The Posthuman Fun Palace: The Histories and Technologies by Tim Evans

Posthuman Fun Palace

Histories and Technologies Timothy Evans Unit 15 Thesis 2017 Histories and Technologies

“WE ARE FREE TO SPLASH AROUND IN THE FUNHOUSE OF FORMS” A. CODRESCU

It is the aim of this booklet to define the posthuman form and environment within the Fun Palace, through the understanding of past events on the timeline and future predictions within science and science fiction.

Figure 1.

Histories and Technologies

CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION

“WE ARE FREE TO SPLASH AROUND IN THE FUNHOUSE OF FORMS” A. CODRESCU

2. GLOSSARY 3. HISTORIC THEORY DEVELOPMENT PART A: THE POSTHUMAN THEORY DEVELOPMENT TO 2016 PART B: PREDICTING THE POSTHUMAN THEORY AS OF 2066

4. THE BODY PART A: EVOLVING THEORIES OF ENTITY FORM PART B: METHODS OF TRANSFORMATION

5. THE MIND PART A: EVOLVING THEORY OF HUMAN/ ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRATION PART B: THINKING LIKE A HUMAN PART C: THINKING LIKE A POSTHUMAN

6. THE SPACES PART A: UNDERSTANDING FORM IN PRICE’S FUN PALACE PART B: DEFINING THE SPACES AND ENVIRONMENT

7. CONCLUSION APPENDIX 8. TEXT BASED TIMELINE PART A: DEFINING THE POSTHUMAN SUBJECT PART B: CYBERNETIC ARCHITECTURE PART C: THEORIES OF THE ENVIRONMENT PART D: ENVIRONMENTAL INTERFACES IN SCIENCE FICTION PART E: EVOLVING THEORIES OF HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT INTEGRATION

Histories and Technologies

1964 Cedric Price Figure 3.

Histories and Technologies

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1964 Cedric Price Figure 2.

A INTRODUCTION

Through the histories, theories, technologies, technicalities, social and political concerns of becoming posthuman along with the rich involvement of science fiction, we can develop a detailed brief on the need of a methodology towards developing ourselves into a posthuman. The need for this guide now is of vital importance, given the rapid adoption of media coverage on the topic through both science fiction and actual scientific achievements like the neural lace, synthetic limb replacement and mixed reality architectures. This paper uses historical and recent theories along with science fiction stories to create a speculative prediction of the technologies and theories in place within the Fun Palace. The data collected here will be used to create a critical and grounded personal exploration of the park in the following companion guide.

The Timeline: The final part of this technical companion includes a breakdown to the Posthuman Timeline. Due to the complexity of the original and the lack of technological advancement to make this fully interactive, this section will simplify the majority of connections shown on the timeline diagram. It will highlight the categories, content and logical links.

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2.0 GLOSSARY

4. 1927 Metropolis

A GLOSSARY A:

Anthropocene

Dada

The term Anthropocene is a term created by Eugene Stoermer and Paul Crutzen which describes the present geological era where climate change has been largely affected by humans. This term is commonly addressed with posthuman theories because of the increasing reliance of nature on technology.

Formed as an anti-war art movement in 1916 in Zurich at the Cabaret Voltaire. It spread across Europe as a performance based art that rejected logic, reason and rationale. Amusement and the making of art communities are the goals of dada.

Herm

Cognition The mental action carried out within the mind for acquiring and understanding knowledge through thought.

Refers to both he/she or neither. Is both a Dada desideratum and an affirmation of totality. M: Morphogenesis

Collaboration

From the Greek morphê ‘shape’ and genesis ‘creation’, literally, ‘beginning of the shape’) is the biological process that causes an organism to develop its shape

Post humans can develop networked systems between their minds to work together on projects for design and making. Cyborg

“Cybernetic Organism,” coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes. A body that consists of both organic and biomechatronic components.

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NanoBots Machines smaller than 100nm with the ability to manipulate atoms into new structures. Controlled via a swarm controller to programme complex designs.

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Nanotechnology A technological term defining the use and manipulation of atoms and entities smaller than 100nanometres in dimension

S: Singularity (Technological) The point at which super intelligence far outstrips human intellect, creating an ever expanding and self healing artificial intelligence.

Non-human An animal, object or entity with advanced cognitive functions that is not considered human

Synthetic (Posthuman) The ideal material makeup of a posthuman within the Fun Palace for maximum adaptability T:

P: Posthuman

Time

For the purpose of this companion the term Posthuman has been used to describe any user of the Fun Palace who is in the process or has completed the process of augmenting into a higher intelligence being that is beyond the capability or returning to a standard biological human. They are fully integrated to the environment. Post-Scarcity The point at which money is no longer a controlling factor, an ideal utopia where virtually everything is free and manual labour is minimal but resources are in abundance.

Is of little relevance within the Fun Palace, all elements change in line with time, although post humans are not controlled by time. Trans/Post (human) Gender With evolved bodies, sexual organs are interchangeable and therefore the default post human does not have a gender. U: Utopia An idealist environment or paradise, like the Fun Palace.

Q: Quantum The minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction.

