Exit Velocity

Yanqiu Zhou

In 2119, Human beings face an increasingly severe living environment. Human transformation programs, including Genetic Modification and Cyberman, have been implemented around the world as strategic experiments for human survival. The natural person living as a minority group is forced to deliver to GATTACA Company for reform, experiment and destruction.

In 2219, in order to seize limited living resources, humans launch virtual warfare. Humans cannot trust the results of battle calculated by computers. A real war breaks out, the weapons of mass destruction destroy the Earth and Human civilization. Biochemical contamination long-lasting remains on the earth surface. At the same time, based on the research of human experiments, GATTACA Company starts to practice “Human Centennial” that complete separation of human bodies and their mind. This project will effectively reduce people’s dependence on material and alleviate the pressure of human survival.

During the 400 years, the Earth experiences a lengthy repair and maintenance. In order to prevent biochemical pollution damage to humans, the ruined construction and facilities on the Earth’s surface are covered with steel structure and permanently buried by cement. The ground raises by a height of 50 meters, and it is an artificial material on the top of the surface to replace natural land. Some humans have started a new lifestyle in the new world.

“Human Centennial” is used on a large scale. Most human bodies are permanently stored as living specimens, and their minds are uploaded to the RAM of the Synthesizer Department. The Majority of Human builds a new lifestyle in the carriers of the cloud. The original world retains few habitats.

In 3019, human beings entirely live in a world of consciousness. The Earth has fallen into silence, except the flashing lights which represent the vital signs of human minds. People are tired of living in past experiences. GATTACA Company launches the program called “real virtuality games.” It provides the individual with precious lisenses to reload into the bio-robot(stored bodies). People are allowed to wear their bodies to have an adventurous experience in the geologic relics.

The story begins from here.

The set of predicting future scenarios 

The theory of Heterotopia3 I understand is to find the possibilities of a real site by reducing its a meaningful and certain definition and strengthening its structure generating by flowing aspects and uncertain spatial perception. The derivation of space may do not depend on the expansion of its three-dimensional size, but the information in the context. 

In movie < love death robots/Post-apocalyptic city>, the conversation and behaviours of three robots are quite funny and nonsense. Their trance and language include information on their context. Although they share the same elements, they form entirely different meanings, which could be understanding as heterotopia. In such a space, when the conflict point was focused on, it seems that the cognitive bias in the same element makes the different content to be perceived easily. For example, robots consider amniotic fluid as very warm soup. It leads to a comparison of the similarities and differences between them, which may be rarely thought of in the same context. Thus, it may be considered that by observing and understanding the cognitive bias caused by human trances in heterotopia to rethink the definition and meaning of the space. Thus, practice a heterotopia site for Chernobyl may help generate an accurate spatial perception. 

Thus, the following part explores the establishment of predicting future scenarios. As my narrative is set in future, it is precisely in 3019. The background research will focus on the changes in space and time and legitimately deduce the future scenarios and the postman movements. 

Technology thinking is an essential factor that cannot be ignored in deducing the outcome of the future of humans and the living environment. 

Technological development promotes human progress. From copper and bronze Ages to two industrial revolutions, Human unreasonably get and store supply energy from natural (Heidegger, 1977). They are good at using tools and technology to design living condition and situation (Colomina and Wigley, 2016). In the 21st century, technology research is ongoing into quantum computers, gene therapy, bioengineering, nuclear technology, advanced materials… Technically thinking has become an indispensable part of their bodies. The continuous updates of technology products, the process of technicalization cities are considered as an inevitable and inherent future for modern life. However, on one side, people are addicted to the development of science and technology; on the other side, they are worried about the issues caused by technological thinking. 

The image of a futuristic city represents a repressed feudal society. (Dietrich Neumann) 

Many artworks made bold forecasts about future scenes. In the Time Immigration – written by CIxinliu – narrates that in 11000 years of time travel, immigrants wake up in four different times and experience the social improvement of the worlds. It describes the impact of technology on human development, from being used to being dependent, finally to being devastated. Some cybernetic filming works from Metropolis to Blade Runner critically show that disappearance of human identity is being hidden the light of the technology. Neumann (1996) pointed out that “oversized skyscraper billboards” in the film never be a simple form of architecture, but the result of chaos and restraint. 

