INGREDIENTS: But perhaps the function of disappearing is a vital one.
Perhaps this is how we react as living beings, as mortals, to the threat
of an immortal universe, the threat of a definitive reality. So this
whole array of
technology could be taken to mean that man has ceased to believe in
his own existence, and has opted for a virtual existence, a destiny by
proxy. Then all our artefacts become the site of the subject's
non-existence. For a
subject without an existence of his own is at least as vital a
hypothesis as that of a subject decked out with such metaphysical
responsibility. Seen from this angle, technology becomes a marvellous
adventure, just as
marvellous in this case as it seems monstrous in the other. It
becomes an art of disappearance. It might be seen as aiming not so much
to transform the world as to create an autonomous world, a fully
achieved world, from
which we could at last withdraw. Now, there can be no perfecting of
the natural world, and the human being in particular is a dangerous
imperfection. If the world is to be perfect, it will first have to be
made. And if the human
being wishes to attain this kind of immortality, he must produce
himself as artefact also, expel himself from himself into an artificial
orbit in which he will circle forever. (jb)
Perhaps this is how we react as living beings, as mortals, to the threat
of an immortal universe, the threat of a definitive reality. So this
whole array of
technology could be taken to mean that man has ceased to believe in
his own existence, and has opted for a virtual existence, a destiny by
proxy. Then all our artefacts become the site of the subject's
non-existence. For a
subject without an existence of his own is at least as vital a
hypothesis as that of a subject decked out with such metaphysical
responsibility. Seen from this angle, technology becomes a marvellous
adventure, just as
marvellous in this case as it seems monstrous in the other. It
becomes an art of disappearance. It might be seen as aiming not so much
to transform the world as to create an autonomous world, a fully
achieved world, from
which we could at last withdraw. Now, there can be no perfecting of
the natural world, and the human being in particular is a dangerous
imperfection. If the world is to be perfect, it will first have to be
made. And if the human
being wishes to attain this kind of immortality, he must produce
himself as artefact also, expel himself from himself into an artificial
orbit in which he will circle forever. (jb)