EPIGRAM : FIRST STEPS

"This first step is an exercise in what could be called 'Gaia-
graphy' and relies on image as well as imagination."

 

Soon after I arrived in this valley I heard that a river flowed through it. When I
went to find it, in front of me walked a man who knew where he was going.
I followed him through the valley's summer yellows and occasional shades of
green, until he stopped where sere earth and rocks overlooked the place where
a river had flowed before the drought.

Over millions of years, Gaia's telchine had tried fitting together various
hominid parts, living Tinkertoys with small brains, long arms and short
legs; large brain, standing upright, short arms, fingers, toes and finally
"applied the elaborate technology of human implants and replacement
organs to the creation of" a homunculus with CRISPRed genes stored
in pre-paid corporate clouds. "We are subjects under construction, we
are always becoming something."

He told me he is an ex-Catholic monk; I said I'm an ex-Zen Buddhist. Then he
said he was leaving soon for Africa to find a shaman. Since then the river has
returned many times while he hasn't appeared again.

Today I am leaping synaptic gaps between an Anthropocene and Paleo-
lithic, knowledge and gnosis, tapping into an Internet huddling around
tribal fires, revising the steps our ancestors took browsing landscapes
now seen only in dreams.

 

 

This first step: A. Arenes, B. Latour, and J. Gaillardet, "Giving Depth to the Surface: An Exercise in the Gaia-graphy of Critical Zones." The Anthropocene Review. 5 (2) 2018.
telchine: Children of Gaia, they were skilled in metallurgy, shapeshifting and climate change.
Tinkertoys: Based on the Pythagorean right triangle, Tinkertoys are made of wooden spools and sticks. Besides a toy for children, they have been used to create complex machines.
applied: M. Piercy, He, She and It. New York, 1991.
homunculus: Paracelsus, De rerum naturae (1537) “...from such Artificiall men, when they come to Mans age, are made Pygmies, Gyants, and other great and monstrous men, who are the instruments of great matters,”
CRISPRed: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats is a tool for editing DNA.
We are subjects: R. Braidotti. L Andrés, "Rosi Braidotti: 'What is necessary is a radical transformation, following the bases of feminism, anti-racism and anti-fascism.'” CCCBLAB, 02 April 2019.