Animals have inspired many popular expressions, but as our ties with nature grow weaker, these expressions lose their force. Elephant's memory, linnet's head and lynx's eye... what are we replacing them with?
The disappearance of animal metaphors probably follows that of biodiversity. We can know all about monoculture and have only a vague concept of the forest or jungle. Realities that now evoke that of a lost Eden. In the meantime, new metaphors have been added to our communications. Geeks replace hermits, hackers work in packs, zombies and vampires remain immortal or nearly so, and telephones are now the eyes and ears of social gods who see all and beyond. Words are being added to the dictionary, but what is their evocative power?
"In the beginning was the word"... Enchanters created realities. Today's reality creators rely on algorithms and technologies of unrivalled material power, and are able to influence the thinking of billions of people. Digitization, which began a few millennia ago with the division of time and the invention of money, is in the process of being completed in practically every field. Images, sounds, sensations, language, transactions, state of health, etc... The resolution of pixels now exceeds that of our perceptions, making possible the prodigies of A.I..
Which leads us to consider our human essence. Who are we, after all? Poets of a new kind are beginning to overcome the anger of dispossession and reconnect with the power of enchantment. The wisdom of the ancients may have been more advanced than we suspected; we can still draw inspiration from it. The brown soup of "alternative realities" and other illusions cannot satisfy us.
Enjoy your reading
Denys Lamontagne
Illustration: Dall-E
Data that transform into chimeric plants, mechanical birds and hybrid animals
