ART'S TREE 3: THE ART PERSPECTIVE'S SCI-FI BLURBS
The Art Perspective’s Sci-Fi Blurbs
Part I
May 2020
May 2020
With the Sci-Fi Blurbs, the Art Perspective will help
popularize subjects that we as citizens need to be aware of about the
imminent threats of technology. One of the most important ways that this
goal can be achieved is through the analysis and creation of speculative
science-fiction based on current technology and emerging trends within
religion, philosophy, and pop-culture. The purpose behind these
"Sci-Fi Blurbs" is to aid and nurture ethics-driven instances of artistic
creativity. Specifically those moments which explore consciousness
and healthcare technologies in order to assist us with managing the
exponential rise of technology.
The ways in which the Art Perspective hopes to use the
Blurbs in order enact change in the average individual's views on
consciousness and technology will be examined in three articles,
titled: The Art Perspective's Sci-Fi Blurbs Part 1, The Art Perspective's Sci-Fi Blurbs Part 2, and Myth, Fairy-Tales, Fables, Fantasy, & Science Fiction. These articles will make evident how our ongoing analysis of
relevant works of speculative fiction hold an overall bearing on our
machinations to implement change. That being said, it is important
for our purposes to analyze science-fiction itself and its impact on the
various facets of society and our collective imagination.
Why Science-Fiction?
Although the Art Perspective does investigate other
media genres such as documentaries and fantasy (to name a few!), our
primary emphasis is on science-fiction. Science-fiction, again and again
has brought huge audiences to think critically about scientific and
philosophical matters that require us to rethink ethics. No other genre explores more deeply the
almost limitless possibilities in the future of life
sciences. Countless Sci-Fi stories have already helped
to mature society’s ethics surrounding technology. All of the stories
that we will review as Sci-Fi Blurbs inspire us to think critically either
about health monitoring or about another, cutting-edge, scientific thought
that could transform our life and its health systems.
The Art Perspective’s mission is to mature the knowledge and ethics that
will lead to intelligent law on health monitoring. Not
only is Science Fiction the genre best-suited to investigate key
ethical-questions posed by health-monitoring, but it also includes the
ever-growing recent wave of curious minds pondering these extra-relevant
issues. Having emerged as one of the most popular genres in
television, film, and streaming platforms, Science-Fiction has incontestably
connected us to the largest geek squad in the history of the
known-universe. It is thus the most relevant genre for reaching
the largest audiences of critical thinkers and potential New Age
Scholars.
Furthermore, the rise of science-fiction's
sub-genres, futurism and alternate history, have provided numerous "what-if"
scenarios for humanity that include a variety of examples which illustrate
both potential futures (e.g. Black Mirror, Westworld, Altered Carbon, The Expanse, etc.) and alternate histories (Man in the High Tower, C.S.A., The Plot Against America, etc.).
These unrealized worlds fuel our imaginations whilst at the same time
drawing our attention to the often-overlooked critical details which outline
our own reality. As such, these particular types of
Science-Fiction hold a wealth of potential knowledge and wisdom as it often
examines the nature of consciousness (including but not limited to
philosophical analysis of artificial intelligence and consciousness
duplication/transfer) and healthcare technologies (e.g. via healthcare
futurism, virtual immortality, eugenics, etcetera).
(The following three points and much of their supporting
evidence are borrowed from and inspired by the ideas and research of Dr.
Helen Klus. These can be found in her wonderful article, Imagining the future: Why society needs science fiction (1). She is a "science communicator and astronomer with a background in
physics and philosophy, and currently works at the Royal Astronomical
Society, which promotes astronomy, solar-system science, and geophysics
around the world.")
Here are three reasons why Science-Fiction is
important. First of all, by considering worlds that are more-or-less
logically possible and believable, science fiction can be used to explore
humanity's place in the cosmos and consider fundamental philosophical questions about the nature of reality and the mind. Novels that explore these ideas
include Flatland by Edwin Abbott
Abbott, Ubik by Philip K. Dick, as well as Childhood's End and 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.
