Re: <nettime> Franco Berardi & Geert Lovink: A call to the Army of Love

Morlock(Geert):

> What *is* the future like if machines win? What is it like if
> they lose? No one talks about that.

Of course this is a *very* old story and many people have talked about it. In fact, it already HAPPENED.

The 20th century was the ANTI-HUMAN century -- when "progress" reached the point that the humans were no longer needed and the *machines* TOOK OVER.

The machines already WON -- a 100 years ago.

And for much longer than that, it's always been about HUMANS vs. our INVENTIONS . . . !!

(Since 2011 is McLuhan's 100th birth-anniversary, has anyone bothered to go back to read his 1964 UNDERSTANDING MEDIA?)

You could start with Wyndham Lewis (i.e. McLuhan's inside-the-ruling-class mentor) and his London-based "Vorticism" -- which was specifically gathered in opposition to the machinic fantasies of Martinetti's "Futurism" -- then read Lewis' 1926 "The Art of Being Ruled."

Then ponder why Lewis is the *only* artist targeted by C.P. Snow's 1959 "Two Cultures" (i.e. the humans and the machines) -- the movement which continues to live on in the GBN/WIRED/EDGE complex of WHOLE EARTH "futurists."

Read Stewart Brand's "Whole Earth Manifesto" and then his buddy Kevin Kelly's "What Technology Wants" and ponder what happened to the *humans* in these narratives. (Yes, these are the same people that nettime first leveled its "guns" against, with Barbrook's "Californian Ideology" followed by my "English Ideology" essays.)

Modernity was ANTI-HUMAN. Genetics was anti-human (i.e. humans are monkeys 2.0). Psychology was anti-human (i.e. humans are "repressed" memories). Mythology was anti-human (i.e. humans are light+dark fallen angels). Modern art was anti-human (i.e. break 'em down and abstract away any human quality). Science Fiction was anti-human (i.e. the utopian/dystopian need for the "New Samurai").

All of this -- genetics, psychology, mythology, modern art, science fiction etc. -- were reflections of the 20th century *dominance* of the MACHINES.

In fact, has anyone on this list been part of anything that *wasn't* ANTI-HUMAN (e.g. are there any medievalists in the room)?

> Why is there this ban on the Future?

Because the "Future" was invented by the *machines* and the MACHINES are now LOSING!!

Bring the HUMANS back and you'll have *plenty* of NOW to deal with -- which is exactly what has been happening for the past 20 years.

The *future* (based on the *humans*) has already arrived . . . which was the topic of my 1997 MetaForum III keynote "Who Are We: What Are We Becoming?"

Mark Stahlman

Brooklyn NY