[lit-ideas] Re: Posthuman, Space and Lifejackets
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- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2010 13:14:18 +0200
On 7-Oct-10, at 9:10 PM, David Ritchie wrote:
What's next? Well, "the Posthuman," apparently and, to quote
something from my e mail today, a return to "boundaries," but
boundaries where "the limits of the human come into play" and so we
will now "think about encounters with the animal and with technology
and the machine."
A return to well within the boundaries, I think.
Encounters with the animal? Milk comes from plastic bags or jugs;
meat is pre-digested into a semi-liquid slurry out of which
'hamburgers' are made; the only live animals one directly encounters
are domesticated in the literal sense - i.e., well within the
boundaries of the house (all others are 'beyond the pale'). Some might
peer over the boundaries at the pathetic creatures in a zoo; for most,
'wild' animals are characters in a product of the infotainment industry.
Encounters with technology and the machine? For that we have the
'Mechatroniker' (the German term for workers in the field of what used
to be auto mechanics, reflecting the increasing electronification and
computerization of what was once a relatively simple machine). All
other encounters are, once again, from carefully within the boundaries
(read 'blinkers'), conducted through an interface - operating system,
or 'server'. Even the Mechatroniker have diagnostic programs without
whose guidance they will dare not lay a hand directly on the machine.
Yes, back to playing within the boundaries - away from the 'regions
where it was hard to live' where one might stumble over a stone; or a
lever, a wheel & axle, a pulley, or an inclined plane; or a human
being - away from the madness ....
'We have invented happiness,'
say the last men and they blink.
They have left the regions
where it was hard to live,
for one needs warmth.
One still loves one's neighbour
and rubs against him,
for one needs warmth.
Becoming sick and harbouring suspicion
are sinful to them:
one proceeds carefully.
A fool, whoever still stumbles over stones
or human beings!
A little poison now and then:
that makes for agreeable dreams.
And much poison in the end,
for an agreeable death.
One still works,
for work is a form of entertainment.
But one is careful
lest the entertainment be too harrowing.
One no longer becomes poor or rich:
both require too much exertion.
Who still wants to rule?
Who obey?
Both require too much exertion.
No shepherd and one herd!
Everybody wants the same,
everybody is the same:
whoever feels different
goes voluntarily into a madhouse.
'Formerly, all the world was mad,'
say the most refined,
and they blink.
One is clever and knows
everything that has ever happened:
so there is no end of derision.
One still quarrels,
but one is soon reconciled
--else it might spoil the digestion.
One has one's little pleasure for the day
and one's little pleasure for the night:
but one has a regard for health.
'We have invented happiness,'
say the last men,
and they blink."
- Friedrich Nietzsche,
_Also Sprach Zarathustra_
[W. Kaufmann's translation]
Chris Bruce,
Kiel, Germany
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