Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Deception, Delusion, and Denial Isn't Optimism

Dick Pelletier, one of the Very Serious White Guys of "The Future" over at the stealth Robot Cult outfit IEET, the Institute for Ethics (where the ethics are rarely really discussed) and Emerging Technologies (where the technologies are rarely really emerging) has a "vision":
Science is all about asking questions… However, satisfactory answers can’t always be found in today’s media that far too often focuses on cases of technology gone awry, filling readers with… hopelessness… The majority who read my weekly… pieces are boomers and seniors and their comments… often include the belief that with good care and a little luck, they, personally, might live to enjoy the “magical future” mentioned in my writings. I feel strongly that when we reach the 2030s, many of America’s older people, having benefited from stem cell therapies, genetic engineering procedures, and molecular nanotech miracles, will regain much of the physical ability and youthful appearance they once enjoyed during their early 20s. In this writer’s vision, life extension goals are simple -- to slow down and eventually eliminate all diseases, including aging… [M]y articles are aimed at positive aspects of science and technologies, and touch lightly on negative factors… [T]his extreme positive slant is by design.
There is nothing "positive" about lying to yourself or others. There is nothing "simple" about eliminating all diseases or delivering youthful bodies to boomers and seniors. However careful and lucky they may be, every denialist about death who reads Dick Pelletier's articles is going to die. However "strongly" Dick Pelletier feels about the matter he too will die. "Magical futures" are not real, not for anybody, "nanotech miracles" will never take place. Facing facts is far from the same thing as feeling hopeless. Indulging in hyperbole, con-artistry, and wish-fulfillment fantasies is far from the same thing as feeling hope. Not every questioning is scientific. Science is actually about publicly testing hypotheses in order to increase our powers of prediction and control.

Let me propose as an alternative, actually positive vision -- requiring no deception, denial, or delusion, only the best efforts of people of good will and good sense -- the ongoing collaborative expansion of reproducible results and the progressive struggle toward equity-in-diversity through education, agitation, organization, investment, reform. No miracles, just struggle.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pelletier is a frothing lunatic who should be in 5 point restraints and have a Haldol drip IV in his arm. He is incredibly unpleasant and belligerent to anyone who questions his delusional fantasy. But he is some kind of medical doctor, so he is taken seriously... Dr. Mengele was taken seriously also...

Dale Carrico said...

You know who else liked puppies? Hitler. I don't know Pelletier personally and cannot comment on his pleasantness, but I quite agree his futurological writings are absurd.

jimf said...

> I feel strongly that when we reach the 2030s, many of
> America’s older people, having benefited from stem cell
> therapies, genetic engineering procedures, and molecular
> nanotech miracles, will regain much of the physical ability
> and youthful appearance they once enjoyed during their
> early 20s.

Whoopdee-do for my Subaru! I can hardly wait.

(At this point in my life, I wish there was an effective
treatment for osteoarthritis. I am not looking forward
to knee-replacement surgery.)

Anonymous said...

Pelletier has often come to the angry defense of several young "new transhumanists" with public affiliations to extreme right, even actual 'neo nazi' leanings. So... if the boot fits, Goose Step with it!

These "New Right" transhumanists are also openly antisemitic and homophobic. They are young and they are exceedingly ugly. One of them even has a youtube video up with awful stand up comedy featuring Auschwitz as a gag line!

jimf said...

> Dick Pelletier, one of the Very Serious White Guys of "The Future". . .

I keep getting Dick Pelletier mixed up with Hank Pellissier.

