The Persistance of Memory or Lack Thereof
So there I was watching Gangs of New York the other night and the ending got me thinking. Basically the movie is about Civil War era NYC and the gangs that pretty much ran it. There was a lot of drama and struggle and murder and all that kind of thing that seems so important at the time. But at the end it showed the graves of the people who had fought and died. Then there was a time lapse as the city grew from what it was to what it is now.. and this is the part that got me thinking.
How long is a person actually known? Given the lifespans currently I'd guess no longer than 3 generations and at that only vaguely. Follow my reasoning here. We're discounting your parent's generation as they should die before you. So you are known by your peers. They will last roughly as long as you. Your children (or children of siblings) will be the ones to keep a knowledge of you and who you are. Your grandchildren for the sake of this argument will keep memories of who you were alive for a good portion of their lives. Great grandchildren will have an impression of you - but that will likely be rather vague. So who you were as a person is at best only recalled for as long as your and the immediate succeeding generation last. So let's call it a good 80-120 or so years of active memory of who you were and what you were about. Less so if you don't have much of a family but that's another issue.
Beyond that all you are is a name and possibly a picture. How long that may last is even more subjective depending on the record keeping in your family. But the point being it won't be too long before even the picture and the name are almost without meaning. I mean we may know the names of the kings of ancient cultures from thousands of years ago - but nothing is known of them as people. What they sounded like, who they were, their favorite color, and things like that. Even more recent historic figures for whom these facts are 'known' are only known by rote. No one can claim a real connection with them.
This is compounded for the average person. Not to belittle any-ones life but while the names of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt may still be known - the guy who lived a half mile from the castle is lost to history. And this pretty much is the fate of everyone. So no big deal really. Not like anyone is spared the quick slide into oblivion. For the vast majority of life a brief period of minor significance followed by a eternity of not mattering is how it goes.
But let's now examine the legacy. What goes on after you. For some charitable organizations are created in their memory. For others it's inventions. Granted for some of these the knowledge of who made them and why is hard to find, but it's there someplace. A very very small few will be known in history (however long *that* lasts) for their contributions to society (good or ill) or science, or the arts. Names will be remembered for longer than the stones that the rest of us get will last.
Now however there is a new medium of information storage. The internet. One must wonder how long this will last. It is of interest to me as my 'legacy' such that it is is pretty much tied into this. What I have provided the world is a bunch of anthropomorphic 'artwork' and that's all pretty much spank material. I like to think I'm bringing joy into the lives of the people who look at it - often for minutes at a time (If you know what I mean and I think that you do) And I know the various images will certainly last longer in their electronic world than I will in the real one. So I'm fairly confident that my art will at least live on - to provide pleasure to a little niche group for as long as that lasts. And this makes me feel ... well mildly uncomfortable, but good for all that.
And then I remember - all my work is under a pseudonym and nobody knows a damn thing about who made it and why. Not really. At least - not that will outlast me for long.
Oh well.
Told you I was going stir crazy :)
How long is a person actually known? Given the lifespans currently I'd guess no longer than 3 generations and at that only vaguely. Follow my reasoning here. We're discounting your parent's generation as they should die before you. So you are known by your peers. They will last roughly as long as you. Your children (or children of siblings) will be the ones to keep a knowledge of you and who you are. Your grandchildren for the sake of this argument will keep memories of who you were alive for a good portion of their lives. Great grandchildren will have an impression of you - but that will likely be rather vague. So who you were as a person is at best only recalled for as long as your and the immediate succeeding generation last. So let's call it a good 80-120 or so years of active memory of who you were and what you were about. Less so if you don't have much of a family but that's another issue.
Beyond that all you are is a name and possibly a picture. How long that may last is even more subjective depending on the record keeping in your family. But the point being it won't be too long before even the picture and the name are almost without meaning. I mean we may know the names of the kings of ancient cultures from thousands of years ago - but nothing is known of them as people. What they sounded like, who they were, their favorite color, and things like that. Even more recent historic figures for whom these facts are 'known' are only known by rote. No one can claim a real connection with them.
This is compounded for the average person. Not to belittle any-ones life but while the names of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt may still be known - the guy who lived a half mile from the castle is lost to history. And this pretty much is the fate of everyone. So no big deal really. Not like anyone is spared the quick slide into oblivion. For the vast majority of life a brief period of minor significance followed by a eternity of not mattering is how it goes.
But let's now examine the legacy. What goes on after you. For some charitable organizations are created in their memory. For others it's inventions. Granted for some of these the knowledge of who made them and why is hard to find, but it's there someplace. A very very small few will be known in history (however long *that* lasts) for their contributions to society (good or ill) or science, or the arts. Names will be remembered for longer than the stones that the rest of us get will last.
Now however there is a new medium of information storage. The internet. One must wonder how long this will last. It is of interest to me as my 'legacy' such that it is is pretty much tied into this. What I have provided the world is a bunch of anthropomorphic 'artwork' and that's all pretty much spank material. I like to think I'm bringing joy into the lives of the people who look at it - often for minutes at a time (If you know what I mean and I think that you do) And I know the various images will certainly last longer in their electronic world than I will in the real one. So I'm fairly confident that my art will at least live on - to provide pleasure to a little niche group for as long as that lasts. And this makes me feel ... well mildly uncomfortable, but good for all that.
And then I remember - all my work is under a pseudonym and nobody knows a damn thing about who made it and why. Not really. At least - not that will outlast me for long.
Oh well.
Told you I was going stir crazy :)