Morphology, Longevity, Incept Dates

Three Degrees of Certainty II (2012) © Maskull Lasserre. Image Source: Boing Boing.

So much of the buzz around technology today stresses novelty. But the speed of the Tech Boom constantly reminds us of death, as gadgets and machines become obsolete at an ever-increasing pace. Canadian artist Maskull Lasserre grasped tech's inherent contradiction, and carved a skull out of obsolete computer manuals. (Thanks to -J.). The piece is called Three Degrees of Certainty II (2012).

The dark undertow beneath the Shiny-New-New encourages magical thinking. The rationalist Enlightenment order defined by economists crumbles and gives way to a world determined by scientists, biologists, geneticists, nanotechnologists and computer designers. But because obsolescence is hard-wired into the new system, the Millennial world constantly whirls around its own demise; and the mentality turns not to cold logic but to mysteries, spiritualism and eschatological Millennarianism. In other words, we are hurtling toward a deadly marriage between science and religion.

This paradox creates an insatiable Millennial appetite for Gestalt thinking. Databanks of information suddenly available to the mass global population do not inspire source-checking and modest conclusions, but rather give birth to wild new mythologies. Conspiracy theories thrive. Bigfoot is in danger of being captured at any minute. Celebrities die out in the open. Satanism reaches prime time. Shadowy Illuminati escape arrest and exposure. The dead walk. Birds fall from the sky and fish wash up on beaches. UFOs swoop over sleeping suburbs and mountaintops. Noises deep underground rock small towns. And Apocalypses and Armageddon loom.

Image Source: Boing Boing.

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