I am not a birder (though it seems like a great hobby) but I was interested in the article about the Birding World Series in the NYT this weekend. Old school birding is bumping up against new technologies like bird watching apps. It strikes me as a tension between two styles of learning. The “old school” style is about accumulating knowledge over time from the experience of patient observation in the field. The newer “technological style” seems to be more about being able to skillfully access, process and consume information. It’s great that there is so much information about so many things out there to access. But I think there is value in having experiences and learning in ways that take time and that are not mediated by computer technology.
Which reminds me my friend Judy Radul has written a great article about her new work This is Television that touches on the moon, television, Hannah Arendt’s notion of perceptions as no longer direct sensations but instead filtered through technological instruments .