Mail Art News #22: Saying Yes or Noooo to the Nooscope



postcards for mailing, T. Brown, 4-22-2023

Things go round on the internet. Around 2004 or 2005, in an online art group called the World Artist Network on Myspace, we somehow got to talking about memetics. The exponential growth of online memes began shortly thereafter. And then somewhere around 2011, I learned of the term "noosphere" which is the sphere of human consciousness and mental activity in regard to its influence on the biosphere. And then I heard nothing more about in my own little corner of the world until April 20, 2023, when it showed up along with a new term -- nooscope, in an article titled Earth’s Ultimate War: A Battle to Control the Noosphere.
Looking further into the topic, I see articles from 2016 talking about this nooscope, a device for monitoring the noosphere. Some of the articles in the corporate media outlets are predictably dismissive, yet other sites approach it with genuine interest. The website https://nooscope.ai/ discusses the topic from a scientific perspective [also from a socio-political perspective - TB, 4-27-2023]. There's even the Global Consciousness Project (https://noosphere.princeton.edu/ ) which has been ongoing since 1999. 
Russian official, Anton Vaino's article Capitalization of the Future (2012), is said to describe the nooscope as a new technology that can be used by governments to manage and control the more challenging societies of today and of the future, as the old means no longer seem to be working. 
The nooscope: 
  • is a device that scans transactions between people, things and money,  an invention of parallel significance to the telescope and the microscope
  • can tap into global consciousness and detect and register changes in the biosphere and in human activity 
Now, what does any of this have to do with mail art? While I do not plan to be super political on a regular basis with Mail Art News, I do ask the mail art community to put this topic on their radars. That is all. And so I have created a set of basic postcards for mailing out. Imagine all of the electro-chemical equations happening on the planet in a 24 hour period. There are forces that will want to control all of that, profit from all of that, etc. Will this be used for the benefit of all? What do you think? Do you say yes or no to the nooscope? Perhaps some Dadaists will answer the call. 


Sources: 

https://nooscope.ai/

https://noosphere.princeton.edu/

https://www.skynettoday.com/editorials/nooscope

https://photoatelier.org/2016/05/23/psychosphere-vs-noosphere/

https://abcnews.go.com/International/putins-chief-staff-claims-invented-nooscope-study-collective/story?id=41429546

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2016/08/15/nooscope-a54991

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37109169

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noosphere

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/psychosphere

https://journal-neo.org/2023/04/20/earths-ultimate-war-a-battle-to-control-the-noosphere/

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting.

Popular posts from this blog

Mail Art News #45: An Overview of Cascadia Artpost

Image
  City of Cascadia central post office (1:87 scale model) by Jack Lattemann The other day, Cascadian denizen,  Nonlocal Variable , suggested that I contact Jack Lattemann, also known as  Cascadia Artpost , a name I had seen here and there during my relatively short mail art career of ten years, and so I thought yes that would be great. I'd like to learn more about this mysterious Cascadia Artpost. What is it all about? Jack was super generous in providing information and dozens of images of his creative output, and so I present you with an overview of Cascadia Artpost, plus a few interview questions, followed by the usual weekly mail art news that you've come to expect...nay, demand!  From Jack Lattemann (JL) :  Between 2008 and 2014, I posted entries on a blog, “Welcome to Cascadia Artpost” (two versions), which provide some background on the first years of Cascadia Artpost. I discontinued the posts in 2014 because they were taking too much of my time, even though I had retire
Read more

Mail Art News # 67: Jimmy Hackney

Image
  drawing by  Jimmy Hackney Thomas Brown (TB): Hi Jimmy. Your profile on IUOMA says you've been a mail artist since 2023. How did you learn about mail art? Jimmy Hackney (JH): I was dropping off some art at a friend’s ( Steve O. Black ) house for an upcoming event. We began talking about some of the projects he was working on. Then, he comes to one of his storage bins and asks me,  “Have you ever heard of mail art?” I said, “No, what is it?” He pulled out fascinating pieces of art. My mind was completely blown. I could not believe that this kind of thing existed. I asked, “People send you these!!?!” It was like hearing music for the first time. He told me that he was a member of IUOMA and suggested that I join. So, I did. He said, “Find someone to send art to.” “Easier said than done, right?” As it turns out, it was indeed that easy. I picked out an address and let it rip. I can’t remember who the first person was that I sent mail to. I sent out approximately 20 at that time. Howe
Read more

Mail Art News #40: I Want

Image
Sunshinysam  on IUOMA I'm just a one man operation, so I can't cover all the posts made by all the mail artists. I can however make note of the things that grab my attention the most. Occasionally people send me links and factoids. Per nonlocal variable , there exists an archives of the copy-culture publication known as  Photostatic  (1983-1998). Definitely worth a look.  Diana Hale has a perforator. Adam R. has a Wizbang perforator, a gift from Michelangelo Mayo.   Questing for a perforation machine...there are some leads. There's a nice looking, heavy duty one made in India , but attempts to land on a page where one could order the item has resulted in a slew of disorienting incoming emails. Shipping costs could be prohibitive. Then there's word from  Heather Wilkie  in the  Mail Art News group on IUOMA  that a  person on etsy  is selling small scale perforators. The seller offers two or three different sizes, plus a circle-shape perforator. Very interesting! Kind o
Read more