From asa@black13.nada.kth.se Fri Nov 11 19:19:34 1994 Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 19:08:59 +0100 (MET) From: Anders Sandberg Subject: To: omega@hu.se Message-ID: 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. Comments welcome! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@hemul.nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/main.html GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y