Week 3: Robotics and Art
Industrialization is something that is constantly evolving due to the change in politics, economics, population, resources, etc, and has been especially in the last 100 years or so. It can have both positive and negative effects, as well as a great influence on things such as life as we know it, or things such as art and science.
Walter Benjamin, a Jewish German philosopher and eclectic thinker during the 1900s, a time when technical reproduction had grown into something much bigger than what people thought it was, discusses that even with the ability to reproduce a piece of art, it is still lacking one major element, "its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be."
It was interesting to read about Douglas Davis' view on art in the age of digital reproduction. As he discusses how there is not much of a distinction between something that is original, or that which is reproduced, I figured I would tie that into Walter Benjamin's statement on how when reproducing art, you will always be missing its original major element, that being its historical importance in time and space, as well as its originality. There are two states, "one pure and original, the other imitative and impure."
In Professor Vesna's YouTube video, she discusses how robotics were coming about and how it correlated with children being treated as apart of the machine itself. It would be better to have artificial intelligence in this case so that people are not the ones being treated as a machine. Not only does she mention that, but she also mentions the printing press, and how that has revolutionized the world we live in now. Robots are the main attraction in the movie series "Transformers", where they are on planet Earth to save humanity, and it is interesting to see how the world has changed and if less exotic robots will become a norm in society.
With the immense influence that Gutenburgs Type had in the 15th and 16th century, you can only imagine the influence of digital items we are experiencing now. Jeremy Norman questions if printing will be made obsolete, something I too question. Even things such as Ken Rinaldos "hybrid ecologies", interactive art installations, "serve as model and experiment for thinking about complex social, biological and machine symbionts that are arising. The world is changing very much every day.
Industrialization is something that is constantly evolving due to the change in politics, economics, population, resources, etc, and has been especially in the last 100 years or so. It can have both positive and negative effects, as well as a great influence on things such as life as we know it, or things such as art and science.
Walter Benjamin, a Jewish German philosopher and eclectic thinker during the 1900s, a time when technical reproduction had grown into something much bigger than what people thought it was, discusses that even with the ability to reproduce a piece of art, it is still lacking one major element, "its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be."
It was interesting to read about Douglas Davis' view on art in the age of digital reproduction. As he discusses how there is not much of a distinction between something that is original, or that which is reproduced, I figured I would tie that into Walter Benjamin's statement on how when reproducing art, you will always be missing its original major element, that being its historical importance in time and space, as well as its originality. There are two states, "one pure and original, the other imitative and impure."
In Professor Vesna's YouTube video, she discusses how robotics were coming about and how it correlated with children being treated as apart of the machine itself. It would be better to have artificial intelligence in this case so that people are not the ones being treated as a machine. Not only does she mention that, but she also mentions the printing press, and how that has revolutionized the world we live in now. Robots are the main attraction in the movie series "Transformers", where they are on planet Earth to save humanity, and it is interesting to see how the world has changed and if less exotic robots will become a norm in society.
Works Cited
Norman, Jeremy. “From Gutenburg's Movable Type to the Digital Book, and Other Studies in the History of Media .” HistoryofInformation.com, 2019, www.historyofinformation.com/narrative/index.php.
Rinaldo, Ken. “Biography – Ken Rinaldo.” Ken Rinaldo, 2019, www.kenrinaldo.com/bio/.
Online, UC. “Robotics pt1.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRw9_v6w0ew.
Hi Claire, I thought your analysis of the concepts of reproduction, incorporating the ideas of Benjamin and Davis, were very insightful. Your note on the possibility of the importance of artificial intelligence to remove the human aspect from robotics made me think whether or not we have become so removed and dependent on technology in our lives that we can't tell where the human influence ends and where robotics begins.
ReplyDeleteHi Claire,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your discussion of the industrial revolution and many of the effects of it. The topic of mass production and the positive benefits that went along with it are clear, however its meaning changes when it comes to art. Your incorporation of Davis' ideas regarding digital reproduction and mass production of art are something that I find very interesting and I really appreciate your discussion of it. I also think that the picture of the real and the replica Mona Lisa is a great representation of how art can become devalued with its mass production.