Early Origins of the Marais

In 879, the emperor Charles the Bald donated the flooded lands, now known as the Marais, to a religious community - the St. Opportune Abbey. 

First Bible of Charles the Bald (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS lat. 1) presented in 846

9th century manuscript Bible commissioned by Count Vivien (aka Count Vivian Bible / Vivian Bible)

495 mm x 345 mm / 423 vellum folios

The draining of the lands turned them into fertile marshes (marais), the parisian term denoting farming of vegetables and aromatic plants. 

One of the earliest religious brotherhoods to take part in this new vegetable farming directly outside the courts of Paris were the Maison du Temple and the St. Martin of the Fields brotherhoods. The order of the Temple built their fortified church in the Marais in 1240. 

Prior to leaving for the crusade in the 12th century, King Philippe Aguste commissioned a high wall to be built around Paris to protect the city from Viking raiders.  

 Viking ship from a 1100 French manuscript. 

The agricultural fields of the Marais were not included inside this original enclosure, but a fortified gate was built, allowing access from the city to the surrounding fields. 

Charles the Wise

In the mid-14th century, while the Turks were overrunning Hungary and one-third of Europe was in full revolt against the Church, Charles V built a new city wall protecting Paris, this time it included the Marais, where he moved the Royal Court. 

Bastille Saint-Antoine was then a fort-bastide. It was built on the line of the city walls south of the Porte Saint-Antoine and surrounded by its own moat. 

The fortress commanded the river and its approaches, furnishing protection to the Hotel Saint-Pol, the new location for the royal court. 

19th Century reconstruction of the Hotel Saint Pol Huyot. The Bastille is at the bottom, the Church of St. Paul is to the left and the Celestine monastery is on the right (in blue). The wall built by Charles V is visible in the foreground,  as well as the tower Barbeau and the door leading to the Rue du Petit-Musc.

Shaded location of the Hotel Saint-Pol.  

The main entrance door of the King's residence (in red) looked toward the river Seine.

The Queen's home (yellow) and the Dauphin (blue) were north of present day Rue de Lions St. Paul. 

There were gardens along the Rue du Petit-Musc.

Why did Charles V move the French Court to the Marais? 

Since his youth, the dauphin had good reason to be alarmed by the growing power of the Confrerie de Bourgeois, the municipal authorities of Paris. 

Statue of Étienne Marcel by Antonin Idrac next to the Hôtel de Ville

Étienne Marcel, wearing colors of the revolt, marched to the Louvre, broke into the apartments of the dauphin, and in the presence of the prince, assassinated Robert de Clermont, marshal of France, and Jean de Conflans, marshal of Champagne. The dauphin barely escaped by consenting to wear the red and green cap of the republican leader.

Determined to secure his residence with the Association de la Marchandise de L'Eau, the prince regent forsake the Palais and the Louvre and moved the Royal Court to the Marais.

His purchases included the hotel of the comte d'Etampes, the hotel of the Archibishop of Sens with its gardens, and the smaller hotels d'Estomesnil and Pute-y-Muce as well as the estate of the abbots of Saint-Maur. Upon receiving the throne, Charles V declared the Hotel-Saint Pol the property of the crown.

The royal court was a group of palaces rather than a single building whose gardens were shaded by trellises and covered with vines in what would eventually become a future haven for the amusements for generations of aristocrats, artists, scholars, and those seeking refuge from the staunch régime. 

Early History of the Marais

The Marais (marsh or swamp) is one of the oldest quarters in Paris; standing in propinquity to the Île de la Cité.  During the Roman era, the arteries rue St. Martin and St. Antoine were built to cross over the Marais.

A place where "time-worn stones" and "ever-flowing streams beneath the bridges" connect the sprawling northern arc around the edge of the Right Bank wall, the Marais emerged from out of the marsh into the fashionable Marais neighborhood we know today.

The crown played a major role in the development urban housing through the process of lotissement - the parcelling of land into small lots whose entrances faced newly designed streets.  Henry IV 'of Navarre' (r. 1589-1610), is credited with giving the Marais much of its characteristic architecture. 

King Henry was insistent that architects follow building regulations, which kept straighter building lines on the street. Here, as elsewhere at the time, timber-framed buildings were banned, while greater care was taken to make building heights more uniform. 

In the 14th century, the fortress compound of Charles V included all of what is now the Marais - the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris (Pont Royal and the Porte Saint-Denis).

In 1962 de Gaulle's Culture Minister André Malraux passed a law permitting the designation of 'conservation areas' (secteurs sauvegardés) - areas of great historical importance or aesthetic value. The Marais was the first area in Paris to be given this grand treatment.

