#I’m personally interested in its ties to real world Quantum Theory

[kings-paintbrush]

Defending shifters bc god forbid girls do anything 🙄🙄🙄🙄 likeeee we can believe a guy turned water into wine, but the second there’s a multiverse it’s like noooooo

[thedefinitionofbts]

Of Stardust and Spacetime (4)

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Ch. 8 (Final)

Pairings: Jeon Jungkook x Reader | Kim Seokjin x Reader

Genre: Scifi, Angst, Fluff/Romance, Comedy

Words: 4K

Description:

On clear nights he looks up at the sky, and he can still see you. He can see the image of you transcending alternate universes tied together by iridescent ribbons, passing through the iron cores of distant stars, and sliding across Orion’s belt to meet him in that magical place between the stratums of space and time. And he can remember that you existed, and that you stood next to him, just like this.

The night sky is dark because the observable universe is finite. It was infinite, the entire cosmos would be a blinding sheet of gold with every star that ever existed in this endless realm burning brightly like inexhaustible suns all fighting to outshine one another.

“Once a certain quantity is reached, people aren’t able to grasp numbers. You get to the hundred thousands, millions, billions, and then you lose track. I mean, how often are we asked to imagine a hundred million people? Consider what that would even look like.” Professor Min Yoongi’s voice is subdued but firm, he pauses to allow the students to ponder over his remark before continuing. “Stars only make up 4% of the universe, but as you can guess that is still a very large number.”

Taehyung leans over to whisper in Jungkook’s ear. “Lets game at my place today. Internet is real fast.”

“Tae, we have to talk to the professor after class, remember?” Jungkook reminds, trying to pay attention to the ongoing lecture. He and Taehyung naturally decided to pair up for the project but have been wasting the past two weeks submerged in consecutive Overwatch marathons when they should’ve been deciding on a research topic. In retrospect, it was to be predicted since they are both game addicts, and it was honestly fate’s fault for bringing them together so they could perpetuate that addiction to new levels.  

“Oh, yeah, you’re right, you’re right. No more distractions.” Taehyung nods, turning back to face the front.

“Sir Isaac Newton is known as the godfather of modern day physics. Although his fundamental theories have aided in our understanding of the physical world immensely, they have undergone a few modifications since their inception.” Yoongi flips to the next slide. “We learn later through the work of Albert Einstein that time, which Newton deemed as constant, is not that unchanging linear progression it was once thought of as. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the famous Twin Paradox by now.” There is a nonverbal agreement that reverberates throughout the room. Yoongi nods in approval. “A twin hops on to a spaceship, travels to a distant star at the speed of light, and returns to find that he is younger than the twin who stayed on earth. It has long become fact that high speed and heavy gravity can both dilate time.”

“I never fully understood that.” Taehyung whispers another remark to Jungkook, who snorts in agreement.

“Einstein’s theory of relativity is built on the fact that space and time are constrained by the velocity of light.” Yoongi takes a sip of coffee, lubricating his throat before proceeding to project his voice to the mere five students in the back of the room. “Now, what time is, exactly, is still very elusive. I’m going to spare you all the details of the history of time, but if it happens to be something you are interested in researching, I would encourage you to consider selecting is as your topic of research. It can get extremely complex.” He clears his throat and switches to the next slide. “To date there are two main theories concerning the reality of time. The first one states that the past is gone and the future only exists as a probability distribution. The second hints that the past, present, and future all co-exists. We have since come to postulate that neither the first nor the second theory is entirely correct, and that time is more accurately a combination of both. It is nonlinear, in other words, reality is not a cause and effect relationship.” He smiles mysteriously. “Which brings me to the birth of quantum physics.”

Lecture continues for another 45 minutes, in which time Jungkook’s butt cheek falls asleep and he’s forced to find a way to inconspicuously massage it without other people wondering what the hell he was doing. Most of what the professor briefly runs through is not new knowledge to Jungkook, so he wasn’t allocating as much attention to the topics being covered as he probably should have. And he finds out that was a bad idea, along with wasting the past two weeks not brainstorming research ideas, when he and Taehyung walk up to the front of the lecture hall after class.

“Professor Min, we were having a bit of trouble deciding on a research topic.” Taehyung speaks first because Jungkook was a bit too nervous. He was never good at speaking to professors or interacting with them in any socially imaginable way. He constantly had this irrational fear that they would see through him and realize he didn’t know squat and was just winging life. Ok, so maybe that’s not giving him enough credit for surviving undergrad, but it certainly felt that way sometimes, especially when it came to the subjects he chose to study- namely theoretical physics.

“What have you considered so far?” Yoongi speaks without even looking up from his pile of scientific papers.

“Uhh, w-we..” Taehyung desperately looks towards Jungkook for help, but it’s obviously not something the younger could provide either. Cold sweat and panic ensues, and Jungkook may or may not be feeling the need to dash out of the room. But of course he’s not going to just ditch Taehyung or act like a socially anxious teenager- if it wasn’t too late already.

