Abstract
A hypothesis about the origin of language and the way we conceive, understand, therefore com-pute and, ultimately try to control the world (and subsequently make art):
1.0 Language was the first way to convert the world of things – objects, ideas and actions - into a world of signs, “coining” the ob-servable as well as the otherwise incon-ceivable large and complex.
1.1 In human history, the first attempt of abso-lute discretisation of the world into units able to exchange was quantification, re-ductio ad transactional unit: money (calcu-lus, numbers, coins…). It helped defining equivalences, differences and transactions. Thus, converting the world into discreet units comes down to translating the world into something that our brain can under-stand and measure.
2.0 Subsequently, having gained the ability to quantify, measure and abstract, that is to “democritize”1, (from Democritus who coined “atom”) the application of the con-cept followed as a unifying and ordering principle for all that is then considered as made of atoms: indivisible particles that constitute the unique substratum of the world.
2.1 Naturally, the binary digit came as an ex-tension of these observations as it is the ul-timate way to convert the world into data that can be computed by both natural and artificial brains.
2.2 Datafication, describing the conversion of the whole world into data, characterizes the ultimate convergence of discretisation, quantification and language. Dataism is a form of articulated dematerialized reality, and computable immateriality. The discre-tised world is at the same time an alphabet-isation and a grammatization of the world.
3.0 Therefore, within the described discretisa-tion process, resides the primitive ambition of the humankind to achieve a definitive neutralisation of the ontological difference of the being by the assumption of its uni-versal convertibility and thus not only evaluate but control the world - the cyber-netic2 fantasy of mankind, (Cybernetics from υβερνήτης (cybernḗtēs) "steersman, governor”.)
1.0 Language was the first way to convert the world of things – objects, ideas and actions - into a world of signs, “coining” the ob-servable as well as the otherwise incon-ceivable large and complex.
1.1 In human history, the first attempt of abso-lute discretisation of the world into units able to exchange was quantification, re-ductio ad transactional unit: money (calcu-lus, numbers, coins…). It helped defining equivalences, differences and transactions. Thus, converting the world into discreet units comes down to translating the world into something that our brain can under-stand and measure.
2.0 Subsequently, having gained the ability to quantify, measure and abstract, that is to “democritize”1, (from Democritus who coined “atom”) the application of the con-cept followed as a unifying and ordering principle for all that is then considered as made of atoms: indivisible particles that constitute the unique substratum of the world.
2.1 Naturally, the binary digit came as an ex-tension of these observations as it is the ul-timate way to convert the world into data that can be computed by both natural and artificial brains.
2.2 Datafication, describing the conversion of the whole world into data, characterizes the ultimate convergence of discretisation, quantification and language. Dataism is a form of articulated dematerialized reality, and computable immateriality. The discre-tised world is at the same time an alphabet-isation and a grammatization of the world.
3.0 Therefore, within the described discretisa-tion process, resides the primitive ambition of the humankind to achieve a definitive neutralisation of the ontological difference of the being by the assumption of its uni-versal convertibility and thus not only evaluate but control the world - the cyber-netic2 fantasy of mankind, (Cybernetics from υβερνήτης (cybernḗtēs) "steersman, governor”.)
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Art Machines |
| Subtitle of host publication | International Symposium on Computational Media Art Proceedings |
| Editors | Richard Allen |
| Publisher | School of Creative Media |
| Pages | 96-98 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-962-442-421-8 |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2019 |
| Event | Art Machines: International Symposium on Computational Media Art (ISCMA 2019) - City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Duration: 4 Jan 2019 → 7 Jan 2019 https://www.cityu.edu.hk/iscma/ https://iscma.scm.cityu.edu.hk/openconf/modules/request.php?module=oc_program&action=program.php&p=program https://www.academia.edu/49346019/Art_Machines_2019_ |
Conference
| Conference | Art Machines |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ISCMA 2019 |
| Place | Hong Kong, China |
| Period | 4/01/19 → 7/01/19 |
| Internet address |