Over the past month I've been doing research into the topic of psychedelic culture, after noticing that the mainstream press seems to have done a complete 180 on the substances. I've never taken psychedelics but do acknowledge the psychedelic experience can be completely overwhelming-and useful to tyrants. If you start digging into the history of psychedelics in Western culture, the connections to the elites and fascists in their introduction to society is absolutely shocking. I am convinced that there are psychedelic agendas being pushed into our society to crush the resistance and destroy democracy. In this day and age democracy and basic human rights of freedom of expression, must be fought for. And psychedelics are being used as weapons to dismantle democracy. Ironically psychedelics are being pushed as ways to combat the war machine and bring freedom, but within the actual psychedelic culture, it's actually the exact opposite. Indeed psychedelics seem to be used to introduce things like groupthink and socialism in our culture, and thus we should be very, very concerned about the "psychedelic renaissance" and the surge of positive reporting on psychedelics in the media. With all the evidence psychedelics and even the counterculture were introduced into society by fascists, what's not to say fascists aren't creating all new pro-psychedelic agendas to control society?
I'm not saying that psychedelic substances themselves are tools for tyranny, but they, and the culture, certainly are being used as such. With an air of a glorious "psychedelic renaissance" that will supposedly bring peace and treat mental illness and addiction, the actual therapeutic uses the substances may have in controlled and careful use notwithstanding, is it not out of the real of possibility that such boisterous developments are a smoke and mirrors for what's REALLY being pushed-psychedelics as elitist fascistic weapons used to destroy democracy and bring about fascism? With operations such as MK ultra, it's clear there is a segment in our population most hungry for complete power and control of thought, and quite often they get high positions, and who's to say the intelligence agencies haven't been continuing their research into mind control and using psychedelics for the same reasons they've brought them into our culture-for power and control? I suspect they very well have been continuing their mind control research and are using psychedelics as a part of their agenda. I'm not saying psychedelics can't be an amazing (but also very dangerous) experience, but be careful of buying into the various pro-psychedelic narratives going around that I strongly suspect are psy-ops used to control society.
The following video does a great job explaining my concerns better than myself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKhG90AtVGY
Monday, December 10, 2018
Monday, November 19, 2018
Drugs As Weapons and Racism As Political
I don't usually speak of politics but upon doing research on the dark side of psychedelics the pro-psychedelic crowd doesn't talk about, I found this podcast that seems to talk about the dark side of psychedelic substances has this article that details how racism can be institutional, not racist in the usual definition, and how the African American community has been exploited and deliberately targeted by the government: http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?id=8836
I am not here to create racial tensions but to point out that yes, African Americans have been deliberately targeted by people in governmental power who were mostly white, not because they hated people because they were black, but because civil rights movements were a threat to their power. It's not about race but groups exploiting other groups for power. Drugs are dangerous substances, obviously, and they certainly can be used to destabilize groups. What was deliberately orchestrated against the African American community is absolutely inhumane and what both a lot of conservatives and liberals are doing are only making it worse. It is up for us all to fight against inhumane policies that destroy entire communities and engender tensions between races just so a few people can have more money and power. I've seen plenty of people of all the races who are good and bad. At school I had friends of various races and today when I go to the gym I see many different races working out together. Yes, Americans tend to be more accepting of races than a lot of other countries, but institutionalized racism that destroys entire communities is very real, and it is up to us to join together and help put an end to such things, and simple-minded "race-baiting" is only making it worse for us all. Although we the American people aren't the ones who orchestrated these monstrous acts, we have been manipulated into supporting them, such as Western governments invading and bombing the Middle East has fueled ISIS and religious fanaticism.
If you're wondering about me looking into the dark aspects of psychedelics, well I've noticed such substances have gotten very popular lately and there's almost an anti-rational psychedelic community convinced that such substances are the answer to everything, which I think points to a manufactured agenda. I may end up looking more into it and perhaps writing an article about what I find out about it but what I can say is there is evidence that drugs, and also psychedelics, were and are bring used to push social agendas and even destabilize movements and communities. We all know how bad drugs like cocaine and heroin are, but we also must acknowledge that contrary to the increasingly popular wisdom of how great they are, psychedelics are drugs that certainly can be abused and even used for agendas. I'd say the topic of substances such as LSD deliberately being spread for manufactured agendas is a pretty deep rabbit hole and something that goes against the current narrative of psychedelics being so wonderful, but the truth is the truth and I'm dedicated on finding out the truth. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and our society's increasing affinity for psychedelics sounds too good to be true and is only deluded at best, buying into manufactured psy-ops at worst.
