Daily Archives: August 10, 2016

Cyberpunk – R. Talsorian Games – Wayne’s Books RPG Reference

Posted: August 10, 2016 at 9:16 pm

Cyberpunk - R. Talsorian Games Licensed releases by Atlas Games | Interface Magazine Cyberpunk: The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future (1st edition) [BOX SET]

CONTENTS: Welcome to Night City: A Sourcebook for 2013 View From the Edge: The Cyberpunk Handbook Friday Night Firefight. 4 pages of player aids.

1988 ... Michael Pondsmith ... R. Talsorian Games CP 3001 ... ISBN 0937279056

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Version 2.01 of the rulebook was released in 1993, incorporating errata from prior printings and Screamsheets supplement into the text. -Wayne

"The Corporations control the world from their skyscraper fortresses, enforcing their rule with armies of cyborg assassins. On the Street, Boostergangs roam a shattered urban wilderness, killing and looting. The rest of the world is a perpetual party, as fashion-model beautiful techies rub biosculpt jobs with battle armored roadwarriors in the hottest clubs, sleaziest bars and meanest streets this side of the Postholocaust. The Future never looked so bad. But you can change it. You've got interface plugs in your wrists, weapons in your arms, lasers in your eyes, bio-chip programs screaming in your brain. You're wired in, cyberenhanced and solid state as you take it to the fatal Edge where only the toughest and the coolest can go. Because you're CYBERPUNK.

CYBERPUNK: the original roleplaying game of the dark future; a world of corporate assassins, heavy-metal heroes and brain burning cyberhackers, packed with cutting edge technology and intense urban action. Within this box, you'll find everything you need to tackle the mean streets of the 2000's in a game system that combines the best in realistic action and playability.

FEATURING: Rockerboys: Hard-rock heroes fighting for change with music & revolution! Solos: Corporate cybersoldiers more machines than men! Netrunners: Superhot hackers who can crack any Data Fortress! Medias: Hightech reporters going to the wall to get the truth! Nomads: Cyberbiking renegades cruisin' the lethal highways of the Postholocaust! Corporates: Slick business raiders playing the deadly corporate power game! Techies: Masters of cybernetics in the heavy-metal age! Fixers: Streetsmart middlemen who know all the angles! Cops: Maximum lawmen in the big-city jungle!"

1990, 1991, 1993 ... 222, 254(?), 260 pages ... CP 3002 ... ISBN 0937279137

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1990 ... CP 3801 ... ISBN 0937279145 (recycled into a Mekton RPG product)

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2005 ... 305 pages ... CP 4110 ... ISBN 1891933035

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1989 ... 80 pages ... CP 3101 ... ISBN 0937279064

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It's Hardwired.

Based on the best-selling science fiction novel by Walter Jon Williams, the Hardwired Sourcebook is the complete reference guide to one of the cyberpunk genre's most famous works. Written by Hardwired's creator himself, the Sourcebook lets you take your CYBERPUNK campaign into a whole new world of action and adventure. HARDWIRED. Become part of the legend.

A Supplement for R.Talsorian's CYBERPUNK"

1989 ... 94 pages ... CP 3201 ... ISBN 0937279072

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1989 ... 88 pages ... CP 3301 ... ISBN 0937279080

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1989 ... 80 pages ... CP 3401 ... ISBN 0937279102

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Maybe if you'd known this was Blood Razor turf, you woulda been smart enough to stay clear after dark. Maybe there was another way to get crosstown and infiltrate Arasaka's Japantown base, but you didn't know it. Maybe if you'd stopped to download some info from a dataterm before you walked right into the sharp end, you wouldn't be here now, waiting to become a booster's latest mutilation victim...

But you're never gonna know. Not now. You're not getting a second chance.

Because this is NIGHT CITY.

NIGHT CITY. A monster sourcebook containing over 180 jam-packed pages of information on the definitive CYBERPUNK setting! Hit the CONTROLLED URBAN ZONES with 3D maps and detailed, building by building descriptions to match. Each section also includes comprehensive overviews of FLOOR PLANS, PERSONALITIES, ENCOUNTERS and CONTACTS. The FLASHMAPS Section puts you "on the spot" at the hottest restaurants, clubs, and theatres, as well as SCHEDULES, TRANSIT MAPS and AREA VIEWS. the ARTICLES Section interfaces you with background on SECURITY, PEOPLE OF THE CITY, GANGS & TURFMAPS, plus a U.S. 2020 overview!

