Visar resultat för..."cosmogenesis"

The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction proposes a new story of evolution by redefining technology as a cultural carrier bag rather than a weapon of domination. In The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, visionary author Ursula K. Le Guin retells the story of human origin by redefining technology as a cultural carrier bag rather than a weapon of domination.Hacking the linear, progressive mode of the Techno-Heroic, the Carrier Bag Theory of human evolution proposes: ‘before the tool that forces energy outward, we made the tool that brings energy home.’ Prior to the preeminence of sticks, swords and the Hero’s long, hard, killing tools, our ancestors’ greatest invention was the container: the basket of wild oats, the medicine bundle, the net made of your own hair, the home, the shrine, the place that contains whatever is sacred. The recipient, the holder, the story. The bag of stars. This influential essay opens a portal to terra ignota: unknown lands where the possibilities of human experience and knowledge can be discovered anew.

In the twelfth century since the appearance of the prophet Jesus Christ on the now-evacuated planet Earth, Hildegard of Bingen discovers grace in the moral and spiritual ruins of her medieval world. She inscribes her visions into Scivias, an indescribably beautiful codex of writing and illuminations, thought to be lost during the collapse of the Information Age. On the planet Avaaz, in a sea cave with cracked amethyst walls, Pinky Agarwalia discovers fragments of this beguiling text: a mystic toolkit including a cosmology, medicine, a morphology of crystals and recipes for survival – in strange, illegible symbols. How to decipher this unknown language? As Pinky traces the diagrams with her finger, a vision appears revealing that water – a guarded substance – is the alchemical agent: in water, the mysterious script transforms into feeling and light. Unlocking the secrets of viriditas, Hildegard’s mythic quantum energy threaded throughout her communiqués, provides the seeds for humanity’s rebirth on Avaaz. Lingua Ignota, Hildegard's visionary ‘unknown language’, arrives just in time for a world in flux, one whose coordinates are being recast.

Eminent Harvard astrophysicist David Layzer offers readers a unified theory of natural order and its origins, from the permanence, stability, and orderliness of sub-atomic particles to the evolution of the human mind. Cosmogenesis provides the first extended account of a controversial theory that connects quantum mechanics with the second law of thermodynamics, and presents novel resolutions of longstanding paradoxes in these theories, such as those of Schroedinger''s cat and the arrow of time. Layzer''s main concerns in the second half of the book are with the philosophical issues surrounding science. He develops a highly original reconciliation of the conflict between traditional scientific determinism and the intuitive notion of individual freedom. He argues that although the elementary processes underlying biological evolution and human development are governed by physical laws, they are nevertheless genuinely creative and unpredictable.

This fascinating study of chaos and order in the universe marks a new direction in scientific approaches to these areas. Rejecting Laplacian notions of `meaningless', coincidental order and of a ruling tendency towards dissolution and chaos, Layzer draws physics, biology, chemistry, and astronomy into a fluid philosophy of order, able to accommodate the individual act and random event without causing structural breakdown.Layzer manages to be both entertaining and very convincing at the same time. Among the intriguing side issues he brings up are a new theory for the origins of the universe and a physical explanation for why off-key musical notes jar.

Eminent Harvard astrophysicist David Layzer offers readers a unified theory of natural order and its origins, from the permanence, stability, and orderliness of sub-atomic particles to the evolution of the human mind. Cosmogenesis provides the first extended account of a controversial theory that connects quantum mechanics with the second law of thermodynamics, and presents novel resolutions of longstanding paradoxes in these theories, such as those of Schroedinger''s cat and the arrow of time. Layzer''s main concerns in the second half of the book are with the philosophical issues surrounding science. He develops a highly original reconciliation of the conflict between traditional scientific determinism and the intuitive notion of individual freedom. He argues that although the elementary processes underlying biological evolution and human development are governed by physical laws, they are nevertheless genuinely creative and unpredictable.

