From: Natasha Vita More (fka Nancie Clark) (natasha@natasha.cc)
Date: Mon Sep 28 1998 - 10:47:53 MDT
C.P. Snow has been getting a lot of attention these past few years among
the digerati, the futurists, and biologists. Brockman's recent book _The
Three Cultures_ boosts the scientists as the new intellectual taking the
place of the literary (the arts). Futurists, as Naisbitt, are looking at a
meshing of the two cultures of arts and sciences, while E.O. Wilson claims
that the great divide between the humanity is not the arts and sciences but
"between the literate and illiterate."
This past month, while freelancing at a corporation, I had been in a room
with eight other computer specialists and, like me, artists pulling in
extra money. Having plenty of time to converse between jobs, I would often
toss out a few transhuman ideas to see if any stuck. Nine out of ten,
discussions about science were dismissed. Nine out of ten, science was
thought of as an intruder dominating life and sticking its nose where it
didn't belong. (I used my own memetic toolkit for spreading transhuman
memes, and I take my own advice: do it carefully because people feel
threatened.)
The long and short is that C.P. Snow wrote about artists not willing to
discuss the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and scientists not able to
discuss Shakespeare. The difference is that the scientist is not proud of it.
Laurie Anderson, Pop culture icon, performance artist, author, musician,
recently performed "Speed of Darkness" at UCLA's Royce Hall. In this
musical monolog, she covers the impact of technology while performing
digital processing of keyboards, voice and violin. The performance was
smooth and clean but lacking in scope. It rested on the fringes of
technology alarmism and information overload. It lacked transhumanist
views and extropic conceptions.
Yet, within the smooth and clean piece, she did voice an issue that is
paramount to my thinking. She said that artists need to find a new
profession now that everyone has Photoshop on their computers (literal and
metaphor). Yet the difference in our thinking here hinges on limiting the
artist to image maker, rather than creative thinker. I have been looking
for that new profession for a decade now, thus my own trespassing into the
scientific community, and contemplating a blending of the arts and sciences.
I recently read Gary Snyder's essay in his book _A Place In Space_ in an
essay titled "The Porous World":
"When asked 'What is finally over the top of all the information chains?'
one might reply that it must be the artists and writers, because they are
among the most ruthless and efficient information predators. They are
light and mobile, and can swoop across the tops of all the disciplines to
make off with what they take to be the best parts, and convert them into
novels, mythologies, dense and esoteric essays, visuals or other arts, or
poems. And who eats the artists and writers? The answer must be that they
are ultimately recycled into the beginners, the students. That's were the
artists and writers go, to be cheerfully nibbled and passed about."
This paragraph is raw and rich and provoking. It reminded me that yes,
indeed, this is what I enjoy and this is why I learned the "skill" of "art"
-- to develop a keen awareness of the times in which I live and to
integrate what I value into whatever mode works best for me and to feed
that synthesized and nourishable matter back into culture.
We are on the precipice of a new 3rd culture -- one that scoops up
knowledge while being conscious of domain specialization and isolation
thereby. As we approach discussions and debates, are we making efforts to
open up and blend the skills and specializations to broaden knowledge?
It seems to me that by doing so, I can only add to my own worth both as an
individual and as a participant in the culture of transhumanity.
Natasha Vita More [fka Nancie Clark]: www.natasha.cc
Transhumanist Art Centre - Home of Extropic Art: www.extropic-art.com
**NEW** Transhuman Culture InfoMark: www.transhuman.org
PRESS RELEASE: "We are transhumans ..." Meme Orbits Saturn in 2004!
"The best defense is an aesthetic offense."
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