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thomastapir — Bioaztech
Published: 2010-02-19 07:14:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 5491; Favourites: 78; Downloads: 0
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Description
A more refined version of the "meat-suited" engineer/priest depicted in ([link] ). All the pertinent background exposition is available in the description there, so I won't bother repeating myself. I envisioned the suit as a queasy hybrid of entrails, muscle tissue, and blood vessels, covered over with a sleek epidermis broken only by heart-valve-like respiratory orifices. The tubes feeding into the nostrils both filter air and provide the necessary cocktail of psychoactive chemicals facilitating the trance state that enables the hyperspatial/etheric interface necessary for the priest to perform his engineering function. A hermetically sealed and self-sustaining version of this symbiotic suit/organism will later serve as a bioengineered spacesuit during the galactic expansionist phase of the Bioaztech Empire ([link] ).This concept could very easily represent Overculture ([link] ) technology. This same civilization might also be responsible for the Ceremonial Creatures ([link] [link] ), and could be a New World offshoot of the culture that produced the Sphinx ([link] ) and Mandricore ([link] ). (Proto- or Post-Atlanteans?)
I probably could have polished this one up more, but I was afraid of overworking it and losing some of the detail. It's pretty flat, I know. If you'd prefer to interpret it as a sculpture or decorative frieze that's absolutely fine with me.
Please see also this guy:
[link]
His work captures a certain techno-Mesoamerican aesthetic vibe I've long strived for, probably better than I ever will.
EDIT: I finally figured out that most of what I didn't like about this drawing was on the left side, so I copied the right side and mirrored it symmetrically about the central (vertical) long axis. I moved the original version to my Scrapbook for comparison ([link] ). Please let me know which version you prefer; if there's a strong preference for the original, I may move it back.
UPDATE:
Side-by-side comparison of three different variants: [link]
Related content
Comments: 59
You are one of the best on deviantart, in my opinion! But what do the overculture look like?
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Thanks so much, that's one of the nicest compliments I've ever gotten! There are SOOO many talented people on this site, it's an honor just to be compared favorably to any of them.
You know, I still haven't decided what the Overculture actually look like...For a while I was playing with the idea that they might superficially resemble Rapa Nui "birdmen," as depicted at far lower right and far lower left in ([link] ). I kind of like the idea of leaving them mysterious and undefined for the moment.
Thanks again, really appreciate your kind words!
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I like that idea. just dont do what most lazy bums all over do and end up making them humans from another planet 
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This is actually very interesting(perhaps original as far as I know).
A little short in stature for my liking, but hey! There it is.
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I'm a little short in stature myself...I think my proportions tend to find their way into my drawings!
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Same here. But I find myself going the opposite. My frustration is leaking in my art. Compensating?
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It's interesting you say that, actually; I think I used to do exactly the same thing. All my figures were really spindly and attenuated...I think the more squat, compact figures I tend to do nowadays are kind of an artifact of overcompensating in the other direction, in fact. I'm sure there's a happy medium in there somewhere, but I haven't hit it yet!
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Speaking of overcompensating. I'm short in height, but I have a big dog.
What you mean by "a happy medium"?
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Oh, something like this:
[link]
She appears to be a "happy medium," no?
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I do believe she is.
Was this part one or two? I can't remember.
Did you know "Tangina" is a shortened cuss word in our tongue. "Tangina" = Slut of a mother. ^_^
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Umm...Part 1, I think? It's been a while since I've seen that movie.
You know, I don't think the word "Tangina" really sounds good in ANY language!
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Ahhhhh man I love this so much you don't even know
Alternative tech development is so much fun and I'm glad to see it from you!
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Woo-hoo, thanks! I'm really happy you like it.
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I love the meat suit! your concepts are amazin;, I may borrow one to build in 3D in the near future, if you would let allow me
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Oh, that would be awesome! Please feel free to do whatever you want with it, I'd love to see it in 3D form.
Thanks for all the faves!
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ID4 Aliens, Daniken's theories and the music of Infected Mushroom all come to mind when viewing this amazing picture. It also reminds me a bit of Baphomet. Repeated and tiled, it would also make a nifty wallpaper design.
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Those all sound like highly appropriate associations to me, and I say that without even having heard the music of Infected Mushroom! 
Oooo, Baphomet--nice. I hadn't even thought of that. I was thinking that these suits do allow them to take on the roles of their gods, in an even more intimate way than did the Mesoamerican priests during their religious ceremonies.
I am *not* left-handed! It doesn't strike me as a stupid question at all, though, and I'm intrigued what made you think to ask. Is it something about the design of these suits or the way they break down when symmetrically mirrored?, or maybe something about my drawing style in general...?
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I'm a leftie myself, and I note that in my drawings, the left-hand side of the figure always comes out more robust and refined. I was just wondering if this was a pattern
Did you listen to Infected Mushroom or any other psy-trance songs yet? That genre of music is a tad new-age trashy to my tastes, but it sure goes well with the twisted mesoamerican theme you've got here.
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When you explained this concept to me the other day, I was impressed by quality of fusion that really runs through the greater body of your work, I think. This is, beyond a doubt, one of my favorites, of which there are many.
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Thanks so much, man...You know how much I value your opinion, so that means a great deal to me.
By "fusion" I take it you mean the potential connections between the concepts and fictional worlds underlying these various personal projects? No biggy, just curious.
Hope you're having a good weekend...I'll catch you on the flip side later this week.
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And see, blend isn't the right word, either. Those potential connections you mention don't seem like fabrications. Everything I've seen you do has a quality of "realness" and movement to it. In fact, I've never really agreed with remarks to the contrary, as well-intended as they may be. For instance, your recent Polar Bear image. I thought it was brilliant. Any arguments against its likelihood would necessarily have to be founded upon a familiarity with landscape, climate, necessity, etc. You're a dimension-hopper, bro. I'm convinced. A kind of Marco Polo displaying a menagerie of things that are art in every sense of the term. There. That's my riff.
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This is something ~whale and I have talked about before, in terms of differing creative approaches...We both come from the perspective that the imaginary creature (or imaginary entity of whatever type) is a distinct and valid being unto itself that "exists" in some quasi-metaphysical sense, and must therefore be "reverse-engineered" to understand its function and origins. That the burden is on the viewer to make sense of what he's seeing. The opposite approach, which you see so much of in the orthodox "spec bio" community, is, "This creature could never work because sauropterygians never could have evolved feathers" etc. etc. As ~whale pointed out in the middle of one of these debates, "Well, this creature *does* have these traits, so obviously it needs them and it's OUR job to figure out how it got them!" (Paraphrasing here, but that was gist of his comment.) To me half the fun of it is solving that puzzle, figuring out how a fictional being works, how it "got that way" and why. It's why I have so little tolerance for the "But but but it couldn't work because!!" school of criticism. It just takes all the fun out of it, imho, and reduces what could be an exciting exercise in creative problem-solving to a pedantic pissing match over who can dredge up the most obscure biological esoterica proving why "YOUR creacher couldn't work!" My attiude being that if you're going to be that pedagogical about it, why even bother critiquing fantasy creatures? Christ, go look at a field guide to birds of North America or something! It's one of the reasons I've eschewed the term "speculative biology" in favor of my own "biological fantasy" category over the past year or so. You can argue the science in science fiction, but you can't really fault the fantasy in fantasy, if that makes sense.
Anyway, WAAAY off-topic there!
Thanks again, bro...Your support means the world to me.
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That's absolutely what I mean. Maybe fusion isn't precisely the best word, but I think from your response here that you get what I'm driving at. You're the most unique thinker I have the privilege of knowing - it's those ideas you blend that just astound me.
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Wow...Thanks so much. You know, I'm sure I've spouted off about it before, but the bottom line is that I don't really see myself as "An Artist" in the traditional sense. For me the visual media, and I guess other media as well, are just ways of crystallizing or embodying or exteriorizing concepts, getting them out into the world in a form that's accessible to other people. And I also seek broad patterns and correlations between disparate concepts. So the fact that you see not only originality but also integration and cohesion in my body of work is a huge compliment and validation to me, much more so than positive feedback on what I see as the more cosmetic aspects of artistic "finish." Though of course those are always nice too.
Thanks again man, it really means a lot to me.
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As always, I'm knocked back not just by the artwork, but by the scope and quality of your imagination.
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Aw, thanks man! I've long admired your work, so that's a huge compliment to me.
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That is a huge compliment.
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This is great! I love the diversity of shapes/forms
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Thanks very much, I'm happy you like it! It seems like Mayan biotechnology could very well be a growth industry :rimshot:
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But now I'm all like
Thank you!
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...so, I had to hurry up and write All I Had Intended To Write. See? All's well that ends well.
