Scales have long been a symbol of balance.
In most images of scales there are two plates suspended by chains hanging on either side of a pole that teeters on a post.
Place weights on one side and the arm dips until an equal amount of weight on the opposite plate brings the plates back into balance.
It is a great symbol the can't be achieved with electronic scales or industrial scales.
Moving from scales that balance to scales that respond with a digital number is a great metaphor for our times and our lives.
We have access to more information in a minute then most generations could gather in a lifetime.
This information has led to great advancements in many fields from industry to medicine.
It has also accelerated our lives.
Where once there was a spring where information bubbled up, now we are in the midst of an ongoing flood of information impossible to consume or digest.
Movies are a great example of this changing pace.
When a film was being edited, it used to require something called a flatbed.
An editor would pull clips of film from a bin that would have strings of clips hanging from little hooks and dropping into a giant canvas bag on wheels.
He would decide what he wanted to insert into the film, go to the bins, find the clip, cut the film on the flatbed then splice and tape the piece to be inserted.
The editor would repeat this for the sound.
Each change required a physical insertion which took time.
Knowing that every edit was a commitment to time and effort, the editor would be thoughtful about the reasons for the edit, considering the effects and imagining the outcome prior to cutting the film.
Every slice of film meant sacrificing a frame and a half of the work print.
Every cut was deliberate and thought through ahead of time.
The advent of digital technology changed the way films are edited and viewed.
What would have taken hours to accomplish can now be done in minutes or even seconds, without sacrificing any work product.
If an idea flashes through the editors' brain, he doesn't have to think it through.
He can try it and see if it works.
Creative thinking is replaced by trial and error, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
All the restraints of cutting and taping film are gone.
As a result the number of cuts in a typical scene has increased dramatically.
The old rules of filmmaking are changing and the visual language has evolved.
Compare a film from 1950 to a film made today.
The amount of information fed to an audience is radically different.
Films are frenetic, exciting, stimulating assaulting the senses and immersing the viewer in a full out rapid fire experience.
It is like the difference between being moved by a painting and being literally moved by a roller coaster.
Most teens find the pace of an older film almost impossible to endure.
The rapid stimulation and movement of films made today reflect the larger social trend; while we are capable of processing more information quickly, it has increased our pace of life to almost addictive frenetic levels.
There is much to be gained by our ability to collect and process massive amounts of information quickly.
However, if we lose our ability to sit quietly and reflect on what it really means have we gained anything?