Anarchy 66/About New Babylon

229

About New Babylon

CONSTANT NIEUWENHUYS

New babylon is a world city of leisure and cre­ativ­ity, spread­ing in all direc­tions, en­velop­ing the globe like a net, fifty feet above ground level, leaving the ground free for agri­cul­ture, nature and high­ways.

  Under New Babylonic cir­cum­stances the lust for ag­gres­sion in man­kind will be sub­lim­ated into a lust for play­ful­ness. (As Freud wrote to Einstein fifty years ago, this is the only al­tern­at­ive for man­kind if it is not to be wiped out by wars.)

  New Babylon is the “ambi­ence total” for “homo ludens”.

  Homo ludens is the new man of a mech­an­ised world.

  The mach­an­ised world of cyber­net­ics and auto­mation will leave much leisure time, and in this free time, man will estab­lish his own settle­ment in col­lect­ive cre­ativ­ity.

  This settle­ment we call New Babylon.

  New Babylon is the en­viron­ment for a new type of man: homo ludens.

  Homo ludens evolves in free time: time freed by auto­mation. “A nous la liberté, après nous la liberté”.

  Auto­mation frees man from the slavery of forced util­it­arian labour.

  New Babylon is the world man evolves while at play.