The mummy’s value lies in guaranteeing that cultural accumulation has meaning

Evidence

Ramses does not signify anything for us, only the mummy is of an inestimable worth because it is what guarantees that accumulation has meaning. Our entire linear and accumulative culture collapses if we cannot stockpile the past in plain view. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 37

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with Jameson’s understanding of late capitalism and the loss of historicity; both theorize the postmodern relation to the past. — connects to: Humanity is implicitly defined through access to high culture — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 54; A ruler’s worth is judged by lasting cultural legacy — , A Year of World Stories, 4866; Fragile cultural achievements need many conditions at once to survive (+1 more)
• ADDENDUM: Parallels the Sacrifice piece: like ritual burial protecting a hidden symbolic order, museumification is the modern disenchantment of the corpse.

Broader Connections

• Culture requires routing one’s perfection through external objects and spheres #expands (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 555
• Humanity is implicitly defined through access to high culture #expands (0.75) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 54
• Fragile cultural achievements need many conditions at once to survive #expands (0.75)
• A ruler’s worth is judged by lasting cultural legacy #qualifies (0.72) — , A Year of World Stories, 4866