Mark Stahlman (via RadioMail) on Thu, 17 Apr 1997 18:27:05 +0200 (MET DST) |
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<nettime> Is Reality Constrained? |
Pit (Jon, et al): Thanks for posting Hayles' fascinating strategic essay, which I take to be at least partly a response to my recent call for strategic thinking within the nettime community. As is often the case, what is most interesting is what is not said (implicit) as much as what is said (explicit). What are Hayles' constraints? And, what are the strategic implications of these constraints? The author's technique is to offer us a very limited set of options -- presumably because of the constraints under which she has placed herself. As she has indicated in the title, her own psychology is focussed on this sense of being constrained -- specifically constrained by her membership in the cult of de-constructionism. Her attempt to rescue meaning while holding onto her cult membership is heroic but, ultimately, a failure. She ends up, as is always the case under these conditions, merely de-constructing herself. Not being so constrained myself (since, apparently, I belong to the cult of "re-constructionism"), let me offer a few other possibilities for your consideration. In particular, she says: "Given that we are not God, we can only come in touch with the universe through particular sets of sensory apparatus located within specific cultures and times." This is, of course, not accurate (or even honest) and seems to express a profound ignorance of the entire sweep of intellectual history. Could she be so naive? Or, is she merely constrained and, therefore, must feign ignorance? There are, of course, other options which have been articulated with great import by people who do not share her constraints. For most people the question isn't whether we are ourselves God, but rather whether God (and therefore unconstrained truth) exists at all and whether or not humans are made in God's image -- as the foundation documents of our civilization assert. Presumably, she is aware that this is *not* a closed issue -- despite the constraints that she has so unfortunately placed upon herself. As recent polling indicates, 90% of the American population "believes" in God and a remarkable 40% of scientists worldwide profess to "believe" in a very detailed corporial form of God's existence. Her constrained position on this matter and her pretense that all right-minded people share her constraints is perhaps the core of the entire essay -- the implicit, unstated message she has labored to express. She concludes by stating, referring to her own strategy: "Renouncing omniscience and coercive power, it gains connectedness and human meaning." Again, this is highly constrained and thoroughly innacurate. What she is doing is equating belief in God with "coercive power" and implying that lacking this belief she is affirming humanity (i.e. "human meaning"). This is familiar manuever but one that is not upheld by even a cursory understanding of the history of science or, more importantly, any comprehension of our current predicament. She is, in fact, falling right into the arms of "coercive power" by looking for liberation from the neccessity of God's existence and, thereby, denouncing, not affirming, humanity. She should re-read Leibniz's "Monadology" and recall that Newton was an alchemist (or in Leibniz's terms a "barbarian") and not a scientist. Of all her personal constraints, her apparently limited knowledge of the history of science might be the easiest one to quickly remedy. Focussing on the very social battle between Newton and Leibniz would likely prove to be a useful "construction", in her case. As C.S. Lewis detailed in his 1947 essay "The Abolition of Man", it is precisely the *lack* of belief in the existence of God that threatens to coercively end humanity -- not the reverse. What could be more coercive than unlimited genetic manipulation? What could be more coercive than total psychological conditioning? These two overarching coercions are now within our practical technological grasp and, without what Lewis called the "Tao" (i.e. the moral order which she implicitly denies), the use of these technologies will surely and irrevocably end all human existence. Nothing could be more coercive and nothing could flow more naturally from accepting her cultish constraints. On this, the most serious issue regarding science, knowledge and reality, she is completly silent. She must be silent; she is, afterall, constrained. She appears to be valient and vigilant when she is utterly defenseless and without hope. Jon recently described me as a technophobe and contrasted my apocalyptic vision (which consists of my merely repeating other's descriptions) with his own -- which he termed optimistic and a life-affirming. My only question for him is, "What sort of life are you affirming -- is it human?" Based on what I've written and my 25+ years in the technology business, it does seem innaccurate to call me a technophobe. I wonder if Jon would care to look closely again my "abstractions" to understand what I have been saying. I specifically indicated that technology will/could be turned *against* the enemies of humanity and that I intend to do just this. Nowhere have I renounced technology. I am, in fact, the one who is calling for its strategic use in the war to arrest the abolishing of the human race. I merely noted that technology is being used by humanity's enemies. I would have thought that to be non-controversial. If one were interested in defending humanity, that is. We humans are at war and, therefore, we need a strategy. Optimism is no shield against this assault on our humanity. We must understand what is at stake and how the various forces are aligned. If we constrain ourselves to renouncing the existence of truth and meaning (as so many have done, including Hayles), then we have already lost that war and doomed humanity to extinction. The technology of genetic and psychological manipulation will ensure that humanity will cease to exist and that it will be replaced by an engineered android race of Borg-like "post-humans." We cannot simply affirm life if we wish to remain human. We must understand what it is that makes human life human if we wish it to remain human, afterall. We are, perhaps, the world's most endangered species. To be human is simply to understand that reality is not constrained. Truth exists and knowing this is what ultimately makes us human. Grasping this truth arms us to defend our species. Constraining oneself by ignoring it actively invites our demise. (I expressly forbid Bruce Sterling or anyone else from cross-posting this note to the WELL or any related system. Others should feel free to x-post as they see fit.) Mark Stahlman New Media Associates New York City newmedia@mcimail.com --- # distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@icf.de and "info nettime" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@icf.de