So, if you're looking for the ultimate dark future urban environment, take a trip to NIGHT CITY. because you may not live to get another chance."

1991 ... 184 pages + fold-out map ... CP 3501 ... ISBN 0937279110

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1992 ... 101 pages ... CP 3601 ... ISBN 0937279129

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1991 ... 96 pages ... CP 3701 ... ISBN 093727917X

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1992 ... William Moss ... 104 pages ... CP 3121 ... ISBN 0937279218

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1991 ... William Moss ... 88 pages ... CP 3111 ... ISBN 0937279185

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1992 ... 80 pages ... CP 3151 ... ISBN 093727920X

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PLUS-CORP WAR SPECIAL REPORT! When two titans collide in the ultimate in hostile business practice, the result is inevitable - Corporate War! Now learn the inside story on the Second Corporate War, with M, A&F's historical and military analysis of both sides in this savage Eastern Pacific conflict."

1992 ... 88 pages ... CP 3161 ... ISBN 0937279242

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Chromebook 2 showcases new electronics, chips, and software; plus bodyware - exotic biosculpting for the Euro-decadent and the Nuvo-riche. It's the cat's meow for those who want to be more than uniquely perfect... or just king of the urban jungle.

Also available for the first time ever: Total Body Conversions the ultimate in cybernetic replacement!

All this and more in this year's Chromebook You've already got the metal, now give it polish and an Edge!"

1992 ... 112 pages ... CP 3181 ... ISBN 0937279298

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1992 ... 144 pages ... RTG CP 3221 ... ISBN 0937279366

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1993 ... 104 pages ... CP 3191 ... ISBN 093727934X

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1993 ... Chris Young & Scott Hedrick ... 120 pages ... CP 3211 ... ISBN 0937279358

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1993 ... 192 pages ... CP 3251 ... ISBN 0937279404

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...and nobody knows it better than the man in the middle, the man who keeps the goods and the info flowing -- the Fixer. In this hot new supplement for everyone's favorite dealmakers, you'll get down to the dark underbelly of Cyberpunk; the "grungy, nervous, jury-rigged, and illegal" milieu of the urban go-between, where Money meets the Street and the real business of 2020 survival begins.

But being a Fixer's more than just shady alleyway deals. Wildside also lets you:

* Dive into the hi-rise world of the financial factors; the backstage manipulations of agents and managers, and the esoteric coinage of the info-bros, with their dataman networks.

* Specialize your Fixer in over a dozen of different ways from high-moving Salesmen and Moneybags to the lowlife Leeches and Go-Betweens.

* Create your own organizations. From setting up and running a "business" to a detailed dissection of the Street environment, Wildside gives you the details; up close and in your face.

Think you were Cyberpunk before? You don't know half, choomba. Now you're lookin' boga, dodgin' the gewalt, and fulfillin' your girl the hard way. Now you're walking the WILDSIDE."

1993 ... Benjamin Wright & Mike Roter ... 96 pages ... CP 3271 ... ISBN 0937279420

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1994 ... 112 pages ... CP 3291 ... ISBN 0937279455

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1995 ... 144 pages ... CP 3421 ... ISBN 0937279676

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1995 ... Derek Quintanar ... 48 pages ... CP 3461 ... ISBN 0937279757

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1997 ... 144 pages ... RT 3491 ... ISBN 0937279854

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1992 ... Scott Mackay ... 144 pages ... AG 5005 ... ISBN 1887801340

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1992 ... Thomas M. Kane ... 30 pages ... AG 5010 ... ISBN 1887801359

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The Chrome Berets features:

- Complete background on the Malagay Islands, a young pacific republic writhing under the twin hells of oppression and revolution. Isn't a tropical vacation just the thing for cyberpunks who've had too much of the big city? - Dozens of non-player characters -- dubious allies, formidable foes, self-interested politicians, and unscrupulous middlemen -- who will interact with the player characters. - An outline of plots, events, and NPC interests that gives the Referee all the information she needs, while judiciously avoiding a prescription of linear adventure. The characters' very goals, to say nothing of the story's resolution, are completely flexible. - KILL OR BE KILLED: a mass-combat system for the Cyberpunk game. It's suitable for large-scale operations that the Friday Night Firefight system in the rulebook can't very well cover. - New military hardware that your cyberpunks may put into action on the island -- maybe even bring home afterward. This source material could be used for any Cyberpunk campaign, anywhere in the world."