What is a World? How do I create one? How do I keep it alive? And when should I set it free?There is an unnatural art emerging, ripe for our strange and complex times: Worlding — the practice of creating dynamic systems that take on a life of their own.Now in print for the first time, WORLDING is an essential handbook for artists, gamers, entrepreneurs and creators navigating uncertain times.Expanded and updated from prior incarnations, this contemporary cult classic draws on the author’s experience developing complex multi-agent video game worlds. It offers practical methods for building and sustaining Worlds through four creative personas: the Director, Cartoonist, Hacker, and Emissary. Part philosophical reflection, part creative guide, WORLDING explores ways to navigate darkness and sustain agency in a time of unraveling old realities and emerging weird ones.

What is a World? And how does one bring it to life?Emissaries Guide to Worlding is both a behind-the-scenes chronicle and a philosophical companion to one of the most ambitious experiments in simulation art of the 21st century.This richly illustrated, full-colour hardback brings readers into the conceptual and technical process of creating Emissaries (2015 – 2017) — a trilogy of simulations about cognitive evolution and ecological emergence. As Cheng built his agentic beings, he also began a theory of Worlding: the unnatural art of designing systems that grow, change, and take on a life of their own.Now returning in a revised collector’s edition with a new preface and updated materials, this is the foundational artifact of Cheng’s thinking on Worlding—where theory and practice emerge side by side. Released alongside WORLDING: A Guide for Creators in Changing Times, its distilled and expanded successor, this edition offers the origin: a record of Worlding as lived process.

How can humans and non-humans come together to save the planet in an age of climate crisis? In recent years, we have seen a rise in the popular understanding of non-human intelligence, from octopi to mushrooms to AI. At the same time, man-made systems are under increasing pressure on a warming planet. What must be done to remake our future? In Air Age Blueprint, K Allado-McDowell, with their writing partner GPT-3, tells the story of a future where artists, shamans and AI researchers collaborate to preserve the ecosystem. Weaving together fiction, memoir, theory and travelogue, Air Age Blueprint grapples with the legacies of colonialism, ecological destruction and rapacious techno-capitalism, to present a blueprint for surviving the 21st century, drawing lessons from Indigenous knowledges, neuroscience, art, psychedelic research and other-than-human intelligence.

What do the divinatory practices of Ancient Greece’s Oracle of Delphi, the Incan knotted quipu counting device, the I Ching, the nine billion names of God and Elizabethan mathematician John Dee have to do with artificial intelligence? The Atlas of Anomalous AI is a compelling and surprising map of our complex relationship to intelligence, from ancient to emerging systems of knowledge. A wildly associative constellation of ideas, stories, artworks and historical materials, the Atlas draws on art historian Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas — an image map of the “afterlife of antiquity” — to approach the defining concepts of AI from an imaginative, artistic and revitalising perspective.The Atlas presents a hyperdimensional view of the world, through a broad range of perspectives that explore the question of what AI has been and what it is becoming. Key texts on modelling, prediction and automation are brought together with stories of science fiction, dreams and human knowledge, set among visionary and surreal images by Emma Kunz, Pablo Amaringo, Carl Jung, Hilma af Klint, William Blake.The Atlas expands our common understanding of AI and raises new questions beyond a illusory fixation on linear progression, towards a new horizon of infinite play in the construction of artificial intelligence today.

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto published a revolutionary white paper that described a simple peer-to-peer electronic cash system that would later become Bitcoin, laying the foundations for the technical innovation known as the blockchain. In the decade since its publication, the nascent technology behind cryptocurrency has become recognised holding the same transformative potential of the printing press or the internet, set to impact our sense of identity and provenance as much as finance. It has disrupted traditional financial markets with a spectacular explosion in value, paved the way for thousands of similar digital currencies and laid the groundwork for a decentralised future of the web. But what does it mean for everyday life? The White Paper returns to the document that started it all, taking Nakamoto’s text as a Rosetta Stone to decode the meaning of blockchain for contemporary society. This guide to the innovative technology shows how it holds up a mirror to our understanding of the world, both timeless and mutating: from the archetypal origin story, to concepts of trust and value, and the changing shapes of power and privacy. In an acute and definitive Introduction, James Bridle, leading technologist, artist and author of New Dark Age, charts the rise of blockchain from its roots in clandestine online cultures. Delving into the first conversations between initial members of the Bitcoin community - a disparate group of cyber ideologues ranging from right-wing Libertarians to radical Web 2.0 utopian, Bridle shows how they shed light on the cryptographic imagination that points towards the future of the Bitcoin dream. Through the lens of encryption as philosophy and practice, Bridle examines the continuing debates around the meaning of money, democratic values and security in an era of surveillance capitalism. Fully annotated with key secondary texts, The White Paper presents new perspectives on the radical paper.

