It is far from writing, and there is no way that it makes up even a hundred words.

But, in justification of my addiction to 3quarksdaily, here is a sample of the random, but often striking edification that they bring into my life:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhcjeZ3o5us]

There is great promise in the ability to copy and paste such magic. Hannah Arendt suggested that culture was once about edification – the urge to make oneself better by experiencing the creations of others. Long before I was around to mull it over, she worried (in Between Past And Future) that this urge underlying culture was undemocratic, because most people have little to gain from improving themselves – they don’t want culture, they want entertainment. The space between the populism of mass entertainment and the aristocracy of hoi-polloi ‘art’ is hard to bridge, and leaves a gaping chasm where a truly democratic practice of art should be. Contra Arendt, I am filled with hope that there is space for a truly popular culture, and this piece – not only accessible in the haunting beauty it admits in such a short time, but accessible in being online, free in every sense of the word – provides some promise of bridging that chasm. I do hope that Google doesn’t ruin this wonderful tool.