It is very important to note that Paul Valery saw this coming and in the article he states, "Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from from far off to satisfy our needs in response to a minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images , which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign." (20) Though he might have foreseen technology reaching the lengths it has today, he still knew something was going to happen.
This article talks a lot about how far we have come from either the mass reproduction of art to simply how the are being reproduced. It is divided into subsections and each one talks a little bit about different aspects of change. I think there was one quote, other than the one above, that really helped me to understand just how these changes occur and it brought to life the differences in them, "just as lithography virtually implied the illustrated newspaper, so did photography foreshadow the sound film." (20) Its is an analogy, lithography-newspaper and photography-film.
There were a few instances were I was not sure what Walter Benjamin was talking about but for the most part I understood. I am excited to see what Dr. Rogers has to talk about this article and which songs will be playing in the beginning of class. I think a good choice would be "Let's see how far we've come" by Matchbox 20.
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I agree with you that it is important to look at Valery's prediction of the future world of technology. I also like your suggestion for the song for tomorrows class. I would have been nice if you could have expanded a bit more on Benjamin's ideas that you read about.
-Starfish
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