A Subtle Interplay - The Digital Mind & Analog Thinking

Digital technology has moved from being an optional chapter in physics to a compulsory section in life called ‘earning a livelihood’. But do we still need to have an analog mind to find new things?

- Y Shekar

It was in a Physics class I first heard about digital technology. The term was solid-state physics. My understanding of digital technology has only improved a shade more than it was eons ago of it being ON-OFF, 0 or 1 —only two states and nothing in between.

The Airmec radio at home was an important artifact that played songs from various stations during the day and at 9:00 PM sharp, one of my elder siblings would manually turn the knob over to play NEWS — All India Radio, News! This was a daily feature and the most important affair of the day. Our father, the person who purchased the radio never operated it himself; he directed one of us to play what he wanted to hear from the radio. To get to the desired station required some deft maneuvering skill, which only my elder siblings had. As an observer of ‘change’ I stood looking at the knob being gently turned around till a horizontal indicator stood steady at 102.9! This was like watching a connoisseur pouring the last few drops of wine into your glass – well poised and balanced during an intricate act. On the Airmec too, you needed audio sensitivity besides visual accuracy to weed out loud and mild disturbances.

My single-track career in technology was serendipity. Digital technology now daunted me as it had moved from being an optional chapter in physics to a compulsory section in life called ‘earning a livelihood’. I was still grappling with the On-OFF switches at home that controlled the lights and fans – is this digital technology?