I'm just wondering what is going to be called attractive or cutting-edge in the body adornment or "look-at-me" art in the near future. There have been plenty of science fiction novels that describe what may be on the way such as moving tattoos or implants. I saw a small news clip about a clothing designer who incorporated circuitry in her designs so that a group of similarly clad people lets say at a club and in close contact, the attire would interact. The designs were crude but the idea behind it may bear fruit. There was another novel I remember where a static charge suspended smoke over the body to barely reveal what lies beneath. Todays tattoo will probably be considered rather primitive compared to what may be just around the corner.

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3d body art. Metal implanted in the skin in order to give it 3d ridges and/or silicone implants such as the horns that Enigma is sporting nowadays.

I think stuff like that is cyclical. I think once EVERYONE has tatoos all over, some folks will want to look like themselves and it will fall from favor. They will dare to be different by not getting one. Although the backwards baseball cap thing has lingered far longer than it should have. I think people will tire of them as they realize that, gee, Garfield was cute for a while, but after looking at him on my shoulder for a few years, maybe enough is enough.

After a while it just looks like everyone has this blue-green STUFF all over them. And My stepson saw what a 20 year old tatoo looks like on his father and decided he didn't need one.

I am surprised that henna body art never caught on. It is like a tatoo that wears off after a few days.

We tend to cycle between very artificial styles and naturalistic styles. Such things as the Goth look and the buckles and safety pins through the nose things have faded. Tatoos will too. (Pun intended.)

I think tatoos are primitive by definition. Any form of body ornament is reminiscent of the primitive stages of mankind´s development, IMO. And the fact that criminals are (or used to be) the main adepts to these practices is enough to keep me as far as possible from such things.

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On the contrary, pierceings and tattoos might become wearable computer interfaces in the near or midrange future. Rather than having direct neural interfacing which might be invasive and psychologically disturbing, wearable computers might be confined to the outside of our bodies in tattoos and earrings-noserings-eyebrow rings.
An earring could handle incoming voice traffic, lip or throat piercings could hold microphones;
eyebrow piercings could hold optical projectors which send graphical interface imagery direcly onto the retina.
Tattoos could also link together to form circuitry, as well as allowing a keyboard interface on the skin of one arm (or elsewhere if you wish).
Later still perhaps tattoos could come into fashion once again, as an alternative method of communication as well as artwork in its own right.

http://www.orionsarm.com/clades/Scrabo_Prior.html

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That depends a lot on the country and culture.

The idea that it's mainly criminals who gets tattooed is one I think is very wrong for most countries, though media does tend to emphasise the stereotype that criminals are tattooed, which is likely to help that impression.
Most forms of body modification is a way to modify youself to better fit your self image, to express your self. This includes cosmetic surgery just as much as tattoos.
I should probably link to my tattoo as a counterexample for the idea about criminals.

All tattoos blur a little as time goes by so how the tattoo looks after 20 years depends a lot on the skill of the tattoo artist and the techniques used.
As for the cycling popularity, I don't really think tattoos are more popular (with the exception of teenage girls), instead I think it's a matter of more awareness of them, you notice them more.

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Depends on your social circle. They're hugely popular on the ren faire circuit. (But I've never had the cash to blow on one. Say what you like about tatoos; they do last a while for the money you spend.)

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I hope you´ll understand that there is nothing personal to that remark. Yes, people can be pretty unforgiving, and maybe I´m being too conservative. Anyway, as I depend on direct contact with clients of a certain personal profile for living, I think my long hair and beard are transgressive enough. It´s a hypocritical society this one we live in.

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I agree with Enzp on this: everything falls out of fashion, eventually.

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Sorry Agent, subscribing to the "everything is cyclical" line of reason just fell out of vogue...two minutes ago!


ps. Don't worry, some anti-establishment types are bound to bring it back in over the next few days.

That's the first argument I've ever heard for these things that would make sense to me. I simply have never understood messing up your skin or what amounts to self-mutilation. I pick up enough dings, scars and marks without adding to it deliberately.

But if it did something useful - advanced computer interfaces, for instance, I could understand that.

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The Leif Ericson Cruiser

well, as Oscar Wilde used to say:

Editted for clarity

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Well, self mulilation is a valid way to look at tattooing.

Personally I'd rather call it self modification, as I don't differentiate between getting pretty patterns to your skin, getting bigger breast or any of the other ways available to us to modify our bodies.

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"God bless thee, my son; I will give thee the greatest jewel I have ...
"The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible."Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Hmm. Klingon foreheads as body art.

Oh, sOri, I'm curious as to when Oscar Wilde posted that.

Hmmmm about 100 years ago......

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It's a tribal thing.

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I'm trying to imagine California high school girls class of 2020 with ritual facial scarring, neck loops, lip plates and plaid school uniforms. Who knows? Maybe men and women in the near future will revel cute tiny feet and will start to bind their feet as once the Chinese women did. Cute but deformed feet. You know how the Lord of the Rings is popular so maybe people will have their ears reshaped to have elf ears or maybe have the ears removed and have some other shape or design attached. Bat ears? Wolf ears? Maybe elephant ears.

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Henrik, I don't know about in Denmark, but in the USA today people aer just covered with them everywhere you look. A generation ago this was not remotely the case. When I was a kid 50 years ago, only sailors and toughs had tatoos.

Peer recognition cues change over time, and while 50 years ago tatoos were a sign of low lifes, these days it is accepted in youthful society without stigma.

Well, 50 years ago Denmark had this guy as king, so tattoos where not quite such a lowlife thing

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"God bless thee, my son; I will give thee the greatest jewel I have ...
"The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible."Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.