# A Vessel

[Open call](unitofplay.org/2020/11/17/after-progress-stories/)

**Short Abstract/Pitch (What's the story about?)- 300 words max**

“Tanka Tanka! It’s the time of year again. Again together we come, recounting the cautionary tales of the long Shadow Age so that we don’t repeat our mistakes.
My friends, the Event was the watershed, a wakeup call to those who lived and faltered before our times.
They finally came to see that despite the fact that we could build those gigantic, sophisticated machines to kill, we couldn’t defend ourselves from the mindless invasion of a tiniest infectious agent that our eyes are too weak to see. The obtuse pride was, in fact, the underlying disease of humanity.
Remember the glaring disguise of an ostensibly prosperous, convenient and modern life that appeals to an unexercised mind. Remember the venomous temptation of short-sighted desires for economic statistical growth that led us astray. Remember the meaningless pain and suffering that it exerted on those vessels of consciousness.” People opened their eyes after the transmission was over, and uttered quietly, “be excellent to each other”.

(An excerpt from *A Fleeting Vessel*. )

*A Fleeting Vessel* is a multi-media first-person narrative of a speculative post-pandemic world where survivors are shocked out of their complacency and superstition of growth and progress, ensued by an intellectual revolution of consciousness, “Rejuvenescence”.

Rejuvenescence is a century-long transitional period of collective emancipation from the feverish dream of one-direction Growth. Humanity finally understands that despite the fact that we could build gigantic, sophisticated machines to kill, we couldn’t defend ourselves from the mindless invasion of a tiniest infectious agent that our eyes are too weak to see. The obtuse pride of placing ourselves at the center of the earth was, in fact, the underlying disease of humanity. We come to terms with our insignificant and meaningless existence in the universe, as well as the malleability of the human mind, without drifting to nihilism. Rather the reckoning leads to a multitude of seismic societal revolutions in all aspects of life.

The quality of life is no longer measured by material proprietary possessions but individual fulfillment. Nation states are abolished and gradually a decentralized world governance system is established, facilitated by collectively owned digital telecommunication infrastructures. Most importantly, a free knowledge distribution network is created to adapt to demands of lifelong learning. A burgeoning global gift economy and platform coop are adopted as main modes of transaction. Because of the ubiquitous high-fidelity communication channels, people spread out to less inhabited areas to build living structures of their own style which reverses the process of urbanization and pollution.

- communal - corporeal temples / yoga studios instead of listening and talking
- ground up organisations
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**Please explain how your proposed story speaks to the questions/themes of the exhibition (300 words max)**

The proposed story points to the core of any possible success of social change by altering human mind, and boldly announces a potential paradigm shift on a personal level in the near future. The plot of the story is informed by mythologies and rituals of animism, discourses of the New Atheism movement, as well as contemporary discoveries and insights of human consciousness and the universe, to imagine a world of abundance beyond the economic measurement of progress.

The advancement in medical knowledge improves hygiene practices and saves many lives. What improvements will neuro- and cognitive sciences bring to us?
Drawing comparison to the rise of Renaissance humanism after the Black Death, the story speculates a post-pandemic world where our society doesn’t just go back to “normal”, which was defined by the global capitalist belief in progress at all costs, causing human exploitation and environmental destruction. It imagines a world of more-than-humanism, “Rejuvenescence”. Just like how Renaissance humanism led to Reformation that liberated humanity from religious dogmatism, Rejuvenescence renewed humanity with a sense of planetary-wide justice across species and values of care, solidarity and autonomy.

The story focuses primarily on the micro and macro planes in the evolution of future humanity: emancipated individuals with an elevated understanding of their own mind which finally moves them beyond materialism and consumerist obsessions. Instead, people engage themselves in intellectual and spiritual pursuits, automating away the laborious production for basic material needs of living; whereas on a society level, the use of civic tech replaces governments and corporations to form cellular social organisations.

It started with just a few people into the mainstream.

Sam Harris, Derek DelGaudio,
Scientists, artists,
Unreliable narrators