The Medium is the Massage

“Art is anything you can get away with.”

Response to pages 122 - 127:

This first passage talks about the birth of authorship. The basis of writing, from more of an academic perspective, wasn't considered to be very important, in today's sense. Today's professors and researches immediately brand their name in to their work before releasing it in the world, no matter how basic or advanced it is. However, before the invention of print-press, the work of any writer, (professors, novelists and researchers), were thrown together in a collection of writings. It was uncommon for any author to claim their own work, noting that the key objective of their work was to educate. This is actually quite interesting. Nowadays, leaving your work un-copyrighted is a complete waste of time and money. Why let somebody else take credit for your work? But because of this new need of copyright, did we lose the love to learn? Did we lose just a little sense of sharing? However on the next page, it is addressed that because of the print-press and other new technology, anybody is able to become an author or publisher, and because of that, more and more information is pooled together.

The next section addressed the birth of television and how immersive it is. At the time that this book was published, the television was still fairly new and still something to be marveled at. The television is described as the completion of the human sensorium. The age of this book shows when it says that the TV demands attention and engagement and that it won’t serve as a background. Today, that perspective is completely flipped. With the introduction of sitcoms and cartoons, the television is served as a background for many daily activities. Although it serves as a distributor of major news and events, in most cases, the television nowadays is the usually found to be less engaging than when it was first invented. Is this because the invention of sitcoms and other mindless television shows? Or because of that now the television is common in most households?