Category Archives: Transhuman

The afternoon of Friday, March 13, 2020: A handful of cultural institutions had already announced they were temporarily going dark in order to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourshows I was scheduled to review had already been canceled until further notice and I was in the Smithsonian American Art Museums Renwick Gallery, planning to leave by 5 p.m. for Arlingtons Gunston Arts Center to review Avant Bard Theatres staging of Lauren Gundersons Ada and the Engine. At 4:35 my phone vibrated: the show and the remainder of Avant Bards season had been canceled.

Two years have passed. Avant Bards artistic director Tom Prewitt died in November 2020 and there was a brief period of uncertainty over whether the company would continue. Luckily it has, under a new leadership model of producing partners (including Sara Barker, Alyssa Sanders, and DeMone Seraphin) and theyve revived a couple productions, including Ada and the Engine with its cast and production team.

Ada Byron, the future Countess of Lovelace (Dina Soltan), pores over volume by her late father, the romantic poet Lord Byron (Jon Reynolds) who abandoned her and her mother Lady Byron (Jessica Lefkow) soon after her birth in 1815. In an era in which moral scandal was believed to be inheritable, Lady Byron has spent the subsequent years keeping her daughter from the temptation of poetry, educating her only in mathematics and music, attempting to rehabilitate their reputation so that Ada might marry someone respectable: the Earl of Lovelace (also Reynolds).

This much goes according to plan, but if this were all, Ada Lovelace would be barely a chapter in biographies of her father. Instead, at 18 years of age, she befriended the brilliant mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage (Matthew Pauli) at a presentation of his Difference Engine. By design the machine was capable of calculating polynomials, storing past calculations in the alignment of its wheels, and, if it had been built, printing out tables that wouldve benefitted British navigation and industry. However, Babbage refocused his attention to his Analytic Engine, a machine that could be programmed by punchcard to run any algorithmin short, a computer.

Babbage was prone to feuding with politicians who did not see the value in his work (he never delivered anything beyond partial prototypes). Ultimately his funding was cut-off. Lovelace, however, was more than a friend who was brilliant enough to understand him. When she translated a transcript of Babbages 1840 Turin lecture on the Engine, she published it with her own copious annotations, including an algorithm (regarded as the first published computer program), and a statement on the potential of Babbages invention. It established Lovelace as one of computer sciences founding figures over a century before the transistor was invented. (Without Lovelaces insight, my aforementioned smartphone, and even the methods my editors and I use to publish this review, would be unimaginable.)

Director Megan Behm balances the exploration of ideas with the emotional intimacy of the small playing space. Designer Alison Johnson dresses the characters with distinctive color palettes that persist through their costume changes, and Neil McFaddens score strikes a similar balance between computer generated and humanistic.

Soltan ably portrays Adas growth over 18 yearsfrom the young woman, almost as giddy at being courted as she being at recognized for her intellect, to an adult whos increasingly demanding to be seen as an equal partner by her mentor, and eventually her painful death at 36 due to uterine cancer. Pauli plays Charles with the highs and lows of genius, the exhilaration of his ideas being understood and the frustration of how rare understanding is. Lefkow and Reynolds play fine supporting roles. (Reynolds shows off his physical theater skills in his one scene as Lord Byron, playing the affected dissolute grace with which the poet would conceal his limp.)

While fictionalized portrayals of both Lovelace and Babbage are a mainstay of the steampunk genre, Gundersons script is grounded in the historical record. Her artistry is in how well she melds the emotional lives of her characters with their ideas in often exquisite language: in one scene Ada and Charles manage to describe the functions of the Engine while simultaneously evoking the image of the giant steam-powered brass and steel brain. Gunderson saves her most imaginative leap for the final scene in which all information is recoverable and poetry, scientific exposition, and music are a single contrapuntal invention. Is it Adas deathbed hallucination fueled by religion and laudanum or a future transhumanist utopia?

Avant Bard Theatres Ada and the Engine, by Lauren Gunderson and directed by Megan Behm, runs through March 26 at Gunston Arts Center. avantbard.org. Pay what you can$40.

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Ghost in the Machine: Ada and the Engine - Washington City Paper

Outside of all the boi memes, theres a lot of depth to the character of Arthur Morgan, played by video games newcomer Roger Clark. In a sandbox game, theres nothing stopping you from riding around the Wild West, rampaging through towns, and tying civilians to train tracks. But when youre Arthur Morgan, it just feels plain wrong. Hes an outlaw with a heart, and his only major fault is his unflinching loyalty to the wrong people.

One of the things that makes Arthur stand out is his battle with tuberculosis. Open-world games are often about taking over territory, gobbling up collectibles, and consuming every bit of content the world has to offer. In Red Dead Redemption II, you literally die of consumption. It also flips the traditional power fantasy of games on its head, starting you off with a healthy character and ending with you pale, gaunt, and prone to coughing fits. Ill never forget Arthurs private confession that hes afraid of death, not just because of the delivery of the line, but because its so rare to see a protagonist so vulnerable.

