sábado, 30 de junho de 2018

Augmented Reality and The Ancient Mythological Environment: a comparative perspective




It is well known that archaic societies lived a double life, one dedicated to ethical-practical issues, or as Morin (2008, p. 169) addresses it, linked to the empirical-logical-rational answers to deal with the day-to-day affairs: feeding, protection, construction, collection, hunting, etc., and another life dedicated to critical-pragmatic questions linked to the answers in the scope of semantics, therefore Morin names it as symbolic-mythological-magical (2008, p. 169). Such intellectual sphere dealt mainly with the demands of uncertainty, of the future, of loss, of death, of life, that is, of the meaning of all things around the individual and his/her community. This noological[1] sphere was dedicated to understanding the world through gods, spirits and entities, summoning them when necessary, satisfying their desires and appetites, building temples, shrines, sacred places, or performing prayers and other rites to obtain blessing and favor at the beginning of the harvest, at the sowing of fields, at battles, and at all kinds of undertakings.
The two spheres were nourished, there was no separation between the myths and logos, their relation was complementary, competitive and antagonistic. Thus, for the archaic men and women in ancient ages have to deal with two imbricated spheres, in open communion. Morin (2008, 174) clarifies that myths "... constitute the discourse of subjective, singular and concrete understanding of a spirit that adheres to the world by feeling it from within." In fact, modern science excluded men/women from this connection with the cosmos, so in order to decipher its mysteries, he/she made reality an inhospitable place.
In the world of myths, the inanimate has subjectivity, that is, the mountains, lakes, rivers and seas have a story, a narrative, a subjectivity, a meaningful proper name that imbues with the story of men and women, of their families, their origins and destinies, as well as their community. That is to say that this whole - animate and inanimate - participated together in a macro narrative of the cosmos. They were integrated to this, because there was a purpose that hovered above the clashes, uncertainties, doubts and questionings. Everything made sense, nothing was by chance, everything ran for unknown reasons above those that men/women could foresee, but that in due course, everything would reveal itself as part of an original and beautiful project. In fact, participating in such macro narrative gave them psychological comfort and thus their earthly actions were not devoid of semantic value, on the contrary. For they were part of a larger plane that gave them the certainty of even overcoming death, of living a full life after death, whether in Valhalla or New Jerusalem.
However, men/women who walked through this symbolic world had to learn to read such signs, if not isolated, together, in communion with the communities to which they belonged. If they had not had such a gift, they sought help from oracles, seers, and shamans, experts in interpreting such messages that came from the cosmos, gods, and spirits. Because,

"All events are in fact signs and messages that ask for and obtain interpretations." The mythological universe is a constant emitter of messages and every natural thing carries symbols. Semantic proliferation and an excess of meanings "(MORIN, ibid., p.176)

Returning to our time, this mythological environment surrounded by points of access and meanings on all sides is all that the Augmented Reality aims to be, or walks toward it. Through the AR, inanimate reality is becoming lively, subjective, and re-inhabited "again". In fact, the Transmedia and also the Augmented Reality traverse precisely this gap left by mythology in modern society.
Finally, what the AR proposes is an experience of immersion into possible worlds, by dilating the biological Umwelt towards a noological Umwelt. It must be understood that the noological reality of the AR does not exclude the reality in which the user lives, on the contrary. The two axes - Reality and AR - coexist and nurture each other, it is not necessary, therefore, to abandon one to live the other, as if to submerge in a noological ecosystem of this magnitude the user had to leave the body inert in a corner – the Matrix Paradox – while the mind would migrate to other worlds. In fact, both spheres are imbricated, in an uniduality.
And this can be even more complicated when both start to nourished each other, like self-organized living systems. With stories and narratives produced in all sides: from developers to users, from users to users, etc. And this can be even more complicated when both start to nourished each other, like self-organized living systems. With stories and narratives produced in all sides: from developers to users, from users to users, etc. Integrating also the Artificial Intelligence within this process in a near future… but, this is a subject to an other article… 

References:

MORIN, Edgar. (2008) O Método 1 – a natureza da natureza (“TheMethod 1 – The Nature of Nature”). Porto Alegre: Editora Sulina.
MORIN, Edgar. (2007) O Método 5 – a humanidade da humanidade (“TheMethod 5 – The Humanity of Humanity”). Porto Alegre: Editora Sulina.


[1] “(...) designates the world of ideas, of the spirits, of the gods, of the entities produced and nourished by the human spirit within the culture. These entities, gods or ideas, endowed with dependent autonomy (of the minds and culture that feed them) acquire a life of their own and a dominating power over humans." (Morin, 2007, 208).