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[3/2025: What I meant by backward-compatible is that we can always access modernism, premodernism, and the ancient world, as well as postmodernism in the art world. Even though we're in the AI Age, we can still continue to use older technologies. But the general feeling is that once we move on from any particular technological era, there's no use for anything that's older, except in a nostalgic context. There's also the aspect of who gets to use all the new tools. so if some people can't use all the great tools, then they have constraints in how they can express themselves, with the example of the Stone age, some of the people have really nice chisels and other implements and other people the crappy inexpensive ones. But even then, the really resourceful, imaginative people could do great things with them].

One of the most dangerous metaphors in history was 'Industrial Age', as it it suggested that everything existed to support the machine. We are in the Information Age (perhaps the end of it), and we are entangled in information. The next age may be the 'Intelligence Age' and we may be slaves of AI. We always wind up entangled in our metaphors, but none of them are completely superseded, as some parts of us are in the Stone Age and before. All ages are backwards-compatible. (3/2015)