A decade to change the world

Let me explain myself by using one famous phrase of a Hollywood blockbuster “the path of the one is the path of the many” ( yes, its Neo from the Matrix). As a matter of fact it is not a fortuitous example. The Matrix is a one of the multiple ways in which the message I(we) want to convey can and should travel. Simply because similar to the protagonists in this movie, internet databases; disaggregated bodies that travel in the form of binary codes; and hybrids of software/hardware and organic tissue occupy centre stage in my(our) story. However instead of the supernatural existence of beings, that by knowing they are part of a simulation develop unimaginable powers to control themselves and their surroundings, in my (our) story neither the surroundings, neither the characters can change the physical laws or themselves at will. Even worst, the protagonist in our story are incredibly vulnerable, in constant danger of death and facing a force, a relatively faceless enemy, that has once and again shown them their impotence and weakness. And worst of all, there is no Neo, no “War on Terror” or “War on Drugs” that could even remotely bring a solution to such state of events. In any case it appears that when the monster is fought, like the Hydra, it grows two new heads each of them even more bloodthirsty and voracious than the former.

So, why do I (we) still believe we ( I ) will change the world? Are not we consumed by a delusion, a dream of grandeur, in a place like Mexico where the only well known “truths” seem to be those of late capitalism, guns proliferation, drug trafficking and the disregard for human life? Here it is precisely when it gets interesting. Although we cannot change the world or ourselves at will, we can, and should, become different beings altogether. Within ourselves lies the potentiality—yes it can be tortured, scared and killed— of a new beginning, and yet alone such beginnings might be impossible. We might be too weak, too arrogant or simply too short sighted to fulfil our objectives. It might turn out that alone, we are easily erased of the face of the earth, our bodies scattered in mass graves, our kids (or ourselves) killed, kidnapped or forgotten, our authorities indifferent to our suffering.

It might turn out that alone we are only individuals: limited, egotistical and calculable. However it might be the case (let me make emphasis on “might”), that we get together, and then it might happen ( it might not) that the I becomes a we, and that together we can give life to a new beginning. At that very moment of this possible becoming, we might need to stop looking to ourselves. We might need to start becoming a new kind of hybrid. We will disaggregate- our bodies, our notions of self, and hopefully our own limitations. Maybe then, and just then, even if violence shatters our previous existence we will be already a part of a project much larger than our own limited aims and interests. We will take in our hand that which has been taken from us by violence, and systematic fear-provoking strategies, and yet we will not resort to an armed revolution or any form of radical breakthrough, that cuts once and for all with the past. Our experience will be that of the painstaking in depth research, the counting of death tolls and its sublimation into new materials and types of existence. A decade might not suffice, but seems as a symbolically relevant time frame to make the first definite steps for radical change. A decade to change the world.

During this coming decade our dead ones, and ourselves, will become immortalised in-silico, on servers distributed across the globe, and then possibly the violence we have been experiencing these last years will face at least a modest —but not for that less efficient —force, that might restore a little bit of dignity to the many thousands that still remain nameless. Rest assured that this will be a new beginning, because with this little dignity, with this little triumph, something primeval and forgotten will come back to surface: determination. This will bring back a bit of our self confidence, it will show us again that we are capable of becoming- that beyond death we will not only find silence. Again our dead will speak with a thousand clairvoyant voices, telling their(our) mothers about their (our) whereabouts and how they died. Some of course might have gone so deep into the road of the afterlife, fusing in such a definite way with the Universe, that they will be well beyond our best necromantic technologies, and yet by searching for them we will find ourselves. New selves, growing beyond recognition for those with untrained eyes, citizens anew ready to give birth to new beginnings.

So yes, for those amongst you who are reading it with a realist and pessimist frame of mind we are completely deluded. There is absolutely no hope for us, we are dreamers. Yes, yes I know, you are right...we have lost complete sight of “reality” of “hard facts”, our politics is not that of nature and reality, for far too long we have designed our world chasing human nature and facts, we (as many other dreamers before us) have decided to think not of the world as we have found it, but of the world we can create, the best world we can live in. But please don’t get me (us) wrong, the path from our current misery and everyday tragedy, is not going to be paved only with our dreams, we have summoned other allies: patience, research skills, knowledge, flexibility- extreme adaptation. We are willing to put together new ways of being in the world, with forensic and social technologies never thought about before, and if we fail, it will be all for the better —and reader please keep this in mind—be are prepared to face our failures and redesign our dreams. But, you already know this is not a warning but an invitation for you to become something different, to share on new beginnings.

So let me end this open letter with a bit of advice I give myself every time I feel tired and I face the terrible news of extreme violence and impunity plaguing my home country- I just remember that every step and breath I take, is one step and one breath closer to death. Then I feel relieved, I have but a limited number of steps and breaths to become infinite, to change the future to create the world I would like to live in. Yet, when fear and apathy is too overwhelming too face, and the span of my own life seems immensely small, compared to the challenges I (we) have to face, I remember what cosmologists say: “the Universe will probably end in an infinite cold night, that speeds away from us faster than the light that still reaches us everyday. After that we will be unable to see the light of stars anymore”. As a matter of fact ( unless the mechanics of the Universe change in the next millions of years) when that happens past and future would be collapsed into nothingness, all things would look equal. In the meantime we will need to rely in each other to build the world we would like to live in. It seems to me the universe is still an unexplored space of possibilities, so it might be true that our gestures and sounds — hopefully inspirations for others— one day will reach the farthest confines of the Universe

• Ernesto (Us)