monkeys
Back in 1986, during my last year of high school, there was a radio trivia contest to win tickets to a concert. I didn¡¯t have much money, but I really wanted to go see this particular group, so I sat myself beside the radio one Monday morning, phone in hand, and waited. Now, my head has always been overflowing with completely useless information ¨Cprobably more so at that time in my life¨C so I knew I stood just as good a chance as anybody else. Finally, they asked the question: ¡°What was David Bowie¡¯s theatrical rock-star persona backed by the Spiders from Mars?¡± I dialed as quickly as I could, but (hampered by my old rotary phone, no doubt) I was not the first, and so didn¡¯t win the tickets. For three more mornings, I did the same, each time knowing the answer, but failing to be the first to call. On that Friday, however, the question was much harder: ¡°Whose band did Canadian singer Gowan borrow for the recording of his Strange Animal LP?¡± This time I won the tickets. (The answer, by the way, is Peter Gabriel, who was recording in the same studio around the same time.)
I was proud of my accomplishment, elated by that vindication of the sheer width and breadth of the mostly impractical data stogged tight into my brain. It seems a little foolish in retrospect, but the accumulation of knowledge was ¨Cfor me¨C the most distinguishing facet of my self-identity.
Back then, information was far less transitory. I remember reading and studying endlessly, trying to retain every nugget of information I could, whether it was useful or not. Now, I have become lazy. When a question is asked and I don¡¯t know the response, a quick search on the Net will generally take me directly to the right information. The question answered, the details then drop away from my mind, and I usually forget it completely. I suspect most people do this nowadays, relying upon the Net far more than memory. When someone dials a friend from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, are they really choosing their most knowledgeable friend, or simply the fastest with Google? Who would you phone?
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