Speaking of strangeness, I was watching a show last week about "toolkit DNA." Have you heard about this? It's the code that says, "arm and leg here. Now repeat on the other side." They've discovered how to (purposely) monkey with it now. Made themselves a fruit fly with legs growing where antennas should be. Needless to say this will start showing up in my artwork now... ^___^
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HOX GENES!! I've got BIIIG plans for those myself. I want to do creatures possessing more-or-less terrestrial body plans, but with the segment ORDER shuffled in a believable way. For example, a creature that has a body plan going legs-head-legs-tail rather than head-legs-legs-tail. And I want to pull it off convincingly, so that these creatures appear just as plausible and functional as organisms possessing the body plans we take for granted...~Zippo4K's Rametosaur ([link] ) reminded me I need to get to work on this idea!
The extent to which metazoan symmetry and body plans are derived from Hox genes is one of the factors that got me seriously considering the viability of truly alternative symmetries and topologies in extraterrestrial organisms, like ([link] ) and as discussed under ([link] ). There are so many assumptions we take for granted about "life as we know it" simply because that's the way everything (we know) *is*, rather than based on empirical comparison with disparate forms. It vexes me.
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Vex not, my brother! Let multiple dimensions be your guide, and CREATE! Examples - well, examples are as you said, limited to our Earth by definition. That said, we still haven't really tapped plants (fractal/radial), various microorganisms (radial, fractal, mixed-up) and other life which I may be forgetting right now. I have faith that your powers will invent more amazing beings for my amazement.
Ah, so they're called Hox genes, eh? I missed that part of the show, obviously... o_o Yes, I found it fascinating that the code for our basic gross construction was being hacked. This opens up a universe of possiblities: a human-based spaceship could have limb clusters strategically placed all along the hull, with corresponding skeleton and musculature. People like me could finally have the multiple functioning limbs we've always wanted, and look like Indian gods! (insert maniacal grin here.) I must read more about this.
Finally, thank you for turning me on to Zippo4K's art! Yet another gallery for me to peruse... Ahhh, dA is a veritable smorgasbord of beauty! ^_^
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Oh wow, I shudder at the thought of the giant human-based starship! I'm picturing something like the fetal Guild navigator from David Lynch's version of Dune, but monstrously upscaled and distorted :shudder all over again!:. re: Indian gods--if you haven't read it already, you might be VERY interested in the back-and-forth under ([link] ), which informed the thinking behind ([link] )! We were discussing this exact idea. And if you don't mind my asking, what kind of multiple functioning limbs are you personally deprived of??
Yeah, Zippo's stuff is pretty mindblowing! I think he's done more to contribute to the ecology of Snaiad than any single person out there except Nemo Ramjet himself.
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Nothing impressive - just a couple pairs of arms. 'Twould be nice for artworking, and I'd be smashing on the dance floor... o_0
So far, her design is pretty romantic. Nothing particularly oogy yet, although messing around with the likes of you that may well change!^_^ You can see her WIP in my scrapbook. Right now, I'm starting to diddle around with her arms and hands. Since she's rather large, I'm taking her in sections, the better to zero in on specific areas and add minor details.
It may be that when I get to her sensorium some real change may occur. I mean, why limit myself to just two eyes when I've got a Command Center to build, eh? Definitely take a look at her - I'd be interested in your thoughts.
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Oh, okay, so we're talking about supplementary arms rather than a replacement for nonfunctioning primaries. That's a relief!
I'm reminded of that line from Appleseed about the Hecatonchires cyborg system: "Keep adding on terminals and they can run an aircraft carrier all by themselves."
That's another thing we were talking about under the multi-limbed space marines--could an unaugmented brain coordinate those additional limbs in an effective way? I'm voting "probably not." I think it would require some sort of additional neural "drivers," either hardware or "wetware," to work effectively.
Now which of those Scrapbook WIPS is the human-derived ship?? I saw those two awesome, seemingly organic ship designs (the two large files), and then a mess o' mechazoans...But I'm not sure which of those were "her."
That reminds me, have you ever read Octavia Butler's "Xenogenesis" series? (It's been retitled "Lilith's Brood" in recent editions, but I still prefer the original name.) Anyway, another series with cool and disturbing bioengineering craziness, including "living starships" that are essentially just heavily modified spaceborne organisms.
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O RLY? (insert picture of owl here)
I was unaware that Octavia Butler ever dealt in biotech stuff - now I've got to read this book! It's funny; Ms. Butler got more press about being black than about the subject matter of her books, especially toward the end of her life when "mainstream" media got hold of her.
