From 5c34cfff5587c4073cd397ad79690616213abccf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: alex Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2025 03:32:15 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add Angels Michel Serres --- Angels Michel Serres | 9260 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 9260 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Angels Michel Serres diff --git a/Angels Michel Serres b/Angels Michel Serres new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bf7efe --- /dev/null +++ b/Angels Michel Serres @@ -0,0 +1,9260 @@ +DAWN + +Angels as messengers. +The angels of the monothest +tradition (lewish, Christian and +capable of becoming visible. They +appear and then disappear. it is said +that they move through space at the +speed of their own thoughts. Tobias +12:15-21: 'I am Raphael, +one of the seven who are sways in +the presence of the Lord... it is +time for me to return to Him who +has sent me.... With these words +he disappeared from before them, +and they beheld him no longer.' +Rembrandt (1606-69), The Angel +Leaving Tobias and his Family, 1637. +Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. +The artist portrays the departure +of the archangel after he had +guided the young man on his +journey. +A supersonic messenger: Conxorde +ANGELS +Out of the blue, Pia asks: "Do you believe in angels?" +"Can't say that I've ever met one. Never met any- +one who has, either," Pantope replies, with a chuckle. +"At school we used to giggle over whether angels were +sexed or not. Personally, I find the whole notion rather +bizarre." +They're at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, +with the air crew off the incoming plane, standing by +the baggage reclaim for the Osaka flight and waiting for +his bags to come down. She's come to meet him, as she +often does, and she saw him materialize out of the flow +of passengers at just the same moment as he caught her +eye among the crowds of friends and relations jostling +around the arrivals gate. +ㅗ + +Aircraft carry letters, telephones, +agents, representatives and the +we Use the term +communication to cover air +transport as well as post. When +people, aircraft and electronic +signals are transmitted through the +air, they are all effectively +messages and messengers +"Still the same old dreamer," he says to himself. +"Thanks for your postcards and phone calls while +you were going round Asia…. and the faxes and the +e-mails... And now here we are, you and me, large +as life and talking face to face." +He's a traveling inspector for Air France; he's per- +manently on the move. She's a doctor at the airport +medical center; she stays in one place while everything +else moves around her. Her job is to see to the medical +needs of people in transit. She'd met him some time +back when he'd come for a yellow fever jab. While Pan- +tope travels the world, on his own, Pia has the traveling +world flowing around her: between the two of them a +whole universe flows. +"That's a curious sort of welcome!" he thinks. +"For ages, all I've had from you has been words and +messages; but now here you are, I've shaken your hand, +and you've finally arrived." +"At last!" +"Airmail letters and electronic messages over the +ether-and then you arrive in person. From letters to a +presence-what a difference!" +"Any particular reason why you're talking like +this?" +"I think it's rather important. Unlike you I see some- +thing in all that 'transmission' of things. I see angels- +which, incidentally, in case you didn't know, comes +from the ancient Greek word for messengers. Take a +good look around. Air hostesses and pilots; radio mes- +sages; all the air crew just flown in from Tokyo and just +about to leave for Rio; those dozen aircraft neatly lined +up, wing to wing on the runway, as they wait to take off; +yellow postal vans delivering parcels, packets and tele- +grams; staff calls over the tannoy; all these bags passing +in front of us on the conveyor, endless announcements +for Mr X or Miss Y recently arrived from Stockholm or +Helsinki; boarding announcements for Berlin and +Rome, Sydney and Durban; passengers crossing paths +with each other and hurrying for taxis and shuttles +while escalators move silently and endlessly up and +down.. like the ladder in Jacob's dream... Don't you +see-what we have here is angels of steel, carrying +angels of flesh and blood, who in turn send angel sig- +nais across angel air waves...." + +"Crazy," he thinks, "completely crazy, why don't I +just tell her so, straight out?" +Then, out loud, with a touch of irony: "And what +about all these people crowding round and pushing +and shoving so that we can't even see our bags?" +"Take a closer look. The same thing applies. They +represent the worlds of business, government, media, +management, science... They're all messengers, every +one of them.." +"Even these immigrant workers?" +"They're carrying messages too. SOS messages to +the rich." +He falls silent, momentarily at a loss for words. +"But," she continues, as if musing to herself, "the +job of angels is only to bring messages. +"So?" +"...bringers of the Word, waiting for the mediator, +until, in the end, here he is, finally arrived, in the flesh." +"Eh..?" +"Don't you see ...? All we really are is intermedi- +aries, eternally passing among others who are also +intermediaries? But the question is, where is it all lead- +ing? Because I spend my life here, in this never-ending +flow of passengers, communications, conveyors, mes- +sengers, announcers and agents, because my work is at +this intersecting point of a multitude of networks all +connected to the universe... I hear the sounds of these +clouds of angels..." +"In a manner of speaking..!" +"...but without ever seeing their final destination." +"As for me, I'm here today and gone tomorrow," he +replies, a touch morosely. +She returns to Pantope's reply to her first question: +"Angels are legendary beings. I don't know whether +I believe in them or not. But how else are we to read and +understand these sounds, in this hurly-burly world +where nobody actually lives and everyone's just speed- +ing through?" +"T've an idea that you're using the word legend' +like the legend' that mapmakers put under maps-the +key that you have to study in order to read them. Am I +right?" +"Yes." +"So you're talking about legends' in the sense + +A focal point of messages in +transit. The main Paris airport, +wthere Pantope has arrived and +where Pia works, provides the +stage setting for our dialog +on angels and messengers. In this +place of partings and reunions, +the architecture echoes the ways +In which messages transit and +circulate in space; it has diagonals +traversing a circular intersection, +in the shape of transparent +tunnels, travelators and baggage +conveyors. Automated messengers. +While it mimics the circular form of +the world and the universe, this +miniature model also seems +aircraft which the passengers are +waiting to board. It could be read +as a layout for the story whik? +we are about to tell. + +DAWN +not only of mythical stories, but also that of maps?" +She smiles approvingly. And then continues, with +hardly a pause for thought: +"What is the news that these angels are bringing? +Who are they waiting for? ... What are we looking for?" +"Power, perhaps. money..?" +"... which are also transient. in circulation…" +"...and which, in addition, speed up all this move- +ment even more--where's the point to it all?" +"Who or what are you looking for when you travel +round the world, Pantope?" +"Who or what are you waiting for when you're +working in your sick bay, Pia?™ +She stops, as if suddenly roused out of her reverie: +"Well at least I knew who I was waiting for.... I'm +so glad you're back!" +"So do me a favor, why don't you just come down +to earth again?" says Pantope, just a shade too abruptly. +'That's funny, coming from you, seeing you're the +one who's just landed." +They laugh. A hit, a palpable hit! What's more, like +any common-or-garden male, he feels vaguely flat- +tered: first the phone call to tell her he was coming, then +his arrival from afar, and now here she is, extending +this curious kind of welcome. As if he was the Messiah! +"I guess I'd better humor her," he thinks. So he plays +along for a while: "Oh, I'm sorry, I was forgetting..... In +the original Bible scene it was the Archangel who did +the Annunciation, not the woman….. Excuse me..." +He bows slightly: "Hail Pia, thou that art highly +favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among +women." +She too bows slightly, looks slightly taken aback, +and half raises a timid hand. +The perfect message: the +Minneson to the viroin +Mary transforens the Word into +a flesh that is living. thinking and +divine. On its own, language +is a chattering noise, hollow and +empty, it means nothing until it is +embodied, made flesh. The perfect +messenger. the archangel Gabriel +enacts the Annunciation, +announcing to the Virgin that +she is about to become the mother +of God. His word exists doubly, +as both word and act. it is this +perfect dual embodiment that has +made the scene of the +anne tron one on the no, +frequently represented-and +perhaps the most beautiful--in all +Van Eyck brothers (1666-1426; +1385-1440), The Ghent Altar-Piece, +The Annunciation, 1426-32. Detail, +upper left panel when closed. +Belgium. + +SUNRISE + +As a message bearer from the +nito dos rountnwatdtdwh +"udenteetoust +fundamental time and existence +which history lessons in our +country have never taught. More +Wet doek one he Wratn +the absolutely destitute of the +eorth risk seting even the seeds of +humanity destroved in them and +around them by the horror of this +assault. Can we say that the only +true man is the man who chooses +to stand up and confront the risk +of the destruction of his +rumenretcoecont +1о pral m it o AN ARCHANGEL +calls him the archangel, in the +sense of the original meaning of +arche-crigin, beginnings. We are +all born from poverty, and to it we +Moawteorn +Lo wtat eatrenes of éestitution +must we be driven for our soubs to +become visibly apparent on our +hands, our faces, our eyes, in our +oureordour suoumared +bodies-as if emanating from +every part of our bodies? +"euoneioelsiaheno +Holding a Soul, Museo Civico, +Padua, Italy. +There's a staff announcement over the tannoy: a nurse +is needed at the first aid center. .. Could the airport +doctor...? +With a look of concern, and moving lightly, she +leaves him. As if swimming through the crowd. Its +compact mass is hard to penetrate. +When she arrives at the airport medical center, she's +met by the sight of a man on a trolley. He appears to be +unconscious. Ageless— probably between forty and fifty. +The smell of the man hits you from several yards away. A +dirty black beard and tangled, matted hair. His feet are +wrapped in ragged bandages tied on with string. He +wears