Malraux's pioneering law turned the Marais, which at the time was one of the unhealthiest and most decaying parts of the old city, into a tourist hotspot - one of the most chic districts in town.

Nurturing the idea of le Vieux Paris, the Fifth Republic presided over the historic patrimony of the city. Under the prescriptions of the 1962 Malraux law on conservation areas (secteurs sauvegardés), the Marais was restored.

Utilizing draconian powers of expropriation (knocking down eyesores), the private-public company, fulfilling the mission of conservation in the Marais, took old buildings and converted them for modern uses - upgrading services along the way.

New economic activities were introduced into the neighborhoods with the intent on retaining the Marais's architectural and cultural historic character.

While the Marais had fallen into inner-city deprivation (60% of homes had no running water and no WC, the amount of green space was approximately half the city average, and some housing blocks had 2,000 individuals per square hectare vs. the Parisian average of 300), the success of the Festival of the Marais in 1961 - a cultural festival held in the old hôtels - convinced Parisians that the Marais was worth saving.

The Marais, a highly heterogeneous locality, socially and ethnically, had long since had an artisanal character and lively air (though at one point that air was considered insalubre (îlot insalubre - an insanitary district designated for improvement).

Restoring the dilapidated Marais back to its former glory after years of neglect and foreign occupation meant the removal of sheds, lean-tos, additions, and workshops from the courtyards and inner spaces of the great aristocratic hôtels. The aim was to restore the Marais back to the approximated state of the neighborhood in the mid-eighteenth century.

This historical cleansing - curetage - hasn't been without its conflicts. The two principles - le Vieux Paris as something worth saving and the support of the historic patrimony of the city - has resulted in distain for work of quality dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This conflict requires a great deal of meticulous care and historical verification to determine which components stay and which components go.

Musée Historique Environement Urbain

Nevertheless, the restoration process has produced some architectural gems. By the 1980s the Marais had been transformed with its ethnic diversity retained - though there was a clear shift in its social texture. Still today, many of the workers, artisans and small businesses, which have historically given the district its appeal, have been leaving in droves due to rising prices and confining spatial restrictions. Residents, on the other hand, have benefitted with rising property prices, with a new middle-class community arising from the neighborhood's beautification process.

Le Vieux Paris

One particular development has been the emergence of a liberal community in the Marais. Still, the Marais remains highly culturally and ethnically diverse even though the population tends toward the better-off. The beautification of the Marais has placed it directly on the main tourist trails.

The restoration and establishment of museums have also played a large part in the Marais' appeal. The Musée Carnavalet in Madame de Sévigne's old haunt, the Musée Picasso in the Hôtel Salé, and the Maison européenne de la photographie on the Rue de Fourcy are must sees while visiting Paris.

The resulting respect for le Vieux Paris with the exigencies of modernization has produced a kind of museumization of the neighborhood (old corner shops are now trendy boutiques; shoe-shops retain old signs - Boulangerie - with their enamelled figures dating back to the nineteenth century).

Located on the right bank of the Seine at the foot of the Belleville and Montmartre hills, there's no doubt as to why the historic Marais quarter is a central component of the heart of Paris. 

Dust Thou Art in the Wind

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is a metaphor based on the scriptural text "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19).

In early chemistry theory, every combustible substance was in part composed of phlogiston; the phenomena of one material consuming another (burning).

The phenomenon of this ash + nearby gaseous substances = the energetic equivalency of the original substance tells us that we are in a closed system.  

In a closed system, there is no gain or loss of weight.  

  (That's the story I'm sticking with the next time I step on a scale!) 

Photo Credit

"Rein ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme."

~Antoine Lavoisier

Converting water to gas and then back into water again without losing the weight of the original substance shows us how substances can undergo changes from one physical form (time space location) via another physical form in order to transfer back again into a similar physical form (separate but accessible time space location). When we transform water into terra (the matrix) within a closed system these substances can be later be reconstituted back into their original form (of water).

It's like energie changing clothes to get a look at the universe from a different time space location, which tells me that earth could be conscious (i.e., all elements in the universe could be conscious and simply acting out a specific purpose - i.e., to be my chair - by nature of their physical configuration). 

Antoine Lavoisier's experiments demonstrated this principle, which ultimately gave rise to his famous oxygen theory, which replaced the earlier phlogiston theory (which was not regenerated and therefore left in the dust). 

Funny how things seem to work out (in a closed system). Either you regenerate or you turn to dust. 

