Radical appropriation of otherness -- as "mining"

Annexing the World as the Deal of the Century (Part #5)

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Possessing otherness: Through the conventional degree of objectification and reification, otherness necessarily takes the form of an object. The latter may be perceived as a threat to be dominated in some way or as an opportunity to be exploited, if it cannot be acquired. The history of colonization has followed this pattern. Otherness claimed by others as their property, intellectual or otherwise, is an invitation to encroachment in various forms (Varieties of Encroachment, 2004). Current patterns of exploitation are exemplified by "mining" -- ironically recognizable as a "process of making mine". The renewed space race can be readily understood in such terms.

The process extends to extremes of possessiveness in relation to intellectual property and human relationships. Arguably cognitive modalities such as religion and science can be seen as endeavouring to "grasp" and appropriate reality in a manner consistent with that pattern (Beyond Harassment of Reality and Grasping Future Possibilities: learnings from sexual harassment as a metaphor, 1996; World-making and possession of property, 2012). Ironically religions can each be seen as highly possessive of "their divinity" -- with little ability to dissociate that exclusive pattern from the transcendent subtlety they would vigorously claim to attribute to any such universal entity. Their righteousness in that respect is necessarily beyond question. The pattern is echoed in the incarceration of knowledge under copyright, most notably by corporations -- hopefully to hold the world to ransom for any use thereof, however desperate the need.

Such possessiveness is intimately related to the assertion of identity, potentially to be understood as a "frame of reference" -- recalling the sophistication with which this is understood by physics ((Einstein's Implicit Theory of Relativity -- of Cognitive Property? Unexamined influence of patenting procedures, 2007).

Naming and claiming: The process of naming is of course a subtle means of  establishing a claim to a degree of possession of an identity associated with a distant form -- currently exemplified by the attribution of names to distant objects in space, "marking" them in ways only too reminiscent of the behaviour of dogs in their environment. Clearly every identity is potentially free to name the features visible from its own worldview, without subscribing to those attributed by others.

This recalls the process of psychosocial appropriation of a space at the collective level described as land nam, a term coined by Ananda Coomaraswamy to refer to the Icelandic tradition of claiming ownership of uninhabited spaces through weaving together a metaphor of geography of place into a unique mythic story (The Rg Veda as Land-Nama Book, 1935). This territorial appropriation process, notably practiced by the Navaho and the Vedic Aryans, was further described by Joseph Campbell (The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: metaphor as myth and religion, 2002):

Land nam ("land claiming or taking") was [the Norse] technical term for this way of sanctifying a region, converting it thereby into an at once psychologically and metaphysical Holy Land.... Land nam, mythologization, has been the universally practiced method to bring this intelligible kingdom to view in the mind's eye. The Promised Land, therefore, is any landscape recognized as mythologically transparent, and the method of acquisition of such territory is not by prosaic physical action, but poetically, by intelligence and the method of art; so that the human being should be dwelling in the two worlds simultaneously of the illuminated moon and the illuminating sun.

Colonization has typically seen the replacement of traditional names by those of the colonizing culture -- as well as the language which engendered them. There is a strange sense in which this recalls the digestive function of the colon in appropriately extracting nourishment from otherness by its consumption. Should the behaviour of hypothetical extraterrestrials be expected to be otherwise (Writing Guidelines for Future Occupation of Earth by Extraterrestrials -- Be done by as you did ? 2010). The reaction of ET to the naming of objects in the universe with which humans have only indirect experience, will be instructive for all.

Appropriation through language: In this light, there is clearly every possibility to reframe and rename the world as experienced -- even to the point of inventing a language through which to articulate reality as imagined. The variety of constructed languages points to this possibility, as does enthusiasm for recovering the experience of languages in danger of extinction. Some, such as Leonardo da Vinci, have chosen to invent languages or modes of writing.

The threat to dominant world views of minority languages serves to clarify the argument further. Typically colonizing powers, with the complicity of state religions, have sought to repress use of such languages, often by the most violent means -- even in living memory. Thinking "otherwise" tends to be framed as highly problematic. This pattern is reflected in the hostile response to the imagination of socio-political "alternatives", exemplified by the slogan of Margaret Thatcher: There Is No Alternative (Considering All the Strategic Options -- whilst ignoring alternatives and disclaiming cognitive protectionism, 2009).

Radical paradox and perversity: The pattern has been extended to encompass any creative approach which would otherwise be appreciatively framed as "radical" or noteworthy as being "extreme". Despite the obvious ambiguity, thinking radically, or behaving in an extreme manner, is increasingly conflated with terrorism as a fundamental threat to society (Radical Innovators Beware -- in the arts, sciences and philosophy, 2016).

There is a curious perversity to the characterization of what is most valued, namely "creativity", with what is most deprecated, namely "terrorism", by use of the same qualifier -- "radical". This perversity extends to the criminalization of radicalization, without addressing this conflation of understanding, its exploitation and the manner in which both are associated with possessive reframing -- "mining".

Similarly perverse is the uncritical effort to possess the world by capturing it through photography -- associated with a desperate quest for the idyllic places to be grasped and held in this way. That the quality sought is rapidly eroded by that process, and the many engaging in it, is not considered. It bears comparison with rape -- especially gang rape. Potentially caricatured as "vaginal tourism", this recalls the extent to which a very significant proportion of tourism is inspired by sexual opportunity -- recognized as sex tourism -- but divorced from any responsibility for consequences.

Possession by "aliens": The above-mentioned hypothetical engagement of extraterrestrials with humans invites comparison with regard to their comprehension of possession, whether of Earth as a whole but more specifically in their interaction with humans (as variously envisaged in fiction). This could exceed by far the preoccupation of MeToo and others, especially if the motivation of ETs proved to be primarily psychological and unfathomable -- as characterized to a degree in urban jargon by "mind-fucking". The skilled cultivation of narrative for political and commercial purposes anticipates such a possibility -- whether or not it is deprecated as cultural violence -- if not spiritual violence.

The desperate quest for alien life is especially ironic given the immense difficulty of engaging with humans on the planet who are readily defined as "aliens"(ironically including teenagers) -- whether or not they could be appropriately considered to be "terrestrial extras". The cognitive challenge is then more generically understood as encompassing the alien in whatever form -- anticipated to a degree by the incorporation of monstrous entities into fictional drama and online video gaming. The ability to create avatars with alien characteristics can be seen as anticipating the wider capacity to "makeover" the world as imagined -- a capacity to which individuals already have access in "reinventing" themselves. This can be extended to identification with ETs -- and joining a wider galaxy of life, however imagined.

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