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Category Archives: Transhumanist

Introducing When the Sparrow Falls, the Debut Novel From Neil Sharpson – tor.com

Posted: May 14, 2020 at 4:51 pm

Will Hinton, executive editor at Tor Books, has acquired North American rights to two books by debut novelist Neil Sharpson, from his agent Jennie Goloboy at the Donald Maass Literary Agency. The first book, When the Sparrow Falls, is scheduled for publication in spring 2021.

Part thriller, part literary science fiction, When the Sparrow Falls is an exploration of the coming AI revolution, transhumanism, totalitarianism, loss, and the problem of evil.

In the future, AI are everywhere. They are our employers, our employees, our friends, lovers and even our children. Over half the human race now lives online.

But in the Caspian Republic, the last true human beings have made their stand, and their repressive, one-party state is locked in perpetual cold war with the outside world.

The republic is thrown into chaos when the virulently anti-AI journalist Paulo Xirau is found dead in a bar. At his autopsy, the unthinkable is discovered: Xirau was AI.

Security Agent Nikolai South is given a seemingly mundane task; escorting Xiraus widow while she visits the Caspian Republic to identify her husbands remains. He is stunned to discover that the beautiful, reserved, Lily Xirau bears an unearthly resemblance to his wife, who has been dead for thirty years.

As Nikolai and Lily delve deeper into the circumstances surrounding Paulos death, trying desperately to avoid the attentions of the murderous Bureau of Party Security, a tentative friendship between the two begins to blossom. But when they discover Xiraus last secret South must choose between his loyalty to his country and his conscience.

Neil Sharpson said:

Ive been living in the Caspian Republic (whether as a play, screenplay or novel) for around nine years now and its almost impossible to believe that the journey is finally at an end. Its a story about one man trying to survive in a brutal regime who is given one final chance to make amends to the woman he let down. Im incredibly grateful to Will Hinton and the team at Tor for choosing this book, and to Jennie Goloboy, the best agent any writer could ask for. And most of all to my wife Aoife, who never doubted for a second, even when I did. And while its certainly not a place Id recommend moving to, I sincerely hope people enjoy their time in the Caspian Republic.

Will Hinton added:

It is a rare and joyous occasion to discover a debut novel brimming with this much talent, insight, poise and heart. The voice of Nikolai South is indelible and the world he brings us into is unforgettable, part Le Carr, part Philip K. Dick, and many layers besides. Sharpson asks questions, and gives a few answers, about what is gained and what is lost in the way we live in the 21st century that will keep me thinking for a long time. I cant wait for you to read it!

When the Sparrow Falls is scheduled for publication in spring 2021 by Tor in the US and by Rebellion in the UK.

Neil Sharpson lives in Dublin with his wife and their two children. Having written for theatre since his teens, Neil transitioned to writing novels in 2017, adapting his own play The Caspian Sea into When the Sparrow Falls.

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This Week In New Releases (May Week 2) | TheGamer – TheGamer

Posted: at 4:51 pm

Sci-fi and space are the themes for this week, with many new releases offering a chance to travel to corrupt futuristic worlds.

This week is seeing the release of a number of indie titles with a few professional published games, one of which taps into '90s FPS nostalgia.

Ion Fury was developed by Voidpoint and 3D Realms, the minds behind titles like Duke Nukem 3D, Prey (2006), and Max Payne. The game is an FPS utilizing the classic Build Engine that was used in Duke Nukem 3D and sends the player on a mission to fight cybernetically enhanced super soldiers operating with a transhumanist cult. The game was released last year, but is now getting ported to the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

VirtuaVerse is a point and click adventure game set in a dystopian cyberpunk world. The player will step into the shoes of a smuggler living off the AI-based grid as he investigates where his missing girlfriend went. It will be released exclusively for the PC.

RELATED: New Game Studio Skystone To Debut With A Twist On Zombie Games

Deep Rock Galactic is finally leaving Early Access and fully releasing for the PC and Xbox One. Up to four players can join together to explore caves to gather precious metals, clear out nests of aliens, collect eggs, and more. The game features procedurally generated caves that are fully destructible. It looks to have done very well in Early Access and fans seem excited this indie title is finally getting a full release.

Oddworld: Munchs Oddysee is getting ported to the Nintendo Switch. This classic platformer was originally released for the Xbox in 2001. Featuring bizarre characters and the iconic Abe, players embark on a quirky quest to protect various races from being experimented on.

