Blog Post 3: Auras

Posted on January 29, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog Post 3: Auras

Here’s the picture and here is the permalink to the picture if you want to see a larger image.

Larger Image Here

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This post will center focus on Walter Benjamin’s idea of the aura with relation to the image attached to this post. Benjamin’s idea of the aura is “the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be” (4). He further goes on to say that this aura decays as it progresses. This is what I am aiming to represent in my image. Looking at it from left to right or top to bottom, one can see on the left the green tree with life; however, as it moves towards the right, this decay of death is seen through the tree on the left. This tree looks rather dead. This is also depicted in the image from top to bottom. The blue symbolizes life and moving down it gets cloudier until the plants are shown rather dead as well. The idea that auras degenerate over time is stated by Benjamin as well by stating that the masses remove the uniqueness of an item by having it constantly reproduced (4). This means that as more and more of the same reproductions come into availability, the item loses it’s value. I once read a book called The Cave by Jose Saramago who was a potter. He usually sells his items to a mall which would then sell his wares to buyers; however, this one day, his work is refused due to the reason that the bowls he makes out of ceramic have no more value or use because of the new plastic bowls that can be made and bought for cheaper for more profit.

 

 

 

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– Google Maps –

Posted on January 28, 2013 by | Comments Off on – Google Maps –

Prague

@alweyman

The image I have found on Google Maps is a young child in the City of Prague, Czech Republic. This image visually brings up Benjamin’s article by bringing up his ideas that any reproduction of a work of art is missing the element of time and place. Though this screenshot is an exact reproduction of what was going on during this time, there can be no account as to how warm it was, clear skies, etc. Directly quoted from the article, Benjamin says:

“Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.”

The authenticity of works of art are what give them their true nature, for example, I could not take a picture of the mona lisa and sell it on ebay for millions because its just a picture of it and there are millions of other already out. Another concept that may be tied into this photograph is the idea of Auras.

“We define the aura of the latter as the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be”

There is no comparison between the aura that a picture puts out and the one that a true life image would put out. Given this photograph, the aura that may be found around the child and trees is merely a depiction of how it is in real life. Had someone seen this in real life, the aura would surely have seemed different and most likely fluctuation.

 

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Week 4 Google image

Posted on January 28, 2013 by | Comments Off on Week 4 Google image

greece@CailinJohnson

My image shows a chapel somewhere along the coast in Greece. The chapel is white with a blue door, with multiple people surrounding it. It also looks like there is a town on the other side of the water across from the chapel.

I believe that this image represents what Benjamin’s article was describing because instead of art being something that is produced from traditions, religions, and mythologies you can take a screenshot from Google images and it can be art. The idea of what is considered art has changed. “The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition.”(Page IV).  I believe that what Benjamin is describing is that because works like the image I took can be reproduced to easily that the uniqueness that was associated with art has gone away. Now instead of a painting or sculpture taking years to create you can press a button on your laptop and have a work of art that can be reproduced over and over again. Another one of Benjamin’s ideas was that mechanical reproduction has changed how art can be reproduced. “Mechanical reproduction of a work of art, however, represents something new.” (Page I).  Mechanical reproduction is what has made it so easy to reproduce art in mass quantities. With the advancement of technology new ways to reproduce and create your own art are invented. For example that camera which allowed this picture to be taken by Google in the first place gives the everyday person a chance to produce art.

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Chris Stansberry Discussion Post 2

Posted on January 24, 2013 by | Comments Off on Chris Stansberry Discussion Post 2

@stansberry_dtcv

Sorry class.. Didn’t realize I hadn’t ‘published’ my post yet..

In his letter to Fortune magazine that was transformed into the essay “As We May Think”, Vannevar Bush explains and predicts many advanced and future technologies in the time of writing the essay. He successfully describes a prediction in the advancement of the computer, photography, speech recognition, the internet, and even the world wide web in link to his invention of the “memex”. Bush even predicts the digitalization of encyclopedia’s when he says: “Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified”. In this sense, even back then the world was becoming surrounded by technology, technology comprised of numbers and mathematical formulas. In the “Dream Scene” of the Matrix, binary code (1’s and 0’s) is shown raining and making up everything in the frame. This represents everything from our laptops, smartphones, cameras, and even simpler things such as thermostats can all be numerically represented and boiled down to binary code. The simple truth is these technologies are all around us, all the time, especially in modern time and this is what’s portrayed in the Matrix scene. So many of the things we take for granted today or don’t even realize are a direct cause of the advancements in technology that made these items possible that Bush talks about.

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Humans and the Information Matrix

Posted on January 24, 2013 by | Comments Off on Humans and the Information Matrix

“The Matrix” is a series of movies about a robot apocalypse, in which sentient machines trap humans in comas and ensnare them in false realities. The computers and robots that guard the humans fulfill all the needs of their charges, from food to energy production, while the humans rot within their own false realities. Over human history, there have been many technological leaps. Each leap has brought another level of ease to humanity. With the onset of the Digital Revolution, humanity can now access any information online at any time (Lecture, 1/15/13). Many tasks that were once done by laborers, or small management tasks done by the lower middle class, can now be relegated to workers. In modern times, technology has slowly began to surround and in some cases replace human beings. In the picture, the humans are both surrounded by and are in the process of being absorbed into the digital matrix around them, much like in the movies. Technology is slowly replacing humanity.

