Posthuman Blues

I'm reading Colin Andrews' new book on crop circles. Like Andrews, I'm convinced some circles are the real thing. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the CEIII phenomenon shares roots with crop circles. Both seem to function as ecological/environmental warnings; "abductees" almost always emerge with some sort of heightened environmental sensitivity, and reports of (presumably) predictive simulations of the End of the World are rampant. Andrews makes a good point: it's no coincidence that crop circles appear in consumable grain crops; the substrate medium is part of the message. In this case, we're offered an implicit metaphor for life/death/renewal.

Somehow, it's easier for me to accept a "New Age" collective unconscious explanation for crop glyphs (i.e., messages from a distressed planetary overmind) than grasp at altruistic extraterrestrial visitors. (See Carl Jung's "Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies.")

Authentic crop circles certainly represent some form of intelligence, but I feel it's a human intelligence at work. In "Neuromancer," William Gibson describes cybernetically augmented performers who use holograms to "dream real." Crop circles and "alien" abductions might be what happens when an entire sleeping species "dreams real"; few would argue that the phenomenon, whatever it is, lacks in absurdity or surrealism.