CMN 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: The Blue Marble, Global Brain, Cognitive Dissonance
25 May 2016
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Document Summary
Persuasive images: the case of the whole earth image. 1966: marshall mcluhan asks this famous question. 1967: stuart brand distributes buttons; demands that nasa release the photo. Months later, nasa releases first whole-earth photograph. Blue marble (1972) is the most widely circulated image in history. Such photos have not led to the emergence of global consciousness in the way brand had hoped. The story of stuart brand raises key questions about visual communication: the question of universality. Are images capable of being understood by everyone, regardless of linguistic and cultural differences: the question of photographic realism. Some answers from the last few centuries: plato: no, enlightenment philosophers: yes, modernist philosophers: possible, yes. Idea that the real thing can and should be distinguished from its copies. Plato"s hierarchy of imitation: deity: creation ex nihilo, craftsman: 2nd order imitation, artist: 3rd order imitation. Visual iconography may finally help us realize a form of universal communication.
