Paper title: Syncretic Post-Biological Identity: Hybridising Mixed Reality Data TransferSystems

2. • Media&Art&
• Internet&Studies&
• Audio&Engineering&and&Communica5ons&
• Biological&Science&
• Computer&Science&

3. • Deleuze's&transla5on&of&Bergsonism,&par5cularly&
regarding&intui5ve&method&is&a&fundamental&
considera5on&within&crea5ve&produc5on,&be&it&
programming,&scien5fic&inquiry&or&crea5ve&media&
prac5ce.&For&Deleuze,&intui5ve&thought&is&more&like&a&
narra5ve&than&an&instantaneous&‘eureka’&moment."In"
order"to"understand"Deleuzian"intui1on"it"is"important"
to"situate"it"within"the"Bergsonian"departure"from"a"
structuralist"no1on"of"reality"in"terms"of"space,"in"
favour"of"the"metaphysical"idea"that"reality"should"be"
understood"in"terms"of"1me.&For&Deleuze,&intui5on&
"reconcatenates&thought&to&beings&as&the&coKpresence&of&
a&being&of&the&simulacrum&and&of&a&simulacrum&of&
Being."&&

4. • My"Research"offers"a"contribu1on"to"an"emerging"
culturally"orientated"discourse"regarding"syncre1c,"
hybridized"agency,"par1cularly"in"mixed"reality"data"
transfer"systems."Recent"developments"in"bridging"
autonomous"rela1onships"with"digital"representa1on"
through"mixed"reality"interfacing,"have"brought"about"
the"need"for"further"analysis"of"these"new"‘postC
biological’,"hybridized"states"of"being"that"traverse"
tradi1onal"paradigms"of"1me"and"space."Roy"AscoF’s"
concept"of"syncre1sm"may"facilitate"further"
understanding"of"mul1Clayered"world"views,"both"
material"and"metaphysical,"that"are"emerging"from"our"
engagement"with"such"pervasive"computa1onal"
technologies"and"postCbiological"systems."Syncre1sm"
has"tradi1onally"been"regarded"as"an"aFempt"to"
harmonise"and"analogise."&

5. • Ci1ng"recent"examples"of"prac1cal"
research"outcomes,"this"research"
analyses"what"Gilles"Deleuze"and"Fèlix"
GuaFari"have"called"‘deterritorialisa1on’"
of"the"human"body"through"its"
dispersion"throughout"mul1ple"reality"
manifesta1ons"and"how"mixed"reality"
data"transfer"might"cons1tute"a"
‘reterritorialising’"effect"on"syncre1c"
postCbiological"digital"iden1ty"
construc1on."""

7. • It&is&a&popular&belief&that&we&are&now,&through"a"
media"convergent,"par1cipatory"culture"(that&is&
integrated&socially&through&a&sub&network&of&
plaMorms)&crea1ng&what&was&first&coined&in&
1997&as&collec%ve'intelligence!by&Pierre&Lévy,&
which&exists&in&a&‘global&village’&of&knowledge&
(data)&transfer.&This"perspec1ve"evades"
tradi1onal"mythological"no1ons"of"
anthropomorphic"interac1on"as"it"moves"
beyond"the"individual"and"into"a"universal"
model"of"open"access"

8. Steigler&and&Promethean&Alchemy&

9. • Networked&agency&destabilises&tradi5onal&
orthodoxies&of&thought&through&challenging&
no5ons&of&representa5on,&confron5ng&
materialism,&accelera5ng&and&smoothing&social&
engagement&and&most&importantly,&demanding&
par5cipa5on&in&these&open&systems&of&
collabora5ve&engagement.&This&has&redefined&
our&understandings&of&consciousness&and&
presence&in&way&that&requires&rethinking&
everything&from&spirituality,&5me&and&space,&
esotericism,&agency,&emergence,&quantum&
coherence&through&to&ero5cism.&&

10. • It"is"in"Deleuze's"dis1nc1on"between"
different"degrees"of"'power'"that"I"see"
Bergsonism,"that"is,"the"intui1ve"method,"
and"Steigler's"technics"coming"together."In"
looking"at"'power'"one"must"dis1nguish"
between"the"two"French"words"puissance"
and"pouvoir.&&

11. • "In"social"terms,"puissance"is"immanent"
power,"power"to"act"rather"than"power"to"
dominate"another;"we"could"say"that"
puissance"is"praxis"(in"which"equals"clash"or"
act"together)"rather"than"poiesis"(in"which"
others"are"maFer"to"be"formed"by"the"
command"of"a"superior,"a"sense"of"
transcendent"power"that"matches"what"
pouvoir"indicates"for"Deleuze)”K&Steigler&&