NEXT: The Battle For The Best-Selling Nintendo Switch Game Is Heating Up

Ex-Niantic Employee Says They Tried To Fix Pokmon GO Problems, But No One Listened

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Durham’s Kriya Therapuetics lands $80M to advance gene therapies for diabetes, severe obesity – WRAL Tech Wire

Posted: at 4:51 pm

PALO ALTO, Calif.andDURHAM Flush with cash, Kriya Therapeutics has big plans.

The biotech startup, with headquarters in Durham and Palo Alto, California, has secured $80.5 million in Series A financing to fund the development of its gene therapies for highly serious diseases.

Among them: type 1 and type 2 diabetes, severe obesity and other indications affecting millions of patients.

Series A investors include QVT, Dexcel Pharma, Foresite Capital, Bluebird Ventures (associated with Sutter Hill Ventures), Narya Capital, Amplo,Paul Manning, andAsia Alpha. This Series A round follows an initial seed financing completed by the company in the fourth quarter of 2019 led by Transhuman Capital, who also participated in the Series A round.

Kriya said financing proceeds would go towards supporting the development of the companys pipeline, internal discovery engine, and proprietary GMP manufacturing infrastructure.

There have been numerous successful gene therapies focused on rare monogenic diseases in recent years, said Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Kriya Therapeutics, in a statement.

We see tremendous potential to expand the field and apply gene therapy to highly prevalent serious diseases. We are focused on designing gene therapies using algorithmic tools, scalable infrastructure, and proprietary technology to optimize the efficacy and durability of our treatments. We look forward to accelerating the development of our pipeline, platform technologies, and internal GMP manufacturing capability with the funds raised in this Series A financing.

Founded in 2019, the companys team includesformer senior leadership from Spark Therapeutics, AveXis, Sangamo Therapeutics, and other gene therapy companies.

Kriyas initial pipeline includes:

Kriya is building a leading team and cutting-edge infrastructure to engineer best-in-class gene therapies for severe chronic conditions and accelerate their advancement into human clinical trials, saidRoger Jeffs, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Kriya, in a statement.

The company is committed to incorporating the latest advancements in the field into the design and development of its therapeutic constructs. Through its R&D laboratory capabilities in the Bay Area and in-house process development and manufacturing infrastructure inResearch Triangle Park, I believe that Kriya will be uniquely positioned to become a leader in the gene therapy field.

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Durham's Kriya Therapuetics lands $80M to advance gene therapies for diabetes, severe obesity - WRAL Tech Wire

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Announcing The Altered Carbon RPG – Preorder Now! – GameTyrant

Posted: at 4:51 pm

Renegade Game Studios has announced the Altered Carbon RPG, and the tabletop roleplaying game is available for pre-order now! You can get order both the standard and deluxe editions of the game, and those that pre-order will get a free PDF of the rules delivered upon release in September.

If youre unfamiliar with the cyberpunk world of Altered Carbon or the hit Netflix show, its a world where bodies are no longer a limitation for humanity.

In this transhumanist neo-noir vision of the future, the human mind is nothing more than digital code -Digital Human Freight - saved and stored in a Cortical Stack, advanced technology that allows you to "re-sleeve" your entire consciousness into a new body.

In theOfficial Altered Carbon Role Playing Game, players will be free to wear any body that you can pay for, transmit your mind across the cosmos, and re-sleeve time again and again.

The core rulebook includes:

Rules to Play Archetypes ranging from Socialites to Soldiers.

Explore the expansive metropolis Bay City in both its Underground, and Atrium world.

Storytelling focused rules, that help create immense danger inside of combat and intrigue outside combat.

The means in which to transfer your characters' digital consciousness into a new sleeve should they come to a tragic end.

To learn more about the game and to pre-order the RPG rulebook and accessories, click here.

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Five Essay Collections to Read in Quarantine – Willamette Week

Posted: April 26, 2020 at 6:43 pm

Make It Scream, Make It Burn, Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison knows how to write a good personal essay because she doesn't assume you want to read about her personally. This was true in her first collection, Empathy Exams, and it is true in her second, Make It Scream, Make It Burn, which pieces together the things that interest Jamison most. In "Sim Life," Jamison examines our e-companions, those virtual characters we find ourselves strangely invested in. In "The Quickening," she reflects on the anxieties of pregnancy, at times addressing her unborn daughter directly, drawing the reader into the most private spaces of pre-parenthood. Each essay is an exercise in thoughtful restraint, never allowing itself to be confused for the work of a diarist.