As I like cartoon stuff, here's a comic made by a guy who cut open his own arm with a razor blade to put in heroin (Ellis Holly Chambers):
Quite a beautiful comic for a guy with morbid drug habits.
Anyways, thanks for reading!
I am not here to create racial tensions but to point out that yes, African Americans have been deliberately targeted by people in governmental power who were mostly white, not because they hated people because they were black, but because civil rights movements were a threat to their power. It's not about race but groups exploiting other groups for power. Drugs are dangerous substances, obviously, and they certainly can be used to destabilize groups. What was deliberately orchestrated against the African American community is absolutely inhumane and what both a lot of conservatives and liberals are doing are only making it worse. It is up for us all to fight against inhumane policies that destroy entire communities and engender tensions between races just so a few people can have more money and power. I've seen plenty of people of all the races who are good and bad. At school I had friends of various races and today when I go to the gym I see many different races working out together. Yes, Americans tend to be more accepting of races than a lot of other countries, but institutionalized racism that destroys entire communities is very real, and it is up to us to join together and help put an end to such things, and simple-minded "race-baiting" is only making it worse for us all. Although we the American people aren't the ones who orchestrated these monstrous acts, we have been manipulated into supporting them, such as Western governments invading and bombing the Middle East has fueled ISIS and religious fanaticism.
If you're wondering about me looking into the dark aspects of psychedelics, well I've noticed such substances have gotten very popular lately and there's almost an anti-rational psychedelic community convinced that such substances are the answer to everything, which I think points to a manufactured agenda. I may end up looking more into it and perhaps writing an article about what I find out about it but what I can say is there is evidence that drugs, and also psychedelics, were and are bring used to push social agendas and even destabilize movements and communities. We all know how bad drugs like cocaine and heroin are, but we also must acknowledge that contrary to the increasingly popular wisdom of how great they are, psychedelics are drugs that certainly can be abused and even used for agendas. I'd say the topic of substances such as LSD deliberately being spread for manufactured agendas is a pretty deep rabbit hole and something that goes against the current narrative of psychedelics being so wonderful, but the truth is the truth and I'm dedicated on finding out the truth. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and our society's increasing affinity for psychedelics sounds too good to be true and is only deluded at best, buying into manufactured psy-ops at worst.
As I like cartoon stuff, here's a comic made by a guy who cut open his own arm with a razor blade to put in heroin (Ellis Holly Chambers):
Quite a beautiful comic for a guy with morbid drug habits.
Anyways, thanks for reading!
Sunday, October 28, 2018
People Have Been Conscious While Experiencing These Horrific Things:
Human consciousness is a fascinating and mysterious thing. But while it can be viewed as a wonder, is it not rather a burden in a lot of cases? You know, in cases such as:
*Starving to death
*Being eaten alive by a wild animal
*Getting shot
*Getting stabbed
*Drowning
*Being executed
*Being buried alive
*Getting raped
*Being forced to watch your own spouse or family get raped
*Witnessing a suicide
*Being used in medical experiments that involve pain tolerance
*Being tortured
*Catching on fire
*Being forced into an oven and burned alive
*Forcefully being used in government experiments
*Being beaten to death
*Being trampled by a mob
*Getting cancer and dying
*Getting a painful infection and dying
*Seeing your town be destroyed by a natural disaster
*Witnessing your country get invaded
*Being near an area where there was a nuclear blast and dying of radiation sickness
*Getting your eyes gouged out
*Losing a limb
*Witnessing the above
All of the aforementioned have happened to people, numerous times. Why would most people EVER deserve anything like this? The answer is, most people never deserve any of the above. It just happens and life goes on. That's the universe for you.