In any case, we cannot ignore the critical influence of technology on human development. 

People are not only able to modify the environment but also themselves and their abilities (Colomina and Wigley, 2016). Humans use knowledge and action to produce objects, networks and systems, and they rely on all the artifacts they created in different forms. With the changes and updates of artifacts, human forms become multiple and ever-shifting. Moreover, Self-monitoring is considered as human abilities (Colomina and Wigley, 2016), which let human notice their position and scales in different areas. Thus, humanity is unstable and plasticity.

With the coming of the network information age, human traces have appeared in every corner where technology covers. Humans are more like a cloud design, and occupation in every space is considered as a part of humanity. Thus humans cannot be defined by their biological organism. Because of the plasticity and ever-shifting of humanity, the concept of Posthuman may be a redefinition of humanity. We need to have a long-term view and scientific and technological thinking to examine the future.

In many science fiction works, the separation of the body and mind is a standard set in the future background. In Black Mirror”, although human flesh is dead, it is mind can be preserved in the intelligent system, living in as virtual forms. Time immigration, written by Cixin Liu, describes the virtual form would be an inevitable result in human development. If living in mind could be fulfilled, what kind of behaviours and trace would be acted? Maybe it could understand the situation when people are in a dream. According to Jones’s research (2005)- From waking to sleeping: neuronal and chemical substrates, In a dream, our bodies are in a closed state and lacks stimulation outside. Thus dreaming could be considered as the operation of the brain. It may be the closest to the state of living in mind.

Human perception automatically trust everything in dreaming scenes are real during sleeping. It would be challenging to recognize whether the details in the dream are correct. For example, many people dreamt that they were able to do something they cannot do in the real world, and they could make sense of skywalk, momentary transfer in perception. We associate these situations with experience in the real world. The experience may come from ourselves or emotional empathy with other things. When an association is tested, it may not rely on direct evidence, and more tend to be the relevant perception, which could be called the Halo effect. It could be thought of a reflection of experience in our mind. For example, an item repeats in the lens in the classic horror film, even through itself is without any horrible elements, when it appears again, it may make the audience feel terrible, even psychologically predict that the horror is coming.

Zumthor (2006) said that sometimes we would feel familiar with a place where we first entered. He proposed that the architects complete their works from their storage, preserving their previous experience. In Inception, a preconceived spatial consciousness is more important than precise details. These case studies illustrate the importance of the previous experience for us in understanding the context. When the experience embedded in the context, We generate a relative foreshadowing and preparation of moods. Once there is a fault in the experiential association, we may lose the ability to predict.

People generate a new spatial perception might be influenced by previous experience. People mind captures similar spatial features. They are more likely to mix experiences, feelings and emotions in space where has never been before. It even could affect their physical judgment and make some behaviours that are contrary to the current surrounding. In Chernobyl, After the explosion of the nuclear reactor, people were attracted by the bright halos generated by the burning of radioactive materials in the air, and they walked out and watched. In the documentary, a Pripyat resident recalled the scenario that he had never seen such a beautiful scene, and the flame in the sky was as colourful as a rainbow. Because the colour of burning flame has the same properties with fireworks and rainbow, their perceptive analogy may conduct them to follow the experience of the analogue situation and make behavioural predictions. Even the perceptive analogues do not represent all the objective facts. The audience is very likely to trust the perceptions and even ignore the other logic and rationality (the place where exploded is a nuclear reactor and where contained fatal radiation) thus, the residents went as close as possible to watch the scene, rather than fleeing the area immediately. This phenomenon demonstrates the existence of heterotopias. Heterotopia is considered to explain many forms of coexisting in space. (Foucault, 1986 ). It is also a phenomenon of multi-cultural coexistence. It might be a supplement to space. 

The theory applies to imagine the future space where the audiences could feel the sense of similarity with the current space, while entirely different. Previous research on the future world, postman and their behaviours forms can be practised as evidence to create a theoretical context in the program.