Fortunately, Park Jimin, the TA, steps in just in time. “I think the most interesting topics tend to come from questions that mean a lot to you personally.” He smiles encouragingly as he walks over to the two students. “Why did you choose to study theoretical physics? What are some of the unanswered questions you would like to shed light on?”

Taehyung is the first to answer, clearly more relaxed than Jungkook was. Said younger male is still not so subtly trying to avoid eye contact with the outwardly friendly TA. “W-well, for as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by space, astronomy, and astrophysics. My dad gifted me a telescope when I was eight, and I’ve loved stargazing ever since. Theoretical is just an elective for me to explore unproven concepts.”

“Good, good. That’s the way to start.” Jimin shifts his attention to Jungkook, who has not spoken a word since. “How about you? Jungkook, right?”

Jungkook nods, swallowing nervously. “I-I…” Fuck, he can’t think under pressure. Is having no reason a good enough response? Will this Park dude see through it if he just bullshits it? 

There’s a tiny little voice in his head that reminds him of his true reason, the driving force behind him sticking with a major that makes him feel incompetent 24/7. The motive that’s always been half hidden, that he’s deceptively tried to sort of push off to the side because it’s so ridiculous the only other person he’s ever told is Hoseok. And even that only happened a few days ago because it took him years (and after the event of physically holding your hand for the first time) to feel comfortable enough to reveal. No, there is no way he’s going to tell his physics professor, his TA, and his Overwatch buddy/project partner about you. They’ll think he’s lost his mind. They’ll laugh at him, and he’ll never have the guts to show his face ever again. Hell no, not in a million years-

 …

 An hour later, Jungkook’s cards are all laid out on the table, and he and Taehyung have a general idea on what they might want to research- more or less.

He fucking panicked.

The first little bit about meeting you when he was five just slipped, and the rest flooded out like word vomit. The good news is Jungkook managed to explicate everything quasi-logically and semi-believably. The bad news is Jungkook will be forever seen as the questionably crazy one. So much for trying come off normal…seriously at this rate, the whole world is going to find out about his secret that’s isn’t even a secret anymore. He can already see the headlines now: Scientist claims to have a girlfriend who doesn’t even exist in the physical realm.

Jungkook wants nothing more than to disappear off the face of the planet.

 You feel less and less embedded in reality as the days pass. Your limbs would go numb whenever you spaced out, and you wake up feeling like your mind was wiped clean, sans the vague recollection of your dream from the night before. The clearer your dreams the looser your grip of the real world is, and ever since you informed Seokjin of your hunch about your dreams, he’s been increasingly worried about you. Of course you haven’t revealed the rising severity of your current symptoms, not wanting to distress him any more than you already have, but it was hard to get anything past the young man who’s been by your side for most of your life.

“Y/N, are you sure you’re ok?” Seokjin’s soft voice laces itself between the severed pieces of your contemplation, bringing you back into the library the two of you were studying in.

You look down at your blank sheet of parchment. The flatness of its off-white color makes you feel dizzy for some inexplicable reason. You had not begun writing your report at all, but that was clearly not the cause of your spiraling unresponsiveness. “Yeah, I-I’m fine.” You shake your head to dispel the distraction.

“If there’s something on your mind, you need to tell me.” He’s more adamant this time, staring at you intently as if to nonverbally convey that he knew something was not right and he wanted to help.

Ever since you had come clean about your strange dreams, Seokjin has been patiently waiting for you to share more, expertly hiding his growing urge to assist you in discerning such perplexities because he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. It was impossible for him to not notice how out of it you’ve been lately, forgetting some of the most fundamental pieces of information about yourself, like you’re age and sometimes even your name.

“Does it have to do with the visions?” He speaks again after you continue to remain silent.

“Seokjin, really, it’s nothing. I think I’m just overthinking it, maybe if I take my mind off-”

“Y/N” Seokjin interrupts. “I’ve known you for over fifteen years. I can tell when something is bothering you, and I can assure you it won’t go away until you’ve addressed it.” He was right. It’s sometimes uncanny how well he’s able to read you, how he somehow understands you better than you understand yourself. He exhales smoothly and reaches out for your hand, giving you that familiar light squeeze. “Need I remind you of Irene?”

Your face immediately heats up at the mention of his past project partner for History of Pandora during year one who you wrongly assumed was his newly found girlfriend and avoided him for months out of sheer pettiness. It’s your most embarrassing memory to date; one that you’ve denied on countless occasions, and you can’t believe he’s bringing it up now.

“Irene did not bother me.” You pout, releasing his hand and crossing your arms.

Seokjin’s lips quirk upwards. “Ok, whatever you say~” One would have to be blind to have not spotted your jealousy back then, but of course Seokjin is not going to push your buttons. He never does. “But seriously, Y/N, you’ve been unlike yourself recently, and I really think you should reach out to Namjoon if you think it has to do with your visions.”