*Starving to death
*Being eaten alive by a wild animal
*Getting shot
*Getting stabbed
*Drowning
*Being executed
*Being buried alive
*Getting raped
*Being forced to watch your own spouse or family get raped
*Witnessing a suicide
*Being used in medical experiments that involve pain tolerance
*Being tortured
*Catching on fire
*Being forced into an oven and burned alive
*Forcefully being used in government experiments
*Being beaten to death
*Being trampled by a mob
*Getting cancer and dying
*Getting a painful infection and dying
*Seeing your town be destroyed by a natural disaster
*Witnessing your country get invaded
*Being near an area where there was a nuclear blast and dying of radiation sickness
*Getting your eyes gouged out
*Losing a limb
*Witnessing the above
All of the aforementioned have happened to people, numerous times. Why would most people EVER deserve anything like this? The answer is, most people never deserve any of the above. It just happens and life goes on. That's the universe for you.
Before the Cat and the Mouse, the First "Tom and Jerry" Cartoon
Before the Tom and Jerry we now know and love of today (and who also star in weird direct-to-video movies where they visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory) there were Tom and Jerry. Not the cat and the mouse but two guys named Tom and Jerry. They are now known as Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry to avoid confusion. I've decided to watch the very first short that seems pretty good as Halloween comes very close. Truth be told it's actually not very good but is a great example of that early-30s cartoon creepiness. Released in 1930, the first Van Beuren Tom and Jerry short, Wot A Night, is, with it's crude animation, primitive sound effects, and choppy quality of the prints I've watched on YouTube, almost a stereotypical idea of a creepy and weird 1930s cartoon. But unlike the Fleischer masterwork Swing You Sinners it's not even very joyful in addition to being creepy and weird, it's just... creepy and weird. The pace is slow, there's really no buildup, the gags just come and go. Of course this was the year 1930 (can't wait to be there for Swing You Sinners 100th anniversary) and the animators were young and it seems just drawing random funny stuff, but Steamboat Willie from 1928 had better pacing and gags. I'm not trashing the cartoon, I did enjoy watching it, but yeah it's interesting to watch, but not a classic.
The two identical-looking guys Tom and Jerry are driving being visited by an eerie-looking frog whilst almost flooded. A great example of the random to the point of creepiness gags sometimes found in early 30s cartoons.
The bat is pretty well animated compared to a lot of the cartoon.
A skeleton playing a piano causes a bunch of skeletons to get up and start dancing.
A rather uncomfortable racial stereotype. For those wondering, there will be no attempts at censorship of old cartoons and comics on this blog. It's hard to learn from the past if you pretend that certain, less admirable parts of it didn't exist. Like our own time it is important to acknowledge the darker aspects of the past and the mistakes of it and not just pretend that these fascinating cartoons weren't made by people who were above the bigotry of their time. While also acknowledging the good stuff that it had, such as for example, the wacky and inspirational cartoons of the time. But we must also learn from the darker aspects as well, such as uncomfortable racial stereotypes in these works.
Tom and Jerry are now... skeletal? It's hard to tell what the joke is even supposed to be.
It's raining a bunch outside.
As is typical with cartoons of the early 1930s, inanimate objects suddenly come to life. Little did these young animators experimenting with a brand-new artform know that close to a hundred years and their deaths later artists would take a conscious inspiration from this style, such as the video game Cuphead and the artist Shawn Dickinson.
A pretty good-looking bat creature.
And that was Wot A Night. Not even very good, but still an interesting October watch. Happy Halloween!
Thursday, October 25, 2018
On My Blog and It's Weirdness
It's always nice getting to relax and spend time with your family and see the sunlight outside. My blog IS super cynical, but I'm actually a pretty happy guy. I just don't hold things back when it comes to explaining how chaotic and violent existence is. There is always a ton of suffering going on, there just is. Humans are born predators who love their precious political ideologies. I think it's best to point out how things are instead of a superficial optimism. This blog can seem a little weird with pessimistic philosophy stuff and old cartoon stuff, but I do enjoy those old cartoons and talking about them. I've wanted to have a blog talking about old cartoon stuff for a while but also wanted to discuss an evaluation of how things are, so this blog is both at the same time. Soon I'll do a blog post talking about an old cartoon, just my thoughts on it.
I've enjoyed writing on this blog and I think the theme of it demonstrates quite well the beauty and terror of life. All-out brutal honesty on things and the happiest artform, both at the same time. It's interesting looking at those old happy cartoons. They're about being able to ignore the chaos for a bit and just enjoy the short amount of time you have to be alive. Indeed it seems they almost delight in the chaos, as the characters fall down and the gags often involve someone getting hurt. Ah why am I getting philosophical with my love of old cartoons? They're just cartoons, after all.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy my blog!