a tattered old raincoat. His hands are red and +swollen, marked with the pale scars of chilblains. +프 + +"Where did you find him?" she asks the two male +orderlies. +"At the boarding gate for the Boston flight." +"Airlines don't usually carry this kind of passen- +ger," says the second orderly, laughing. +Pia checks him over quickly: no sign of accidental +injury, visible sickness or shock. +Pantope arrives, case in hand, and pokes his head +through the open door. +"What's the matter with him? Is it serious?" +He enters. +"More dangerous than sickness, my friend: poverty, +abject poverty, destitution." +She turns to one of the orderlies: +"Did you say he had his ticket for Boston?" +"Yes, doctor, he was holding it when we put him on +the stretcher." +So saying, he hands her the ticket: +"The authorities in big cities sometimes hand out +railway tickets to their homeless-one-way tickets, +needless to say. The idea is to send them off to other + +From Rio to Osaka, from Paris +to Brazzaville, in all the countries +of the world, rich and poor alike, +there are men and women with +no nomes, no nearths, no roots +over their heads. Abandoned, +and with nowhere to live. +The ancient Grock cynic +philosopher Diogenes lived in a +barrel on the street; St Francis +traveler; and Jesus himself +roamed the highways--the +Gospels don't suggest that he +actusily had an address. +Homeless person, Rome, Italy. +cities and dump them on someone else's doorstep. Do +you think they've decided to start sending them abroad +too?" +"They get thrown out of their houses, out of their +jobs. No kind of shelter, no place to eat. Now they're +even driving them out of their own towns and coun +tries.." +Pantope: "Do you often get scenes like this?" +Pia: "Airports are built on the outskirts of cities, in +the suburbs, what we call the ban-lieue: a place of ban- +ishment. Excluded and pushed to the margins, the +down-and-outs end up here. It's almost a law of +nature. When they arrive, they're amazed to discover +that they can actually sleep here, in the dry, on benches, +like ordinary travelers. And isn't that just what we +all are?" +"Do the police send them back?" +"Of course. They spot them by the fact that they re +not wearing socks. But their movement is like the +movement of passengers arriving and departing—it +never ceases. They stay for a while and then move on, +like everyone else." +"So you're the ones permanently in residence, and +they come to stay?" +"Sometimes we get to know them by their first +names." +As Pantope is about to leave again, one of the male +orderlies comments: "Is there a human group any- +where in the world existing without poor people?" +"If rich people only ever lived with rich people," +Pia observes, "how would they ever get to know +humanity?" + +SUNRISE +"They'd spend all their lives in the same way that they +do at the airport, sheltered from life's problems, waited +on hand and foot … chatting.." +"While waiting for the boarding +ment.. +"In order to go where?" +At that moment, as if he's just heard someone ordering +him to move on, the tramp opens his eyes and tries to +sit up. +"How are you feeling?" +The reply comes back in a muffled groan. +"Are you hungry?" she asks. +In his silent, lucid eyes she reads an extraordinary +calmness of spirit. Pia realizes that this man is about to +die, and that he possesses something which the world +does not: peace. +Various thoughts cross her mind, although she says +nothing: I've always known that love has knowledge +far above any science; you now show me that absolute +destitution brings a knowledge even higher than that of +love, but which has never found language-except, +perhaps, the language of revelation. +"He's dying." Pantope cries, dropping his bag. +"Quick, an injection. +The orderly busies himself; Pia fetches a syringe +from the pharmacy, with gestures that are swift, precise, +measured and calm; she kneels down and pulls up the +man's sleeve to bare his forearm. +"What's your name?" +A trace of blood trickles from his right nostril; she +imagines that she hears him say: "Gabriel." +"He's stopped breathing; his heart's stopped..." +The wretched of the carth are +messengers of an extraordinary +state which is unknown to us. They +roam the streets, they keep a low +profile, they don't say much, they +reen bar stairstr +disappear... and then suddenty +re appeur on a surcet corner. ihey +are phenoms der they are o +the sense that they pierce through +our sendes +Homeless person, Rome, Italy. +She leans over him: +"Goodbye, Gabriel." +At this moment, the fetid smell which had previ- +ously filled the room suddenly gives way to a sweet +perfume the like of which Pia has never smelt. +"It's strange, you sometimes find that," she muses. +Pantope, standing, and Pia, on her knees, look at each +other, with the dead body between them. + +"As I asked before, who are you waiting for?" +"Him?" +Still on her knees, as if in a dream: +"Poor hungry wretches suddenly set in front of a +banquet... thirsty travelers discovering a spring in the +desert... lovers who are cruelly rejected and then at +last welcomed back... Sometimes I've seen them liter- +ally faint with happiness... Would we faint in the +same way, faced with paradise?" +She pauses for a long moment, and then adds, emo- +tionally: +"Unless it's the other way round. Maybe natural +death only finally occurs when we suddenly glimpse, +in an instant of supreme insight, the supernatural +beauty +of +that other +world.. the promised +world … +"... the same world as here?" + +The archangels of the biblical +tradition: St Michael, in his armor, +on the left. carries a sword to +accomoany and protect the +guiding angel Raphael, the young +Tobias, and Gabriel, who is +portrayed as the bringer of the +good tidings at the origins of both +Christianity and islam. Having thus +been announced, life incarnate +begins, in the shape of this youth, +who walks, accompanied by his +guardian angel, towards his death +and the blade that awaits him. +Francesco Botticini (1446-98), +The Three Archangels with Tobias. +Uffizi, Florence, Italy, + +In the most ancient traditions, +messenger-anges don t necessary +take on only human form; they may +pass by in a breeze or a ruffling of +the water, or in the heat and light +of sun and stars-in short, in any of +the elementary flukes and +movements that make up our +Earth. When angels breathe out, by +so doing they reveal their message +twike: what they produce, and what +they are. Here the breath of angels +waits over the scene of the birth of +Aphrodite: Nature, doubly +presented, as both physical and +human, breathes into the +emergence of life and love. +Sandro Botticelli (1447-1515). +The Birth of Venus, 1485, detail, top +lett Until, Horence, Kam +When a tree moves in a gust of +wind, physical attributes of beat +and cold, as well as living elements, +monumene on tar-rechine +messages is it recehing and +traromitting in this exchange of +fluxes? +FLUXES +Roissy. A storm. +They watch through the window as the red and +white wind-sock swings horizontally in the air, taut on +its axis, indicating the direction for aircraft to land. The +wind is roaring and rattling the windows. +Pia, stubbornly: +"In this down-to-earth world to which you are so +partial, are you aware that angels don't always take on +auman form, but may conceal themselves in the fluxe +f nature: water currents, rays of light... and wind? +Pantope, ironically: +"That's strange hiding themselves in things that +are transparent!" + +SUNRISE +Pia, stubbornly, again: +"It makes me shiver, but I can't do without it; my +skin loves to feel it, but sometimes experiences it as +agony; it's delightful and agonizing at one and the +same time; for me, wind is life. +"Without waming it may turn suddenly from a +gentie breeze to an icy blast; it may be friendly, bringing +and giving; like a mother, it may warm and caress; sen- +sually, it may please, seduce, stir and inspire... But as +a wicked stepmother it deprives us of rest; and as a +demon unleashed it violates, lashes, plunders, freezes, +pushes, disheartens, and leaves us with our nerves jan- +gling. +"One minute it gives us the good life, and the next +it steals it away. When and how does it make the transi- +tion from giving to attacking, from angel to devil?™ +Pantope, gently mocking: +"That depends on the health and constitution of the +person who decides to venture out in it." +She feigns naivety: +"Where does the wind come from? Where is it +going?" +He is eager to share his knowledge: +*It derives from the fact that the Earth rotates, and +from geographical differences in the distribution of +heat and cold…. It blows regularly along the equator, +in the form of the trade winds, the monsoon, the +simoon, the scirocco, the mistral and the tramontana, +leaving pockets of calm or what they call doldrums... +In the old days sailing ships always used to travel in the +same direction round the Earth, so as to keep the wind +behind them." +"When there's a wind, whether it's a breeze or a tor- +nado, what does it bring? What does it take away? Is it +stealing or giving? What is it bringing? Support for air- +craft taking off? Clouds of pollen and the lascivious call +of spring? The destructive power of typhoons? +"Just to please you, I'll call them intermediaries or +messengers... No system without things being trans- +mitted. +"Ah! So no world without wind?" +"No world without all the fluxes interacting!" +Pia, with an air of sensuality: +"I love swimming in rivers; the caress of a gentle +breeze; gentle sunshine; and the feeling of fluid earth in +a mud-bath: the four elements in movement." +Pantope, with a professorial air: +"Could we perhaps use one word to describe all +these bearers? Winds creates flows of air in the atmo- +sphere; rivers make flows of water across land; glaciers +make solid rivers, cutting their way across mountain +and valley; rain, snow and hail are flows of water +through the air; +marine currents are flows of water +within water; volcanoes are vertical flows of fire, from +Earth into the air, or into the sea; lava flows and mud +flows are liquid earth, respectively hot and cold, mov- +ing across land; and drifting continents are moving car- +pets of land floating on fire; right at the heart of the +Earth, scientists have identified flows of fire within this +subterranean fire … and up in the atmosphere and out +in space fluxes of heat and light. +"One element passes through others, and they, con- +versely, pass through it. it supports or it transports. +These reciprocating fluidities create such a perfect mix- +ing or kneading that few places lack at least some +knowledge of the state of others. They receive this +knowledge by means of messages. Also, the act of +kneading dough makes it homogeneous. The universe + +A message or messenger coming +from the Atlantic. A piture of a +storm approaching the north-west +unpredictable intermingling of air, +heat