Black Is the Body, Emily Bernard

On its most superficial level, Black Is the Body is a collection about storytelling within the familyas Bernard lays out in the subtitle, these are 12 stories from her grandmother's time, her mother's time, and her own. Beneath that, Black Is the Body is an expertly crafted collection about blackness in America, as only Bernard has lived it. One essay, "Interstates," documents the time when Bernard, her parents, and her white fianc pulled over to change a flat tire, exposing the family to every prejudice that may pass them on the highway. Other stories examine the relationship between white and black life in the American South, two experiences "ensnared in the same historical drama."

Interior States, Meghan OGieblyn

There are some writers who leave the worlds of devout religionworlds that are at once large, and impossibly smalland spare no second thoughts, rejecting both the baby and the bathwater. Meghan O'Gieblyn's debut collection leaves no thoughts behind, turning to her upbringing of conservative evangelicalism for a series of essays offering razor-sharp cultural criticism on the state of American life. "Ghost in the Cloud," a particular strong point, sews together the parallel theologies of transhumanism (technology that works to avoid death) and Christian millennialism (salvation that works to avoid death). O'Gieblyn is unapologetic in her takes, producing wholly original commentary slated for these times.

Human Relations and Other Difficulties, Mary-Kay Wilmers

Mary-Kay Wilmers, one of the founders of the London Review of Books and its sole editor since 1979, has a lot to say about writing, and women, and the ways women write for themselves and for men. Human Relations and Other Difficulties is the product of a veteran career in book reviewing, and it showsthe essays are clever, frank and delightfully readable. Some provide the literary commentary that Wilmer is known foron Joan Didion, Alice James and Jean Rhyswhile others turn inward, looking to Wilmer's own life as a child and a parent. "There's nothing magical about a mother's relationship with her baby," Wilmer writes of early motherhood. "Like most others, it takes two to get it going."

If there were ever a time to renew your love for the natural world, as the late poet Mary Oliver did throughout her career, it's now. Upstream, a collection of essays published three years before Oliver's death, is the author in her purest formreflecting on the beauty of codfish, grass, and seagulls on the beach. Life, as she writes about it, is precious in all things, without ever dipping into sentimentality. Oliver's meditation on her literary counterparts, including Walt Whitman, a childhood "friend," gives rare insight into the making of the poet, while other essays invite the reader to observe the outdoors with new eyes.

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‘Ion Fury’ Coming to Consoles – Exclusively Games

Posted: at 6:43 pm

Developer Voidpoint, LLC and publisher 3D Realms took to Twitter to tease that their well-received previously released retro-inspired action title Ion Fury will be releasing on Nintendo Switch. When asked in follow up tweets, they also confirmed the title will make its way to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. They did not state a release date, but the month of May has been floated around from various locations. Ion Fury previously released back in August of 2019 on PC via Steam.

If youre unfamiliar with Ion Fury, it follows Shelly Bombshell Harrison, who has earned the code name for being able to defuse bombs for the Global Defense Force. When an evil transhumanist mastermind by the name of Dr. Jadus Heskel decides to unleash the members of his cybernetic cult onto the streets of Neo DC, Shelly decides its time to start causing explosions, instead of preventing them. Shellys quest will lead players down a path full of carnage, gigantic explosions, levels with multiple pathways, tons of secrets to discover, and inhuman enemies set to stop your path. Players will find that there is no regenerative health, and will instead need to utilize cover and run and gun methods to defeat enemies. Other features are as follows:

Are you excited for Ion Fury coming to more platforms? Will you be picking it up? For those whove played it on PC, would you recommend it? For other indie titles to keep an eye on, make sure to check out VirtuaVerse, Shop Titans, and Jet Lancer. To stay up to date on Ion Fury, make sure to follow the developers on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and their official website.

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Things To Do: Antonio Eyez Will Perform At R&R Studios April 30 – Houston Press

Posted: at 6:43 pm

When an artist as monumental as Prince passes away, he leaves a gaping hole in the landscape of popular music that is not easily filled. As we reach the four-year anniversary of the artist's passing, his influence is still as present as ever.

