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vendredi 19 novembre 2021

The possibility of a hyperstition

According to Nick Land, hyperstition is a positive feedback circuit including culture as a component. It can be defined as the experimental (techno-)science of self-fulfilling prophecies. Superstitions are merely false beliefs, but hyperstitions – by their very existence as ideas – function causally to bring about their own reality.

vendredi 7 mai 2021

The possibility of an extitution

The point is, not to resist the flow. You go up when you are supposed to go up. And down when you’re supposed to go down. When you’re supposed to go up find the highest tower and climb to the top. When your are supposed to go down find the deepest well and go down to the bottom. Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1997)

In Feÿ Castle (Burgundy, France) there is a well, a deep well. One of the kind which makes you realize: it would be a great idea to bury a time capsule at the very bottom.

Fey::well

Gravity law is hard, but it is the law.

Living for a few days with the Feÿtopian tribe in the Feÿ Castle is akin to an immersion inside a a strange mix between a digital Kibbutz, Abbaye de Thélème, and Rusty Lake.

Just to illustrate this, the utopian Thelemite motto in Rabelais’ Gargantua Faÿ ce que vouldras (do what you’ll wish) leads to a fringe and tempting theory: the name Feÿ is simply a disguised version of Faÿ, and this very naming is a purposeful indication that it was always in the mind of the founders that this noble castle should at a later stage become a phalanstery.

Fey::rusty

Mr Crow and Mr Deer from Rusty Lake.

Living in the Feÿ community brings a number of interrogations, as people do their best to be kind one to eachother.

Great public benefits arise from private virtues but isn’t it true that greater public benefits arise from private vices, as Mandeville described in the Fable of the Bees? Probably this is a question of dimension, of critical size.

On the Feÿ domain stands a beautiful forest. Sometimes the color tone can transition from spring green to viridian. Sometimes it is also easy to get stranded or floored there, however with lysergic power comes lysergic responsibility and collective nurturing helps prevent such fate to happen. Sometimes in the forest the infamous Codex Serafinianus helps to remind why Nature imitates Art. Sometimes in the forest you can see the music of the spheres.

Now it becomes a bit clearer. Individual oscillate in life, and one of the purpose of communities is to enter a collective mode of vibration. In other words, resonance. This is also what religion has been trying to achieve. Religion, seen as a collective hallucination or as a collective realization or as a collective construction (whatever the difference between the three might be).

Fey::thailand_buddhists_monks

Did I say “opium”? Sorry I meant “acid”. --Karl Marx

And here comes the Elephant in the forest.

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

Now it becomes clearer: the concept of extitution is here to enhance the perceptual set of social groups and communities, and therefore to act on them.

If tokens can be considered as bottom-up, extitutional currencies, is a related point to consider.

A challenge of adulthood is: how to move oneself gracefully in the fluid of life? In “The possibility of an Island”, the author quotes Arthur Schopenhauer: "human existence resembles a theatre performance which, begun by living actors, is ended by automatons dressed in the same costumes."

So it might be the case that extitutions offer to transform into life magicians.

Fey::truckin

Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. And here’s Tom with the weather. --Bill Hicks

In conclusion, after spending a few days in the Feÿ Castle for an extitutional workshop, and acknowledging its spiritual gravity, one can ask: is it an autotelic journey, or is it for higher purposes?

But of course, one can ask the same question for their life: is life autotelic or for higher purposes?

mardi 9 février 2016

Lift 2016

This week will take place the Lift16 conference in Geneva (see also last years' entries: Lift15, Lift 14).

Selected sessions:

Blockchain Technology Beyond Bitcoin - From art to science, law, politics and innovation, what unexpected and disruptive opportunities does the blockchain technology open? Since its open-source release in 2009, the blockchain has expanded from a public ledger recording money transactions for Bitcoin into an accountability system with features for performance, anonymity, storage and smart contracts. What lies beyond the distributed and trusted protocol that runs the most used decentralized cryptocurrency in the world? This session will explore the realm of possibility for the blockchain, beyond Bitcoin.

Enter the Anti-Disciplinary Space - Our world is complex. How are we to tackle problems that only get harder? Complex questions require the know-how from different fields, cultures and perspectives. We need to collaborate and experiment in-between and beyond set boundaries until new ideas emerge. Putting designers, artists, technologists, and researchers together in a ‘free space’ is a great start. Though, we need people who do not fit in any box - strange animals if you will - who are able to change the way we look at things. Who are these adventurers who challenge our concepts of creation and what can we learn from them?