Cathay ist eine merkwürdige Stadt. Europäische Händler und Flüchtlinge aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg - unter ihnen vieler deutscher Herkunft - gründeten sie Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts nach einem Schiffbruch an der Ostküste Indiens in Sichtweite des Himalaja-Gebirges. Von Anfang an war der Ort verflucht. Einen dämonenbeseelten Götzen sollen die Siedler mitgebracht haben. Außerdem verärgerten sie einen ortsansässigen Zaubermeister, der die Stadt daraufhin mit einem Fluch belegte. Auch sonst erwies sich Cathay als unglücklicher Ort. Tiefe Dschungel und schroffe Berge umgeben die Stadt. Ihr Standort ist sumpfig, das Klima feucht, die Kanalisation marode, so dass immer wieder Seuchen die Bürger hinraffen. Schon lange liegt der Handel brach. Cathay verfällt, viele Häuser stehen leer. Dekadenz greift um sich, Melancholie liegt über den vernachlässigten Straßen. Seltsame Kulte treiben ihr Unwesen, mörderische Wesen streifen durch die Nacht. Seit einiger Zeit mehren sich die Anzeichen für eine große Krise. Irgendetwas geht vor in und vor allem unter Cathay in den gewaltigen Höhlen und zu dumpfen Wohnstätten ausgebauten Kanälen. Die Mehrheit der Bürger verharrt in Lethargie, doch immer wieder gibt es einige allzu neugierige Zeitgenossen, die hinter die Kulissen zu blicken versuchen. Sie finden selten eine Erklärung aber stets ein unglückliches Ende. In vielen Gestalten geht das Böse um in Cathay. Verbrecher aus aller Welt fliehen vor ihren Verfolgern hierher. Risse durchziehen die Realität, durch die Kreaturen aus fremden Sphären schlüpfen. Die Stadt und ihre Bewohner scheinen dem Untergang geweiht, doch brennender noch wird die Suche nach der Antwort auf die Frage, ob es überhaupt ein Cathay gibt.

Cathay ist eine merkwürdige Stadt. Europäische Händler und Flüchtlinge aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg - unter ihnen vieler deutscher Herkunft - gründeten sie Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts nach einem Schiffbruch an der Ostküste Indiens in Sichtweite des Himalaja-Gebirges. Von Anfang an war der Ort verflucht. Einen dämonenbeseelten Götzen sollen die Siedler mitgebracht haben. Außerdem verärgerten sie einen ortsansässigen Zaubermeister, der die Stadt daraufhin mit einem Fluch belegte.Auch sonst erwies sich Cathay als unglücklicher Ort. Tiefe Dschungel und schroffe Berge umgeben die Stadt. Ihr Standort ist sumpfig, das Klima feucht, die Kanalisation marode, so dass immer wieder Seuchen die Bürger hinraffen. Schon lange liegt der Handel brach. Cathay verfällt, viele Häuser stehen leer. Dekadenz greift um sich, Melancholie liegt über den vernachlässigten Straßen. Seltsame Kulte treiben ihr Unwesen, mörderische Wesen streifen durch die Nacht.Seit einiger Zeit mehren sich die Anzeichen für eine große Krise. Irgendetwas geht vor in und vor allem unter Cathay in den gewaltigen Höhlen und zu dumpfen Wohnstätten ausgebauten Kanälen. Die Mehrheit der Bürger verharrt in Lethargie, doch immer wieder gibt es einige allzu neugierige Zeitgenossen, die hinter die Kulissen zu blicken versuchen. Sie finden selten eine Erklärung aber stets ein unglückliches Ende. In vielen Gestalten geht das Böse um in Cathay. Verbrecher aus aller Welt fliehen vor ihren Verfolgern hierher. Risse durchziehen die Realität, durch die Kreaturen aus fremden Sphären schlüpfen. Die Stadt und ihre Bewohner scheinen dem Untergang geweiht, doch brennender noch wird die Suche nach der Antwort auf die Frage, ob es überhaupt ein Cathay gibt.

