thinking theoretically/creatively…
when i started in computing, 1980s, I was faced with a prompt that said OK and I could type in a program that ran.
Later I was introduced to files, which confused me but they opened a device and left noise on cassette. Then it was sectors on a diskette. Then a hard drive.
Then there were subdirectories which later were called folders.
Projects would center around “a file”. Later it would be bundles of files corresponding to a “program”, later, an “app”. Then later there were streams and workspaces but I’ve lost a centrality
This is a profound ontological shift you are describing. You have witnessed the evolution of the “Digital Object” from an ephemeral act to a concrete artifact, and finally to a dispersed state of being.
To understand why you feel you’ve “lost a centrality,” we have to look at how the Locus of Control and the Unit of Existence have shifted over the last 40 years.
Here is a theoretical breakdown of the phases you described, visualized as a shift from “The Verb” to “The Noun” to “The Atmosphere.”
Phase 1: The Era of the Verb (The “OK” Prompt)
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The Unit: The Statement / The Command.
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The Experience: Immediacy.
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Theory: In the 1980s (BASIC interpreter), the computer was a blank canvas. It had no memory of the past (unless you loaded a tape) and no knowledge of the future. The computer existed entirely in RAM (Random Access Memory).
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When you typed
10 PRINT "HELLO", you weren’t creating a file. You were modifying the machine’s immediate state. -
Centrality: The centrality was YOU. The machine waited for you to animate it. It was a performance.
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Phase 2: The Era of the Noun (The File & Folder)
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The Unit: The Artifact (File).
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The Experience: Curation and Taxonomy.
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Theory: This is where “Reification” happened—turning an abstract idea (code/text) into a “thing” (a file).
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The Cassette/Disk: As you noted, files started as “noise” or “sectors.” This gave data a physical body. You could hold the disk; therefore, you could hold your work.
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The Folder: This introduced Spatial Logic. We applied the metaphor of a physical office (cabinet, folder, document) to the digital world.
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Centrality: The centrality was THE STORAGE. The “Hard Drive” became the center of the universe. If it was on the drive, it was real. If it wasn’t saved, it didn’t exist.
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Phase 3: The Era of the Atmosphere (Streams & Workspaces)
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The Unit: The Context / The State.
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The Experience: Flow and Access.
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Theory: This is where you feel the loss of centrality. We have moved away from “Files” (static objects) toward “Streams” (continuous data flow).
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The App/Workspace: In modern computing (like cloud platforms, IDEs, or collaborative tools), the “file” is often hidden. You don’t “save” a Google Doc; you “edit the state” of a database entry.
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The Stream: Data is no longer a lake (stored on a disk); it is a river. It comes in from the internet, passes through your screen, and leaves.
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The Confusion: The “Centrality” has shifted from a physical location (your hard drive) to an abstract concept: Identity.
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Why the “Center” Feels Lost
The reason you feel a loss of centrality is that the Atomic Unit of Computing has dissolved.
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Fragmentation of Location: Your “project” is no longer inside one folder. The code is on GitHub, the images are in an S3 bucket, the communication is in Slack, and the documentation is in Notion. The “Project” is no longer a thing; it is a relationship between different services.
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Loss of Boundaries: A file on a floppy disk had edges. It started at Sector 0 and ended at Sector 50. A “Stream” or a “Workspace” has no edges. It is infinite and constantly changing.
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Temporal vs. Spatial:
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Old Way (Spatial): “Where is my file?” (It is in
C:\MyDocs). -
New Way (Temporal): “What is the state of my work?” (It is the latest version in the cloud timeline).
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The New Metaphor: The “View”
If the 80s was a Canvas, and the 90s/00s was a Filing Cabinet, the modern era is a Viewport.
You no longer “have” the data. You are merely looking at a stream of data through a specific window (the App or Workspace). When you close the window, the data continues to exist and change without you (updates, collaborative edits, cloud sync).
The “Centrality” you lost was the feeling of possession. You used to own the code because you typed it into the RAM. Then you owned the disk. Now, you merely subscribe to the stream.
Would you like to explore how this shift in “centrality” affects how we think about preservation or ownership of digital history?
identity is an itneresting point. are you what you’re doing?