1993 ... Thomas R. Kane ... 96 pages ... AG 5025 ... ISBN 1887801375

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1992 ... Stephan Michael Sechi ... 64 pages ... AG 5035 ... ISBN 1887801383

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By 6:15, Arasaka has bought out an entire company--International Defense Alliance--because it owns the Sentinel, the submersible closest to the Eel's last known location.

By 6:24 your cyberpunks are on the Sentinel, and already descending into the Bonin Trench. They must recover Project 5. They don't know what's down there, waiting for them. They will know soon.

Very soon.

The Bonin Horse is a Cyberpunk technothriller, featuring:

Flexible entrances--Player characters may be Arasaka special operatives, crewmembers of a submarine-for-hire, or even stowaways. A new and dangerous adventuring environment--the deep ocean. Relentless pacing--a story of non-stop, heart-pounding action."

1993 ... Eric Heisserer ... 31 pages ... AG 5050 ... ISBN 1887801413

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1994 ... Eric Heisserer ... 48 pages ... AG 5065 ... ISBN 188780143X

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1995 ... Andrew Lucas & Jeff Ranger ... 64 pages ... AG 5070 ... ISBN 1887801448

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In this issue: * "Move On Maggot!!!" Cops walking a tough beat in Night City * Police Gang Profile: The Givers of Pain * Corporation Profile: OTEC Barons of the High Seas * ALSO: Details of the Cyber Psycho Squad by Officer Maddox * Book Reviews: Streetlethal and Vacuum Flowers"

1992 ... Prometheus

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: NEW TIPS ON GAMEMASTERING HUMANITY LOSS RIPPERDOCS WHO THEY ARE AND HOW TO FIND ONE WHAT'S IN YOUR POCKETS MORE CHARACTER BACKGROUND STUFF SKATEBOARDING A NEW SKILL FOR THE STREET ALTERNATE CHARACTER ROLES PLUS: NEW CYBER REVIEWS, CYBERWEAR AND LOTS OF NEWTECH FOR THE MAXIMALLY CYBERED."

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Cyberpunk - R. Talsorian Games - Wayne's Books RPG Reference

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Where To Get Cyberpunk Clothing | Neon Dystopia

Posted: at 9:16 pm

These days its difficult to find decent cyberpunk clothing unless you are willing to pay a shitload of money and search through the millions of clothes that have nothing to do with cyberpunk, yet still claim to be. Its a problem with the current dystopian western society weve found ourselves in no terminals to hack into with our brain stem but plenty of clothes that are goth, steampunk, rave or industrial that have little relation tocyberpunk clothing or the cyberpunk attitude. The other option you have is making the clothes yourself but for that you would need to be talented and, for ease, lets assume for the moment that you arent (or if you want to feel better about yourself, lets say you cant build a raid server or port scan companies in Japan at the same time as sewing pfft).

The point is this; you want to go out and you want to change the worlds perception of fashion while at the same time remaining under the radar in the crowd as you get to the club to pick up another unsavoury job from your employer.

In the early days of public internet it was perfectly acceptable for cyberpunks to fit into the almost-cybergoth scene; wearing minimal black clothing, nails painted black and earning money from rich goths willing to pay for a little bit of hacking done from your Windows 98 laptop. This idea isnt too far-fetched it was stolen from reality by the creators of The Matrix.I was doing gigs like this before the film came out while I was visiting the same club they used for the down the rabbit hole scene (Hellfire in Chippendale, Sydney) all while having a high paying job at a software/internet company where I first saw the trailer for The Matrix. I admit; I saw myself more like Lenny from Strange Days totes cooler than anyone from theMatrix films. After this time, if you wore a long black or brown leather jacket people would call out to you, Hey Matrix idiot making you no longer anonymous. Thanks, Matrix you fuckfaces.

Fashion has caught up somewhat since those fucking days in the 90s but the idea of what cyberpunk fashion is has strayed in the public consciousness mostly because people dont understand the cyberpunk ethos or where it comes from. What impresses me are the costumes in cyberpunk films like Total Recall (2013) and, more recently, in games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and especially Remember Me. Nilins costume is outrageously gorgeous.