The Secret Doctrine, Volume I. Cosmogenesis H. P. Blavatsky - The authorthe writer, ratherfeels it necessary to apologize for the long delay which has occurred in the appearance of this work. It has been occasioned by ill-health and the magnitude of the undertaking. Even the two volumes now issued do not complete the scheme, nor do these treat exhaustively of the subjects dealt with in them. A large quantity of material has already been prepared, dealing with the history of Occultism as contained in the lives of the great Adepts of the Âryan Race, and showing the bearing of Occult Philosophy upon the conduct of life, as it is and as it ought to be. Should the present volumes meet with a favourable reception, no effort will be spared to carry out the scheme of the work in its entirety.This scheme, it must be added, was not in contemplation when the preparation of the work was first announced. As originally announced, it was intended that The Secret Doctrine should be an amended and enlarged version of Isis Unveiled. It was, however, soon found that the explanations which could be added to those already put before the world, in the last-named and other works dealing with Esoteric Science, were such as to require a different method of treatment; and consequently the present volumes do not contain, in all, twenty pages extracted from Isis Unveiled.

"The Secret Doctrine" by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky is a seminalwork in the fieldofTheosophy and esotericspirituality. Thiscomprehensivebookexploresthedeepstmysteriesofexistence,spirituality,andtheevolutionofconsciousness. Blavatsky'sworkisdividedintotwovolumesandcoversawiderangeoftopics,includingcosmology,metaphysics,ancientwisdom,andthesynthesisofEasternandWesternspiritualtraditions. At itscore,"The Secret Doctrine"presentstheideaofauniversalwisdomtraditionthathasbeenpasseddownthroughtheages,revealingprofoundinsightsintothenatureofrealityandhumanspirituality. Blavatskyexploresconceptssuchaskarma,reincarnation, andtheinterconnectednessofalllife. Throughoutthebook,readersareintroducedtoarichtapestryofspiritualandphilosophicalideasdrawnfromvariousculturesandtraditions. Blavatsky'swritingisdenseandchallenging,requiringcarefulstudyandcontemplation."The Secret Doctrine"hasahadprofoundimpactonthedevelopmentofmodernesotericthoughtandcontinuestobestudiedbythoseinterestedinmetaphysics,spirituality, andthedeeperquestionsofhumanexistence.

Arriving at a moment when the planet itself hangs between collapse and renewal, Suzanne Treister’s HEXEN 5.0 emerges as the long-awaited sequel to her cult classic HEXEN 2.0.Its 78 luminous alchemical drawings braid together terrestrial and interplanetary technologies, synthetic genomes and geoengineering schemes, corporate technocracies and post-capitalist cooperatives, mass-extinction tipping points and animist awakenings. Each card presents the possibility of novel convergences across established and emerging streams of thought—from Earth System Science, Spiritual Ecology and Nexus Thinking to technoshamanism, Solarpunk, and speculative biopolitics.By reanimating medieval hermetic diagrams as a living atlas of present crises and nascent hopes, HEXEN 5.0 opens a lucid, liminal space where collaborative readings can interrogate unfolding techno-futures and envision regenerative pathways for life aboard spaceship earth and beyond.HEXEN 5.0 includes: - 78 Large Format Full Colour Tarot Cards - Collection of diagrammatic posters - Essay by Lars Bang Larsen - Guide for Group Tarot Readings