Aforementioned prolific science-fiction writer and astronomer, Arthur C.
Clarke, once described science fiction as "the only genuine
consciousness-expanding drug” (2).
Secondly, science fiction has the power to inspire
individuals to strive to become scientists, engineers, explorers, and
natural philosophers. Edwin Hubble, who provided strong evidence for the
big bang theory, and was the first person to prove that galaxies and the
majority of the universe itself exists outside of the Milky Way, was
inspired to become a scientist after reading the classic works of Jules
Verne. For those unfamiliar with his work, 19th century French author, Jules
Verne, is considered to have laid the foundation for modern
science-fiction. His most renowned works comprise the Voyages Extraordinaires, a series of bestselling adventure novels which include
Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days.
Conversely, Astronomer and science fiction author, Carl Sagan, was inspired by science-fiction author, Robert A. Heinlein (most popularly known for Starship Troopers), and
theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, never missed an episode of Flash Gordon as a child. Flash Gordon is the hero of the eponymous, world-acclaimed, space-opera and comic-strip of the 1930s. Its great success led it
to being adapted into a wide variety of media, including motion pictures,
television, and animated series that reached the peak of their popularity
in the early 1980s. Moreover, George Lucas listed the Flash Gordon serials of the early 20th century as being one of his primary influences in writing Star Wars. Michio Kaku went on to say that:
" ...years later, I began to realize that the two passions of my life -
that is, physics and understanding the future are really the same thing - that if you
understand the foundations of physics, you understand what is possible and you
understand what could be just beyond the horizon."
To us, science fiction is the most efficient genre at
depicting how technology will transform our future. This is the first
step towards progress on a grand scale as it allows us to imagine the
future we want, and consider ways to work towards it. In the
Art Perspective, we will learn about what is and is not possible
in quantum physics, in order to understand what is or is not possible
in the future of health monitoring technologies.
According to Dr. Klus, the third and final reason that science-fiction is important, is that
it allows us to imagine what social progress looks like. A well
known example of the positive effect that science fiction has made on modern society
comes from the inclusion of a multiracial/multicultural cast on the
original Star Trek television series. When Nichelle Nichols, who
played Lieutenant Uhura, was considering leaving the series, civil rights
activist Martin Luther King Jr. convinced her to stay on the
program. King argued that her inclusion on Star Trek was
vital to the Civil Rights Movement sweeping the nation. Nichols then expressed her wish to join a march at Dr. King's side
but King responded "No, no, no. No, you don't understand. We don't need
you to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for.” (3)
King went on to say about
Star Trek, "Don't you understand what this man [Roddenberry] has achieved?!
For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as
intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing and dance, yes, but who can go into space,
who can be lawyers and teachers, who can be professors — who are in this day, yet
you don't see it on television until now,” (3)
Dr. King's sentiment for Star Trek and its
creator, Gene Roddenbery was shared by countless disenfranchised peoples
around the world. They could easily identify with characters that
were actually relatable as this was the only program of its time to use a
multicultural cast while at the same time not devolving into
stereotypes. Roddenbery wanted to tell stories which were more
sophisticated than the television programs of his time. For this he
used futuristic situations as analogies of current problems on Earth and
showed how issues we face could be rectified through humanism and
technological optimism. The series' writers frequently tackled social and moral issues such
as warfare, slavery, environmentalism and
discrimination. As a result, the original Star Trek's optimistic view of the
future and mass appeal gave it the ability to transcend borders and
cultures, inspiring diverse peoples of less technologically developed
nations and allowing them a glimpse at the potential benefits and dangers
posed by the rapid progress of technology.
Criteria
At the broadest level, we explore how the future of
technology can transform health sciences. Within this very vast and vaguely stated category, there are more
specific subjects that urgently require us to think critically about our
ethics. Health/Behavior Monitoring Technologies, Health-Data Art Technologies and
Behavior Modification Technologies are some of the areas that I am
focusing on.