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HISTORIC THEORY DEVELOPMENT Histories and Technologies

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3.0

Figure 5. Fun Palace Visual

A THE POSTHUMAN THEORY DEVELOPMENT TO 2016 In order to create the speculative companion guide of the Fun Palace, I will selectively demonstrate a predicted route of progression between now and 2066 through the exploration of past and predicted posthuman theories and stories. Posthuman theory is not generally written about using the terminology I use in this guide, just like the goals of an evolving human, the names and genres have transformed over time.

Francis Fukuyama, in Our Posthuman Future (2002) he discussed the “dehumanising” result that would come from biotechnological amelioration, against Kurzweil’s book, The Singularity is near (2005) which considers the positive result of merging technology with human cognition. Both of these sides as Ariane Lourie Harrison puts it, “blend as we come to understand what post humanism offers for an architectural theorization of the environment” (2013). Although they both offer different perceptions of our future, they both interrogate the relationship between humans and our environment, by considering both the technological and the psychological factors.

The idea of evolving our bodies and environment to make life easier or more interesting can be said to date back to the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens, where the development of stone tools enhanced our ability to craft and adapt nature around our needs. “Toolmaking creates an environment conducive to increased social interactions, as it facilitates increased provisioning and protection,” Ko, K.H. (2016). This intelligence can be seen developing exponentially since that point, and the studies of Ray Kurzweil would suggest this growth factor will not slow as we progress into the future. He suggests that our development of technology will reach a “technological singularity” where both we will transcend biology and machines will develop a superintelligence that rivals humanity. The definition of a posthuman is rapidly different over the last 50 years as it appears in different media and categories. It also draws very different conclusions on the result of post-humanism by opposed futurists-

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Figure 6. 2013 Jason Hopkins - Supermodel, Size Zero

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B THE POSTHUMAN THEORY AS OF 2066 The post-singularity era is predicted to break down all ways of life when the threshold is passed in 2045. With the rapidly expanding robotics and strong AI sector, gold currency will no longer be a valuable asset and will not be accepted in the mechanised world. However without this burden on humans and posthumans the role of jobs is expected to be very different. The old hard graft jobs will no longer be carried out by us and therefore we will focus our time towards jobs that enhance our consciousness interpretation. Art and knowledge turn into the new currency.

and evolve into a highly personal expression. This is the role of the fun palace, as with Cedric Price’ Fun Palace, the posthuman fun palace provides the framework to promote user self-expression. As with every revolution, the current use of buildings will no longer be required or maintained, the rapid expanse of densely populated residential forests may become bare and half furnished. Communities will no longer be positioned based on wage, it is likely that districts will become largely diverse based upon peoples interests and morals. This will also mean that the available technologies to manipulate the body, would see districts adopting new homogenous body forms.

As predicted by Ivan Chtcheglov in Formulary for a New Urbanism (1953) “The architecture of tomorrow will be a means of modifying present conceptions of time and space. It will be both a means of knowledge and a means of action.” This is the goal of the fun palace, to experiment with the true interaction between ourselves and our architecture. However how do we know what style to follow, what informs the design of this interrelationship between user and architecture? With Post-humanism set to make us and our environment as efficient as possible the Fun Palace requires an element of ‘fun’ – A New Dada. Dada is needed as a corrective for maximising posthuman entertainment and desire in the increasingly efficient world. Following both the First World War and the Second World War, artists and architects filled the abandoned factories to develop new artistic forms, one of these offshoots became the foundation of Dadaism, although as a form Dada is highly contradictive the founding rules or what dada may consider anti-rules, creates a framework architecture that allows each and every one of us to use

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Figure 7. 1953 Ivan Chtcheglov in Formulary for a New Urbanism

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4.0 THE BODY

Figure 8. Posthuman Shell

A EVOLVING THEORIES OF ENTITY FORM Human embodiment is a topic that remains in constant change as we progress through a technological explosion. Although a number of science fiction and hard science researchers are sharing an increasing number of posthuman bodies that feed off of the basic human form, there are a growing number of illustrations and technologies that are ready to embrace new body designs. It is clear that our current built-environment is suited specifically the 95th percentile of the human form, however with the ability to adapt future cities radically as suggested by the timeline, new body figures can be designed in line with new environments. The first analysis of the human form in 1490 was Leonado’s Vitruvian Man to demonstrate the standard body proportions using a circle and square as a demonstration of fusing artistic and scientific objectives. This is then developed by Le Corbusier in 1945 with his Modular man who originally created this to unify different scales, imperial and metric, and was then used as a universal diagram to design architecture and mechanics around. The first demonstration of a machinic body can be considered to be La Mettrie’s L’homme machine in 1748. Since the introduction of the cybernetic theories, more illustrations of bodily forms have been created, utilizing the work of Norbert Weiner to create a networked body. The term cyborg (from cybernetic organism) was coined by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline in 1960 when they presented the first attempt to create one. It was a rat fitted with an osmotic pump, created as part of the preparations for travelling to the moon. The idea was to equilibrate

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a human body for space as a step towards adapting a human to any environment they desire. That act of combining machines with animals would allow for a greater ability to adapt the organic system for harsh environments that it would not otherwise be able to adapt for. This work has set the groundwork for the goal of post humanism with, “human-animal exchanges, networks, bodily enhancement and designed environments” Harrison (2013: 5).

