A sketch; what is a new radical movement we need for the future?
Perhaps it’s not only wealthy capitalists and big polluters we need to chat with or delete but also those who are designing future technologies that further our immersion in digital space. Do we live in the cusp of the metaverse? I believe in alternatives. We cannot reject technological development, but we can continue embracing and exploring our physical world to remind ourselves and the nerds the importance of intimacy and physical relations. What practices would encourage this exploration and intimacy?
I made a friend recently who is a financial historian. They research global trade networks, material sourcing and working conditions. They work with international companies in making important decisions. I found it fascinating to learn about the current developments that they are involved in: making sure the transition to “renewable” energies is possible with the right intersection of interests, companies and resources. This intersection carries a lot of suffering too. My friend remains hopeful while also prospecting dark futures: the likely continuity of power differentials and mass exploitation for building infastructures of reneweable energy.
They don’t believe in the possibility of rejecting technological development. For them the ugliness and harm is softened by what they believe to be true: that as a whole, today is still more equal and fair than the past. This helps them survive and be hopeful. I feel inspired.
Does the metaverse intersect with the transition to renewable energy? Maybe all the windmills will be less attractive than artificial landscapes. The snake eats itself!
I want to imagine alternative aesthetics and practices to the developement of metaverse/nerd lab cities and digital cultures. I will still be dependent on digital technologies to inject these aesthetics and practices into society, like the Situationists used mass media to criticise itself.
Not a total revolution, just to play my part ^o^ heehee follow my heart. ~ The cultures of the future will be a result of conflicting interests and tensions. So to manifest any visions we have into reality, we have to work with other people, find common goals and explore our differences. I will continue to organise with friends, and develop practices for listening and navigation that reflect these visions. My first group practice will be recorded for the audio paper; it is an experiment and an opportunity to learn and get feedback from other people.
A little history of network culture, and how some radicals believed in the libratory potentials of new technologies. (Notes from The Digital Condition by Felix Stalder.
Imagining history and development as a stream, where each event was dependent on others to exist, to stick, to proliferate…