Medical Ouroboros & Healthcare Fascism In Harmony, Psycho-Pass, & GATTACCA
Our explorations into science-fiction have discovered
several works within the genre that adhere to our criteria. That
being said, there are two phenomenal works of speculative fiction which
need to be addressed and analyzed first as they are two of the best
examples that we have found of fascist healthcare systems: Project Itoh's
"Harmony" novel and subsequent film adaptation; and Gen Urobuchi's
anime television series and film, "Psycho-Pass”. We will also look at GATTACCA, Counterpart, and The Island.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Harmony is a novel that was written by the late
Project Itoh (a VIP of the Art Perspective) and adapted into a
feature-length animated film in 2015 shortly after his death. The story takes place in a post-war (bio and nuclear) setting in which the
world's diminished populations now reside within small, technology-driven
nations controlled by a governing-body referred to as
"Admedistration". Admedistration is comprised of governing bodies and
facilities which utilize nanotechnology for medical purposes and to improve
the daily lives of citizens. High-ranking officials within the
Admedistration, known as "Health Managers”, enforce the rules and
regulations of their government establishments in order to "preserve the
right to live” of every citizen.
As the story progresses, we find how Project Itoh's
cinematic masterpiece explores the unique social frustrations and
injustices of living in a healthcare-tech-based utopia that utilizes
health-data surveillance. With so little of humanity remaining, within the world of Harmony, society’s focal point evolved from concentrating on the needs of the individual to the needs of society
at large. Individuals are raised to believe that their body is not their own;
it is now a vital commodity for the survival of the species. One can not help but notice the many parallels between the
Admedistration's treatment of its citizens and the cruel communist regimes
of the 20th century which often exploited its own people as nothing more
than commodities of the state.
With that thought in mind, two new technologies
emerged and quickly came into play: WatchMe, a system of nanoscopic robots
implanted into every adult’s body in order to monitor everything from body
fat (including the specifics of breast-size) to RNA transcription errors
(used to determine both illness and genetic tampering); and Medicare, a
self-automated personal pharmacy capable of fixing nearly every problem
that the WatchMe system encounters. By the time this Utopian tragedy
begins, disease and dismay are long forgotten memories and 80% of the
world’s population utilize the WatchMe health data surveillance
system.
Within this hypothetical, health-obsessed society,
vices such as alcohol and smoking are forbidden. Even the
architecture and coloring of buildings are implemented to be as soothing
as possible for the common passersby. As such, it is heavily implied
by the Admedistration's legislation that any type of self-harm, whether it
be direct or in-direct (ranging from suicide to living an "unhealthy"
lifestyle), is unlawful and borders on treason. However, the real
paradigm shift becomes evident with the Augmented Reality contact lenses
that are worn by the populace. They not only display the biometric status
of the various objects and organisms around you, but also allows one to
see the personal information of every individual that they come into
contact with. One cannot help but weigh the pros and cons of living
within a society that views concepts such as "transparency" and "privacy"
in a much different light than we do.
Harmony illustrates the sacrifices that might
be required by individuals and humanity to establish a "Healthcare-Tech
Utopia" of this nature. One slowly comes to the bleak realization
that the Admedistration's processes lead to the preservation of humanity
at the cost of the very essences which makes us human: our unbeatable
resolve and our volition to persevere. Harmony asks the
audience whether such a sacrifice is justified.
Many speculative science-fiction tales explore
transhumanism and consciousness by focusing on the concept of the ego.
Harmony proposes the idea that the ego is an unnecessary component
of the individual, a hindrance to the survival and evolution of
humanity. The confusion and strife present within this society are
brought about by the existence of moral consciousness.
The underlying principle of this society seems to state that only in a
world without the ego can there ever be true harmony.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Psycho-Pass is a 2012 anime, later adapted to a
television series and film which focuses primarily on utilizing technology
in order to monitor mental health and assist the police. Within the world of "Psycho-Pass", the Sibyl System, a
powerful network of psychometric scanners, actively measures the minds and
mentalities of civilized populations using a "cymatic scan" of the
brain. The Sybyl system is the virtually omnipotent and omnipresent,
artificially intelligent governing body of future Japan.