9. 10. Left: 1490 Leonado Da Vinci - Vitruvian Man Right: 1945 Le Corbusier - Modular man

Histories and Technologies

B METHODS OF THE TRANSFORMATION One of the ways to become a fully integrated posthuman is to develop your own body and then design your environment around yourself. This is the method that humans and animals have always used until now, where the ability to change the body has been limited by additions of clothing, tattoos or artificial limbs/prosthetics. The advantage of this method is that the environment is designed to be ergonomic to a wide range of body types, and standardised designs can be used. However this limits design around the ergonomics of an homogeneous body design, and would limit levels of self expression that posthumanism allows for. The other way which has yet to be fully understood in reality is to develop a unique environment without any restrictions of inhabitation, then develop a new type of body to integrate with the space. This isnt possible in the human form, however as posthumans, only the technology available will determine the flexibility of the space. It might work in the way a jungle gym play set is experienced by children, developing their sense of space and coordination to climb, crawl and swing through an unfamiliar architecture. This would allow for posthumans to fully integrate with the architecture and environment by manipulating designs as you move through them, by opening a form of neural connection between all components and entities. Until now networking has needed to be done via a peer to peer or human to human contact, the Fun Palace would open up a mesh connection between all objects and entities, allowing for full control and feedback over thoughts and negotiations. Mesh connections fall in line

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with the third wave of cybernetic theory, and remove the idea of a single relay between yourself and the environment, every part of system becomes its own node within the network both influencing and being influenced by all other parts of the network. As Donna Haraway defined in her Cyborg Manifesto (1985), “a cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality”. A journey through the Fun Palace would augment your body in a modular form as you interact with the environment, should you enjoy the water, the route you take will gradually submerge you further and further into the water starting with the extension of your feet into large slip resistant fins, followed by hydrophobic skin tattoo’s to synthetic limb replacement to allow easy transitions through water with a reduced drag coefficient.

11. 2016 Charles Lieber - Neural Lace

One of the technical requirements that would allow you to control the Fun Palace with your body would require an upgrade with a Neural Lace. The term was originally introduced by the novelist Iain M Banks and the device was later developed and popularised by technological entrepreneur Elon Musk. The small brain implant is a mesh like device that is surgically installed by specialists

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and then allowed to be enveloped by your brain which creates neural connections between neurons and a digital processor. Your body is then able to connect to the internet and control it like a muscle within your body. Musk popularised this device in January 2017 with an article promoting the use of the device he was developing to ensure we retain control over AI’s, otherwise they may control us like pets. Learning to control this device would take the time of understanding a new muscle but could allow you to manipulate the nanobots within the park to construct objects and architectures. One of the big leaps into post-humanism is the interchangeability of sexuality. As advertised by the retail shop Transformation since 1984 “Before/After - This could be you! No matter what your age or shape”. The posthuman adaptation is gender neutral, however you have the choice to express yourself through any physical manifestation. Hayles tells us we are already posthuman but through her work asks the question of “what sort of posthuman are we tuning into?” Shaviro (2002: 3). It is essential to use the process of Dada to experience everything within the Fun Palace in the way that Bjork and director Chris Cunningham do in the music Video “All is full of love”. Use it as a soundtrack to experimenting with modular expansion, in the way they open up the potentials of virtual reality and cyborg-being, by creating your own science fiction narrative. However this video is very streamline and minimal in visual aesthetic, a Dada will not dwell on excessive wastage, but embellish the art of performance. One of their innovative works was ‘Brutism’, “an infernal mix of mechanical noises and human voices making up loud nonsense words, heavy on consonant like z and r and s repeated zzzzz, rrrr, sssss, until both performers and audience experienced rhythmic trance.” Codrescu (2009:33).

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Although many would argue about the different times you became post-human, the last stage may be considered the time you fully remove the human element. A cognitive upload into completely adaptable and evolving synthetic form is a guaranteed posthuman, it is at this time we remove all currently known limitations of our mind, creativity and expandability. You can take on any form and provide any requirement of brain processing power to creatively interact within the Fun Palace. Removing our human shell and entering a form capable of unconstrained cognitive power is questioned by many people, morally and ethically, like Francis Fukuyama (2002) who highlights the “dehumanising” effect of biotechnological advancement. The Fun Palace, unlike reality, does not conform to any dystopic ideals and so this need not be considered. Complete cognitive transference into a fully synthetic form is a one way trip and will not allow for the habitation of your mind within a human form again, although once part of the network stepping backwards in technological form will not be worth considering.

12. 1996 Stalarc - Ping Body

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5.0 THE MIND

Figure 13. Posthuman Neural Links

A EVOLVING THEORY OF HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRATION The unification of human and technology has always been considered to be a necessary step across various different topics and this has therefore resulted in an expansive dialect, with theories being developed over time in line with technological advances and developing science fiction narratives. In this section I will attempt to expand upon the work of N. Katherine Hales and Ariane L. Harrison on their categorisation of cybernetic theory between 1945 and today. Cybernetic theory is very relevant to post-humanism because of its ties between an object or a body and its surroundings, i.e. the environment. This is crucial for the guide to begin developing the interaction between our posthuman and the Fun Palce. The waves of cybernetic theory have been broken into three stages and are grouped by their description of environmental feedback. The first person to form this wave/movement considered the notion of environmental feedback within cybernetics was Norbert Wiener in 1948. He was a mathematician who published the book Cybernetics: Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. This book can be considered the first major step towards posthumanism in the city because of its critical analysis of the flows of data between animal cognition and mechanical substrate, to form a network. It is the idea of creating a network that is of most interest to us, as we are aware that intelligence and the key to expanding knowledge relies primarily on network infrastructure that contains these flows. When Wiener started this theory on the network of flows he also planted a seed to create a network of disciplines that adopted and grew cybernetics.

