Where I'm Calling From

Hey! Look! An actual post!

 

A blog is a living document.

That’s both good and bad.

Go back to 2010 when Esoteric Synaptic Events had its genesis (although it misguidedly started as Strange Horizons, but I don’t want to get into that) and root through every post across the 12 years…though why anyone would have the patience or desire to do so is beyond me…and I’m certain you will find something I wrote that would embarrass me. My reaction to such a post (or more likely “posts”) will no doubt be “I thought that??” Fortunately, as I mentioned at the outset, a blog is a living document. It should show an evolution of thought. There should be changes in opinions.

I’ve been inspired to post for the first time in a long time because I’d like to make my current self clear. I’d like to provide a 2022 snapshot of “where I’m calling from” (with apologies to Raymond Carver), and offer my current thinking on topics I typically covered on ESE.

-Transhumanism.

I’m well aware that I’ve proclaimed myself as “an unabashed transhumanist.”

I’m a fair bit more “abashed” these days. Why?

Covid changed my mind. At the onset of the pandemic of 2020, a few of the more vocal proponents of transhumanism opposed lockdowns. Their argument ran something like this paraphrase: scientific research labs should remain open. Sure, we will lose a few people now, but that number is small compared to the number we will save in the years to come if we keep at our work.

I’ve never been a fan of cold equations, so this line of thinking didn’t sit well with me. I’m not willing to toss human lives on the bonfire of transhumanism for the dream of something that might materialize tomorrow, with the feasibility of said somethings…such as total body prosthesis…being questionable.

These claims really drew my attention to the strong strand of libertarianism inherent in the transhumanist movement. My attitude towards that particularly political ideology is not exactly xenial. As my friend Armando says, “The only place either libertarianism or communism work is in a sophomore’s dorm room at midnight after a few joints.” One of the criticisms of transhumanism is related to the widening gap between rich and poor. Would only those with means reap the benefits of transhumanism? If the attitudes expressed during Covid are to be taken as any indication, then it seems signs say “yes.”

This is not to say I oppose continued efforts in cybernetics, body modifications, and potentially life-saving developments. I still wish I could transcend my human frailties and take control of my biology. Rather it’s the “crypto bro” style of thinking involved that has allowed this new daylight to emerge between the transhumanist movement and me.

There is, admittedly, one other more personal…”objection” is almost too strong a word, but I don’t know what else to call it. While I don’t want anything to happen to me too soon, I don’t want to live forever. Both of my beloved dogs died in 2020 (I wrote about them here). If there is any chance of existence hereafter, then I want to see them again.

A book-length exploration of that subject is in the pike.

 

-UFOs

It may seem counterintuitive in what might appear to be a halcyon era of UFO research and political attention for the subject, but I’m actually more skeptical now than I’ve ever been.

Sure, Navy videos, tac-tacs, “go fast” and so on and so forth all the livelong day. What’s getting lost in the circus of opinions is that many prosaic and reasonable explanations have been offered for these videos (check out Mick West). Of course, many “ufologists” have summarily rejected them. Additionally, just because the government and the military deny they possess any flying objects with the flight characteristics in the videos doesn’t make it true. Previous assets such as stealth aircraft were openly denied until declassification.

My other sticking point is that I’ve seen too many cracks develop in what I once thought were strong cases. Rendlesham, Malmstrom AFB, and Barney and Betty Hill are but a few examples. When these corrosions are combined with how, as I see it anyway, the concept of “aliens are here” falls apart under close and logical scrutiny, I can’t help but be disabused of any likelihood of the pop culture, ufology equation of “UFOs=ETs.”

Another factor that has rather soured me on UFOs is how members of the alt-right have grown increasingly involved in the subject. After all, if you operate from a conspiracy theorist mentality and believe the government is “out to get the people,” then the UFO mythos is an automatic fit. As one researcher of conspiracy rhetoric described it, QAnon, white supremacy, and UFO conspiracies are all different conspiracy trees, but their branches have started to intertwine. These conspiracy theorists are dangerous and must watched.  

I remain fascinated by the topic, though. It’s a genuine mythos, a complex narrative more human in creation than anything else. I’m intrigued by how it has affected culture, politics, and history really. Many turn their noses up at hoaxes, and that’s understandable if one’s mission is to conclusively prove that UFOs are signs of alien visitation. Me? I’m so intrigued by the motives and the lengths to which someone will go to in order to pull off a fake. Like everything else in human existence, there is a rhetoric to UFOs, and that means there are conflicting interpretations of what constitutes “reality.”

By the same token, I must also leave the door open for spectacular possibilities. Falcon Lake, Belgium 1990, Tehran 1976, and RB-47 1957 are examples of the small percentage of cases that have solid evidence and remain unexplained. Does that mean aliens? Well, maybe not in the popular sense. It might be even weirder. Want to know more? Read Jacques Vallee.

-Cyberpunk

We’re living in it. One of the many many definitions of the subgenre is “High tech. Low life.” Many characters in cyberpunk narratives are just trying to carve out an existence, but are unable to get past certain social barriers. There are the ultrarich, and there is everyone else. There is no real “government” to speak of in texts like Neuromancer or Blade Runner. There are, however, mega-corporations that seem to be happily running the show and making a hefty profit. Think back to the early days of the Covid pandemic and recall a) the sense that no help was coming, and b) Amazon’s treatment of its “essential workers.” All we’re missing are the cybernetic implants. Give Elon Musk’s Neuralink a little time, and maybe we’ll even have those.

That is if they can get their test subjects to stop dying.

 

-Climate change.

We’re fucked.

I wish I could be more optimistic, but every day there’s new evidence that the “chickens are coming home to roost,” in the words of Malcom X. It was recently over 100 degrees in London. A report on NPR this morning talked about the water levels receding at Lake Tahoe and Lake Mead. Will there be a population spike here in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest? We’ll have access to fresh water at least. Superstorms and rainfall might be a problem, though. You might be ok.

Then again, when the consequences of climate refugees and economic fallout hit, we’ll all be feeling it.

 

Want to boost your spirits? Check out these images from the James Webb Telescope. 

Shameless self-promotion: My book Requiem for a College is available now on Amazon. I first let you know about it here, but my opus of literary journalism came to be at last.

Might warrant a post of its own.

Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets