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Bioluddite Charter
Notes towards the first draft
Preamble
bioluddites are for:
- social critique of biotechnology
- biotechnology that increases quality of food and life
- small changes and tweaks in daily life
- keeping track of the big picture
- nurturing and prevention over quick fixes and questionable cures
- knowledge that can increase our control influence over everyday biotechnology
* biotechnology on the human scale
bioluddites are for more clarity about:
- the benefits and difficulties of urban farming
- the scope and edges of the biotech sphere
- long term social implications of biotechnology
bioluddites want to empower people to make informed choices about useing biotechnology in their everyday life and beging critical about:
- antibiotic resistance and the collapse of the meat and dairy production
- the industrialisation of the organic
- overspecialisation and monoculture (in farming and society)
- footprint of meat and other foodstuffs
- (drinkable) water availability
bioluddites are against:
- control of biotechnology beyond human scale
- mystification of biotechnology that unrealistically gets people's hopes up
- wasteful eating of endangered species
- solutionism
Principles
be aware of the (impact of) biotechnology in daily life
- be in control of biotechnologies in your daily life
- be critical of the power structures biotechnology is used within
- society and the environment come first, biotechnology is secondary
- seek out authenticity of lifestyles and supply chains
- demand transparency of supply chains (weather for field or lab grown food), including food labelling
- cherish openness of sources (and willingness to research them)
- biotechnology should be developed and used on a human scale
- fuel production should not be in conflict with food production
- beware of short-termism and reductionism in production and distribution of GMOs
- refuse to use patented names for food that have perfectly usable folk names
- bioluddite is a pragmatist, an 'atheist fundamentalist' when it comes to biotechnologies that grow bigger than the human scale and begin transcending into the mythical
cultivate yourself
- choose quality over quantity - in your lifespan, food and healthcare
- augment and extend your animal senses
- embrace principles of anti-fragility
- take good care of yourself; pay attention to the sensual experience of self and others
- keep yourself 'relateable'
you are what you eat
- be mindful of food
- expand the edible spectrum (what can be edible but isn't considered food in mainstream food culture - insects, waste, parasites…)
- how food looks matters
- meat is a luxury product
- food should be as cheap as possible, but no cheaper
- food is medicine
- selectively approach nutriceuticals
bioluddites are social animals
- all biotechnology has a potential to be social
- bioluddites are sympathetic to the needs of modern day life
- try to eat with others
- decypher convoluted biotech information & instruction for those in need (such as nutritional labels)
- bioluddites' actions slot seamlessly into everyday life, rather than distrupting it
bioluddites live with their environment
- be at the frontier of embracing climate weirding
- develop empathy, sensing and communication with non-human species
- be adaptable and flexible to adapt to changing conditions
- value the contrast of man-made and nature grown, use the contrast to verify that you live in reality and not the myth
Concept
bioluddites' embodiment of purpose:
- lifestyle moral police in regards to biotechnology
- maintaining principles of nomadism in a modern (globalised) world
- demystification of biotechnology
- quantified self as a part of the food and health supply chains (you are not separate from your food and waste)
- Bioluddites are role models: living examples and embodiments of their principles
- promote slowness by making use of people's 'wasted' time
what do bioluddites do:
- practice and/or promoting holistic personalised medicine/wellbeing (originating in traditions like TCM and TAM, rather than a computer)
- promote social network of peer-to-peer healthcare networks
- create immersive experiences (and experience prototypes), rather than preaching
- teach hunting and foraging skills
- infiltrate mental pollution devices
- tweak popular imagination
- organise social gatherings
- hold regular open houses
- frame and point to biotech glitches, using popular media
- practice the art of conversation
- create mobile kits and tools of bioluddism to recruit and share skills on the go
- non-symbolic action and ambient critique of biotechnology
- curate biotechnology for a range of lifestyles
- hold pop-up bioluddite clinics
- hold retreats from biotechnology
- practice bioluddite coaching
- create parodies of real life in the state/military-industrial complex
- bioluddites can be holistic guides to help you ensure ethical continuity along the whole supply chain
Structure
- governance structure: network of pyramids?
- the bioluddite oath (…)
- flexible prenominated, public fines for self discipline, if you choose to act against bioluddite principles
- recruiting: customers, potential and future bioluddites
rights:
obligations:
…
(people)
…