and humidity, turbulence and +core the swine need +atmospheric disturbance provido +The dinner wind certain +such movements, the excesses of +cold at the poles and heat at the +know it. Thus fluxes which are +apparently disordered serve to +Crownre the oorthor +necessary to life +imman Granted do the arutal +photograpns taxen by sate ne + +FLUXES +is made of these bridgings which extend out over +space." +"But what do these currents bring?" +"The Gulf Stream warms Brittany; Etna scorches +Sicily; the White and Black Glaciers of the Oisans cool +the pastures of Madame Carl; at Baikonur, the rain +evaporates before it touches ground; and when the tri- +angle of India met the mass of Asia, the Himalayas +thrust up their eternal frozen heights to where they +now tower over the world." +"What a let-down! If winds, glaciers and torrents +derive simply from differences in temperature, and just +distribute heat and cold around the place, where's the +excitement in that?" +"We're talking global distribution here! If the +scorching heat in the Central Australian desert changes, +it affects the winds at the equator. All of a sudden the +Nino may blow up, and this plays a role in creating the +Planet Earth is solid but viscous; +its structure is created by the +movement of tectonik plates; +woman curtis swine +depths of our oceans; the +atmosphere derives its stability or +instability from the corresponding +stability of the winds. More or less +slowly, fluxes of every kind +Carrorm and consere the +universal order of elements +Might we think of our planet +do an immeroe interconnecting +switem of messaces? +A chart of the winds over the +Facilk, on september 14, 1978 +based on data supplied by satellite. +The arrows indicate their direction, +and colors show their speed. Blue, +0-14 km per hour; ourple and oink +15-43 km per hour; orange, +44-72 km per hour. +These soeeds increase in storma +occurring in the southern roaring +forties and towards the +climate of Peru, as well as helping in the formation of +cyclones in the Caribbean, which in turn affect the Gulf +Stream, which then goes on to influence the weather in +Western Europe. +"Working through a combination of fire, air and +water, these flows bring the news of Alice Springs to +Sein or Origny; I admit that the coded message isn't +exactly easy to decipher, but we're beginning to crack it. +As the wind hits Cape Jobourg, it informs the first +French person it meets about events that are happening +in Florida and Australia." +"Come to think of it, less of a let-down. I can +already see angels there." +"Oh?" +"Wind is a messenger that may be good or bad, a +giver or a stealer, chubby putti or devils incarnate..... +Thanks to the wind, any of those places that you just +mentioned echo with the totality of space.... One +breeze bears and announces the whole universe." +He continues, as if he hasn't been listening: +"Each flux breaks down into myriad single parti- +cles, but they all go to make up the world. Each of them +bears little bits which, when put together, make the +larger whole." +She translates this, instantly: +"At any given moment of the day, the breeze plays +on your cheek, and since it carries codes from every- +where, it's telling you about the state of the body of +the world. If it is able to construct a universe in this +way, it follows, conversely, that a universal reason +blows in tiny particles, in legions of angels as numer- +ous as the multinational crowds passing through our +airports. +"Don't forget that in Latin the words spiritus and + +anima refer to wind, the breath of life, as well as to the +soul." +He's taken aback: +"You're trying to jumble up the human sciences +with the science of things. That's all we need!" +She admits: +"That's because I find the science of things rather +lacking, Pantope. But by the time we've finished the +two of us will understand the world!" +"When, though?" +"So, can we say that currents create the universe?" +"It seems so .. +"In the same way, do Angels-as workers or opera- +tors of the universe construct God in his Oneness? +Like your fluxes, they move, they run, they fly, in a +flurry of wings, music and good news, to announce the +glory of the One. +"And in this way huge message-bearing systems +are created. Systems which are characterized by a circu- +lation of messengers- bearers of messages which can +be understood. +"There we have the constructed networks in which +we live, and all the various forms of circulation; there +we have the world of physical fluxes of which you just +described the possible unity; and, finally, there we also +have my divine legends: is it possible that there exists +one single language which is capable of reconnecting +these three levels which we have kept separate for so +long?" +While Pantope hesitates, she continues: +"If winds, currents, glaciers, volcanoes etc., carry +subtle messages that are so difficult to read that it takes +us absolutely ages trying to decipher them, wouldn't it +be appropriate to call them intelligent? What human +could ever presume to speak a language that was so +precise, refined and exquisitely coded? +"Don't you think it's rather arrogant of us to +assume that we're the only intelligent beings in this +world, when the River Garonne and the south wind +carry with them and express more things than I would +ever be able to write-and express them better? They +read instantaneously the messages of other fluxes, filter +them, make their choice, combine them with their own, + +Here elements and flures join +and mix: a liquid flow in which +igneous solids. water, air, land and +fire fuse in one sinole cruc ble +What information is being +distributed by means of this +extraordinare coney +exchanger? +translate them, and write them on land or water. They +conserve them for a long time. They express themselves +through explosions, roarings, noise and murmurings, +tinkling and lapping. The movements of these fluxes +need nothing to inspire them, because they are the +inspiration! +"How would it be if it turned out that we were only +the slowest and least intelligent beings in the world? +Tradition says that above us there are the angels.... + +UAES +The word breeze connects with +uWonewriorerAsune +breeze is broken up, it divides into +smaller particies. The words have +wwaie orlein sne toreeetr +same experience, because, as we +see wrom the suntace of the sed, +each wave is edged with a +multiplicity of smaller waves. When +a ssror says that treres a tres +wind blowing, he is, usually +without realizing it, using a word +that relates to tractions, tractures +arxtredoue trocuethus +"fresh' doesn't mean "cold", but +broken down into increasingly +mire we monsorsordeeuixe +these waves, with their smaller +wavelets. +Supposing we were to go along with tradition, and say +that we also run a poor second to rivers and winds? +"Breaths of air are rather like life. Without a breeze +to bring it to life, the sea lies cold, flat and indifferent. It +needs the wind to write on it, to stir it up, to make +waves. Sailors and boats travel by means of wind more +than by the water itself. It is in choppy seas that little +putti are to be found in their greatest numbers. Wind is +what constructs the universe, life, human spirit... +"I find that the process of thought is rather like a +large, unitary, fortuitous moment of being carried away, +which is broken down into little squalls and flurries +which have no particular relation to each other but +which all come together in a greater overriding move- +ment. At a level above the myriad angels, puffing away +with their chubby cheeks and creating chaos and confu- +sion, a great archangel advances, flying with the wind +behind him, and it is his will that pushes me in the +direction in which I wish to go. +"T'm rather alarmed at the idea that thinking might +end up being like the destructive seizure that had St +Paul falling off his horse. In the same way that a sudden +gust of wind and the pitching of a boat can send us +sprawling across the deck. A slap in the face, a sharp, +heavy blow, exactly applied, which makes the body +unsettled, makes it lose its balance, and draws our +attention to the proximity of death." +"And at that point something other begins." +"What's that?" +"They say that deep down in oceanic gulleys there +are volcanic craters where fire still mixes with water. +Here, in the absence of air and light, igneous earth +mixes with the dark, black waters, and scientists have +apparently discovered here the formation of large + +molecules of the kind that originally gave rise to pri- +mordial life. +"That's wonderful! These stirrings, these knead- +ings, these interminglings, have the effect not only of +constructing a single unified system, but also, in this +primordial soup, of enabling the emergence of some- +thing new.. of life, of good tidings... First came the +angels, next came Christmas!" +Pantope, who is partial to a neat idea, waxes lyrical: +"We scribblers, troubadours, scientific explorers, +composers of romances, go naked to the sea. We stand +with nothing save a surf-board, sometimes alone, +sometimes in serried ranks, before all the oceans of the +world. The biggest seas you can imagine. In Hawaii, +perhaps, or Australia.... We stand before vertiginous +walls of crashing waves that have been created by the +wind out on the ocean. Meanwhile poor people have +not much more than mediocre lapping. We get up early, +come rain or shine, and put ourselves through our +paces, without ever leaving the beach. Slaves. As if +moonstruck. +"Every work of art or science, however large or +small, consists in catching the wave just right, and fol- +lowing it all the way down the line, for as long as possi- +ble, riding the crest, surfing, until we come to the +inevitable final fall. If inspiration is in short supply, we +fall straight away, or don't even get moving in the first +place; but a masterpiece travels fast, moving but immo- +bile, in a long horizontal plane, just slightly off-balance, +on invisible lines of force that are etched imperceptibly +on the wall of water. +"One might say that it is the act of creation that +invents them, but true discoverers see the little wrinkles +written on the liquid— in the brief moments before they +In many languages, the words +signifying spirit, soul and God +breath and light: perceirable fluxes +whose message-bearing circulation +transforms and reorganizes bodies +She their iron +Are there angels blowing +through this chapter, in the same +way as the wind passing through +the agitated branches of these +trees with the onset of spring? + +disappear—and then spend all their life forces and their +efforts in tuning-in their eye, their bodies and the pitch +of their surf-boards in pursuit of this poised equilib- +rium that will carry them speeding ahead, surfing, on a +line that will end only with death. +"What flux or current is it that draws out or follows +a successful