The second dark age

category: notion

The second dark age

Massimo’s mind was drifting around the ampheterium. In places, classical features of architecture in marble were mixing with remnants of neo-industrial concrete but to everyone’s satisfaction, the building had recently been modernised with organic fabric much more pleasant to their contemporary taste.

The College de France, founded in 1530, was more than 1000 years old now.

For a brief instant his ears caught a few words from the renowned speaker:

»The first dark age triggered by the fall of the Roman Empire, saw a drastic fall in literacy and was often referred to as the dark age by those who saw themselves as heralds of enlightenment » the voice of the eloquent speaker faded away as Massimo drifted back into his thoughts.

Though history was his passion and he had read more on the topic at his young age than many adults would read in their whole lives, he found it hard to focus on the historical background for what was otherwise his favourite art masterpiece, the renown « life and death of the mechanical eye ».

The masterpiece, so subtly blended allusions to the 10th century Arab scholar Ibn Al Haytham generally credited for the invention of camera obscura (he found how light can be used to project an image on to a flat surface), Leonardo Da Vinci drawings, the frères Lumière first argentic camera, Kodak films, Apple iPhones and many more symbols of the cameras.

The very first algae mandala, now nearly 200 years old, showed all those symbols orbiting around a black hole, reminiscent of the age when after having taken too many pictures -and shared almost as many on social media - society reached photo-nausea and taking pictures became taboo.

Though the taboo eventually allowed society to start maturing, it rendered archeological studies for this transitional age impossible as Siri, Alexa and others had replaced writing, reading and associated skills - making those obsolete -decades before…

Then suddenly, as he was being drawn to the flashlight at the center of the black hole, a cold shiver ran down his neck when he heard the voice slowing down for dramatic effect to say

“…But my son Massimo, here, will share some of his findings with us now!”