Excerpt from:
The 10 best video game characters of all time - For The Win

A host of new legislative measures designed to discriminate against LGBTQ people has been introduced in states across the U.S., a dark trend that, oddly enough, still may signal hope, says K.J. Rawson, associate professor of English and womens, gender, and sexuality studies at Northeastern.

As any oppressed group gains visibility and increased rights, its fairly predictable that that group will then become targeted, says Rawson, who studies rhetoric of queer and transgender archival collections. In some ways, we might see this as part of the path to more human rights, but the cost is to the more vulnerable members of the community.

K.J. Rawson is an associate professor of English and womens, gender and sexuality studies in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Indeed, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told state health agencies last week that medical treatments provided to transgender adolescents, widely considered to be the standard of care in medicine, should be classified as child abuse under existing state law. He called upon licensed professionals and members of the general public to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care.

Some officials have already tried to begin those investigations. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services opened an investigation into one of its own employees who has a transgender teenager, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and the firm Baker Botts, filed a lawsuit in Travis County on behalf of another anonymous family on Tuesday as well, asking the court to block enforcement of Abbotts order. A judge on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order to prevent the state from performing a child-abuse investigation of a family seeking gender-affirming care for their transgender child.

And in Florida, members of the state House of Representatives passed HB 1557, also known as the Dont Say Gay bill. The measure would limit when and how teachers and school staff can discuss gender and sexual orientation in the classroom.

Neither measure has passed so far, and the Texas measure faces gaping questions over howor whetherits even enforceable, says Libby Adler,

Libby Adler, professor of law and womens, gender, and sexuality studies at Northeastern. Courtesy photo

professor of law and womens, gender, and sexuality studies at Northeastern.

It is not clear that the governor has the authority to unilaterally declare a

medical protocol to be abuse, she says.

Still, Abbott and those who support the measure could start causing a lot of trouble for parents trying to do the right thing for their kids, Adler says.

Adler and Rawson both emphasize that the proposed measures target queer and transgender children and teenagerssome of the most vulnerable people in the broader LGBTQ community.

That is where we see the challenge and the cost of progress, the burden of those costs are not equally shared by all, Rawson says, adding however, that the cost of progress need not be so high.

If you imagine the long arc of queer and trans human rights, you can see this intentional backlash as a sign that were gaining momentum and traction, Rawson says, but its a mistake to think thats inevitable. Doing so only solidifies the belief that to make progress we have to make sacrifices.

For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.

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What the Recent Targeted Legislative LGBTQ Backlash Means - News @ Northeastern - Northeastern University

OPINION:

What do socialists, Marxists, transhumanists, Mark Zuckerbergs Metaverse, the LGBTQ movement, woke academic and corporate leftists, Davos economic elites and the left-wing of the Democratic Party have in common?

They are all invested in a progressive, secular worldview based on the idea that humans evolve toward higher levels of being and just need help getting there.

Implicit is the idea that God is an antiquated superstition, not the benevolent, omniscient creator of the universe. Another progressive idea is that the natural world no longer reigns; reality is all in our heads.

Transhumanism seek[s] the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values, according to whatistranshumanism.org.Now, theres the rub. What do they mean by life-promoting principles and values? Abortion, euthanasia, gender dysphoria and socialism? Woke progressives push all these evils while silencing dissent and altering the language.

Major media now use the absurd phrase pregnant people, not women, and obediently use plural pronouns like they and them for individuals. Were supposed to pretend men can get pregnant and win womens swim meets legitimately. Were told to follow the science (except for biology).

A Gallup poll says 21% of Gen Z and 7.1% of all U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ. For decades, studies pegged it as under 2% even while activists falsely claimed 10% to increase political clout. Constant promotion of LGBTQ behavior obviously entices young people to try it. The sharp rise in LGBTQ identification should blow away the born gay hoax. Yet they cling to it, daring us to believe that 10-20% of the population has been LGBTQ all along, just reluctant to declare it. Gods creation of two complementary sexes and marriage? Weve evolved. Anyone who says otherwise is a hater and bigot.

This is all about mans evolution into a more advanced species, like the transhumanists predict. How did we get here?

Whatever else we may think of Charles Darwins theory of evolution, it was gasoline on a raging bonfire of the vanities, worship of man instead of God that began in revolutionary Paris, culminating in the birth of Marxism. That malign materialistic philosophy insists that we are always evolving toward a higher plane. Cultural Marxism must destroy any lingering institutions and values to make way for the new order.

Eventually, we wont need government since fallen human nature will give way to unbounded, benevolent souls. Feel free to defund your police department if you believe that.

