Hyperhumanism
hyperhumanism (n) a superior humanism for the posthuman age (’Yes: We, the replicants are about to exterminate you, but this holocaust will be executed in to the highest of intergalactically agreed standards of humane slaughter. More humane than humane is our motto.)
Freedonsim
Safety equipment from the ferry to Staten Island, New York
America can only be saved by what it’s trying to destroy
– Don DeLillo, Americana 1971
A secular society will regard a human life holy and immutable, because in the absence of Gods and Grand Narratives it used to be the only known source of purpose, greatness and the holy. (A Grand Narrative unto itself.) America has gone one step beyond that. The human life is no longer regarded holy. Any human life (even an American), any human right (even in America) can now be compromised for the sake of The Grand American Freedom. It is a core component of war: valuing some conception of freedom above human lives. By waging an eternal, unwinnable war on the general concept of terror, the rulers of USA has laid the rhetorical basis for permanently putting their void idea of of freedom in place of humanism.
'Freedom' – it is really 'happiness', that fat, dull nihilist god of the postmodern age thinly disguised in a cape of heroism: Happiness and Freedom, the two faces of the Millennial Joker. Together they form the vanishing point for all purpose, ethics and choice, the infinitesimal moment of axiomatic evanescence terminating all concerns, giving our lives perspective, imbuing it with beauty, purpose and greatness. It needs us to die for it, and unless we were willing our lives would mean nothing to us.
The war on terror is at its core an institution of perverted hedonsim with synthetic heroism-flavor added to drown out the bitter aftertaste. Freedonism. We need to get a grip: Freedom is a powerful companion, but it is a heartless god.
freedonism (n) the doctrine that freedom is the sole or chief good in life.
Touch of the Thereminist
touch of the thereminist
(for Clara Rockmore, the inventress of ‘aerial fingering’)
yes, I remember her very well
she was so young and pretty
she carried out together with einstein
light-musical experiments in my studio
she took delight in simplicity and novelty of experimentation
she submerged tiny mirrors in tubes of oil
the effect was thrilling for us
don't forget that you are dealing with air
think of your fingers as delicate butterfly wings
she said
just scratching the surface of an invisible world as it became tangible
she encouraged me to explore my less apparent attributes
don’t forget your whole body is an electro-conductor
she said
I started entertaining myself by imagining it was a dance
perfectly timed
mathematically romantic and kinetic
please, please not a wide vibrato
she said
Who’s NOT a cyborg these days?
Cyborg is a word composed from the prefix “cyber” which means roghly “pertaining to control” and is related to cybernetics which is related to the ancient greek word for pilot (typically of a ship) “kubernetes” and is the science of control theory. Obviously the -org part alludes at the word organism. So what we have is a Control Organism, which in some respect might refer to almost anyone, but maybe more typically to a strict mother or a manipulative mistress. We might need to semantically reboot that word: Lets give it a new, slightly greeker spelling.
kuborg (n) control organism: My mother is a freaking kuborg.
kuberspace (n) the area of influence of a given kuborg: I can’t talk right now, I’m in her kuberspace. I’ll call you later.