Sunday, December 16, 2007
Time and Culture
I was listening to the Radio Lab episode entitled "Beyond Time" and they were interviewing an artist who strives to live in the 1800s. This immediately reminded me of Chris McCandless. However there was one thing that the artist said that really struck me. "Every year... has music, manners, science, magic, culture, architecture. Every year has that!" I thought this: If we look back and live in this past. If we take advantage of the richness of history like David McDermott is doing, don't we stop creating music, manners, science, magic, culture, and architecture in the present and future. Similarly, if everyone "adopt[ed] a helter-skelter style of life" (57), there would be nothing interesting about it.
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3 comments:
I absolutely find this so intriguing and think about this everyday when I listen to the radio and for like a month the same song plays over and over, for example "Crank That" by Soljja Boy which played for like a month and was a hit but truly was an awful song! Especially today with all the technology I find myself wanting the new ipod, the new phone, the new computer, the new camera, the new clothes. WE are moving so fast it is almost scary to think in a week your new TV is old. But how could we stop this? When will technology stop developing? I think it scares some people and intrigues others. Chris officially found it disgusting and a waste of time; it is just another example of the government taking our money as he would say. Is Technology moving quickly benefiting our country or degrading it?
To be honest, I think this artist trying to live in the 1800s was crazy. In Into the Wild, Krakauer showed several examples of people trying be self-sufficient in today's world and couldn't. I agree every year, if not every day, is filled with music, manners, science, magic, culture and architecture. But I don't think living in the past makes these wonders any more prodominent. I have all those things today in my modern day life, and I don't need to live in the 1800s to experience them.
A great thought, Clink.
But consider this quote from Professor Lawrence Lessig: "Creativity Always Build on the Past". True?
Check out this video.
To nitpick a bit beyond your wonderful thinking, you need to provide a more general reader with either more context (like who is D. McDermott) or some kind of link to Radiolab.
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