So how do you track down the ultimate cyberpunk fashion for that specific cyberpunk style? I was getting to that.

Start with the outrageously expensive places like Plastic Wrap (http://www.plastikwrap.com/) and Google cyberpunk clothing to get some ideas of what you would like to wear. Then, hit the markets (yes, I mean real life markets). Theres bound to be several places that you never thought of to go to buy cyberpunk or dystopian clothes because obviously retail is too expensive and buying low quality, overpriced shit online was the only way to get the cool shit. Well you were wrong.

Most young people trying to get a foot in the fashion industry are making some of the coolest shit and selling it at markets to get a leg up in the industry but what that means for you is you can buy awesome unique pieces that ultimately can fuel your dream outfit for your dark corner of our dystopia. I have been blown away at some of the functional and cyberpunkclothesIve been able to find of late in markets in Sydney. Wherever you are in the world there are bound to be similar places, you just need to find out where your local markets (usually in cities) are located.

There is also a heap of cool clothing waiting to be found in second-hand clothing stores. You just gotta look and usually its as cheap as a hooker in Chiba City, Japan Im not kidding.

Remember three things when searching for cyberpunk clothing:

If you just cant find anything outside, here are some potential online sources for decent cyberpunk clothing:

Cryoflesh http://www.cryoflesh.com

While promoting itself as Urban Future Wear theres clearly a lot of goth and rave wear to sift through with some interesting accessories. Reasonably cheaper than most online stores but difficult to put together a full outfit from this one site and still remain true to the cyberpunk ethos.

Cyberdog http://shop.cyberdog.net/

Cyberdog has come a long way since its inception but still focuses more on rave culture than actual cyberpunk clothing. Everything is in pounds so dont forget how expensive that makes everything.

Plastik Wrap/Plastic Army http://www.plastikwrap.com/

Plastik Wrap have been around for a long time and built up their brand and even had some costumes featured in Total Recall 2013 unfortunately this also makes them one of the most expensive brands out there. They have some amazing pieces but use them for reference only.

Eva Zolinar https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ZOLNAR/ Via Etsy, Eva Zolinar has been creating some very interesting pieces that fit right into a cyberpunk underground. While some of the more detailed pieces are extremely expensive some of the smaller pieces and accessories are quite cool average out to the price of some of the pieces on cryoflesh.

Futurestate http://www.futurstate.com/

With a much more Industrial sometime borderline steampunk edge Futurestate does have some interesting torso pieces and jackets especially for men again the prices are right up there but its worthwhile for looking at the hoodies and jackets.

Siskatank http://www.siskatank.com/

Very expensive printed clothing.

Immoral Fashion http://www.immoralfashion.com.au/

An Australian fashion site with some amazing pieces and surprisingly low prices. Pants tops and jackets are all high quality from here. Again you are wading through steampunk and goth clothing but its all high quality.

Neurolab (non corporeal clothing) http://www.neurolab-inc.com/blog/en/category/categories/clothes-categories/

If you are fan of Second Life, which I am not, you might want to check out Neurolabs clothing and gear. Warning: this is strictly clothing for your avatar in second life not real life clothing.

There you have it plenty of advice and resources to get yourself going. If you cant find yourself anything to wear above, well, I guess youll have to learn to sew.

Where To Get Cyberpunk Clothing | Neon Dystopia

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Cyberpunk – a short story by Bruce Bethke

Posted: at 9:16 pm

Cyberpunk a short story by Bruce Bethke

Foreword

In the early spring of 1980 I wrote a little story about a bunch of teenage hackers. From the very first draft this story had a name, and lo, the name was--

And you can bet any body part you'd care to name that, had I had even the slightest least inkling of a clue that I would still be answering questions about this word nearly 18 years later, I would have bloody well trademarked the damned thing!

Nonetheless, I didn't, and as you're probably aware, the c-word has gone on to have a fascinating career all its own. At this late date I am not trying to claim unwarranted credit or tarnish anyone else's glory. (Frankly, I'd much rather people were paying attention to what I'm writing now --e.g., my Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel, Headcrash, Orbit Books, 5.99 in paperback.) But for those folks who are obsessed with history, here, in tightly encapsulated form, is the story behind the story.

