Rebirth

 

Somewhere near the middle of this video a series of transdimensional shifts occur - worlds seamlessly spill into other worlds - which I find strangely satisfying. The video's maker -Tetouze - is also a musician and this might explain Rebirth's engaging fluidity. Enjoy!

An interesting and related article from Big Think:

The cinematograph, the “noematograph,” and the future of AI art

Hugo-winning author Ken Liu explores what early cinema and Chinese poetry can teach us about AI’s potential as a new artistic medium.

More AI Eye-Candy: Alien Realms

 

When Alice (that is, moi) jumped down the Safe Haven portal she inevitably, but delightfully, discovered Alien Realms, the YouTube channel from which the video shown (above), Floraxis, emerged. (Also: Floraxis 2)

Well, there's absolutely no way I can resist organically designed structures so I was hooked from the very first frame. And, there's a mysterious (and lovely) alien, too... all quite delectable.

What's more, other potential worlds are also explored. Try Xylos or Vexillia. Gorgeous, gorgeous!

While Floraxis, Xylos, and Vexillia might not qualify as authentic "Safe Havens" - and I've yet to qualify the meme - they surely are worthy of a visit or two!

A Lost History Retrieved

Artificial Life Form #5 (with a phi shell). 2024 - GDS - DS.

Prayer Before Birth by Louis MacNeice

"I am not yet born; O hear me.

Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the club-footed ghoul come near me.

I am not yet born, console me.

I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me, with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me, on black racks rack me, in blood-baths roll me.

I am not yet born; provide me

With water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk to me, sky to sing to me, birds and a white light in the back of my mind to guide me.

I am not yet born; forgive me

For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words when they speak me, my thoughts when they think me, my treason engendered by traitors beyond me, my life when they murder by means of my hands, my death when they live me.

I am not yet born; rehearse me

In the parts I must play and the cues I must take when old men lecture me, bureaucrats hector me, mountains frown at me, lovers laugh at me, the white waves call me to folly and the desert calls me to doom and the beggar refuses my gift and my children curse me.

I am not yet born; O hear me,

Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God come near me.

I am not yet born; O fill me

With strength against those who would freeze my humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton, would make me a cog in a machine, a thing with one face, a thing, and against all those who would dissipate my entirety, would blow me like thistledown hither and thither or hither and thither like water held in the hands would spill me.

Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.

Otherwise kill me."

- An intensely powerful poem discovered today, written by the Irish  poet, Louis MacNeice (1907-1963). For more of his poetry see here and/or here, where Prayer Before Birth can also be found.

In regards to the link embedded, it leads to a Saturday Night Live skit featuring an impersonation of snake-oil salesman, Donald Trump, hawking politically "enhanced" bibles; the latest in the true-life series of Don the Wan's ludicrous escapades.

I think Mac would've related to the sentiments expressed.

As for the digital image introducing this post; it is all that remains of a group of (virtual) artificial life forms first mentioned in this post. It had a full page illustration - in the form of a preliminary digital sketch: a view from a window of a strangely ochre-lit ocean, and a window ledge upon which sat a damaged glass container filled with water... a weird image which still haunts me.

So much history is lost... both real and fictional, when an artist loses large portions of their work. However, for a reason I can't remember, ALF #5's image found its way to my present digital image file.  I gave it a phi shell... and liked it so much, I decided to mentally retrieve its unwritten story. It appears below (and after the jump-break) 

***

The Lost History of Artificial Life Form # Five

(condensed)

"I'm the next act

Waiting in the wings

I'm an animal

Trapped in your hot car

I am all the days

That you choose to ignore

You are all I need

You're all I need

I'm in the middle of your picture

Lying in the reeds"

- Lyrics from the song, All I Need, 2007, Radiohead

*

The artificial life form known only as "Model Five" - or "Five" - was the most successful and advanced of the miniature cyborg life forms produced by Project 15: a coalition formed by the collaboration of several (anonymous) cyborg artists, and a rogue - "Rainbow" - biotech industrial facility (also anonymous) in the early to mid-21st century.

For the most part, Five resembled a small embryonic, aquatic animal whose body was suspended in a transparent, fluid-filled sac. In reality, the animal and the sac were one glutinous unit which could rapidly ambulate in water, a feat aided by the cluster of tiny spheres located at its flexible base. The spheres served a number of purposes. Essentially, water was the only substance necessary for Five's survival; the smaller spheres absorbed and transformed this simple liquid into a type of fuel and/or nourishment.