12. Terra(Socio)Sonica:"Pouvior"Piussance"

16. What&my&projects&aim&to&aritculate&
• Innova5ve&actualisa5ons&of&realK5me&data&
transfer&systems&that&incorporate&biological&
informa5on&and&mixed&reality&applica5ons&as&
ar5s5c&mediums&are&a&crea5ng&a&new&no5on&
of&postKbiological&digital&iden5ty.&&

17. • PostKBiological&Discourse&Defined&in&
Reference&to&Real&Time&Networked&Data&
Transfer&
• PostCbiological,"in"this"sense,"refers"to"a"redefini1on"of"
the"embodied"subject"which"encompasses"their"loca1on"
in"virtual"environments"as"well"as"in"the"physical."This"
involves"the"crea1on,"through"art"prac1ce,"of"what"we"
might"term"autonomous"agents"that"are"born"from"data"
but"which"take"on"the"appearance"of"bioCforms"and"thus"
become'embodied."At"the"same"1me"these"agents"are"a"
differen1al"embodiment"of"the"‘bodies’,"which"first"
generated"that"data"in"their"everyday"ac1vi1es.""

18. ROY&ASCOTT’S&PARADIGM&&&

19. In"regards"to"real"1me"digital"par1cipa1on"
this"thinking"interrogates"the"meaning"and"
consequences"of"the"possibility"of"such"
‘agents’"and,"in"doing"so,"enables"us"to"
ques1on"the"no1on"that"informa1on,"once"
extracted"from"the"embodied"self"and"placed"
within"a"computer"system,"becomes"
‘bodiless’."In"posing"that"ques1on"we"
discover"that,"contrary"to"what"we"might"at"
first"assume,"data"is"also"embodied.&&

20. Embodied&Informa5on&&
• The&existence&of&‘embodied&informa5on’,&linked&
to&and&yet&not&the&same&as&embodied&selves,&
creates&an&interface&through&which&humans&
nego5ate&their&iden55es&across&the&boundaries&
of&different&reality&states,&more&or&less&virtual,&
and&yet&always&involving&the&mapping&or&wri5ng&
of&that&iden5ty&onto&‘a&body’.&By"having"bodies"
both"material"and"virtual,"humans"have"become"
postCbiological"even"as"their"biology"remains"the"
primary"point"of"reference"for"the"data"
gathering,"which"enables"this"transi1on"to"
occur.&&

21. REDEFINING&DELEUZE&AND&GUATTARI&
IN&REGARDS&TO&AGENCY&AND&REAL&
TIME&VIRTUAL&SIMULATIONS&
&
• In&Difference!and!Repe--on!Deleuze&introduces&the&
no5on&of&deterritorialisa5on&(through&dispersion)&as&a&
“dark&precursor”&that&“relates"heterogeneous"systems"
and"even"completely"disparate"things.”"In"order"for"
deterritorialisa1on"to"occur"there"must"be"some"form"
of"agent"that"can"remain"constant"and"selfCreferent.&
Deleuze&and&Guatarri&state&that:&“The"alignment"of"the"
code"or"linearity"of"the"nucleic"sequence"in"fact"marks"
a"threshold"of"deterritorialisa1on"of"the"“sign”"that"
gives"it"a"new"ability"to"be"copied&and&makes&the&
organism&more&deterritorialised&than&a&crystal:&only"
something"deterritorialised"is"capable"of"reproducing"
itself.”""

22. REDEFINING&DELEUZE&AND&GUATTARI&
IN&REGARDS&TO&AGENCY&AND&REAL&
TIME&VIRTUAL&SIMULATIONS&
• Virtual"reality’"s"hybridiza1on"with"physical"and"biological"
&
architectures"is"constructed"by"the"methods"used"to"connect"
the"environments.&The"combina1on"and"cohesion"of"
heterogeneous"elements"is"generally"problema1c,&
par5cularly&when&a&three&dimensional&space&is&primarily&
viewed&on&a&two&dimensional&plane.&The"integra1on"of"virtual"
elements"and"physical"environments"relies"on"bridging"the"
two"spaces"with"dynamic"interfaces"that"are"simultaneously"
accessible"and"able"to"be"openly"engaged"with,"edited"and"
developed."To"create"integra1on"systems"that"network"
physical"and"virtual"data"shared"loca1ons"are"required"in"
order"to"represent"the"data"in"a"meaningful"way,"that"is"
inclusive"of"both"environments.&&