Karl Marxs prideful we shall be as gods outlook has killed more people and spread more misery than any other. And why not? Satan himself came up with it. Soul-killing envy is the beating heart of progressivism, which holds Gods natural order in contempt.C.S. Lewis warned that every power gained by man is also a power over man. In his magnificent novel That Hideous Strength, scientists run amok, like the boys in William Goldings Lord of the Flies. As Dostoevsky also observed, humans invariably go rogue when unrestrained by God.

Technology and science free us in many ways, but they can pervert what it means to be human. Mr. Zuckerbergs metaverse uses artificial intelligence-generated sensations to replace the natural world. As the Daily Mail puts it, the aim is to give people godlike powers.

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal explained the immersive nature of the Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset: If the crystal-ball predictions pan out, well soon all be wearing them to transform into digital avatars and work, play, shop and more in the so-called metaverse.

Meta, formerly Facebook, lost $3.3 billion for its virtual reality unit in the fourth quarter of 2021, but it will eventually take off. One reason is that our culture is so dark, with a limitless menu of gloom, ugliness, violence and bizarre sexuality.

If we were to conjure the perfect scenario in which we could sell virtual reality, transhumanism, gender dysphoria and other escapism, this would be it.

On the other hand, good things may be on the horizon. Parents are waking up. Leftists are terrified of the next election. Bible-based churches are growing, which bodes well for redeeming America. There is a fast-growing clean entertainment field, as exemplified by Pure Flix movies, Dry Bar Comedy and Babylon Bee satire. Wokeness is wearing thin.

And then theres the big picture, which we need to keep in mind to preserve our sanity.

Why do the nations rage and imagine a vain thing. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; He shall hold them in derision (Psalm 2).

Put them in fear, O Lord, That the nations may know themselves to be but men (Psalm 9:20).

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.

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Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse and the progressives' dark pedigree - Washington Times

From The New Statesman: Adam Rutherford, [in Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics], writes that though wildly popular across political dividesplenty of people vocally and publicly opposed the principles and the enactment of eugenics policies in the UK and abroad. This may be so, but very few of the active opponents of eugenics were progressive thinkers. During the high tide of eugenic ideas between the start of the 20th century and the 1930s, no leading secular intellectual produced anything comparable to Chestertons Eugenics and Other Evils(1922), a powerful and witty polemic in which he argued for the worth of every human being.

. . . Awkwardly for todays secular progressives, opposition to eugenics during its heyday in the West came almost exclusively from religious sources, particularly the Catholic Church . . .For the secular intelligentsia in the first three decades of the last century, eugenics the deliberate crafting of a society by biological design, as Rutherford defines it was a necessary part of any programme of human betterment . . .

The discovery that six million European Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, along with hundreds of thousands of people with physical disabilities, mental illnesses or other characteristics such as simply being gay that supposedly made their lives unworthy of living, was a rupture in history. Ideas and policies that had been regarded by an entire generation of thinkers as guides to improving the species were seen to be moral abominations. Eugenics had enabled an unparalleled crime. An earlier generations understanding of progress was not just revised. It was rejected, and something more like its opposite accepted.

This reversal should be unsettling for progressive thinkers today. How can they be sure that their current understanding will not also be found wanting? Rutherford, who shares much of the prevailing progressive consensus, seems untroubled by this possibility. As he notes on several occasions, he writes chiefly as a scientist. He has little background in moral philosophy, and at times this shows.

. . .There is a direct line connecting early 20th-century eugenics with 21st-century transhumanism. The link is clearest in the eugenicist and scientific humanist Julian Huxley (1887-1975) . . . in 1951 . . . he had coined the term transhumanism to describe the idea of humanity attempting to overcome its limitations and to arrive at fuller fruition . . . But . . . he illustrates a fundamental difficulty in both eugenics and transhumanism. Who decides what counts as a better kind of human being, and on what basis is the evaluation made?

. . . The fundamental ethical objection to eugenics is that it licenses some people to decide whether the lives of others are worth living. Part of an intellectual dynasty that included the Victorian uber-Darwinian TH Huxley and the novelist Aldous, Julian Huxley never doubted that an improved human species would match his own high-level brainpower. But not everyone thinks intellect is the most valuable human attribute. General de Gaulles daughter Anne had Downs syndrome, and the famously undemonstrative soldier and Resistance leader referred to her as my joy, and when at the age of 20 she died he wept. The capacity to give and receive love may be more central to the good life than self-admiring cleverness.

. . . The likely upshot of transhumanism in practice a world divided between a rich, smart, beautified few whose lifespans can be indefinitely extended, and a mass of unlovely, disposable, dying deplorables seems to me a vision of hell. But it may well be what is in store for us, if the current progressive consensus turns out to be as transient as the one that preceded it.