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Blog 2

Posted on January 24, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog 2

After reading, watching and studying the required materials you will feel almost confused. Humans that have interacted with the computer can be either confused or content. Watching the Matrix video you will see some kind of foreign characters streaming down the screen into nothing, the average person would become confused simply because they know nothing about what the raining code, or what binary codes are. For a simple fact that I thought I was pretty good with computers except I just learned what those terms really mean. Human interaction with the computer and information is bare to none understanding. I think us humans get intimated by the amount of information we find and simply don’t always know what to do with it. Or we just consume ourselves with it and don’t attempt even trying to produce anything with it. Though when humans do need to solve some kind of equations or something that may be difficult we reside to the computer for lessons, or depend on the computer to figure the problem out. Like Vannevar Bush had said in “As we may think” that, the computer technology will soon take over the world. I am a high believer in this for the simple fact that the Memex  was just the beginning of what we have today. For instance we use our computers that link up to internet that keeps our “trails” of what we have done, or how we have touch smart phone and tablets that allow us to be mobile so we can get the information that we need just as we need it. #DTCV #WSUCOUGS #Computerstakingover #rainingcode

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Relationship of humans and Technology

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Relationship of humans and Technology

@KatieGullans

The famous image from the film, The Matrix, and the video clip that experiments with recreating the “raining code” concept from the film relates to humans because humans had to create it. Technological things are made to make things easier for humans as the world becomes more complicated and advanced. For example, in the memex, it shows a person taking notes on one screen, then reference material comes up on the other one. The people in the image with all the coding, show they are the one behind making this technology.

In a way, I think the image relates to showing that it’s not just math and numbers. There are people in the picture too. In “As We May Think,” Vannevar Bush explains that “If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world.”(42) Humans have a whole mind to put into new inventions. To invent something, they have to know how the human works to make it actually useful. The game of poker can’t be based entirely on the use of the mathematics of probability. There may be some logical in trying to read what other people might be thinking.

People have different approaches to looking at technology too. The physician, the chemist, and the historian all bring in something different. Information is passed on to newer generations and more things are made. I think the raining code seems like unlimited information already here and more of it to come. But the human mind will think of it, create it, and invent it. Machines are nothing without the human behind them. If humans were to vanish from the earth one day, machines would rot eventually and not be of any use anymore.

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Humans, Technology, & Matrix

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Humans, Technology, & Matrix

The image from the film, the Matrix, and the video clip we have watched relevantly relates to humans based on who invented it and who or what can access it. The movements that happen in the video of there creating of the raining code, the size, shape, and form are all created by humans. Technology was made, by theory, to simplify complications for humans, like ourselves. According to the article, “As We May Think,” Vannevar Bush explains that, “If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world,” (Bush 42). This visually represents what humans seek to find in technologies like computers, an infinite ‘fountain’ of knowledge. We may find ourselves thinking about something and wondering why characters on screen move the way they do and so on. If we actually think about it, if humans can do it, the numbers and other figures of computer science can be used to create the characterized figure just like the one in the Matrix. Without humans, inventions wouldn’t be made. The matrix was made by human ability and of course, computers. The numbers used is relevantly used to create movement, and do things that cause humans on screen to look alive. Many of us look at technology differently and we all have our sources to how it relates to humans. The fact being that humans are creating it all makes me realize how much it takes for a human to consume all the computer science information possible to do these things.

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Humans&Computers

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Humans&Computers

@ohheyitshonor

“A record, if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, it must be stored, and above all it must be consulted.”  Vannevar Bush, author of  “As We May Think,” states at the beginning of chapter two. The Matrix, a film released in 1999, full represents what Bush is alluding  in his work. The film was released at the turn of the century, when Digital Media was first taking it’s hold on society. Not only were computers a relatively new technology for the average person, but they also represented the vast amount of knowledge that we as humans could never hope to retain and understand. This is the reason computers have integrated into many people’s lifestyles so well.

When particularly examining the Matrix “Dream Sequence” Bush’s idea of continuously extended and stored data shines through. The scene displays of a stream of seemingly random letters falling from the computer screen, as if the information stored was pouring out. This visually represents what humans seek to find in technologies like computers, an infinante ‘fountain’ of knowledge. computers today hold all sorts of knowledge of human’s lives, ranging from casual conversations, to a business’ finances. Humans rely on computers more and more not only to store their information, but to feed it back to them and analyze is for them, as Bush explains as the most important aspect of the digital age.

Overall, it is important to understand the way in which Bush explains humans rely on the lifeless brain of the computer.

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Relying on Technology

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Relying on Technology

@MyDtcAccount – Jonathan Crabtree

 

Back in 1945, Vannevar Bush wrote that “science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores, and consults the record of the race” (Bush 54). This idea is illustrated in the Matrix “Raining Code” scene by the alleged code that is falling from the top of the screen. This seemingly random pattern of letters represents nothing to the untrained eye, but we can assume that what is crossing the screen in front of us is coding that encapsulates all of the audio and visual elements of our day to day lives. While having all this information accessable sounds like a good thing – and it is – he also cautioned against the idea that technology will one day become such an integral part of our society that we will not be able to function without it. I believe that day has arrived.

 

Humans and technology have become inseperable. We can’t live without it, and it can’t exist without us. Even if we really just focused on “new media” as the technology, instead of ALL technology (i.e. the wheel, fire, a hammer, etc.), humans would still struggle to live. Think about it. If computers all of a sudden disappeared, you could no longer read this. Banks (and your money) would be crippled and disappear overnight. Capitalism would grind to a halt. How does water get to your home? Technology. How does your grocery store tell the supplier they need more food? Technology. Obviously there are some people that would be able to survive, but I honestly think a lot of people wouldn’t make it. As a society, we have become too reliant on technology to make things easier for us, that we have no idea how to handle life without them.

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