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The key principles of cybernetics is feedback, information and model. Feedback is a general principle “making possible the explanation of a series of phenomena taking place in various dynamic systems” (Department of Cybernetics). This can be considered the result of a system carrying out its task, presenting the information gained or extrapolated in the process. The information can be considered the role of cybernetics, it is the knowledge that represents an important entity that changes our lives bringing us closer and closer to the efficiency of a posthuman. The methodical study of multiple different systems led to the understanding that these can display similar behaviours and “the behaviour of one system can be studied by means of another, more easily implemented system under completely different time and space conditions” (Department of Cybernetics). Wiener, along with mathematician and engineer Claude Shannon, who wrote the fundamental principles on information theory, promoted a signal/noise or signaller/ receiver concept of information. This shows the first wave of cybernetics, focusing on two separate entities the one sending information and the one receiving it. These two objects are considered as a separate “dematerialised view of information, one that regarded consciousness itself as a pattern independent of the material world,” Harrison (2013: 6). This reductionist outlook as a network became a starting point for environmental feedback and manipulation, where Hayles’ work posits how this lead towards the transference of human consciousness into an external system. This transcendent view was promoted by the work of Kurzweil and Nick Bostrum. The second wave which appeared around the late 1960’s developed “a more complex, autopoetic informational system,” Harrison (2013: 6). Francisco Varela,

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Humberto Maturana and Gregory Bateson, expanded on the previous system to include an observer within the self-reflexive network. “The concept of autopoesis – that an organism simultaneously maintains an openness to energetic and environmental stimuli and a formal enclosure within its environment – views information in its specific material context” Harrison (2013: 6). The theory is only a slight evolution from the previous stage, however it takes on an embodied view to interacting between a user and the environment. This wave is based on the detailed look into the way a frogs eye communicates with a frogs brain. It is important for this guide because of the discovery made on the actual perception of reality and the transformation of human to posthuman. The study of an autopoetic system showed that it is likely the human brain “does not so much discern pre-existing systems as create them through the very act of observation”, Hales (1999: 131). It went through many iterations into the inclusion of reflexivity, a bidirectional relationship between cause and effect, where both entities have an effect on each other. Maturana within this considered cognition as a biological phenomenon. The third wave which appeared in 1980 and stretches until around 2010, came about from the introduction of self-organisation which sprung into emergence. With the increased use of programmed artificial intelligence within games, characters where coded to evolve their capacity to evolve. Some academics have argued that this in itself is life. Primarily developed by Hayles, Rodney Brooks and Eugene Thacker, this wave is about the physical nature of networks, with “machinic and organic matrixes in the fields of artificial intelligence, biotechnology and nanotechnology” Harrison (2013: 7).

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The newest wave which drops the cybernetics to be considered as simply “The fourth Wave” Is being researched by Molly Steenson, it focuses on logic and self-reflexivity. She explains it as not so much of a theory but a toolset to understand the current human and technological structures in the system. It considers what happens when the system redefines itself within the large context and how the system will immerge into its environment. Although this order has yet to be extensively understood its distributed nature provides a detailed description of the operations of the Fun Palace. It considers the discrete observer’s boundaries as problematic because a single agent is unable to see enough of the system from a single point. It is possible to use the first order to be a single observer but you would not be able to conceive all of what the system ‘knows’. One of the ways to understand the system would be to consider a music ensemble, formed of a network of players, collaborating to entertain themselves and a larger audience. The ensemble collectively carry out a number of musical actions and solos but individually react to the audience’s responses and cheering. It operates as a system in its context and as a system that is part of the context. This therefore allows the Fun Palace to become a meta-system feeding from self-awareness, self-healing and self-directing, whilst containing posthumans with the same abilities.

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B THINKING LIKE A HUMAN for this thesis it does pose an argument for a trait within human nature, that may not necessarily be available in non-human human forms. Based on the technologies discussed within the included timeline and technical section, becoming posthuman is an entirely customisable process and the speed and level of adaptation is entirely up to the user. The two extremities would be either gradually transforming our organic bodies piece by piece like a growing tattoo, or full immersion from biological substrate to synthetic metabrain. It is at this stage that generally separates the current theories on the posthuman, although the designed form is vastly different, what is generally discussed is the role of human consciousness in transitioning into the next form of evolution. Peter Baofu looks into what he calls the ‘mental argument’ within the theoretical debate on architecture (2012). This focuses on the biological and psychological manners of architecture, with the first side being intelligence-based design, “for a close relationship between mind and matter in a built environment” (Baofu, 2012:14). It explains how the human mind forms direct neurological assessments of architectural elements like structure, patterns, surfaces and textures. According to the theory our human mind requires a neuro-engagement to the physical world amongst all people to have a healthy sense of well-being. This is currently considered within the field of architecture and urbanisation. However with the intense focus on neurological engagement it has been criticised for excluding a consideration on other human characteristics like emotion, imagination and reason. This can be considered a binary way of looking at the interaction, like the first wave of cybernetic theory, although

