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future_fabulators:lucid_dreaming_a_storyworld [2014-06-02 15:01] – [What are the inhabitants problems and dreams] nik | future_fabulators:lucid_dreaming_a_storyworld [2014-07-23 09:47] – alkan | ||
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- | ==== Lucid Dreaming | + | ==== Lucid Dreaming |
Brief: using scenario methods to design one or more storyworlds that can be used for a physical narrative and possibly a prehearsal (or the combination of both); the physical narrative should be light and portable, to be used in a hotel room and an exhibition in Austria and Cluj in September and October, and possibly in Belgium in the autumn. This all sounds easy enough, until the second part of the brief is introduced: the process should be akin to lucid dreaming… | Brief: using scenario methods to design one or more storyworlds that can be used for a physical narrative and possibly a prehearsal (or the combination of both); the physical narrative should be light and portable, to be used in a hotel room and an exhibition in Austria and Cluj in September and October, and possibly in Belgium in the autumn. This all sounds easy enough, until the second part of the brief is introduced: the process should be akin to lucid dreaming… | ||
- | lucid dreaming: awareness of the fact that you’re dreaming | + | [[: |
- | * first thing to do is to broaden your awareness even before you fall asleep | + | * First thing to do is to broaden your awareness even before you fall asleep |
- | * asleep, dreaming - becoming aware of dreaming, observing it as it comes, without interfering | + | * Asleep, dreaming - becoming aware of dreaming, observing it as it comes, without interfering |
- | * gradually | + | * Gradually |
- | * make your own reality | + | * Make your own reality |
- | translation | + | Translation |
- | * opening | + | * Opening |
- | * non-predictive methods: KPU-framework, | + | * Non-predictive methods: KPU-framework, |
- | * interspersed | + | * Interspersed |
- | for participants: | + | For participants: |
- | + | * The methods used shouldn’t really matter. you also don’t have to know exactly what happens next: as in dreams, go with the Flow and try to be as open as possible | |
- | * the methods used shouldn’t really matter. you also don’t have to know exactly what happens next: as in dreams, go with the flow and try to be as open as possible. | + | * Today is less about "understanding exactly what’s going on" |
- | * today is less about 'understanding exactly what’s going on' | + | |
- | * if something feels uncomfortable or makes you insecure, try letting go of these feelings and approach every exercise with curiosity - "the beginners’ mind"; if it doesn’t work after a while, feel free to step out and take some distance for a while, then come back… | + | * If something feels uncomfortable or makes you insecure, try letting go of these feelings and approach every exercise with curiosity - "the beginners’ mind"; if it doesn’t work after a while, feel free to step out and take some distance for a while, then come back… |
- | * let your mind loose and watch your inhibitions melt away | + | * Let your mind loose and watch your inhibitions melt away |
- | * trust yourself, trust the people around you, trust the process | + | * Trust yourself, trust the people around you, trust the process |
Process: [[scenario_building_as_lucid_dreaming]] | Process: [[scenario_building_as_lucid_dreaming]] | ||
- | ==== What do we know? ==== | + | {{http:// |
+ | ==== What do we know? ==== | ||
+ | We know that there are a few objects in this world: | ||
+ | * Shoes | ||
+ | * Soft wool | ||
+ | * A heavy relationship with a father and family (not mother) | ||
+ | * Roses | ||
+ | * Mint | ||
+ | * Empty void | ||
+ | * A car key for a big car that can move lots of people | ||
+ | * Ice cube (melting) | ||
+ | * Ink and paint dribbling on pebbles | ||
+ | * A box | ||
+ | * Sparkling powder | ||
+ | * Dragonfly wings | ||
+ | * Small mechanical devices | ||
+ | * Bottle of gin | ||
+ | * A big and heavy photocopier | ||
==== What can we assume? ==== | ==== What can we assume? ==== | ||
+ | Knowing about the few objects originating in the world, there are a few things we might assume: | ||
+ | * It looks like a Victorian scene on Brighton beach | ||
+ | * There is a bar or multiple bars, where brightly coloured gin cocktails are important | ||
+ | * Dragonflies have wings | ||
+ | * Dragonflies might be larger than in our world, perhaps helicopter-sized | ||