Speaking of the latter, anybody would get a kick out of
this list:

http://transhumanity.net/articles/entry/top-22-essays-of-2012-at-transhumanity.net
------------------------
Top 22 Articles (in hits) of 2012 at Transhumanity.net

1. Sexbots Will Give Us Longevity Orgasms - by Hank Pellissier 24,778 hits
2. Musings on Robots Sex Dolls and Companions - by John Niman 9,250
3. Human Barbie Doll - Valeria Lukyanova - the Future of Cosmetic Surgery? - by Hank Pellissier 8,067
4. Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? 20 Possible Explanations - by Hank Pellissier 7,925
5. In Praise of the Borg - “Resistance is Futile… You Will Want to be Assimilated” - by Dirk Bruere 5,423
6. “I’m Too Drunk to Consent to Sex, But Not Too Drunk to Assault You” - by P. Tittle 3,656
7. Urine is Valuable - Can We Stop Flushing it Now? - by Hank Pellissier 2,551
8. Russia’s Future - Grumpy Petro Giant, Armed-To-The-Teeth, with Social Unrest - by Michael Lee 2,285
9. Silicon Valley Tranhumanist Establishes “Resurrection Groups” - by Jason Xu 2,161
10. Nudism is Excellent for your Brain - by Hank Pellissier 1,973
11. Will $$ Oligarchic Russia 2045 provide h+ for the Rich Only? - by Vladimir Frolov 1,924
12. Transhumanism, Feminism, and Beta Male Losers - by Vladimir Frolov 1,852
13. An Apology for a Cybernetic Future - by David Eubanks 1,409
14. Pussy Riot - Freedom Fighters or Pawn of U.S. Imperialism? - by Vladimir Frolov 1,357
15. PostHuman Prediction - When Singularity Arrives, 99% Die - by Vladimir Frolov 1,323
16. Russia 2045 - Transhumanism for the Rich Only? (no link) - by Vladimir Frolov 1,322
17. Top Five Reasons Transhumanism can Eliminate Suffering - by David Pearce 1,250
18. Demographic Sunset in the Land of the Rising Sun - by Michael Lee 1,174
19. SuperLongevity Without OverPopulation - by Max More 1,174
20. Andrej Pejic - Androgynous Model - Does This Pretty Boy Signify a Multi or PostGender Future? - by Hank Pellissier 1,158
21. Sexbots for Women - by Hank Pellissier 1,080
22. The Singularity Conspiracy - by Vladimir Frolov 1,018

"What’s this tell us? Obviously, sex is popular, especially sexbots.
No surprise there. . ."

Dale Carrico said...

I keep getting Dick Pelletier mixed up with Hank Pellissier.

Clearly, you need nootropics!

sex is popular, especially sexbots

Transhumanism paints its future on black velvet.

Dale Carrico said...

Pelletier has often come to the angry defense of several young "new transhumanists" with public affiliations to extreme right, even actual 'neo nazi' leanings... These "New Right" transhumanists are also openly antisemitic and homophobic.

Links, please!

Anonymous said...

the youtube "comedy" has been removed, but it was widely discussed... the rest you can find digging in old threads on Hplus, before they made "Haywire" the editor then were so embarrassed they got the slavering fanboy Rothman to come on and quiet down the civil war. Pellisier (might have been him actually and not Pellitier) is a huge "Haywire" supporter and her twitter every single day is loaded with enthusiastic pro fascist chirps ; she also recently at "Extreme Futurist Festival" stated in her keynote that "Hitler ruined eugenics for the rest of us, now we get a chance do it right with genomics" ,,,

jimf said...

The comment thread on
http://amormundi.blogspot.ca/2012/12/memory-holes-for-sooper-science.html
included:

> Anonymous said...
>
> some of the Russian transhumanist kids (who are also anti-semitic
> and nazi style nationalist eugenicists) think this artificial
> language invented by a California DMV clerk is going to help
> make them Mental Supermen... I wish I was making this up,
> but it appears to be true:
>
> http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer

Well, this guy is no kid, but he does look like a character right
out of a William Gibson or Bruce Sterling novel:

http://transhumanity.net/authors/n/vladimir-frolov

Love the cigarette. (Or is it a lollipop?)

Perhaps it's time for James Hughes to update his essay
"The Politics of Transhumanism" (Version 2.0, March 2002)
http://www.changesurfer.com/Acad/TranshumPolitics.htm

http://transhumanity.net/articles/entry/russian-extreme-national-bolsheviks-and-neo-nazis
-----------------------
"The best indicator of whether any particular group is Right
or Left is to look at their sexual imagery.

If you see lots of half-naked dudes - they are Right-wing.

If you see lots of half-naked chicks - they are Left-wing.

Look at all those N[ational]B[olshevik]P[arty]
chicks. That’s pure Left wing."
-----------------------

Oh.

jimf said...

> Pellis[s]ier (might have been him actually and not Pell[e]tier) is a
> huge "Haywire" supporter

FWIW:

“Extreme Futurist Fest” in Los Angeles: Interview With Creator Rachel Haywire
By Hank Pellissier
Oct 18 2011
http://www.acceler8or.com/2011/10/%E2%80%9Cextreme-futurist-fest%E2%80%9D-in-los-angeles-interview-with-creator-rachel-haywire/

Also FWIW, Ms. Haywire made an "It Gets Better"
YouTube video contra gay teen suicide and cyber-bullying,
two years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqmwvTru1k

Though as for some of the stuff at
http://attackthesystem.com/author/msrachelhaywire/
well. . .

Anonymous said...

"Haywire" lives up to her name and constantly contradicts her positions in a schizoid manner. A few years ago she was libeling other bands as "White Power", then she got on tour with a famous actual neo nazi, Boyd Rice, and now she appears to be in her own words "Out Proud Fascist." Her new intellectual guru Keith Preston is a well known and defiant, vicious homophobe in no uncertain terms at all. "Attack the System" is Keith Preston's very own personal Fascist pulpit.

Anonymous said...

attackthesystem.com is a defiantly fascist website run by the virulent homophobe, Keith Preston :

http://goo.gl/25lkc

jimf said...

> Science is all about asking questions… However, satisfactory
> answers can’t always be found in today’s media that far too
> often focuses on cases of technology gone awry, filling readers
> with… hopelessness…

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/01/can_you_trust_dr_oz_his_medical_advice_often_conflicts_with_the_best_science.html
-------------------------
Dr. Oz’s Miraculous Medical Advice
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
By Julia Belluz and Steven J. Hoffman
Jan. 1, 2013

. . .

[Dr. Mehmet] Oz may be the most credentialed of celebrity health
promoters. He’s a professor and vice-chair of surgery at Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He earned his
degrees at Ivy League universities, namely Harvard and the University
of Pennsylvania. He’s won a slew of medical awards (in addition to
his Emmys) and co-authored hundreds of academic articles.
He’s clearly a smart guy with qualifications, status, and experience.
It’s reasonable to assume he is well-versed in the scientific method
and the principles of evidence-based medicine. “Because he’s a
physician, that lends a certain authority and credibility to his
opinions,” said Steven Novella, a clinical neurologist and assistant
professor at Yale University School of Medicine who has taken Oz
to task for his science. “But it lends credibility to anything he says.”

And lately, a lot of what Oz has been saying is downright wrong. . .

Interestingly, for all the health wonders he promotes, Oz himself doesn’t
rely on magic pills or quick fixes to maintain his salubrious air.
He monitors his weight and exercises daily. According to a New York
Times profile, his diet consists of berries, spinach, raw walnuts. . .,
and a dark green concoction of juices from cucumber and parsley.
The Times journalist called it “the most efficient, joyless eating I
have ever seen.”

This doesn’t make for good TV, though, which gets at the tension between
the worlds of science and entertainment. Science is a process, moving
along in increments, with stops and starts, mostly very slowly. As a result,
new treatments are usually only slightly better than older ones, actual
breakthroughs are rare, and good medicine is often dull. Showmen like Oz,
however, must be anything but humdrum—five times every week.

When speaking to us for Maclean’s magazine last year before a Toronto
appearance, Oz said he has to mix the low and high, hope and reality,
to make sure he attracts enough viewers to stay on the air. He offered
raspberry ketone supplements as an example of how he tries to give
people hope. . .

He continued: “If you went line by line through the show and try to
figure out what part of it is glitzy stuff,. . .
and what part is the meat. . ., I bet that’s the right ratio: Three-quarters
is. . . hard-core stuff you got to do. . .

Black guy from the future past said...

Pelletier is one of the nuttiest guys at ieet that's a pretty big fucking deal considering almost all the contributors at ieet are nuts.