The larger spheres were databases, however, which were, in turn, wirelessly in communication with a central database. These tiny devices were not merely programmed to monitor Five's location and overall physical state, but, allegedly their owner's physical state as well. Some speculated that Five might monitor a great deal more, but surveillance had ceased being an issue by this time; civilization had been conditioned to accept it and, with albeit a little trepidation, overlook it.

Unlike earlier attempts regarding miniature cyborgs, Five was the first "living" Bluetooth-like device which might "warm the heart" of its owner. It had character. It possessed creature-like eyes; optical lenses interfaced with a "brain," a biotechnical marvel which its makers claimed approached the complexity of its organic rivals. Moreover, this "brain" was designed and programmed to communicate with actual organic brains provided one owned the dedicated interface app, a password and a small device implanted in ones brain via a simple injection.

There were those, of course, who imagined Five might technically be conscious, or even, perhaps, sentient. Certainly, it gave the illusion it might be "aware" of it's surroundings. However, in the last analysis, it's unlikely even its creators knew the exact nature of its cognitive abilities - let alone what its cyber-golem might be thinking - anymore than they could ascertain the full content of any living creature's mind - or, conversely, the secret life of a wristwatch. As the line began to blur between the "living" and the "not living"; "life" became a relative term.

(continued after the jump-break...)

Le Portail des Papillons

Le Portail des Papillons (The Portal of Butterflies) - digital - 2018, DS.

(Click to enlarge.)

(Note: Sorry for the delay; this post is now complete.)


"Part of me likes the idea that I somehow persist after biological death; it might even be possible, albeit in ways currently antithetical to materialistic science. Empirical science (as currently practiced) may be missing something crucial; if consciousness exists after the demise of its neurological substrate, then it's likely our current definition of consciousness is simply wrong-headed. Maybe brains are more akin to receivers than computers and we're all tuned to the same channel, or at least the same spectrum."

- Mac Tonnies from this September, 2004 Posthuman Blues post.

"Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking says black holes, the mysterious massive vortexes formed from collapsed stars, do not destroy everything they consume but instead eventually fire out matter and energy 'in a mangled form.'"

The bad part about this is that, according to Hawking, black holes can't be used as portals to parallel universes; I'd hoped that some black holes might function as "emergency exits" when the universe begins to die (whether through runaway expansion or the reverse pyrotechnics of the "Big Crunch").

I still haven't quite given up; I leave the task of migrating to other universes to posthuman ingenuity."

- Mac Tonnies from this July, 2004 Posthuman Blues post. The artist's interpretation of a black hole (inset right) was found via this article.

"The problem of “translating the untranslatable” was addressed by the 16th century alchemist Gerhard Dorn, with the notion of what he called the spiracle – in Latin, the Spiraculum Eternitatis, the window or breathing hole into eternity, which Jung writes about extensively as the conjunction of opposites in Mysterium Coniunctionis. The spiracle is described as a hole or passageway in the field of consciousness that allows the “autonomous dynamism of the collective unconscious” to break through into the realm of the personal unconscious. In this joining, it can, to some degree, be worked and translated into living, material reality, whether through word, image, other expressive means, or through lived life itself.  (von Franz, 1980)...

Dorn conceived of the spiracle as a window to eternity, a mysterious center pre-existent in us, linking us to the cosmos, while opening up and bridging the different levels of body, soul and spirit. Through the spiracle one may journey across the threshold in between the above and below, and bring traces of one world into the other and back again – a kind of conception and cross-fertilization between inconsonant realms. The spiracle links and joins these different levels, rendering it possible to reconcile incommensurable opposites through finding a third – a new space or medium which is neither one nor the other, but both."

- Excerpt from an intriguing online Arras article (.pdf): The Spiracle in Alchemy and Art by Diane Fremont (2017). Inset left is the title page from Gerhard Dorn's alchemical text Chymisticum artificium.

***

In a matter of days the subtitle of Post-Mac Blues will change... from an "8 Year Post-Mac Time Capsule" to a 9 year one. Yes, it's been close to a decade since Mac has been gone and this memorial was initially created. That the two anniversaries should fall mid-autumn on and around the "Day of the Dead" is one of life's little ironies.

