A widely accepted definition of Transhumanism is: The ethical use of all kinds of technology for the betterment of the human condition.
This all encompassing summation is a good start as an elevator pitch to laypersons, were they to ask for an explanation. Practitioners and contributors to the movement, of course, know how to branch this out into specific streams: science, philosophy, politics and more.
Of the two images above, as a typical Science Fiction reader, which would you gravitate towards? In designing the cover for my book I ran about 80 iterations of 14 unique designs through a group of beta readers, and the majority chose the one with the Green tint. (design credit: Dmggzz)
No one could come up with a satisfying reason on why they preferred it over the other, except that it “looked more sci-fi” I settled for the design on the right, though it was a very hard decision to make. I was throwing away one of the biggest draws to a book — An inviting Dystopian book cover.
As an Author (and not a scientist) myself, I’ve noticed that scifi readers seem to want “dystopia” fiction exclusively. A quick glance at reader preferences in science fiction on sites such as GoodReads shows this. Yet, from noticing Vampire themed fiction on the best seller lists, and from box office blockbusters, we can assume, the common man and woman is intrigued by Longevity and Immortality.
It’s not a physical landscape. It’s a term reserved for the new technologies. It’s a landscape in the future. It’s as though you used technology to take you off the ground and go like Alice through the looking glass. John Cage, in reference to his 1939 Imagined Landscape [1].
In the last installment (see here, here and here) I argued that the increasing prominence and frequency of futuristic aesthetics and themes of empowerment-through-technology in EDM-based mainstream music videos, as well as the increasing predominance of EDM foundations in mainstream music over the past 3 years, helps promote general awareness of emerging-technology-grounded and NBIC–driven concepts, causes and potential-crises while simultaneously presenting a sexy and self-empowering vision of technology and the future to mainstream audiences. The only reason this is mentionable in the first place is the fact that these are mainstream artists and labels reaching very large audiences.
In this installment, I will be analyzing a number of music videos for tracks by “real EDM” artists, released by exclusively-EDM record labels, to show that these futuristic themes aren’t just a consequence of EDM’s adoption by mainstream music over the past few years, and that there is long history of futuristic aesthetics and gestalts in electronic music, as well as recurrent themes of self-empowerment through technology.
In this part I will discuss some of these recurrent themes, which can be seen to derive from a number of aspects shared by Virtual Art (any art created without the use of physical instruments), of which contemporary electronic music is an example because it is created using software. I argue that this will become the predominant means of art production — via software — for all artistic mediums, from auditory to visual to eventual olfactory, somatosensory and proprioceptual artistic mediums. The interface between artist and art will become progressively thinner and more transparent, culminating in a time where Brain-Computer-Interface technology can sense neural operation and translate this directly into an informational form to be played by physical systems (e.g. speakers) at first, but eventually into a form that can be read by given person’s own BCI instantiated phenomenologically via high-precision technological neuromodulation (of which deep brain stimulation is an early form).
wee halve houses because, (s)mutch liȇk cured accuraysee, hutch liȇk vid’ veil-lid-ity, touch lijȇk acyrillic pewrity, wee liȇk two be rheborn bye the day And houses within houses beakause wee liȇk a fire fractal Liȇk the Phoenix feather front-tier fringed bye Its population-liek seethe ov sunny Tongues liȇck transient paint upawn space sitself Thus rooms four wombs withinside the larger twomb ov house Thrue puckerparting labiassed doors wee move head first out from form, to be rhesearected bye the (-m-) Inute (h)as well/s Four wee on-live the day liek it was h/our life mand night liek a no ther’s And wee live-on-e’er the (-m-) inute liek {-t-} it was the day Hand each second as though {-t-} it were the first minute Cand secowned second Thus halls liȇk vul[can]vic Passaways (…burn–, werrm–, I mean pass ages) Tube e (…-t–urn–, mum–, knot tubey, butt two be) revoluted minutely, Too be the not now, to be the knotted not then not now, t(w/h)o Both be and beenaught bye becoming inst.ed; altimetely two bhe Born and die bye The passling ov pulsed doors and halls In microcosmic cataclysm sublime, wee pass two and fro as Though {-t-} it were e’er forth and foremost fireward Hinto the forge[t]fall [f]org[e]
A( )negative prefix is a( )n indefinite article taken’ a( )step back 2 look back a( )head. Thus not U or mue or me, but yus. Thus no chair is the chair, a( )nd therefore no chair a chair, for the particular is not the category a( )nd hence the category, in particular, isn’t.