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The Sinister Return of Eugenics in the Age of Big Tech - Mad In America - Mad in America

Claims you can devaccinate yourself have been circulating on social media, another example of extreme and dangerous misinformation about COVID vaccines.

Methods said to remove COVID vaccines from the body include using snake venom extractors or a type of traditional therapy known as wet cupping.

If you encounter claims like this online, you need to ask yourself four questions, to figure out whether these claims really are too good to be true.

Read more: People want to use bleach and antiseptic for COVID and are calling us for advice

Misinformation circulating on Instagram and other social media includes a video of someone using cupping therapy, suggesting this removes or sucks out the COVID vaccine.

The video shows someone cutting the skin, before applying a cup over the cuts to create suction a type of therapy known as wet cupping.

Cupping has been used for thousands of years, mostly in traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners believe this eases pain or promotes healing by drawing fluid towards the treated area and improve the flow of energy. However, there are few high-quality studies to support its effectiveness.

Cupping usually affects only the superficial layers of the skin. COVID vaccines are generally deeper, injected into muscle.

After injection, vaccines train the bodys immune system to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. They do this by either presenting a weakened or inactivated part of the virus (the spike protein antigen) to the immune system, or by delivering the instructions for the body to make these antigens.

Its important to note, this period of training is very short, and once the body has learnt how to respond, the vaccines are cleared from your body in mere days or weeks.

Thats because after the vaccine has primed the immune system, the body breaks down these components naturally, just as it does with other genetic fragments, proteins and fats.

Read more: No, COVID vaccines don't stay in your body for years

Others have tried to devaccinate using venom extraction kits. These kits include a plunger-type device you place over a snakebite, which is supposed to suck out venom.

Again, venom extractors will not remove the antigen in COVID vaccines, for the same reasons weve already described.

They also cannot remove enough venom to prevent serious systemic (widespread) effects of a snakebite. One study found the kit only removed 0.04% of the total load of venom, and ended up just removing body fluid.Critically, they can destroy tissue around the site of the snakebite.

Information about devaccination continues to circulate on some platforms, such as BitChute and Telegram.

If you come across someone selling a wonder cure or drug online whether thats related to COVID or some other illness here are some tips for thinking about what you see:

1. Is it hard to believe?

When you see something posted that looks sensational, it is even more important to be sceptical.

In a popular TikTok video, an osteopathic physician, who no longer practices, suggests people detox by take a bath in baking soda, epsom salt and borax to get rid of radiation, poisons and nanotechnologies.

She says people need to detox because COVID vaccines have RNA-Modifying Transhumanism-Nano-Technology, and the people pushing these injections want to change what it is to be human.

She also claims to have identified a jellyfish-like tiny invertebrate called Hydra Vulgaris that can:

multiply and form independent neural networks inside those who have received COVID-19 vaccines and could ultimately influence their thoughts and actions.

Even though sometimes we want to believe that someone has found the cure or answer to a question we are seeking, go with your gut reaction. If it sounds ridiculous, it probably is. If you are unsure whether the information is legitimate, talk to a family member, friend or your GP.

2. Have you checked the facts?

If a resource is provided in another language, how can you be sure what it says?

Using the cupping video as an example, Stephen Dickey, a professor of Slavic languages and literature at the University of Kansas, identified the dialogue in the video as Russian. But he said there was no mention of the vaccine and there is no mention at all of exactly what is being extracted.

When reviewing the resource, do you know who the author is and does that author specialise in the field the article is concerned with? Check LinkedIn or do a quick Google search to see if the author can speak about the subject with authority and accuracy.

3. Is there a hidden agenda?

Have you considered whether the person or organisation attempting to sell you a new drug or treatment has a hidden agenda? This can be increasing their reach on social media or making money.

For example, American archbishop Mark Grenon and his sons are reported to have sold more than US$1 million of their bleach-type Miracle Mineral Solution. They said it was a cure for COVID, cancer, Alzheimers, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinsons, herpes, HIV/AIDS and other serious medical conditions.

4. Whats the source?

When an article cites sources, its good to check them out. The post about the snakebite kit included references to three published papers. These were dated 1979-1992, decades before COVID.

Its also important to look at the topic of the cited paper. In the case of the 1979 paper, this looked at measures for a particular type of snakebite, which included examining the effects of applying firm crepe bandages on monkeys. There was no mention of the use of snake venom removal kits or COVID.

So, when you come across any videos or social media posts about fantastical new drugs or treatments that promise otherwise impossible cures or outcomes, it is important to always think:

If what youre reading seems too good to be true, or too weird, or too reactionary, it probably is.

