Quondam's 28th Year       Stephen Lauf



2023.12.05

The Art of Research and Fake Facts
Artists in Russia have long held a fascination for scientists and as the exhibition ‘Star Vengence’ at GES-2 in Moscow shows, pseudo-scientists are now having their day. In this era of post-truth, who can we believe?
A review of Star Vengeance by Sergey Guskov.

The review makes no mention of The Timepiece of Humanity, but now, at least, I have a clear idea of what the whole exhibit is actually about.


1998.12.05
assimilating architecture?
Since c.1500, humanity (however, mostly Western/European culture) has operated predominantly under the influence of an assimilating imagination--a process whereby everything about this planet, and even beyond, has been and still is run through the workings of absorption--absorption of land, data, capital, whole societies, etc. (Science in general is a very assimilating process, and genocide is just one example of absorption in the extreme--purge.)
According to chronosomatics, a theory based on the interrelationship of time and the human body, there are roughly 200 years left where assimilation will play a major role with regard to the human imagination, and, more importantly, the next 200 years of assimilation will also be the largest and grossest "chunks" of assimilation yet, perhaps culminating with the total and complete knowledge of every bit of rhyme, reason, cause and effect of the human genome. Chronosomatics also shows us that metabolism (equal doses of creation and destruction) has been steadily becoming the new and eventually predominate operation of the human imagination. Therefore there is a strong pluralism within the operation of the human imagination today as well.
Are there thus some things within the last 500 years architectural history that relate to the notion of an assimilating architecture? Is there something about the present state of architectural affairs that points to an assimilating and/or metabolic architecture? For example, is the high eclecticism of the late 19th century one form of assimilating architecture? Is Le Corbusier's Purism akin to assimilating architecture in the extreme? Is the current widespread/global land development precisely a continuation of the assimilating process begun by the likes of Christopher Columbus? Will humanity, 200 years hence, have come extremely close to assimilating (for better or for worse) every square inch of this planet?
Personally, I think the answer is yes, but that's not the worst of it. After assimilation ceases to be a major element within the operation of the human imagination, humanity will spend 500 years working under the influence of an almost purely metabolic imagination. Imagine living on Earth when pretty much everything thought and done is create and destroy, create and destroy, create and destroy. . . . .


1994.12.01-05
219.
Our present time... ...there is an active mixture of assimilation and metabolism. In about 200 years assimilation ends, hence the beginning of 100% metabolism, which will last for about 500 years. Around 2700 AD the diaphragm and the lungs enter the picture and this marks the beginning of a 300 year transition from metabolism to osmosis.
Around 3090 AD metabolism will be over and osmosis will be 100% except for the sudden appearance of the heart. At this time there will also have already occurred the second birth. The lungs and the heart are working in unison, and are the only organs in operation (in the "plane of the present") for over 500 years.
...the breasts with the function of nurturing.
After the era of the heart, there is still a long period of the lungs... Just the question of what it will be like after the heart is baffling. ...100% osmosis, but there will also be a much more articulated bone structure in place.
...as it is leaving the lungs, the present is also starting to slice through the out-stretched arms. ...the outstretched arms are where mankind will achieve his greatest reach. ...it is interesting that the arms are only bones and muscles, and no organs. This morphology makes the arms very similar to the legs, even to the extent that the biceps are like the thighs, the elbows are like the knees, the forearms are like the calves, the hands are like the feet and the fingers are like the toes. There is this inverse, rotated symmetry.
...something significant about the pervasive symmetry that reaches its extreme manifestation in the arms, but started with the (symmetry of the) lungs and rib cage. This reverse symmetry between the legs and the arms also makes me wonder about the nature of Time and whether Time is somehow effected by this reverse symmetry.
Perhaps what is also significant about the era of the outstretched arms is its relative short time span (especially when compared with the long time span of the legs). As a guess, the time span is something like 500 years.
...the neck, the narrowest cross-section in the body. The move of the present from the outstretched arms to the neck presents contrast and transition at its most extreme.

1994.12.05
0220.
It is very interesting that the arms are composed of only bones and muscles, very much like the legs and the feet. Where the legs are for standing, walking, running and sitting, the arms are for reaching, grasping, holding, carrying and pulling. This contrast between the arms and the legs may provide clues as to how each contributes to the story of the Timepiece. I have thus far associated the era of the feet and legs as an era of man as nomad (roamer of the Earth). The question now arises as to how the functional differences of the arms and hands effect the nature and operation of mankind at their respective times of presence.
In general terms, I think that they suggest that mankind will at that time will be able to reach further out (beyond Earth) more than ever before, is a reasonable place to start the metaphor.




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