Hylozoic Man


















I watched with great interest Philip Beesley talk at Carnegie Mellon University. It reminded me of how much I owe to him, to the point of dedicating a good part of my master's thesis to his work. Beesley is a mix of Oskar Schlemmer - for his multidisciplinarity, ranging from fashion design to architecture - and George Gurdjieff - for his quasi-mystical character. It is amazing how he resumes some of the discussions of art history, such as those that separated organic and geometric sculptures, vitalism versus mechanism, etc. And, while the ancient sculptors valued the "synthetic realization of the mass ponderability of the object" (Jack Burnham), Beesley goes further and speaks of its “disposition”, elevating it to the quasi-organic category, or revealing the way in which technical objects are nothing more than "organized inorganic matter" (Bernard Stiegler). Of course, there are ambiguities, such as when he updates the Vitruvian ‘triad’, transforming firmitas into "compartment", a word that denotes closure. I may not have been able to achieve the ideal reasoning, but I see compartment as something other than open, unbound. Or perhaps the idea of a compartment is included in a new architectural paradigm, in which you start with a temporary compartment that unfolds in other compartments, less closed, but with greater capacity for exchanging with the environment. This in fact goes against the reductionist paradigm, of reducible and ultra-basic objects, such as those designed by Dieter Rams. Beesley's concept world is very rich, because he manages to recover the notion of clinamen (Lucretius) and associate it with quantum foam! An excellent presentation. I was unable to see the Q&A section because the sound was not very good. I hope Beesley's bold rhetoric resonated with the linear materialistic nerds in the audience.

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ChatGPT describing a story that takes place in the future and tells the adventures of a group of green technicians who operate the Earth Computer — a global network withoutwires, hardware and abstractions — which works by means of a peculiar media ecology comprised of interconnected natural elements. In accordance to drastic technological constrictions resulting from planetary boundaries, the group has to rely solely on unconventional methods, such as electro-crystallizations, alchemical transmutations, crystal radio transmission and biologically-inspired computing (i.e. Slime moulds which can establish protoplasmic networks, acting like an amorphous massively parallel computer, with distributed inputs, or sensors, decentralised information processing and decision-making).

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 In the year 2123, a group of green technicians known as the "Eco Coders" were entrusted with the operation of the Earth Computer. This was not a conventional computer with wires and hardware, but a global network that functioned through an intricate web of interconnected natural elements. The Earth Computer was a testament to humanity's ingenuity, a peculiar media ecology that had evolved in response to the planet's boundaries. The Eco Coders were not your typical technicians. They were alchemists, biologists, and ecologists, each with a unique understanding of the natural world and its potential for computation. Their tools were not silicon chips and circuit boards, but electro-crystallizations, alchemical transmutations, and crystal radio transmissions. One of their most unconventional methods involved slime moulds. These simple organisms could establish protoplasmic networks, acting like an amorphous massively parallel computer. With distributed inputs or sensors
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#prontofalei

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O conto "Mal do Século", uma extração das narrativas de cunho político da novela “Vistarmada”, está disponível em Overmundo. O texto foi encomendado e recusado para uma antologia com histórias de ficção científica sobre assuntos políticos. Normal. Entretanto, não seria justo omitir algumas considerações (algumas já elaboradas na área de comentários de uma resenha de “Os Dias da Peste”, de Fábio Fernandes). Primeiro: o editor do Anuário Brasileiro de Literatura Fantástica não estava ciente em que seara estava se metendo, pois, se soubesse, não teria convidado um autor autotélico (definição: autor que explora aspectos “autopoiéticos” do texto narrativo). Segundo: narrativas de ficção científica não necessariamente são “histórias de carochinha” e eventualmente podem arriscar torções de formato (por exemplo, em termos de timing , o conto é 2/3 diegesis e 1/3 dénouement ; e, em termos de estilo, o conto homenageia a digressão miscelânica de Laurence Sterne). Terceiro: o editor
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