[Kim Byung-min's Science Village] Remembering the Infinity Between 0 and 1

Digital World Made of 0s and 1s
No Matter How Convenient, Human Memory Is the Best Storage Device

Byungmin Kim, Adjunct Professor at Hallym University Nano Convergence School

Recently, a drama about the youthful love between a fencing athlete and a journalist gained popularity. I even looked forward to the weekends because of it. However, the reason I felt the direction was delicate was something else. The drama processed the visuals as if they were old film photographs. It wasn’t just a reproduction of the past, but the colors and images encapsulated memories and emotions along with time, immersing me deeply. Of course, all memories that are a rumination of time appear beautiful in themselves.

I thought about the sentiment that analog media like film evokes. In fact, if you delve into the digital world, it is a world composed of 0s and 1s. In that world, there is no intermediate value between the two numbers. For example, values like 0.1 or 0.5 do not exist. It is true that discrete and fixed values, like black-and-white logic or true and false, are advantageous for explaining and expressing the world. It seems like there is a definite answer, just like in mathematics. But the world we live in is not like that. True and false are mixed, and there are grays, not just black and white. So, it is not filled with clear grains of answers but is continuous, and the more you delve into the space between, the more you find an unreachable ‘infinity.’ That is why reflections on the essence of life continue.

An Infinite World of In-Between That Cannot Be Fully Expressed by Numbers

The drama unfolds as a daughter reads her mother’s diary. Suddenly, memories related to the SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera my father used came to mind. It was an old film camera he had used since he worked as a journalist. After my father passed away, while sorting through his belongings, I found the camera with film inside. Nothing lasts forever, and even the once-common photo studios are hard to find now. I barely found a place to develop the film, but I was told there was nothing special on it. Actually, something was there. The film, having already been exposed to a ray of light, was different from one that had never met the world. The photo studio owner advised against it, but I asked for prints. A few days later, the owner handed me about ten photos and added, “Why pay expensive money for meaningless prints?” I felt more anger than embarrassment. From the start, he had a puzzled expression as if wondering if anyone still kept such items, and his attitude was curt and annoyed. I think I was angry at the dryness that didn’t even guess that there might be a story behind it for someone. I left a subtle remark: “Time is recorded there, in one corner...”

Sometimes memories are stored in the brain along with smells. When recalling a certain scene, a scent may arise, or vice versa. In my case, it seems that the sour vinegar-like chemical smell unique to film mixed with the image of my father developing and printing photos was imprinted together. The vinegar scent comes from acetic acid. Modern film is made from a polymer called polyester, but in the past, acetate film or cellulose acetate film was used. Acetate film was made from “diacetate sodium” starting in 1909 and after World War II was made from “triacetyl cellulose.” Previously, nitrate film was also used. The main component of nitrate film is nitrocellulose, an explosive. It was also called guncotton. There were several incidents where large film studio warehouses burned down, and half of the American films before the 1950s disappeared. In the movie , the protagonist Alfredo became blind due to a film explosion and fire caused by projector overheating. The improved acetate film is known to be safer with relatively less flammability. That’s why the edges of the film were sometimes labeled “SAFETY FILM.” However, acetate film also has weaknesses. Chemical changes occur in the film depending on the surrounding environment. The acetate in the film reacts with moisture in the air to produce acetic acid, i.e., vinegar. So, the vinegar scent is due to this chemical reaction. When acetic acid is generated, it acts as a catalyst, accelerating chemical reactions and quickly damaging the film. The ongoing work to digitally restore old movies and records is due to damage caused by such chemical degradation. Yet, we sometimes mistakenly believe that digital civilization will last forever alongside human civilization.

The Camera and Film Left by My Father, Sour Memories of Acetic Acid

We watch images on digital screens. Now, 8K displays have appeared. An 8K TV has about 8,000 pixels horizontally. The approximately 33 million pixels of 8K mean the image is sharp and detailed, creating a sense of depth and presence as if the scene is right in front of you. To achieve this, you need to shoot with a digital camera like a DSLR that matches the resolution.

Film has silver particles irregularly arranged on its surface, and the light-reactive properties are not uniform, so changes in brightness and color tone are expressed organically. In contrast, digital cameras have sensors with pixels arranged regularly, and each pixel records only red, green, or blue colors, with other colors obtained through interpolation using a technology called the Bayer filter. Because of this, changes in color and boundaries can appear as abrupt steps, like stairs. The advent of semiconductor digital technology predicted the extinction of film as a medium, but the unique colors and textures that only film can express, including image density, have not yet been matched, leading to a recent revival. Some famous Western film directors still insist on shooting on film. Probably, the recent popular Korean dramas were shot with digital cameras and then used AI filters to revive the old sensibility similarly.

In fact, film made from polyester can theoretically last 500 years. Compact discs, which were assumed to be permanent, have a shorter lifespan than humans due to corrosion. So, my son might find it difficult to view videos of me stored on CDs. Moreover, digital storage devices require appropriate readers or players. Just as few households have players for videotapes even if they have the tapes, these storage devices create another inconvenience. Of course, recording on semiconductors might solve this. Memory semiconductor capacity is increasing, and speed is getting faster, allowing the transfer of an HD movie (5GB) in 10 seconds. But no one thinks electronic devices storing data as 1s and 0s will last hundreds of years. It may sound old-fashioned, but paper, like the diary in the drama, and film, which I mentioned so far, have a deep history and are advantageous in preservation compared to other media. And they contain dense emotions that fill the gaps that discrete numbers cannot capture.

Recently, Pok?mon bread and Cyworld homepages have been revived. People are doing open runs to convenience stores to get the bread, and past photos stored on homepages are being revived, bringing back lost memories. Of course, these trends are led by the MZ generation, and youth dramas have been a clear catalyst. The world is improving, but life on top of it is becoming harsher. This is proof of that. Due to diseases, wars, and ongoing recessions, generations that cannot succeed despite effort and those who learned resignation first are recalling happier past times without worries and finding temporary solace.

Faded Photos of the Past, a Ray of Comfort for Someone

The photos that were difficult to print had unknown light exposures, and although clear, each photo had a yellowish date that looked blurred at the edges. The date was a day in spring 2002. It was when my parents were taking care of my grandson, my son. I guess my father taught the grandson how to operate the camera just as he did with me. The photos seemed to have been taken by my 4-year-old son, who treated the camera like a toy. At one point, I thought of those photos and looked for them again, but they were nowhere to be found. It seems we realize the value of something only after losing it. Then I found out that my father’s camera was in the child’s room. In the child’s consciousness, the camera and grandfather are probably connected with childhood memories. Those precious memories are not in my memory. Only the numbers on the photos remain. Still, even the dates on the photos are precious memories and comfort to me.

Spring has come quickly. Everyone trying to find solace in nature’s scenery during harsh times will point digital devices and view that beauty through screens. Recently, phone cameras are products packed with artificial intelligence. Even non-experts can capture beautiful landscapes. But people and scents are separated, and the images are entrusted to digital devices. These are incomplete memories without stories, and the materials may disappear without anyone knowing when they will be looked at again. The best storage device is not a semiconductor. It is your memories, which are not a world of 0s and 1s but can infinitely fill the density of life.

Kim Byung-min, Adjunct Professor, Nano Convergence School, Hallym University