“Namjoon?” The name of the man who provided you with star mail service two years ago rings a bell in your head. “The star mail guy?”

Seokjin hums matter-of-factly. “I think speaking to him may provide some insights. He has to have at least heard of people experiencing similar symptoms in the past, right? They’ve relocated to a newer astronomy facility since we last went, but I’ve searched up their new address on the interweb. If you want, I can drive you there this weekend.”

It really shouldn’t surprise you by now that Seokjin would go through the trouble to find a way to help you without you needing to request for assistance, but the way he just casually threw his suggestion out there when he probably spent a good part of his day running through the different options in his head rendered you at loss for words. You end up just sitting there, staring at him with a slightly slack jaw.

“Y/N?” He says, waving a hand in front of your face, almost afraid you had spaced out again.

“I-I…. would really appreciate.” You finally respond, cheeks feeling a tad warmer than the rest of your body. “Thank you, Seokjin.”

He smiles pompously. “Would you expect any less from yours truly?” He boasts, flashing you one of his signature proud, verging on arrogant, smiles, and thus chasing away the butterflies that nearly started fluttering in your stomach and making you roll your eyes at him playfully.

 …

 As promised, Seokjin drives you to the new Astronomy Center at the heart of one of Pandora’s largest metropolises the following weekend. You had grown up in smaller towns that were only marginally larger than the villages out in the countryside, so you had only ever seen the capital city as images through the screen of your television.

Gazing out the window of the vehicle you marveled at the monolithic structures rising from the ground ostensibly able to pierce through the sky. Their mirror-like glass windows sparkled under the light of Solaris’s golden rays, compelling your jaw to hang slightly ajar. The roads were made of smooth concrete as opposed to the cobblestone paths you were used to, and the occasional sky train that zoomed by on the elevated tracks made you gasp in delight.

“Star Mail must be a booming business.” Seokjin comments as he looks around with eyes just as wide as yours, waiting for the light to turn green.

“Yeah, if they can afford to pay for a facility down here.” You agree, swallowing as the concerns of how to explain yourself to Namjoon begin to take form. You had been thinking about it for the past few days, formulating what questions to ask and how to describe the visions that fostered the purpose of your visit.  

“Relax” You hear Seokjin murmur as he senses your uneasiness. “This isn’t the be all end all. If he can’t help you, we’ll find another way.”

He had been reassuring you with similar words the entire ride, and you have to admit, it did the job of quelling the majority of your trepidation. Despite not knowing what you would discover today, you cannot disregard the hint of excitement that weaves itself between your natural anxieties, an enthusiasm that is only amplified by the breathtaking scenery rolling by.

The new astronomy building was a stark contrast to the broken down one you had visited two years ago. Built for the purpose of viewing the night sky, it stood on a hillside overlooking the city center you had just driven through the heart of. With only five stories, it diverged sharply from the skyscrapers that greedily took up vertical space, and its futuristic design made it more befitting of a research center at the forefront of science.

Stepping out of the car, your eyes are glued to the giant domed top of one of the sections, unmistakably made to house a giant telescope. It was understandably much larger and more overwhelming up close as you were standing in the most compromising position to view such a grandiose structure. 

“Are you sure you don’t need me to go up with you?” Seokjin questions as the two of you enter the facility. He’s looking down at the reflective marble flooring and around at the decorative portraits of outerspace plastered on the walls in just as much awe as you are.

“I’ll be fine.” You assure him. “The real question is will you get lost in the city without me?”

“Do I seem that incompetent to you?” He puts on a bored expression as if the answer was self-explanatory.  

You shrug. “I don’t know. It’s seems highly likely.”

He teasingly makes an offended face before nudging you in the shoulder. “Call me when you’re done?” He says, glancing at the large clock hanging from the ceiling.  

You give him a curt nod before heading towards the elevator. Although you would’ve felt much more comfortable if Seokjin stayed with you, you knew you had to do this alone. And despite the habitual reliance on your old friend tempting you to fall back on your dependency on him, it was about time you started facing your own problems independently. Besides, you wanted to give him a chance to explore the city and would’ve felt bad if he drove all this way solely for your benefit. You take a deep tranquilizing breath as he waves to you one last time before the sliding doors squeeze shut.

When the doors open on the 5th floor, you’re confronted by a large room with a decorative telescope placed in the very center. An enclosed balcony-like area that had a slanted glass ceiling was located at the end of the long room, while the left portion of the chamber was lined with tall bookshelves and the right was filled with computer monitors and more of those same pod-like apparatuses that you assume are for sending Star Mail.

“Hello?” You call out, wondering if the entire place was empty as there was no sound other than the idle machines, softly humming in the background.

You hear a painful grunt, the noise of a book falling to the ground, and the emergence of someone from behind a cluttered bookshelf. “Yes?” The vaguely recognizable face of Namjoon appears with those same square glasses you had witnessed him sport two years ago. He tilts his head when he sees you, seemingly trying to recall why you appear so familiar.