Photo Credit

What if we could hypothetically project the essence of our original energetic substance or pattern (consciousness) into a new substance without losing all our memories (original energetic energie)? If we are to pass through any given form (terra or nano) there would ultimately be loss of some energie and gain of other mass (i.e., energie) in order to equal the weight of original energetic energie...

unless that energie is growing, in which case it could someday consume (as in the processes described above) more and more energie until it no longer needed to pass through this terra stage to gather new mass (in order to reconstitute). 

I do not know if my search to find a suitable material host for the unbroken continuation of my present  consciousness is possible, but if I do not at least try and research options for the preservation of my consciousness (other than by natural means of death and reconstitution via terra or combustion), I will never know for sure whether or not it can be done.

Of course, I could presume that within this closed system I will once again be reconstituted and that "I" am already the product of an earlier process of reconstitution. If this is the case, then there's really no reason to hold onto one energetic material host unless you really like it. 

Holding onto one consciousness, as an aside, might actually result in a failure of the entire system to self-replicate. If we never die, we could destroy the closed system. What then? Would the system blow up and start anew?

If we are held in a system, what is holding the system together? 

There's absolutely NO way I could write a post

about dust and not include this song...

Pleasseeeee! 

Who Turned Up the Heat?

Overheating (Hyperthermia) is an elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation that occurs when a body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. In economics, overheating occurs when an economy's productive capacity is unable to keep pace with growing aggregate demand (the whole enchilada). 

Given our present technological trajectory toward the mergence of the vast knowledge stored in our brains (and bodies) with man-made devices that have a vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability, we can presume that the issue of overheating will arise. 

Overheating was my son's primary concern today when we discussed what would happen if our species took an evolutionary leap forward? and became a human-machine civilization. 

"Mom, we'll need to find a way to cool ourselves down just like we do with our computers. When our computers put out more heat than what their components, like the processor, can handle, they shut down."

Figuratively speaking, my son has been hardwired to the computer since he was 8 months old and transferred a Scooby Doo icon from a video game onto his desktop background. He "beat" all his sister's games by 3 years old and by 9 years of age he was already teaching himself HTML code and "beating" high school students in online gaming. He now manages servers, edits his own films, creates virtual worlds in sandbox indie games, and is teaching himself 3D animation. His dexterity with a computer is uncanny; it's as if the computer's essence is the same essence pulsing through his veins. As a result, the rate in which he processes computer-oriented (and general) information is growing astronomically, as if he were a direct descendent of Moore. 

Without going into more specific detail on his processing prowess, let's just say that my son lives and breathes computers. So, it's natural that when we spoke about how in the future we would merge the biological body with technological components he naturally thought of the issue of overheating. 

His suggestion places him in a special category beyond his exponentially growing intelligence. His thinking places him in the Age of Transition. The only thing in life he's seen as a constant is the evolution of technology. For him it's not a theory, it's an immutable fact. 

Historically, evolution took a really, really, really long time to happen, so it basically went unseen. However, for kids born in the late 90s and early 2000s (and forward), technological evolution is a constant they've experienced since infancy. 

Whether they remember big desktops, Disney on VHS, the first generation DS, the introduction of the PSP, the release of the iPod, Wii Sports, Call of Duty on XBox 360, the bulky iPad, the controversial iPad mini... they have experienced first-hand how fast technology advances, how quickly updates become available, how much more power is held in the next generation release. 

Compared to the billions of years it took humans to evolve, computers have made the same equivalent evolutionary leap in only 14 years. Imagine exponentially what the next 14 years might bring...

How do you convince children of his generation that there's value in studying and rote memorization exercises when he knows that within a few short years he'll more than likely be able to download any piece of information he wants into his brain. And that at some point, all of society will be wireless, receiving constant updates as society advances toward global enlightenment...

Welcome to the table discussions in our home. Epistemological discussions on the nature of being, watching movies like Inception, Limitless, Minority Report, etc. and forever since discussing the concepts of free will and determination... and then, Fun Fridays, where we purposely reject the constructs of Western Society and go instead to a museum or a mastercrafter's studio to experience the beauty of art or creation before spending the rest of the day reading, relaxing, sight seeing, enjoying films, discussing the nature of human ingenuity, engaging in interesting discussions with family or friends, or creating our own artwork ~ because just we are inspired to do so.  

Overheating, as we concluded this afternoon during our discussions at lunch, might just be a challenge we will someday have to overcome in the experience known as human-machine life. 

What I want to know is where are we going to put the fan! ;))

The Future of Art

Technology has allowed us to resolve the severe dictations of paper that limit the design potential of our imagination. With a few clicks of a mouse, today's computer programs have the capacity of presenting nearly an infinite number of examples of what the materials at hand are capable of becoming.

