Unable Bodies

 

This excerpt from Paul Virilio brings to light the evolution of mankind. We need conflict to survive otherwise we would destroy ourselves. We crave power, power over others. There is no kindhearted goodness in the world that Virilio was describing. In fact he mentions the dominance of people over others multiple times throughout history. This focus point highlights the “Machine”. The war machine: bringing to light mankind’s need for conflict and the weapons of war that we use to achieve the next machine. The political machine: those in powers way of imposing their ideals on others. The social machine: the people and the power they have (perhaps and under utilized power) What stood out was his reference to the third on that list; the social machine. People in power want to stay in power and the only way to do that is to control those who put them in power; the people. Information (personal information) is the greatest resource as it allows you understand and mould the people. It is in our history that we want, better yet, need conflict. After all, “History progresses at the speed of its weapon systems”.

 

When reading this short piece there were a few times that I felt a cool chill running down my spine. My mind kept bringing up George Orwell’s 1984 and the overpowering government that occupies that world.  The idea of a machine that controls all and is in every aspect of life is a scary notion. “Stasis is Death”

 

The Overexposed City

 

Form follows function. The airport example that Virilio notes the interesting design of early airports. This description seems on par with that of ellis Island and its history with immigrants coming into this country. The airport is seen as a portal from city to city with a design that emphasized regulation. “Prisons in France used magnetized doorways that airports had used for years. Paradoxically, the equipment that ensured maximal freedom in travel formed the part of the core of penitentiary incarceration.” Virilio touches on the idea of boundaries and where the identity of the city exists. It seems to have changed as travel gets easier and as our interaction with the city changes as well. “The phrase ‘to go into town,’ which replaced the nineteenth century’s ‘to go to town,’ indicates the uncertainty of the encounter, as if we could no longer stand before the city but rather abide forever within.” Media and social interaction with the computer also have a hand in the transformation the city. The city has begun to lose its sense of difference and starts to blend together to form a machine of undercernable parts that are both, important and unimportant to the whole. Cities are data hubs. Places that information enters and leaves on a daily basis and where the data (us) cares little or none at all for the pieces of information that don’t deal with us.

 

It is interesting to look at cities as a hub of information and not just as a place of habitation. The form that the city (and airport) takes is one of change as the data parameters are constantly changing. We can never control everything, but the design of space can funnel us into a perceived freedom within the system.

 

The Administration of Fear

 

The human element, while always craving power and control, still knows the value and importance of life. However, fear is a powerful force. We fear that which we don’t understand and as a result we have become a culture with fear embedded in everyday life. “All we have to fear is fear itself.” — FDR “We are facing the emergence of a real, collective madness reinforced by the synchronization of emotions: the sudden globalization of effects in real time that his all of humanity at the same time, and in the name of Progress. Emergency exit: we have entered a time of general panic.” We are living in a pool of our own fear that stems from our ineptitude of understanding our world around us. Not only that but knowing or unknowing if something has been taken away is a dangerous notion considering that in his other papers, Virilio expresses the people as the power, although easy to manipulate.

 

An interesting read and one that shakes up thought on a more extruded view of culture, space,  and the city. Its sections on fear raise an interesting point on our daily fear and how that effects our culture and nation.