the rite of computing

r

i wonder what happens when you remove efficiency, speed
the machine doesn’t seem to complain
it comes with a great cost
some beings at the service of others, is that the natural order?
you thought and asked, until you realized you put yourself on fire
the higher one gets, and the more one on others depends…
how bad you think the fall will be?
how long will the internet live once the humans are gone?

u

w

can we talk about rewilding computers?
were they wild to start with?
how wild or not is a division
of time and space in slots
ever-decreasing measures
changes of state?
the revolution, the transcription, life
no boundaries, really, but in our self
and that one, really, also emerges
maybe you mean getting rid of the rigid cover
curving the interconnections
the differences are fluid
with or without extremes?
i lost you
destroying the shiny, embracing the earth
a cracked screen carried away by the sea?
that would probably kill us
with emergence we understand we can’t understand
is it a useful model?
model? useful? it?
number of processors versus grains of sand?
and if we become just a probe?
i dissolve, the computer
the transformation carries on

n

think about the apparently unnatural…
creating vacuum…
manipulating beams of charge and light…
wiring thousands, cooling their surrounding air…
later inserting billions in a little block of sand
why not just chill and enjoy the beach?
there was a war
and then the promise of productivity
why not just chill and enjoy the beach?

t

i

can you tell me again about your project?
project, ceremony, dance, choreography… computer!
i wonder how can someone end up there
it’s just about imagining alternatives, trying to reinvent…
is this a solution to a problem? what if everybody does as you?
they originated with war in body and mind
and they have very good uses despite that; they saved me!
what about realizing they are made through destruction?
it might be practical
destroying the old and the weak
and we will drown by powering them
i hope we can upload our consciousness by then?
you might emulate yourself in rocks

c

e

i like computers
why? they make more sense?
maybe. complex but fabricated with heavy logic constraints…
do you know how they work?
that’s the question, do they work or do they just exist…
following a hardwired behavior, filtering out noise
only a fixed amount of values in space and time
and yet embedded in an apparently continuous world
where to put them in the organic-inorganic spectrum
extracting minerals, sculpting them…
marks are left, one at a time
… modulating the electromagnetic spectrum all around
wait! why are you talking about electricity, semiconductors?
do you want to develop further?
i’d prefer to do a backwards somersault and take a non-violent path

x

the idea is that you, as an individual, follow a simple set of rules
these rules make me depend to some extent on other individuals
your state of being based on my state of being
we feel a pulse arriving, and we change
how predictable you would think a system like that is?
i wouldn’t expect it to be completely chaotic…
complexity… how can you think about it if it was not for it?

each component can be part of the whole without knowing about it
“it” being the whole or the component?
or any of them?
then can only one of these pieces bring the whole system down?
the state of that answer depends on the state of your purpose
i guess an undirected, chaotic behavior will always be alright
the order, the function, the control are the ones that you can break
why would we want a math-machine that doesn’t do the math right?
there’s the poetry!
but what about the rigor? the experience of following constraints?
you think that is important?
maybe it’s part of my identity
we don’t have to do right math right
less about me, more about the connections?
in any case, it would be arbitrary and not too easy to get

d

i’m having trouble putting the finger in the point
is your self-protective awareness in action?
maybe. who will want to question electronic computers.
or productive computers, for that matter.

s

i don’t know what’s a computer
don’t worry, neither do i
but you see it...
i see it and i marvel
it is only a machine
i see how arithmetic can be done mechanically
no need to learn, no need to understand?
isn’t that amazing? doing something without knowing you are doing it
small components contributing with small actions to a whole that no one knows?
only the designer?
and what if there is no one?
what if they also emerged as a whole?
and what kind of whole emerges from us?
or where does that whole exist?
if simple models acquire complexity so quickly...
yes, say hi to the chaos of nature

p

has lightning been captured twice, so far?
fire, electricity, what are they?
probably it’s the same here with computing
one thing is to describe them working...
visualizations, metaphors... leading to understanding what i can’t see?
but you don’t have to, to use them
how convenient!
in many ways, knowing about computer architecture is completely useless
digital circuit design as some kind of poetry?
unless you are in one of the few companies, of course
forcing the rocks until they can’t hold it anymore?
the magic doesn’t disappear even if you know how to combine transistors
magic? the mystery of computation?
how can dead matter appear to be alive?
and how can it replicate and build new versions of itself?

l