The Zibaldone Experiment

(A/N): Apologies if that's written wrong, I don't speak Italian, also these are just pieces of the knowledge I got from Wikipedia and other little places online. So for the purposes of this post, it'll be written as "zibaldone" although I've also seen it written "zibaldoni." ANYWAYYY,,,

A Zibaldone is a type of "commonplace book" originating from the Italian word meaning "a heap of things," first used by Franco Sacchetti. By the second half of the Quattrocento, the word was specifically used to describe "a notebook that could contain a blend of literature, elemental science (such as astrology, cosmography, etc.), prayers, and above all, personal memoirs." Essentially, the Zibaldone was not primarily focuused on recording historical or biographical information, but on collecting texts meaningful to the owner/author of the book.

In modern times, the most well-known example of this type of book/journal is Giacomo Leopardi's Zibaldoni di Pensieri, a collection of personal impressions, aphorisms, philosophical observations, philological analyses, literary criticism and various notes. Leopardi's Zibaldoni di Pensieri was published in seven volumes posthumously, in 1898 as a celebration of his life and oeuvre 100 years after his birth.

For my purposes, I want to use this journal to actually research (and more importantly remember) topics, subjects, information that. I find interesting. I've created mind maps to give me a better idea of what exactly I want to learn and/or record for posterity.

I don't expect this to be something I do on a strict schedule or anything like that. This is, first and foremost, an experiment to get my brain functioning better. So for the topics I want to write about surround Brazil, art, technology, literature/media, and crafting/creating.

Solarpunk

This entry was inspired by the rise of cyberdecks online, and it was the first time I saw a name for a genuinely hopeful future for people & technology

What is Solarpunk?

Solarpunk is an aesthetic and literary genre borne out of existing social movements. Fundamentally, it's about imagining possible good futures and working to create them. There isn't one definitive vision for what a "Solarpunk future" looks like, aside from the common goal to get technology to care for all humans, to restore and tend the ecosystems around us. It also aims to undermine the systems currently in place that endanger the future we're working to create.

• Solarpunk is collectivist: Working together for the common good.
• Solarpunk is polyphonic: One cannot speak for other Solarpunks, only be in dialogue and in chorus with them.

Conflicting Concepts

• Capitalism: It incentivizes individuals to extract more than they contribute, at the expense of other people & the planet. Profit motives also lead to over-production and planned obsolescence, which waste resources.
• Ecofascism: It argues that overpopulation is over-burdening the planet and that some populations are more of a problem than others, opening itself to eugenics and fascistic population control.
• Greenwashing: This is a marketing tactic companies use to sell customers the belief that their product is more environmentally friendly than it actually is. This practice preys on customers'desire to protect the environment without requiring companies to actually make good on their promises.
• Anarcho-primitivism: While not the most controversial, this movement aims for an anarchist, pre-industrial (and often pre-agricultural) way of living. It's low-tech or no-tech, so there is a conflict even if there are some overlaps depending on the type of Solarpunk.

Background & Philosophy

The term was coined in 2008 in a blog post in which the author conceptualizes a new speculative fiction subgenre with steampunk's focal point on specific technologies, but guided by practicality and modern economics.

A "Solarpunk Manifesto" was later published in 2019 describing Solarpunk as "a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion, and activism that seeks to answer and embody the questions 'what does a sustainable civilization look like and how can we get there?'

"[Solarpunk] is a rebellion against a rebellion, born out of a dystopia fatigue." - James Machell

Renewable Energy

Solarpunk by default embraces the need for a collective movement away from polluting forms of energy. It practices prefigurative politics (modes of organization + social relationships that aim to reflect future society being sought by a group), creating spaces where the principles of a movement can be explored and demonstrated by enacting them in real life.

Solarpunks participate by creating and living in communities (like eco-villages), growing their own food, and a DIY ethic of working with what is available, including the thoughtful application of technology.

Refusing Pessimism

Solarpunk aims to present a counter-dystopian perspective of the future. To achieve this, themes of DIY ethics, convivial conservation, self-sustainability, social inclusiveness and positive psychology are often present.

This perspective also more closely embeds the ideals of punk ideology (such as anti-consumerism, egalitarianism, and decentralization) than cyberpunk, which usually depicts punk ideology in a setting that serves more as a warning of a potential future.

Sustainable Technology

The integration of technologies into society that improves social, economic and environmental sustainability is central to Solarpunk. It makes use of Art Nouveau style and looks to the future. It also uses references from Retrofuturism, Afrofuturism, Psionics, and Arts & Crafts.