+ | * The smells are heavy and sticky - a mix of shoes and roses… | ||
+ | * There might be an apothecary on a ship (a ferry?) at sunrise | ||
+ | * People might be sipping gin at sunset | ||
+ | * There is a magic box that can bring us things we want at any moment: the world has magical underpinnings and changing situations | ||
+ | * There is a dusty grave | ||
+ | * Tiny mechanical insects dance on an ice-cube | ||
+ | * One family lives in this world, they are cobblers with a shoe factory | ||
+ | * It's a non-plastic world | ||
+ | * People take drugs, sparkly ones | ||
+ | * There might be a large building, something like Cleopatra' | ||
+ | * There is an x-ray station and drivable photocopiers, | ||
+ | * The world is predominantly translucent, | ||
+ | * There are many large soft beds around, mobile, perhaps in cars; mother might be in the bed, with a bottle of gin | ||
+ | * Tools (some rusty) are scattered around the place | ||
+ | * There is a hornets' | ||
+ | * Nanotechnology rules the world | ||
+ | * It looks a bit like Neal Stephenson' | ||
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==== What would we like to know? ==== | ==== What would we like to know? ==== | ||
+ | About the world: | ||
+ | * Is it an apocalyptic world? | ||
+ | * Are there colours in the world? | ||
+ | * What happened to the sun and the atmosphere? | ||
+ | * How long is one day? | ||
+ | * What's wrong with this world? | ||
+ | * Would we like to live in this world? If yes, what would we recognise? | ||
+ | * Can we float in the water without getting poisoned? | ||
+ | * What is the purpose of fixed places? | ||
+ | * The places that smell of shoes and roses, are they dangerous? | ||
+ | About the inhabitants: | ||
+ | * What is the social interaction like? Communication, | ||
+ | * Is this society autocratic or anarchic? | ||
+ | * Are there humans around? Do they talk? What colour are their eyes? | ||
+ | * How long can you sleep? | ||
+ | * Whose grave is it? Why is it so dusty? Is the land poisoned? Why is no one there? | ||
+ | * For whom are the magical powers? | ||
+ | * What are the senses in this world? | ||
+ | * Who is drinking the cocktails? | ||
+ | * What are the consequences of alcohol and drugs? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | About the things in the world: | ||
+ | * What infrastructure is around? | ||
+ | * Do the roads lead to bars, or to Cleopatra' | ||
+ | * Why are the tools rusty? Are they used for fun or work? | ||
+ | * Are the magical powers fluid or mechanical? What is the technology behind the magic? | ||
+ | * Why are there large photocopiers? | ||
+ | * Where are the copies? | ||
+ | * How far can the mechanical helicopter fly? | ||
+ | * What's the colour of the shoes? | ||
+ | * Are roses and mint real or camouflage? | ||
+ | * Are there elephants, and if so, what colour? | ||
+ | * Is the grass marvelous? | ||
+ | * What are the sizes and relationships between the objects? | ||
+ | * How big is the ice cube? | ||
+ | * How big are the dragonflies? | ||
+ | * What is the brand of gin? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | {{> | ||
+ | //Known, assumed and unknown parts of the world// | ||
==== What does this world look like? ==== | ==== What does this world look like? ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | We have landed on an endless peninsula with a shoreline that is neither land nor sea. The shoreline is smooth in parts, rough in others, with waves breaking on rocks. The coastline is sprinkled with geothermal hotsprings, rigged with mechanical contraptions. The vegetation is weird - machinic and brown in most places, except for wide, green pockets of tumbleweed, propelled by mechanics. You can see them tumbling across the landscape in search of water, or rolling towards the golden centre. There is water everywhere on the coast, while the centre is barren and dusty. The coast is on the tropical equatorial, while moving in either direction towards the poles nothing but desert can be found. The wind sweeps from the coast inland, blowing orange dust and tumbleweed-like mechanical pockets of tropical nature across the peninsula. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The atmosphere hanging over this land of permanent sunrise and twilight is thick and woollen. It is never completely dark or light, but partakes of continuous gradients from golden orange to silvery sparkles. The sun and moon are visible at the same time. Light is heavy and laden with golden dust that accumulates in thick sediments on hidden graves. When darkness comes, the world sparkles. The air fills with mechanical insects collecting the sparkling dust as a drug. Aside from the buzzing of the insects at night, there is an eery noiseless quality to the peninsula. Occasionally the silence is pierced by small, medium and large voices, by faint dripping, drifting and echoing sounds. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Things are built rather than grown, there are canals lit by giant candelabra, the rolling hills are made of shoes. There are very few plants and animals around, and only in secret pockets of nature. Living flora and fauna, as well as and ancient human graves, are sought after by mechanical dragonflies, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The landscapes are surreal (from the dreamers’ points of view), unnatural and complicated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Across the floating peninsula hover many roads, all leading from the many gin distilleries to dusty cocktail bars. On the roads drive giant photocopiers that print spacious two-dimensional cars. One of the strangest contraptions on the peninsula is a floating palace that looks x-rayed under sunlight. From outside it appears like a translucent box standing on an ice-cube. From inside its walls are built of wood and x-rays, its windows are covered with leather. Its origins are unclear (there are conspiracy theories about whether it had been discovered or rebuilt). In the present there are only parts of the palace in use. One part is a newsagency, another - of course - a cocktail bar, from which all other bars are replicated. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | {{> | ||
==== Who are the inhabitants? | ==== Who are the inhabitants? | ||
* Cobblers | * Cobblers | ||
- | * Humans | + | * Humans |
* Survivors (of whatever happened) | * Survivors (of whatever happened) | ||
- | * Synthesized, | + | * Synthesized, |
* Ants | * Ants | ||
* The Owl People | * The Owl People | ||
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==== What are the characteristics of inhabitants? | ==== What are the characteristics of inhabitants? | ||
+ | Outward characteristics: | ||
* Shapeshifters | * Shapeshifters | ||
- | * Survivers of the various events | + | * Tall |
- | * Small groups | + | * Clean |
- | * Moving on, Nomadic | + | * Smelling of roses & mint |
- | * Curious | + | * Brown and colourful |
- | * Skinny | + | |
- | * Vain | + | |
- | * Addicted to continuous medical treatment & cleaning | + | |
* Sparkly | * Sparkly | ||
+ | * Skinny | ||
+ | |||
+ | Character traits: | ||
* Dreamy | * Dreamy | ||
* Tactile | * Tactile | ||
* Obsessive | * Obsessive | ||
- | * Brown | + | * Curious |
- | * Tall x2 | + | * Vain |
- | * Clean | + | * Agile, twitchy with access to boat-hooks |
- | * Smelling of Roses& | + | |
- | * Colourful | + | |
- | * Agile, twitchy with access to boathooks | + | |
* Tolerant & respectful | * Tolerant & respectful | ||
+ | * Survivors | ||
+ | * Addicted to continuous medical treatment & cleaning | ||
+ | |||
+ | Social structures: | ||
+ | * Small groups | ||
+ | * Moving on, nomadic | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
==== What do the inhabitants do? ==== | ==== What do the inhabitants do? ==== | ||
* Imbibe, sleep, drink, doze | * Imbibe, sleep, drink, doze | ||
- | * Drinking | + | * Drink cocktails in the sunset |
- | * Flying dragonflies, | + | * Flying dragonflies, |
* Live & have fun | * Live & have fun | ||
* Sleep a lot, hike, produce gin | * Sleep a lot, hike, produce gin | ||
* Talk to each other | * Talk to each other | ||
- | * Fix xray machines | + | * Fix x-ray machines |
- | * Climbing | + | * Climb trees of shoes |
* Make sugar out of anything they can find while drinking gin | * Make sugar out of anything they can find while drinking gin | ||
* Look for things to talk about them | * Look for things to talk about them | ||
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==== What tools do they use? ==== | ==== What tools do they use? ==== | ||
- | * detectors | + | * Detectors |
- | * tools made by imagination: | + | * Tools made by imagination: |
- | * vacuum | + | * Vacuum |
- | * carefully | + | * Carefully |
- | * nanotech | + | * Nanotech |
- | * replicators | + | * Replicators |
- | * crystal | + | * Crystal |
- | * algae & mushrooms | + | * Algae and mushrooms |
- | * carefully crafted hand tools | + | * Magnets |