For those unfamiliar with the term, Cymatics studies the
relationship between vibrations and form. Deeper within the study of
Cymatics is the fact that acoustic and electromagnetic vibrations interact
with each other. A Cymatic Scan could then be assumed to be an
acoustic and electromagnetic scan of a person's
bio-field.
The psycho-social, real-time assessment made by Sibyl of an individual is known as the
Psycho-Pass. The Psycho-pass is primarily utilized for two
reasons. The first and most commonplace use of the Psychopass is for
the vocational placement of Japanese citizens. The second and more
frightening use of the technology is to determine an individual's "Crime
Coefficient", a biometric which uses physical and psychological markers
that can ascertain the likelihood of an individual committing a
crime.
A citizen's Crime Coefficient will determine
that individual's place within society, in essence creating a class-system
based primarily on mental-health. If an individual's Crime Coefficient
exceeds a certain threshold then he or she is pursued, apprehended, and
killed by police forces known as "Enforcers”. These enforcers are
equipped with weapons networked to Sibyl and will only fire on targets
with unacceptably high Crime Coefficients. Thus illustrating Sibyl's role as law enforcement, judge, jury, and
executioner.
The reason that these specific details of the
Psycho-Pass universe have been expounded upon is because they
exemplify what I would describe as a manifestation of healthcare fascism to the point of
technocracy. It is also a prime example of what the
head-honcho of the Art Perspective, Arturo, calls a “medical
ouroboros”. What is a technocracy? What is healthcare fascism and what is “medical ouroboros”?
State of Surveillance (2019) by Jon-Laurence Esnard De
Cespedes
In short, a technocracy is a society that is run by an elite group of technical experts. In this
view, all healthcare fascisms are technocracies. Healthcare fascism can be described as the point of too much
concentration of power in a nation’s health-care systems. It is
that point at which our fight for a right to health is so extreme that
we've endangered, rather than protected, our overall, basic human
rights. A nation that is so strict about human health rights
that they systematically sacrifice other basic human rights.
A health system whose leaders are so enthroned in power, that through
sophisticated propaganda techniques as well as though
systematized mind-manipulating medical practices, they are able to
unjustly control politics, society at large and remain in
power.
The concept of the Medical Ouroboros can be
roughly described as a point in which healthcare becomes so prominent
within a society that it begins to consume the very principles upon which
it was founded. Arturo Jose, founder of the Art Perspective, describes the Medical Ouroboros in the following way: "an endless pursuit
of sanity, is total insanity. An absolute need for security, is total insecurity. An
endless hope for happiness, is to slowly, forever-die of unhappiness.”
Despite the promises of sanity so often made by
Psycho-Pass's technocrats and seemingly confirmed by their biometrics, a
new type of insanity has risen to replace the old. They vowed to
free us from crime by utilizing technology. Initially, their efforts
seem to work as violent crimes plummet. Shortly thereafter, however,
a spike in mass suicide and murder sprees sweep through the populace and
threaten to infect the rest of humanity with this new-age-insanity.
Within the reality of Psycho-Pass, the
obsession with mental health and its correlation with crime has developed
to the point of reducing humans to their Crime Coefficient. This has
had the effect of creating divisions within Japanese society via a class
system. Causing Japan to further relinquish control of its entire legal
system to an artificial intelligence and the technocrats who can influence
it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GATTACCA, the sci-fi noir critical success of
1997, is a film that explored medical elitism in a different light than
our previous two entries. Rather than focusing on nano-technology,
A.I. and health monitoring, this film explores medical elitism from a
genetic level in what could only be described as a highly advanced form of
eugenics. Within this near-future world, the majority of individuals are conceived through genetic
selection to ensure that they possess the best hereditary traits. The more money invested into an unborn child's genome, the
greater their advantages and opportunities in life will be. The
process of creating "designer babies" of varying genetic advantages has
quickly resulted in the stratification of their society. This is due
to the fact that wealthy individuals are more likely to spend more money
tinkering with their children's genome to ensure their future success and
maintain their family's economic status.