Excerpt from:
No, you cannot 'devaccinate' yourself with snake venom kits, bleach or cupping - The Conversation Indonesia

As the name implies, the goal of transhumanism is to transform human beings into superbots through technology. Like all delusional ideas, the end result will be disastrous. Ray Kurzweil, the Google-sanctioned prophet of this techno-cult, predicts that by 2045 (or 2049, or whatever) our souls will exist in a liminal state between the physical and digital worlds.

Right on cue, the Metaverse arrived to fulfill yet another of his dismal prophecies.

The Singularity will represent the culmination of the merger of our biological thinking and existence with our technology, he foretold in his 2005 scripture The Singularity is Near. There will be no distinction, post-Singularity, between human and machine or between physical and virtual reality. ... [O]ur experiences will increasingly take place in virtual environments. In virtual reality, we can be a different person both physically and emotionally. In fact, other people (such as your romantic partner) will be able to select a different body for you than you might select for yourself (and vice versa).

More sober voices in the transhumanist movement approach Kurzweils predictions with caution. The same goes for futurists who avoid the trans- moniker altogether. Despite those reservations, theyre all facing the same direction. One way or another, were gonna fuse with machines.

VR isn't simply a new form of media; it sweeps away the barriers of all previous forms, Wired editor Peter Rubin evangelized in his 2018 book Future Presence. [W]e have the ability to become the artto be part of a world, even to be a character. [I]t promises to upend every industry you can name.

The Metaverse couldnt have come at a better time. As real-life droids take over decent jobs, unemployed schmoes can shoot at robots in virtual reality. A population lost in digital hallucinations doesnt need brain implants or drugs to keep them pacified. If the VR realm is fun enough, people will keep themselves on lockdown.

Clawing for ZuckerBucks

Ever since Facebook staked its claim on the Metaverse last month, dozens of tech companies have tossed their brainscan helmets in the ring. As I wrote last summer, and reiterated last month, this craze is not a one-off.

Microsoft is now hyping its own virtual workspace. Roblox is enticing the youth with advanced virtual reality games. Reddits KarmaLab is coaching companies to thrive in meta-space. Nvidia is offering up custom avatars. Companies like The Sandbox are selling virtual real estate as NFTs.

All across Asia, virtual influencerscomputer-generated popstars whom fans treat like peopleare preparing to take the Metaverse stage. Even the Chinese tech firm Tencent wants in, pending CCP approval. Wall Street investors are pouring gazillions into this lunacy. Big capital ensures its development in some form or another, however corny it turns out to be.

For those who enter the Metaverse through high-end equipment, I have no doubt the experience will be thrilling. There will be fantastic adventures in alien environments, epic battles as robots or wizards, and whole battalions of gametes lost to first-person 360 porn.

That thrill is the first major problem. After decades of goofy graphics and simulation sickness, VR is now officially awesome. Just as LSD molecules will slide right into your serotonin receptors, easy as you please, the new head-mounted displays trick the brain into experiencing a virtual world as if it were real. VR fans call this state presence.

Stereoscopic screens and precision headphones create the illusion of depth. Because these visual and audio fields track with your physical bodys motiondetected by external cameras and synced with onboard gyroscopes and accelerometersyou become embodied in the VR experience. Add a fully motorized artificial vagina, and there goes your weekend. Fast-forward a decade or three, and there goes a future generation.

Given VR's mind-bending capacity to elicit emotional reactions with a simulation, intimacy can be found with a program or a recording. Rubin exults in Future Presence, [T]he emotional, cognitive, and psychological reactions we have in virtual worlds promise to change us in some fundamental ways.

The second problem, which will afflict millions, is a chronic disassociation from ones body and culture. Kissing an actual woman may be scary at first, but its certainly worth the risks and fumbles. It just takes a little practice. The same is true of brawling, mountaineering, or climbing a vaulting steel structure. These sorts of rough-and-tumble pastimes turn boys into men. But you have to get physical.

On the other end, girls have their own rites of passagedeeply embodiedthat transform them into mature women. In a compassionate society, sissies and tomboys also have their roles to grow into.

In the shadow of a global Metaverse, crowded with fake personas to inhabit, these organic identities can easily be wiped away.

To the extent augmented and virtual reality become a primary mode of experienceand thats definitely the planthe Metaverse will leave young people atrophied and unprepared to confront the real world head-on. VR creators and ad-men know that, of course, but detachment from reality isnt just part of their business model. Its a religious conviction.

Inside the Transhuman Mind

Of all the weird quirks Ray Kurzweil exhibitsand were talking about a long listhis fetish for becoming a woman in virtual reality is at the top. Back in 2001, he appeared onscreen at a TED Talk as Ramona, an electronic trollop who sings and dances. While Kurzweil performed Jefferson Airplanes White Rabbit (as Ray onstage, as Ramona onscreen), his teenage daughter boogied in the background as a digital dude.

