Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Gmail & Time
I wanted to attend to something that struck me strange this morning. As I opened my gmail sign-in page, I was confronted with new magical possibilities packaged up by Gmail. It seems that Gmail now has the power to manipulate time and space, LITERALLY! They're calling this "Gmail Custom Time" which is a program that allows you to date your emails hours before they were even composed. This allows you to have a lapse in memory (about a birthday, an crucial special day etc.) and cover it over.
I cannot help but to draw a theological parallal: It was Augustine, while composing his CONFESSIONS that meditates on the nature of time & memory (something that Henri Bergson does in the 20th century cf. MATTER & MEMORY). For the Bishop of Hippo, memory was only possible as a gift from God: God is the condition of possibility for our very memories, which is why the very act of recalling one's life is already placed in the mode of grace and confession. But here, in a stroke of genius, Gmail is marketing it own divine attributes.
Here is the exact quotation from Gmail!
New! Gmail Custom TimeTM
Ever wish you could go back in time and send that crucial email that could have changed everything -- if only it hadn't slipped your mind? Gmail can now help you with those missed deadlines, missed birthdays and missed opportunities.
Pre-date your messages
You tell us what time you would have wanted your email sent, and we'll take care of the rest. Need an email to arrive 6 hours ago? No problem.
Mark as read or unread
Take sending emails to the past one step further. We let you make emails look like they've been read all along.
Make them count
Use your custom time stamped messages wisely -- each Gmail user gets ten per year.
Worry less
Forget your finance reports. Forget your anniversary. We'll make it look like you remembered.
I cannot help but to draw a theological parallal: It was Augustine, while composing his CONFESSIONS that meditates on the nature of time & memory (something that Henri Bergson does in the 20th century cf. MATTER & MEMORY). For the Bishop of Hippo, memory was only possible as a gift from God: God is the condition of possibility for our very memories, which is why the very act of recalling one's life is already placed in the mode of grace and confession. But here, in a stroke of genius, Gmail is marketing it own divine attributes.
Here is the exact quotation from Gmail!
New! Gmail Custom TimeTM
Ever wish you could go back in time and send that crucial email that could have changed everything -- if only it hadn't slipped your mind? Gmail can now help you with those missed deadlines, missed birthdays and missed opportunities.
Pre-date your messages
You tell us what time you would have wanted your email sent, and we'll take care of the rest. Need an email to arrive 6 hours ago? No problem.
Mark as read or unread
Take sending emails to the past one step further. We let you make emails look like they've been read all along.
Make them count
Use your custom time stamped messages wisely -- each Gmail user gets ten per year.
Worry less
Forget your finance reports. Forget your anniversary. We'll make it look like you remembered.
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