I've enjoyed writing on this blog and I think the theme of it demonstrates quite well the beauty and terror of life. All-out brutal honesty on things and the happiest artform, both at the same time. It's interesting looking at those old happy cartoons. They're about being able to ignore the chaos for a bit and just enjoy the short amount of time you have to be alive. Indeed it seems they almost delight in the chaos, as the characters fall down and the gags often involve someone getting hurt. Ah why am I getting philosophical with my love of old cartoons? They're just cartoons, after all.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy my blog!
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Who's Worse? A Serial Killer or Someone Who Has Children?
Who's worse? The serial killer, or the person who has children? The serial killer is a monster and they know it, viewing fully-fleshed people as nothing more than objects to use for their pleasure and destroy. The serial killer puts someone under immense suffering for sometimes days and then kills them, ending their life. No doubt the serial killer is a heinous monster who should be brought to justice, caring not one bit about the feelings of others.
But what about the one who has children? They end up being a monster without realizing it. They forcefully create a being that's aware of it's suffering and for years they get to brutalize their own creation and expect it to do things for them. The innocent being forced to suffer is forced to partake in society and go to school and be forced to study even though in the end it'll all be for nothing as, saints be praised, everyone will be dead and the sun will burn out. To escape the monster known as nature the being lives in neighborhoods were there was once wildlife and instead of predators in the wild there are human predators, such as serial killers. Indeed if people would have children for a logical reason, there would be no people who'd grow up forced to have a stupid job they hate and have to get married and learn all the ways to hate someone they have to live with and, yes, end up getting victimized by a serial killer. Luckily for serial killers, humans grow on trees, thanks to mankind's own foolishness. In fact while the suffering a serial killer inflicts upon their victim is immense, it's nothing compared to decades of suffering brought upon by their spouses and family and coworkers and society and children and getting old and withering away and dying.
So, who do you think is worse?
But what about the one who has children? They end up being a monster without realizing it. They forcefully create a being that's aware of it's suffering and for years they get to brutalize their own creation and expect it to do things for them. The innocent being forced to suffer is forced to partake in society and go to school and be forced to study even though in the end it'll all be for nothing as, saints be praised, everyone will be dead and the sun will burn out. To escape the monster known as nature the being lives in neighborhoods were there was once wildlife and instead of predators in the wild there are human predators, such as serial killers. Indeed if people would have children for a logical reason, there would be no people who'd grow up forced to have a stupid job they hate and have to get married and learn all the ways to hate someone they have to live with and, yes, end up getting victimized by a serial killer. Luckily for serial killers, humans grow on trees, thanks to mankind's own foolishness. In fact while the suffering a serial killer inflicts upon their victim is immense, it's nothing compared to decades of suffering brought upon by their spouses and family and coworkers and society and children and getting old and withering away and dying.
So, who do you think is worse?
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
The Burden of Existing
I guess people have children so they can show what suffering is, so they can force the burden of having to exist onto a helpless being as indeed they are the ones who create them. Not only do couples force the burden of existing they also feel that the beings they've created owe them a living, a child growing up is like finding reasons to hate existence and why your parents made a terrible mistake. But because everyone's doing it, the victims of being alive create more life and the process continues. Indeed it's a gruesome process and all those people who are dead are at peace while the living are at war with themselves and their spouses and families and other countries and the terrible burden of having to exist.
Looks like the dead experience eternal peace while in the world of the living young people are drafted into wars; some will be lucky enough to die, while others will live and have to cope with the war experiences for the rest of their lives. Plus the monster known as nature has a ton of nice diseases and human predators to throw at people, and the competition that is nature and humanity continues and the sick cycle of beings constantly being born and dying continues. Well one day the sun will apparently burn up the Earth and while there's still an entire existence capable of producing life out there, at least Earth will be done for. Praise the sun!
Looks like the dead experience eternal peace while in the world of the living young people are drafted into wars; some will be lucky enough to die, while others will live and have to cope with the war experiences for the rest of their lives. Plus the monster known as nature has a ton of nice diseases and human predators to throw at people, and the competition that is nature and humanity continues and the sick cycle of beings constantly being born and dying continues. Well one day the sun will apparently burn up the Earth and while there's still an entire existence capable of producing life out there, at least Earth will be done for. Praise the sun!
