It's the end of the AAA as we know it and I feel fine

or: Objections to the 333 day extension

 

"The AAA is the cradle of autonomous space exploration.
But humanity cannot remain in the cradle forever"
- Tsilovsky

Raido AAA have left the building. After April 23rd 2000, we won't be publishing any new AAA texts, organising events or producing Annual Reports. John Eden will also shortly be unsubscribing from the AAA-list and turning over its admin to... somebody or nobody.

 

"Space travel's in my blood,
There ain't nothing I can do about it.
Long journeys wear me out,
but I know I can't live without it."
- The Only Ones

There is a risk of the AAA falling into situations of endlessly repeating only the most basic ideas associated with the network. This could become unsatisfying and can lead to viewing one's own involvement in a similar fashion to a job or membership of a political organisation. It also communicates a degree of boredom to whoever is on the receiving end. We don't want to answer the same questions over and over again.

For this reason it may be useful for all autonomouos astronauts to consider their position. We have decided to only involve ourselves with the
organisation of historification projects (including the continuing availability of 'classic' AAA merchandise) and only this for as long as it appeals to us - which certainly won't be for 333 days*. The process of historification is one step removed from the 'operational' level and therefore has the advantage of of allowing autonomous astronauts to place outrageous contexts or explanations on the basic ideas behind the Five Year Plan.

 

"I'm so bored of the AAA"
- The Clash

There is also the danger of an AAA bureaucracy emerging - of becoming the sort of organisation that asks George Soros for £333,000 (even in jest), or that gets nearly approving mentions in anarchist magazines like 'Organise' in their J18 write ups, or that allows a couple of individuals to get wheeled out for the media every time something vaguely arty gets done about outer space.

Above all there is the danger of 'veteran' autonomous astronauts being perceived as experts - nudging closer to the space establishment (corporate or governmental attempts to make space travel more open, media science commentators, the British Interplanetary Society, etc) than the people that are the AAA's natural constituency.

We would like to take up Disconaut AAA's proposal that we dissolve ourselves into a wider group of people. We should at all costs avoid ghettoisation - the creation of a niche AAA category. Perhaps we should instead concentrate on infecting other categories so that there is no longer a 'need' for a specific AAA network. Indeed, it should now be the primary focus of all autonomous astronauts to create a situation where the AAA is no longer necessary.

This is by no means the end. Just as our previous projects have overtly and covertly been present in our AAA activities - the ideas, experiences and relationships that we unearthed whilst part of the AAA will surely continue to be present in what we do as groups and as individuals in the future.

See You In Space

Raido AAA

 

* Whilst we understand Mr Balli's ideas about the AAA being a self-initiatory process in which people may have to immerse themselves for a specific length of time to reap the rewards, we are unclear as to how setting another discrete length of time with a fixed endpoint will resolve the "problem" of people becoming involved some time after the beginning of the 5 Year Plan.

We would also urge caution to people who wish to immerse themselves in a project which is numerologically identical to the arch demon Choronzon, who in our experience is a far from benign influence.

This text isn't an attempt to rubbish the ideas behind the extension (or to have a go a younger AAA groups or autonomous astronauts) - it's more an explantion of why we don't wish to participate - and perhaps an attempt to generate some discussion!


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