In 1935, philosopher Walter Benjamin explored the transformative dynamics of art in his seminal essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Central to his argue is the notion of ‘aura‘—an intrinsic essence tethering artworks to their unique time and place of origin. While a classical fresco or symphony is imbued […]
Category: English Blog
Music, like other creative artistic domains, is generally associated with virtuosi – extraordinary individuals gifted with mystic genius to enthrall our hearts. Like Beethoven, Mozart, Snoop Dogg! Not anymore (for reasons I explain in another upcoming post). Music is becoming collaborative. It is no longer a solitary enterprise, but teamwork where more and more artists […]
Every death is tragic; civilian deaths are more tragic; women and children’s deaths are the most tragic. No one should go through the trauma of losing their loved ones – male or female, child or adult! No matter who they are; an unjust loss of life is, must be a universal tragedy! What unfolded in […]
“… the sociological understanding of ‘reality’ and ‘knowledge’ falls somewhere in the middle between that of the man in the street and that of the philosopher. The man in the street does not ordinarily trouble himself about what is ‘real’ to him and about what he ‘knows’ unless he is stopped short by some sort […]
Science As a Self-Organizing Institution Nothing is as confusing and confused as institutions are in Sociology. Are they rules? Who creates them? Why do autonomous agents follow them? Who enforces them? Do they emerge spontaneously? Or deliberately? Are they organizations? What are organizations, if not a mere set of rules? The more questions, the more […]
The earthquake that devasted Turkey (and Syria) on 6 February 2023 also coincided with an election year where Erdogan is struggling to maintain his grip on power amidst mounting discomfort over his government’s increasing authoritarianism, economic mismanagement, and rampant allegations of corruption at the municipal level. The recent Twitter outage suggests that the Turkish government […]