Selected breakouts:

Deep Dive into the Blockchain - During this two-hour hype-free workshop, experts will take you through the pros and cons of the blockchain, and demystify how this technology actually works, before digging into how smart contracts will eventually be enforced in the physical world. Keeping the techno-jargon to a minimum, Clement Epie and Stephan Tual will take you through the advantages of Blockchain over existing technologies, what could potentially be replaced by blockchains, its future prospects and market impact as well as which industries could be disrupted first. Following up will be Christoph and Simon Jentzsch going into how exactly the Blockchain functions, how to write smart contracts, as well as give you an overview of the various tools available today to build on top of Blockchain technology. We will keep a pragmatic approach, covering for example how you could use the Blockchain to directly rent your apartment or office space, without third parties. Finally we'll have an extensive Q&A exploring the pros and cons of this new technology, where it makes sense to use blockchain, where it doesn't, and touch on questions of standardisation, regulations and what could bring blockchain to the mainstream.

Sustainable By Design: implementing new performance metrics for innovative projects and enterprises? - How to reorient corporate activity and innovation towards sustainability? Can we natively measure financial performance together with environmental performance? What new, accessible and common indicators, accounting methods and tools, and reporting mechanisms can we design to help in that process? This workshop, co-designed by the Transitions2 network and the MIT Climate CoLab, invites participants who believe that environmental and economic performance should now be measured simultaneously and given a similar importance - and are interested in discussing how this could be achieved in real life. Its concrete outcome could be the launch of one of the Climate CoLab's "contests", harnessing the collective intelligence of thousands of people from all around the world to create, analyze, and select detailed proposals to make innovation "sustainable by design".

The Creative Power of IMPROV-Theatre! - IMPROV-Theatre is a fun way to boost your creativity by making full use of your body, voice, mind, soul and your emotions. IMPROV enables you to reach new levels of Out-of–the-Box ideas AND experiences by one simple rule: radical acceptance! There is no “NO”! EVERYTHING is allowed and expandable!. This workshop gives IMPROV-Newbies a chance to learn a whole set of practical techniques and exercises which provide for exciting and creative trips into a world of instantaneous new stories, amazing plots and pure playful joy. And also experienced IMPROV players might learn a few new tricks. Enjoy a fresh unobstructed view on multiple realities. Fun guaranteed!

Bringing Narrative into Science Education with Virtual Reality - Dive deep into the field of Science Storytelling with Neal Hartman and several participants of the Storytelling Science VR Hackathon, recently organized by CineGlobe in partnership with Festival Tous Ecrans and supported by the Lift. Behind all good communication, and therefore education, lies good storytelling; this workshop will show how this rule applies to science as well, and give examples of great science storytelling projects. Hear from participants of the VR Hackathon how they approached the challenge of bringing narrative into education of a scientific nature, and then brainstorm your own science-education narratives in groups guided by the creators. The workshop will also discuss some of the ins and outs of making VR projects for immersive headsets like the Oculus Rift.

See you there!

lundi 29 juin 2015

5 pièces de théâtre

5 pièces pour les amateurs de théâtre.

  • La Chambre Mandarine, avec Marthe Mercadier (La bonne Anna), et Michel Roux (L'école des contribuables), voix française de Tony Curtis / Danny Wilde d'Amicalement Vôtre, amateur de glaçons de rivière.
  • Panique au Plazza, une pièce de Ray Cooney adaptée par Jean-Marie Poiré et Christian Clavier.
  • La soupière, de Robert Lamoureux (Échecs et meurtre, Diable d'homme, L'amour foot, Le Charlatan), avec Micheline Dax (Quelle famille) et Roger Pierre.
  • Grosseses Nerveuses, avec Henri Guybet (Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob).
  • Un Singe en Hiver, reprise du film d'Henri Verneuil avec Jean Gabin et Jean-Paul Belmondo.

mardi 11 décembre 2012

5 humoristes francophones

Après les cinq comédies françaises et les cinq comédies politiques, une sélection de cinq humoristes francophones à découvrir ou à approfondir.

  • Pierre Desproges, inspiré par Alexandre Vialatte, inspirateur des interviews de Raphaël Mezrahi, auteur des Chroniques de la haine ordinaire. Sa question essentielle : "Y a-t-il des juifs qui se sont glissés dans la salle ?".
  • Chevallier et Laspalès, joueurs de two-men shows faisant la part belle au comique de situation et au comique de répétition, et acteurs dans des films comme Le Pari ou Ma femme s'appelle Maurice. Leur sketch archétype est celui du train pour Pau (v1, v2).
  • Dieudonné, très controversé pour ses prises de positions antireligieuses et antisionistes (que d'aucuns accusent d'être une façade d'antisémitisme), et qui par son approche politique se montre l'héritier de Coluche (Tchao Pantin, L'aile ou la cuisse) ou de George Carlin.
  • ? (La personne trouvant la première l'identité mystère gagne un prix surprise.)

Ont failli être dans la liste : François Rollin (évoqué ici), Les Inconnus (mentionnés ), Rav Benchetrit et son pseudo-solipsisme, Jimmy Carr (non-francophone) .