that makes the moment special yet again.
Will they understand the context contained in every chat, txt and email sent? Reminding you who has helped you through hard times in the past and prompts you with a draft to send and reconnect. When we each have these assistants getting to know us more intimately, I feel the human experience of connection will become richer and more vibrant. The threads we weave together into this digital tapestry is, and will continue to be, humanity’s greatest masterpiece.