

Ask HN: Will pens/paper still be widely used in 100 years? - lionhearted

They're useful, but the cost and quality of digital input devices is going to be improving tremendously.<p>Obviously some people will use them for nostalgia or some such (like a typewriter these days), but do you predict pens/pencils/paper to go obsolete? Why/why not?
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mannicken
Hopefully, in 100 years I'll be able to transport images from my visual cortex
into electronic form and edit them through will-power. Only when that
technology is perfected within a lag of no more than 200ms, will I give up on
pencils.

Or perhaps, my skin will evolve into some kind of paper that I can write notes
on with a tablet pen that will automatically pop-out from out of my hand due
to genetic modifications with really small programmable ant-like machines
(really trying to avoid using nano- here).

Self-transforming machine elves!

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te_platt
I'm a pen nerd. I keep two in my front pocket. A fine point for text. A wider
one for whatever else. Maybe a better question would be "What would it take
for me to prefer a digital device over pen and paper?".

Here are some issues that are important to me:

Physical feedback - I like the way a pen has some resistance against the
paper.

High resolution - curves need to really be curves.

Ease of access - nothing to turn on with pen and paper.

I can see how a high quality digital replacement could have many advantages.
Storage, search capability, sharing all come to mind.

~~~
nreece
The Livescribe smartpen may just be the thing for you -
<http://www.livescribe.com/smartpen/echo/>

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theoa
Look at what's happening with the under twenties.

Handwriting is on the wane.

[http://daleboire.blog.ca/2011/07/18/will-handwriting-
disappe...](http://daleboire.blog.ca/2011/07/18/will-handwriting-
disappear-11498039/)

[http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/10/most_c...](http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/10/most_college_students_print_as.html)

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polyfractal
I'm sure people were asking the same thing when the printing press was
invented.

I don't see the pen going anywhere. There are many times where it is easier
and faster to jot down notes or sketch out ideas on a pad of paper instead of
messing around with a computer/tablet/whatever.

Also fountain pens are delightful to write with. There is one in my pocket
wherever I go.

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steventruong
There are studies that show taking notes by writing them down have a higher
recall even if you don't study or review the notes. The same is less likely
with typing. I find this somewhat true personally as well. And there are
certain things I prefer to do with a pen/pencil over a tablet/stylus or
computer

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olefoo
100 years from now the wealthy and the connected will still be using pen and
paper because it's difficult to copy the contents of a hand written
communication over the network.

Modulo cameras of course.

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jesickala
the more important question is- Do we want pens/paper to become obsolete? and
Who might benefit from this? Meaning- if all writing and reading material
becomes digitized, wouldn't there be the possibility of losing all the data
one day? (whether by accident or by someone in charge) Did we forget about the
1984 on Kindle incident? What about Farenheit 451? We need to make it a point
to keep them around (the pen and paper) is what I think.

~~~
jesickala
this issue goes far beyond nostalgia.

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ApolloRising
If you have a chance, find a great fountain pen and write with it for a while
on good paper. I doubt it will ever become obsolete.

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digamber_kamat
I guess so. Despite having so many gadgets around pen and paper is something i
cant give up at all.

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Mz
I've never actually thought about it, but given that paper is a burden on the
world in terms of trees being chopped down to make it, I can imagine that
strongly discouraging frivolous use of paper could become more important to
preserving the health of the global ecosystem.

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leon_
I'm sure they still will be used. What I'm unsure about is if computers will
be used.

