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Editorial
Pursuit of trivia is just a Google away
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Back in the day, I fancied myself a fairly decent repository of trivial facts. When in college, we would while away study time by exchanging competing questions on trivial matters.
Sports, music, current events, etc., all provided sources of unimportant minutia that would be debated over adult beverages.
What motion picture received the Oscar in 1939?
Before he was a home-run king, what position did the great Babe Ruth play?
What was Harry S. Truman's middle name?
The newspaper business exposes you to more trivial matters than most professions.
And thus, in a small way, I found myself with a slight advantage.
When the board game Trivial Pursuit first became popular, I discovered this useless inventory of obscure knowledge worked in my favor.
And other than a local lawyer who always bested me, I won more games than I lost.
Fast forward to the iPhone.
My days as a trivia savant are gone.
Now when a remote subject comes up for discussion - like the capital of Rhode Island - everyone with an iPhone topples my self-anointed trivia crown.
The playing field of trivial matters has officially been leveled.
An accumulated lifetime spent absorbing lesser known subjects has been rendered obsolete.
It no longer matters that I know Fats Domino's real name. My granddaughter can access the answer as rapidly as the words flow from my lips.
Collective memory and recall are no match for this modern technology.
Once upon a time, the wisdom of our elders was a source of massive insight into matters large and small.
But now, much of that long lost trivia is just a key stroke away.
The advantage of age and experience along with a lifetime of useless absorption is now accessible to the masses.
But looking into the future, what does this rapid information access mean to tomorrow's generation?
Will we reach the point where memory of remote data is no longer necessary?
Will recall give away solely to electronic access?
And I can only assume we call this progress.
I hate the iPhone!
Disclaimer: Much of the content of this column was gathered from my iPhone!