Precis: It's all about the authenticity

Even though our culture would be hard pressed to survive without technology, we are quickly losing any sense of authenticity in our world, especially in the world of art. "That core is its authenticity. The authenticity of a thing is the quintessence of all that is transmissible in it from its origin on, ranging from its physical duration to the historical testimony relating to it" (254). As with many of the other texts read in class, there is a fixation on the idea of the copy. The copy will never be as good as the originial, no matter what the circumstances may be. The original, once replicated, loses some of its "arua." "...the destruction of the aura, is the signature of a perception whose 'sense for sameness in the world' has so increased that, by means of reproduction, it extracts sameness even from what is unique" (256). It goes back to sweet old Becky's ideas at the Art Museum. It is all about "firstness." After all, who wants a replica?