Teaching for the Future: Teaching for the Future: Episode 9

I was listening to some podcasts the other day and came across the latest issue of Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything. If you're not familiar with the Theory of Everything it is a podcast that discusses a number of topics by making connections between literature, the arts, and current events. On the latest podcast Benjamin Walker tells a hypothetical story about Hitler reading and discussing Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" with his minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels.

Walter Benjamin was a German Jewish writer who lived in Paris during much of WWII. Benjamin was also a Marxist and a strong critic of Hitler who wrote about Jewish mysticism, philosophy, and the decadent writers. His essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" talks about role of the mechanical reproduction of art and literature are important tools in the war against facism. A lot of what Benjamin has to say can be applied to a blogging, podcasting and new media. Benjamin argued that recreating great works of art would only allow them to impact those who are not of means and who may not have access to these works.

There is a great debate over intellectual property and the role copyright law being argued in classrooms, chatrooms, and in the halls of Congress. Many large content producing companies, such as record companies, are trying to protect their intellectual property at all cost. Many others argue that the use of DRM and strict copyright protection is hindering our creative abliliy. These people feel that copyright laws as they stand now are getting in the way of the creation of new content and new works of art.

teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, walter benjamin, lawrence lessig