Houstons downtown venue Lucilles holds a yearly tribute to Prince and Antonio Eyez is a natural fit for the event. Eyez was the main attraction for this year's online event and he did Prince good, as he always does, in addition to performing some of his powerful original songs.

He will also be performing an online concert at R&R studios on Thursday, April 30 at 9 p.m., as part of a socially distant concert series that the studio has been putting out. The studio is the ideal setting to keep artists at safe distances while providing quality sound and streaming capabilities on multiple platforms.

Eyez is accustomed to the Prince comparisons and was even tapped by Morris Hayes himself, Princes longtime keyboardist and musical director. Eyez reached out to Hayes in the simplest way, through Facebook, and didnt really expect to gain any traction from their interactions.

When Hayes held an event for his World Symphony for Peace organization here in Houston, he asked Antonio Eyez to participate. More than anything, he was just surprised I think, says Eyez of the impression he made on Hayes that night.

It was like, We get a lot of people who do Prince, but not make it their own, he was surprised and intrigued by that. It was really cool to experience him as a musician and an artist himself, says Eyez.

Hayes even recently gave a shout out to Eyez while discussing his work and friendship with Prince via Facebook on the anniversary of the singers death.

Eyez was raised in a musical family here in Houston and has played guitar from a young age. His mother, father and grandfather surrounded him with music and were active in gospel quartet groups. Eyez describes it as, Its kind of like if you hear D'angelo mixed with some church, you're going to get quartet, he chuckles.

The multi-instrumentalist and singer embodies the future and breaks down prefabricated rules of genres and gender. Anyone who caught his electrifying set at this year's BowiElvis Fest can testify that he is one part Jimi Hendrix, another part Prince and a perfect fit for Bowie but mostly, hes just himself.

Even at an event as diverse as BowieElvis, Eyez stood out musically and visually with his performance. He donned a fishnet mask, large gold earrings and blew the roof off of the small and packed Big Top lounge that night.

"To be honest, I just want to be able to have a clear message of truth and bringing back real musicianship. I really want to bring that truth to musicianship and artistry back to the stage and also being in fashion, having to look like what you sound like," says Eyez of his approach to performing live.

Its all in there you know, says Eyez of his influences. I think that comes from a lot of studying for sure. I studied D'angelo, Prince, George Clinton, Sly Stone, a whole bunch of other people. I try to get a good combination of all of those elements and make it my own.

Eyez has had the opportunity to work as a touring band member for many artists, including CJ Chenier, son of the King of Zydeco Clifton Chenier. When asked what lessons he has taken from being a backing member to fronting his own band, Eyez says wisely, the importance of the longevity of the music as opposed to just getting in, getting a buck and leaving.

This year Eyez released his solo album, The Second Coming on his own record label, Spacewar Music. The Second Coming sonically is a funky trip to outer space with Eyez maintaining both feet grounded lyrically, tapping into basic human emotions and the common experience of mankind.

Songs like Transhuman show off Eyez vocal abilities and his unique knack for being understated yet powerful.

It's pretty rough right now for a lot of people, says Eyez. Thats why we wanted to write songs like Transhuman, because there's all kinds of people on this world that are looking for something and ultimately they're looking for themselves and where they fit in this world. I think that's something that needs to be spoken about at this particular time.

The Second Coming is rooted in funk but has strong elements of rock sprinkled throughout the album. "Aquarius Rage" takes Eyez down a darker road, with its heavy bass lines sounding off as a warning to the listener of the impending rage they are about the experience.

Eyez admits that people in his personal life often mistake the angry track to be directed at them, but in reality it was his response to being told repeatedly that his music didn't fit neatly enough into any category to be played on the radio stations he approached.

"Right now things are changing in the way where the old system is not going to be the same once things get back to normal because people are finding different ways to get heard and there's not going to be a need for the old radio formula," says Eyez.

Eyez recorded the album in the most futuristic yet simplest way possible, on his iPhone. He described how he used accessible technology to achieve the interplanetary sounds he was seeking, without stepping into a studio.

The artist has been hustling in the way Houston is known for, putting out new songs and videos during this time in quarantine. Though he, like all artists, had his gigs canceled due to COVID-19, he's not letting that stop him from putting out content any way he can.

The good thing about right now is that people are listening and they are able to use platforms to push it and get people more interested.

For his online concert at R&R Studios, Eyez assures he will have all the bells and whistles and will take advantage of the space he is being provided with to help Houston get out of its collective funk with some good funk, seeing this as an opportunity to reach new audiences.

