Newspaper's Last Stand: Last029

A May 10, 2023 Guardian article quotes Scartoni describing the decline of newspapers saying, “The barbarians arrived, and now artificial intelligence is on the way, which will produce monsters.” On June 5, 2023, an apparent robot monster towers over Scartoni’s newsstand as, at bottom right, Scartoni faces the robot from his newsstand's entrance. While the robot monster is only part of a recycling campaign, it in many ways embodies the artificial, dehumanized, robotic future that Scartoni and his customers oppose. Scartoni and many of his newspaper readers do not own smart phones nor even cell phones. ‘People look at their phones and screens instead of greeting one another,’ says customer Cesare Badii. Another customer, Marcello Mascalchi says entering the newsstand, “Did you see the robot man that was here? That robot man rusts. Our Piero doesn’t rust!” referring to Scartoni.

A May 10, 2023 Guardian article quotes Scartoni describing the decline of newspapers saying, “The barbarians arrived, and now artificial intelligence is on the way, which will produce monsters.”  

On June 5, 2023, an apparent robot monster towers over Scartoni’s newsstand as, at bottom right, Scartoni faces the robot from his newsstand's entrance. While the robot monster is only part of a recycling campaign, it in many ways embodies the artificial, dehumanized, robotic future that Scartoni and his customers oppose. Scartoni and many of his newspaper readers do not own smart phones nor even cell phones. ‘People look at their phones and screens instead of greeting one another,’ says customer Cesare Badii. Another customer, Marcello Mascalchi says entering the newsstand, “Did you see the robot man that was here? That robot man rusts. Our Piero doesn’t rust!” referring to Scartoni.