This guy seriously believes that nanotechnology and other "emerging technologies" (non-existent tech) will make human beings gods...literally... Suffice to say the guy has some issues. He even call his dreams of human godhood as the "magical future". Needless to say this "future" this guy is imagining will remain magical for a long, long, long time if you catch my drift. Cause we all know that the world is FULL OF ***MAGIC*** AND UNICORNS AND GLITTER AND STUFF (AHHAAAHAA!)

jollyspaniard said...

The excerpt reminds me of the opening pages of Dianetics or The Field. Want to join my Enlightenment Cult, you get to feel superior to everyone else.

Black guy from the future past said...

Wow. Fuck transhumanism. That entire "ideology" whatever it is must be marginalized and or destroyed. I've been noticing that most of the comments and Dale post's have been pointing transhumanists and their groups to white supremacists, white nationalists, anarchist groups libertarianism, and I've also linked this bastard to it all, (sorry for my strong language) Rachel Haywire, she truly is repulsive. Thing is the net is so big, and people use identities that are so fluid, that is hard to figure out who people are. Well I've found out all I need to know. I can't believe I ever feel for this shit, transhumanism, libertarianism, anarchism, I fell for all of it. Oh well, where once I was misinformed, now I see.

LINKS:
http://attackthesystem.com/author/msrachelhaywire/

Please help me get rid of this youtube racist and buddy of Haywrie Ryan Faulk aka fringeelements
http://www.youtube.com/user/fringeelements

joe said...

What a load of bovine excrement....This guy knows sweet FA abount all of this bar rolling out some buzzwords for the yokels to swollow.

"nanotech miracles"...magical future", it's like a horrible mash up of a cult and terrible sci-fi cliches.

I think the scientologists and Raelians have that covered thank you very much.



Are we even anywhere close to understanting drexler type nanobots?.....because I don't think we are.


Thats even assuming they are possible....A huge assumption.


What an aging clown.....I can only imagine the terror these types feel every morning when they wake up thinking they are a day closer to the end.


It must feel like an Edgar Allen Poe story made real.


It remind me of a post a read back a few months ago on one of these sites.

A guy was talking about his restricted calorie intake since the 70's and all the stuff he does to "stay young".
He then posted an article about hte work done on extenting the life of worms and why wasn't the US government funding all this work.

Then he had some sort of weird breakdown mid post and started ranting about all he was doing but it was not enough and he saw himself aging and...I swear to god I think he was crying while posting because his posts had the unmistakable air of some highly strung emotion being poured out.


I kind of felt sorry for the guy....I thought this is what htis guy fels like all the time, this is what he thinks about every waking hour and maybe even whie he dreams.

It wasn't a goal anymore but a fixation, a mainia to be achieved at all costs.

Just weird, and sad.


Sorry for the long post.

Anonymous said...

God Bless Rachel "Haywire" because with "leaders" like her transhumanism looks real, real silly and even more crazy and malignant than ever...

jimf said...

> Wow. Fuck transhumanism. That entire "ideology" whatever
> it is must be marginalized and or destroyed.

Well, no. That would be like trying to dry up the ocean
with a string mop.

>Hism manifests symptoms of many, many similar human associations --
people pooling their hopes and beating back their fears by
mirroring their Pollyanna faces back at each other; people
indulging their wishful thinking; con artists taking advantage
of people's gullibility, fear, and wishful thinking;
guru-wannabes (who are usually not the same as the con artists --
the latter make good use of them, though) indulging their
narcissistic fantasies of saving the world and becoming
Hero of All Time; the authoritarian dynamic between True
Believers and the guru whom they think will give their lives
Meaning and Purpose.

There are many books you could read, and many movements
(described from the point of view of ex-adherents, who
have since become disillusioned, just as you have become
disillusioned with >Hism) that you can see spread out on the
Web these days.

jimf said...

Here's a brief bibliography, if you're interested.
(In no particular order, but books first and Web sites
at the end.)

