| 3:59p |
Transhumanistic Tarot
Symbolism plays a large part in human life. Through symbols,
humans can communicate and codify their culture. If
transhumanism is to survive and expand, we have to create new
symbols which conform to our views and are able to convey
them. This is a half serious, half joking attempt to sketch
a transhumanistic tarot deck. The Tarot cards are loaded
symbols, which with surprising ease can be modified to
reflect our views. I would not be surprised if many people
would understand them better than any verbal explanation.
Note: these descriptions become much easier to understand if
compared to the cards. I have mainly based them on the
Rider-Waite deck, available at
ftp://lysita.lysator.liu.se/pub/magick/Tarot/Riderwaite_jpg
and other places on the net.
The Major Arcana:
The Fool: The Normal Human. Shows an ordinary person walking
towards a busy street, holding a shopping bag. He is reading
a tabloid and listening on his walkman, completely unaware of
the danger. A doomsayer tries to warn him while holding forth
his hand for payment.
The Magician: The Transhumanist. A man with an infinity sign
above his head stands behind a table. He points upwards with
one hand, and with the other he shows the tools on the table:
a computer, a credit card, a chemistry set, a book and a
mirror.
The High Priestess: The Environmentalist. Shows a woman
sitting between two trees, holding a petition against
pollution.
Empress: The Media. Shows a female talk-show host, sitting
with a microphone in a studio, looking at the camera.
Emperor: The Politician. A man in suit stands behind a podium
with lots of microphones, making a forceful speech.
Hierophant or Pope: The Fundamentalist Preacher. A priest
blessing kneeling believers, who offer money.
Lovers: Cooperation. A man and a woman exchanging goods.
Chariot: Boundless Expansion. Shows a man sitting in the
cockpit of a small spacecraft plotting his course on a
holographic screen.
Strength or Lust: Dynamic Optimism. Shows a man controlling
his fears in the shape of a lion (just like the original
card).
Hermit: Self Transformation. A man in lab coat stands inside
a cold storage room, holding a piece of DNA and looking at a
test-tube
Wheel of Fortune: Intelligent Technology. Shows the Net
expanding, with symbols flowing along the lines. Different
beings (agents, experts and AIs) circle it.
Justice: Spontaneous Order. An empty seat, above which hangs
a pair of scales in balance.
Hanged Man: Bureaucracy. Shows a man hanging in red tape in
front of a imposing office building.
Death: Cryonic Suspension. Shows several people being frozen
by cryonicists.
Temperance or Art: Rationality. A scientist carefully mixing
two substances and observing the results.
The Devil: Irrationality or Atavism. Shows a man/animal
hybrid wielding a club, and a man and a woman chained by DNA
chains to its feet.
The Tower: Crisis. An downward-pointing arrow from a
statistical diagram hits a skyscraper. A man and a woman in
suits fall out from the windows, spreading papers and
documents into the air.
The Star: Nanotechnology. A woman pours a solution of
nanomachines into a polluted lake, cleaning it, and onto the
ground, making flowers bloom. In the sky great diamond
structures shine.
The Moon: The O'Neill colony. The inside of a K3 colony, with
hills and buildings along the curved horizon. In the
foreground a cat, a dog and a lobster look up towards the
crescent of the Moon seen through one of the windows.
The Sun: The Dyson Sphere. A blazing sun partially surrounded
by a Dyson Sphere. In the foreground a small robot moves a
piece of solar collector towards its position.
Judgment or Aeon: The Singularity. Shows people being
awakened from cryonic suspension. In the background is a huge
bush-robot.
The World or Universe: Reality. Shows a person floating in
space with virtual reality gear.
Minor Arcana:
The minor arcana correspond to different sciences or
disciplines. I would like the court cards to be represent
central scientists or phenomena, while the lesser cards show
different applications (like two of swords as Encryption and
two of cups as medicine).
Wands: Philosophy, Psychology and Cybernetic Enchancements.
Also corresponds to the Strong Force and Self Transformation.
Cups: Complexity Theory, Biology, Economics and Artificial
Life. Also corresponds to the Weak Force and Spontaneous
Order.
Swords: Cognitive Science, Information Theory, Computer
Science and Mathematics. Also corresponds to Electromagnetism
and Boundless Expansion.
Pentacles: Chemistry, Nanotechnology, Physics and AI. Also
corresponds to Gravity and Intelligent Technology. |