Today, we are no longer limited to the vision and skill held in the mind of a single designer. With the advent of computers, we achieve more variation and fluidity in our designs. But how will these advancements affect the future of individual artistic contribution? Will the 21st century see an end to art as we've come to know it? Will the loss of artistic human expression parallel humanity's simultaneous quest to streamline (with true low-drag coefficient forms) the world and our existence in it?

A couple days ago my daughter asked me if drawing and painting on paper or canvas would someday become obsolete. I paused for a moment as I considered the implications of her question. With expectant eyes she looked to me for an answer. The day she asked me whether or not Santa was real flashed through my mind's eye.

My children have a veneration for human creativity and personal integrity. They have had passports and been traveling internationally since they were infants; visiting over 25 countries in the past five years alone. To state that they have an appreciation for our common global heritage is a blatant understatement.

Exploring the history of human achievement goes hand in hand with exploring the history of human thought. I have long-since believed that we can learn more about ourselves by exploring the genius and ingenuity that initially went into making the objects our species created when we first exhibited more creativity than was functionally needed (Tanzania, Olduvai chopping tool).

Take for example the artistic composition I myself drew (below) whereby I imagined what type of logo Escher might have designed had he been contracted to do so by The Coca-Cola Company. Sure, it's been edited and cleaned up a bit in Photoshop, but I drew the original image by hand. If you look closely, you can even see where I pressed down too hard with my ink pen, smudging the otherwise clean-looking lines. Admittedly, it's not flawless.

But I'd like to think that it has an element of personality, integrity, and character, even. Despite whether or not artificial intelligence could merge Escher's style with a Coca-Cola logo and come up with the same or a better looking design is not the question. The question is would a computer think to merge Escher's unique drawing style with a Coca-Cola logo? Will artificial intelligence have the capacity to wonder about stuff. 

Wondering about stuff is one of the main behavioral aspects we associate with being human. 

I can't help but wonder about the challenges we might encounter in the not-too-distant future when we attempt to transfer our consciousness into a nanoengineered being or device. Of course, none of us can know for certain. 

Even if we don't transfer our consciousness outside of our present biological mechanism, even if we simply continue to enhance and upgrade ourselves to the point that we become more machine than human, the ability to preserve what we consider to be our "humanness" will be what's at risk if we don't plan for our ultimate self-annihilation. 

Even if we can someday find our own source code, will we not wonder who created it? Will there ever come a day when future humans cease to wonder because they don't need to? Who needs to concern themselves with philosophical questioning when you know you can live as long as you want?

If there's anyone else out there wondering whether or not to continue drawing (or artistically expressing themselves) without the advent of a computer or a technological device, I'd have to say that I think the future of humanity may just depend on your doing so. 

A drawing my daughter did by hand

Photo Credit

The Existence Hypothesis

Applying our own thinking to understand our own thinking requires human creativity. If by nature we have the ability to understand, model, and extend beyond our current biological constraints our own intelligence and self-identity, then the value of capturing that essence is of utmost importance.

Given that the particles that compose our brains and bodies change frequently and given the accelerated rate by which civilization is advancing in technological understanding, one can presuppose that a day will come when we would be presented with the option to safeguard our conscious experience by means of nano-implants or consciousness transfer, the result of which would redefine our thoughts on being human and the experience of "consciousness."

As we continue merging the biological mechanism with technological devices, the likelihood that we might also lose or irreversibly transform the patterns we "like" about ourselves increases exponentially.

Reflecting on that possibility, I aim to capture that which my present biological brain values most and place it here (in temporary storage).

I regard these notions with utmost sincerity and am thus more comfortable with the inherent present and future risks of transferring personal identifying information from my biological mechanism into a public "virtual space" than I am with holding onto it in a fragile, 'presently programmed to terminate' privately held biological system.

Whether this information is of value to anyone beside myself and/or my progeny is unknown.

If my conscious awareness can be transferred (without discontinuity) into a self-replicating nanoengineered or other type of system or device, then the biologically derived information stored herein will simply serve as a back-up of that which I consider to be the most salient aspect in my experience of being.

If perchance my biological mechanism fails prior to (or during) the time when continuity upgrades are available to the general public, then this information simply serves as a testament of my existence.

Presuming reanimation after discontinuity exists sometime in the future, then I would like to have it known that I would be both delighted and grateful to be "alive" again... presuming that my children are, too; for without their presence in my life, the notion of continuity in this world does not interest me.

In that event, I'd prefer (presuming again that the choice exists) existence in some other general particle form whereby the loving nature I have come to regard as my own might instead exist to bring value to the universal energie that gives rise to the phenomenon known as life.