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Catnip Capers-Terrytoon Cartoon from 1940
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACtGwFhhHUs
Every once in a while I'll watch a Terrytoons cartoon and get to see the hacks who made them have fun. It's really a shame this kind of animation-hackish but fun and beautifully illustrated-is essentially extinct.
Plus it's got a pink elephant! And before you go "They copied Dumbo!" well this was in 1940, Dumbo came out in 1941. Let's enjoy a scene of a chair transforming into an elephant as the cat protagonist has a bad catnip "trip"
And later on in the cartoon the cat's running way from a train with a face. The elephant is there for some reason too.
These are only a couple of delightful surreal moments in this cartoon, watch the whole thing for a TON of wacky fun! Don't get me wrong I appreciate genuine artistic merit in modern-day stuff like the videos from Pilotredsun (I may do a post on one of his videos sometime) but this type of animation was only possible when cartoons were seven minutes long, were in movie theaters, and had high budgets. Yes the Terrytoons guys were a bunch of hacks, but they certainly seemed to be having fun.
And speaking of movie theaters, when I get an Oculus Go I'll definitely be watching some of these cartoons on it as apparently it's like looking at a giant TV screen. I'll see how it compares to a movie theater and I'm definitely looking forward to doing so!
Every once in a while I'll watch a Terrytoons cartoon and get to see the hacks who made them have fun. It's really a shame this kind of animation-hackish but fun and beautifully illustrated-is essentially extinct.
Plus it's got a pink elephant! And before you go "They copied Dumbo!" well this was in 1940, Dumbo came out in 1941. Let's enjoy a scene of a chair transforming into an elephant as the cat protagonist has a bad catnip "trip"
And later on in the cartoon the cat's running way from a train with a face. The elephant is there for some reason too.
These are only a couple of delightful surreal moments in this cartoon, watch the whole thing for a TON of wacky fun! Don't get me wrong I appreciate genuine artistic merit in modern-day stuff like the videos from Pilotredsun (I may do a post on one of his videos sometime) but this type of animation was only possible when cartoons were seven minutes long, were in movie theaters, and had high budgets. Yes the Terrytoons guys were a bunch of hacks, but they certainly seemed to be having fun.
And speaking of movie theaters, when I get an Oculus Go I'll definitely be watching some of these cartoons on it as apparently it's like looking at a giant TV screen. I'll see how it compares to a movie theater and I'm definitely looking forward to doing so!
Friday, September 7, 2018
Comicolor Ads
I haven't seen the Comicolor cartoons but I do know that after the failure of the Willie Whopper series the Comicolor series was something of an imitator of Disney's Silly Symphonies. I have seen all of Flip the Frog and enjoyed it but don't remember it much. I certainly look forward to the Flip the Frog DVD release from Thunderbean as watching all the shorts on YouTube the film quality was all over the place, some restored, some grainy. I also find it humorous how in the vintage cartoon community Flip the Frog has a little meme around him where people say "I base my life around Flip the Frog's teachings" and "Flip the Frog is my spirit animal." Perhaps I'll rewatch some of the wonderful Flip the Frog cartoons and post some stills. But for now here are some Comicolor ads.
The cartooning in these posters is absolutely wonderful. Whoever drew these really knew what they were doing. Also the last one featured, Balloonland, kind of reminds me of this *Notice how they hold hands):
If you're wondering, this is from Hi Ho Comics #1 by the forgotten comic artist Ellis Holly Chambers. The comic page in the header for this blog is by him, he's a favorite of mine.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
On Transhumanism; A Topic I Don't Really Care About
Selfishness is a thing of humans, is a thing of nature. Inequality and competition are as well. And as we slowly enter the age of artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and transhumanism, there are lots of hopes and concerns to be had. I say slowly because it often seems that "analysts" exaggerate how soon it'll take for new technologies; I remember hearing that by 2018 everyone would be having self-driving cars and currently only a few people actually have them. That's not to say such technologies won't become commonplace; it's just that the optimistic mean in suits can get a little too excited about life-changing technology, not that I blame them. I just believe that these technologies will take a good deal longer than popularly reported to come to fruition Now, although I actually don't really care about the topic of transhumanism, I do agree that like artificial intelligence it can help make or break humanity, and it's impossible to tell what it's outcome will be.
Despite still being a gruesome place, more people live in luxury then ever, largely thanks to capitalism and new technology. As much inequality as there is, for the first time in history a ten-year-old can have a supercomputer in their pocket and access the interminable library that is the Internet virtually any time. Yes it's only a small part of humanity but at least not everyone is starving now. Perhaps it is all temporary and the world is heading towards wastelandville, but still I and millions of others get to lead luxurious lives that someone just a hundred years ago couldn't even imagine. I can't believe that Mickey Mouse recently turned 90; Steamboat Wille wasn't THAT long ago in the grand scheme of things. Anyways, technologies such as the Internet, smartphones, and just improving medical technology and quality of life in general have improved our lives in countless ways. Technologies such as transhumanism and artificial intelligence can very well do the same and also help bring more people out of poverty as capitalism-hated mostly by both those who benefit from it and those who suffer from it-itself continues to do.
But transhumanism and other such next-level technologies are real game changers. What's interesting about saying that is that the current state of the Internet has itself been a big game changer. Yes in 2008 the Internet was common but in 2018 it's absolutely dominative and we've benefited massively from it. Yes we have people always looking at their phones and tribalism but has humanity not always been tribalistic and recently what's mostly happened is actually just such an ancient behavior recently hidden in more secular ways and the social media age has perhaps just gotten us to become aware of how closed-minded and opinionated humans can be? With transhumanism it could just be a similar situation. Note how I said could. The late Stephen Hawking warned humanity about the dangers of artificial intelligence, and although transhumanism is about humans becoming machines rather than machines becoming smart, concerns expressed by such a brilliant man who did so much for humanity can also perhaps apply to transhumanism. The thing is, these technologies are vastly unpredictable. Transhumanism could maybe either turn the world into a utopia or dystopia. No one can say for sure. We'll just wait and see.
I certainly won't be the first person to line up for mind and body enhancement chips/implants but if there's someone stuck in a wheelchair or suffering from anxiety or PTSD I would happily watch them be freed from their disabilities causing so much unnecessary suffering like magic, and if I have the money, perhaps pay someone to do be able to do so. But again what if only rich people can afford such? I don't mean to demonize rich people, those college girls who rave about the evils of the upper class would probably commit genocide the moment they gain power, but humans naturally are selfish, that's just how nature can be. A dystopian scenario where the rich are transhumanist supermachines and everyone else are starving in their flesh prisons could occur. And so could the standard of living skyrocketing and our current time period being seen as we see the nineteenth century. Either could happen, but both scenarios are two extremes and realistically the outcome will probably be between the two, but which side it leans more towards remains to be seen.
Currently increasingly deadly military weapons are being produced and people rightfully fear killer robots, but transhumanist itself could end up bringing either destruction, or peace. We'll see. Those who advocate transhumanism will bring it eventually. Not least because they're smart people who often create the amazing technology the naysayers themselves use to criticize their ambitions. Although I have mixed thoughts about it and I'm perfectly fine with my current body, and I also see some as being too optimistic about it, it will happen someday in many ways on it's own, and the results of such will play out with time. If the results are disastrous then those who helped bring transhumanism about will be scapegoats for something bound to happen with gradually improving technology. The advocates of transhumanism can get a little preachy about it, but I can see their compassion.
And of course if you hate transhumanism, the rest of the world will go on. Whether it will cause humanity to sink or swim, the general populace and especially young people will of course adopt it as it slowly becomes more mainstream. Elaborating on what I said in the beginning it often seems enthusiastic promoters of super technologies make it sound like they'll just pop up and then be everywhere, but of course it'll be a gradual process. You can find new articles about advancements with transhumanist, artificial intelligence, anti-aging techniques, and virtual reality all the time. Gradually such technologies will come into our lives, and like with social networking it'll come slowly over time and eventually all the hip college kids will be taking pills so they'll never get old and gross and only if you stop and look you'll notice such trends coming in as the new technologies come gradually. If transhumanism has a more positive outcome perhaps people will look back on the naysayers of today like the people prosecuting scientists in the Dark Ages. And speaking of Dark Ages thinking, although there are plenty of legitimate concern about transhumanism and other technologies such as a severe lack of safety testing, most articles I've seen criticizing transhumanism online come from religious people; eliminating poverty and suffering and bringing humanity together and authentic morality are of course seen as destructive to them, and they are acting as expected. (By this I mean such technologies go against their simple-minded beliefs rather than genuine concern about the dangers of such technologies.) But regardless of what you think of transhumanism, gradually it will happen, and someday all the cool kids will be into it.