You gulp before speaking. “Hi, I’m Y/N. I’m not sure if you remember me from two years ago, but I came to send star mail with a friend-”

Namjoon holds up a hand to signal for you to stop speaking. He chuckles lightly and nods his head. “Yes, yes, I remember you.”

You let out a breath of relief that he at least recognizes you. You also note that he must have an excellent memory, since he had only met you once and has probably seen hundreds of fresh faces in the past two years.

“You don’t happen to be back to send more mail are you?” He cocks a brow, walking over and offering you a seat at one of the tables next to the rows of organized pods.  

You shake your head vigorously. “No, no. I was actually hoping to ask you some questions about some weird things I’ve been experiencing since I went through the star mail procedure.”

“Oh?”

You continue, wanting to get everything out before you the nerves caught up. “I saw some strange events while I was in the pod, and I’ve been dreaming about them for the past two years.” You glance up at him tentatively, waiting for him to either assure you that it was completely normal to experience such side effects or simply brush your statement off as nothing to be concerned about. There’s a period of silence as you watch Namjoon’s eyebrows furrow as he digests your rather quick and to the point disclosure.  

“What did you see?” He inquires with an unreadable interest.

You swallow again, slowly regaining conviction. “I was in a unknown place, and I saw someone.” You whisper softy. “H-he’s not Pandorian, he’s…he’s…different.” You proclaim with more resolve.  

“Are you sure?” Namjoon’s voice is lower this time as he raises both of his eyebrows in mild shock. This information was no doubt strange to him. In all of his years researching and aiding in the process of sending Star Mail, he had never heard of anyone having visions or hallucinations about a person that they’ve never met before while undergoing the procedure, much less experiencing such detailed dreams about said visions afterwards.

You close your eyes, trying really hard to remember just exactly what you’ve been seeing for the past two years. You find it difficult to recall these seemingly subconscious events, but you were pretty confident that everything was occurring in a linear fashion only it was abnormally nonconsecutive. It seems as though time is passing differently for you and the person in your dreams. “Yeah, they’ve all been about the same person. The first time I met him, he was very young. I would say about five years give or take? And when I dreamt about him again, he was slightly older and so on.”

Namjoon’s expression changes back to one of resting calm. He nods in vague understanding, unable to do much more than that. “What does it feel like? When you’re there, I mean.”

“Surprisingly, I can never remember much of it.” You huff a small laugh, recalling how difficult it was to even recall you were even having dreams in the beginning. You would only wake up more or less unsettled and confused. The clarity of said dreams have somehow increased in strength as you find yourself enjoying, for lack of better words, seeing that person. His lovable facial features, his boyish personality, the way he makes you feel like you belong somewhere your rational mind tells you that you don’t.

“Does he know who you are?”  

You nod. “He seems to be unable to physically see me.” You purse your lips, trying a bit harder to draw upon that sensation of communicating with him, the way your voice only travels as invisible sound waves to his ear. “But he somehow knows what I’m saying. I don’t think he knows what I am or what I look like, and he’s always…” You pause, trying to formulate how to explain that look in his eyes when you’re with him, that shy smile that dances across his face every time he speaks to you, the warm feeling he gives off even though it might just be your imagination. “…happy to see me.”

“I see” Namjoon continues to nod.

“Do you think they are real events?” You prod, mildly puzzled as to why the astronomer is not commenting on your statement any further. The man seems to be deep in thought, and you regret blurting out an inquisition so impulsively, not letting him deliberate in peace.  

“I have no doubt that they are.” He asserts, causing you to almost experience non-physical whiplash. You didn’t know he was going to give such a simple but assured response for something you’ve been hesitant to believe yourself and running through ways you can explain why they viscerally feel real. “If he’s not Pandorian, I would presume he’s from a planet that is millions of light years away.”

“Why that long?” Your question gives away your elementary understanding of metaphysics, but Namjoon remains patient.

“A light-year is a measure of distance. Space is so vast we have to measure distances using the speed of light, which is also the precise reason Star Mail is converted to electromagnetic waves. It’s the fastest way to send information, and it’s pretty.” He explains, adding that bit in the end for kicks and smiling at the thought of iridescent light beams shooting off into space before reverting back into focus. “The reason I’m bringing this up is because we’ve searched our galaxy for intelligent life and have not found any within a 50 million light-year radius.”

“What does that have to do with Star Mail and my visions?” You’re a bit ashamed to ask because Namjoon seems to be waiting for something to dawn upon you, thinking that the amount of information he just shared should be enough for you to come to some obvious conclusion.

“When you are separated by distance, you are also separated by time.” He answers. “Going by my gut instinct, I would hypothesize that he is somehow able to interact with that package of Star Mail you sent two years ago, but…”

“But?”

He looks at you with unreadable eyes, and you feel a chill run down your spine. “It’s supposed to take 50 million years for your parcel to reach him.”

...

[tatjanbe]

Swept Away

The sky is grey, as always at that time of the year. It is cold outside and the everblowing wind gently touches Lenny’s body. „Vienna… You’re a slow city. You're too tied to the past. [1]“, he thinks as he walks down the street. The buildings around him let him reminisce about the former glory of the city. „The glam is gone. Something is missing here nowadays. It’s O-P-U-L-E-N-C-E: Opulence! [2]“ He turns around the corner and stops. This is the house. Lenny was waiting so long for this moment. An invitation to this kind of ball was not something usual, especially not for a former pope. The high-rise next to him leaves him in its shadow. Behind a wall one could see the contour of the building. It is clean, it is rational, it doesn’t talk to its surroundings. Metaphorically, it symbolizes force, male fertility, masculine violence. [3] Lenny stares at the white geometrical facade. „Within modern, functionally differentiated society such unilateral control has become untenable. [4]“, Lenny whispers, „What a strange location for this kind of event.“ Moreover, it should seem strange that in a play performed in this same location, [5] all the many male roles remain subordinate, supporting rather than controlling the play’s action. [6]

Now there is only the wall that separates him from his final destination. In a sense, there are two systems coexisting, [7] one outside and one inside. He orbits the building while searching for the entry. „It is here that the possible, the dreamt, […] is staged. [8]“ Lenny hesitates but something drags him inside. While passing the threshold, the outside, unreal world was evolving toward its apocalypse. [9] Suddenly it was dark around him. He was waiting in the shadow of a tunnel and there would scarcely be a trace of Outside. [10]. Blackness swept back over him in an instant and a moment later the lighting system in the tunnel turned on. [11] Lenny walks toward the end where a doorman awaits him. „Well, Holy father first of all, a small piece of information of a practical and picturesque nature... Under the desk, on the right, you will find a button.“ [12], he says. „The house is already waiting for you.“

House: 

„I’m living in the space

I'm following your trace

Tell me what's going on

I'm gonna make you great

Girl are you air to see

Movin' it, come to me

Baby just come to me

Be what you want to be

Using your fantasy“ [15]

[1] The Young Pope

[2] Paris is Burning

[3] Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968

[4] Schumacher, The Autopoiesis of Architecture Vol 2

[5] Senseney, The Art of Building in the Classical World Vision

[6] Shakespeare, Richard III

[7] Vee, Coding Literacy

[8] Buehlmann, Mathematics and Information in the Philosophy of Michel Serres

[9] Castells, The Power of Identity

[10] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology 

[11] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[12] The Young Pope

Strike a Pose

After entering Lenny was dazzled from the sudden bright light. A three sided entrance staircase welcomed him […], that led visitors to the entrance platform [1] Lenny goes up and looks around. He is standing at the very end of a big plaza like room, a room without a roof. When Lenny looks up the grey sky had vanished and there was only a bright blue and shining light. The space reminded him of a greek agora. The plaza is formed in an additive way, with the side arcades tipped up to form the space. [2] Young and old came streaming into it from the corners that configured it as an open place where people could congregate informally on the spur of the moment. [3] The forum was disposed with a view to its purpose and uses so that if there were many people the square would not be too small, but if there were only a few people it would not appear empty. [4] 

The inside of the house in no way resembled what Lenny has seen at his arrival. Contrary to the masculine and introverted appearance, the inside was open and light, opulent and beautiful. Viewed in isolation, the ornamentation of the Courts seems bizarre and extravagant. [5] Brilliant, clear and with deep toned shadows, it makes up the equilibrium of the whole by contrasting its variety with the pulpy softness of the female figure, glowing with all the charms of colour, bright, gleaming, mellow, full of all the voluptuous luxury of female charms rich and swelling. [6]  The orders are at once emblems of people of different gender and age, and the measure by which the building is laid out. [7]

Inside all kinds of creatures were tumbling, walking and crawling around. The inhabitants of the unknown worlds […], brutes with six fingers on each hand; fauns born from the worms that develop between the bark and the pulp of trees; sirens with scaly tails who seduce seamen; […] ass-centaurs, men to the navel and asses below; Cyclopes, each with a single eye the size of a shield; Scylla, with a girl’s head and bosom, a she-wolf’s belly, and a dolphin’s tail […] the cynocephali, who cannot say a word without barking; sciopods, who run swiftly on their single leg and when they want to take shelter from the sun stretch out and hold up their great foot like an umbrella; […] human bodies with heads of the most diverse animals … [8] The space in between the columns was occupied by artists of this theatre, arranged in six groups, which will process in the following order [9]: REALNESS, BEAUTY, RUNWAY, FASHION, SEX SIREN, VOGUE

House: 

„The category is: Royalty!“ [10]

The Plaza emptied itself and the crowd was cheering from the side. Only one body was left amidst, starting to perform a most intriguing show. Behind Lenny somme other figures were chatting:

House: 

„Welcome to the ball, Miquela!“

Miquela is singing:

„I miss what we used to be

Out every night in the streets

You hanging all over me

Acting like we royalty“ [11]

Octavia St. Laurent: 

„Come on now, it is a known fact that a woman do carry an evening bag at dinner time. There's no getting around that!“ [12]

Scylla:

„What exactly is a ball?“

Octavia St. Laurent: 

„Balls are a gathering of people who are not welcome to gather anywhere else.“ [13]

House:

„Brutality, intensity, great gentleness, extreme delicacy, extreme strength. [14] You are turning it on the runway!“

One of the Cyclopes turns to Lenny and asks: „Are you homosexual, Your Eminence?“ [15] Then he asks the house whether it actually considers itself to be a transgender person. [16] 

House:

„I am. Am I? Here the feminine is not just the yawning void of a non subjective body but signifies an inter/trans subjectivizing structure/encounter/space where potentially human subjects co emerge and co transform within a space of minimal difference. [17] I am belonging to neither of the binary categories, yet traversing both. [18]

[1] Leatherbarrow Eisenschmidt, Twentieth Century Architecture

[2] Eisenman, Written into the Void

[3] Casey, The World on Edge

[4] Williams, Daniele Barbaros Vitruvius of 1567

[5] Bergdoll Oechslin, Fragments Architecture and the Unfinished

[6] Harrison Wood Gaiger, Art in Theory 1648 1815

[7] Macarthur, The Picturesque

[8] Eco, The Name of the Rose

[9] Harrison Wood Gaiger, Art in Theory 1648 1815

[10] POSE

[11] Miquela, Hard Feelings

[12] Paris is Burning

[13] POSE

[14] Le Corbusier, Toward an Architecture

[15] The Young Pope

[16] Hovestadt Buehlmann, Quantum City

[17] Zajko, Laughing with Medusa

[18] Braidotti Hlavajova, Posthuman Glossary

Becoming Eve

Estranged by this conversation Lenny leaves the plaza. He walks onto a gallery that connects several chambers. The architectural decoration became increasingly extravagant to attract continued attention. [1] Dimensions stereotypically condemned as feminine, weak, or frivolous—pink, chintz, boudoir chairs—received validation. [2] Curious what’s behind, Lenny opens one of the doors and glances inside. It was a long rectangular room. [3] It was bright with sunshine, the walls were alive with decoration, the table was set, and the odor of the food was enticing. [4] In between closets clothes out of the most interesting fabrics were lying around and two women were getting dressed. Makeup and female smells combine to generate a softness that bewitches and exhausts. [5] Lenny spots one of the Sirens, whose alluring beauty already seduced him at the Plaza.

Siren:

„“You think I just woke up one day and poof, I look like this? No. It takes work, drive, sacrifice to be a woman.” [6]

Lady Gaga:

„Generations of women have been told by advertisements, films, and parents that the natural female body requires enhancement and adornment to be truly feminine. [7] I portray myself in a very androgynous way and I love androgyny.“ [8]

The Siren turns around and looks Lenny in the eyes. Out of excitement she bursts out of the room and starts to run outside of the building. Lenny follows her. A garden more inviting than Eden would then meet the eye, and springs of joy murmur on every side. [9] He has never seen something so beautiful. It remembers the Garden of Eden, the sufficient paradise, land of milk and honey, and the desert where manna fell from heaven, and the hut where pitchers, as though they were springs, poured forth their contents. [10] There are trees not similar to any we know, but trees of life, of immortality, of knowledge, of apprehension, of understanding, and of the conception of good and evil. [11] Lenny starts looking for the Siren. He has a feeling inside of him, one that he had never had before, one that he could not fight anymore. He cultivates only flowers that are real but seem artificial, has abnormal love affairs, inflames his imagination with drugs, prefers imaginary journeys to real ones, enjoys late medieval texts written in effete and sonorous Latin, and composes symphonies of liquors and perfumes, transferring the sensations of hearing to those of taste and smell; in other words he constructs a life made up of artificial sensations, in an equally artificial environment in which nature, rather than being recreated, as happens in works of art, is at once imitated and negated, re elaborated, languid, disquieting, sick... [12] Suddenly he spots her behind one of the trees. For him she is sex, absolute sex, no less. [13] Lenny runs to her and they fall into their arms. Such pleasure took he to behold this flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve thus early, thus alone; her heavenly form angelic, but more soft, and feminine, her graceful innocence, her every air of gesture or least action overawed; his malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved; his fierceness of the fierce intent it brought: That space the evil one abstracted stood from his own evil, and for the time remained stupidly good, of enmity disarmed, of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge; but the hot hell that always in him burns. [14] Such sex could be cosmic, or Dionysian, or unquestionably weird. [15] 

Lenny:

„Laymen always think we priests are scandalized by even the slightest things, whereas the truth is the exact opposite. We are never scandalized, no profession has to deal with sin on such a continual basis as ours. The confessional is our operating room. Just as surgeons have no fear of blood so we priests are no longer afraid of scandal and sin.“ [16]

Siren:

„If Adam and Eve never left the Garden of Eden they would have not become human beings.“ [17]

[1] Bonnemaison Macy, Festival Architecture

[2] Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968

[3] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[4] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[5] Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony 

[6] POSE

[7] Zimring, Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste

[8] Braidotti Hlavajova, Posthuman Glossary

[9] Wollstonecraft, Complete Works

[10] Serres, The Five Senses

[11] Voegelin, Order and History 4

[12] Eco, On Beauty A History of a Western Idea

[13] Rendell Penner Borden, Gender Space Architecture

[14] Milton, Paradise Lost

[15] Davis, High Weirdness

[16] The Young Pope

[17] Buehlmann Hovestadt, Coding as Literacy

Having a Ball

Lenny and the Siren enter the house again. Suddenly it was very quiet and they wondered where all the other beings had disappeared. A gentle wind blows through the window, it has become night. Through a majestic door they enter into the main hall, the ballroom, located underneath the Plaza. The stellar pattern of the floor recalls a type of medieval cosmological patterns. [1] The floral theme alluded to the association with the women of the house. [2] We here move to a space in which what matters is a process of subtle becoming other: of gradually dissolving traits of being standardly male as these give way to certain accustomed ways of being female, and vice versa; the same ambiguity obtains for the dyad of human/animal. [3] Useless luxury; ostentatious luxury; wastefully excessive luxury. [4] Observe that part of a beautiful woman where she is perhaps the most beautiful, about the neck and breasts; the smoothness; the softness; the easy and insensible swell; the variety of the surface, which is never for the smallest space the same; the deceitful maze, through which the unsteady eye slides giddily, without knowing where to fix, or whither it is carried. [5] Such was the appearance of the ballroom.

House: 

„And now for the next category: Bizarre!“

Everybody gathered in the hall to view the continuance of the spectacle. Perhaps it is a riot, a party, a free space, an invisible space, a non space, a commonplace. [6] Possessing ‘realness’   being able to pass for something you are not was the highest form of praise amongst competitors at the balls, yet the scene also explicitly signals that identities involve performative acts, and little more than that, and therefore might be thought to be hardly real at all. [7] 

House: 

„Thank you, but that’s a chop!“

Lenny seemed at ease with the mix of men who have sex with men and a few women—transgender and those assigned female at birth. [8] Gesticulating bodies form a chain with clothes as a second skin, regulated by the gestures of fashion which play a role in the marking and disguising of sex differences. [9] While the performance was ongoing, the house started speaking to Lenny.

House:

„In Rome, boys played the role of women on stage in a context read as witty, poetic and intellectually playful; the descent of the players into the audience for general dancing as the performance finished brought the literary figure of polymorphous sexuality into the social orbit.“ [10]

Lenny:

„ In ancient Greece, everyday situations and encounters with the gods offered many such occasions. [11] But we have forgotten. We have forgotten to masturbate to use contraceptive to get abortions to celebrate gay marriages to allow priests to love each other, and even to get married. We've forgotten that we can decide to die if you detest living, we've forgotten to have sexual relations for purposes other than procreation without feeling guilty! To divorce, to let nuns say mass to make babies in all the ways science has discovered and will continue to discover. In short my dear, dear children not only have we forgotten to play we have forgotten to be happy.“ [12]

Lenny is aroused, he puts down his robe and goes onto the stage. The dance with unfolding matter takes place inside of him. [13]

House: 

„May you, once a day, in order to cool it down, forget your culture, your language, your nation, your dwelling place, your village’s soccer team, even your sex and your religion, in short, the thickness of your enclosures.“ [14]

[1] Costelloe, The Sublime

[2] Blackwell, Nineteenth Century Architecture

[3] Casey, The World on Edge

[4] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[5] Grillner, Ramble Linger and Gaze

[6] Braidotti Hlavajova, Posthuman Glossary

[7] Burrows, Fictioning

[8] Allen, Ivenceremos the Erotics of Black Selfmaking in Cuba

[9] Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968

[10] Gillgren, Performativity and Performance in Baroque Rome

[11] Kittler, The Truth of the Technological World

[12] The Young Pope

[13] Braidotti Hlavajova, Posthuman Glossary

[14] Buehlmann, Mathematics and Information in the Philosophy of Michel Serres

[hollywoodjuliorivas]

