The Test of Time

An idea must stand the test of time before it can be transmitted through space. In other words, it must be proof against oblivion, falsity and falsification, and at the same time remain alive, fertile and receptive to change. An idea can only do this if it is fixed, first of all in the memory, then in a material substance. This paradox is more apparent than real: fixity is a precondition and guarantee of the movement of thought. But if memory is the prime vector for the transmission of ideas, it is only when ideas are externalized by inscription in a medium or “carrier” that their lives are prolonged beyond the limits of a single human life. As a result of this process messages are detached from the human body which they outlive by being themselves “embodied” in a device that memorizes and diffuses them.

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