Reflection on Blown to Bits Chapter 1

Koan 1: It’s All Just Bits
Koan 2: Perfection Is Normal
Koan 6: Nothing Goes Away
Koan 7: Bits Move Faster Than Thought
Pick one of the above koans and address the following questions:
Argue if you agree that it is a "truth" and if it will always be a "truth."
How does this koan intersect with your life as a student?

I think that Koan 6: Nothing Goes Away is a truth, and will always be a truth. This is because, with computers, there are so many bits and so much space to store them that even if you try to delete or remove something from a computer, it will never truly be gone. When you delete something on a computer, it is not truly “deleted” per se but instead overwired with new data. The original data can still be recovered, and seen easily. Data can be kept forever, unless there are explicit policies to get rid of it. Because of this, I think that there is no true way to remove things completely from databases or computers.

This koan intersects with my life as a student because many times over my career as a student, someone has sent something to canvas mistakenly, or sent an email with incorrect information, or just in general made a mistake with a computer. There is no real way to completely remove the incorrect or mistaken information, since it has already been sent. With emails, once they have been sent, they cannot be deleted. Misinformation never truly goes away.

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