Writings (Volume 6) Quotes

“Human engagement for the storage of information in opposition to death cannot be measured with the same scales used by the natural scientist. Carbon-dating tests measure the natural time according to the information loss of specific radioactive atoms. However, the artificial time of human freedom (“historical time”) cannot be measured by simply turning carbon-dating formulas around, so that they now measure the accumulation of information.”
― Vilém Flusser, Writings

“Photo apparatuses are based on equations of mechanics, chemistry and optics. However, the carrier of historical consciousness is the linear code of the alphabet rather than the code of numbers. In the numeric code, an unhistorical, calculating, formal consciousness articulates itself. It is meaningless to say that one and one if four at around six o'clock. Consequently, photographs are post historical images, not only because they stand in the way of the stream of history like dams, but also because their generation depends on unhistorical, post historical, which is to say calculating, formal thought.”
― Vilém Flusser, Writings (Volume 6)