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(This is a text summary of the He Said She Said podcast from October 21, 2005. This is a bi-weekly podcast that deals with a wide range of topic on Education and Educational Technology. The show’s host is Rob Reynolds and he is joined by Susan Smith Nash. The He Said She Said podcast is available every Wednesday and Friday on Xplana Radio.)

Briefly…

It’s a plot for a great novel.
A decade after leading efforts against the illegal trade of artifacts, a museum’s recently departed antiquities curator faces trial next month in Rome over allegations that she knowingly received dozens of stolen items. But it’s the Getty Museum and it’s not a novel . It is, however, the perfect backdrop for our discussion as we talk about the effect of digital reality and “copies” on culture and education.

He Said

The digital world has redefined the notion of copies, fraud, and reality. In a world where it’s so easy to remix music and art, it’s often hard to tell whether the original is the most valuable version of something.

Part of the issue, however, is exactly that — we have a prejudicial notion that the original is always better. Personally, I think a flawless manufactured diamond is juts as valuable as one that was mined. I probably prefer it since it likely caused less human suffering. But we are taught in school about primary resources and founding fathers, and original art work and, over time, we come to believe the story. If it’s not an original it has less value.

Of course, that’s just a belief and it’s one that is in increasing danger. On another note, I think the best value of a many-copies world is the fact that they can offer us perspectives that lead to wisdom.

Violence is the direct result of ignorance and a lack of wisdom. In order to evolve (i.e. get more knowledge and wisdom), we require multi-faceted experiences that give us perspective. Unfortunately, in the normal scheme of things, such experiential accrual of wisdom takes precious time (meanwhile, there’s more violence and poverty). I imagine a future in which we can collapse the timeline of evolution by making these multi-faceted experiences available as virtual copies of the real thing (based on the real experiences of others). In this way, the difference between copies and the original will be meaningless. And the value attributed to both will not be a belief but rather a measurable outcome.

She Said:

First and foremost, Rob needs to spend less time in the Matrix. I mean, really!

But, seriously, the problems that beset the Getty Museum recently show us the danger of a love affair with “original” things. More important, it should make us pause and consider all of the components that go into making some of the stolen artifacts valuable — violence, suffering, destruction.

As a culture, is it time to begin questioning our modes of valuation when it comes to the past? If the past is about teaching — as opposed to treasure — could “copies” be just as useful? And, is it possible that using such replications might put a partial end to the cycle of crime and violence that has followed such artifacts into the present day?

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