The experience was a profound and moving one for me, he recounted in The Singularity Is Near. When I looked in the cybermirror...I saw myself as Ramona rather than the person I usually see in the mirror. I experienced the emotional forceand not just the intellectual ideaof transforming myself into someone else.

Five years later, he did a spot on C-SPAN as his alter-ego. Speaking in a Southern drawl, Ramona lamented that, unlike Ray, her ex-boyfriends had killed off the diverse personalities bubbling up in their brains.

Kurzweil looks forward to the Singularity, some two and a half decades away, when people are finally liberated from their birth bodies to take on a rainbow of immortal avatars. This will occur in virtual space, he believes, but also out in the real world through pills, injections, bionic implants, blood-borne nanobots, and other perverse technologies.

This gender-bending, borderline schizophrenic desire is a hallmark of the techno-cult. In his (her?) 2013 essay Transavatars, William Sims Bainbridge wrote:

True transhumanism does seek to enable each of us to alter and improve (by our own standards) the human body and champions morphological freedom [including to] be able to inhabit different bodies, including virtual bodies.... Avatars point out to us that enhancement is not merely a matter of increasing the effectiveness of a person in taking action, but also can mean an altered form of consciousness that expands opportunities for experiences, and escape from the conventional system of moral restraints.

When God is dead, everything is permitted and may be free to download. In 2015, the stoned prodigy R.U. Sirius drew back the curtain on this loosey-goosey mindset in Transcendence: The Disinformation Encyclopedia of Transhumanism and the Singularity:

As we move into an age of shifting identities, where we can be whatever or whoever we choose to be in our virtual lives, where biotechnology may soon offer changes in skin melanin bringing about the age of the trans-racial, as people start to evolve novel body ornamentations and eventually parts, as we learn how to control our hormones to amp up our estrogen or testosterone to suit the needs of the day, we should always remember to thank the transgendered.

Which brings us to an absurd article just published in the once-respectable MIT Technology Review. The author frets that women will be self-conscious about their pudgy avatars in the Metaverse. On the other hand, a virtual environment could allow a chick who identifies as a fat, gay, pre-medical transition trans man to find validation.

For me, the joy of seeing myself represented accurately would mean that I am not the only person who believes my existence is valid, he says. It means a team of developers also see the potential of me existing, as I look, as a man.

As if PC speech codes and expensive medical procedures werent enough, soon well have a vast electronic infrastructure to coddle delusional minds. You can be certain that, just as social media and 24/7 screen time induces teen gender dysphoria, the madhouse of the Metaverse will extend identity crises to cartoon teddy bears and polymorphic aliens.

Yes, the miracles of technology allow for infinite possibilities. But at least half of them suck.

Artificial Bodies With No Soul

Virtual reality is just another jewel on the crown of King Crazy. It allows people to forget who they are and where they come from.

Unlike great films or fine literature, which trigger memory and help interpret the real world, VR offers a universe unto itselfone devoid of sentience and soul. Those who get lost in this lifeless abyss will have no idea where theyre going, out in reality, and no means to control their lives beyond the imaginary powers theyve been sold.

As with most delusional states, their madness will seem to have no consequence at first. Itll be hidden behind plastic goggles and closed doors. Normal people can look the other way and hum right along, as they did with the race riots, opioid addictions, smartphone schizoids, and toddlers in dresses. But as more and more vulnerable souls retreat into immersive worlds, losing themselves in preposterous scenarios behind phony digital masks, their minds will become unglued. Real relationships will dissolve. Eventually, reality will come crashing in.

By that time, everyone who invested in the Metaverse will have made their millions. With any luck, well have mortuary bots to sweep up the wreckage. Then none of us will have to go outside and get our hands dirty.

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Further Reading

The Metaverse: Heaven for Soy Boys, Hell on Earth for Us Salvo

Mark Zuckerberg Is Planting The First Church Of The Metaverse The Federalist

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The Transhuman Roots of the Metaverse - by Joe Allen

The first shots of the second American Civil War may have already been fired, the investigative journalist Robert Evans argues in his 2018 podcast It Could Happen Here. Drawing on his experience covering civil wars in Iraq, Ukraine, and Syria, the iHeartRadio host demonstrated to millions of listeners that the United States is closer to a nationwide sectarian conflict than they had previously imagined. In his debut novel, After the Revolution, Evans imagines an America crumbling in the chaotic aftermath of such a war.

Evanss publishing model is as revolutionary as his subject matter. He self-published the book in digital and audio formats in August 2021 and released them for free. I dont think Ill ever sell a fiction book in the traditional sense, he says. I view it as an act of solidarity with other poor people who like to read fiction.

The premise for After the Revolution came to Evans as an 18-year-old walking around his hometown of Richardson, Tex., on an actually hallucinogenic dose of MDMA. He developed the idea over the next 10 years while working as a writer, editor, and video producer for Cracked and publishing his first book, the tongue-in-cheek nonfiction volume A Brief History of Vice, with Penguin Random House.

