Reading #4

Material consciousness is such a fascinating concept.  What makes us care about a thing?   When reading this article I kept coming back to this idea.  Why do we value some objects over others?  Why do we as craftsmen spend so much time creating something in a specific way, with a specific outcome?  When discussing Metamorphosis the author touched on the "just so" theology; that change has to happen in a specific way, almost like fate.  This idea seems illogical to me, especially in contrast to Ruskins later discussed idea of cognitive evolution.  It seems to me that this idea of constant metamorphosis is how and perhaps why craftsmen work.  Much like evolution the craftsman finds beneficial mutations in their work, and adapts these mutations creating a new product or way of working.  This to me is a perfect example of material consciousness.  
Moving on to the idea of presence and anthropomorphism the idea of why something is important comes into play.  What both these sections really seemed to boil down to is that we care about objects, and we are conscious of their material make up because of how they relate to humans.  The idea of attributing a work to a person, or giving an object a personality speaks of how much we value human interaction.  The object becomes a means of communication, a bridge between people, cultures and time.  The object becomes a story telling device, and therefor becomes memorable and important to it's viewer.