Blade Runner | Dangerous Days 01
Blade Runner | Dangerous Days 03 (February)

“Dangerous Days 02” focuses on the relationship between man and machine. Questions arise which demand an answer or at least discussion. How deeply does this very special affinity and alliance between creator and the created effect us and how far does the use of tools date back – have we always been crafting tools to aid our own development? Where did the initial spark originate from, causing a thought process leading up to the first crafted item? Was it a tool or a weapon like Stanley Kubrick proposes in his sci-fi classic “A Space Odyssey 2001”? And what exactly happens as we apply more computing power and AI to already advanced systems? After all, German engineer Konrad Zuse invented the computer solely to ease his job which involved a huge number of calculations. Will high-tech eventually overcome us, like many fear or do we merge with our beloved machines and tech to become one as others suspect? Erica, the most advanced communication robot of our time comes closer to the character of Rachel than anyone or anything else. She has been developed by the Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan who I’d like to thank for the image contribution and trust. She can perhaps convince you in a casual conversation that there is nothing to worry about. UK producer Grimes Adhesif composed this part’s dark and deep “robot-mix” which is based on my recordings.

Movies such as “Westworld” starring Yul Brunner or more well-known Blockbusters like “Terminator” suggest that the machines we might soon be able to produce, will gain self-awareness and eventually turn against us. I find this to be a rather adventurous thought because after all, what you do with a hammer is what YOU do with it. But of course you never know. At the moment it’s more relevant to understand that technological progress has throughout history been abused but also brought into existence mostly by the military community as well as greedy industrialists and investment firms. The goal is to push the use of tech to more peaceful and cleaner shores and away from pure profit oriented minds and idiots to get our star ship back on track and to a sustainable level. We have proven that we can build almost anything by constructing customized machines and thus have managed, to send droids into the far reaches of our solar system and beyond to explore for us where we cannot go.

Is now the time to define what makes a machine a machine and what characterizes a living being? Is a city a machine if its gears are living beings alongside constructed matter? How about a company skyscraper, train station or club? Looking at the way we interact with machines of various complexity reveals the already far advanced level of merger. It will most likely never be the machine vs. man situation but rather the machine equals man one and vice versa. Similar to what Fritz Lang describes in his movie “Metropolis” and later on in that century Kraftwerk did with their electronic music album “Die Menschmaschine”. But if we do in fact create beings who are able to gain self-awareness and a will of their own, it’s advisable to first examine how we have been treating living beings we share this space with so far. Fauna and Flora have been around for quite some time in comparison to us yet we turned out to be an aggressive and shortsighted roommate, extinguishing a larger part of all species within no time. In fact every minority or weaker group, especially within our own species, is terrorized by the “superiors” which mostly results in exploitation, forced labor and sometimes death.

When talking about tools and machines one does not get around a key question addressing self-reflection and self-awareness. Ever since we painted walls of caves we have been reflecting on ourselves in manifold ways. The purpose of art is not what today’s insane auctions want to make you believe but a much more fundamental human act and we have been devising tools to do so better. Tools became extensions of ourselves and simple variations like the ones crows use to speed up their way to a tasty snack, over time evolved to brushes, pens and paper, the Guttenberg Press and further to very complex machines engineered by a large group of experts. Looking at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) the ISS and the space programs of the nations, the internet and supercomputers, the Shinkansen and countless other inventions cause me to regularly wow. Both, the simple tool as well as complex machine can trigger affection and even love in a human being. Does it make us gods if we love what we create? And if so, does it render us devils, if we destroy what we hate using technology?

The desire to optimize ourselves, obtain above-average (super) powers, avoid disease or even death is as old as our imagination and part of our history. The over-proportionally fast growing medical knowledge base propels this aspect to become one of the main topics of our time. The science of our own system is now developing at the same paste as other high-tech fields do, leading to ever longer lifespans. It is only natural that some people try to clone or re-create themselves with seemingly unorthodox methods in order to bypass the inevitable. Does technology and the close integration of it on the physical as well as mental level make an altered Moore’s law somehow applicable to human life expectancy calculations? If you live in Okinawa you can expect to turn 125 or 130 if you are in your mid 40’s now. Clearly it’s the extremely healthy diet and calm lifestyle which made this possible and the island famous. But now things are changing also in Okinawa, as junk food and tons of candy and sweets have made their way onto the island and into the kid’s bellies, causing obesity and other health problems. Little did they know that no-one shall dare to fight the sugar industry because it would be like fighting Pablo Escobar. I too love to indulge Japan’s high-tech gummy candy every now and then. Some resemble real fruit or enlighten with out of this world tastes.

How much artificial matter in a human body is too much? Where is the threshold rendering someone a Darth Vader? I have a hard time understanding people who irreversibly substitute their own face with one out of a catalogue. Yes, you can choose a face from a catalogue these days and “wear” the same one as hundreds of others do. It gets you closer to your idol who in return makes even more money while increasing the fame factor. Youngsters who spend a fortune on their face-changes mostly don’t originate from wealthy families. They “invest” in their face believing it will improve the chances to climb up a few more notches on that social and financial ladder. But the price they pay is high and there is no guarantee anyway. What’s for sure though is the loss of personality that comes with such a profound change. Although plastic surgery is certainly useful for outlaws and those who are in need due to medical issues, it’s otherwise not a desirable option at all. Unfortunate are nowadays those who have to do it because they have been denounced and can’t endure the “shitstorm” anymore which was triggered by false claims. There is nothing you can do about it because once you are tagged, that’s pretty much it. Social and other media can be brutal and mercy-less. As we have “learned” from the White House this mechanism is even being used as a weapon by the Commander in Chief. Respect and caution are indispensable features though and will be even more so in the future when our numbers keep going up and new forms of life emerge. Well, at least we already have the Ethics of artificial intelligence in place. So what could possibly go wrong …

Blade Runner | Dangerous Days 01

CREDITS

Android Erica: Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan
“Dangerous Days 02 | Robot-Mix”: Grimes Adhesif, United Kingdom
Photos, video, text, drawings, audio field-recordings: Oliver Lins, Berlin
Soundcloud

“Dangerous Days 03” with audio contribution by US producer
Stewart Walker coming this January/February

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