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The second is biophilia hypothesis, for the human love of living systems, as coined by Erich Fromm in 1965 and developed into a hypothesis in 1985 by Edward Wilson. It discussed how there is a distinct biological connection and bond between living animals. This allows us to thrive in environments with a mixed ratio of life forms present, making the distinction between curated habitats that we live in and isolated cube. In relation to architecture this term refers to the use of natural planting/ventilation to blue the boundary between building and landscape. The only conflict this theory raises is that the hypothesis has yet to be proved and it has problems for those who don’t believe in evolutionary theory, and the love of other living systems is a “product of biological evolution” F Facchini (2010: 297). In thinking like a human we discover a few traits within intelligence design theory and the biophillia hypothesis that makes the distinction between human and nonhuman actors. These points which suggest that the human mind requires fulfilment from the physical world would lead towards opposed futurist theories from people like Fukuyama, where there will always be a difference between base human cognition and post-human/non-human cognition. This raises more psychological questions with how our consciousness will link with our design environment.

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6.0 THE SPACES

14. Posthuman Fun Palace

A UNDERSTANDING FORM IN PRICE’S FUN PALACE It is important to realise that the form of Price’s Fun Palace was not meant to be the attraction to the park. It was designed only as a framework to provide an environment in which to create forms, isolated from the framework itself. There is however the argument that this framework did indeed have its own aesthetic to it. “The Fun Palace was not a building in any conventional sense, but was instead a socially interactive machine, highly adaptable to the shifting cultural and social conditions of its time and place.” Stanley Matthews (2005:73). Price used the fun palace to develop a unique collection of discourses and theories within cybernetics, Situationism, theatre, information technology and game theory. Which generated a “new kind of improvisational architecture to negotiate the constantly shifting cultural landscape of the postwar years” Mathews (2005:73). It was Joan Littlewood’s new idea and design for an avantgarde theatre which provided the framework for Price to expand on with her interactive and evolving, performative theatre. The spaces were designed to enhance individual fulfilment through the use of a crane and modular sections, this is the same as the posthuman Fun Palace, although in a post-scarcity landscape the role of Dada is used to create fulfilment. This would rely on the same framework, as Dada has always been a performative and visual based experience and ideology, although the primary difference is the introduction of collaboration of the users architectures. 15. 1968 Cybernetic Serendipity

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B DEFINING THE SPACES AND ENVIRONMENT Architecture within the Fun Palace is fabricated instantly via nanobots able to reconstitute matter into any form within the park. These nanobots are controlled directly by the user and are distributed across the park, Synthetic humans have a direct data connection to the mesh network with distributes commands to individual bots. Modular humans require a neural lace connection to join the mesh network, as verbal and visual connection are unable to sustain sufficient data transference.

As Harrison explains â&#x20AC;&#x153;postwar artists and architects, often in collaboration, adopted cybernetics, semiotics, and communication theories to justify their attempts to animate physical constructions and buildings.â&#x20AC;? (2013: 11). The Fun Palace is primarily an exploratory tool to develop new forms of architecture that truly integrate the cognitive functions of the user into the system. One of the reason architects have needed to enhance theories with cybernetics and communication to improve time based architectures is because the next generation of buildings will require a human or posthuman level of cognitive intelligence in order to function adequately around an evolved human form.

This is a practical implementation of research into nanotechnology and bottom-up matter re-constitution, where the aim is to miniaturise machines to the point at which they operate at such a small scale they can construct any element or any structure by connecting individual atoms together. Richard Feynman first discussed the idea of matter manipulation in 1959 and the term nano-technology was first implemented in 1974 by Norio Taniguchi. K. Eric Drexler the developed the idea of a nano scaled machine assembler in 1986. The fun palace relies the use of this swarm technology to create a constantly evolving architecture, it allows almost any form to be created and then nanobots can be integrated to components for them to adapt to users or a program. Although without this technology the fun palace could still function, it is this technology that changes the function of time and distribution of materials in the palace.

16. 1968 Gordon Pask - Colloque of Mobiles

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7.0 CONCLUSION

17. Fun Palace Data Mesh

A Histories and Technologies Conclusion

The ultimate conclusion to the Fun Palace is the elaborate spacial awareness that all of the guides within this thesis hope to provide the reader with. This written conclusion is based on the knowledge displayed within this booklet, while there is an additional conclusion within the companion guide. What this guide successfully explores is the possibility of creating a Fun Palace within a future setting, and that a project like this will be essential once we gain the ability to completely re-imagine our bodies and environment. We do however raise more questions than we answer, due to the reliance on science and science fiction speculations of the future. To move forward from this study, we need to maximise our efforts of posthuman exploration within architecture to ensure our creativity is not constrained by a laziness to adapt. The past decade has seen the popularity of posthumanism grow exponentially thanks to highly popular science fiction films and television shows like Westworld (2016), and Humans (2015) which has brought the subject into the mainstream, setting these stories within todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment. They raise questions of how we, as humans, may adapt to accommodate these potential changes to society on an unprecedented scale. Although I have only started to explore this time frame, hopefully the journey taken through the Fun Palace project helps to create a potential direction for us as architects and artists to propel ourselves in.

