Tuesday, June 21, 2011

IN A LAND WHERE EVERY LILLIPUTIAN IS A GULLIVER

Prometheus stole fire from the gods. Sir John Herschel perfected the camera. With the first, humanity was now able to control the space around it; with the second, the time around it.

The camera allowed its owners to seize and freeze time where and how they found it. Before, only the few and their commissioned artists could do so. Not anymore. Now photography's way of democratizing our control of time took a rapid journey. At first, cameras were too expensive for the many; then with Kodak's Brownie in 1900, anyone could capture time; with the Polaroid in 1948, anyone could shoot and develop anything anywhere; finally the digital.

The evolving democratization of time reaches its apex today with hundreds of millions of us -- from Manhattan to Madagascar -- packing pocket cameras in our multi-duty Iphones. In vain do police, TV studios and theatres warn patrons about using them. Once people have their heart's desire, the heart insists they use it. Which today is why at every major event, behold a thousand-points-of-light.

OK, history of camera; end of story. Right...? Wrong... ! The real story is the way inventions by the few in the hands of the many soon alter the lives of the many in ways never anticipated. The Law of Unintended Consequences.

Equipped and armed with our palm-held cameras, we the masses march forth as if we had a rendezvous with destiny. Now virtually every child and every sleeping puppy in every family home becomes an object of art... every moment from a city parade to a block party becomes a headline event...every tree-climbing kid, every new flower garden, every new house roof, new car and spring outfit becomes a camera-must.

None of which is wrong. It's good and it's fun. Still you have to wonder. As the democratization of this technology makes virtually anything worth filming, is this perhaps why we think virtually anyone is worth watching, becoming a celebrity, and electing to office? Just asking...........................



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