The invention of the c-word was a conscious and deliberate act of creation on my part. I wrote the story in the early spring of 1980, and from the very first draft, it was titled "Cyberpunk." In calling it that, I was actively trying to invent a new term that grokked the juxtaposition of punk attitudes and high technology. My reasons for doing so were purely selfish and market-driven: I wanted to give my story a snappy, one-word title that editors would remember.

Offhand, I'd say I succeeded.

How did I actually create the word? The way any new word comes into being, I guess: through synthesis. I took a handful of roots --cyber, techno, et al-- mixed them up with a bunch of terms for socially misdirected youth, and tried out the various combinations until one just plain sounded right.

IMPORTANT POINT! I never claimed to have invented cyberpunk fiction! That honor belongs primarily to William Gibson, whose 1984 novel, Neuromancer, was the real defining work of "The Movement." (At the time, Mike Swanwick argued that the movement writers should properly be termed neuromantics, since so much of what they were doing was clearly Imitation Neuromancer.)

Then again, Gibson shouldn't get sole credit either. Pat Cadigan ("Pretty Boy Crossover"), Rudy Rucker (Software), W.T. Quick (Dreams of Flesh and Sand), Greg Bear (Blood Music), Walter Jon Williams (Hardwired), Michael Swanwick (Vacuum Flowers)...the list of early '80s writers who made important contributions towards defining the trope defies my ability to remember their names. Nor was it an immaculate conception: John Brunner (Shockwave Rider), Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange), and perhaps even Alfred Bester (The Stars My Destination) all were important antecedents of the thing that became known as cyberpunk fiction.

Me? I've been told that my main contribution was inventing the stereotype of the punk hacker with a mohawk. That, and I named the beast, of course.

[Note: If you want to find out more about the etymology of cyberpunk -- and quite a few other things, too -- take a look at Bruce's web page. Alternatively, why not just scroll down and read the story itself?]

The snoozer went off at seven and I was out of my sleepsack, powered up, and on-line in nanos. That's as far as I got. Soon's I booted and got--

--on the tube I shut down fast. Damn! Rayno had been on line before me, like always, and that message meant somebody else had gotten into our Net-- and that meant trouble by the busload! I couldn't do anything more on term, so I zipped into my jumper, combed my hair, and went downstairs.

Mom and Dad were at breakfast when I slid into the kitchen. "Good Morning, Mikey!" said Mom with a smile. "You were up so late last night I thought I wouldn't see you before you caught your bus."

"Had a tough program to crack," I said.

"Well," she said, "now you can sit down and have a decent breakfast." She turned around to pull some Sara Lees out of the microwave and plunk them down on the table.

"If you'd do your schoolwork when you're supposed to you wouldn't have to stay up all night," growled Dad from behind his caffix and faxsheet. I sloshed some juice in a glass and poured it down, stuffed a Sara Lee into my mouth, and stood to go.

"What?" asked Mom. "That's all the breakfast you're going to have?"

"Haven't got time," I said. "I gotta get to school early to see if the program checks." Dad growled something more and Mom spoke to quiet him, but I didn't hear much 'cause I was out the door.

I caught the transys for school, just in case they were watching. Two blocks down the line I got off and transferred going back the other way, and a coupla transfers later I wound up whipping into Buddy's All-Night Burgers. Rayno was in our booth, glaring into his caffix. It was 7:55 and I'd beat Georgie and Lisa there.

"What's on line?" I asked as I dropped into my seat, across from Rayno. He just looked up at me through his eyebrows and I knew better than to ask again.

At eight Lisa came in. Lisa is Rayno's girl, or at least she hopes she is. I can see why: Rayno's seventeen--two years older than the rest of us--he wears flash plastic and his hair in The Wedge (Dad blew a chip when I said I wanted my hair cut like that) and he's so cool he won't even touch her, even when she's begging for it. She plunked down in her seat next to Rayno and he didn't blink.

Georgie still wasn't there at 8:05. Rayno checked his watch again, then finally looked up from his caffix. "The compiler's been cracked," he said. Lisa and I both swore. We'd worked up our own little code to keep our Net private. I mean, our Olders would just blow boards if they ever found out what we were really up to. And now somebody'd broken our code.

"Georgie's old man?" I asked.

"Looks that way." I swore again. Georgie and I started the Net by linking our smartterms with some stuff we stored in his old man's home business system. Now my Dad wouldn't know an opsys if he crashed on one, but Georgie's old man--he's a greentooth. A tech-type. He'd found one of ours once before and tried to take it apart to see what it did. We'd just skinned out that time.