This process in conjunction with advanced biometrics
allows for parents, corporations, and the government to assess both the
employment and health potential of an individual. For example, at
birth, an individual's potential employment opportunities, psychological
well-being, tendency toward addiction, and future health ailments (e.g.
cancer, heart disease, etc.) can be determined via genetic
profiling. Those who are conceived the "old-fashioned way" are
deemed "invalids" and largely comprise the lower working-class.
Although genetic discrimination is technically illegal in this world,
major corporations often use discreet forms of genotype profiling in order
to qualify "valids" for the best jobs. As such, it would be nearly impossible for "invalids" and those too poor
to afford superior genetics and to break out of their geno-economic class. The exponentially rising discrepancy overwhelmingly pressures the
citizen into cheating the system. This in turn makes way for a new form of
crime, genetic identity falsification.
On the bright side, the technologies and processes
described in this film have led to a second renaissance of technology and
culture. But one cannot help but notice the sacrifices that were made
in order to accomplish this.
The world of GATTACCA is a prime example of a technology created to
improve the human race through genetic editing which ended up costing us
the tearing apart of the fabric of society!
For within the world of GATTACCA lies both a
dystopia and utopia, depending on whether or not one is a
"valid". Although not necessarily as extreme as our previous examples, healthcare
fascism and medical ouroboros are both illicitly present within this narrative. This even more
deeply stratified society of the future paints a tragic outcome for the
conjunction of "liberal eugenics” with new reproductive
technologies. Not only are the invalids disadvantaged in the workplace but they are
generally seen by the majority of the populace as being "less than
equal”.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Released in 2017, the television program, Counterpart, like GATTACCA, also
includes elements of healthcare fascism and another representation of a
medical ouroboros. However, as these concepts are merely narrative elements which support
the action-packed plot-lines, we will only briefly mention
them.
Counterpart focuses on a tale of espionage
spanning two parallel universes linked by a permanent pathway that
is being monitored by their respective governments. Within the second
universe of Counterpart, the world has been stricken by a deadly
plague which decimated roughly 10% of the world's population in the late
1990s. As a result, the governments of the plagued universe pooled
their resources into the healthcare industry so as to combat the plague
that had devastated them and prevent it from happening again.
Consequently, the medical technology of this parallel universe is far more
advanced than our own. The healthcare industry itself has become an
integral part of world governments, the legal system, and law
enforcement. Any individual who is sick (even if it is the common
cold) must turn themselves into law-enforcement for quarantine and medical
evaluation. Any individual who sees that someone is showing symptoms of
any illness must report that individual to the authorities. Failure
to adhere to these rules can lead to fines and/or
incarceration.
Within Counterpart's "plague-inspired-healthcare
universe", we, as an audience, witness a relatively straightforward and
seemingly realistic example of healthcare fascism manifesting into a
police-state ideology that resulted as a response to a healthcare
cataclysm: a worldwide plague. Many thought-provoking changes to
society resulted from the plague. The most notable examples include that
most people live in rural areas rather than cities, most meat is not
consumed (as that was the primary vector for the plague), individuals make
little-to-no physical contact, and technologies unrelated to healthcare
are less developed than those of the prime universe.
This narrative differs greatly from the others
discussed in that it does not deal with a speculative future but rather a
speculative present resulting from an alternate history. Ironically,
less than one year after the cancellation of Counterpart, our
reality would face a global crisis akin to the fictional one portrayed on
the program: The Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020. Although we are
still in the midst of dealing with the aforementioned healthcare crisis,
it will be interesting to compare the lasting effects on human
civilization to those presented within this and other pandemic-based
fiction.
