Please Lose It

1.  Sexting App

An interesting development in the arena of digital technology is the release of the new iPhone app, Snapchat. Usually, we take photos in order to keep and share them with our friends - but this new app actually sets a time limit (maximum 10 seconds) to share our photos before they get deleted permanently.

This self-deleting (or self-cleaning) technology is actually not new, as most internet browsers already long have an 'incognito' mode that purposely deletes our browsing history. Of course, some commentators are quick to associate Snapchat with the 'incognito' mode, and speculate on the real use of this new app - to do 'dirty' stuff without getting caught. As 'incognito' mode was nicknamed porn mode, Snapchat is being recognized as a sexting app. 


2. Beyond Us, Agony of Loss

Let's attempt to distinguish two non-exclusive kinds of loss: subjective, and objective. 

Subjective loss is when something is not within our reach. Objective loss is when something is not within the reach of others. In other words, something that is subjectively lost is beyond us; when something is objectively lost it is beyond them. An object can obviously be lost both subjectively and objectively, but it can also be lost only subjectively, or vice versa. 

Let's take a familiar example: when we lose a pen. This is a subjective loss, as the pen is beyond our reach. However, this is not necessarily an objective loss, as we believe the pen must be 'out there' - misplaced, or stolen, either way - the pen is still within the reach of other people. So it's only a subjective loss (the pen is beyond me, not beyond others). The lost object can be a key, remote control (in those good ol' days), or even a certain fact (person's name, a certain topic from a textbook, etc.). 

We can also speculate that a purely subjective loss (like losing a pen) is almost always a painful experience. This agony is experienced, as the effort to retrieve the lost object may also reveal our impotence to keep everything that is within our reach from getting lost. Hence, this realization turns into a frustration.


3. Beyond Them, Please Forget

As there are purely subjective losses, perhaps there could be purely objective losses - things that are lost from others, but not from ourselves (beyond them, not beyond us). One good example of a purely objective loss would be Snapchat, the self-deleting photo sharing app.

Before we talk about Snapchat, we can use the example of a lost pen again to illustrate an objective loss. This time, however, we have not lost a pen, but curiously, another person has lost it. Another way to look at it, is that in a subjective loss, we've lost a pen that must be somewhere in the office; whereas in an objective loss, the office has lost a pen, but we know where it is. Of course, we can suspect mischief in such objective loss (all of you don't know where it is, but I do). 

But isn't this objective loss also useful to cover our shame (as it may hide our guilt in the pen situation)? Perhaps this is where Snapchat, and 'incognito' browsing mode have their roles in our digital age. 

These self-cleaning tools could be a response to the all-too-efficient way the digital world remembers. There are certain things that we'd like others to forget, but the digital world never forgets - unless it's given specific commands to do so. And to make matters worse, more and more memory backups are created precisely to avoid digital memories from getting lost. What a world we live in.


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Image source: http://www.lolbrary.com/post/37696/snapchat/

The Sound of Reassurance

On Brahms' Intermezzo in A major

The first time I paid attention to this beautiful piano piece was on a mid-autumn late afternoon, travelling home from work. I had it on my mp3 player along with other classical pieces in a compilation album of the 'Best Classical Music' I downloaded from the internet. I fell in love with it instantly as I heard the pristine chorus. 

But before we talk about the chorus, first let's listen to this piece from its very beginning.

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The opening theme is rather modest. In fact this opening statement is repeated three times, before, a circular, series of upgoing and downgoing notes are played. This dizzying array of notes that follow the repetitive opening melody may be uninteresting to the listener. But this is why we can take it as a test of the listener's endurance to pay attention to this piece, despite its apparent dullness in this section. This becomes more challenging as a further series of downgoing dissonance follow.

It is not long, however, before a comforting, most beautiful chorus is introduced - and the listener's patience is finally redeemed. This is when we can feel that the music is telling us that "everything is alright."

Then, the piece takes us to its problematic theme. This fast-paced theme is played twice and each time it ends with a 'question mark' - before moving on to the next theme of temporary comfort. The slow changing notes of this soothing theme, are then followed by the restless problematic theme again. This time, however, the problematic theme is eventually merged to the recapitulation of the opening section. The merge is cleverly achieved by the upgoing 'question mark' repeated until the opening melody is finally reached.

After the opening theme is repeated again, it is followed by the circular theme, now already familiar on repeated hearing. And not long after, we hear the wonderful chorus that ends the piece. Here again, we are reminded by the chorus, poetically repeated at the end, that "everything will be alright."

(This is my rendition of this brilliant composition by Brahms. Enjoy)

Human Migration

Many people flock to big cities and leave their hometowns when they are still young, but old enough to live independently. What better reason could there be to move into the city than its greater job opportunity, which promises better life than to remain in smaller hometowns. We might compare new city immigrants to prisoners who have just escaped prison, prematurely celebrating their escape. How unfortunate for the escapees, however, when they will eventually realize that they haven't actually escaped from prison life. They have merely moved from one cell to another - only this time it's bigger and crowded with other prisoners. 

Is there no escape then?

Perhaps there is - but not in moving places. No doubt, it is easier to escape prison, than to escape prison life. However, the tyrannies of prison life will hunt the escapee anywhere he goes. The only way for the prisoner to achieve freedom is to really deserve it. An innocent man, when falsely imprisoned, may suffer from injustice. But to soothe his suffering, he finds consolation in his innocence. A guilty man has no such privilege. No wonder he always brings his troubles with him, in and out of prison.