Excerpts from a Conversation
with Paolo Soleri

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"Virtual reality is such a fantastic tool that we should be very careful about the way we are using it, and maybe put some boundaries, I don't know maybe we shouldn't, but ...

And to contrast what I call the existential, and experiential process we have at Arcosanti, with a dimension which I think is very important, which is the dimension of frugality vis-a-vis the dimension of hyper consumption ..."

So, I think that - I think there are some very logical ... elements of coherence in what I'm trying to do, and if we succeeded we might be able to do something fairly exciting. So we would like to have youngish people from the computer age, coming in and become physically involved in construction, within the frugal context.

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"And the main gist of the hypothesis is that reality is space transforming itself. Period. Everything is space --

Ron:
I missed the phrase.

Paolo:
Space transforming itself.

Ron:
Space transforming itself?

Paolo:
That's Reality. Time doesn't exist. The future never existed by definition. So there are many, many things coming together and I "

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"Well space/time is really space transforming itself. If space is not transforming itself, time does not exist, it doesn't exist. ItÍs a pure device that I compare to the money device. They are some kind of agreement or convention that allows us to do things, but per se they do not exist."

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"Well, when you are in the presence of enough Miniaturization and Complexity, something happens that I can call Memory, or Recollection, or storing of information, and so on, and thatÍs a crude form of Duration. If that understanding and recollection and learning is universal and total, then this fragment becomes --, whatever you want to call it, you can call it the Omega Seed, you can call it God. And now I call it more the "Self-revelation of Reality." Because Reality at that point becomes utterly knowledgeable of itself, in the sense that itself was and is becoming in evolution, and at that point all of evolution would be present in this durational form, and space is gone because you go back to the non-dimension of the origin point."

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" ... And in my own simple minded way, I'm projecting the notion of the silicon intelligence ... what I call the silicon persona ... vis-a-vis the carbon persona, which is us, and trying to get some notion of what might happen there. "

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"Because what the automobile does, among other things that it does which are wonderful, it tells us that we can segregate ourselves in our Pandora Box, which is fantastic...So, consumption tells production that we need more and more and more because that's the American way and that's the American dream and technology is going to give us the answers."

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"Yeah, but as you know, I called this revolution an unbelievably great evolution or revolution, but that doesn't mean that I don't have my fears about it, that doesn't mean that if we guide it in a direction which is purely brain-based, it's going to be a killer."

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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS	PARADOX SEMINAR TOUCHSTONES
ABOUT THE PARADOX PROJECT	ABOUT PAOLO SOLERI AND ARCOSANTI
ABOUT VERBUM AND THE COSANTI FOUNDATION