The online concert will be streamed live through the R&R Studio YouTube page, Facebook page, Twitch and Instagram as well on Antonio Eyez own social media accounts.

Gladys Fuentes is a first generation Houstonian whose obsession with music began with being glued to KLDE oldies on the radio as a young girl. She is a freelance music writer for the Houston Press, contributing articles since early 2017.

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OISTE.ORG Foundation endorses preserving the human right to privacy statement during the Covid-19 pandemic signed by a group of more than 300…

Posted: at 6:43 pm

OISTE.ORG Foundation endorses preserving the human right to privacy statement during the Covid-19 pandemic signed by a group of more than 300 academics and experts on the human right to privacy

Geneva, 23 April 2020 - OISTE.ORG, a Swiss based foundation with special consultative status with ECOSOC and a recognized member of the not-for-profit constituency of ICANN endorses the views expressed in the Joint Statement on Contact Tracing dated April 19, 2020 and signed by a group of more than 300 academics and experts on the human right to privacy.

Governments worldwide have declared or will soon declare national states of emergency to face the Covid-19 threat. Under a state of emergency, governments are legally entitled to dictate measures of exception that would not be accepted or tolerated under normal circumstances. States of emergency are used as a rationale for suspending constitutional rights and freedoms because there is a higher public good that makes it justifiable. Nevertheless, experts sound a warning alarm: there is a high risk that governments will overstep and impede rights and freedoms in response to Covid-19. At the present critical juncture, some of the contact tracing applications that are being proposed may override the privacy-protection clauses of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The debate about contact tracing using modern digital technologies and the respect of the fundamental human right to privacy is one example of the need to be vigilant of the breaking point where exceptional measures can do more wrong than good. The liberal state has the same obligation to ensure the health and the well-being of its citizens as to guarantee that State surveillance of the individual does not become the norm. There is no doubt that digital technologies have a role to play on the lockdown ease, but not at any price.

Recently, a number of European institutions launched the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing: https://www.pepp-pt.org/ with the objective of interrupting new chains of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by informing potentially exposed people using their Bluetooth devices, though very quickly the two main Swiss technological universities, the EPFZ and the EPFL withdrew their support to the initiative since it is privacy intrusive. That is why the Joint Statement makes the following recommendations:

The authors of the Joint Statement point the following privacy-protecting initiatives as examples of good practice: DP-3T : https://github.com/DP-3T,TCN Coalition : https://tcn-coalition.org/, PACT (MIT) : https://pact.mit.edu/, PACT (UW) : https://covidsafe.cs.washington.edu/

Carlos Moreira, Secretary General of the OISTE Foundation and co-author of the bestselling book The Transhuman Code noted: The digital universe has to be infused by ethical principles. The human right to privacy has to be protected and respected at all times, even during the present pandemic. Applications that permit contact tracing and respect the human right to privacy are being developed.

The OISTE Foundation signed The International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance right after they were launched at the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2013. OISTE invites other organizations to join: https://necessaryandproportionate.org/

About OISTE FOUNDATIONFounded in Switzerland in 1998, OISTE was created with the objectives of promoting the use and adoption of international standards to secure electronic transactions, expand the use of digital certification and ensure the interoperability of certification authorities e-transaction systems. The OISTE Foundation is a not for profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, regulated by article 80 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code. OISTE is an organization in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and belongs to the Not-for-Profit constituency (NPOC) of the ICANN.

Company Contact:Dourgam KummerFoundation Council Memberdourgam.kummer@oiste.org

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Is It Moral To Work For A Tech Giant? – Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

Posted: April 18, 2020 at 6:53 pm

I recently read The Great Google Revolt in the New York Times Magazine. The article chronicles the conflict between Google and some of its employees over company practices that some of their employees deem unethical. I found the article interesting because I taught computer ethics for many years and Ive always wanted to do meaningful work. Ive also written about ethics and tech previously in Are Google and Facebook Evil? Irrational Protests Against Google, and How Technology Hijacks Peoples Mindsfrom a Magician and Googles Design Ethicist.

Working for Tech Companies

The tech giants---Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft---undoubtedly do things that aren't in the public interest. Think about how Facebook allows the blatant dissemination of falsehoods in political material, a policy that subverts the integrity of the electoral process and undermines social stability. Moreover, much time is wasted on Facebook, YouTube contains a lot of junk, and staring at your Apple phone all day has its downsides. This list could go on.