President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China in Beijing last week. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times There is a saying — “When you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” — and it perfectly sums up the contrast between China’s President Xi Jinping and President Trump. Xi has been brilliant at playing Trump, plying him with flattery and short-term trade concessions and deflecting him from the real structural trade imbalances with China. All along, Xi keeps his eye on the long-term prize of making China great again. Trump, meanwhile, touts every minor victory as historic and proceeds down any road that will give him a quick sugar high. Trump literally has no idea what he’s doing and has no integrated strategy — because, unlike Xi, Trump’s given no thought to the big questions every effective leader starts his day with: “What world am I living in? What are the biggest trends in this world? And how do I align my country so more of my citizens get the most out of these trends and cushion the worst?” What world are we in? One in which we’re going through three “climate changes” at once. We’re going through a change in the actual climate: Destructive weather events and the degradation of ecosystems are steadily accelerating. We’re going through a change in the “climate” of globalization: from an interconnected world to an interdependent one; from a world of walls, where you build your wealth by hoarding resources, to a world of webs, where you thrive by connecting your citizens to the most flows of ideas, trade, innovation and education. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story And, finally, we’re going through a change in the “climate” of technology and work: Machines are acquiring all five senses, and with big data and artificial intelligence, every company can now analyze, optimize, prophesize, customize, digitize and automatize more and more jobs, products and services. And those companies that don’t will wither. So how’s China responding? To deal with the change in the climate, it’s massively investing in clean power and electric vehicles — because its own people won’t be able to breathe otherwise and because it knows that in a world that will add another one billion people by around 2030, clean power and transportation and energy efficiency will be the next great global industry, or nobody anywhere will breathe. In response to a more interdependent world, China is deepening its trade ties to all the fast-growing Asian markets around it through its “One Belt, One Road” project and its Asian Development Bank, while tightly controlling its own market. I call it “globalization for me but not for you.” Because while China hails globalization, it imposes a 25 percent tariff on imported cars (while America imposes only 2.5 percent) and 50-50 joint ventures and technology transfers for big companies that want to gain access to China’s giant market. But China gets away with it. Newsletter Sign UpContinue reading the main story Sign Up for the Opinion Today Newsletter Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. SEE SAMPLE MANAGE EMAIL PREFERENCES PRIVACY POLICY OPT OUT OR CONTACT US ANYTIME In technology, China has embarked on a plan called “Made in China 2025” that’s plowing government funds and research into commercializing 10 strategic industries while creating regulations and swiping intellectual property from abroad to make them all grow faster. These industries include electric vehicles, new materials, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, biopharmacy, quantum computing, 5G mobile communications, and robotics. And Trump? On the change in the climate, he’s promoting coal over clean energy, like wind and solar, and has appointed climate-change deniers to all of his key environmental posts. While China is run by engineers, Trump doesn’t even have a science adviser. He’s refused to fill the White House Office of Science and Technology, which, as Newsweek reported, “has been without a boss for the longest stretch since its establishment in 1976.” On globalization, Trump tore up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, which would have put him at the helm of a 12-nation Pacific trading bloc (without China), built on U.S. interests and values, and would have eliminated as many as 18,000 tariffs on U.S. exports to countries that, together with the U.S., control 40 percent of global G.D.P. And then he went to China and praised Beijing for beating us at our own game! Well, Donald, when you unilaterally disarm, that tends to happen. ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story By the way, the 11 other TPP nations are now trying to create their own free-trade zone — without the U.S. So after decades of America trying to push all their markets open, they’re going to open without us. Nice going, Mr. President, China thanks you, because these countries will be much more vulnerable to Chinese economic pressure with our presence diminished. On the change of the climate of technology, Trump is pushing a tax bill that is based on no analysis of emerging technologies and how we might reform our tax laws to incentivize more investment in them. Actually, the bill would eliminate the $7,500 tax credit for electric cars; shrink the tax credits vital for enabling wind projects; and impose a tax on the endowments of our wealthiest colleges — i.e., our science and engineering treasures — endowments that colleges use to fund research and extend scholarships for the neediest students. “This will be wounding to one of America’s gems,” its institutions of higher education, Drew Faust, the president of Harvard, said to me. And it’s basically being done to cut taxes for the wealthy. Moreover, at a time when China’s roads and rails increasingly look like the Jetsons’ and ours increasingly look like the Flintstones’, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials complained in a Nov. 9 letter to House leaders that their draft tax bill — in order to raise more money for corporate tax cuts — “makes significant changes to some of the federally supported financing mechanisms used for transportation” — specifically the “proposed termination of tax-exempt private activity bonds (PABs),” which serve “as an important infrastructure financing tool that attracts private sector investment to … large transportation projects across the country.” So the Chinese are focused on the giant winds of change, and Trump is betting on his gut and a grab bag of tax cuts based on no take on the world, other than dubious trickle-down economics. No surprise. When you don’t know where you’re going any tax cut will get you there, any replacement for Obamacare will get you there, any wall will get you there, any trade concession will get you there. Personally, I am not persuaded China’s top-down industrial policy will make China great in the end; it has created huge domestic debt challenges related to its state-owned industries and real estate bubbles. In fact, I’m certain our economic system is better than theirs — in theory. 55 COMMENTS But China, with its ability to focus, is getting 90 percent out of its inferior system, and it has brought China a long way fast. And we, with too little focus, are getting 50 percent out of our superior system. If that persists, it will impact the balance of power. Now you know why the Chinese were so happy to throw a bash for Trump in Beijing.