F D
I wish that the structure of the house, the individual layers of the space of the E AREA project could create a sort of neurological system which would have its own geometrical rules. It would be something like a cellular organism, interconnected with the logic of a biological structure. The successive rooms would have their cosmic proportions, the so‐called architecture of space energy, forming a type of molecular structure. The construction will be based on the mathematical model of a black hole – which means, for me, a halt in a point of the presence – timelessness.
Z N
Black holes are usually compared to cosmic maelstroms (sea vortices). Indeed, such a relationship makes good sense, and moreover it is a process inverse to the creation of the universe. A certain moment ceases to exist, symbolizing entry into the absolute elsewhere. A black hole is defined as a purely mathematical model, and that, at the abstract level, brings it close to the seraphs of medieval theology.1 The fact that the mathematical model is taken as a symbol here is rather appropriate, because a live simulation of reality – virtual reality – is a purely mathematical construct. I would emphasize the aspect that a man entering your house actually never comes back. When we pass through to somewhere we enter into the absolute elsewhere, and even though the new environment would seem to us like our reality, like our world, it would not actually be our world. The mathematical form for the funnel of your house E AREA, which limits the house and has its own singularity,2 could by itself break the modern concept that everything is immersed in a shared, common space – such as entering a house, the penetration of a body in a dissection room, of descending into a cell in the microscopic dimension. The fact that it is very natural for us to sit in this place with our guts – which obviously, however, do not fit here, somehow – is a prejudice with which we were indoctrinated: the prejudice that the world is one universal aquarium in which everything exists, and therefore everything can be opened by us. On the other hand, the geometry of black holes may help us to destroy the idea that we have been introduced to some sort of sub‐space which totally separated and isolated us from the exterior space. In this respect it is interesting that sheet windows came into use only with the discovery of perspective. As a matter of fact, your project is an autonomous, peculiar world in which one sees from a certain point that there exists “somewhere else”. That is why I would rather speak of a world than a house.
F D
Last time we discussed holonomous (holophonic) space5 – a sphere inside which a man, moving in the virtual reality, sees himself, which is one of the chief themes of my project (although it is very difficult to represent this visually). I think that it would be important for the man standing in the middle of the sphere to perceive the same as a sphere, without any obvious changes, i.e. seeing the internal envelope of the sphere, but simultaneously to see himself as seven microcosmic energetic fields. If he were to touch the sphere he would find that the internal envelope of the sphere is nothing more than a plasma, or rotating air cyclone, or quantum of photons. The space inside could also be changed interactively, i.e. by shaping its geometrical character to correspond to the individual simulated elements within this “holophonic” space.
Z N
I once expressed the idea that Western science is just one of the variants of knowledge dealing with the external world and with the objective aspect of reality. However, science pursued, for example, in the tradition of Tibet, concentrates instead on the exploration of the internal world – and it is a science as well, not just mysticism, because a tradition of passing and taking up, which is the key attribute of a true science, appears there. There are traditions which teach their novices to reach a certain experience which can subsequently be developed. An analogous situation can be found In the West – a pupil acquires certain knowledge, certain rules in math and physics, but nevertheless he must be initiated into the odd aspects of quantum theory (even though he is able to rationalize it).
One system speaks of particles, the other of elements, the third of energy points. I would be happy to demonstrate that all these attitudes are just individual, different approaches, different pathways towards knowledge, where none of the focuses, whether on structure, order etc. could pretend to be the most important one, the true and correct one; some of them are just auto‐illusions, psychoses, imagination. There is a chance for people to choose from among different methods of knowledge of the internal experience: the hermetic method, the method of Renaissance science, and the traditional modern age method. To experience the quantum world of organic macromolecules6 would be a lovely experience, experience of a world which no one has so far touched and which most people, even though they are familiar with the concepts, are unable to understand. We count on these entities in our thinking but nobody thinks it through to the end. Organic macromolecules are simply things which do not have a solid surface, for their surface is dependent on the probability of the distribution of electrons, and when an interaction occurs the whole system may be transformed and/or may collapse. Enzymes work on this principle. Under certain types of impulses, they change their forms, thereby, consequently, changing the whole micro‐space. These are matter‐of‐fact data but nevertheless, if I were to discuss them with even the most pro‐mechanics microbiologist he would reply that he knows there are no sticks and wires, but he would continue thinking in terms of stick and wires. In brief: nobody has ever touched it, and even though we have an idea of the thing, nobody has created VR visualization yet. Still, this would be an imitation only, but at least it would give the opportunity to experience something not tied to Euclidean space. And even though such an experience would mean nothing more than a strange plasticity of changes in reaction to the slightest impulse, I could very well imagine that people would experience something which absolutely had not been included in their concepts before, in particular, when being able to descend to other geometrical virtual spaces, to the cells you mentioned. I am a molecular biologist, so this is exactly whatI am crazy about. I think it would be extremely interesting to experience the vast dynamics of molecular transformation (but I don’t mean it in the sense of hopping like a midget over the organelles).
F D
I believe it would be interesting to show this interactively, i.e. with virtual touch causing changes in shapes. The transfer of certain information in human bodies is also made on the basis of electrochemical reactions, and very interesting connections occur. The surface of cells is dependent on the distribution of electrons and the shape of the macromolecule reacts to any intervention in their inter‐relations.
Z N
That would be excellent. I think the fact itself of implementing something which is known but which cannot be visualized is very interesting. The computer‐simulator treats the form as a single entity and it does not care about how it screens it. It would be interesting to visualize such a cloud of strangely de‐localized being.
F D
In this sense, one idea particularly deserves to be stressed: that this cloud is an independent microcosm – a universe.
Z N
It really does, but at the same time it would be important to suppress the imagination in these visualizations. The visualization should instead illustrate various directions, ways. It should depart from a point identical to the reality we know and further continue, for example, in a cermetic way (the elements and their movement) and in molecular, atomic and quantum ways. The crucial point is to generate an attitude showing that the same way may be displayed in different manners. I realize now that professor Ivan Havel is preoccupied with the same problem. The approach to the world of molecules, atoms and elements is nothing other than a model in my own mind, i.e. virtual reality. Naturally, it would not be possible to both visualize and understand this at the first attempt. It is similar to the situation when we get accustomed to a new language or art image, look into a microscope etc. It came to my mind that in this connection, it would be interesting to connect such visualization with figurative art, which would be an interesting way to abstraction. This would be an interesting attitude for understanding great pieces of art. Also it would be interesting to perceive the world of animals and plants from the inside. The internal experience, as they feel it, for example, in a relief manner, echolocation reflection etc. It would be good to erode the traditional idea that the eye is only a camera obscura
F D
I think that we face here a very interesting moment of negation of perspective. I got the idea that the device which is scanning the movement of the eyes of a person moving inside VR in fact evaluates the sight of that person – i.e. evaluates on which object, form and/or point the person is focusing or concentrating, and thereby selects for the person what is most important from the real world. Moreover, this may be made technically in such manner that if the person keeps his or her sight focused on a certain point or spot, that spot will approach the person, will zoom in, i.e. will become more important than the rest of the space. Similar to orthodox church icons, the perspective is turned towards us and the essential symbols are larger in size. In fact, this is the original state which is possible to revive!