Anyways, those are my interesting thoughts on a topic I have little interest in. Thanks for reading!
Despite still being a gruesome place, more people live in luxury then ever, largely thanks to capitalism and new technology. As much inequality as there is, for the first time in history a ten-year-old can have a supercomputer in their pocket and access the interminable library that is the Internet virtually any time. Yes it's only a small part of humanity but at least not everyone is starving now. Perhaps it is all temporary and the world is heading towards wastelandville, but still I and millions of others get to lead luxurious lives that someone just a hundred years ago couldn't even imagine. I can't believe that Mickey Mouse recently turned 90; Steamboat Wille wasn't THAT long ago in the grand scheme of things. Anyways, technologies such as the Internet, smartphones, and just improving medical technology and quality of life in general have improved our lives in countless ways. Technologies such as transhumanism and artificial intelligence can very well do the same and also help bring more people out of poverty as capitalism-hated mostly by both those who benefit from it and those who suffer from it-itself continues to do.
But transhumanism and other such next-level technologies are real game changers. What's interesting about saying that is that the current state of the Internet has itself been a big game changer. Yes in 2008 the Internet was common but in 2018 it's absolutely dominative and we've benefited massively from it. Yes we have people always looking at their phones and tribalism but has humanity not always been tribalistic and recently what's mostly happened is actually just such an ancient behavior recently hidden in more secular ways and the social media age has perhaps just gotten us to become aware of how closed-minded and opinionated humans can be? With transhumanism it could just be a similar situation. Note how I said could. The late Stephen Hawking warned humanity about the dangers of artificial intelligence, and although transhumanism is about humans becoming machines rather than machines becoming smart, concerns expressed by such a brilliant man who did so much for humanity can also perhaps apply to transhumanism. The thing is, these technologies are vastly unpredictable. Transhumanism could maybe either turn the world into a utopia or dystopia. No one can say for sure. We'll just wait and see.
I certainly won't be the first person to line up for mind and body enhancement chips/implants but if there's someone stuck in a wheelchair or suffering from anxiety or PTSD I would happily watch them be freed from their disabilities causing so much unnecessary suffering like magic, and if I have the money, perhaps pay someone to do be able to do so. But again what if only rich people can afford such? I don't mean to demonize rich people, those college girls who rave about the evils of the upper class would probably commit genocide the moment they gain power, but humans naturally are selfish, that's just how nature can be. A dystopian scenario where the rich are transhumanist supermachines and everyone else are starving in their flesh prisons could occur. And so could the standard of living skyrocketing and our current time period being seen as we see the nineteenth century. Either could happen, but both scenarios are two extremes and realistically the outcome will probably be between the two, but which side it leans more towards remains to be seen.
Currently increasingly deadly military weapons are being produced and people rightfully fear killer robots, but transhumanist itself could end up bringing either destruction, or peace. We'll see. Those who advocate transhumanism will bring it eventually. Not least because they're smart people who often create the amazing technology the naysayers themselves use to criticize their ambitions. Although I have mixed thoughts about it and I'm perfectly fine with my current body, and I also see some as being too optimistic about it, it will happen someday in many ways on it's own, and the results of such will play out with time. If the results are disastrous then those who helped bring transhumanism about will be scapegoats for something bound to happen with gradually improving technology. The advocates of transhumanism can get a little preachy about it, but I can see their compassion.
And of course if you hate transhumanism, the rest of the world will go on. Whether it will cause humanity to sink or swim, the general populace and especially young people will of course adopt it as it slowly becomes more mainstream. Elaborating on what I said in the beginning it often seems enthusiastic promoters of super technologies make it sound like they'll just pop up and then be everywhere, but of course it'll be a gradual process. You can find new articles about advancements with transhumanist, artificial intelligence, anti-aging techniques, and virtual reality all the time. Gradually such technologies will come into our lives, and like with social networking it'll come slowly over time and eventually all the hip college kids will be taking pills so they'll never get old and gross and only if you stop and look you'll notice such trends coming in as the new technologies come gradually. If transhumanism has a more positive outcome perhaps people will look back on the naysayers of today like the people prosecuting scientists in the Dark Ages. And speaking of Dark Ages thinking, although there are plenty of legitimate concern about transhumanism and other technologies such as a severe lack of safety testing, most articles I've seen criticizing transhumanism online come from religious people; eliminating poverty and suffering and bringing humanity together and authentic morality are of course seen as destructive to them, and they are acting as expected. (By this I mean such technologies go against their simple-minded beliefs rather than genuine concern about the dangers of such technologies.) But regardless of what you think of transhumanism, gradually it will happen, and someday all the cool kids will be into it.
