| Happy Sunday, everyone. The analog always wins. Or, it at least persists. It might not feel like it, as I type on my hyperfast 2.8 pound laptop. But where are you right now? You're looking at the screen but your ass is in a chair, your feet are planted on the floor, gravity is acting on you. Your other hand is resting on the armrest. You feel the steam from your coffee beside you. There's a dog nuzzling your knee, bacon frying in the pan and splattering all over the stovetop. The analog is where we are, so it should be no surprise that the analog world always wins. Actual physical books are better and more effective for kids than tablet-borne books. Playing with friends in person beats "Zoom playdates." Taking notes in class by hand helps you retain the info better than typing them. Can you name a counter-example? I'm not talking about digital tools that allow us to do something we've never done before, because those are very powerful and effective. How could they not be better when there's literally no analog alternative? The closest thing to Twitter is the guy screaming about the apocalypse on a street corner, and we all know how that comes off.
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But when you compare digital tools to their analog counterparts, it seems like the analog always wins. Why? Is this just a problem of inadequate technology? Are we still too primitive to beat the real thing? Is it a matter of engaging all the senses? When you flip the pages of an actual book, is there something special about the pages rubbing together, the sound, the texture, the smell? A used bookstore feels warm, comforting, inviting, invigorating. What would a digital bookstore—clean, clinical, minimalist, hallway lined with LED screens displaying the books—feel like? Ever go to one of those Amazon brick and mortars? Bit of an odd feel in there. I've been wearing a lot of linen lately. Arguably "worse" than a lot of the tech athletic wear. No real stretch, can wrinkle easily, more fragile in the wash. And yet it just feels "good" to wear linen (especially in humid Miami). What's going on here? Will we ever get past this? Should we? Let me know what you think in the comments section of this week's New and Noteworthy. | 