_The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power_
by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad (1993)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1883319005

_Feet Of Clay_
by Anthony Storr (1996)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684834952

_Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing
Fight Against Their Hidden Menace_
by Margaret Thaler Singer (Revised edition, 2003)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0787967416

_Enlightenment Blues: My Years With an American Guru_
by Andre Van Der Braak (2003)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0972635718

_The Mother of God_
by Luna Tarlo (1997)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1570270430

_The Ayn Rand Cult_
by Jeff Walker
http://www.amazon.com/The-Rand-Cult-Jeff-Walker/dp/0812693906/
(a cult of "rationality" -- many of the >Hists are Rand's inheritors)

_Therapist_, by Ellen Plasil (1985)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312799128
(about a woman's encounter with an "Objectivist" -- Ayn Randian --
psychiatrist)

_The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology_
by John Duignan
http://www.amazon.com/The-Complex-Insider-Exposes-Scientology/dp/1903582849/

_Standing For Something More: The Excommunication of Lyndon Lamborn_
by Lyndon Lamborn
http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Something-More-Excommunication-Lamborn/dp/1438947437/
(an ex-Mormon's story)

_The Apostasy of a High Priest- The Sociology of An American Cult_
by Park B. Romney
http://www.amazon.com/Apostasy-High-Priest--Sociology-American/dp/074146294X/
(another ex-Mormon's story)

_Dream Catcher: A Memoir_
by Margaret A. Salinger
http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Catcher-Margaret-A-Salinger/dp/0671042823/
(describes author J. D. Salinger's serial involvement with
cults over the course of his life)

_Frozen: My Journey into the World of Cryonics, Deception, and Death_
by Larry Johnson and Scott Baldyga
http://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Journey-World-Cryonics-Deception/dp/B003156B2C/
(Alcor bankrupted one of the authors in court, but the book is still
available, and litigation is ongoing against the second author
and the publisher.)

"The Myth of the Totally Enlightened Guru"
by John Horgan
http://www.johnhorgan.org/the_myth_of_the_totally_enlightened_guru_15274.htm

"Stripping the Gurus"
Geoffrey D. Falk
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/

"Inside The Church of Scientology: An Exclusive Interview with L. Ron Hubbard, Jr."
http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/penthouse-LRonHubbardJr-interview-1983.htm
(_Penthouse_ interview, June 1983)

"Secrets of NXIVM: The Untold Story of Keith Raniere"
http://www.timesunion.com/nxivm/
(a litigious "large group awareness training" outfit and its guru)

The Ross Institute Internet Archives for the Study of Destructive
Cults, Controversial Groups and Movements
http://www.rickross.com/

That should get you started! ;->

Black guy from the future past said...

@jimf Nice list! That should keep me busy for quite sometime. The web is a strange place. You find ideas you've never been exposed to, think they are new and feel exhilarated, do research, and then find out the "new ideas" you found are actually old hat, and then find out that the ideas are not only old hat, but complete bunk, disastrous and evil. That about sums up my experience on the net. Now the only site I mostly frequent is this one.

Dale Carrico said...

Now the only site I mostly frequent is this one.

That's terrible! Why, just look at the many wonderful websites on my blogroll, and then the many wonderful websites they recommend. The web is an embarrassment of riches when it isn't being just an embarrassment.

Anonymous said...

The Web has its Id on inside out.

Dale Carrico said...

The Web's id's out! Funny, this is another point of contact between the two Big Bads of Amor Mundi: techno-boosters and right-wing ideologues.

jimf said...

> Nice list!

I noticed in the NY Times today that there's a brand new book
coming out this month about the Scientologists
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/books/scientology-fascinates-the-author-lawrence-wright.html?_r=0

The author (a staff writer for the New Yorker) did a piece
a couple of years ago about the defection of a long-time church
member
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright

The new book is being published in the US by Knopf, but the Times
article mentioned that the intended British publisher has recently
canceled the release. Nothing to do with pressure from the
church! claimed a spokesperson for the British company, though
the author says he has received countless threatening letters
from attorneys over the upcoming publication, both from
the church and from counsel for the celebrities he mentions.

For an explanation of why this might be scarier to a UK firm, start
with Item 5 in the Moderation Policy page of Charlie Stross's
blog
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2008/06/moderation-policy.html
and be thankful that **this** blog is hosted in the United States.

