True about how the advancement of technology changes our attitudes towards everyday objects. That aqueduct, for example, now rests on its laurels of displaying the genius of the Romans to develop that structure in the first place. It hadn't been done before, at least not in Europe. But people's lives were improved when water could be delivered as never before by this monumental architecture. Some people today look at that marvel of Roman ingenuity and ask, "how did they do that with their primitive tools and knowledge?" Apparently, they weren't so primitive nor were their tools. But the tools and technology we've developed today make building huge structures or machines so "easy," that the stonework of this aqueduct mystifies the imagination.
Wonderful column, I used to teach a class where we spend a few days wondering what was art. We looked at work such as Mutt's but also more controversial work like that of Serrano who uses blood, piss, and such to work. His art is featured in one of Metallica's albums too -- it looks like fire but it is not.
True about how the advancement of technology changes our attitudes towards everyday objects. That aqueduct, for example, now rests on its laurels of displaying the genius of the Romans to develop that structure in the first place. It hadn't been done before, at least not in Europe. But people's lives were improved when water could be delivered as never before by this monumental architecture. Some people today look at that marvel of Roman ingenuity and ask, "how did they do that with their primitive tools and knowledge?" Apparently, they weren't so primitive nor were their tools. But the tools and technology we've developed today make building huge structures or machines so "easy," that the stonework of this aqueduct mystifies the imagination.
Wonderful column, I used to teach a class where we spend a few days wondering what was art. We looked at work such as Mutt's but also more controversial work like that of Serrano who uses blood, piss, and such to work. His art is featured in one of Metallica's albums too -- it looks like fire but it is not.
A while ago we wrote a column thinking about what historians do. In some ways we suggested they are forgers who make forgeries of the past. https://curingcrime.substack.com/p/did-history-happen-54461589e02b?r=2bk4r1