Every moment of our lives now involves a using something plugged into a wall socket or running down a battery. There are times you can forget what humans can do without technology all around them.
Decca Records treated me to a great example of just how hard it is to unplug ourselves at the launch for their new artist, Noah.
It was pretty clear no expense had been spared for the event, 1 Marylebone had been lit up outside and dressed up inside, violinists and pianists filled the stage behind the singer and the great and the good of the music industry filled the floor.
As the talent took to the stage it was clear there was a technical problem, a speaker spitting out noises like a Pixar animated robot muttering its goodbyes.
Despite Noah have a voice that could lift the roof off the Royal Albert Hall, the powers that be insisted on him singing along with the fading speaker.
Eventually, after four beats and bleeps remixes of famous operatic numbers, someone took the plunge and had everything turned off.
Finally, a man who had trained at Juilliard, been a student at the San Francisco Opera and performed on stages around the world was permitted to try his voice out in a small hall to 200 or so guests.
He almost took the front doors off.
The lesson here is similar to the old joke about Nasa developing a pen that works in space whilst the Russian’s spent a few roubles on a box of pencils. If a man who has a voice capable of breaking windows has to rely on a length of XLR cable running to a speaker, what chance is there for people to enjoy genuine musical talent?
Music, books and art are all slowly being digitised, but there is no harm in sometimes allowing the sheer talent of someone to shine through.
Sometimes a human talent can provide more than enough electricity in the room.