Prudence in Hell 019
AMA 001
1. Do you foresee humans interfacing with AI?
—We are already interfacing and becoming mutually entrained.
2. How would you raise a child?
—I intend to raise a child with enough roots for king/queenship. What that entails is another question. It is an upbringing very similar to mine in some regards, but much more aware of its roles and responsibilities. Noblesse oblige, self-mastery and principles of governance.
3. How do you think your twitter persona and yourself differ?
—I am probably a bit more withdrawn in person; but overall the same type of highly literate and interpersonally devoted weirdo, with a stygian sense of humour. It takes me a while to really let loose, but once a certain trust threshold is reached, I’m a monster of intensity and eye contact.
4. What's a typical day like for you in terms of schedule?
–Unrecommendable.
5. How do you view getting older/ageing?
—Having recently turned 40, I think I can say I’m doing it as well as any woman my age could. I look younger than I should, and have always assiduously cultivated glamour and elegance, two virtues one can preserve —unlike, usually, beauty— into ripe old age. Having character doesn’t work against me, either. The ferocity is not arguable; the resilience, proven.
My concerns with ageing are not aesthetic —I’m the rare woman who ages as only some men do— but they do involve health, generally, and the possibility of widowhood and solitude, specifically. I am not built for endurance or loneliness. I’ve survived the first, barely, like a thoroughbred frothing blood out the nose on its final stretch, but the second one could break my leg —and you know where that ends for racehorses.
Where is the deepest red in you?
—Superficially, in my long, incredibly well-kept fingernails; which I tend to wear in Homeric colours: wine dark; blood red; sea. Internally, the space behind my heart feels very inflamed. I have been hurt to a point that requires complete neuroplastic recalibration —which I am effecting. My current challenge is separating pain from fear. I am thus far succeeding, but the process has involved burning the skin, frying the optic nerve and shooting ayahuasca crystals served as snuff into my brain. Not for the faint of heart, or for those with much of one left.
***
There is one pending question concerning the fifth wall, and how (and even if) it can be broken, that I will deal with shortly.
Remember I don’t only study theatre. In a recent past life, we designed and built them. Your question deserves pondering and a careful answer. Bear with me as I find the words to describe the metametalepsis —indeed, the infinite mise en abyme— you appear to be alluding to.
I will tell you, however; it is not ironic, and nor is it obvious. Your instincts on this, it would seem to me, are correct. I will be back with you soon.
With love and savagery,
MB.
Juan Luna. Odalisque. 1885. Don Luis Araneta Collection (Philippines).