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Science fiction has made this future speculation possible, and as discovered in the timeline, has a history of predicting future technologies and ideologies which hopefully gives this text a grounding to be read with some accuracy. While providing a framework to the thought process that has been used to structure the ideology of this posthuman paradise. Whether the posthuman future arrives through evolution of revolution, it is essential that there is an advising force there at the start to use design tools for the betterment of humanity, as this guide uncovers the future ability for unique bodies to be designed around architecture, compared to todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort to design spaces around the standard human form. There will therefore be an extensive re-direction in spacial design to either accommodate all forms of the future body, or create a fragmented landscape of exclusivity. A large number of advantages and disadvantages of the potential technological improvements have been discussed and assessed in the context of a Fun Palace. Although the technologies themselves may change, the mind set should remain the same as we develop the new paradise. The dependence on a new form of communication between minds, spaces and other users is sacrosanct. Ultimately the posthuman should have the ability make direct connections to both other users, to speed up the amount of data that can be transferred and also to spaces/architecture itself. With current architecture becoming more and more reliant on advanced computing processes, the next step needs these entities to be upgraded to a human or even posthuman level of consciousness. This would allow a complete reactive space to be created, to adapt to the different posthuman forms inhabiting the spaces.

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This can then be applied within a larger system as outlined in the fourth wave of cybernetic theory. It is this system that is needed to move not only our bodies but our civilisation into a posthuman era. However this tool does create the potential for community fragmentation ever more than our current situation, which must be designed around with the Fun Palace. To create a utopian park, collaboration and open-sourced skills need to be implemented. As mentioned before the fun palace requires Dada as a corrective to the efficiency of a posthuman form, although it may not have been extensively covered in this guide, it is important to conclude with an experience of the Fun Palace through the frame of mind of a Dada. The reason is to take a break from a potentially hyperlogical future by rejecting rational purely for amusement. Profligacy is no longer desirable and therefore desire is no longer desirable. Borders are being replaced by aesthetic differences as they diminish through increased technological interconnectivity. Dada gives us an unguided set of guidelines to create meaningful personal aesthetic without defined borders. It makes Like the Dadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cabaret Voltaire, the fun palace strives to become a centre for performance based art, architecture and personal expression. It has no ulterior motive but to provide humans, posthumans and nonhuman actors a sense of amusement.

There is no doubt that this guide will be just as funny to read for posthumans as Victorian visions of our own future, today.

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8.0 APPENDIX

18.Posthuman Timeline

Find the Interactive Timeline online: THESIS.ARCHVIZ.CO.UK

A Defining the Posthuman Subject

Graphical Timeline Enclosed:

The following Pages contain a text based version.

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1490. The Evolution of human form based on the Vitruvian man 1748. La Mettrie’s - L’Homme machine 1893. H G Wells - The Man of the Year Million 1920 Raoul Hausmann - The Mechanical Head (The Spirit of Our Time) 1945. Le Corbusier’s Modulor Man 1948. The idea of the networked Man by Norbert Wiener 1953 Theodore Sturgeon - More Than Human 1959 Frederik Pohl and C M Kornbluth - Wolfbane 1968 Gordon Pask - Colloquy of Mobiles, Cybernetic Serendipity 1971 David Rorvik - As Man Becomes Machine 1972 Martin Caidin – Cyborg 1983 Greg Bear - Blood Music 1984 John Sladek’s – The Last of the Whaleburgers 1985. Donna Haraway : Cyborg Manifesto 1988 Lois McMaster Bujold’s - Falling Free 1990. Donna Haraway : Developed theory 1990 Dougal Dixon - Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future 1992 Walter Jon Williams - Aristoi 1995 Ken MacLeod - The Fall Revolution Series 1996 Ken MacLeod - The Stone Canal 1997 Greg Egan - Diaspora 1999. Katherine Hayles - How we bacame post Human 2002 Gardner Dozois - Supermen: Tales of the Posthuman Future 2003 Justina Robson - Natural History 2003 Stephen Baxter - Xeelee Sequence, Coalescent and Exultant 2005 Shane Dix and Sean Williams - Geodesica sequence