But it wasnt until I went to Iraq that how to actually write [After the Revolution] started coming together, he says. In 2016, Cracked sent Evans to embed with Iraqi Kurdish militias fighting ISIS.

In the novel, Evans envisions a United States fractured into at least 15 independent governments with different ideologies. Most of the action happens in a version of Texas inspired by his experience in Iraq. The area surrounding the left-libertarian Free City of Austin is powered by automation, but opportunity is scarce due to recurring assaults from the Heavenly Kingdom, a Taliban-like Christian state occupying the Deep South.

Evans tells the story through three characters caught in the crossfire: Manny, a fixer guiding journalists through the war-torn Texas landscape; Sasha, a young woman recruited by the Heavenly Kingdom; and Roland, a heavily augmented (or chromed) cyborg supersoldier numbing memories of his violent past in a fugue of drugs, booze, and self-imposed exile.

Despite the postcollapse setting, Evans was determined not to write a pure dystopian or utopian story because thats more realistic. He contrasts the Heavenly Kingdoms oppressive theocracy with new societies based on leftist principles that rise to oppose it.

The most radical example is a nomadic anarchist commune called Rolling Fuck. Its as if Burning Man were permanent and mobile and had the most advanced technology on the planet. The city is a haven for the chromedtranshumanist cyborgs, some of whom can switch genders at willwhere they drink beer laced with LSD and regularly have polyamorous fondle boat parties. The Fuckians are sophisticated warriors, but their progressive culture reckons with the responsibility that comes with their technological power.

After the Revolutions thrilling action scenes are tempered by the trauma Evans witnessed in Iraq and Ukraine. A big influence was watching the United States military bombing Mosul, Evans says. I spent one morning watching airstrikes land in the Old City, then minutes later walked through and there were live munitions, bodies in the rubble, all that shit. Evans says he took direct fire at least three times, and he recalls at least one incident when bullets whizzed past his head while he was embedded with a federal police mortar unit.

The violence, combined with other personal issues, took a toll on Evans. At the end of 2017, he and his wife broke up. I started having outrageous PTSD, just years worth of not taking care of my mental health compounding, and thats when I wrote most of the book, Evan says. It was primarily written as a way to process my post-traumatic stress disorder and my grief at the end of a relationship.

Evans chose to release After the Revolution for free because the story was too intertwined with his trauma and growth to look at as a financial instrument. Evans could have taken After the Revolution to a major publisherhe has another nonfiction book deal in the worksbut, thanks to his six-figure social media following and 10 million monthly podcast listeners, he didnt have to. I dont think this book could have possibly sold without the person writing it having a significant audience already, Evans says.

His decision was also inspired by such copyleft literary heroes as Attack Surface author Cory Doctorowwho lauded the bookand Evanss mentor and editor at Cracked, John Dies at the End author Jason Pargin. Both authors are known for providing their books at no charge. Pargin first released chapters of his novel, later adapted to a feature film, as a pioneering comedy blog, and Doctorow gives away many of his books to readers.

Though profit isnt his primary motive, Evanss approach is paying off. He brought After the Revolution to his producers at iHeartMedia, where he hosts popular shows including Behind the Bastards and a daily edition of It Could Happen Here. iHeartMedia agreed to release the audiobook as an ad-supported podcast, and now its the networks most popular fiction series. On August 16, 2021, the company launched a new progressive subnetwork called Cool Zone Media with Evans as the creative lead.

On May 3, Evans will release a paperback edition of After the Revolution through AK Press, an Oakland-based anarchist collective that has been publishing leftist literature for over 20 years. Robert is in a unique position. His voice has found a pretty large audience, and hes using it to push people to change, not just be entertained, says AK Press collective member Zach Blue. After the Revolution is a timely companion to the host of great nonfiction books out now, and coming soon, that investigate the radicalization of the right and the increasing threat of violence in the U.S.

After the Revolution reveals a large audience hungry for stories that acknowledge the threat of fascism. That audience has already financed the After the Revolution sequel, raising nearly $50,000 on GoFundMemore than double Evanss $20,000 goal.

After the Revolution shows that the way that the book trade operates is not the only way, Blue says. Publishers complain about large entities like Amazon, but they can always do things differently, and authors can do things differently. The work Robert does is proof that theres more than one way to get art out into the world.

Beckett Mufson is a journalist, copywriter, and cofounder of creative agency The Auxiliary.

A version of this article appeared in the 02/21/2022 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: An Act of Solidarity

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An Act of Solidarity - Publishers Weekly

FXs upcoming TV series based on the Alien films will be set on Earth 70-odd years from now which is before Sigourney Weavers Ellen Ripley character in the franchises timeline, FX chairman John Landgraf tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The show is being headed up by Noah Hawley, who previously won acclaim for his Fargo TV series inspired by the Coen brothers movie of the same name. Filming for the Alien TV show is due to take place after season five of Fargo, which will be filmed this winter.