Anonymous said...

Boyd Rice became widely known through his involvement in ___V. Vale's___ RE/Search books. He is profiled in RE/Search #6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook[2] and Pranks!.[3] In Pranks, Rice described his experience in 1976 when he tried to give President Ford's wife, Betty Ford, a skinned sheep's head on a silver platter. In this interview, he emphasized the consensus nature of reality and the havoc that can be wreaked by refusing to play by the collective rules that dictate most people's perception of the external world.
In the mid-1980s Rice became close friends with Anton LaVey, founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan, and was made a Priest, then later a Magister in the Council of Nine of the Church. The two admired much of the same music and shared a similar misanthropic outlook. Each had been inspired by Might is Right in fashioning various works: LaVey in his seminal Satanic Bible and Rice in several recordings.
Rice's Social Darwinist outlook eventually led to him founding the Social Darwinist think tank called The Abraxas Foundation, along with co-founder Nikolas Schreck, named after the ancient Gnostic god Abraxas. The organization promotes authoritarianism, totalitarianism, misanthropism, elitism, is antidemocratic, and has some philosophical overlap with the Church of Satan. During an interview with Christian talk show host Bob Larson, Rice described the basic philosophy of the foundation as being "The strong rule the weak, and the clever rule the strong".[4]


“By her deeds, vision and executive achievement as the founding architect of the Extreme Futurist Festival, Rachel Haywire gives me hope for the future. Her festival is one of the most important prophetic conclaves on planet Earth, striving to shape futuristic counterculture goals, aspirations, empirical projects and real-life laboratory experiments. Without a doubt we need a different future, and Rachel Haywire will help bring it into being.”

—V. Vale

More controversy has resulted because of Rice's appearance on Race and Reason,[17] a public-access television cable TV show hosted by white nationalist Tom Metzger. Boyd has claimed not to be a Nazi in numerous interviews[18]


So... there you have it : transhumanism, nazism, occultism and industrial music all in one nauseating wad...


Anonymous said...

http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20080728151152702&query=.



Rachel Haywire: Absolutely. I was writing before I was making music. I was a spoken word artist and then I started creating noise. A lot of people got into my music through my writing and many of these people were loner occult types who previously had very little exposure to music in general. I can seriously appreciate that because I had no clue about music when I started getting into the occult myself. It was nice to bring people in.

RH: I wouldn't even know where to begin. I have been attacked while giving live performances because people who never even met me didn't like me. I managed to turn one of these attacks into performance art. It was when I was opening for Boyd Rice and Z'EV and some girl wearing a military uniform attacked me with the chains I was using as a percussion instrument. Everyone thought it was some bdsm performance stunt but it was really just some girl who had an issue with me. I went with the flow though!.


Black guy from the future past said...

>"So... there you have it : transhumanism, nazism, occultism and industrial music all in one nauseating wad..."

Grotesque. Also Rachel "Haywire's" real name is Rachel Marone, this was revealed when kickstarter booted her from her fundraising after there was some spammer on her comments section.

All of these fringe movements, must remain on the fringe...we've all seen what happens when fringe movements enter into the mainstream...it's called the Republican Party.

Anonymous said...

No, "Marone" is a fake name. Her actual civil name is Rachel Ellen Mendelson, her father was Paul Mendelson (deceased) who Florida Ass. State Attorney general answering directly to Janet Reno who young rachel called "Auntie Janet." When filing complaints about Rachel's SSDI fraud, please use her entire civil name. If you can dance, you can work.

Dale Carrico said...

Gosh, the Moot seems quite obsessed with Rachel Haywire. It's like you guys don't care anymore about Prisco, Rothblatt, Vita-More, Yudkowsky and the rest of the loons. Maybe after a quarter-century observing transhumanoidal crazytown there's been a generational passing of the torch I have missed from one cohort of clowns to another one?

Anonymous said...

None of the old guard transhumanist loons were Nazis, Dale. That is the critical distinction. It is all fun and games until the Swastikas fly. Yudkowsky was being hammered on this site oh about yesterday. And Vita More not long before that. Journalism is not "obsession." You are, indeed, being introduces to the New Generation, which is even how they specifically name themselves, the "New Evolution of Transhumanism"

Black guy from the future past said...