Histories and Technologies

Cybernetic Architecture

1920s Le Corbusier House - Machine for the living (comes from h.g wells - Toni-Bungay ) 1954 Spatiodynamic tower - (vibrating cantilevered bars, mechanized soundscape) 1957 Schoffers House with invisible walls - 1957 (replace architecture with technology enclosures) 1962 Sverre Fehn - Nordic Pavilion 1969 Cybernetic City - generating climates from scientific research to sexual recreation centre. 1964 Cedric Price and Joan Littlewood - cybernetics within the Fun Palace 1964 Archigram/Peter Cook – Plug In City 1964 Archigram/Ron Herron - The Walking City 1971 Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano - Pompidou centre 1997 Peter Zumthor - Kunsthaus Bregenz 2002 Diller + Scofidio - Cloud-like blur building 2003 Peter Cook and Colin Fournier - Kunsthaus Graz 2004 UN Studio - La Defense Offices 2004 Studiogang - Ford Calumet Environmental Center 2006 Arons en Gelauff Architecten - de Plussenburgh 2006 Minifie Nixon - Australian Wildlife Health Centre 2008 Philippe Rahm - Golf stream projects 2008 Junya Ishigami - Japanese Pavilion Installation 2008 gins and arakawa - bioscleave house 2008 R&Sie(n) - I’m lost in Paris 2009 The Living - Living Light Pavilion 2009 David Benjamin & Natalie Jeremijenko - Amphibious Architecture 2010 Tham & Videgård Arkitekter - Tree Hotel 2010 Marco Casagrande - Ruin Academy 2011 Scape - Oyster-tecture

Histories and Technologies

Theories of the Environment

1920. 1970’s

2003.

2004.

2006. 2008. 2009.

2009.

2010.

Ludwig Hilberseimer - Post-individualist framework Situates scientific study activity in a social and cultural context and grants agency to nonhumans; formerly “neutral” environment becomes a space crowded by human and non-human actors. Reinhold Martin - The endgame of postwar corporate modernism is a post-industrial or posthuman subject, immersed and constructed in data flows and patterns. Information and architecture become one element in a feedback system. Linking the first wave of cybernetics to a posthuman. Latour - differentiates the posthumanist politics of collectives from the humanist politics of nature which enforce a static conception of nature versus man. Latour doesn’t break entities down to single objects, politics, objects or discourse are composites, quasi-objects/ quasi-subjects Verb Natures - Organic materials and assembly Christopher Hight - Architectural Principals in the age of cybernetics Subnatures - David Gissen - theorectical underpinnings of what he simlary identifies as an organic material- aesthetic in contemporary architectural practices. The subnatural becomes manifest in overlooked materialities- smoke, dust, pigeons, weeds. Technonatures: Anthropocene - D. White and C. Wilbert. Translates the anthropocene concept from the geological and evolutionary to the ethnocultural level (9) Digital culture in architecture - Antoine Picon - cyborg networks, computational aestheics, diagrams of complexity. Explores the dialogue betweenarchitectural, scientific, and social doscourses Histories and Technologies

D Environment Interfaces in Science Fiction 1964. 1969. 1972. 1979.

1966. 1982. 1984. 1987. 1991. 1993. 2004. 2010. 2011.

Psychotropic buildings respond to the mood of visitors One Thousand Dreams of Stellavista - J.G.Ballard San Francisco becomes first teleportation-based community - It’s Such a Beautiful Day - I. Asimov Cyborg Bionic Limbs - Cyborg - M. Caidin Astral Projection between cities is possible through an Out of Body Experience - On Wings of Song - T.M. Disch Voice Controlled Computer – Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Smart Glass – Blade Runner NYC is enclosed within a dome and AI’s are governed by the Turing Police - Neuromancer - W. Gibson Head’s Up Display – ROBO Cop Cyborgs are capable of Love and communication enters cyberspace - She and It - M. Piercy Personal Display Device – Star Trek Deep Space Nine Access the internet through your brain - Air - Geoff Ryman The first AI is killed Epoch - G. Jones PrimoPosthuman The Transhumanist Culture N.Vita-More

Histories and Technologies

E Evolving Theory of Human/Environment Integration 1945-60 - First Wave of cybernetic Theory: Creation by Norber Weiner “the theorist who first explored the concepts of environmental feedback” (Hales, 1999) The Binary Concept of cybernetics (Signal/Reciever) (Claude Shannon). Cognition is a pattern independent of the material world. 1967-90 - Second Wave of Cybernetic theory: Autopoesis - F. Varlea, H. Maturana and G. Bateson The cybernetic system includes the observer and his/hers effects on the system in question. An organism that simultaneously maintains an openness to energetic and environmental stimuli and a formal closure within its environment. Fukuyama - “biotechnological transformation of the human body will eradicate human values” 1996-2012 - Third Wave of Cybernetic Theory: Developed by R. Brooks, E. Thacker, K. N. Hales - physical nature of networks. The material substrate for data is integral to its informational structure, apparent in new methods for processing data through machinic and organic matrixes in the fields of AI, Bio Tech and Nano Tech. The human body in its current form is not a sacrosanct vessel for human consciousness, a perspective that envisions humans and machine intelligences co-developing in various degrees of interdependency. This is Posthuman K Hales “In the Posthuman, there are no essential differences or absolute demarcations between bodily existence and computer simulation, cybernetic mechanisms and biological organism, robot teleology and human goals”. Hales - What it means to be human is not about intelligence but creating just societies in a transnational global world

Histories and Technologies

2012-â&#x20AC;Ś - The Fourth Wave: Borrows from the first three waves It is defined by logic and self-reflexivity Not a theory but a toolset used human and technological structures in the system. It considers what happens after a system redefines itself Acknowledges the emergent principles within the system A single observer could never understand the whole system It is a system of systems that raises complex issues of consciousness There are many levels of knowing. The system is contextualised, embedded and integrated into the context

