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tags: mk, writing
---

# mk-writing-on-mechanical-reproduction

towards a very brief riff that gets from Benjamin to buttons ([hmm](/SvsQt4EURA6Uj8_vZEgc-Q)—reflecting on the move from MOOC era to button era there's certainly a little bit of an "i was so much older then i'm younger that now" thing going on—pulling this in could seem clunky except in live improvisations).

## the work of teaching in the age of technical reproducibility

- MOOCs, hybrid, online, large classes, etc etc as context
- what scales of reproduction, what scales full stop, are tolerable? Orders of magnitude (base 10, base 2, base 4)
- [stackexchange quote](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2015051/does-order-of-magnitude-extend-beyond-base-10):
>People do use "order of magnitude" to refer to base 2 orders, relying on context to make clear what units are being used. Yes, they are only 30% as big, but it's just a different unit for the same thing, analogous to the way feet are only 30% as big as meters.
>
>In fact the analogy is exact when the orders of magnitude are themselves the units, as in the cases of bels (orders of magnitude are 10), decibels (orders of magnitude are 10‾‾‾√10) and nepers (orders of magnitude are 𝑒≈2.71).
>
>In musical contexts it's common to measure sound frequency in orders of magnitude of size 2 (called octaves), size 2‾√12 (called semitones) and 2‾√1200 (called cents).
- NFTs and Etsy tackling the problem of specialness and singularity from different directions
- Harvard (admissions) itself as caught in this logic
- where we see this play out, what are the most satisfying forms?
- spotify vs live show (pins and t-shirts)
- postcards
- letter-pressed wedding invitations
- what's the most you can afford for the order of magnitude you're dealing with? (10?, 100?, 1000?) where does it stop seeming special?
- holiday cards
- block printing, especially numbered prints (ties right back to Mona Lisa example in Benjamin)
- on orders of magnitude and social relations, knowledge, power and anonymity
- the social contract of the theory class, the need to say plausible-sounding sentences aloud in that context . . . what happens at larger scale?
- initiating into mysteries vs providing a textbook