Thesis: Steven Johnson's Interface Culture
The worlds of art and technology are often artificially divided by our society, when in fact they are united aspects of our culture. While not denying that technology is part of our culture, and as influential in its own right as television or literature, etc., I would not categorize advances in technology the same way as I would a work of art. Both require great innovation and leaps of the imagination, but technology serves more as a vehicle to disseminate artistic expression than as an artistic expression itself. The scientific innovations and technology alone are not of much use to society. However, without technology, humans still created an artistic culture. A printing press alone is no good to anyone if there is nothing for it to print. To me it is the story contained within a Dickens novel that is the work of art; the press is the extraordinary innovation that allows the art to be appreciated and experienced on a larger scale. This is not to say that art and technology are not often intertwined, but in my mind, a bit maps that allows people to interface with their computer and explore virtual space through a personalized desktop is not an artistic achievement in the same manner as Dickens novel that explores the world of an industializing city through a narrative.