Transhumanism I; Human, Animal, Alien - (Research)

Transhumanism human, animal, alien part I Transhumanism Human, animal, alien he three stories share commonalities about certain phenomena. hey are diferent modes of perception about somewhat similar concepts, two of them greatly tangible for human form in its lesh and bones. What three stories have in common is they all give manifestations of the alternative state of being, and each has its own way to approach the phenomenon. Hanging upside down (which increase blood low to the brain) and fasting both are techniques and practices for preparation and achieving the altered/expanded state of consciousness. (Sacriice to attain knowledge.) All these experiences and states result in wisdom and knowledge. hey are simply stories about important points in human evolution, sometime too progressive to be yet comprehended. When human learns to activate potential technologies within him/herself. 4 5 6 7 Transhumanism his project is result of my curiosity about origins of human creativity and language. In order to pursue it, within time I tried to explore more clear questions about origins, divide it into smaller but direct questions, though result of the exploration had no answer, but experience. ‘Which one came irst, language or depiction (image making) and marks?’ hough answer is unclear, to the extent which such a question becomes taboo of archaeology and anthropology for some decades, apparently for most of the length of modern human evolution of image making, tool making and language have developed side by side. What is origins of language? How human began to speak? How and when human became conscious? Questions anthropologists tried to ind answers over than a century. Which still is unknown. hough, it is inevitable that all happens long ater human ancestors were able to use their hands freely as they could stand upright. In my quest to explore origins of human intelligence, language, image making and consciousness, I was led through series of experiences. I had no answer but I probably went through what early human has experienced, hrough dreams and imagery-visionary experience during trance state. Having those images while feeling 8 9 intense energy and hearing unfamiliar and overwhelming sounds is probably what drives human. It is body which acquires syntactic act that helps human record and code the experience and detect these codes or harmonies elsewhere. In my artistic approach to explore these questions, I focus and rely on experience. What bodily or mental (visionary) experiences could have lead human to syntactic utterance and creation. About what they could have perceived and how they have interpreted such experiences (within generations), have been told as stories and much later recorded as we call them nowadays mythologies. I get inspired by and exploit animistic rituals and its elements to explore the human. Such rituals can be considered very beginnings of complexity of thought, creativity and art. It is speciic technique to reach ‘unknown’ information. In animistic/shamanistic rituals practitioner enters trance and at the edge of seemingly insanity new moves, modes and information is experienced and brought. Demystifying these techniques helps to understand them. In such an over populated and chaotic world, in great need of conscious evolution. Now we have scientiic knowledge and social intellect to reconsider these techniques (as means to create new) and learn to use them without politicizing it. here is no need to mention in such tribes it was shaman who would assign and inluence the power structure. It happens as it is in nature of man (as well as other societal animals), the one who beholds knowledge and is in charge of ‘speech act’ will assign and inluence political structure. It is important to comprehend these techniques/technologies and integrate them to contemporary knowledge. Now that we have achieved great understanding of phenomena around us, within social and political advances of human 10 societies modern approach to these techniques can involve almost no power game. Modern societies by integrating these techniques and ancient knowledge can transform itself and evolution of the specie and better understand workings of the brain and neuro-cosmological relations. What leads human (shaman) to make sounds, acts, mimes etc., is not rational. For him objects and elements are means that enhance his journey. Body acts, thinking disappears, it seems and feels like natural, pre-existing rhythms and syntax starts to stream onto the body, body moves according to this stream. For the practitioner in the trance state it is not imitation of the animal but simply becoming it. It is having the experience of the other form of subjectivity, comprehension of another mode. Human probably before image making has imitated animal movements and sounds during hunting or in trance state. State of trance that human can reach is empty of any of our conceptualization and subjectivity, devoid of our learned semantics and syntax. Not so astounding, here, insanity and its expression bears potential for creativity and opens new ways for perceiving. [Conscious] insanity seem to behold creativity and new knowledge, they do not born from traditions and conventions. Creativity is not product of tradition or convention. It born out of irrationality and insanity. Conscious irrationality and madness can lead to new acts, knowledge, techniques and means. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Hands here is no need to emphasize importance of hands in daily life and in our evolutionary path. What is less mentioned maybe is relation of hands and its actions to language. In the book ‘the thinking hand’, Juhani Pallasmaa discuss this relation extensively Hands are mediators between our brain, psyche and the world around us. Hands are prevailing authenticity, love, anger etc. so interestingly voice too can express all these feelings, emotions and states. Delicate hand gestures of Asian deities (and practices) are not of daily use and some diicult to pose. Hands can tune you to diferent streams of consciousness. hey are like antennas and portals which connects you to which achieving the perceived information are not possible or are very hard to access by other mind/organs. Mind does not only reside in the head (brain) it is spread all over the body and probably more. One of the most used are hands’. he hand and tools become one, materials and elements in the environment shape hands (adaptation to use them) and hands shape tools, they become one, tool become extension of hands in that particular act. By technological progress they go further and they become extension of our senses, too. Our tools deine extent of our reality. Hands are synched with many other organs and parts of the body like eyes, mouth, legs etc. as so this can easily have extended to other parts of the body and their abilities such as voice. 