From The Seattle Times
By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Our subject today: the end of the physical world.

Which is, yes, a tad hyperbolic, but it contains a nugget of truth. Bear with me.

Last week, I fell into conversation with a fellow named Bud and shared something that has been rattling around my head for a while now: a sense that, as intellectual properties become ever more digitized, we are seeing the disappearance of, well … “things.” Physical artifacts that once were as much a part of every day as ketchup stains on your tie are now disappearing inside hard drives.

Bud, a musician, knew exactly what I meant. He used to play with a band. Now he has a band, if he so desires, inside his keyboard.

But it’s not just live music. It’s recorded music. I have a huge collection of CDs and vinyl albums that these days is used mainly for décor; when I want tunes, I turn to my iPod.

And it’s photography. We used to have these things called snapshots, but no longer. Photos are digitized now.

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