Whoa @ Anon how'd you figure that one out?? I stand corrected, her name is not "Marone" after all.

@ Dale, the reason why people such as Haywire...er.. I mean Mendelson exist is because of the older generation of loons you mentioned, which are still unfortunately quite active in the transhumanist scene. It's quite sad really to pass on stupidity generation after generation. It's good to have people like you curtail the exponential growth of stupidity. Which seems to be the only thing growing and developing exponentially. Though most transhumanists have this silly notion that tech is growing exponentially (LOL).

Dale Carrico said...

None of the old guard transhumanist loons were Nazis, Dale. That is the critical distinction. It is all fun and games until the Swastikas fly.

Look, I am not exactly thrilled by the spectacle of people being called Nazis by name by other people who are cloaked in anonymity or pseudonymity. I also personally don't agree that transhumanoid pseudo-science, con-artistry, media distraction, techno-fetishization, techno-reductionism, techno-triumphalism were "fun and games" even if their "liberal" eugenicism and rationalizations for corporate-militarism didn't quite amount to straightforward Nazism according to whatever definition you are using.

Anonymous said...

Rachel 'Haywire' Mendelson calls herself a Nazi. Deal, Dale. She is an associate of Boyd Rice and Keith Preston. She makes anti-democracy, pro fascist tweets (she wears the F-word proudly and specifically) - these aren't accusations, they are facts. Well documented facts. She stalks and harasses those who bring up these facts, with a gang to assist her, a mixture of transhumanists and occultists. HENCE THE ANONYMITY, we don't want any more of our relatives and employers harassed by email and phone! Capiche?

Dale Carrico said...

Yeah, and she's associated with Satanism and counter-culture scholar V. Vale and who knows who else. (V. Vale's publications are indispensable documents, by the way.) Look, the Robot Cult is full of kooks at the organizational level -- and assuming you are the same Anonymous saying half the stuff being said anonymously in recent Moots on this topic you are frankly sounding a bit like one of them yourself, even if perhaps a kook who dislikes certain other kooks of different kooky flavors. And, no, I don't think actual Nazism is merely kooky. Your charges and links and quotes are out there now, anybody who cares to tease out the actually salient connections can render whatever judgments they will. I just think this stuff is starting to stink up the Moot a bit. Let's move on.

Dale Carrico said...

The same anonymous commenter is now posting comments in this vein every couple of minutes or so, and I am deleting them all. Needless to say this is because I am a jackbooted thug. It seems to me the commenter has more than amply made his case, such as it is, and there is no reason to allow him to commandeer this thread altogether. Rather than posting an endless monologue, commenters, and especially newcomers, should maybe wait and see if anybody else takes up their comment's theme or asks them a question about it before posting endless follow-ups and amplifications while egverybody else goes quiet or goes away altogether. This is a Moot not the place for you to Toot.

Anonymous said...

You are no better than the Hplus memory hole goons, Dale. Shame on you!

Dale Carrico said...

Free expression doesn't give you or anybody the right to shout everybody else out of the room. There is nobody who doesn't know your opinion of Rachel Haywire by now. h+ disallowed me any comment while at once declaring in public my comment was welcome and allowing others to make claims about me without rebuttal. There is all the difference in the world between that state of affairs and my reasonable request that you wait and see if anybody else has something to say. I am not ashamed to say so in the least.

Anonymous said...

well you ought to be ashamed! you are very much in the wrong. you are displaying enormous hypocrisy.

Dale Carrico said...

Not allowing you to publish a blog in the comments section of my blog makes baby Jesus cry because I hate freedom.

Anonymous said...

what you seem to hate are mere documented facts. Any censorship at all, even once, is the equivalent of total censorship. You are being pissy, and it has cost you my respect. You are failing to document the criticism of a major new transhumanist leader, which is your major purpose and function. Bad Fag, No Bone For You!

Dale Carrico said...

Not censoring that comment has embiggened us all.