musical score and provides it with contin- +ued uplift? The delicate, fine tuning of the surf-board to +the curling wave is what enables the surf artist to main- +tain his equilibrium and surf on it, and to follow the +flux. +"A work of creativity glides and planes along a +fluid roller; and it writes on the wave, as its perilous +roarings transform themselves into music, and the +breaking of its wave will become volume uncoiled." +Pia opposes a breath of air to Pantope's flux: +"One day, a day lost in ancient memory, but from +which all our history has subsequently developed, the +more intelligent of our desert-dwelling ancestors +became tired of having to carry the heavy statues of +their myriad gods around in the desert-the golden +calves, the hollow plaster goats.... They decided to +drop these pieces of marble and metal which obliged +them to pursue the localized life-styles of sedentary +populations. They decided to travel light. +"Their bodies were suddenly freed of shackles; they +had free hands, unladen shoulders, and all at once it +seemed to them as if they were flying: across the plain, +beneath the vast empty spaces of sky-which their +newly-raised heads could now see for the first time— +and they sang, because all they had left was words and +music: +"the gentle breeze which makes the moving wall of +the tent quiver in the desert; +"the fresh wind that drives a sailing ship on the +high sea; +"that transparency of air which can lift you above +the summits of transcendental mountains; +"the smallest of elements, flake, smoke, vapor, +atom, bubble, tiny flux, minute turbulence; the tiniest +inclination, invisible, intangible, barely audible, +infinitely weak and fragile, faded, ethereal, airy-—a liv- +ing breath, a genesis, which sows with its absence the +totality of the universe, light issued from light, the only +God, the true God." +The wind is making their eyes water, and intelligence +shines from those tears. +쓰 + +MORNING + +The labor processes of what we +aolcondwotantn +wer wean tooorah +Iivestock rearing, agriculture +MnowsthePromeheonsooette +which in turn were the mothers of +our own. Here we have an early +kesoodsweeed +blacksmith, using a hammer and +aril to beat out iron that hao +furnace. Nowadays we are +employed principally in +Krenniitine wusee +Hercules, with his club, and +Atlax the bearer of the heavens, as +well as Prometheus who gave fire +to mankind, give way to +messenger-angels. +Peter-Paul Rubers (1577-1640). +Vultan, 1636-70, Museo del Prado, +Wonorstnin +MESSAGE SYSTEMS +Cray X-HP/48 computer installed +"une Cehcontdlm +Geneva: the Latest stage in the +development of human tools and +Cnaloew +At this hour of the morning, the crowds of men and +women who work at the airport mingle with the +crowds of passengers arriving on flights or about to +leave. +Pia is one of the former; Pantope is one of the latter. +"How can I tell whether I'm leaving for work or +returning from work?" asks Pantope, with a chuckle. +"My work's coming towards me. What about +yours?" +"I travel from country to country, collecting infor- +mation on the cost of living in each locality. This helps +us to maintain identical standards for our employees all +over the world, adjusted to take account of local prices +I put all this information together, sift the figures, add + +MORNING +up, multiply and divide, analyze them, draw conclu- +sions, travel the world endlessly, and report back to +HQ." +"Do you work, Pantope?" +"See for yourself, Pia. A lot." +"On the contrary, I see nothing of the sort. My +grandfather was a peasant, and he used to have to carry +sacks of flour, branches of trees and bundles of wood. +My uncle was a blacksmith, hammering out red-hot +iron on his anvil. This is one of my early childhood +memories-seeing them sitting down to get their +breath back, or stopping for a drink because they were +sweating. +"Do we really work, in comparison? We sit down +indoors, in the shade... we go to meetings... we talk +…..we watch the countryside roll by..." +"But we do get physically tired!" +"The history of our families provides a whole line- +up of historical figures. Do you remember the name for +the figures who used to carry temples?" +"The caryatids?" +"Correct. Men and women. Atlas and Telamon. I +could imagine my grandfather as one of them-strong, +muscular and patient. They bore things, in the same +way that they bore what life had to give!" +"Porterage in the ancient style: the holding-up of +unmoving forms!" +"No. There was more to it than that. Take Hercules, +striding across the countries of the Mediterranean with +his club over his shoulder. His work consisted of hitting +things with his club and, I would imagine, using it as a +lever to open the Straits of Gibraltar. +"It's even said that he enlisted the help of the per- +son who held up the sky, to help him row when he set +off in his boat for the Garden of the Hesperides. It is +said that Hercules rowed between Atlas and Telamon." +"Just like us, then, setting off on their travels." +"Except that they had to sweat to watch the coun +tryside roll by ….!" +"Why is it you're only talking in images, and about +heroes and gods?" +"I'm just looking out for keys to help us decipher +our maps better. +"When the Industrial Revolution came, my uncle +was in a good position with his forge. His stock in trade +was the transformation of things: iron ore became +ingots, and these in turn became the machines which +now people the world." +"All right, then. Allow me to add another ancient +god to your gods-namely Prometheus, the giver of +Porterage Ar the end of the +gigantomachy, or War Agalrat the +Gods, the mountain collapses and +buries the giants alive. As +punishment for his part in the +battle, Zeus sentences Atlas to +carry up the heavens on his +shoulders. +Giulio Romano (1499-1546), +the whole tanYalere +del Te, Mantua, Italy; detail from +the Giants' Wall. The wall was built +between 1525 and 1535, for the +Duke of Gonzaga, Frederick Il, on +the basis of sketches by Romano. + +The classkal Labors of Hercules: +Greek mythology tells that when +he also stole the 'cup' which the +his expedition to steal the oxen of +Geryon, he set up two columns on +either side of the Strait which +divides the rock of Ceuta +(formerly Abyla) from that of +Gibraltar (Calpe), which thereafter +came to be known as the Pillars of +Hercules in ofor to toutn home. +had reached the ocean in the West, +to travel back to his palace in the +tax. This photograph, taken by +produced in the Mediterranean by +the teethe neit +trase curved, message oconne +waves propagate and generate +fire. And also a modern demon-the great particle sep- +arator which Maxwell invented in the nineteenth oen- +tury to demonstrate that heat and cold could not of +their own accord be separated. +"According to those definitions, neither you nor I +actually work!" +"But nonetheless, when we talk about work, we +still use the same word, 'form', which has remained +identical throughout history. Once we go beyond the +simple porterage of these forms, after their transforma- +tion comes information: communication, interference, +transmissions, translation, distribution, interception +and atmospherics….. Transmissions and messengers." +"So we work in the same way as angels, an image +which is at once ancient and modern. Look at this + +MORNI +NG +crowd in front of us. Not many Prometheuses there, let +alone a Hercules or an Atlas, but many, many angels, all +setting off on their travels, all bearers of messages. +"We no longer work on the same raw materials. +Earlier forms of work consisted in holding up forms +that were solid and unchanging; later forms trans- +formed things by liquefying them; whereas our world, +which is fluid, fluent, even fluctuating, is becoming +increasingly volatile." +Pia says, laughing: +"Volatilis is the Latin word for things that have +wings. Volatile is also used of a substance capable of +changing very rapidly from one state to another. It can +also be used for something which appears and then +suddenly disappears. And I believe that I'm right in +saying that these are three attributes of angels. +"Why do you find it scandalous to talk about angels +in the era of information and flying money, whereas +you were happy to refer to Maxwell as a 'demon' in the +era of the forge, or of Atlas, previously?" +Pantope, seriously: "Perhaps if we want to act and +think nowadays, this is what we have to do. We have to +pull together the static, statuesque, solid, well-founded +stable-formed systems-ie. Hercules and Atlas; then +we add transformation or genesis via the power of fire, +which is where Prometheus comes in, surrounded by +devils old and new; and finally the world of informa- +tion, which is complex and volatile, and the fabric of +which is woven by message-bearing systems-of +which Hermes was the forerunner, and which is now +crowned by your angelic hosts. Is that right?" +"Skeleton plus metabolism plus nervous system: +and there you have life!" says Pia, happy to have her +position confirmed. +" + +MES +EM S +The beginning of the Age of +wesownwelnethetor +messenger god, the forerunner of +the angels. With his winged +neodewrne dxcoltonese +charlot in which stands Aphrodite, +the goddess of Love, together with +fros, and Pryche, the soul, The +wheel flles over the ground. Love +also flies, with wings outspread. +yent te oo, onlowemo o +transmitting signals from her +extended right hand. The souf and +nsouowneoolust +hermaphroditic alliance....tn +short, the human persona flies, a +wer wonmes.oeh +Terracotta relief from Locri, +Bruttium, in present-day Calabria, +suuetlw.t44w + +"And, if we want to write history, we have to pull +together at least three kinds of time: the reversible time +of clocks and mechanics, all to do with cogs and levers; +then the irreversible time of thermodynamics, born of +fire; and finally the time of what is called 'negative +entropy, which is what gives rise to singularities. +"History no longer flows in the way we once +thought." +"A small world history of work in three acts, three +times, three figures or actors, three states of matter, and +three words which are in fact only one, by Pia, the fly- +ing doctor!" +An angel passes... +A long-exposure photograph of +the constellation Orion as it moves +across the sky: three blue stars +form the famous hunter's belt: the +red super-giant above the beit is +Betelgeuse (meaning shoulder or +armpit in Arabic, beneath the belt. +Rigel (foot, also in Arabic) shines, +white and steely-blue; not far from +the sword, the nebulous patch; and +finally the pink center. The +constellation of Orion, situated +close to the celestial equator, can +be seen from almost everywhere in +the world + +MESSAGE SYSTEMS +"A pert observation, but pertinent!" +"Pardon the impertinence." +"The final time, that of the Annunciation, trans- +forms the world, whereas Atlas, Hercules and +Prometheus bring nothing new, is that