Redesigning the body - redefining what is human

Whole Earth Review, Summer, 1989 by Stelarc

BETWEEN GRAVITY AND FANTASY.

The body is now suspended between the inward pull of gravity and the outward thrust of information. The most significant planetary pressure is no longer the gravitational force, but the information field. in the past our evolutionary form has been molded by 1G; from now on our direction and development will be determined by the information flow.

BIOTECH TERRAINS. Humans now inhabit a landscape of technology that cues, conditions, and circulates the body. Biotech terrains conceal countless body pacemakers that alert and activate people, directing them in predetermined patterns and velocities.

BEYOND THE HUMAN SCALE. The significance of the technological terrain lies not merely in the pure power it generates but the realm of abstraction it produces through its operational speed, precision, and the development of different sense-systems. The body is immersed in an increasingly intense information field that cannot be absorbed and creatively processed by the individual. Artifacts exceed human sensing whilst information goes beyond human comprehension.

ANESTHETIZED BODY - THE ATROPHY OF ECSTACY. increasingly complex organization necessitates automation. Automation implies ease of operation, speed of decision-making, and the illusion of control. Automation promises operational reliability and predictability. But it pacifies the body, minimizing its kinesthetic feel. Because technology so successfully mediates between the body and the world, it disconnects the body from many of its functions. Distraught and disconnected, the body can only resort to interface and symbiosis. The body may not yet surrender its autonony,but certainly its mobility. Plugged into a machine network, the body needs to be pacified. In fact, to function in the future and to truly achieve a HYBRID SYMBIOSIS, the body will need to become increadingly anesthetized...

THE INVASION OF TECHNOLOGY. Technology not only orbits the body but has now landed - attaching and implanting itself in human tissue. Once only a container of the body, technology can now become a component. EVOLUTION ENDS WHEN TECHNOLOGY INVADES THE BODY, SPLITTING THE SPECIES. imploding, implanted technology focuses physical change on each individual, propelling the body into post-evolutionary trajectories. Technology, having defined human nature, provides the potential for redesign.

OBSOLETE BODY. It might be the height of technological folly to consider the body obsolete, yet it might be the highest of human realizations. It is no longer of any advantage to either remain "human" or to evolve the species. The body must burst from its biological, cultural, and planetary containment. it is time to desynchronize, diversify, and depart. Obsolete but aware, the body can plot its own demise its own vanishing.

REDESIGNING THE BODY It is time to question whether a bipedal, breathing, beating body with binocular vision and a 1400cc brain is now an adequate biological form. The human species has created a technological and information environment it can no longer cope with. On the one hand, it is intimidated by the speed, precision, and power of technology, and on the other it is overwhelmed by the vast quantity and complexity of accumulated information. The body is neither a very efficient nor a very durable structure. it malfunctions often and fatigues quickly, its performance determined by its age and sex. It is susceptible to disease and is doomed to a certain and early death. It is deactivated daily to dream (or become deranged) - a disproportionately high amount of its short life span being consumed in sleep. Its survival parameters are very slim. It can survive only weeks without food, days without water and minutes without oxygen. The body's lack of modular design and its overreacting immunological system make it difficult to exchange malfunctioning organs with healthy ones even if it is a matter of the system's very survival. The body reproduces, but has no replaceable parts. REDEFINING THE BODY MEANS REDEFINING OUR ROLE.

NO BIRTH, NO DEATH - THE HUM OF THE HYBRID. As the body attains planetary escape velocity, it bursts from its genetic confinement. Death no longer "authenticates" existence. Death is an outmoded strategy of an evolving species. It is of no advantage to be aware of the individual! Neither birth nor death should be design criteria in the Post-Evolutionary body Technology transforms the nature of human existence, standardizing sexuality and equalizing the physical potential of the body. With fertilization occurring outside the body and the possibility of nurturing the fetus in an artificial support system there will technically be no birth. And if the body can be redesigned in a modular fashion to facilitate the replacement of malfunctioning parts, then technically there will be no reason for death - given the accessibility of replacement parts. The body will no longer be repaired, but simply have parts replaced. Extending life no longer means existing;' but rather being operational. Bodies need not age/deteriorate; they would not run down or even fatigue; they would simply stall, then start - possessing the potential both for renewal and reactivation. Human traits like aggression may only be necessary because the body has to be constantly in "survival mode." The modified body will be sensitive, asexual and immortal.