Actually something really interesting I noticed was when I visited Japan there was an ancient Buddhist temple with attached museum. I thought it was amazing looking at all the old art and treasures and weapons… everyone, myself included, was very impressed with it. Someone mentioned that you can really feel the history and aura and authenticity of the items. Just think about how many millions of other people have held or looked at these items over hundreds of years?

Then I noticed a small plaque, and translated it with my phone. It said everything in this museum is a replica, the originals are kept hidden in another location as sacred artefacts.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I mean it makes sense. You don’t want random weirdoes to destroy the cultural history. But also in a way it’s tricking people. But these replicas were extremely good and convincing; down to the weathering of the parchment, and the dents in the steel.

Eventually I decided that value and authenticity is a fragile human construct. We value these items because they make you feel something, even if they are not the originals, they give you a glimpse into real human history. We give them meaning and value by collective attention and meaning. If everyone held up the copy and said it was just as important, that makes it so. But even just knowing that it is a copy tarnishes the value of it. Therefore the value is stored in the mind, as an environmental and contextual meaning applied to this object.

The same object at the bottom of a dumpster would just be old trash. But we dig it up, and frame it in a museum, that makes it special.