Technical images were invented in order to prevent civilization from falling apart at the seams, and their purpose was to be a general code valid for society as a whole . Technical images were meant to constitute a common denominator for the arts, science and politics in the sense of generally accepted values. In fact, however, technical images do not function in that way. Technical images thus suck all of history into their surfaces, and they come to constitute an eternally rotating memory of society. Everything desires to flow into this eternal memory, and to become eternally reproducible there.
Every event aims at reaching the television or cinema screen or at becoming a photograph.
Or, if the event does not openly admit its availability, it at least glances surreptitiously in that direction. The result is that every event or action loses its proper historical character, tending to become a magic ritual, an eternally repeated motion. The universe of technical images, as it is about to establish itself around us, poses itself as the plenitude of our times, in which all actions and passions turn in eternal repetition. It is from this apocalyptic perspective that the problem of photography will acquire the shape proper to it. Towards a Philosophy of Photography.