Anyways, those are my interesting thoughts on a topic I have little interest in. Thanks for reading!
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Existence
Does not the beauty people can find in existence, is it not just illusory? Perhaps what's real is consciousness. And with human consciousness, there is much, much suffering? Does the human experience more suffering, or more pleasure?
It's fairly interesting how existence is a chaotic thing. Just watch the news for ten minutes and you'll see proof of that. People seem to only focus on the violence potential of humans but when you think about nature itself is also violent. In fact we humans come from nature. The human potential for violence and lust and power and greed is very great, we are genetically violent, we are born killers. And we come from nature, a thing that is constantly eating itself and cares not a bit about all the suffering it causes itself, it is mindless, and we have overly large brains that doom us to become aware of the futility of existence and our violence. We are conscious and we suffer and then we die, oh why do so many people have children and continue this endless cycle of doom? Do people not think before they have children? It is sad how much suffering there is, and there is no solution. If we spread to other planets we only increase the number of beings forced to become aware of suffering, indeed all our progress is for nothing.
Even if we manage to fix our problems and live in peace, it is all temporary. Peace is temporary, nature isn't peace, nature is constantly at war with itself, just like humans. We lust for war, we lust to destroy our "enemies" who often simply just have different viewpoints. We are killers; we are looters, we are hypocrites, we are predators, we are drunk on optimism and faith as the horror of reality and consciousness screams at us with just a few headlines. There are always men in suits boasting about the glorious future of humanity as millions die from poverty annually. There are people cheering at the victory against terrorists as children are bombed.
Optimism, it seems, is a denial of reality. Is reality so gruesome, is the truth too terrifying for people to bear? Do we not deny who we are and cleverly kill like the chimps that we are? This entire universe is completely worthless and is a place of suffering. If there is a single grain of forgiveness for humanity, it's that we ourselves are simply just a tiny part of this horrid existence, our violence is created by it, and we are forced to just watch ourselves hurt each other. In some way we're victims of nature as we are destroyers of it. Nature laughs at us as we murder each other in ways so gruesome they make the Saw movies look like nothing, all while we have optimism and positivity and believe that humans aren't violent. Oh yes we are, we are born predators. All around us there is violence, when a war happens a regular good guy ends up shooting people down dead.
Also, I do enjoy classic cartoon-related stuff, welcome to a pretty interesting and unique blog.
Even if we manage to fix our problems and live in peace, it is all temporary. Peace is temporary, nature isn't peace, nature is constantly at war with itself, just like humans. We lust for war, we lust to destroy our "enemies" who often simply just have different viewpoints. We are killers; we are looters, we are hypocrites, we are predators, we are drunk on optimism and faith as the horror of reality and consciousness screams at us with just a few headlines. There are always men in suits boasting about the glorious future of humanity as millions die from poverty annually. There are people cheering at the victory against terrorists as children are bombed.
Optimism, it seems, is a denial of reality. Is reality so gruesome, is the truth too terrifying for people to bear? Do we not deny who we are and cleverly kill like the chimps that we are? This entire universe is completely worthless and is a place of suffering. If there is a single grain of forgiveness for humanity, it's that we ourselves are simply just a tiny part of this horrid existence, our violence is created by it, and we are forced to just watch ourselves hurt each other. In some way we're victims of nature as we are destroyers of it. Nature laughs at us as we murder each other in ways so gruesome they make the Saw movies look like nothing, all while we have optimism and positivity and believe that humans aren't violent. Oh yes we are, we are born predators. All around us there is violence, when a war happens a regular good guy ends up shooting people down dead.
Also, I do enjoy classic cartoon-related stuff, welcome to a pretty interesting and unique blog.
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