In the final part of this installment, I will analyze a few more mainstream music videos with future-friendly memes and motifs, this time looking at videos mostly from 2010. In the last two installments, I argued that the increasing prominence of future-friendly memes and motifs as well as themes of self-empowerment via technology in mainstream music are significant insofar as such an increasing prominence extends the general awareness and potential-recognition of futurist or futuristic concepts, causes and potential crises, and insofar as it presents a sexy and appealing vision of the futuristic gestalt and of technology both high (e.g emerging, converging and otherwise-radically-transformative technologies) and low (e.g. consumer electronics).
This final part of the present installment will be my last dip in the mainstream as far as this series in concerned (although I am finding some of these EDM beats getting stuck in my head, despite myself). The next installment will consider some future-infused visuals and videos made by artists of EDM and electronic-music-“proper” (as opposed to the recent mainstream incorporation of EDM beats as a musical foundation).
Following that we’ll take a more pragmatic and discerning eye to the near future of music, considering how certain existing and on-the-horizon enhancement technologies could potentially disrupt the music industry and dramatically increase the variety and diversity of new music still to come.
All of the following images are the copyright of Interscope Records.
In the last installment I argued that the increasing predominance of futurist themes, memes and motifs in mainstream popular media (focusing on mainstream music and music-videos) is making future-friendly and technology-dominated concepts, aesthetics and general gestalts increasingly attractive, appealing and sexy to mainstream audiences. I then argued that this is good for futurist and futuristic topics in general because it increases popular awareness of the future and makes the wider public more willing to entertain and consider futuristic notions, concepts, causes and contraptions. The dehumanising, disenfranchising, deterministic and alienating connotations that surrounded technology (especially high-technology — i.e. any non-consumer technology, like those used by military and public industry, or else very-high-end consumer technology and/or technologies that are as-yet only conceptual, embryonic, in their infancy) during the latter half of the 20th century, created in part by the massive scale of destruction made possible by advanced in technology and exemplified by the 1st and 2nd World Wars, are being supplemented by sexy and self-empowering memes and motifs that are increasing future-friendly and technology-sympathetic.
In this follow-up installment, I will analyze a few more real-world examples of future-friendly mainstream music videos, giving additional real-world credence to the claim that mainstream music is indeed featuring futuristic concepts and aesthetics to an increasingly greater degree. This will hopefully be my last dip into the mainstream, at least as far as this series is concerned — so for all you real EDM heads longing for some more references to EDM-music proper, don’t worry, you won’t have to wait for long.
The majority of music videos discussed here are by will.i.am. This is not to say that connotations of the future aren’t present or prominent in tracks and videos by other mainstream artists — as demonstrated by the discussion of Tyga’s Molly in the first part of this installment, and in the discussion of Nicki Minaj’s Starships in the next and final of this particular installment — but will.i.am seems to be ahead of the game on this one, importing futuristic themes and scenes in every single music video I’ve yet seen by him. Moreover, he seems to have made an explicit vow to help bring topics centering on and sympathetic to transformative technologies, technological advancement and the future in general to mainstream audiences.
In the last installment, I argued that the futuristic aesthetic of electronic music, evidenced by the themes and imagery used in the music videos for both electronic music proper and more mainstream tracks that have heavily incorporated EDM beats recently, is helping to make the future and advancing technologies seem cool to mainstream audiences. I went on to argue that this improves our chances of a safe and fulfilling future vicariously by increasing the general awareness of advancing technology and the radically-different state the future may hold as it unfolds, and by replacing the alienating, dehumanizing and disenfranchising connotations of technology that grew up in the latter half of the 20th century with a memetic aesthetic that is new, exciting, self-empowering and sexy – and using the same themes, sounds and imagery that helped foster the old, negative aesthetic.
In this installment I’m going to provide some empirical support for the claim that imagery and themes in recent music videos shows such music to generate positive future-friendly connotations and memes. I’ll first analyze some mainstream music videos employing such futuristic images and themes. Then, in the next installment, I’ll analyze music videso for tracks that are EDM-proper, showing that these futuristic connotations aren’t just a result of mainstream artists importing electronic styles into their own sonic milieu, but are also exemplified by artists who have been on the electronic music and EDM scene since before it blew up in popularity.
Let’s start with a look at November 2011’s “Scream & Shout” by will.i.am and Brittany Spears. All images copyright Interscope Records.