Prophetic Dreaming is a major survey of Suzanne Treister, a pioneer of digital and multidisciplinary art whose work connects technology, power, belief and imagined futures. Coinciding with her first major UK retrospective at Modern Art Oxford, the book follows Treister from early paintings and Fictional Videogame Stills to the complex cosmologies of HEXEN 2.0 and HEXEN 5.0. Spotlighting major seminal artworks HFT The Gardener, SURVIVOR (F) and TECHNOSHAMANIC SYSTEMS, and the long‑running Time Travelling adventures of Treister's alter-ego Rosalind Brodsky. Richly illustrated, with new essays by Lars Bang Larsen, Patricia Domínguez and Val Ravaglia, Prophetic Dreaming maps the occult life of computation and offers tools for thinking beyond the chaotic present.

What are altered states of consciousness? Can altered states produce altered worlds? Altered States brings together poetic journeys that explore the varieties of revelatory experience. These poems expand our sense of selfhood and place in the cosmos, complicating the boundaries between alterity and the ordinary, to propose a new psychedelic style for the 21st century.With contributions from K Allado-McDowell, Will Alexander, Rachael Allen, Khairani Barokka, Jen Calleja, Jesse Darling, Paige Emery, James Goodwin, Hannah Gregory, Johanna Hedva, Caspar Heinemann, IONE, Lucy Ives, Bhanu Kapil, Daisy Lafarge, Dorothea Lasky, So Mayer, Lucy Mercer, Precious Okoyomon, Irenosen Okojie, Nisha Ramayya, Mark von Schlegell, Erica Scourti, Yasmine Seale, Emily Segal, Tai Shani, Merlin Sheldrake, Sin Wai Kin, Himali Singh Soin, Janaka Stucky, Jenna Sutela, Rebecca Tamas, Ayesha Tan Jones, Bett Williams and Flora Yin-Wong.

Italo Calvino's enchanting stories about the evolution of the universe, with characters that are fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures, The Complete Cosmicomics is translated by Martin McLaughlin, Tim Parks and William Weaver in Penguin Modern Classics.'Naturally, we were all there, - dld Qfwfq said, - where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?' The Cosmicomics tell the story of the history of the universe, from the big bang, through millennia and across galaxies. It is witnessed through the eyes of 'cosmic know-it-all' Qfwfq, an exuberant, chameleon-like figure, who takes the shape of a dinosaur, a mollusc, a steamer captain and a moon milk gatherer, among others. This is the first complete edition in English of Italo Calvino's funny, whimsical and delightful stories, which blend scientific fact, flights of fancy, parody and wordplay to show the strangeness and the wonders of the world. Italo Calvino (1923-1985), one of Italy's finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. Calvino was born in Cuba and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. Among his other works published in Penguin Modern Classics are Italian Folktales, Hermit in Paris, Into the War, The Path to the Spiders' Nests, Numbers in the Dark, Six Memos for the Next Millennium and Why Read the Classics?If you liked The Complete Cosmicomics, you might enjoy Jorge Luis Borges' Fictions, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'The complete and definitive collection ... a masterpiece' Gilbert Adair, Evening Standard'Dazzling ... a book of revelation' Tim Adams, Observer 'If you have never read Cosmicomics, you have before you the most joyful reading experience of your life' Salman Rushdie'A landmark in fiction, the work of a master' Ursula K Le Guin, Guardian

Early human relationships with water were expressed through beliefs in serpentine aquatic deities: rainbow-coloured, feathered or horned serpents, giant anacondas and dragons. Representing the powers of water, these beings were bringers of life and sustenance, world creators, ancestors, guardian spirits and law makers. Worshipped and appeased, they embodied people’s respect for water and its vital role in sustaining all living things. Yet today, though we still recognize that ‘water is life’, fresh- and saltwater ecosystems have been critically compromised by human activities. This major study of water beings, and what has happened to them in different cultural and historical contexts, demonstrates how and why some – but not all – societies have moved from worshipping water to wreaking havoc upon it, and asks what we can do to turn the tide.