19. Interactive Posthuman Timeline

Histories and Technologies

Find the Interactive Timeline online: THESIS.ARCHVIZ.CO.UK H istories and

Technologies

A Histories + Technologies Bibliography Baofu, P. (2011) The future of post-human architecture: A preface to a new theory of form and function. London, United Kingdom: Cambridge International Science Publishing. Berardi, F.B., Genosko, G., Thoburn, N., Bove, A. and Thoburn, P.N. (2011) After the future. Edinburgh: AK Press. Codrescu, A. (2009) The Posthuman dada guide: Tzara and Lenin play chess. United States: Princeton University Press. Crysler, G., Cairns, S. and Heynen, H. (eds.) (2013) The sage handbook of architectural theory. London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications. Dunne, A. and Raby, F. (2014) Speculative everything: Design, fiction, and social dreaming. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Fok, W.W. and Picon, A. (2016) Digital property: Open-source architecture. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Garcia, M. (ed.) (2014) Future details of architecture. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Grusin, R. (ed.) (2015) The Nonhuman turn. United States: University of Minnesota Press. Handziy Taras (2014) ‘Consciousness and Its Evolution: from a Human Being to a Post-Human’, Philosophy and Cosmology, 13(1), pp. 214–222. Harrison, A.L. (ed.) (2012) Architectural theories of the environment: Posthuman territory. New York: Taylor & Francis. Jameson, F. (2007) Archaeologies of the future: The desire called utopia and other science fictions. London: Verso Books. Koolhaas, R. and Foster, H. (2013) Junkspace: With, running room. London: Notting Hill editions. Marcus, G. and Marcus, G. (1989) Lipstick traces: A secret history of the twentieth century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

More, M. (1994) On becoming Posthuman. Available at: http://eserver.org/courses/spring98/76101R/readings/ becoming.html (Accessed: 17 November 2016). Pearson, K.A. (1997) ‘Life becoming body: On the “meaning” of post human evolution’, Cultural Values, 1(2), pp. 219–240. doi: 10.1080/14797589709367145. Shaviro, S. (2014) The universe of things: On speculative realism. United States: University of Minnesota Press. Shaviro, S. (2016) Discognition. United Kingdom: Repeater Books. Stocker, G., Schopf, C. and Leopoldseder, H. (eds.) (2015) Ars Electronica 2015Festival für Kunst, Technologie und Gesellschaft: Post CityLebensräume für das 21. Jahrhundert. Germany: Hatje Cantz. Tripp, M. (2009) ‘Cyberculture, Cyborgs and science fiction: Consciousness and the Posthuman. * william S. Haney’, Literary and Linguistic Computing, 24(4), pp. 493–496. doi: 10.1093/llc/fqp011.

Histories and Technologies

A Histories + Technologies Images 1. England, L. (2007) The Dome Available at: https://flic. kr/p/3ygWra (Accessed: 26 February 2017). 2. Price, Cederic (1964) The Fun Palace [Interactive Architecture]. Available at: interactivearchitecture.org// wp-content/uploads/2005/10/cedric-price-paskplanas. jpg (Accessed: 6 January 2017). 3. Price, C. (1964) The Fun Palace [Interactive Architecture]. Available at: interactivearchitecture.org//wp-content/ uploads/2005/10/funpalace-cedric-price.jpg (Accessed: 26 January 2017). 4. Lang, F. (1927) Metroplpois Poster Available at: https:// www.iloveretro.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/ image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/a/p/ ap1276.jpg (Accessed: 26 February 2017). 5. Personal Work: Fun Palace Development 6. Hopkins, J. (2013) Supermodel, Size Zero Available at: http://www.abhominal.com/abhominal_posthuman_images/ supermodel_size_zero_0_abhominal_posthuman.jpg (Accessed: 26 February 2017). 7. Chtcheglov, I. (2015) Formulary for a New Urbanism Available at: http://writingcities.com/2015/07/28/ chtcheglovs-formulary-for-a-new-urbanism/ (Accessed: 7 January 2017). 8. Personal Work: Posthuman Shell 9. Da Vinci, L. (1490) Vituvian Man Available at: https://www. dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-vitruvianman-image8072287 (Accessed: 26 December 2016). 10. Le Corbusier. (1945) Modular Man Available at: https:// www.flickr.com/photos/_hideki/4492888360/ (Accessed: 26 December 2016). 11. Lieber Research Group, Harvard University (2016) Neural Lace Available at: https://www.engadget. com/2016/10/14/harvard-injectable-wire-meshparkinsons/ (Accessed: 26 February 2017).

12. Stelarc (1996) Pingbody Available at: http://stelarc. org/?catID=20290 (Accessed: 26 February 2017). 13. Personal Work: Posthuman Neural Links 14. Personal Work: Posthuman Fun Palace 15. ICA (1968) Cybernetic Serendipity: A Documentation Available at: https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/cyberneticserendipity-documentation (Accessed: 26 February 2017). 16. Pask, G. (1968) Colloque of Mobiles Available at: http:// cyberneticserendipity.net/ (Accessed: 26 February 2017). 17. Personal Work: Fun Palace Data Mesh 18. Personal Work: Posthuman Timeline 19. Personal Work: Interactive Posthuman Timeline

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Histories and Technologies