Landgraf previously confirmed that the Alien TV show would be set on Earth when the project was announced in late 2020. But knowing the shows time period means we can have some fun speculating about how it might tie into the rest of the franchise.

Being set in the 2090s means the that show could overlap with the events of 2012s Prometheus, which served as a prequel to the original Alien. The events of Prometheus kick off in 2089 when protagonists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map in Scotland from an ancient civilization. The rest of the film then takes place on a distant moon in 2093, as humanity attempts to make contact with its forerunners.

But Landgraf also says the Alien TV show wont feature any returning characters from the existing films. Ripley wont be a part of it, and neither will any other characters other than the alien itself, Landgraf says. So Sigourney Weavers Ellen Ripley wont make an appearance (Xenopedia informs me the character was born in 2092) but does this also rule out a return from Michael Fassbender, whos already appeared in the Alien prequels as two different android characters? Whos to say.

Hawley also teased more details for the series in a recent interview with Esquire. In the [Alien] movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence but what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win? he says. I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someones going to monopolize electricity. We just dont know which one it is.

It all sounds very promising, and Im letting myself get cautiously optimistic given Hawleys work on Fargo, and the good job FX has done with its What we do in the Shadow TV adaptation. The Alien TV series currently doesnt have an official air date.

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The Alien TV show will take place before Ripley - The Verge

Author & Punisher takes industrial metal to its maximalist extremes. A one-man project headed by Tristan Shone, Author & Punishers densely tactile take on the genre is as much defined by its oppressive, mechanistic heaviness as it is the viscous layers of melodic beauty that Shone injects through the mesh of grinding gears. These two polarities operate in total synergy, transposing their textures onto each other and colliding in a brain-melting clash of synthetic circuitry.

Industrial metal has rarely sounded as enormous as it does on Krller. This brutal maximalism is achieved in part through Shones strong command of pathos and patience. He gifts the myriad layers of instrumentation ample time and space to grind, clang, jitter, crackle, and erupt. These eight tracks rhythms rarely match the blood-pumping, drum machine-led kineticism usually associated with industrial music. Instead, Krller lumbers and crawls, like the futuristic tank adorning its cover.

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The whole 51-minute experience exists on a vast digital canvas, one coated in weighty layers of harsh and bold synthetic textures. To achieve this, Shone utilizes a remarkable collection of homemade instruments. His set up (both live and in his studio) features imposing-looking creations made from metallic levers and pistons, as well as a microphone that wraps across his face like an uncanny robotic grin. Similar to the protagonist of Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Shone seems to have fused himself with his strange machines. This gives the music heft and weight, as if the synthetic soundscapes have welded themselves with flesh and muscle.

This transhumanist aesthetic is the best lens through which to view Krller. This collision of familiar, more human sounds with Shones harsh industrial textures makes for much of what makes the album so fascinating. Guitars are commonplace, highlighted by the brutal power chords of Incinerator, however they are drowned in a dense layer of piercing distortion that strips away their human qualities in place of something cold and robotic. The drums similarly blur the line between the organic and the synthetic. Miserys drums flicker between skittish but familiar drum-machine beats and rhythms that are processed and so infused with bass and machinery that their human familiarity gets entirely stripped away.

This uncanny and eerie musical quality is compounded by Krllers prescient and unnerving thematic weight. Industrial music has always been closely aligned with dystopian imaginings - both paint similarly dark, mechanistic and violent vistas. Given the global events of the last few years, the genres aesthetic fascinations now seem especially ripe for exploration. The lyrics of Krllers opening track Drone Carrying Dread directly address these concerns, imagining a future of streets ablaze and news of fire. Shone has discussed the influence of Octavia Butlers book Parable Of The Sower on the album, as well his fascination with the rise in self-sustaining prepper culture.

Perhaps in response to Shones observations on the state of the contemporary worlds frayed social fabric, Krller features numerous collaborations that expand on the closed world of Author & Punisher. Tools Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor feature on Misery and Centurion respectively, Shones wife appears as a backing vocalist on Maiden Star, while Phil Sgrosso (Shones manager and As I Lay Dying guitarist) wrote much of the albums initial guitar parts. This eagerness to collaborate gives Krller a potential moral bent, as if suggesting that it could function as an antidote to the disharmony of modern society. It also implies that, within Shones sonic universe so defined by the collision of man versus machine, its the human that might emerge as the ultimate victor.

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Krller releases today via Relapse Records.

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Author & Punisher Revels in Transcendent Disillusion On Krller (Review) - Invisible Oranges