The retrofuturist reevaluation of technology, its desire for understandable mechanics, and rejection of mysterious black box technology, and in favor of appropriate technology are found in Solarpunk. As is the Afrofuturist's counter to mass culture homogeneity, the reckoning of injustices, and the use of architecture and technology to connect power imbalances and problems in accessibility.

DIY Ethos

Although Solarpunk is concerned with technology, it also embraces low-tech ways of living sustainably such as gardening, permaculture, regenerative design, tool libraries, maker spaces, open-source, positive psychology, meta-cognition, and do-it-yourself ethics.

Social Equity

Solarpunk also often includes themes of racial and gender equality, drawing this theme from earlier utopian works.

What is it now?

I first heard of it online and have been seeing more people discuss it as more than just an aesthetic. The feeling now is that Solarpunk is not just an aesthetic anymore, it seems like a genuine social movement.

What really attracts me to this is the optimism. living in the time of the AI boom and peak surveillance (as of writing this anyway), it's difficult to think positively about a future with ever-present technology that doesn't include inequity, injustice, and fascism.

However, seeing young people tinkering with old technology, reusing it, learning about how it works and how it can work for them makes me inspired. I really feel like I can participate in this wave, even if my individual efforts don't result in any widespread change.

Celebrity & Authenticity: An ARMY rant

This one might ruffle some feathers, but as a bird myself my feathers have been ruffled for years at this point.

Today I watched BTS's comeback documentary on Netflix. A major theme in it was authenticity, but it felt like anything except for that. I keep thinking of what drew me into that boyband in 2013 and how it's changed over time; but most of all I keep thinking about authenticity and how "marketable" it is.

There was an effort to show an "authentic" side of the most popular group of its time: moments of leisure, meals shared, convenient discussions or disagreement with Hybe's higher-ups. What could've been a piece of media to reconnect their larger-than-life image back down to Earth ended up being a 1h30 advertisement for a comeback that says nothing about the maturity they spoke so much about aside from "we have sex." It's disappointing.

The interesting reflection brought up by my partner was how the attempt to sell authenticity itself completely empties out the meaning of it. It happens all the time, when artists become successful and therefor tied to the interests of a brand and company, it becomes very difficult to sell people on their authenticity. Especially in an industry where one misstep results in the end of an artist's career. This is the whole reason the expression "selling out" exists. And I'm still mourning the fact I'm writing this about BTS out of all the bands.

It's interesting also to think about how easy it is to spot a lack of authenticity, even when it's wrapped in nostalgia. It's the difference between being sold on a concept and having a concept sold to you. As an older fan, it was an obvious deviation to me, but I wonder if there's any interest on the part of the company to try to speak to my demographic. It also reminds me of seeing the 2PM or Big Bang concerts full of their older fans when I was younger. It made me wonder how they managed to keep so many working women as loyal consumers of their products (and honestly if their tactics were the same as BTS's right now, I'm still confused).

At this point, as with any other product that has suffered the enshittification of late-stage capitalism, all that matters is if the product is successfully sold.

(A/N) This is where my original entry ended, but I have more thoughts:

After listening to their songs from the new album and being months removed from this experience of watching the documentary, I'm still underwhelmed with the reality of the situation. Looking back now, I remember thinking throughout the documentary "Wow, why haven't I been following them? I may not like the music anymore, but being their fan involved so much more than just enjoying the music, right?" But realistically, how can I at my big age have the same relationship to this boyband that gave me butterflies as a teenager?

When I was younger, there was an idea of resistance or rebellion in their music that I hadn't seen in other K-Pop groups. They were signed to a small agency, they didn't have a lot of money for the big productions like SM, JYP or YG but they had something about them that made each member magnetic in their own right. Nowadays, there's still that magnetism of course, it's a skill they've developed over time, after all. But now looking at what they've made since they broke into the US market, I'm left wondering where all that rebellion went.

As I've gotten older, my beliefs changed of course, but they've evolved to be more complex, I've learned the nuances of certain situations and understandings, I've read and developed my own set of morals and I guess I just wish I could've seen that kind of evolution for them. It's one thing to make music that speaks to your audience, but it's another to pretend like you're still making the same type of music when nothing about it says anything about what you espouse about your personal beliefs.

And I know it's silly of me to expect this from a K-Pop group. It's built into the machine, of course, that profit is king and the bottom line is more important than sending a meaningful message. Maybe it's just a part of getting older, seeing your idols as people (ha no pun intended), but man the disappointment lingers to this day, months after I watched the documentary.