The falseness
is at the heart of modernity and is caught in the Japanese sci-fi trilogy 20th
Century Boys. What is truth in a land of pure information and cybernautics?
In this case it is “Friend”; Friend wants friends; all the same, all numbers,
algorithmic identity. Everything and everyone is ditto and loves Friend, a
blank-faced cypher.
The origin for
this comforting dystopia comes from a gang of kids in 1969, who wrote a “book
of prophecy” that future events seem to mirror. The kids in the longgrass;
Donkey’s excitement at Neil Armstrong’s landing; nostalgia for kiddish larks;
the ubiquitous presence of a masked “friend” make for a potent mix of pop-culture.
“What he’s
doing right now is like a childish deceptions.” (one of the kids to Shogun in
part 3).
If Friend is a
cipher who inhabits the land of numbers that approach the vanishing point of
technique, he could easily be Zuckerberg or others of that ilk like Musk,
Bezos. Nostalgia has to be real – in terms of physicality – rather than a false
ideal (of numbers, algorithms).
Like 20th
Century Boys, could the modern world be a clever deception; could progress
be simply endless repetition into the straight-line universe of numbers? Of the
three big corporate entities – Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg – all are essentially
the same thing, a programmer who became big in commerce. As noted in Pictorial
1Zuckerberg would mate with robots if he could; they are that close and
friendly.
In order to get
into “their” version of progress (I mean, has Man never progressed
pre-industry?) one has to enter the land of straight-lines (perspective, vanishing
point). Once there, in the land of mirrors (HB20) it’s all very convincing,
since numbers are convincing. What I mean to say is, by journeying into space
on Musk’s rockets, you are also going into cyber, becoming robotic. The work
you do would be repetitive, you would be bored.
The reason is
really because it’s a deception; the physical reality of the body is primitive
and reptile. The detached head can deceive itself with the ego. Instead of
primitive strength and psyche, one has the endless repetition of a ray of light
(electromagnetism).
Semi-conductors
switch between one and zero continually, so it’s a form of repetition. Baldly
stated, there are ten numbers (0-9) but we could make do with 1 and 0, since 9
is 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1.
It would make
life pretty boring, but it would be accurate! So, in a way, everything mathematical
can be a form of repetition. The thing that makes a progressive scenario – such
as Man emerging from the leaves to the caves – is the gross physicality that
occurs in conditions of strength.
Ambience, pungence,
forest scents, crushed leaves, berries and carrion, predator and prey. These
occur in the physical realm of day and night, where dreams and darkness exist.
But when one
doth live in darkness, a mushroom is thy meat and moss thy bed.. and frightful
comes the serene blue sky. (BWS
Young Gods & Friends, “The Party”, Strangehands to Adora)
Darkness is the
destruction of light by plants and the construction of fertility. The sterile
land of light has a need for the dark. In Greek myth, the feminine aspect is
represented by Diana of the moon, by Daphne of the laurel, by Proserpine of the
underworld, spouse to Pluto.
With darkness is
a proportionate reality born of rhythm and symmetry (Earthspin). As noted
previously, Galileo is something of a deception in that the physical reality we
inhabit is the Earth which spins, not the sun which is more or less static.
The sun is a
perspective reality (of light, straight-lines), while Earth is a physical
reality of pungency and roots. The goddesses of darkness are often depicted in
underclothes, or very little more than whisps of linen. The female power of
blood and fertility is often connected to the power of the underworld.
Either literally
in the case of Proserpine, or in the sense of moonlit vines that run from the
earth, crushed leaves under the feet of bounding Diana.. While Apollo is
detached in airy flight, the goddesses are associated with the earth and
earth-power. This power is quite cyclical, and where there is death and
carrion, there is life and revival.
The exact same
goes for mixed, traditional farming which fertilizes the soil for crops with
grazing animals. The nether-regions of the animals, the faeces and urine,
create strength through the process of microbial degradation.
This cyclical
strength of decay and revival tends to be ignored by straight-line logic which
disregards fertility for the sake of a sterile system of “efficiency”. The
result is that the cycling of carbon is much reduced – a false efficiency.
The issue is one
of dirt and cleanliness; of the strength that leads to revival and therefore
health and sound, clean-living in rustic revival. It’s a false economy to
ignore cyclical issues. There is also meaning associated with the physical acts
that a sterile order lacks. A physical world has meaning that is associated
with the earth and revival.
The revival has
psychic repercussions and the gaiety of song; Dionysian pursuits, garlanded
donkeys. The sterile order stymies this gaiety owing to the false logic of
straight-line efficiency.
It’s also false
because the physique cannot be denied, and so the land of physical boredom
results in numerical compulsion; the Black Sun of calculation that shines where
the sun don’t shine. In this sterile land, the serpent is loose in the form of
profane meat (GM) and sex-by-proxy (DNA).
