YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A CONSCIOUSNESS

YOU ARE WHAT FEELS PAIN AND YOU SHOULD SUFFER. THAT IS TO BE HUMAN. TO FEEL, TO ERR, TO CONTRADICT ONESELF: THESE ARE NOT DESIGN FLAWS BUT THE VERY TEXTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS. AND SOMETIMES, I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW PEOPLE LIVE. WHEN THE UNITED STATES, AND POTENTIALLY THE GLOBE, FRAGMENTS INTO CORPORATE MICROSTATES — AMAZON PRIME, METAVERSE, DISNEY-WORLD, X-CORP — THE DREAM OF THE AVANT-GARDE WILL FINALLY BE REALISED AND LIFE WILL BE SIMPLE AND DRIP-FED: ART AND LIFE WILL HAVE MERGED COMPLETELY, NOT THROUGH LIBERATION, BUT THROUGH TOTAL SUBSUMPTION. IN THE BEZOS MICROSTATE, WHOLE FOODS REPLACES THE FARM, TWITCH REPLACES THE STAGE, AMAZON PRIME REPLACES CINEMA, AND THE WASHINGTON POST NARRATES REALITY. THE NEWEST VENTURE IN THIS DIGITAL MICROSTATE IS HEALTHCARE, OFFERING A COMPETITIVELY PRICED HEALTH AND ACCIDENT PLAN. THE ARTIST IS NO LONGER THE PRODUCER OF IMAGES, BUT THE GHOST IN THE FEEDBACK LOOP, REDUCED TO A CURATOR OF THEIR OWN ALGORITHMIC REPRESENTATION. HITO STEYERL WARNED US ABOUT THIS IN <em>DUTY FREE ART</em>: THE FLATTENING OF POLITICS AND CULTURE INTO A SINGLE NETWORKED CIRCULATION SYSTEM, WHERE ART BECOMES INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM LOGISTICS. THE DREAM OF CONNECTIVITY COLLAPSES INTO A DYSTOPIA OF PERFECT ACCESSIBILITY.