"Any idea how far in he got?" Lisa asked. Rayno looked through her, at the front door. Georgie'd just come in.

"We're gonna find out," Rayno said.

Georgie was coming in smiling, but when he saw that look in Rayno's eyes he sat down next to me like the seat was booby-trapped.

"Good morning Georgie," said Rayno, smiling like a shark.

"I didn't glitch!" Georgie whined. "I didn't tell him a thing!"

"Then how the Hell did he do it?"

"You know how he is, he's weird! He likes puzzles!" Georgie looked to me for backup. "That's how come I was late. He was trying to weasel me, but I didn't tell him a thing! I think he only got it partway open. He didn't ask about the Net!"

Rayno actually sat back, pointed at us all, and smiled. "You kids just don't know how lucky you are. I was in the Net last night and flagged somebody who didn't know the secures was poking Georgie's compiler. I made some changes. By the time your old man figures them out, well..."

I sighed relief. See what I mean about being cool? Rayno had us outlooped all the time!

Rayno slammed his fist down on the table. "But Dammit Georgie, you gotta keep a closer watch on him!"

Then Rayno smiled and bought us all drinks and pie all the way around. Lisa had a cherry Coke, and Georgie and I had caffix just like Rayno. God, that stuff tastes awful! The cups were cleared away, and Rayno unzipped his jumper and reached inside.

"Now kids," he said quietly, "it's time for some serious fun." He whipped out his microterm. "School's off!"

I still drop a bit when I see that microterm--Geez, it's a beauty! It's a Zeilemann Nova 300, but we've spent so much time reworking it, it's practically custom from the motherboard up. Hi-baud, rammed, rammed, ported, with the wafer display folds down to about the size of a vid casette; I'd give an ear to have one like it. We'd used Georgie's old man's chipburner to tuck some special tricks in ROM and there wasn't a system in CityNet it couldn't talk to.

Rayno ordered up a smartcab and we piled out of Buddy's. No more riding the transys for us, we were going in style! We charged the smartcab off to some law company and cruised all over Eastside.

Riding the boulevards got stale after awhile, so we rerouted to the library. We do a lot of our fun at the library, 'cause nobody ever bothers us there. Nobody ever goes there. We sent the smartcab, still on the law company account, off to Westside. Getting past the guards and the librarians was just a matter of flashing some ID and then we zipped off into the stacks.

Now, you've got to ID away your life to get on the libsys terms--which isn't worth half a scare when your ID is all fudged like ours is--and they watch real careful. But they move their terms around a lot, so they've got ports on line all over the building. We found an unused port, and me and Georgie kept watch while Rayno plugged in his microterm and got on line.

"Get me into the Net," he said, handing me the term. We don't have a stored opsys yet for Netting, so Rayno gives me the fast and tricky jobs.

Through the dataphones I got us out of the libsys and into CityNet. Now, Olders will never understand. They still think a computer has got to be a brain in a single box. I can get the same results with opsys stored in a hundred places, once I tie them together. Nearly every computer has got a dataphone port, CityNet is a great linking system, and Rayno's microterm has the smarts to do the job clean and fast so nobody flags on us. I pulled the compiler out of Georgie's old man's computer and got into our Net. Then I handed the term back to Rayno.

"Well, let's do some fun. Any requests?" Georgie wanted something to get even with his old man, and I had a new routine cooking, but Lisa's eyes lit up 'cause Rayno handed the term to her, first.

"I wanna burn Lewis," she said.

"Oh fritz!" Georgie complained. "You did that last week!"

"Well, he gave me another F on a theme."

"I never get F's. If you'd read books once in a--"

"Georgie," Rayno said softly, "Lisa's on line." That settled that. Lisa's eyes were absolutely glowing.

Lisa got back into CityNet and charged a couple hundred overdue books to Lewis's libsys account. Then she ordered a complete fax sheet of Encyclopedia Britannica printed out at his office. I got next turn.

Georgie and Lisa kept watch while I accessed. Rayno was looking over my shoulder. "Something new this week?"

"Airline reservations. I was with my Dad two weeks ago when he set up a business trip, and I flagged on maybe getting some fun. I scanned the ticket clerk real careful and picked up the access code."

"Okay, show me what you can do."

