Exeshell

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When does a human cease to be human through the amalgamation of mechanic and technological hardware? Does the ultimate convergence of these things make my brain nothing but software? Just because my cousin has a prosthetic limb, which helps him walk, does not mean he is now a machine. But if his whole body was replaced with a mechanical structure which encased his conscious mind, meaning he could live forever, what is he now? Literally a ghost in the shell? Imagine being fully sustained in consciousness by a mechanical body, with full access to a network of information at not the click of a button but by a mere fleeting thought. Network meaning not just the internet but also everything that is connected to the internet, every single device. Not only would one be technically immortal, but also inherently omniscient. Knowing everything that is desired to be known; everything that can be known. A god unto ourselves. The most productive and intelligent that we could be. Nothing we could not know or do. Impossible creativity. Could this be the final evolution of the human? You would feel it all around. The information endlessly cycling, like an infinite Rolodex of names, numbers, places, thoughts, the past, the future, every possible alternate and parallel universe at once. Imagine it like being able to feel every individual blood cell coursing through your veins. Overwhelming.

Words by Jam Steward, with quote from Roisin Murphy. Image and Art Direction by Nicole Jessé and Jam Steward.

Exeshell; (verb) to extract a human mind out of it’s original body and place into the shell of a machine.

Seeing into the 10th dimension would be paralysing. A complete overload of information. This way of existing would make it extremely difficult imagine what the present reality would feel like. We are comfortable with viewing the world in our current perceived dimensions but what goes beyond that? Only with this kind of knowledge would we be able to see beyond. For example, imagine you can see the whole of this universe. Not just like you were zooming out of a picture to see the whole image, but more like you are seeing every individual corner, edge, angle and facet of a cube at once. Instead of just seeing one view at a time everything is visible at once. Or a video; not seeing each frame at a time but seeing every frame and hearing every sound at once. You feel it all around. The information endlessly cycling. Call it evolution or an upgrade. “Your data my data The chromosomes match. Exact as in matter, As a matter of fact, You know me better.” It would no longer be us/them or me/you. Components of the connected world would be so intrinsically interdependent, evolving to become a single, organically technological being. Call it Melba. A system that works as one, a computer of sorts. But where a computer has a purpose, a task to fulfil, what would the purpose of Melba be? What function would it serve? Destruction? Preservation? Creation? Our current planet is like an ex council flat. Its primordial purpose has been lost through the decades, from hand to hand. The next had to get the keys will be mechanical. An autonomous hand. Make love to the robot, succumb to its power. Make love to the motor. Motorocative.

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25/11/2016 17:39


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