The Art Perspective's team worked for more than five
years to prepare for March 2020’s social-media release date. For years, our
project’s mission has been to help society pass smart laws on health
monitoring. In an auspicious twist of fate, our going public with the Art Perspective
just so happened to coincide with the onslaught of this healthcare-related
catastrophe, Covid-19.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Finally for this article, I will analyze Michael Bay's
blockbuster film, The Island. Rather than focusing primarily upon a traditional society, such as a city
or nation, The Island centers in part on a large group of clones
(unaware of being clones or even what a clone is) living in
what-they-believe and perceive to be one of the last bastions of human
civilization. The community is guided strictly by a set of rules set
to maintain peak-health among the population. Entertainment,
knowledge, employment, social interactions, and even food are strictly
regulated by a ruling physician whose word is law. Furthermore, the
clones are engineered with implanted memories, subservient and childlike
personalities, as well as diminished sexual appetites in order to better
control them as a population. The manipulation of the aforementioned
qualities of life severely limits the inquisitive nature of the child-like
clones and leads the majority of them to believe, unquestionably, that
they are living in an ideal society and that their purpose is the betterment of mankind. In
reality, none of the information given to the clones is true and simply
serves as a system of control to keep them docile until they are required
for their true purpose: the harvesting of organs for the super-rich
individuals for/from whom they were cloned.
The community’s obsession with maintaining peak
fitness and health resonates as one of healthcare fascism’s recurring issues. Every aspect of their lives is controlled in order to keep them as
physically healthy as possible. On the other hand, we see the
opposite of this occurring in the world at large. The wealthy are
encouraged to live their lives as they see fit, regardless of how it
affects their health because they can be virtually cured of any illness
thanks to the well-manicured health of their clones. In essence, we see an example of healthcare-based slavery in
which the clones, despite their unique humanity, are viewed as property
which can be harvested at any time without regard for the clone.
Once again we see a medical technology heavily based on profit which
requires the sacrifice of moral ideals (and human individuals) in order to
benefit the wealthy. Conversely, within the clone society, natural
remedies such as exercise, healthy social interactions, positive
entertainment, and a good diet seem to work relatively well and seem to
show a glimmer of what a positive, if not heavily implemented,
healthcare system can look like. Conclusively, a medical ouroboros
is perhaps most literally enacted within this narrative, in that the
health of the individual in need of healthcare is directly reliant upon
the sacrifice and consumption of their living, breathing
clone.
Our Journey Thus Far
As you may have noticed during our voyage, each Sci-Fi
we've investigated explored many of the threats that we face implementing
groundbreaking technologies within our health systems. These
examples only skim the surface of the concepts that are presented within
the Art Perspective. Taken into consideration, these examples
are some of the most applicable representations of the common themes
riddled throughout the Art Perspective. Most importantly,
entertainment makes these ideas easier to access and digest by presenting
them through the existential looking glass of science-fiction.
We hope that you will join us again when we conclude
our journey and explore a number of other titles which will help in the
creation of a more-informed and less chaotic society.
Next Time...
In Part II of this article we will dive in head-first with the subjects of Health-Data-Art, Artificial Intelligence, and
Behavioral Modification Technologies among others. We will continue
with our analysis of major motion picture franchises such as The Terminator and Jurassic Park whilst still providing detailed investigations into lesser known literary
works like Genocidal Organ and Cloud Atlas. In The Art Perspective's Sci-Fi Blurbs Part II, we shall continue to uncover and relate science-fiction concepts to the
burgeoning world of medical technologies. With the wisdom offered by
these engaging narratives, we will provide readers with a protective
sheath of knowledge that will help citizens become responsible,
well-informed and educated enough, to make a stand for wiser legislation
concerning the future of healthcare technologies.
By Jon-Laurence Esnard De Cespedes
With Small Contributions
By Arturo Jose
Please visit our Social Media Page: https://www.facebook.com/thehealthartperspective
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sources
-
Imagining the future: Why society needs science fiction. By Dr Helen Klus. http://www.thestargarden.co.uk/Why-society-needs-science-fiction.html
- Clarke, A. C., 1986, Introduction to 'The Sentinel', Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated.
- https://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942461/Star-Treks-Uhura-Reflects-On-MLK-Encounter
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