Construction of intentional community Arcosanti began in Arizona around the early 1970's, proposing an 'arcology' aimed at fostering the human creative spirit. Soleri's variation on a de Chardinian idea well reflects our digital age, although modifications are needed. It's clear our world will increasingly organize itself around virtual attractors; memes, decentralized networks, etc. In this kind of reality, visions are not only tools of navigation, but seeds for a future increasingly infected by the strange logic of the virtual. Even if Arcosanti ends up a dusty old ruin of visionary imagination, we may still see some new wireless versions in the near future. The digital economy is giving birth to several brilliant and wealthy young minds who may well take on such ideas in real terms. Instead of 60's isolationist theories, the 'arcotechs' of tomorrow will collide with cyberspace, ensuring continual flows of cash, culture and creativity power the communities living and working in transhumanist comfort.
January 20, 2008
January 28, 2008
Auroville
Auroville was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, a yoga leader known as The Mother. She was a disciple of Sri Aurobindo, a yoga guru who believed that human evolution had not finished. The Mother believed that this experimental community would evolve humans by bringing a more advanced consciousness called the supramental. It was designed by the French architect Roger Anger and houses around 2,000 people in communes, with names like Grace, Serenity, Fertile, Certitude and Transformation. The buildings are a combination of modern western and traditional Indian elements and are set in a rural landscape of narrow lanes, deep red earth and lush greenery. The residents sustain themselves by involving themselves in agriculture, handicrafts, alternative technology, educational and development projects including Aurolec, a computer software company.
The Matrimandir is a huge spherical structure surrounded by twelve pedestals. "Inside, a spiraling wooden ramp leads upwards to a spherical, air-conditioned meditation room of polished white marble. At its centre, there is a 70cm crystal ball in a gold mount. It is fueled by solar panels and is surrounded by gardens. Radiating from this centre are four "zones" as indicated by The Mother: the "Residential Zone", "Industrial Zone", "Cultural Zone" and "International Zone". Around the city area proper a so-called "Green Belt" has formed through rigorous and steady rehabilitation of the land, which includes farms and forestries. Auroville is populated by futuristic-style buildings. Some public drinking fountains feature "dynamised" water, which has been "made healthier" by having the water listen to Bach and Mozart. School classrooms are held under the shade of a tree and attendance is not mandatory.
May 30, 2008
Transhumanist Space
Reversible Destiny Office (1994) by Arakawa & Gins
Architect and artist duo Arakawa+Gins believe architecture and design can offer us longer and healthier lives. In Mitaka, Japan their Reversible Destiny Lofts are designed on the premise that comfort speeds up the aging process. The concept is simple - people are essentially better off living in spaces that continually challenge them physically and mentally. The built result are quirky homes with bright walls, unconventionally shaped rooms, curved and uneven floors, doorways you have to crawl through, light switches in unexpected locations and the absence of the usual mod cons.
June 04, 2009
h+ magazine launch
Biosphere 2 (1991) by John P. Allen
Cover Stories:
- Designer Baby Controversy
- From X Prize to Singularity U
- Biohacking Arrives
- Legalize Sports Doping?
- Was That a Bot of a Human?
- Chris Conte's Microbotic Art
Features:
- Here Come the Neurobots
- Real Discrimination Against Virtual People
- The Man Behind Biosphere 2
- Everything of the Dead: The Future of Humanity is Zombie
- Life On Mars with Pete Worden
June 05, 2009
Transhuman media
‘Typist’, Anton and Arturo Bragaglia (1911)
The word Transhuman first appears in Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia (1312), yet it was not until the technologies of the Modern age via Futurism (Italy 1908) and Dadaism (France 1915) that the concept of Transhumanist Media found a wider audience. Futurism celebrated contemporary life by rejecting traditional norms via two key themes - the kinetic machine and the fusion of art and science. Dadaism was more a way of life than a style, aimed to shock the public into challenging accepted aesthetic values thus transhumanist in nature. While Dadaists were often irrational and negative and Futurism was short-lived, Transhumanist media is dynamically optimistic and life-extended. Arguably, the philosophical works by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin like The Future of Man (1959) which explored both the application of bodymind technologies and the acceleration of technologies to a Singularity has greatly influenced contemporary futurists like Kurzweil and Moravec.
Morphing the Body
The human body, transformed in the final scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick (1968)
Influenced by the writings of Marshall McLuhan, Christopher Dewdney reminds us about our transitional state of being in his book Last Flesh: Life in the Transhuman Era (1998)...
"We are the products of bioengineering. Our immune systems have been altered by decoy viruses injected via vaccines. We consume genetically altered food. We use mood altering psychopharmaceuticals, from fermented grape juice to Prozac. More recently, our bodies have become sites for more than 250 types of artificial implants: synthetic heart valves, pacemakers, artificial hip and knee joints, synthetic arteries and eye lenses, not to mention those used in plastic surgery. Eventually neural implants will be used to augment our brains. Prostheses to restore the vision of blind patients have already been successfully implanted in human cortexes."