it?" +"I would say so." +"The angels bring the good news... Maybe one of +them passed over.." +"Our ancestors stayed put in one place." +"That's true of Atlas and the caryatids, as porters. +It's less true for Hercules and Ulysses, who were travel- +ers to unknown lands. It's also true for Maxwell's +demons, little gods of local technologies, keeping an +eye on the counter." +"While information constructs the universe, by +means of networks." +"Our artificial message systems encompass the +world; and the world in turn is constructed by mes- +sage-bearing systems: currents of wind and water +transmit information far and wide." +"You see: my angel-messengers pop up all over the +place," Pia insists, doggedly. +So we have three classes of workers parading +before us: first the Atlantic, headed by Atlas, which is +sometimes also Herculean; then the Promethean.." +":. and finally the angelic, whose job it is to con- +nect the local to the global." +"T was coming to that." +"Yes, on angel's wings. And there you have the new +Universe, its strange time, and its epic unfolded." +Pantope doesn't give in so easily. +"I can go along with applying the name angels to +message bearers: travelers, messengers, announcers of +various sorts, all that I can understand…... Even, if you +insist, the world's flows and waves ... but aircraft!" +"Do you believe that humanity are the only ones +who have the ability to emit or transmit?" +"Humans are the only beings that communicate +with language!" +"That's rather arrogant! Dolphins and bees commu- +nicate, and so do ants, and winds, and currents in the sea. +Living things and inert things bounce off each other +unceasingly; there would be no world without this inter- +linking web of relations, a billion times interwoven." +"But it's not capable of meaning." +"Narcissistic vanity! For the Ancients, who were +wise people, certain angels, the ones who were messen- +gers or couriers, looked like men; but others resembled +waves, winds, the sparkling of light, or twinkling con- +stellations. To this we add the wonders of our technol- +ogy." +"You mean follies." +"I mean reason." +"No and no again! Science says that there is a dis- +tinction between the subject, which is thinking and +active, and the object, which is passive and thought of." +"That displays total ignorance of the act of know- +ing! Objects know in a different way to us, that's all." +"That's untenable." +She points towards the window. +"Look at those children out there, playing ball. The +clumsy ones are playing with the ball as if it was an +object, while the more skilful ones handle it as if it were +playing with them: they move and change position +according to how the ball moves and bounces. As we +see it, the ball is being manipulated by human subjects; +this is a mistake-the ball is creating the relationships +between them. It is in following its trajectory that their + +MORNING +team is created, knows itself and represents itself. Yes, +the ball is active. It is the ball that is playing." +"That has nothing to do with knowledge." +"Yes it has. The spindle of the sundial, using the +sun, but acting on its own, marks the hour of the +equinox and the position of the given location; memory +is found, dormant, in libraries, in museums, behind the +screen of my computer, and in language, both written +and spoken; this memory is awakened and brought to +life when the power is switched on; imagination lights +up, goes out or fades on our television screens... a pan- +pipe warbles, a clarinet sings, a violin weeps, a bassoon +sobs, the sensitivity of brass, strings and wood..... No, +we are not so very exceptional. What old books used to +call our faculties are to be found here, outside of us, +scattered about the universe, both the inert and the +man-made." +"Images! Fancy words!" +"Do you really think that machines and technolo- +gies would be able to construct groups and change his- +tory if they were merely passive objects?" +"They're technical objects, and that's all!" +"That's like saying a white blackbird-it's a contra- +diction in terms. These biros, writing desks, tables, +books, diskettes, consoles, memories... produce the +group that thinks, that remembers, that expresses itself +and, sometimes, invents. Maybe you're right, maybe +we can't call these objects subjects. However, maybe we +could call them technical quasi-subjects..." +"As if they were endowed with the same qualities +as us?" +"Almost! To consider them purely as objects derives +from the basic contempt that we still have for human +labor-the abiding error of those who, because they've +An admirable synthesis of an +angel in human form together with +the flux of light from the sky. The +sundial is usually seen as a clock +designed to measure the passing of +the day, but this is only a +comparatively recent usage. In its +carliest days, in classical Greck and +Babylonian times, It was used as an +instrument of scientific research, +and particularly of astronomical +observation. Specialists used it in +order to read equinoxes, solstices +and the latitudes of places. Bya +suitable inclination of its spindle ce +gnomon, which was arrived at by +rigorous calculation, the signais +which it received from the sun +provided the necessary information. +It was partly with the help of the +sundial that the Greeks were able to +construct a geometric model of the +world. +Chartres Cathedral, France +(1174-1260). +쓰 + +40403 +10291 +116. +0S 2 +R216: +OOU: +1 000 +J14 +.4220.7 +200000 +207a, +THT szU +900900yg1 +C128 +2128 +80 +R215 +*--)R217 +F216 +اللومن +R239 +0203 +0212 +* R237 -9 +R289 +C483 +482 +_ +J34 +R484 +Beeces +16406 +200000d: +become so used to having servants, think that there have +to be people between the tools and them!" +"Artificial intelligence has only just been invented." +"Not at all! We've always been artificial for nine- +tenths of our intelligence. Certain objects in this world +write and think; we take them and make others so that +they can think for us, with us, among us, and by means +of which, or even within which, we think. The artificial +intelligence revolution dates from at least as far back as +neolithic times. +"To call these marvelous things simply objects +B220 +• 그래 +-470 +カイト +6872 +a list +1204 +R253 +3-1R261 +R252 +R236 +2113 +لوم +R238 +卒、 +Two products and preconditions +of the message age: our message- +bearing systems function by means +of machines which, by themselves +connect up and interlink as +message-bearing networks. The +simple, ancient labors based on +to labor processes of great + +derives from the term 'plex, as do +sojectives such as douore, triple, +all of which refer both to large +numbers and to loems which are +characterized by nodes and +networks that are extremely +"complex". From the least complex +to the host Comply eleanor +Tom Wedo enter ont +right, micrography of the surface +of a microprocessor or integrated +seems to me as idiotic and unfair as saying that slaves +and women have no souls, that servants have no needs, +and that children don't need freedom. In other words, +giving no rights to the world ... all from the arrogance +of seeing ourselves as the only ones who matter." +"So you're saying that we're not the only subjects in +the world?" +"Like laws and legal rights, intelligence is also +shared, as are memory and consciousness... I'm not +saying that contemporary technologies have pene- +trated the universe of thought all by themselves, but + +MORNING +throughout the ages they have occupied a space which +was close to that of subject: the stone axe, the anvil, the +hoe ... work for us actively; they are not merely exten- +sions of our hands and arms. The violin draws the artist +forward, my pencil writes for me, my language moves +ahead of me." +"So why bring angels into it now?" +"In the oldest traditions, angels do not necessarily +take on human appearance; they may also inhabit the +universe of things, whether natural or artificial." +"So you see angels everywhere….?" +"Their lot, with all the august title of subject! The +light that comes from the sun and stars brings mes- +sages, which are decoded by optical or astrophysical +instruments; a radio aerial emits, transmits and +receives; humans do not need to intervene here. As they +say, when something's working, leave well alone." +Pantope continues, as determinedly as Pia: "If we +become angels, will we still work?" +"Probably never again in the same way as yester- +day, when our forefathers were out there toiling on the +land, or laboring over a piece of iron, forming it, +reforming it, transforming it with their hands, using +tools and machines." +"We exchange information with objects that appear +more as relations, tokens, codes and transmitters." +"What's more," says Pia, seriously, "in this new +world of increasing interconnectedness, the old kinds +of work are fast becoming counter-productive. They +pollute, they produce crises and unemployment for the +societies organized around them; they are allowed to +outlive their usefulness, and become dangerous, waste- +ful. As a core activity, they enlist and mobilize the +whole of society in the same way that religion once did, +The modern ervironmental +consequences of cartier kinds of +work. The greenhouse effect, one +of the possible results of +polluting the atmosphere with its +high-temperature gassy exhausts, +traditional society threatens a +global warming of the dimate. The +general conditions for biological +survival thus become endangered. +A sinister photomontage +shows planet Earth offering itself +up as vicum to the noxious +outpourings of a factory. + +or, more recently, war. Disasters always seem to derive +from things which had an initial usefulness, but which, +even though they have outlived their time, we then +continue to operate, despite their enormous costs in +terms of death and catastrophe." +"The best becomes the worst!" +"I remember the moment when I became aware +that work had crossed from the realm of being a sacred +value to the point where it had become a problem. +Already we are really only working to repair the rav- +ages wrought by that work!" +"You're making me nervous! Do you mean that +unemployment awaits us all?" +"Certainly, and we're going to have to face up to it +as cheerfully as we can." +"Impossible!" +"For hundreds of years science has been working at +lessening the hardships of labor." +"Would you say that it's succeeded?" +"You'd have to be blind not to see it. Why work any +more? So as to do something less well than a computer +could do it? Why build a refining plant-wear out work- +ers, destroy the environment, create crises and inequality +of income, amass vast fortunes whose consequences +leave the poor of the world hungry —when some micro- +organism could actually do the refining process better, +faster, cleaner and more economically than we can." +"So building things gives way to computers? +Amazing!" +"Do you need something to tell the time