how can we create difference? (not preserve difference… an attempt to make difference into a commodity)
difference is produced through an absolute limit. that is, difference is something beyond a limit we set for our selves. difference implies a reality, a limit, which is outside of the self. if we assume we are in a closed energy system (dualistic, dichotomous, binary), then there is a real limit, an economy, imposed upon us. difference is produced as a product of economy. we can set up information as the meta-observation of the relationships between phenomena (virilio art of the motor 139). that is, we can set up information as above the binary system, viewing matter and energy. but, as the uncertainty principle illustrates, information is not above a binary system. anti-information is produced with information. the production of certainty also produces uncertainty. the heisenberg uncertainty principle assures us that there will always be difference, a real limit to our understanding and control of the world.
how can we create difference?
production automatically creates difference. it is the distribution of difference in which progress finds its economy. while anti-information may be produced with information, they are distributed and distilled through filters whose purpose is to deny and/or assimilate the other. information, from within the realm of information produces various masks to distribute anti-information to an area which can strengthen the production of information. anti-information, as with anti-technology, is presented as that which has not yet been economized. when information produces anti-information, it is promptly declared that more information is needed to understand, combat and economize this anti-information.
information and anti-information are produced simultaneously because information produces a division of the whole. information is that which we choose to include in our definition. anti-information is that which is not in our definition. one can not exist without the other.
economy is distribution. we ‘maximize the return’ to ourselves. where is the anti-information we produce with information? where is the anti-technology we produce with technology? the answer is simple: who cares? (as long as its not in my backyard)
can we create difference? difference is inherent in creation. creation is an act of redistribution. utopia excludes difference, or rather, utopia claims to exclude difference. a utopia can not reproduce without difference. economy relies on an extraction. technology can not survive without a link to anti-technology. this is how the modern project produces such remarkable differences, by extraction and division. by an intricate network of distribution which puts the tech and the anti-tech in the right hands. which puts the profits in the hands of those in power and the losses in the hands of those not in power. while these extreme differences are not meant to collide, sometimes a powerful relationship is established by their proximity. like the new comiskey park, the dan ryan, and the taylor homes. the taylor homes are flame stained brick boxes with boarded windows and chain-link ‘porches’, comiskey just got rebuilt – it is still unstained concrete, and the dan ryan rushes between them, a trench dug through. a place where the distribution of societal difference manifests itself in physical and spatial proximity. (as opposed to the sweat shops in third world countries) don’t worry though, these visible manifestations of difference distribution are quickly ‘corrected’ – swept under the rug. they are tearing down taylor homes and forcing the residents to scatter into the city, hoping that there they will be invisible. the reason we are tearing down the projects is to hide the distribution. the reason we are tearing down the projects is the same reason the projects were built, to make the price of economy invisible as it becomes visible. no specific plans have been made for where the residents of the projects will go. the only plan was to tear down what has become a massive visible icon of the stacked distribution of the american economy. where will these people go? the answer is simple: who cares? (as long as its not in my backyard)
we automatically create difference. we need creation which realizes a redistribution of difference. creation must understand it’s anti-creation. we must anticipate the outcome of our failed design. we must abandon progress and utopias. it is time to demand an accountability, a responsibility, and most of all a humility. it is time to quit building tools and monuments whose sole purpose is to distribute anti-utopian elements away from our selves. (i can see the end now… a perfect utopia without difference, the death of the individual.)
now is the time to destroy. an entropic redistribution. a destruction of the distribution chains. and then a chance to rebuild beyond belief in economy. and then a chance to rebuild based on a whole, based on the implications of failure, limits, difference, and self. this is the model for creation beyond belief: the destruction of belief, the abandonment of an immortal self, a synthesis of difference which produces a new life. a life separate from our self. a life whose limits are apparent from its difference. a child must be born without language. a child born without genetic engineering. a child where we cut the cord (that feeds us).