Of course, not always serving the common good isn't a unique feature of tech companies; other corporations do sinister things too. Oil companies fund climate change denial, thereby increasing the chance of a future environmental catastrophe that threatens the species' survival; tobacco companies systematically suppressed evidence of the lethality of their products for decades, leading to millions of deaths. This list could go on too.

So it's hard to single out tech companies for criticism---especially as a transhumanist. If only science and technology properly applied can save us, and if rich tech companies support important research in artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, and longevity research, then we need big tech. Furthermore, if the American government won't fund such research, then big tech companies are the only ones who might step up.

I do believe that tech companies have civic responsibilities, but taking such responsibilities seriously depends largely on creating a new economy, since the drive for profit, as opposed to increasing societal good, is a large part of the problem. We need an economic system that doesn't emphasize profit, weaponize disinformation, encourage despoiling the natural environment and climate, and create vast wealth inequality.

But if you have a job at a tech company and you have moral qualms about how they use their technology, then your choices include:

No doubt my readers can imagine other options.

What Work Should We Do and Why?

No matter what you choose remember that we live in a world where money is power. Money can then be used either for either good (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett) or ill (Charles Koch, Sheldon Adelson.) So leaving your job will decrease your ability to do good unless, for example, you can make more money doing something else. The way the system is set up, you just have to have something to be able to give something.

While I am sympathetic to opting out of the system, it is nearly impossible to avoid the global social-economic-political system altogether. No matter what you do or where you go you are enmeshed within it. In addition, if we push our concerns about causing harm to their logical limit, simply living and consuming resources may be morally problematic. Living itself may entail a kind of existential guilt. Afterall what we necessarily consume---food, clothing, shelter---is unavailable to others if we consume them.

I suppose the philosophical problem is, to put it simply, how to do good in an imperfect and sometimes bad world. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way to live in an imperfect world that isn't (somewhat) complicit in evil. What then should we do? Here is how I answered the question in a previous essay, "Should You Do What You Love?"

So what practical counsel do we give people, in our current time and place, regarding work? Unfortunately, my advice is dull and unremarkable, like so much of the available work. For now, the best recommendation is: do the least objectionable, most satisfying work available given your options. That we cant say more reveals the gap between the real and the ideal, which is itself symptomatic of a flawed society. Perhaps working to change the world so that people can engage in satisfying work is the most meaningful work of all.

Assuming you find work that isn't too objectionable and somewhat satisfying, what is the point of doing that work? Here's what I wrote in "Fulfilling Work."

In the end, we are small creatures in a big universe. We cant change the whole world but we can influence it through our interaction with those closest to us, finding joy in the process. We may not change the world by administering to the sick as doctors or nurses or psychologists, or by installing someones dishwasher, cleaning their teeth or keeping their internet running. We may not even change it by caring lovingly for our children. But the recipients of such labors may find our work significant indeed. For they received medical care, had someone to talk to, got their teeth cleaned, found an old friend on the internet, didn't have to do the dishes, or grew up to be the kind of functioning adult this world so desperately needs because of that loving parental care. These may be small things, but if they are not important, nothing is.

Perhaps then it is the sum total of our labors that make us large. Our labors are not always exciting, but they are necessary to bring about a better future. All those mothers who cared for children and fathers who worked to support them, all those plumbers and doctors and nurses and teachers and firefighters doing their little part in the cosmic dance. All of them recognizing what Victor Frankl taught, that productive work is a constitutive element of a meaningful life.

Addendum - Previous articles about high-tech and work

Irrational Protests against Google

Are Google and Facebook Evil?

Summary of “How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds?—?from a Magician and Google’s Design Ethicist”

Fulfilling Work

Meaningful Work

Should you “Do What You Love?”

The Monotony of Work

Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose: What We Really Want From Our Work

Rethinking Work

Friendship is Another Reason to Work

What Is The Point of Money?

