Living in a Box The lack of space experienced in many countries coupled with innovative architects makes for some Alpha Complex-like prospects, seeking to “maximize urban density, construct artificial natures, [and] let data-crunching computers do the design workâ€.
This article, focussed on the work of architectural fim MVRDV, proposes all sorts of tweaks to urban and rural design, with impacts on the human population and beyond. MVRDV’s designs allow for the likes of “sustainable 40-story tower blocks for … pigs … piling up the country’s porcine population and its slaughterhouses into sod-layered, manure-powered skyscrapers†and concepts where “all the housing, retail and industry for a theoretical city of one million inhabitants [can be] digitally compressed into the space of a three-mile-high cubeâ€. Sink that cube into the ground under a dome – and what do you have?
Some of the buildings MVRDV has created – like these – have a hint of PARANOIA about them from the outset. Check out slides 5 (RED Clearance) and 7 (GREEN Clearance), or slide 4 where the security clearances assigned could well lead to some problems getting to work…
The MVRDV vision of a crowded future cries out Alpha Complex, while instilling an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia in the reader. Future cities would exist:
“…not only in front, behind or next to you, but also above and below. In short a city in which ground-level zero no longer exists but has dissolved into a multiple and simultaneous presence of levels where the town square is replaced by a void or a bundle of connections; where the street is replaced by simultaneous distribution and divisions of routes and is expanded by elevators, ramps and escalators…â€
A Study in Paranoia It would appear that the extent of real world paranoia varies considerably, as a recent study with a virtual underground ride has shown, and can turn the most benign environment into a harrowing, stress-filled experience. PARANOIA portrays a world where The Computer constantly bumps citizens up to the eyeballs with seditives and suppressants to keep them in order, which should meana perfect world. However, this study would seem to suggest the human mind, in a certain state, can make even the neutral seem outright threatening.
Motivational Timekeeping Seems to me that this would be the perfect timepiece for the average Troubleshooter. No point trying to fool yourself!
Current Patch Job I need to get out more… I seem to find far too much mileage returning to the New Scientist home page again and again. This time – current controlled drug delivery from a specially treated patch (got to love the double meaning of that article title!). Current on – material breaksdown and drug enters the body; current off – material stops breaking down. Perfect. Seems like an ideal way to handle baseline hormone suppressent delivery because the patch could be constructed to react to very specific low level current delivered through a chair or the floor or something. Food and water could be laced with top-up medication as appropriate, but sub-dermal patches or slivers (delivered by needle gun or ice splinter projectile) could handle the basic necessities of keeping the population under control. The rate we’re moving Year 214 may not be so far away…
It’s Flexitime The flexible display offers considerable potential in offering continuous output through unusual mediums. While email and news delivered through your coffee mug might be a little off the wall, what could HPD & MC or PLC do with similarly flexible media to engage citizens in the expanding Alpha Complex economy? Having cups flogging Just-Like-Goat flavored algae snacks or boots praising Cool You kelpshakes with added tetraphenylchlorometasilicate could become a might distracting in the middle of a firefight or a tense negotiation with twitchy Commie mutant traitors. You would be hard pressed telling The Computer that you missed a news bulletin about mandatory happiness enhancement sessions down at the local reactor if the damned thing just got broadcast over every standard issue holster or belt in the sector.
Really, Friend Computer, I must have missed that message while we pursued the traitors, undercover, through the NKD Sector’s officially sanctioned Happy Loyal Naturists Parade…