We say that the world's magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed.
Interpretation
The quote celebrates the transformative power of speed in modern life, viewing it as a new form of beauty.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's quote emphasizes how the advent of speed—especially through technological advancements—has fundamentally altered our perception of reality. By declaring that time and space have 'died,' he suggests that the instantaneous nature of modern life allows us to experience existence in a new, boundless way, where traditional limitations no longer apply. This shift signifies a radical departure from the past, framing speed as a defining characteristic of contemporary beauty and existence.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the impact of technology on modern art.
There is no longer beauty except in the struggle. No more masterpieces without an aggressive character. Poetry must be a violent assault against the unknown forces in order to overcome them and prostrate them before men.
I am all for everyone having a voice; I just don't think everyone has earned the microphone. And that's what the Internet has done.
Instruction tables will have to be made up by mathematicians with computing experience and perhaps a certain puzzle-solving ability. There need be no real danger of it ever becoming a drudge, for any processes that are quite mechanical may be turned over to the machine itself.
The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do.
People invent new machines and improve existing ones almost unconsciously, rather as a Somnambulist will go walking in his sleep. The interesting puzzle in our times is that we so willingly sleepwalk through the process of reconstituting the conditions of human existence.
People who say they don't see the acceleration of innovation is a wilful blindness. We are innovation at a wonderful speed for the basic things we think everyone should get.
Imagine if we can just talk to our computers and have it understand, 'Please schedule a meeting with Bob for next week.' Or if each child could have a personalized tutor. Or if self-driving cars could save all of us hours of driving.
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