=09 "our desires drive our thirst for freedom" The Anarchives =09=09=09=09Volume 2 Issue 13 =09The Anarchives=09=09=09Published By =09=09The Anarchives=09=09The Anarchy Organization =09=09=09The Anarchives=09tao@lglobal.com =09=09Send your e-mail address to get on the list =09=09Spread The Word Pass This On... --/\--=09=09=09 ~|~ / / \ \=09=09=09 /^\ ---|--/----\--|---=09=09semiovirus \/ \/=09=09=09 \,/ /\______/\=09=09=09 =A7|=A7 ________________________________________________________ From: Mark Burch Here is the first edition of Semiovirus. I didn't write this article. My=20 friend wrote it. My critique of digitalism will follow once I an through=20 with it. Mark ________________________________________________________ SEMIOVIRUS, Volume 1, No. 1 October 4, 1995 On Post-Nuclear Condition by a Renegade Rasta-Taoist-Ninjah Two things are clear to me now. 1) At the core of capitalism, there is an act of postponement,=20 deferment, delay, or 'libidinal economy', difference, whatever you name=20 it. It all comes down to an act of not to be here and now. You are asked= =20 to suspend your pleasure for anywhere/time other than the here and now. =20 And 'work' stands between your desire and your pleasure. We exchange our= =20 time with the resources for the possible gratification in the future,=20 suppressing the idea that we might be dead by tomorrow. =20 The economy (from its conceptual foundation, practical activities, to its= =20 mythology) is founded on this space created by the collective deferment. = =20 Interest, Profit, Investment... All those nourishing elements for captial= =20 generate from nowhere by this space. It is a very fragile space,=20 indeed. That is why economy is wrecked right now. It has nothing to do=20 with anything that the Wall Street or Tokyo says. It has to do with the=20 crude fact that more and more people are becoming aware of the whole=20 fallacy, the stupidity of the entire conceptual design. More and more=20 people start retaining their life time and space to live here and now and= =20 maximize their existience in the most positive way. Of course unless we=20 make up some good scams or have access to a large piece of arable land,=20 the spector of"work" comes back to haunt us. Nevertheless, there is no=20 turning back. Instant gratification? Not really. Because instant gratification is=20 still a zero degree of postponement. It is postponement nonetheless. =20 You don't need instant. You only need gratification. Exchange without=20 delay. A constant potlatch of the life energy. 2) Deferment, delay, postponement... If you translate these into the=20 spatial language they well be distance, aloofness, and that infamous=20 word, "alienation." Capitalism thrives on the spatial gap between our=20 sense and our existence. Our raw experience is from the very beginning=20 of our life time, discredited. It needs (so they say) so be mediated or=20 pre-mediated by the institution, media and school. Prescribed imagery=20 premeditates our perception. Benjamin's "loss of aura" in the mechanical= =20 art is indeed a serious question. Aura is not metaphysical: It is=20 mediation that is metaphysical. The only reason we cannot seriously talk= =20 about the loss of aura in the age of cybernetic reproduction is simply=20 because the metaphysics of the simulation has taken over our life space. = =20 But it requires so much effort in maintaining the metaphysical robe. =20 Specifically, it requires a constant effort to purge out the intrusion of= =20 entropy thereby an artificial order can be maintained. But Entropy=20 intrudes anyway and Chaos takes over anyway. No matter how many nuclear=20 bombs they detonate, the world of simulation is crumbling everywhere at=20 this moment. From the cracks, people come forward and demand life=20 without mediation. -------------------------------------------------------------- =09To receive the Anarchives via email send a note to =09Majordomo@lglobal.com with the message in the body: =09=09subscribe anarchives =09To get off the list, send to the same address but write: =09=09unsubscribe anarchives =09=09=09Also check out: =09