This post was slated to appear October 18th, the anniversary of the actual day of Mac's passing... but, as things generally go, neither my muse (nor my more practical self) were quite prepared. In effect, I drew a blank. What could I possibly have to say after nine years that hasn't been said many times in the past? The only plan which came to me was to draw attention to the fact that the number 9 is, theoretically and esoterically, the number of completion...  a rite of passage and the end of a cycle. But, during the course of blogging, I probably mentioned that before, too.

As it happened, it was a dream - specifically the end of a dream - which inadvertently set my little grey cells in motion. The dream featured butterflies (like the Tiger Swallowtail inset left)... and that's about all I'm willing to divulge, but, I had reason to believe that it was, in part, a message from Mac. Okay, not a lengthy report... just a little news flash, as in "Hi again, I'm okay; just passing through..."

But, no, it doesn't really matter if anyone - including myself - believes the dream truly held a message... nor if all those presently reading these paragraphs assume I'm deluded. I often am. The bottom line is that, when I awoke, I felt quite refreshed and almost happy. As this is a rare occurrence, I must conclude that something extraordinary happened.

For those of you who have no knowledge of this sort of thing, that is: the sudden, unwarranted appearance of butterflies (or dragonflies, cicadas, hummingbirds and the like) before, at the time, or just after a loved one's death, the fact is, it's actually a commonplace occurrence in the realm of mediumistic phenomena. Formally referred to as "After Death Communications" (ADCs), it seems many bereaved people are visited by these same, small creatures (mentioned above) in odd ways... encounters which produce an unusually strong emotional response. Most often, the events reported occur in the waking state. But, regarding dreams, well, if there is any ideal "medium" for mediumistic phenomena, the lucid dream would have to be a major contender. And, why is this? Dreams, meta-communications - and even artistic endeavors - rely (heavily) upon symbols, archetypes, interpretations and enigmatic synchronistic events. Like cryptic notes from a shadowy underground, they are all ambiguous. But, then again, when dealing with loss, sometimes they're all we have...

A New Year...

Further adventures of The Black Key... (detail) - digital - 2015, DS

"He spied a small blue flowerpot at the far edge of the garden, and, on impulse, knelt down and twisted the key into the hard soil which filled its interior.

'And so ends my involvement with this mystery', he said to no one, before returning to the warm interior of his car.

And, as he drove away, the winter landscape fading in his wake, he was already mentally erasing this futile excursion, and all the various disappointments it had entailed.

But, unbeknownst to him, a most curious thing occurred in the deep silence at the garden's edge. A sign? A portent? Who can say? For, who can estimate the many small miracles which might take place in the myriad corners of the world beyond a man's view?"

- excerpt from a Black Key vignette The Ace of Wands, December 31, 2015, DS

***

Despite the date on this post, what you are about to read is being written January 1st, 2016. A little sleight of hand there, folks, but that was my intention, and for good reason. In esoteric terms, December 31st and January 1st, are pretty much the same day, and/or the same door... an imaginary portal in an illusionary time-construct. A "year" is a relative thing; accurately determined by your placement on a map, but, in terms of actual human experience, it means nothing. It's of great use to historians, astrologers, and the like, however... in fact, you might say the entire Official World depends upon this illusionary time-construct, and, as denizens of said World, it benefits us to play along. No?

So, officially, it's a new year. And, as we humans are a superstitious species, we need signs, symbols and portents to assure us that, yes, despite all evidence to the contrary - such as dreary winter weather, for instance, or, well, just fill in the blank ______ - the future will be brighter.

But, no, I wasn't consciously thinking of portents - or, for that matter, Tarot cards - when I created the digital illustration (above) for this post. I was merely inspired to add another supplement to my ongoing Black Key saga. But, inadvertently, as things seem to go these days, creating a Tarot card is exactly what happened.

So, friends, followers and visitors to Mac's online memorial, it appears we've all drawn the Ace of Wands to herald in our new year, and, apparently (and no, I wasn't cognizant of this either), the Ace of Wands is a very fortuitous card, as we can see by the quotes below.