with? Why +make watches when nature is swarming with +molecules, atoms and crystals with vibrations beating +in exactly the rhythm that you want?" +"Where do we find the dial, though, Pia?" +"Everywhere: in the sky, in hunger, in tiredness.... +It is an irreversible fact that our advanced tech +ologies are producing unemployment in the old labe +processes, whereas they should be busying themselves +with giving us a life like that of the shepherd Aristaeus, +who had his nourishment provided by the bees. The +week which began in the neolithic era has now come to +an end, and here we are, with weeks of Sundays and +entire sabbatical years. +"We have done enough in transforming and exploit- +ing the world! The time has come to understand it!" +"You're reversing the old slogans!" +"Data is more of a known quantity, and when it's +well chosen, it will do." +"So what will we be left with, in terms of ordinary +life?" + +MESSAGE +SYSTEMS +Work in tomorrow's word? +Substances in nature sometimes +recol more counte erodenis +than the substances that can be +produced by human labor. Instead +of making things, will we one day +be refing on natural suostances +to make things for us? Nature +produces certain liquid crystals +when new in the curren +maintain ordered structures, like +solid crystals. They are light +sensitive, changing with the light, +and have rare optical qualities +which we would find hard to +reproduce by industrial processes. +"Knowledge, culture, welfare, art, conversation. +the life of angels." +"An inconceivable Utopia!" +"Our world-the world of communications—-has +already grown old, and is giving birth, at this very +moment, to a pedagogical society, that of our children, +in which education will be carried on continuously +throughout a lifetime, and the fact of having a job will +become increasingly rare. +"There will be open universities all over the place. +Long-distance learning will take the place of campuses, +which at present are closed ghettoes for the children of +the well-to-do, concentration camps of knowledge. +"After agrarian humanity came homo economicus, +industrial man; now a new era is opening, the age of +knowledge. We'll be living on knowledge and the cre- +ation of connections, and we'll live a lot better than we +did when we lived by transforming earth and objects +(which, by the way, will continue by automated pro- +cesses)." +"Everybody is scared of this new world, Pia. But +what's going to happen in the meantime?" +"We're so keen on hanging on to old things, even +when they're obviously obsolete or going badly wrong. +... As a result, before this new world can come to +fruition (even though it is actually already here with us) +there's going to be a lot of disaster and suffering-ali +deriving from our tardiness in understanding the living +present." +"More of your Utopias!" +"Do you know of any single important change in +history which was not initially derided by some people +as Utopian, while others saw it as a miracle for which +they prayed?" +"Well, my dear, I would say that we haven't got all +day. Enough of the fantasies, let's get to work." +The crowds swirl around in the vast interchange that is +the airport. +"We're a long way, now, from the lone field and the +crowded workshop. Our message systems nowadays +affect whole populations... All of humanity, virtually. +There you have the heroine of today's tragedy: no more +actor, no more choir, no more God, nor class.... The +whole of humanity in a state of interconnectedness." +"It's true to say that it is a state of communication, +but what is it saying to itself? And, once again, why? +And can you tell me how the plot's going to work out, +and how it will end?" +"We don't live in a theatre, or in the cinema!" + +The classical attributes of humar! +labor are found again in the new. +The Latin word pagus meant the +field which the farmer ploughed: a +term so ancient and venerable that +religious and cultural terms such as +organism, pagans, peasant and the +French pays and paysage all derive +from it. +"neare on whiler +reading-the oldest form of +storing information that we know, +and one of the first circuits- +derives from the same word, Lines +of writing seem to imitate the +the microchip take the page and +the pagus to a further stage of +development, rendering them +more complex? +Raoul Ubc (1910-). Terne +France. + +Today, urbanization is moving +space and Inwading the entire space +of the planet. It invades not only its +surface-where cities are growing +and increasingly merging into +conurbations and megalopolises— +but also vertical space, the province +international purveyors of +information operating by means of +orbiting satellites. Like the cities of +antiquity, this new, single, global +city is divided- between the upper +quarters, which are wealthy and +well-appointed, and its nether +zones of abysmal poverty. +A vew of Rocinha, the largest +shanty town in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. +AJready by November 1987 its +inhabitants numbered more than +200,000. +An office block in the Défense area +in the west of Paris. +LOS ANGELES +"Now, tell me about your trip." +"The trouble is, everywhere's beginning to look the +same," he replies, wearily. +"No," she says, "everything is different. Earth is +moving increasingly towards becoming one single city +of interconnecting messages, but each local area within +it defends its own distinctive identity." +"All right, let's imagine that we're taking a trip to +Newtown, an invisible city which has its center every- +where and its circumference nowhere. We shall visit its +upper reaches; in addition we shall also visit the nether +regions of Oldtown." +"Prepare for take-off," she says. +"Fasten your seat-belt, my friend. At night, above +으 + +The city of angels, whose bright +consteliations illuminate the face +of the Earth: the whole of +Western Europe, with the +the North of Spain; the East coust +of the United States; Japan; the +wethe Western delecte +mary other countries besides. The +picture shows the present extent +a nostalgia for earlier ages of +darkness, when our ancestors +could still enjoy the soothing +benefits of darkness and shadow. +A montage of night photographs +taken from a satellite. +our heads, you can barely see the stars, but when you +look down at Earth it looks as if all the stars have ended +up there, because by night the world's cities are all lit +up. +"The angelic hosts are coming in to land." +"An appropriate comment, seeing that were dis- +cussing angels from the point of view of humanity, work, +towns, language, and transmissions of every kind." +"You promise that later we'll get to talk about God +and the Devil?" +"For the moment, let's keep our feet on the ground, +if you'll pardon the expression. Let's fly over Holland, +or Honshu. Keep the map spread out on your knees. +Can you make out the cities that are marked on the +map? Amsterdam? Osaka? No, because all we can see +on the ground below us is houses and factories, with +hardly a break between them. The cities marked in our +atlases no longer match up to the reality on the +ground." +"So, seeing that our cities are becoming one big + +urban sprawl and you can't tell one from the other, ! +suppose we should redraw our atlases." +"For instance, Holland could be the name for the +urban sprawl that takes in Rotterdam, Haarlem and the +Polders; Japan becomes the name for that single city +that runs from one end of the island to the other. Urban- +ization means that cities are now taking over from +countries." +"It would be good to see this from even higher!" +"For sure! Let's suppose that on a fine June night a +satellite passes over Strasburg in France. What does it +see? The interlinking blocks of light of the super-giant +megalopolis Europe, beginning in Milan, crossing the +Alps via Switzerland, running up the Rhine through +Germany and Benelux, going off at an angle through to +England and crossing the Irish Sea to end up in Dublin. +A great herd of creatures ranging from Geneva to Lon- +don and beyond, from Italy to Ireland, as if congre- +gated by the light, with Paris seeming to stand guard, +like a shepherd, at a distance. This vast, dense, yellow + +sprawl of ever-increasing connectedness is reproduced +in North America, along a line running from Baltimore +to Montreal; it can also be seen in the Five Dragons of +South-East Asia. Viewed from a satellite, it stands out +clearly. Electricity has driven darkness out of the +West." +"In days gone by, people used to think that the stars +were armies of angels. Now they've come down to +ground level. Like I said before, we're living like angels." +*They say that cities developed out of clearings in +forests; now these 'clearings' appear like 'darklings' in +between the cancerous growths of light from the city. +The pale mass of Mont Blanc and the Alps become oblit- +erated. +"One single city per region or island, then one per +continent, and finally one for the entire world. New- +town, with its interlinking brilliances, tends to become +one single entity. +"This slow filling-in with light is increasingly +encroaching on the remaining black patches of fields, +mountains, lakes and forests. while at the same time +remaining invisible for those who live in it, because its +lattice-work supplies, invents and multiplies every +kind of light, illumination, aerial views and science. + +Solitude, silence, calm, serenity.... +overcrowded cities that oulse with +the noise of motors, chainsaws, +pneumatic drills, radios and +loudsocakers. The onslaught of +lighting in every available space. +The proliteration of the written +word. Strident advertaing +Increasing speeds of journeys. The +agitation of human intercourse. +And the lightning passage of +time.... Are we willing to lose +peace and life, come what may? +an anonymous cowice monk +standing in the park of the Abbey +of Camaldoli, Tuscany, Italy, 1992. +"We now live in Newtown-under-Light. This city is +new, will soon become the world's only city, and will +have as much light as you can imagine ... it is like liv- +ing in the center of some huge bright eye; being blinded +by the light, we cannot see it." +"Contrary to what the Scriptures describe, where +the light shineth in darkness, here we have light exclud- +ing darkness." +"Caught in this web of light, we have no choice but +to live in it, try as we may to take refuge in secluded +valleys, or pack our ropes and go climbing up sheer +rock-faces in the mountains." +"Unlike the olden days, when prophets wailed in +lamentation over the fate of cities that had been +destroyed, today we weep for the loss and destruction +of forests and deserts, of monasteries and places of +retreat, of the silence and solitude which is so necessary +for thought. The city of light penetrates the shadows, +thrusts its disturbing presence into the midst of tran- +quillity, violates the silences of nature with its written +matter, eradicates