The vessel in question is ArkAngel, the mermaid-looking one. She's also a Mechazoan, the result of some cross-breed engineering. In the Galaxy Chronicles, one of the things I bring out is that our ideas of "scrupulous behavior" really take a beating. The more planets we live on, the more our cultural mores will diverge, so "legal" begins to take on some pretty twisted shapes sometimes. She's the result of the discovery that mehazoan DNA is easier to modify and easily accepts foreign information. As a result, mechazoa begin to fill a lot of niches, some of which didn't exist on a macro-natural scale.
Regarding brains: I don't believe the human brain as we know it could handle that much information. I could be wrong, but I hypothesize that our sensorium is tailored to our current layout. There may be potential for more, but to be honest, we can barely operate with what we've got. If we were even fully capable of handling our current level of brain/body interface we'd all be kung-fu masters. The fact that we're not tells me that our potential outstrips our ability. We'd definitely have to have some kind of augmentation. What that looks like will fuel our dA contributions for some time to come!
I've wondered similar things about eyesight - I expect the human brain would melt down under the input supplied by a fly's eyes. Our operating systems are just too different. Hell, we'd probably flip out from seeing like a deer or cow sees. That's a buttload of additional information to process for a species used to only really seeing one thing in a field of visual noise. Hopefully that software will be made by someone who writes better than Microsoft's programmers - "Eyes 1.0" or "Limbs 1.0" would have to have zero bugs.
Finally, I was not aware that the Hecatonchires system had that kind of potential! So Briareos is a cyber-demigod! I knew he was a badass, but DAYUM!
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re: Octavia Butler--You know, I was also irritated with the way her "PR" was handled, not just in terms of her ethnicity but also the emphasis on her feminist themes (I think that's part of why I was annoyed by the postmortem name change from "Xenogenesis" to "Lilith's Brood"). I mean, they're there in her books, but I don't see them as the primary point of her work...It's the old, "she's a black woman who writes science fiction, not a 'writer of black women's science fiction,'" you know? Anyway, three books in that series: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. They're among my favorite sci-fi books EVER, which is saying quite a bit!
re: "Finally, I was not aware that the Hecatonchires system had that kind of potential! So Briareos is a cyber-demigod! I knew he was a badass, but DAYUM!"
Indeed! At one point an adversary refers to him as "the monster with the octopus brainstem," which is a pretty awesome metaphor and a very evocative image!
Off to take a closer look at the ArkAngel!
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Just thought I'd let you know I picked up the Xenogenesis trilogy today. So far, it's eight bucks well spent! I'm glad I was able to find the pre-name-change editions; I'm not impressed with trying to sell the "Lilith" thing.
Couldn't agree more with your statement. Octavia Butler was a black woman who wrote SF, just like Chip Delany or Steve Barnes are black men who write SF. NONE of them created solely for Black people, women or men. I definitely understand your enjoying these books - I just started Dawn, and I'm thoroughly hooked.
I guess it's time for me to really sit down and read the Appleseed Data Book. I really need to get a hard copy; right now all I've got is one I downloaded...
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Aw, that's no way to read the Data Book! You gotta have something you can page through, PORE over...
That reminds me, just on the remote chance you haven't heard of it...You are aware that the "beta version" of Appleseed Bk. 5 is avilable in the form of "Hypernotes," no?
[link]
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No, I was not aware of this. Oh well, more stuff to spend money on...^_^ Thank you for the link, btw. I followed it to Things From Another World, which has a scuff n' dent copy of Hypernotes for around $7.50. I think I shall score this next week!
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I can almost guarantee you, you won't regret it! Two words for you: aquatic landmates. Despite being unfinished, it's one of my favorite Appleseed books!
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Hox genes are great, but as tempting as it sounds to just grow extra arms and legs, such organs would sadly be inoperable with the brain centers and the nerves to command and feel through them. Extra limbs would also take up space used by other organs - ie. having 8 arms like a Hindu god would probably leave no room for your diaphragm and lungs due to the extra muscles required to anchor and operate the new limbs.
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What if the limbs are only decorative?
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You'd have to have very weird sense of fashion for that to happen.
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I was thinking some sort of brightly colored webbed fingers acting as display devices.
...
Mr. Smartypants.
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Yeah, I figured I'd have to let some things out, and make a tuck or thirty here and there...
And by the time we'd be able to actually grow additional limbs on a critter like us, I'd certainly HOPE we would've figured out how to make them functional! Useless ornamentation for the lose...o_0
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I guess by the time we get to practically solving mind-nerve interfaces and complex organ-grafting, it will just be easier to strap on a mechanical set of arms, a-la the screaming mantis from the Metal Gear saga.
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