Where the Key Was Found

Where the Key Was Found - digital assemblage - 2015, DS

"I experience synchronicity on a near-daily basis. I've come to view it as a sort of intelligence; I don't know if this is intrinsic to the phenomenon itself or an unrecognized aspect of myself. At the same time, it can seem quite mechanistic, like gravity or thermodynamics. I'm reluctant to commit to any grandiose uber-theories, as they all sound self-centered if not downright solipsistic.

Then again, maybe I really do play a central role in the universe. Maybe you do, too, but your universe is ever-so-slightly different than mine yet still sufficiently similar that we can agree on a common "reality" -- at least most of the time."

- Mac Tonnies via the Posthuman Blues post: Synchronicity: The Key of Destiny, Wednesday, March 02, 2005.


"I don't agree with everything Strieber says -- particularly his views on crop circles. But his inclusion of von Neumann's contribution is most interesting, if only because von Neumann was identified by Robert Sarbacher as a member of a classified UFO working group. In short, von Neumann's ideas underscore the probability that the UFO problem is vastly stranger than "mere" visitors from other planets; I think we're dealing with a process that promises to redefine our understanding of consciousness as well as challenge our sense of cosmic isolation."

- Mac Tonnies via an untitled Posthuman Blues post, Thursday, June 09, 2005.


"The domain of so-called "junk" DNA is also a good place to look for messages encoded by extraterrestrials. I think the chances of finding a biomolecular signal within our own genome are at least as good as detecting an intelligible radio transmission from an ET civilization."

- Mac Tonnies via the Posthuman Blues post: Rodent Social Behavior Encoded in Junk DNA, Sunday, July 10, 2005.


"It's true -- creativity isn't synonymous with depression. I'm probably guilty of helping perpetuate this myth. After all, I'm frequently angry and given to bouts of unbridled misanthropy. But it's not because of my creative life; if anything, the prospect of losing myself in a creative project (whether writing or reading a book -- and I consider the very act of reading an important co-creative endeavor) makes life bearable. It's not without its share of frustrations, but what isn't?

It's true, incidentally, that society isn't especially kind or forgiving when it comes to artists and intellectuals. This is indeed alienating, even daunting -- but somehow never as daunting as facing a blank sheet of paper (or, more often than not, the eggshell glow of a blank Microsoft Word template)."

- Mac Tonnies via an untitled Posthuman Blues post, Friday, May 05, 2006.


"I personally think our brains are extremely limited organic quantum machines, in which case there's no obvious reason they can't be improved upon. But if we're to become "hyperconscious," our definition of technology itself must mutate to encompass notions such as "quantum tantra" and related neurological states. If we can make this ontological shift, I predict our understanding of the "paranormal" will blossom, and that the curtain between consensus reality and liminal phenomena such as apparent alien visitation will fall."

- Mac Tonnies via the Posthuman Blues post: Consciousness and Advancing Technology, Thursday, August 25, 2005.


"The notion that we can hack reality with the assistance of mere organic chemicals -- known to shamans of "primitive" cultures for thousands of years -- is both staggering and empowering. If true contact occurs, I predict it will be most unlike that envisioned by exponents of "exopolitics" and "UFO disclosure"; dialogue with the "other" will be far more robust, infinitely more rewarding . . . and even more difficult to integrate with consensus reality than the sudden, irrefutable appearance of extraterrestrial spacecraft in our skies."

- Mac Tonnies via the Posthuman Blues post: Drugs, art and the aliens who lit our way to civilization, Thursday, January 05, 2006.


"I almost hate to propose it, but could we be dealing with "hyperdimensional physics"?"

- Mac Tonnies via the Posthuman Blues post: The key to the Pioneer anomaly?,  Monday, August 21, 2006.

3D Fiction

Some awesome fractal animation by Serder Camilca at 3D Fiction.

Found Object #5

"Back in October, author/researcher Greg Bishop took my picture in The Triangle, a restaurant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I was delighted to see my serving of steamed mussels arrive in a flying saucer-ish package.

Intrigued by the possibility that I may have unknowingly made contact with extraterrestrials, I had the image analyzed by an independent laboratory. By extracting data from between the pixels, analysts were able to produce previously unnoted detail.

Here is the startling result:

Believe me, I'm as freaked out as you are.

(Image by ELAN Laboratories. Used with permission.)"

- Mac Tonnies from a PHB post dated February 3, 2007