species.... We can no longer hear the +chanting of our new lamentations, because we are +deprived of that ancient silent space which once lent +itself to transporting the clamors of despair. + +MORNING +"Our culture has never taught us the phrases to cry +out against the death of the countryside, where it's +strangled by the horizontal and vertical cancerous +spread of this universal Newtown." +"How has it suddenly become vertical?" +"Has anyone ever calculated how many hundreds +of aircraft there are, at any given moment-and here +I'm talking about all the time—-hurtling round at two +thousand meters above the earth?" +"Millions of human beings— here are your angels, +Pia-inhabit the upper reaches of this city, which +remain absolutely stable, albeit moving at subsonic +speeds. I too number among their legions! Do you want +my address? A340; OSA-CDG; 14F. Decipher that, if +you please!" +"Type of aircraft; direction of flight; seat number." +"The people change, but the airline remains the +same." +"What should we call this upper zone?" Pia asks. +"Angeville, Agen, Angers...?" +"No, I know..! Los Angeles!" +They laugh. +"An upper zone which is reproduced at an even +higher level by rings of orbiting and stationary satel- +lites, launched from the equatorial suburbs of Kourou, +Baikonur and Cape Canaveral, and by a hundred net- +works for the communication of electromagnetic mes- +sages." +"The new aristocracy live less and less in the lower +zones, and increasingly inhabit these world-encom- +passing zones of airline flights and airwaves." +"They sleep there, and they eat there. Lo and +behold, the biggest restaurant in this aptly-named aerial +Los Angeles. In flight, day after day, it distributes hun- +dreds of thousands of identical, insipid, sickly-sweet +meals, which are eaten simultaneously by real neigh- +bors, all strapped in, sitting at identical troughs and +going through identical motions, as if by some predeter- +mined harmony. Who can I say is my neighbor? While +my neighbor is flying and drinking over Labrador, I'm +lunching and sleeping over Spain or New Zealand. +We're both close and distant at the same time." +"The Universal Supper. How would you paint that, +Leonardo? Who would ever have imagined that the +banquet of angels could be so banal?" +"We also have one identical auditorium, spread +across a thousand mobile locations, reproducing one +single video show which, whether in one's own home +or elsewhere, whether up in the air or down below, only +permits us to see the outside on condition that we stay +inside. Soon, Angel-Newtown will produce only one +single spectacle. Close the portholes against the Earth's +splendid landscapes, so that we can drug ourselves on +low-grade movies!" +"Urban space is gradually taking over the world at +the horizontal level, and now it's revolving too." +"It's taking off and flying. Is it the rotation of the +Earth that sets this ascendent sublimation of history in +motion, by centrifugal force? Having taken over the +world horizontally, Newtown is now taking off verti- +cally." +"The cities of earlier ages vied with each other in +constructing pyramids, ziggurats, skyscrapers, cathe- +dral towers and spires, reaching ever upwards as a way +of affirming their mastery, their pride, their yearnings +and their piety: a race to see who could get highest, +using the weighty forms of stone, iron, glass and con- +crete. Now, freed from substantiality and weightiness, +쓰 + +Will Newtown succeed where +Babel failed? Gathering together +every language in the world +Wore construe ton of tu +universal city ... that same city +networks-cover the entire faxe of +an Earth which may now be seen as +one single entity, by virtue of its +necessary interconnectedness. The +present-osy counterpostion of the +local and the global, of +multiculturalism and scientific +way, the story of the Tower of +the building or the lower o +Babel, sixteenth-century Flemish +painting. Pinacoteca Nazionale, +the inhabitants of Newtown have taken off and are +reaching heights that are almost literally astronomical. +"Are we now living at the top of the ladder of the +angels?" +"Let us go lower, to take a look at your ordinary, +average traveling mortal: the carpet that leads from the +side of his bed takes him downstairs into a hallway +which leads to a garage, where he finds the car which +will take him down the street, to connect with the +motorway which takes him to the airport, and a flight +to somewhere or other, during which he is able to +phone anyone who may care to talk to him, or he may +receive e-mail on his portable computer, via a link to the + +LOS ANGELES +computer terminal that is sitting next to his bed. +"Nobody leaves interiors any more: of the hotel, of +the bus, of the station, of the aircraft … even of the her- +meticism which protects messages. As was the case +with the films, just now, so it is with Newtown. It has no +"Newtown is organized around a single ribbon, the +outside of which is indistinguishable from the inside, a +road which goes from a pedestrian footpath to a wide +boulevard, or, if you prefer-I click or zap-an airport +runway, or, if I choose differently—I zap or click—to a +fax line, a radio or a television... It interconnects with +such diverse media— the body, one's car, wings and air- +waves that one can say that it reproduces the curve +which passes through all the points of the variety +within which it develops, by penetrating through dif- +ferent dimensions." +"Isn't science amazing!" Pia cries, with mock ingen- +uousness. +"A path with a choice of options, which gives you +Mobius Street, Von-Koch promenade (he was the +Some places in the world +resemble a holary, the books of +which describe the world itself. To +pile up separate sheets, portolanos, +plans, maps and networks... one +on op or the outsieh +these intercommunikations? Since +we are now beginning to have +intercommunication, does this +mean that from now on we +than getting them to communicate +an astortment of kattered +among themselves. However, +countries? +A slate quarry in Alta, Norway. +inventor of the graph that passes through all points) +and Macintosh Avenue all rolled into one. +"By means of this single highway, the intersections +of which are constructed out of our multiple choices, +Newtown creates linkages between all spaces, whether +concrete or abstract, of this world and of any other: it +creates links between towns, +houses and othoes, +women and men, science and information, ideas and +notions... But also, and more particularly, between +cities and men, women and emotions, offices and +ideas.…." +"That's exactly what I've been looking for, Pantope. +Why is it that angels can pass everywhere? Because +they have the facility of this single universal highway. +You'll soon end up talking like me." +"Present-day communications break down every +obstacle: we now know how to join together things that +are very different — dots to words, spaces to discourses, +things to signs." +"So now we have the abstract mixed in with the +concrete, down to the tiniest of fragments! The word +has indeed become flesh!" +"The transport systems of previous ages were rec- +ognizable by the flatness of their networks. They con- +nected positions which were of the same nature and +within the same dimension: a map of Roman roads, for +instance, or the locations served by an airline company. +... These layouts were almost naturalistic, comparable +perhaps to rivers on a map— in fact one used to take the +coach in the same way that today one takes the plane, +and in other instances people took boats on rivers. +Cities as we have known them thus far, as ensembles of +streets, form one such independent grid. +"The new media traverse spaces of an entirely + +different nature: physical space, yes, stones, peo- +ple, languages, the encyclopedia of knowledge .. +and they have us moving from the worldly to the +spiritual, from the earth to the alphabet, or vice +"Yesterday's media formed a mille-feuille, in which +the various different sheets, piled one on top of the +other, remained separate, isolated in their own dimen- +sion, while today's interconnectedness pierces verti- +cally through the stack, or punches through between +varieties, thus enabling them to intercommunicate." +"Pantope, what we have here is a pantopia taking +the place of Utopia. Imaginary travelers used to describe +the islands of Utopia-from the Greek ou topas-which +meant 'Nowhere'. But our angelic city is to be found +cvnneicre" +He is pleased to have his position confirmed. He +laughs. +"In the old days, when we left the countryside, the +square of the village where we lived or the yard where + +The new city of angels bears +a striking resemblance to the +symbolic heavenly Jerusalem of +antiquity, our problems are similar +to the ones that exercized the +mind on the Mie doo +which Dante addressed in his +Divina Commedia: where, today, +wthin ches gloeal ey, are we to +find hell, purgatory and paradise? +The anawers to this question are +moment, painful, obvious and +crying out to be recognized. +tweifth-century fresco from the +ceiling of the Church of +Saint-Theudère, Saint-Chef near +Bourgoin-Jallicu, Isère, Franxe. +we worked, we were always tied to a particular net- +work of transport. But now we have the ability to +travel from any one point to any other. +"It is as if there exists everywhere an interchange +which is stable, universal and mobile, whose nodal +points connect things which, previously, were not +related +tinct realities." +"This invisible Newtown conceals at least two dis- +"An earthly city? Certainly, since, moving beyond +localized patches of terrain, it is invading the Earth as a +whole sea, continents, mountains and the very atmo- +sphere-in short, the entire planet, and not just the +humus from which we get our designation as 'humans'. +"A heavenly city? Yes, that too, because it is invad- +ing the upper regions of the stratosphere and reaching +out into the suburbs of interplanetary space, to Mars, +Venus and Jupiter. But above all because it is pursuing +a new vocation that is abstract, scientific and informa- +tional. + +This tree-a Tree of Knowledge, +perhaps-had its roots in a lowly, +wretched shanty town; then it +grew, straight and upright, to soar +above the city. its sparse foliage +the wealthy upper city. it is +emblematic for a rescing of this +chapter, and for a reading of the +world as it is today. + +LOS ANGELES +"In short, and interchanger or intermediary city. A +purgatory or transitional space between the hot hell of +old-style labor processes and the speculative paradise +of new technologies. +"Is this twin-reality Newtown constructing the +House of Angels? +"Should we rewrite Dante and St Augustine? +"The philosophers of classical antiquity made a dis- +tinction between things and signs. This separation is an +obstacle if we're looking to understand the world as it is +today. +"Newtown industrializes