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Welcome to our Factory Floor (HyperSpace UltraStructure)

-[Promenade - Museum Tube]- [Start here] [map] NOTE: This is release version 0.1.2 of the Iconosphere, updates will be made regularly. email: fleeding@hotmail.com Quick link to the -[PDE]- (Public Domain Encycopedia) we appologise for See also: -[Sciece Fiction (lit/films/futurism/etc)]- the inconvenience(s) - (the management) myspace blog and on-line stuff: -[www.myspace.com/iconospherezix]- all updates posted -[Appologies here & other iconospherics]- Ab Fr \ / +----------------+ /| /| / | / | / | / | Fu / | / | \ / | / | +----------------+--Hu | This iconosphere owes much of its | | "RS-3" | | existence to Phillip Glass:Symph #3 & #2. | Jz--+----------|-----+ | / | / \ | / | / Sc | / | / | / | / |/ |/ +----------------+ / \ Sp Ar "Reality Structure 3" (mark II) [About] -[Release Notes, Design Spec, etc]- [Start Here] -[Iconospher DOC]- (word) -6_- Of these symmetries, one is struck by the pan dualities of the Platonic solids of which there are five: Icosahedron (20 triangles) <==> Dodecahedron (12 pentagons) Cube (6 squares) <==> Octahedron (8 triangles) Tetrahedron (4 triangles) - self dual Only the tetrahedron is self-dual and yet we persist in thinking only in dyads and triads. -- "The Architecture of Thought" by Brother Abelard in "Monkish Moods", 2055 edition.

The Humanist Traditions

In many ways, the humanist tradition parallels the whole history of progress by humans (see map) on the planet. Opposed to this are the various processes that take man off the centre stage and place him/her/neth - and children, the elderly, handicapped and any who are different into the category of "the managed". That is, a commodity to be moulded so as to make them easier to direct and maipulate as consumers, non-thinkers, non-feelers - the modern human is a consummer targeted to consume ALL that they see, hear and are exposed to. And the things which they can't possibly consume because they are simply not wealthy or positioned or living in the right demo-graphic are simply "the ignored". They are *potenitally* good consumers, but at present they are simply NOT on the "to be exploited" map. As artists, writers, thinkers, scientists, theologians, and all of the other ways in which we can choose to apply ourselves - we are *all* historians, sociologists, psychologists, councilors, and simply "those that listen". In short, we can and do change the world simply by existing in the forest of falling trees. We can choose to be an aloof tape-recorder or we can choose to shape the ways and times in which the falling trees do or *do-not* fall. We have the ability through our actions to lessen the suffering of the world. From the theories of the quantum, chaotic, and catastrophic systems of analysis we know that the observor effects the observed and vice-versa. And as evolving and intllegent creatures on what R. Buckminister Fuller called "Space Ship Earth", we can add new skills to our selves and thus re-modulate how we interact and the extent to which we effect change. We can and do teach others by our actions, or by our very being invovled even at the least influential level of "mere" listeners, "mere" seers, or by meerly thinking of the events that go on around us. This awareness may manifest itself in terms of writing letters, pledging support, or by "merely" sitting at a table registering voters. And the fact that in many cases our efforts do not have any discernable effect on the out-come is a falsehood. It is in brief, THE big lie - that we shouldn't get invovled, because after all it's the majority that determines everything. And like one of Cordwainer Smith's "blind, mis-shapen and diseased" sheep the majority goes on stumbling across the truth and managing as Winston Churchill observed to keep on going in the same direction. Everytime we inter-act in the most basic and human of ways - no magic, no "A-list" stunts, and most often at all times - not even worth of mention on the local news - we change the world, because we change ourselves. And others observe us and they too are changed. As with the proverbial "butteryfly effect", the individiual micro-nano-changes are un-measurable, but their accumulation brings even just a bit of rain where before absolutely none would have fallen. And that rain is of course hope. The one word in James Thurber's story "The Wonderful O" that *couldn't be destroyed. Even by observing these odd and *driven* words that i am writing here, late at night while (partially) watching an old movie on TV are being changed. They are (yes) the words of an old, worn-out artist who looks at the world and is so worn out with dispair that i no longer weep or rage or flail about. Knowing that my efforts *can't* make a difference, but only that they *are* making a difference. The micro-nano versus the macro-scopic. The great lie that every bit of our out-ward non-selfish actions make no difference. Only the great movers and shakers, the A-listers trashing each other out in ALL of the media which steal our ability to think and process the world for our-selves. Thus, the victims are the object of the process, but they only provide (as far as the movers and shakers are concerned) the dramatic substance of contrast by which the lie is pushed forward with fan-fare, bravado, and PURCHASABLE items brand-name associated with the event to which we've been allowed to view and feel a part of. We become "the consummed" by the those that need us to be their constant audience. Even the clothes-less emperor must have the crowd pressing in to admire his highest form of costume. But, thus we are programmed to watch, to want, to see (but not too much), to feel (but only what we are jerked around to feel), to consume, consume, consume, consume - until we become the un-needed and finally "the dead without care, want, or press coverage". We just lay there on the couch or on the bed - the floor for all the content sellers could care - as long as we consume. Are we fat? Then we must consume this new effortless pill. Are we too thin? Then we must consume ultra-sized trans-fat-free products as if they are the paragon of nutrition. Do we have dandruff? Then we now have a hundred different shampoos to choose from despite the fact that it's mostly a B-vitamin deficiency. That's the point - we aren't given solutions, we're simply given PURCHASABLE options that band-aid (beige only) over our problem and keep us limping along ready to make our next purchase. Do i need a stand-alone home gym rather than going to work out with others or walking and seeing the world around me? Do i need chemical and synthetic BREAK-THROUGHS that will make me what i've been programed to be? YES - we are the infinitely mouldable product. We are the CONSUMED THAT CONSUMES.