The Fantastic Four Post-Media Condition & the Gramophone

In our first class discussion we discussed the difference between Episteme and Techne. Weibel suggests this relationship has evolved over time and tends to be defined by the class. Weibel views this ever-changing relationship through a historic lense. The Greeks created theatre, the theatre by extension creates a forum for discussion and a sense of community creating one of the first forms of democracy. The importance of the arts can be seen also in Plato's and Aristotles discussion of Epistame and Techne, the arts liberales and the arts mechanics with the Epistame being for the free citizens or the upper class. The relationship between labour and enlightened thinking is that labour in according to Aristotle had an effect on your body depleting the resources needed for enlightened thinking. This establishes a clear hierarchy of the arts, wherein Epistame was ranked above the Techne because Techne was the practises undertaken by the working class such as woodworking and crafts.

Weibel takes this viewpoint and applies it to other periods of history such as the Renaissance, the French Revolution and 19th century self expressionism in order to emphases the shift in paradigm between old media and what he calls the "Post-media condition".

Kittler also makes the point that digitization erases the distinction between media in his own frantic way of writing. Kittler looks more and different mediums and their evolution over time. He talks about the monopoly of writing to support his point that in todays post-media world, the digital medium has it's own monopoly on media in general.

(We are still traumatized by Kittler's obsession with communicating with the dead)