Positioned in the Trinity of the Machines of Loving Grace
Written by Sophie Marx
Photograph taken by Emma Le Forestier
We find ourselves in a time of the holy trinity re-imagined, altering positions of power dynamics, dependence, and our own place within. Creation of nature and creator of machines, humanity has been placed and placed itself in a role of never before imagined impact, a burden we believe ourselves able to carry even in doubt, as our our abilities are too often perceived to act independently of the trinity. Yet, despite how we might collectively act, the only one of the three unable to exist alone is us, the fickle creation of humanity.
Imagine a world where we leave behind the machines we have built up – will the absence of us restore a sense of newfound harmony between the elements of nature and machines? A world where machines have lost their meaning and instead of existing in tandem with us, morph into nature as nature morphs into them. If we were to vanish, caused by forces greater than ourselves (or by our own doing!) I can see the roots and branches of trees and bushes lashing out peacefully, yet with force through open doors, windows and holes in the exterior of our previous homes. Our gardens and the strategically planted remnants of green in our cities and streets would be the first to rebel, to claim back their rightful space. Soon all aspects and elements of the natural realm would be closing in, closing the gaps of concrete heating up unbearably under the incandescent sun and joining together in a renewed whole where mammals and computers live together in a mutually programming harmony. Electronics, machines and furniture would be covered in ivy and moss, roots and fungal networks would be growing within them, connecting artificial intelligence and fauna into cybernetic meadows. Flowers then alongside mushrooms would spurt out of surfaces, windows and wooden floors. Distinctions and differences would no longer matter, as they become redundant with all parts of the physical world on earth morphing back into one - a unity. A unity excluding us?
Imagine a world where we are free of our labours and guided back to nature, a planet where machines and technology re-integrate themselves into the living world as would we, de-centred egos, redefining our place – would we morph back into nature, distance ourselves from futuristic ideas and re-imagine them instead as a machine of loving grace? Could we after all be a part of that unity?
Somewhere in the superior (if we choose to believe so) development of humanity we have left behind our roots, our identity entwined with nature and replaced the soul of our self with our creations in the shape of machines. We have become (if only in our minds) the gods we used to look up to, the deities our ancestors craving understanding saw integrated into the natural world and prayed to for help to understand their role in the composition of reality, space and time. In these most unnatural times, the elements of the trinity are shifting into a new composition as we speak, how can we find a state of existence, an equilibrium between the forces of the trinity? A mutually programming harmony.
It is upon us to preserve what was, humanity and human history while adapting and immersing ourselves in the new, welcoming a future even if our relationship to the word is turned upside down. It is a state of existence where we integrate ourselves into the tenses, realising that not only our own life span infuses the trajectory of our experiences. From the first particles emerging and evolving into elements, species progressing, society developing and the inventions of modern times advancing – all developments that have led us to this age have in active and passive ways been pieces of the domino effect that merged singular occurrences into an entity of influence over our beings.
Where do we position acceptance within the subjects surrounding us on the path to finding our place within the intricate, dichotomous network of nature and machines, where we as humans play both the part of the creator and creation, contributing to the advancement of the world around us when we have at the same time evolved to embody the main actor in its destruction. We are the meeting point, the middle ground between nature and machine yet without us (maybe then!) the other two might at last coexist peacefully, in synchronicity, when a balance without ego might emerge.
I am so fed up, I need to dream so hard and it's taking so much strength to imagine a world where we are joined back to nature, a peaceful participant in a world that harbours us.
I try to imagine a dystopian environment that we are a part of in which nostalgia could erupt - nostalgia that envelopes tenderness for the world around us to forge a path into acceptance. Can we recognise ourselves and our surroundings more clearly when we distort them, when we pick out and artistically frame single elements, such as moss from the garden we grew up in? Is it easier for us to understand the full picture that way- if we in fact ignore its complexity? Yet maybe the “truth” lies beside complexity. A single element highlighted focuses our attention on the primary cause for a sensation. Nostalgia alone incorporates many facets of the seen and unseen, experienced and imagined, an internal process erupting quietly into a vault of fondness and sadness combined into one. It can be an opportunity to process the past alone in our minds, view it in a new light infused with maturity to slowly edge towards acceptance through new-found tenderness. Imagined or not, whether it is the part of the machine-us that pushes a need to mechanically move on in a well-oiled process or our spiritual self, re-imagining inner harmony to forgive and grow we are influenced by both selves to exist in a torn, dystopian state of in-between.
My own connection to these two forces has always felt more natural with nature. Engrossed in the life I found in the shadows of the moss, under rocks and tree stomps, wood lice and toads in particular that I stared at in wonder and let crawl over my skin. I craved feeling the breeze on my face, climbing in trees and still my heart beats faster at the scent of flowers as I pass by the park. Holding on to our innocence and our hope, the optimism of childhood can transform into an air of impossibility as we proceed through life faced with challenges outside of ourselves as well as within. Easily it can all feel like too much. Since childhood I have found myself escaping into fantastical realms where not only I hold the control, but I can make sure that nothing bad could ever happen, where happiness has reached a state of the absolute. Walking on the tightrope between reality and fantasy, fears, absurdity, and history all claiming their parts in the web our minds spin to truly understand the present tense. It takes up much of my strength, days spent rotting in bed to quiet the steady flow of mysteries, thoughts morphing into creatures of their own, it can feel as if they are consuming me whether through their tendrils reaching out or the depth of a screen harbouring online worlds that often can seem much more real to us than reality consuming us.
The introduction to technology sparked my interest moderately, but our connection never took on a natural form. How could it have when its very existence is artificial, standing at opposition with the unfolding of the universe from primordial chaos to complex order. It is an anomaly, a deviation from the previously expected outcome that could be equated to a random variable, an unforeseen factor introducing randomness. Or maybe it is as its particle-developed counterparts a random variable, like any other element of evolution, unpredictable, yet coherent in the greater scheme of unknown destiny. Regardless, my own embracing of technology became an escape, a way to disassociate from myself and my surroundings that were emotionally wearing me down. I often think of how much happier not only I would be, but we as a collective society if technological progress, its overstimulation and fast pace was dialled back. Maybe then we could focus once again on a harmony in tune with our human selves. If one were to take us out of the equation, a mental experiment that does not pose existential dread (or rather threat!) to my existentialist mind, it would be an image of beauty- there would be these traces left of us, an eternal never decomposing reminder of our existence without prevailing relevance, these meaningless artefacts of humanity’s time on earth. Irrelevance would veil over everything, even the name of the celestial body housing us. Obsolete, as would we be once we cease to exist. Our creations would without us develop into parts of the ecosystem, changing it, yet not working against it as they outgrew their creator and become autonomous participants. Maybe that is the key to elementary harmony, receding our claim to name and pronounced meaning, cease our dominating need for control and let nature be. Yet, the question remains if that unity can exist with us as a part of a re-imagined trinity.