18 19 I would like to point to the interesting fact that magic too has its own speciic hand gestures. Magicians, shamans, medicine person all usually work their magic with their hands. Hands assign intentions of the mind to the world. In Kabbalistic Judaism, certain letters are assigned to diferent parts of hands and ingers. Hand gestures or Mudras enter inner bodily and psychic realms. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 DadA DAda dADa dAdA DaDa daDA I can’t leave this paper without mentioning Dada. Other than that, I ind this movement important in our age, I would like to emphasize how unconsciously or intentionally Dada artists each separately bring diferent elements of animistic rituals into their works and art world again, such as glossolalia, masks, performing. Dada does contemporary use of elements from pre-historic human. As it was act of anarchy against madness and cruelty of war, it was, too, ‘absolute performative’, “I speak”. It was intention to dominate the media environment of the time by ‘utterance’. nonsense, glossolalia, masks all became desire for change and new beginning. Eric Robertson in his essay ‘Hollaka hollala anlogo bung’: Dada’s Subversive Glossolalia points to multi-language environments which DADA artists do experience because of their several migrations in consequence of war and points it out as potential for appearance of glossolalia in DADA movement. here was increasing, sudden and rapid interaction between cultures and diferent languages. In no any other era of human civilization we are living in such diversity not in its geographical sense but over internet and social media, we are constantly confronted with diferent languages. here are transformations in our age which makes DaDa’s elements appealing and important for this era. In terms of using glossolalia, Dada artists sometimes present also published and written form of their sound poems. What I do I take such an utterance to its very primitive and animalistic form. By going back to origins and ways of expression as our earlier 30 31 ancestors, I explore techniques where and which, all later elements and technologies of recording and expression originated from. Speech, too, is product of bodily acts and movements. As are Hands of authority and hands of rising against it. he piece is about ‘absolute performative’. Not only about language and the enunciation but about human actions as signiier. Depictions, making sounds, music and any form of utterance, as very act of speech that says “I speak”. he next step; he act to code the experiences. 32 33 Technologies of the mind-body In discussions about receiving and deciphering any interstellar signals irst issue is that even are we able to detect or recognize the signal. I would like to consider such a search in form of imagining the totally ‘other’. To consider it as a phenomenology of ‘the other’. How actually human articulate ‘the other’ beings are relection of his own further (future) evolution, usually beyond earth. Whole research on the phenomenon of the ‘otherness’, too, can potentially open new doors for perception beyond our tangible knowledge. What if we still have not mastered, discovered and deciphered all technologies embodied within our body and brain and mind. Language, depictions and coding systems are evidence that through time, in hundreds of thousands of years ater evolving modern brain human learned probably intuitively (here is where irrationality plays part - trance state) to develop these potentials and begin to express them. Resembling of the images, strong vivid and highly charged in energy visions, or sounds from nature into the syllables and vowels, etc. here is no need to emphasize importance of these functions in further evolution of mankind and how they made modern human and civilizations. Elements in nature are interconnected. his is more obvious among biological organisms. hough they are not tools, they bear highly progressive technology within their workings and structure, a simple example, DNA. Human imitate and repeat builtin technology of nature in his creations, inventions and oten in his thought process. Materials and nature are leading and directing human tool/technological and cultural development/evolution. Human 34 35 by adaptation and integration to nature and matter proceed his/ her production and invention of not just objects and tools, but also subjectivity and concepts. To consider voice, hands’ position and movements and their coordination as technology maybe enhanced by naturally happening neurotransmitter substances -entheogens- (this combination by itself is a form of coordination) which enrich our (actual entities’) perception in a way to have better comprehension of the world. Laying down extraordinary ways to access information or grow access to higher plane of consciousness (eternal objects), will enhance stepping into our next phase of evolution, free of limitations and taboos. his time with awareness of such a transformation. Science may or may not ever understand or explain content of subjective experience but that is what we humans strongly experience. as so we can alter it by speciic techniques or substances (here, I consider substance as a form of technology) and bring about new means and understanding about our physique and psyche. How perception of new modes/means happen during the experience is probably what to be explored and learned further. hough much of this information might never be interpreted or misunderstood by the time it is perceived. 36 37 38 39 Words are the most alien form of matter 40 41 I don’t need to see it I can smell your insanity Your sick thoughts 42 43 There is no absence in nothingness therefore there is presence presence is that all there is [not] 44 45 Life noun /laɪf/ T hings that can die Concept which things can die do experience 46 47 Language is a strange phenomenon it can make us realise things which are not real 48 49 Future does already exist, it just hasn’t happened yet 50 51 www.afrazentessari.nl Afraz Entessari KABK Fine Arts, 2017 he Hague 52 53