How Things Work: A Brief History of Reality
Book I – Dualism #33 Understanding Analog Reality
New Substack Edition of Book One Now Available – FREE (PDF) with Upgrade to “Reality by a Thread” Coming June 21st!
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
“We are analog beings living in a digital world, facing a quantum future.”
– Neil Turok
CONSIDERATION #33 – “UNDERSTANDING ANALOG REALITY”
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
Ever wonder what the difference is between a vinyl record and a digital CD? Or a video tape and a DVD? Basically, records and video tape represent analog forms of reproducing physical sensations. There is a big difference between the analog world and the digital world. We have essentially always lived in an analog world until very recently. When I was born there were no computers. As a young man I helped develop the early computer industry. However, the advancement in digital technology over the last twenty years is almost unfathomable. Most people born after 1980 have never really experienced the analog world. For them, all reality is digital reality. So, what is the real difference?
CONSIDERATION #33 – Understanding Analog Reality
The analog world represents a reality related to the five senses. All analog technology represents an attempt to “reproduce” physical sensations that stimulate those senses. Let’s consider the sense of sound. When we listen to a complex system, such as an orchestra, literally hundreds of different and varying instruments and tenors are blended into vibrations that interact with our ear to create sound. Not just any sound, but a unique sound that we interpret through our mind as music. A good example of how the analog world works is the way we reproduce sound.
“…with no physical apparatus, such as an ear, to ‘hear’ the vibrations; no sound’ occurs.”
If a tree falls in the woods, and there is no one there to hear it; does it make a sound? There is a clear and distinct answer to this question: No. When a tree falls in the woods it does not necessarily create a sound, it does, however, create vibrations. Sound occurs when these vibrations create a physical sensation in the ear, which is then processed through the brain and evaluated by the mind, thereby creating a “sound” that we interpret and recognize as a fallen tree. Therefore, with no physical apparatus, such as an ear, to “hear” the vibrations; no “sound” occurs. This basic lesson is important to understand how we recreate music in the analog world. The easiest way to see how this works is to consider how vinyl records are produced and manufactured.
The first step in the process of making an analog record is to capture, or “record,” the original music. This involves a sound source, such as singers and musicians. A device designed to mimic the human ear, called a microphone, is used to transfer the physical vibrations from the sound source. When the vibrations from the sound source hit the microphone, they vibrate a mechanism, such as a diaphragm, that directly reflects those vibrations electronically through a wire, which then directly “reproduces,” or records, those vibrations onto a medium such as vinyl. The vibrations imbedded into this analog vinyl record can then be “replayed” by using a “record player” to retransmit the original vibrations electronically into speakers; reproducing the original vibrations played by the original sound source that we recognize as the original music that was recorded.
“If you look at a record you can physically see the “grooves” that are those original vibrations.”
When we listen to a record, we are hearing those original vibrations produced by the original sound source the way it was originally recorded; they are essentially the same vibrations. There is literally music “in” the record. If you look at a record you can physically see the “grooves” that are those original vibrations. The original vibrations are precisely recorded into the vinyl record so that they can be “played back” later. Although a truly amazing process, there are inherent drawbacks to utilizing analog technology.
The first issue in analog recording is production. Even with the very best technology you can never record the original sound source perfectly. Recording, and especially rerecording, slightly diminishes the original vibrations. This same issue occurs when you try to reproduce analog records. So, an analog recording can never sound “exactly” the same as the original performance. In addition, the medium for most analog recordings are master metal plates that are then used to create the vinyl copies. Eventually, the physical grooves in the masters wear out over the production cycle and are no longer viable. Analog technology is physical, and quickly wears out. You are making a copy of a copy, which eventually leads to generating unusable copies. A vinyl record produced early in the run will have better sound quality than a record produced at the end of the run.
“Anything ‘analog’ is physical and will wear out and deteriorate with use, reproduction, or time.”
Perhaps the worst part about the products produced from analog technology is that they are slightly diminished each time they are used. When you “play” a record, the physical needle used to transfer the physical vibrations from the embedded grooves actually damages those grooves each time the record is played. The record will eventually “wear out” over time with use. In addition, analog records are easily damaged or scratched, causing physical destruction to the physical grooves, and affecting the playback. The same thing occurs to “tape” recordings, but in a slightly different way. Anything “analog” is physical and will wear out and deteriorate with use, reproduction, or time. The best an analog record will ever sound is the first time you play it. Every time after that, the quality is slightly decreased until eventually it is no longer worth playing.
“From the sound source, through the recording process, to the manufacturing process, until the final record is played and listened to, the same original vibrations are just reproduced and transferred to the next stage of production…”
Analog technology essentially transfers physical information, such as vibrations, from one physical medium to another. However, nothing is changed. From the sound source, through the recording process, to the manufacturing process, until the final record is played and listened to, the same original vibrations are just reproduced and transferred to the next stage of production; slightly degenerating a little through each step of the process. Digital technology, however, is not a transfer of physical information, it is a conversion of physical reality into mathematical abstraction. The immeasurable physical sensation of sound is in fact converted into a mathematical equation; something even Descartes could not conceive.
POSTSCRIPT
Essentially, the analog world is a world of physical sensation; a world that replicates the world of the five senses. These physical sensations are captured through technology that imitates our five senses, allowing those same physical sensations to be “played back” later when our senses can re-experience the original physical sensations captured, or recorded, by the technological device. Everything that occurs in the process is real, in that it originates and remains an actual physical sensation throughout the entire process. From beginning to end you are essentially dealing with the same physical sensation; just technologically transferred from one physical medium to another. How does this differ from digital technology?
Next week we consider the new world of Digital Technology and how it reflects the possibility for a new alternate reality.
New “Reality by a Thread” Upgrade Coming June 21st!
