Not gonna lie, when I first read saw this chapter header, I assumed it was going to be about body horror. Horrifying fusions of man and machine, bio-mechanical monstrosities, that sort of thing. Basically talking about the ending of “Akira” or something. But no, it’s about how human bodies are assimilated used in the machine that is society. This honestly makes more sense if I’m honest (lol).
About a month ago, before we all started living that #quarantine lifestyle, you (Prof. Cooley), recommended I watch “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”. I watched all three parts, out of order accidentally, as I was doing 3D modeling assignments. Just going over how we like to view society and the world we live in as a series of systems, and how the world doesn’t actually work that way. It provided a contrast with “The Flesh Machine” by Critical Art Ensemble, and how it views the present state of society as manifesting through a series of self-perpetuating systems.
I don’t think the two pieces contradict each other, just that one helped shed light on the other in regards to how society works, and the value of being descriptive rather than prescriptive. Of describing phenomenon as they appear in reality, as opposed to how one would imagine they would work in your head. Of looking at the ways that ethics always takes a backseat to scientific advancement in the real world, particularly when it benefits the interests of those in power, and seeing how there is a system in place that explains why this happens as opposed to just being a random accident. A systemic critique is invaluable, and we have to look at systems as they exist and how they fail, rather than just saying that the system would be working if we did it more. The point of a system is what it actually does, after all.
This is all to say that I saw Gattaca, and I thought it was good. I first saw it in High school, in my weird Catholic bioethics program, where the message was much different that it was watching it for this class. I thought I would have more to say on the connection if I’m honest, one the subtle and not so subtle ways that the society of the movie exerts its values on those within it. How the society is constructed in invisible ways as well as visible ones to enforce the value of genetic engineering by making the lives of those within it harder in obvious and not so obvious ways. I can’t really say that that is how real life works right now though. There’s a plague going on, I am completely burnt out, and many of those at the highest echelons of power are just flatly saying that people need to be sacrificed for the sake of capitalism.
It has been about 2 weeks (or more or less, time is blurring together for me), and over 600 people have died for Corona Virus. The economy tanked after less than a week, and the US government is pumping a trillion dollars into the economy to keep it afloat. Throughout all of this, I have been seeing figures saying that we cannot allow the virus to “hold us hostage”. We have to reopen the economy, they say, to return things back to normal. Maybe people will die, but the older generations will happily bear that sacrifice for the sake of their children. I’d be horrified at this cavalier dismissal of the value of human life if I found it at all surprising. We’re all just saying the quiet parts loud now, saying that this system exists to take human flesh in, grind it up, and turn it into profit. This system is supposed to benefit those at the top, and everyone else is just fuel for it. I have no doubt that the society of Gattaca will come about because those who control the means of production decide that ordinary people are not efficient enough, and only those with superior genetics are good enough to turn the gears. And we will do it.
Sorry if this was a bit of a bummer, I was originally going to talk about how the military structure of Avatar incorporated biology into the machine of war, but I wasn’t sure what I could say outside of that initial sentence. I have spent the last week slowly going insane and listening to clipping. albums. I’ll try and be more cheerful in the next blog post. Have a great day!
Aidan Tamke Cyberpunk Class 