FORE CAST

< R& D for the opera >
< WHO has power? >

In a famous Japanese tale called Rashomon, each person is convinced of the truth of his or her own vision. I like to relate this myth to the rationality of Descartes, as he reiterates Plato's distinction between the "inner eye of the imagination and the external world of things". These are two distinct spaces, and reality is conceived of somewhere in between. As an artist witnessing the cohesion of physical and virtual, I imagine the space, more complex now than a mosaic (which was introduced around the time when Christianity tried to solve all of the questions of Greek philosophy through a form of myth.) Our inability to know the world directly is one of the central existential dilemmas in the human condition.

In <The Tower of Babel>, humans attempt to build a tower that reaches the heavens. As punishment for attempting to act as a God (humans can not reach heaven without being invited), Yahweh punished the workers, who at the time were privileged with a single, universal language, garbling their ability to use language so that they could no longer communicate with each other. Then, though not mentioned by name, the Qur'an has a story with similarities to < the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel >, set in the Egypt of Moses. In Suras 28:38 and 40:36-37 Pharaoh asks Haman to build him a clay tower so that he can mount up to heaven and confront the God of Moses. Another example of the power of language from the bible is the story of Adam and Eve. When Adam arrived at the Garden of Eden, God told him to name the animals, and that would give him control over them. In medieval times, when Christianity became the new rational thought, there was a giant period if illiteracy (around 800AD), most people, including kings, did not know how to read. It was not until everyday people again learned to read did they regain their individuality, even within the church, and did progressive thought become a renewed possibility. Years later, Gutenberg invented the printing press, putting primacy onto the written word and stabilizing the importance of language. Now the stunted growth of a few hundred years is long gone, and we are currently on an upwardly mobile track- sometimes we are even ahead of the track-builders! I call this "Constant Acceleration". Constant Acceleration is similar to but opposite of Moore's Law. CA states that compounded knowledge and fracticular patterns will work together at a rapid rate, and unlike the stock market with a theoretically finite quotient of money, will never need to crash in a traditional sense, but violence and anxiety will cause clashes as society attempts to reach a final state of an accelerated globality. (A posthumanist state?) CA does not stop, but it loses people along the way (who have no choice but to eventually concede.) WW1V is fought because we are re-attempting to build a Tower of Babel. The teams are nomadic but remain connected via technology. Here our civilization once thought we were immune to the inherent failings of empires built on the presupposition and need for endless growth. After all, while loss of place at the local, personal level is (literally) unsettling, even devastating, loss of place at the global level is catastrophic.

One of the first artists to make a significant sculpture, as society was abandoning its medieval thought process, was Michelangelo. Michelangelo's "David" was only armed with a slingshot and courage. In WW1V, the weapons that we will have at our use include plain < sticks, stones > and slingshots; homemade devices ranging from the sacred to the profane, laser technology, and (of course) the nanobot.

Several large tower projects have evoked Babel in their designs. The unbuilt Palace of Soviets in Moscow, with its receding tiers of cylindrical masses, was to have held the World Congress of Soviets. The Burj Dubai, which is currently under construction, is also reminiscent.

Ophelia - A character in Hamlet, she killed herself for the loss of love. Ophelia is now known for continuously rotating around Uranus in the Milky Way.

The three fates are: Lachesis, who guarded what had been. Clotho, who guards what is. Atropos who oversees what is yet to come.

The bioterrorist, Claudius, poisoned King Hamlet by pouring the poison Hebenon into his ear.

There are 6 main teams. The teams will be whittled down to the remaining six from the following nine as the time progresses. The Civil Defense Force, The G8, The G-77, Nestle Waters, Disney, Bechtel, The World Economic Forum, The United Nations, and The International Criminal Court. All of the team logos are Black and Gold, predominate colors of uniforms are < Beige and Khaki >.

A prediction by United Nations University estimates 50 mil. environmental refugees worldwide by the year 2010. What is this saying about the vast and fragile economic pyramid that ultimately depends, precariously, on the resources in soil and water?
THE NEW WORLD ORDER: WW1V is a result of clashes that will naturally occur during the process of globalization, until the players homogenize culture - which CAN happen, with the skill of the best in the advertising market, the best sociologists, psychologists, an interconnected desire, and a slow-forming Global Brain. WW1V is also an effect of deforestation, poisoned food, air, soil and water, nuclear tension, chemical sabotage and bioterrorism, Pandemic Disease, Global Warming, and the resulting misery that will be inflicted on millions.

The six elemental constructs:

SPACE, TIME, ENERGY, MATTER, LIGHT, AND TRANSCENDENTAL CONSTRUCTS.

Our six balanced selves:
our athletic self
our engineering self
our practical self
our community self
our spiritual self
our artistic self

The six stages of life:
Infancy: In this stage he is dependent on others and needs to be constantly attended to.
Childhood: It is in this stage that he begins to go to school. He is reluctant to leave the protected environment of his home as he is still not confident enough to exercise his own discretion.
The lover: In this stage, comparable to modern day adolescence, he is always remorseful due to some reason or other, especially the loss of love. He tries to express feelings through song or some other cultural activity.
The soldier: It is in this age, comparable to modern day young adult, that he thinks less of himself and begins to think more of others. He is very easily aroused and is hot headed. He is always working towards making a reputation for himself and gaining recognition, however shortlived it may be, even at the cost of his own life.
The justice: In this stage, comparable to modern day adult, he has acquired wisdom through the many experiences he has had in life. He has reached a stage where he has gained prosperity and social status. He becomes very attentive of his looks and begins to enjoy the finer things of life.
Old age: He begins to lose his charm — both physical and mental. He begins to become the brunt of others' jokes. He loses his firmness and assertiveness, and shrinks in stature and personality. He is unable to make an impact on people. www.wikipedia.org

The Six Repetitions

The four turnings comprise a quaternal social cycle of growth, maturation, entropy, and death (and then rebirth). In a springlike High, a society fortifies and builds and converges in an era of promise. In a summerlike Awakening, it dreams and plays and exults in an era of euphoria. In an autumnal Unraveling, it harvests and consumes and diverges in an era of anxiety. In a hibernal Crisis, it focuses and struggles and sacrifices in an era of survival. When the saeculum is in motion, therefore, no long human lifetime can go by without a society confronting its deepest spiritual and worldly needs. Modernity has thus far produced six repetitions of each turning, each repetition lasting roughly the duration of a phase of life and corresponding to an identical constellation of generational archetypes. Each sequential set of four turnings constitutes a saeculum. The Anglo-American saeculum dates back to the waning of the Middle Ages in the middle of the fifteenth century. In this lineage, there have been seven saecula:
* Late Medieval (1435-1487)
* Reformation (1487-1594)
* New World (1594-1704)
* Revolutionary (1704-1794)
* Civil War (1794-1865)
* Great Power (1866-1946)
* Millennial (1946-2026?)
America is presently in the Third Turning of the Millennial Saeculum and giving birth to the 24th generation of the post-medieval era.