23. ORGANTRADER2010&

25. ROY"ACOTT"AND"SYNCRETISM"
• pathway:&>cyberne5c&>telema5c&
>syncre5c&
• mindset:&reac5ve&>interac5ve&
>psychoac5ve&

28. CONTEXTUALISING&SYNCRETIC&POSTK
BIOLOGICAL&DIGITAL&SYSTEMS&AND&
IDENTITY&
• All&virtual&environments&uses&a&a&form&of&
agent&to&navigate&users&through&the&space.&
While&these&are&usually&controlled&by&the&user&
(avatars&can&of&course&be&automated&and&lei&
on&their&own,&plus&there&are&bots&etc&being&
regularly&created&and&used),&they&func5on&as&
independent&to&their&‘master’&and&are&
therefore&autonomous.&&

29. CONTEXTUALISING&SYNCRETIC&POSTK
BIOLOGICAL&DIGITAL&SYSTEMS&AND&
IDENTITY&
• While&they&may&lose&their&func5on&without&a&
user,&agents&do&s5ll&exist&as&digital&data/
archives&and&oien&experiences&with&such&
en55es&are&remembered&independently&of&
any&knowledge&of&the&viewer.&&

30. Avatars&represent&a&transient,&con5nually&altered&
• iden5ty,&usually&that&of&its&author&and&acts&as&an&
agent,&through&which&users&can&engage&with&
virtual&plaMorms.&This&becomes&par5cularly&
interes5ng&in&unique&autonomous&systems&where&
par5cipants&can&physically&interact&with&a&virtual&
deterritorialised&‘self’&and&mediate&it&through&
physical&engagement.&The&dispersion&of&mul5ple&
autonomous&virtual&agents&via&mixed&reality&
constructs&in&expands&deterritorialisa5on&to&
include&reterritorialisa5on,&by&facilita5ng&a&
dispersive&rela5onship&between&the&body&and&its&
virtual&selfKreferent.&

31. • In"the"same"way"that"a"digital"device"
deterritorialises"and"reterritorialises"
informa1on"through"binary"code,"the"
augmenta1on"of"an"autonomous"agent"into"a"
shared"space"with"the"body,"creates"new"
opportuni1es"for"inves1ga1on"into"
technology,"the"body"and"iden1ty.""

32. • The"advent"of"nanobiology"has"called"
for"a"rethinking"of"Hayles"and"
Harraways’"postChuman"discourse"
through"it"shibing"our"percep1on"of"
organisms"from"micro"to"nano"scale.""

33. • Today"nanotechnology"exists"as"a"living"
sensa1on"of"the"future"of"human"existence:"In"
Milburn’s"words,"“[A]"bodily"registra1on"of"
poten1al"for"global"change.”"Brian"Massumi"
states,"“The"body,sensor"of"change,"is"a"
transducer"of"the"virtual.”"Through"exis1ng"in"
these"virtual"representa1ons,"that"are"directly"
linked"to"living"bioC"systems,"we"effec1vely"
sense,"feel"and"think"in"a"way"that"hybridizes"
the"virtual"with"scien1fic"inquiry,"and"
therefore"we"require"a"discourse"that"
addresses"how"this"does"in"fact"make"us"postC
biological.""

34. “Just"as"cyberne1cs"analogizes"
differences"between"systems,"so"
syncre1sm"finds"likeness"between"
unlike"things."Syncre1c"thinking"
breaches"boundaries"and"subverts"
protocols."Thinking"out"of"the"box,"
tes1ng"the"limits"of"language,"
behaviour"and"thought"puts"the"
ar1st"on"the"edge"of"social"norms"
but"at"the"centre"of"human"
development.”"CAscoF""

35. • As"art"is"fundamentally"an"ar1cula1on"of"the"
human"condi1on"it"can"therefore"be"said"that"
syncre1sm"is"also"a"valid"method"for"analysing"
iden1ty"within"the"postCbiological"discourse."If"
we"are"indeed"postCbiological"then"we"must"
exist"in"syncre1c"mixed"reality"state."The"
hybridisa1on"of"augmented"reality"and"virtual"
environments"with"physical/biological"systems"
calls"for"a"rethinking"of"not"only"posthuman"
ideologies,"but"also"the"way"that"cyberne1c"
systems"func1on.""

36. • Through"the"crea1on"of"systems"that"
engage"the"viewer"in"a"hybridized"
par1cipatory"interac1on"with"mixed"
reality"data"transfer,"these"no1ons"of"
deterritorialisa1on,"reterritorialisa1on,"
syncre1sm"and"post"biological"iden1ty"
can"be"explored"in"a"more"intui1ve"and"
involved"fashion.&&