Brain the size of a planet – and here I am, counting to ten. Paul recalled the perennial – naïve and paranoid – fear that all the networked computers of the world might one day spontaneously give birth to a global hypermind – but he was, almost certainly, the first planet-sized intelligence on Earth. He didn't feel much like a digital Gaia, though. He felt exactly like an ordinary human being sitting in a room a few meters wide.

Peer had been exhausted when he’d stopped, but after a minute’s rest he felt, literally, as energetic and enthusiastic as ever. Back in cloud-time, preparing himself, he’d edited out any need or desire for food, drink, sleep, sex, companionship, or even a change of scenery, and he’d pre-programmed his exoself – the sophisticated, but non-conscious, supervisory software which could reach into the model of his brain and body and fine-tune any part of it as required – to ensure that these conditions remained true. He resumed the descent gladly, a happy Sisyphus. Making his way down the smooth mirrored face of the skyscraper was, still, the purest joy he could imagine; the warmth of the sun reflecting back on him, the sharp cool gusts of wind, the faint creak of steel and concrete. Adrenaline and tranquility. The cycle of exertion and perfect recovery. Perpetual motion. Touching infinity.

The Apollonian and Dionysian, two great western principles, govern sexual personae in life and art. My theory is this: Dionysus is identification, Apollo objectification. Dionysus is the empathic, the sympathetic, emotion transporting us into other people, other places, other times. Apollo is the hard, cold separation of western personality and categorical thought. Dionysus is energy, ecstasy, hysteria, promiscuity, emotionalism — heedless indiscriminateness of idea or practice. Apollo is obsessiveness, voyeurism, idolatry, fascism — frigidity and aggression of the eye, petrification of objects. … The quarrel between Apollo and Dionysus is the quarrel between the higher cortex and the older limbic and reptilian brains.

The smooth is the signature of the present time. It connects the sculptures of Jeff Koons, iPhones and Brazilian waxing. Why do we today find what is smooth beautiful? Beyond its aesthetic effect, it reflects a general social imperative. It embodies today's society of positivity. What is smooth does not injure. Nor does it offer any resistance. It is looking for Like. The smooth object deletes its Against. Any form of negativity is removed. ... Smoothness is not limited to the outside of the digital apparatus. Communication via a digital apparatus also appears smoothed out, as it is mostly polite remarks, even positivities, which are exchanged. 'Sharing' and 'Like' represent communicative means for smoothening. Negativities are eliminated because they represent obstacles to accelerated communication. . . . The Balloon Dog is not a Trojan horse, it does not hide anything. There is no inwardness hidden behind its smooth surface. As in the case of the smartphone, you only encounter yourself, and not the other, when faced with the highly polished sculptures.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.