Future treasures?

Everyone has stumbled upon an old photograph while organizing or packing. We take a moment out to look at the image in our hands and try to remember when it was taken and what was happening when that instant was fixed in light and chemistry. A momentary nostalgic interlude from whatever task was underway when the memory was excavated and then the image is stowed away to be either properly archived or unexpectedly rediscovered in an unknown and possibly distant future.

How will that work in a world where everything is now bits instead of atoms? Digital cameras connect to computers which route the rasterized images into the cloud. No developing process needed. No paper required. No need to hold onto scraps of treated paper in shoeboxes. No pressure to find storage space for the physical when the cloud holds its essence.

Services will come and go. Even if Flickr survives forever -- or at least until our sun goes nova, at which point this becomes moot -- viewing requires deliberate action. We must seek out the images. We may stumble upon something in someone else's photostream, but only after acting on the intent to view a photograph. Will these digital avatars of our memories outlast physical images? Are we losing an opportunity for future surprise discoveries or gaining advantages that we haven't yet fully realized?