Exit
let me “relive life’s special and
everyday moments,” as the ad
copy on the camera’s sleek box
had promised. When I scrolled
through the thousands of photos
it captured, I had the feeling of
discovering entirely new dimensions to an experience I thought I
knew. It both jogged my memory
and fiddled with it.
I’m crushed to discover someone sneering at me as I passed by
her, leaving me obsessed trying
to explain this mystery enemy I
ticked off for unknown reasons. A
picture of me gesticulating while
I chat with a friend caught him
looking miffed at our conversation. But since the Narrative can
only tell me that we were talking — not what we were talking
about — I can’t remember if I
said something that might have
irked him. Should I apologize? For
what? Was it an awkward remark,
or just the shutter’s awkward timing? And then there’s watching
my bad habits replayed over and
over and over during the hundreds
of photos during my workday —
the nibbling, the lip-biting, the
squinting, the snacking. Cruel and
unusual punishment indeed.
The Narrative Clip lets me see
my life through someone else’s eyes
TECH
HUFFINGTON
02.23.14
— or in this case, the unfocused
and impartial eye of a machine. Its
blunt record can expose our faults.
As Bush wrote, “Presumably man’s
spirit should be elevated if he can
better review his shady past and
I’m crushed to discover
someone sneering at me as
I passed by her, leaving me
obsessed trying to explain
this mystery enemy I ticked
off for unknown reasons.”
analyze more completely and objectively his present problems.”
And yet, as any historian
knows, reconstructing our past
requires interpretation along with
the facts. Even if an all-capturing
camera provides us with a photo
documentary of our lives, we still
get final say when inventing the
story that goes with it.
That picture of my friend, for
instance. I just remembered what
was happening: He was taken
aback by the brilliant, inspired and
utterly earth-shattering observation I’d made that same moment.
At least the picture
doesn’t say otherwise.