- | * magnets | + | * Needles |
- | * needles | + | * Gas burners |
- | * gas burners | + | * Gloves |
- | * gloves | + | * Bags of spanners |
- | * bag of spanners | + | * Magic indistingushers (advanced tech) |
- | * magic indistingushers (advanced tech) | + | * Egg beaters |
- | * egg beaters | + | * Self-folding origami |
- | * self folding origami | + | * Ratchets |
- | * ratchets | + | * Syncopators |
- | * syncopators | + | * Parts of tools (modular toolkits) |
- | * parts of tools (modular toolkits) | + | * Photocopiers |
- | * photocopiers | + | |
==== Where are you, the dreamer? ==== | ==== Where are you, the dreamer? ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * On a boat | ||
+ | * In a tree | ||
+ | * On a dragonfly' | ||
+ | * Melting like an ice cube | ||
+ | * In a box | ||
+ | * Among inhabitants, | ||
+ | * In the middle of the world | ||
+ | * Moving in a two-dimensional, | ||
+ | * Outside of the world, taking an external, comicbook-style perspective | ||
+ | * In a tower amidst the woollen clouds, making photocopies of your favourite moments | ||
+ | * Operating mechanical devices | ||
- | ==== What are the inhabitants problems and dreams ==== | + | ==== What are inhabitants' |
- | **Problems include;** Forced idleness due to shapeshifting, inability | + | **Problems include;** |
+ | | ||
+ | * Inability | ||
+ | * Origami | ||
+ | * Rigid hierarchy | ||
+ | * Past life issues | ||
+ | * Gradual | ||
+ | * Scavenging | ||
+ | * People are skinny | ||
+ | * Sustenance | ||
- | **Dreams and Hopes include;** Loss of Vanity, | + | **Dreams and Hopes include;** |
+ | | ||
+ | * Living the High Life (in one shape) | ||
+ | * Shrinking | ||
+ | * Multiple | ||
+ | * Consistency | ||
+ | * Flights | ||
+ | * Riches | ||
+ | * Tolerance, freedom, peace | ||
+ | * A clean world | ||
+ | * Perpetuum mobile | ||
+ | * Swarm dreams (the ants) | ||
+ | * Being able to hold conversations with tools (the ants) | ||
==== What forces influence the inhabitants’ dreams and problems? larger systems? ==== | ==== What forces influence the inhabitants’ dreams and problems? larger systems? ==== | ||
+ | * Machines do (most of) the hard work, | ||
+ | * Unconditional basic income for all sentient beings | ||
+ | * Hierarchy of responsibility (related to resources) | ||
+ | * Fluid role rotation (esp. shapeshifters: | ||
+ | * ID trade: illicit trade in photocopied shape-identities | ||
+ | * Atmosphere Monitoring Facility | ||
+ | * Library: focused on story collecting | ||
+ | * Health maintenance centre: for body, imagination and semi-living tools | ||
+ | * Transient Minority Authority: for temporary shapeshifing fluctuations | ||
+ | * Bodyshapers Guild | ||
+ | * Oracles for inspiration | ||
+ | * Deity Generators | ||
+ | * Distillery Network | ||
+ | {{> | ||
+ | Social groupings: | ||
+ | * Dragonflies | ||
+ | * Shapeshifters | ||
+ | * ID Traders | ||
+ | * Owl People (navigators) | ||
+ | * Dragonfly Herders | ||
+ | * Tool Wranglers | ||
+ | * Twitchers (and brain hybrids) | ||
+ | * Health Practitioners | ||
+ | * Librarians | ||
+ | * Gardeners | ||
+ | * Old Plants | ||
+ | * Explorers | ||
+ | ==== What worldviews, civilisations and ideologies exist in this world? ==== | ||
- | {{>https://www.flickr.com/photos/ | + | * **Everything moves**: There are nomadic groups of explorers and anarcho-syndicalists in temporary social structures travelling in health-crazed technological vessels. In a moving, shifting world, individuals are responsible only for themselves. While people do things for themselves, they have a sense of being part of a " |
+ | * **Shortcuts to nirvana are available**: | ||
+ | * **Ceremonial religion-like systems are pervasive**: | ||
+ | * **Dragonflies must live: dust is life**: Mechanical insects are responsible for harvesting, herding and husbandry of semi-domesticated swarms of dragonflies, | ||
+ | * **Make your own world vs cultivate a life-supporting environment**: | ||
+ | * **Mutation is a survival mechanism**: | ||
+ | * **Machines do the hard work**: It is important to make (non-sentient) machines that can do the hard work, in order to keep up equality as an ideology for all sentient beings. Machines are also health practitioners responsible for keeping the population alive. | ||
+ | * **Shapeshifting is technology enabled reincarnation**: | ||
+ | * **Cultivate one life**: As there is no real death in a shapeshifting world, a cult of "one lifetime" | ||
- | {{> | ||