The Problem of Work-Life Balance

Overworked

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WHERE ARE WE GOING WITH ALL THIS? – The Way

Posted: at 6:53 pm

This is, in many respects, a plan-demic. Fox News Bret Baier and the Associated Press said multiple sources told them that there is increasing confidence that the COVID-19 outbreak likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory. In other words, the Lock-Step- driven, King Billy Gates answer to his prayers, Fauci, CCP, Wuhan, 2019 Novel Corona SARS 2 Virus, COVID-19 (COVID 1984) might well be an accidentally (or intentional) released man-made Bio-Weapon which the demonic New World Order elite are now taking full advantage of to push their anti-human, anti-Christ, technocratic tyrannical control and depopulation and transhuman agenda forward. The sources believe the initial transmission of the virus a naturally occurring strain that was being studied there was bat-to-human and that patient zero worked at the laboratory, then went into the population in Wuhan. They go further in saying that this may be the costliest government cover-up of all time. Meanwhile, lets look at the outworking of this agenda right now, which I suspect has its attempted fulfilLment toward 2030. Is that clear enough for you? What is unfolding now is a world of tighter top-down government control and more authoritarian leadership, with limited innovation and growing citizen pushback.

Meanwhile, lets look at the outworking of this Lock-Step agenda right now.

Mr. Raab set out the "keys to the lock" in five conditions that must be met before UK restrictions can be lifted, says the Sun. These included

1. The NHS must still be able to cope - with the confidence that critical care and special treatment can continue across the UK. (its coping very well now with over 10,000 vacant beds and not one Nightingale singing a tune!)

2. A sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rates so experts are confident that the peak has passed

3. The rate of infection falling to manageable levels

4. Making sure that Britain has enough testing capacity and PPE to relax measures

5. Ensuring that the changes will not risk a second peak of infections that overwhelm the NHS (Lets face it, and for those who want to consistently virtue signal an over-state the obvious, of course its never nice to lose a loved one, but the first peak has been totally underwhelming in terms of deaths.)

Experts also warned some social distancing measures could stay in place until a vaccine is found, which could take up to 18 months. Handy.

Therefore, what might we see is the now three more weeks of lockdown in the UK, extended to the end of June and the 2020 disasters all making a move toward the completion of United Nations Agenda 2030? We shall see.

Meanwhile. Allow me to list the possibilities of some of the things to expect in the coming weeks, months and years, from lighter to heavier side. Buckle up. Oh, and of course, this list will grow!

1. The church and its leaders become the mouthpiece of an antihuman, anti-Christ Government.

2. The church will continue to die. There shall be no revival.

3. The Continued rise of Islam

4. In a few months, we shall see the Culling of ALL dissent from MSM Social Media Platforms, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.

5. In a few years, we might even see the disappearing of dissenters in the West. Good grief batman, the Germans are already locking up dissenters in Psyche wards!

6. Intrusive AI (it's always intrusive) will listen to your breathing and your cough whenever you make a cell-phone call and flag you accordingly as infected or suspected of being so on a traffic light system

7. Twitter Wristbands that buzz if you get less than 2 meters within the distance of anyone.

8. Arm Bands which vissially indicate you are either infected or free from infection.

9. The precise perambulation of a one-way system when shopping

10. A one-way system on pavements so you dont pass or bump into anyone

11. No Mass Gatherings, indeed, no gatherings of more than 10 people

12. Longer lines at Grocery Stores

13. Selective Food Rationing of products as nations begin to stop exporting food, resulting in the disappearance of food items.

14. Selective Food AMOUNTS rationing

15. Temperature being taken before being allowed into stores, restaurants

16. Blood (pin-prick) being taken and analysed before being allowed to travel

17. The move to totally eliminate cash

18. MASS unemployment

19. The Rise of a Black market for EVERYTHING

20. The Rise of Robberies

21. The Rise of Piracy on the High-Seas

22. Insane Police Powers

23.The Army on the Streets

24. Society Snitching, and THE ALL-consuming hatred of Rat-Fink neighbours.

25. Universal Credit being used to Usher in a Universal Survival income

26. The Collapse of the Housing Market

27. The Move to Downsize people even further

28. A Sky-rocketing suicide rate

29. The Collapse of the Dollar

30. MASS homelessness

31. The COST of travel, especially air-travel to SKY-ROCKET

32. Restrictions on Medicine

33. War

34. Mutation of the Virus

35. MASS Surveillance

36. Forced Vaccination

37. All clapping of the NHS will stop. And so it should.

Didnt Prof Ferguson say that:

The cost of the lockdown to the economy is billions of pounds a day. Its a small price to pay.

Well, he is an idiot. No, this is not a small price, it is a humungous price to pay. We are now making the so-called cure, worse than the disease. It is time to pull these plonkers from power.

