Living in Boston can be a heady trip for a budding academic.Even if you’re across the river from Harvard and MIT, it’s a city known for its education scene.Like many who studied there, I never wanted to leave.A fringe benefit of being a student of religion was that a short trip would take you to Peabody.Why?Peabody was home to CBD—Christian Book Distributors.In their showroom they had rock-bottom prices for something theology students crave—books.That was many years ago now, and over time CBD grew to be the largest distributor of Christian paraphernalia in the country.In my mind they’ll always be associated with happy little trips that ended in armloads of reading.What more could you want?
A story by Emily McFarlan Miller explains why the revered CBD is changing its name. Cannabidiol, a legal derivative of cannabis, is popularly known as cbd.Lots of things share initials, of course, but these are the days of the web, and an internet search for cbd now pushes the distributor (at least the book distributor) off the first page.One thing we all know in this online universe is that you’ve got to be on the first page.CBD’s decision might seem extreme—changing the name of the business to get back on the front page.Despite the amusing aspects to this story, it emphasizes something of an ongoing jeremiad with me: the web has redefined reality.Think about it this way: when a digital image is over-enlarged it pixellates.That’s because it’s composed of minuscule squares of a single color. When brought together in a pattern, they form images we recognize.It their basis, however, they are squares.
The earth, however, is an orb.The natural state of falling liquids—the principle behind the shot tower—is a sphere.Now, spheres together in a closed space leave gaps—just look at a jar of marbles and you’ll see what I mean.That’s the order of the natural world.Reality, if you will.Tech, on the other hand, is pixels.They fill the space better, and if done well can create the illusion of a curved line.They can never, however, fit into a round hole of the same surface area.The world has gone after the convenience of the internet in a small box.It has changed the recording industry, the movie industry, and the publishing industry.And just try to find your way to CBD on it.You might have to change your search parameters.