signs, +manufactures +things with information, constructs the universe with +wind, does not remain obtusely materialist within mat- +ter, but goes beyond and carries materialism into soft- +ware." +"Here the word becomes flesh—in other words +glass, steel, concrete, machinery, world. In techno- +logies the techno comes to be replaced by the logos." +"The population of Newtown no longer goes to +work—to the factory, or to the office-as you might +think, but to school. From the moment the day starts, +the teaching never stops, not even at lunchtime or at +night. Television, radio, mass media and telecommuni- +cations, never cease their endless chatter..." +"As a pedagogical society, Newtown only obeys +bosses and politicians if they become teachers." +"The industrial revolution has encroached on the +realm of the spirit, and is transforming this global city +into an intellectual cloister." +"Thus, once words come to dominate and occupy +flesh and matter, which were previously innocent, all +we have left is to dream of the paradisaical times in +which the body was free, and could run and enjoy sen- +sations at leisure. If a revolt is to come, it will have to +come from the five senses!" +"So Newtown is an unimaginable mediator, invisi- +ble and all-embracing, informatic, pedagogic, stable in +its rapid intercommunications- cars, aircraft, satellites, +transmissions and messages may circulate as fast as +they like, but there still remains in movement a more or +less equivalent number, which makes the city and with +which it hums-realizing intimate proximities across +immense distances. I never leave the woman who waits +for me, and whose voice I hear all the time wherever I +go, and whose face I see likewise, in image: invariant +albeit varying, moving but not moving-Newtown has +its center everywhere and its circumference nowhere. +"We have built a world city." +"Given that it's relentlessly invading space, does +this mean that it loses the possibility of history, which +previously progressed by means of exploration of +unknown territories? Does the end of extensivity mark +the end of our adventures? Have you noticed how +nobody has time any more?" +"It's not as simple as that. These spatial dimensions +presuppose violent movement; they presuppose enor- +mous forces at work, reserves of power to produce +them, as well as reserves of knowledge to liberate them. +Nowadays we live not so much in houses as in our sci- +ences: in mechanics since the classical era; in thermody- +namics since the nineteenth century; and in information +theory in our own century." +"Begotten by writing, scientific and technological +knowledge construct this new city, and at the same time +the city destroys anything of antiquity that remains +within it. Just take a look: industrial suburbs taking +over more and more of the countryside, to the point of + +MORNINO +suffocation, and the aggressive hell of commercial +advertising-violent, gaudy and howling with ugli- +ness." +"You're exaggerating, Pia." +"Once, not so long ago," she says, "we placed our +hopes in the City of God, because we recognized that +human constructions were potentially so evil that one +day they might end up destroying themselves, or +destroying each other. Now here we have something +new in our history: this new city is a single, indestruc- +tible, universal entity which allows us to place our +hopes only in itself and in its achievements. Further- +more, people can only enter it if they know how to +access it everywhere. But, in former times, paradise was +only conceived and imagined as the elsewhere of inac- +cessible hope. +"Neither the great religious traditions, nor the +genius of Dante ever foresaw that one day we would be +able to communicate instantaneously all across the +world, by technologies resembling the Golden Bough. +"Once upon a time men were mobile, errant adven- +turers, heroes, half-gods or born of men; and in those +days they traveled through dangerous lands and rivers, +through meadows of asphodel and the fire of God. By +strength or ingenuity they would overcome a thousand +obstacles, or span in an instant the distances between +Earth and heaven. In any event, they were required +either to defy death or to seek salvation by pursuing a +life of charity. +"Nowadays the city even works for everyone. This +Newtown is a vertical city, a new purgatory, which +comes close to paradise, but in the process produces +hell." +"No!" +What value do we we set on +these flying angels, these gods, +these highest inhabitants of the +hypertechniel verdest city, +Astronauts in a state of +weightlessness. + +"Yes! Its sciences and technologies, its movements +and its motive forces-animal power, muscle power, +coal, oil, electricity, atomic energy-bring it to the +point of occupying all space on Earth, whereupon it +then reaches up, instantly, into the sky, as high as it +can. It develops by means of savage competition, +rivalry, dispute, emulation, fighting, assaults, wars +and never-ending internecine conflicts. The flames of +all this feed and fuel its incessant rise, while at the +same time ejecting downwards, by way of exhaust, +the debris and dross of increasing numbers of spaces +and men-obsolete, beaten, overtaken, defeated, con- +victed of errors, faults and crimes, and reduced to +ignorance, to miserable poverty, to disease and death. +"This intermediary Newtown, firing off into the +heavens like a comet, produces a heaven that is avail- +able for fewer and fewer people, and an increasingly +extensive and substantive hell. And it leaves human +cities destroyed in its wake. Is it the bottom of the lad- +der, or the denouement of the action?" +She continues, warming to her theme: +"Our cultures contain no text, either literary or reli- +gious, to enable me to sing the modern lamentation that +I'm wanting to put into song: +they're in their death throes, about to die, crushed +under the weight of their growing population; + +how many towns and villages of Africa are suffer- +ing the horrors of famine and the nightmare of epi- +demics; +how many cities of the Americas are laboring under +the pressure of huge shanty towns, exponential growth +and the prostituted delinquency of millions of children; +cities in Asia with no refuse disposal services, +invaded by rats and threatened by plague; +cities in Bangladesh, drowned under biblical rain- +storms because they have no flood defences; +a hundred unnamed communities living with the +threat of Aids… +...and Newtown itself, penetrated, breached and +... Compared to the value of +these dead humans lying next to +each other, in the horizontal, +flooded-out city down below? +After the monsoon, near the +village of Balvadar-Palli, Bengal, +todia, November 19, 1977. +invaded by the Third World in the form of the Fourth +World: unemployment, drugs, poverty, destitution, +indigence, migration, dirt, delinquency, dereliction. +Here we see it, before our very eyes-Oldtown of the +Archangels. It too is one single city today, embodying, +summarizing and incorporating the destroyed cities of +earlier phases of our culture and our memories. It is +vaster in extent even than Newtown itself, and is inte +grally linked with it, except that it cannot hope to rise +so high towards the stars. They reappear before us— +new and ancient Troys, destroyed; Jerusalem, demol- +ished; Rome, conquered, sacked and ravaged; Con- +stantinople, burned; Hiroshima, bombed ….. as lowly + +A NI +E L E S +old quarters of Newtown. Here, most particularly, we +have our most ancient history, unmoving now, as if +strung out in extensivity, for a general repetition, deso- +late witnesses of the era in which, being subjected to +the empire of old necessity, we did not produce our +misfortunes by means of science. +"The time of history now appears frozen, as if +immobile in space, like some Dantean scale of degrees. +"In this ancient city, our first parents are dying. Our +originary, religious founding culture is dying of famine, +dirt, disease and dereliction among the actual and pri- +mal chaos which Newtown carries within it and pro- +duces by its rising. +"There's an answer to the question, my friend: what +are we talking about, across the networks which form +the universe? +"Of this primordial death, the node of the tragedy." +"A city of the most ferocious inequality?" he asks. +"Yes," she says, "a ladder of injustice." +The Trojan Wars, the sack of +Kome, the dekructions ot Aiba. +Jerusalem and Athens, the fire of +Alexandris, the taking of +Constantinople... In history and +was terreineohcurooew +built on the ruins and destruction +of these primitive cities.... The +nolaKeinurtohhtreon +London, the sun of Hiroshima… +Is this history being perpetuated? +Which America was the basis for +the disappesrance of the primitive +CwrcooewenuYant +Over what ruins does the new and +universal city now fly? +Undecorated royal houses, +close to the prison quarters, +woenu ticen.2e thertn +high up in the Andes, +Peru. + +Jacob took of the stones of that +place, and put them for his pillows, +And he dreamed, and beholda +ladder set on the earth, and the top +of it reached to heaven: and behold +the anges of god sscending and +ord stood above it, and said, i am +the Lord God of Abraham thy +father, and the God of isaac." +(Genesis, 28:11-13) +Iacob's Ladder, Avignon School, +Musée du Petit-Palais, Avignon, +LADDERS +The messages carried by our voices +are made up of various +components: a basis consisting of +background noise; then a musicality +of sounds accompanied by +phonemes, varying according to the +language that is being spoken; and +finally meaning. For what +realia ton die michae +message-bearing ensemble of these +scales or ladders unceasingly +Ha nade ternaton dos commu +our world-fashioned as it is by the +word-our writings and our words. +A spestrogram of the human voice. +Pia says: +"My brother Jacques is arriving from Rome; do you +want to come with me to meet him? He's traveling with +his daughter; she'll be missing school.... We could +make up for it." +"No, I'm going to get some sleep to catch up with +my jet lag. I'll meet you for lunch." +She gives him the key to a room at the hotel. +Jacques materializes out of the crowd, and as he tells +her about his trip Pia holds the little girl in her arms and +asks if she saw any angels on the way. +"Oh, lots," she says, snuggling up half asleep on +her aunt's shoulder. + +Hermes, the messenger god of +Classical antiouty, hes shattered on +Tr tioor uh ththies troor +painted on a ceiling): we recoonize +him by his statt and his winged +helmet. The Christian medistor +takes his plce on the pedestal. +soth Meercuty and Chnist are at the +point of death, their limbs wracked +and their bodies torn. Messengers +cioappese in célation to then +understanding their death agonies +Teiocawhane hett +Chabeeee, der Kne tcirenine +of this book, Gabriel, the traveler +and passenger, dies similarly. He +bears within him the