Having said that, do not think that this is not factored in. Remember, evil has been around a long time and has multiple response plans. Even so, it is Gods plans that shall stand, and right now we seek Divine intervention for the destruction of these dark and evil miasmas which are creeping up through the gratings of the pit of hell itself.

Over the coming years, maybe with the masses appropriately dispatched through starvation, vaccines, bioweapons and other means of organized murder, the globalists will finally congratulate themselves on saving the planet from humanity.

With billions of humans gone, and tyrannical control firmly in the hands of the techno-fascist elite, they can move forward with their plans of transhumanism merging with the machines to finally eliminate any last echoes of the human form and its divine origins.

The war on humanity, you see, is really a war on creation and war against God. Its being fought by demons with agents who just might be like Jack Dorsey, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. These seem to be the very embodiment of the despisers of humanity. Don't you think? I wonder if they already believe that they have transcended humanity and now must complete the elimination of the mere mortals who stand in the way of their silicon singularity.

Finally, remember, that if the truth alarms you, the problem is not with the truth.

Oh, and one more thing before I go today, Brace, Brace, Brace, and get ready for impact. The sound and impact of the technocracy hammer falling, and the dance macabre will continue thereafter as the New World Order trues to push its control and kill agenda. Remember, the only answer toLock-Step- driven, King Billy Gates answer to his prayers, Fauci, CCP, Wuhan, 2019 Novel Corona SARS 2 Virus, COVID-19 (COVID 1984) is the New World Order and its Control Vaccine, as it attempts to speedily implement its plans of World-Wide control to usher in the Anti-Christ, in what history shall record to be the Greatest Depression of all time.

We need a Saviour and I wonder if one shall soon be presented to humanity.

Meanwhile, get to the New Normal as soon as you can, because your world which you once knew has now gone forever.

The Future is here and it is NOW time for the time-of-the-end disciple to arise and for New Antiochs to be birthed, to meet the times now here.

Oh, and PS, I am beyond angry at what is going on, I am furious! And you should be too. Indeed, I am angry BECAUSE I am a Christian. If you are not angry yet, then I doubt your salvation. Maybe YOU are not a Christian. Think about that.

Oh and PPS, plant a garden and protect it, and quietly extend your pantry, for food shortages are coming.

Free Lance Researcher & News Compiler | The Grinch | Published | 2020 | April 18 | 10:00 | UK LOCKDOWN DAY 25 | World Coronavirus Count: 2,239,000 infected, 153,913 dead

(I am The Grinch, both by name and nature, and, on the whole, I care more about having you informed rather than uplifted. I think that's why The Way still uses my services and why I am focussed on the CCP, Wuhan, 2019 Novel Corona SARS 2 Virus, COVID-19 (COVID 1984). Enjoy..or not..)

The Views expressed in this Opinion Editorial are entirely the view of The Grinch and does not necessarily reflect the views held by the Editorial Board of The Way, or the Trustees of 66Books.

Who is The Grinch? | I met Rev Victor Robert Farrell of The Way over 40 years ago when we served together on the same Submarine. Therefore, like him, I am old enough to know better but still young enough possess some fire in my bones. Unlike him though, I have nothing to lose, and consequently, I say what I like, making sure I always like what I say.

I live with my wife, Mrs. Grinch, not Mrs Hinch, though she has all of her books, though I am not sure if Mrs Hinch is a follower of Mrs Grinch? Anyway, having moved out of our council flat in Carnoustie, we now live off the grid in a 4 berth caravan parked in a big enough cave up in the Cairngorms with our 5 year old West Highland Terrier, Maisie. If push comes to shove, we shall eat her, but thats a long way off as we have been preppers now for years. Meanwhile, we love her to bits.

I do not have a cell phone, and only communicate with The Way via email, and to do this I have a satellite uplink to the internet. It is old technology, and though the signal redundancy is longer than I would like, it works and it keeps on working. Meanwhile, The Way have instructions to delete all my details PERMANANTLY and once a month follow the Hilary Method of Hard-Drive Data Destruction, acid and a hammer.

I am a Christian, A Bible Believer and I am pro-human. My only goal in life is to speak the truth from a Biblical World View, and that means I am part of the biggest conspiracy theory (so-called) ever! Oh, and yes, like me, dont like me, I still dont really care.

Be well.

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WHERE ARE WE GOING WITH ALL THIS? - The Way

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