ENTANGLEMENT & EMERGENCE:
Here in the NOW, sometimes called the Anthropocene, we are beset with issues and problems that need addressing. Perhaps the biggest problem, however, is our perception of reality. Developing a conscious awareness of entanglement and emergence, as well as an understanding influenced by a systemic view may, it is argued, be the most pressing issue of all (Capra and Luisi, 2014; Sacks, 1990). Until we stop perceiving ourselves as separate from nature or from the technologies we make and which in turn make us, we may never address any of the existential problems that require our urgent attention.
What’s more, focusing on isolated and separate issues without acknowledging an agential onto-epistemological reality (Barad, 2007; 379) – through what might be called a ‘lens’ – may help us feel an affinity, confirming our identifies or strengthening a sense of belonging (all valid). But, that strategy also risks perpetuating a dualistic or Cartesian worldview, rather than addressing its limitations, by entrenching and underscoring separateness. And by perpetuating an atmosphere of tribalism.
Overcoming, undoing, moving beyond a fragmented, schizoid (Deleuze and Guattari, 2013) view is critical. That said, for life to exist, we are told there must be metabolism, replication and compartmentalisation. Compartmentalisation is a key feature of material and language (demonstrated here in my separation of materials and language).
Understanding and exploring this philosophy is what drives all my work. I was reminded of this earlier in the week when a friend posted something about farming and entanglement. I commented about how critical it is for society to unlearn the extreme separations that have become ‘natural’ in our perception, and that it doesn’t apply to farming alone, or any other sector, but to how we comprehend reality.
LAMELLA://
Lamella is a thin membrane like structure in biology. In manmade objects, it might be a rubber filament or a metal plate. It separates or filters.
The first definition of lamella in the dictionary is a thin layer, plate, or membrane, esp. any of the calcified layers of which bone is formed. Other definition of lamella is any of the spore-bearing gills of a mushroom. Lamella is also any of the membranes in a chloroplast.
(educalingo)
Lacan’s lamella:
“of what Lacan calls lamella, of the monstrous ‘undead’ object-libido.
The undead-indestructible object, Life deprived of support in the symbolic order.”
(NOSUBJECT.com – an encylopedia of Lacanian psychoanalysis)
**
NARRATIVES AND BODIES:
“People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it’s the other way around.” writes Terry Pratchett in Witches Abroad (2010). Terry Pratchett is a wonderful storyteller. But perhaps there is something not fully resolved. Stories do indeed shape us, but we also shape them. Furthermore, we believe the myths we tell ourselves about who we are. It’s a never-ending multi-stringed emergent and lively feedback loop.
In our age, it can feel almost impossible to NOT think of bodies and stories as separate objects and processes. Descartes is often blamed – the stories that emerged within and around Descartes’ era profoundly affected how Western humans see themselves and others. The Greeks, however, might also accept some responsibility for insisting on the schism between logic and intuition. It can be argued that the seeds for Cartesian doubt and the intense dualism that became entrenched in the seventeenth century were sown centuries ago, when patriarchy dug its calcified heels in.
Nevertheless, perhaps it is possible to overcome some of the extreme separations in our internal map of reality, and think of ourselves as a blend of narrative, flesh and devices. In fact, technology, despite all the difficulties it brings, may even be a threat to our dominant dualistic view (says Beth Singler in a podcast about robots (Campbell, 2021)). And technology writ large doesn’t necessarily only refer to objects and processes linked to machines or computers. Philosopher, Andy Clark considers language itself a technology (MacFarquhar, 2018).
Syliva Wynter’s On Being Human as Praxis explores this hybridity as clearly as anyone I have read:
the “first set of instructions” (genetic codes) and the “second set of instructions” (nongenetic codes) emerge; the study of the Word in this light is the study of an agency that functions according to the laws of nature and its genetically programmed “first set of instructions” (biological genetic codes) whose role in this bios/mythoi hybrid context is to neurochemically implement the “second set of instructions” (nongenetically chartered origin stories and myths).
McKittrick, K. (ed.) (2015) Sylvia Wynter: on being human as praxis.
Barad, K.M. (2007) Meeting the universe halfway: quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.
Brooks, M. (s.d.) Emergence: The mysterious concept that holds the key to consciousness. At: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25834382-300-emergence-the-mysterious-concept-that-holds-the-key-to-consciousness/ (Accessed 14/05/2023).
Campbell, D. (2021) ‘Patented: History of Inventions Beth Singler’. Available at: https://pod.link/1612089556/episode/f171a7193ee187efe75537061e28e353 (Accessed: 31 May 2022).
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (2013) A thousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia. 1. paperback ed. London: Bloomsbury (Bloomsbury *revelations series).
Pratchett, T. (2010) The discworld series. 12: Witches abroad / Terry Pratchett. Corgi ed., [Nachdr.]. London: Corgi Books (A Corgi book).
Capra, F. and Luisi, P. L. (2014) The systems view of life: a unifying vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
MacFarquhar, L. (2018) ‘The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark’, The New Yorker, 26 March. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/02/the-mind-expanding-ideas-of-andy-clark (Accessed: 30 May 2022).
McKittrick, K. (ed.) (2015) Sylvia Wynter: on being human as praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.
Sacks, O. (1990) ‘Neurology and the Soul | Oliver Sacks’ At: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1990/11/22/neurology-and-the-soul/ (Accessed 13/05/2023).
Williams, C. (2023) Why the mind-body connection is vital to understanding consciousness. At: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25834382-500-why-the-mind-body-connection-is-vital-to-understanding-consciousness/ (Accessed 13/05/2023).