As the chapter describes the start of modernization I kept thinking back to Kitsch art. “…Only high culture was born [in Paris], though that high culture was a response to the pervasive alienation and liberation brought by industrialization. Another part of the modern world came from California, and this part was an amalgamation of technology, entertainment, and what gets called lifestyle that became a part of everyday life”. It reminded me of America’s ‘melting pot’ mentality. That said, I don’t think California is necessarily changing from “a world of places and materials to a world of representations and information”(6). At the very least, I think more ideas of quality and morality are being associated with physical things or places. Those I do believe start on the coasts, in the more populated areas, and tend to dissent into the central US. 

This book starts with the story of Edward James Muybridge: it’s a bit poetic but is a very interesting read. He created camera shutters that allowed high-speed photography, improved the technology that introduced the concept of moving images, and apparently lived a pretty high stakes life. In the transition from the history of Muybridge and to the advancing technology he followed, it references how technology was limited by humanities capability to harness nature(9). The book was referring to animals and barges but I did think back to the transhumanism video we watched. It seems humans are always trying to outpace the world. 

I knew that early photos took a long time to shoot, but the idea of the world having to slow down to be seen with this new, speedy technology is peculiar.(16) As poetic as the wording gets I do agree with the message- advancing technology made us a faster people. Our expectations for goods and services gets shorter every decade(who hasn’t been upset because of a delayed 2-day Prime shipping?). Entertainment is an immediate gratification, and education is streamlined for efficiency. Our world is just faster than I remember it being.