Blog 5

1. I do agree with the programmers statement about the ARPANET being a comparison to a city. The point he is trying to get across is that as how a city can be ever expanding, so can computers. Cities have a natural tendency to grow rapidly because so many people are drawn to cities for their potential for opportunity. With computers, this was a technology that could constantly re-engineered and perfected. Those first programmers for ARPANET were able to speculate very accurately what computer technology would come to be. They knew the potential computers had to grow to become a great human advancement, as cities are testimonies to human collaboration. The collaboration of multiple computers on one network would be able to connect possibly the world on one massive network. Just as when cities can communicate efficiently with one another to all benefit each other, this can also be said for computers. A city that can communicate openly can know what is happening in other cities and could benefit each other equally. For example if a bad storm was heading for NYC from the north, Albany could inform them before it arrives, and vice versa. With computers this process could happen almost instantaneously, messages could be sent in and instant, as well as receive a reply just as quickly. This would result in fast action when a time for immediate decision making is required. 

2. If I could imagine a figure from nature that would represent the internet it would be a tree. A tree is able to communicate throughout it's entire structure, down to it's deepest roots to it's tallest branches. For example, as water is collected from the roots in the ground, it is transported all throughout the tree's body. This also works as well in the sense when the leaves gather sunlight in order to serve as energy to produce food for the tree. Then every leaf as well serves a small part to the tree, as does one small bit of data serves to the internet. One of them alone doesn't do very much, but with thousands of them almost anything is possible. 

blog 4

 2011- http://new-aesthetic.tumblr.com/post/53197744630/how-google-will-use-balloons-to-deliver-internet

• What caught my attention the most was the captivating mountains behind the balloon in the picture. The experiment goes into further detail about how these balloons are being used to map out the earth. This peaks my interest even more because there are many places in the world that may have not been explored.

2012- http://new-aesthetic.tumblr.com/post/18442605146/when-nasa-teamed-up-with-japans-ministry-of

• SSX happened to be one of my favorite video games when I was younger so I was naturally curious. I was interested in wanting to know how this game displayed qualities of the new aesthetic. 

2013- http://new-aesthetic.tumblr.com/post/39653256592/although-bush-set-up-the-legal-argument-for

• This picture got me thinking about how far technology has come and how much it can actually impair us. Although these advancements are revolutionary, one that imitates human qualities is more of a hinderance than a useful tool. It intrigues me how progress has a way of getting ahead of itself sometimes.

To some extent I do believe that some of the concept about the "new aesthetic" could be in agreement with Benjamin's ideas of "authentic" and a piece containing a certain "aura". While some pieces for example such as a formation of logs stacked in a certain fashion would not be considered authentic. Simply because that formation could be easily replicated by anyone. However in a way the very thought of how those logs should have been placed in the first place is authentic, because that same thought may not be able to be reproduced every time.

The new aesthetic has a form of aura but should be more thought of as a variation of the already existing aura on that piece. Many variations of already popular pieces of art have been altered in ways influenced by the ideas of the new aesthetic. This is in a sense, also changes the aura and makes the person observing the piece to look at it in a different way than before. However this could mean that the variation that was put on the original piece could function as a way to try to make it seem better or worse than what it originally was. With that in mind, the new aesthetic relates to Benjamin's essays, but overall functions outside the ideas of what Benjamin believes to be art.

How has your experience of multi-media changed?

I was born into the emerging age of the internet. I remember as a kid I was able to use the computer better than my parents, it didn't seem like it was anything difficult to understand because that's what I was going to grow up using anyway. However, progress I believe has a way of getting ahead of itself. The internet was once something much more simple, but now in this day and age if you don't have a facebook or a twitter something just isn't quite right about you. The creation of social media websites has been the biggest change that I have experienced in my lifetime. I used to not care for it so much, I'd much rather keep to myself in fact, but it is the norms of our generation to use these sorts of multi-media. Before you know it, you become just as involved in it as anyone else.Private is now public. The internet is an amazing advancement, but it also has the ability to track when you posted something on the internet, and where you posted it from. It is rather invasive on our privacy, but that's just how it is now. Yet no one seems to mind it all that much, it's not something people tend to think when they are putting up that embarrassing picture or giving out their personal information over the internet. It can all be traced whenever need be as well as it cannot actually be removed from the internet. Deleting something doesn't actually delete anything, it still leaves a digital footprint for anyone to find. The point being, is multi-media is something great, but also can become a hindrance on our personal lives.