Technology, Progress and Relativity

A bit more than ten years ago, while attending a class at my engineering school, a professor told us that it would soon be possible for a computer to recognize someone's face in a jpeg picture or to automatically find who is the author of a song. Knowing that the audio CD sales were at their peak, digital camera useless and the iPod still inexistent, that sounded like (exciting) science fiction.06 April 2012: Holy week procession at Salamanca, Spain. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].Today, Facebook, iPhoto and many others propose automatic tagging of our pictures and nobody finds surprising that Shazam works even in crowded noisy bars (Gosh... i love it). Of course, in computer science, ten years is an eternity. But I find interesting to, from time to time, try to remember what was "normality" few years ago.I haven't seen anyone using a cassette (K7) player or even a Discman (CD player) for a long time now. No pile of CD, batteries or cassettes in the traveler’s bags. MP3 and digital music are part of our life now, and not just as a way to illegally acquire music. I personally haven't purchased a CD in years (I don't even have one in my room) but I buy music on iTunes on a monthly basis and only use my computer/iPod.06 April 2012: Holy week procession at Salamanca, Spain. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].But while Internet, emails, digital cameras, smart phones and computers seem like normal technology for most of us, many people never got access to it. E.g. I worked in Darfur with a fantastic Ghanaian, who had never used a computer in his life. Copying pictures from a memory stick to a laptop was science fiction to him. Unfortunately, under the current circonstances, his salary will certainly never be high enough to allow him to buy a computer. At home, he has a cassette player. The same cassette player that our children do not recognize anymore…How will it be in 10 years time?06 April 2012: Holy week procession at Salamanca, Spain. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].

At night

I miss the night. Walking in the dark and observing life, or its absence, all around me. Listening to the silence or my music. Just walking, without a goal or a map. Just being connected with the place I am, and with myself.I miss you ...3 April 2012: Plaza Mayor, Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain.Maybe it's time for me to go back to the field...

Half-Dreaming

Il est tard. Je cherche mon autre chez-moi, et je prends un chemin que je ne connais pas: Un petit sentier qui longe les usines et la ville entre-coupant par la forêt. Je commence à peine à entrevoir la nature, lorsque tout d'un coup, la nuit tombe.Je suis plongée dans un monde de silence, pourtant je n'ai pas peur. Je m'endors quelques minutes, tout au plus, et quand je me réveille, Le soleil est là et la forêt brille d'une lumière éclatante.Je reconnais cette forêt. Ce n'est pas une forêt ordinaire, c'est une forêt de souvenirs. Mes souvenirs. Cette rivière blanche et sonore, mon adolescence. Ces grands arbres, les hommes que j'ai aimés. Ces oiseaux qui volent, au loin, mon père disparu.Mes souvenirs ne sont plus des souvenirs. Ils sont là, vivants, près de moi, ils dansent et m'enlacent, chantent et me sourient.Je regarde mes mains. Je caresse mon visage, et j'ai 20 ans. Et j'aime comme je n'ai jamais aimé.

M83, Echoes of Mine

[Click on the pictures to enlarge them].