- | {{> | + | ==== What are the prominent myths and stories underlying the culture(s)? ==== |
+ | |||
+ | * A lot of chatter from different shapeshifters (incomprehensible to outsiders) | ||
+ | * Yearning for a long phase (owl time and jellyfish meditation) vs Life is a chain of short phases (dust consumption, | ||
+ | * The myth of "Tools can save us all" vs " | ||
+ | * Yearning for freedom: life without dust | ||
+ | * Equality is a jewel | ||
+ | * Twitchers are demons vs twitchers will save us all | ||
+ | * Myths of dying… | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | {{> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==== A day in the life of… ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | {{> | ||
+ | |||
+ | **A Twitcher' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As one of the inhabitants of the peninsula, we describe here the daily routine of a " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Our twitcher in question used to be a human being who worked for a long time in a health maintenance centre. He was surrounded by all sorts of creatures in his professional life and over time he developed a profound admiration for dragonflies. These creatures, graceful and intelligent, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Our twitcher, badly longing to become a dragonfly, happened to get stuck in a state between human and dragonfly. Although he looked like a dragonfly (except for a few remnant human features) and even produced dragonfly dust, the dust his body secreted had none of the environment-enhancing, | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the advantages of being trapped in this state twixt human and dragonfly was that he didn't loose his memory and consciousness of being a human as he came to full awareness of being a dragonfly - a benefit appreciated by others on the peninsula. On the one hand, he was a perfect supplier of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Being a Twitcher for only a short time, his daily routine looked something like the following. Waking up in the morning, still overwhelmed with dreams and memories of his former human phase, he proceeds to the library where these stories and dreams are written down. Only slowly getting used to the constant deduster machinery implants, he needs to take many breaks, and rests on those fluffy beds floating by. Being revered by longstanding Twitchers for his awareness of being two shapes, he searches for a position to take advantage of his knowledge in the form of a consultancy for prospective " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Castle that looks like Cleopatra' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **A Young Shapeshifter** | ||
+ | |||
+ | A normal morning for the clan, a big question for our juvenile protagonist. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Transcarnation | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is a yearning for adventure, a feeling for history, a sense of danger. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vessel Living | ||
+ | A clan of 28 persons. | ||
+ | A romance. | ||
+ | Our protagonist feels not taken seriously, wants to belong, wants to somehow prove their worth and worthiness. | ||
+ | An insider. | ||
+ | A need to improve contributions. | ||
+ | Wants to stay put, there are stories of dangers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the powder. Our protagonist has just receoived it with the morning dragonfly. Will they take it? | ||
+ | The moment: enjoying morning gin. This is breakfast. | ||
+ | The question: what to do next. Reflections upon the day ahead. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dear Diary. writing in a device. An action to organise thoughts. | ||
+ | Phasebook. | ||
+ | In the morning dragonfly a letter and a powder to slow the transition. The Transcarnation. | ||
+ | Morning Gin with lover, a colection of vines. Next transcarnation will be away from a state able to water them and care for them. Maybe not even able to be intertwined. But no fear, the clan will care for the vine. Nevertheless. | ||
+ | Can our protagonist make a decision for the vines as well? Togethernjess, | ||
+ | The Shiftreport. | ||
+ | The Dustr can hold on to him for a little while. | ||
+ | On the vessel, looking out over the lush landscape, sipping gin. The rest of the clan is asleep. Chatting with Inanimates. | ||
+ | That which is LUW - Lost Upon Waking. | ||
+ | Is consciousness a technology? | ||
+ | ==== Dreamers' | ||
+ | {{> | ||