In today’s episode, I continue our “Of Life” series by focusing on the reproduction of life. Now, when I talk about reproduction, brothers, I do not mean biological reproduction. Instead, I am talking about reproducing another being, or life. A good reproduction can encompass many things, like a painting, photograph, or recording.

In order to understand the reproduction of life we need to revisit the earliest examples of art, which dates back thousands of years to prehistoric cave paintings. These people weren’t called artists, but iconographers, because they were creating icons of things, not images or copies. Their purpose was to trigger a sense of divinity or spirituality.

Next, we take a big leap, brothers, to the Renaissance, when artistry and representation changed dramatically. Portraits, sculptures and other works of visual art were made to be incredibly lifelike and realistic. This realism took yet another leap with photography, ever since which human representation has become evermore realistic.

But with photography, brothers, we’re not fully capturing the essence of a person, just one aspect. We\'re not truly getting what it\'s like to be around or with or have an experience with this person. Which is where film and cinema enter the picture. And film, of course, has also evolved over time to become more fully representational, incorporating sound, better picture quality and even three-dimensional experiences. Finally, these images entered our living rooms with the invention of television.

But even as we pursue ever more realistic reproductions, like holograms, we can never truly recreate something fully. It’s just energy and electricity, brothers. It’s ultimately an illusion. The true question is ‘What does this reveal about our reality?’ Join me today brothers, for a deep dive into the many facets of reproduction, and the deeply surprising possibilities of what our reality could be!