This was a very interesting article for me, as I have a compulsion to archive pieces of audio. In high school, if I got the rare chance to have a clandestine party at my parent's house, I would try to set up microphones around the house in ways that wouldn't be immediately noticeable. I think my friends would have thought I was spying on them or something, but I only did it because I was convinced I might want to listen to the results when I'm 50 and old and lonely. Even just 5 years later, it's still satisfying to listen to the voices of my friends as they once were and recall how I felt at that time.
This article gave me a bit more perspective when it pointed out the possibility that great-grandchildren, or anybody else in a century, would be able to listen to our voices and know us as more than pictures of strangers. This is a privilege that's only been available to us for about 50 or 60 years, and we should make use of it as much as we can. It also made me wonder about how the archival process of our lives might change as technology advances. It seems we might be capable or greater fidelity in the preservation of our lives as time goes on, which is strange to think about. Regardless, I thought this effort to log our population into the Library of Congress was a great idea with some serious potential benefit for future generations.
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