Accessing was so easy that I just wiped a couple of reservations first, to see if there were any bells and whistles.

None. No checks, no lockwords, no confirm codes. I erased a couple dozen people without crashing down or locking up. "Geez," I said, "There's no deep secures at all!"

"I been telling you. Olders are even dumber than they look. Georgie? Lisa? C'mon over here and see what we're running!"

Georgie was real curious and asked a lot of questions, but Lisa just looked bored and snapped her gum and tried to stand closer to Rayno. Then Rayno said, "Time to get off Sesame Street. Purge a flight."

I did. It was simple as a save. I punched a few keys, entered, and an entire plane disappeared from all the reservation files. Boy, they'd be surprised when they showed up at the airport. I started purging down the line, but Rayno interrupted.

"Maybe there's no bells and whistles, but wipe out a whole block of flights and it'll stand out. Watch this." He took the term from me and cooked up a routine in RAM to do a global and wipe out every flight that departed at an :07 for the next year. "Now that's how you do these things without waving a flag."

"That's sharp," Georgie chipped in, to me. "Mike, you're a genius! Where do you get these ideas?" Rayno got a real funny look in his eyes.

"My turn," Rayno said, exiting the airline system.

"What's next in the stack?" Lisa asked him.

"Yeah, I mean, after garbaging the airlines . . ." Georgie didn't realize he was supposed to shut up.

"Georgie! Mike!" Rayno hissed. "Keep watch!" Soft, he added, "It's time for The Big One."

"You sure?" I asked. "Rayno, I don't think we're ready."

"We're ready."

Georgie got whiney. "We're gonna get in big trouble--"

"Wimp," spat Rayno. Georgie shut up.

We'd been working on The Big One for over two months, but I still didn't feel real solid about it. It almost made a clean if/then/else; if The Big One worked/then we'd be rich/else . . . it was the else I didn't have down.

Georgie and me scanned while Rayno got down to business. He got back into CityNet, called the cracker opsys out of OurNet, and poked it into Merchant's Bank & Trust. I'd gotten into them the hard way, but never messed with their accounts; just did it to see if I could do it. My data'd been sitting in their system for about three weeks now and nobody'd noticed. Rayno thought it would be really funny to use one bank computer to crack the secures on other bank computers.

While he was peeking and poking I heard walking nearby and took a closer look. It was just some old waster looking for a quiet place to sleep. Rayno was finished linking by the time I got back. "Okay kids," he said, "this is it." He looked around to make sure we were all watching him, then held up the term and stabbed the RETURN key. That was it. I stared hard at the display, waiting to see what else was gonna be. Rayno figured it'd take about ninety seconds.

The Big One, y'see, was Rayno's idea. He'd heard about some kids in Sherman Oaks who almost got away with a five million dollar electronic fund transfer; they hadn't hit a hangup moving the five mil around until they tried to dump it into a personal savings account with a $40 balance. That's when all the flags went up.

Rayno's cool; Rayno's smart. We weren't going to be greedy, we were just going to EFT fifty K. And it wasn't going to look real strange, 'cause it got strained through some legitimate accounts before we used it to open twenty dummies.

If it worked.

The display blanked, flickered, and showed:

I started to shout, but remembered I was in a library. Georgie looked less terrified. Lisa looked like she was going to attack Rayno.

Rayno just cracked his little half smile, and started exiting. "Funtime's over, kids."

"I didn't get a turn," Georgie mumbled.

Rayno was out of all the nets and powering down. He turned, slow, and looked at Georgie through those eyebrows of his. "You are still on The List."

Georgie swallowed it 'cause there was nothing else he could do. Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.

We got a smartcab outside the library and went off to someplace Lisa picked for lunch. Georgie got this idea about garbaging up the smartcab's brain so that the next customer would have a real state fair ride, but Rayno wouldn't let him do it. Rayno didn't talk to him during lunch, either.

After lunch I talked them into heading up to Martin's Micros. That's one of my favorite places to hang out. Martin's the only Older I know who can really work a computer without blowing out his headchips, and he never talks down to me, and he never tells me to keep my hands off anything. In fact, Martin's been real happy to see all of us, ever since Rayno bought that $3000 vidgraphics art animation package for Lisa's birthday.

Martin was sitting at his term when we came in. "Oh, hi Mike! Rayno! Lisa! Georgie!" We all nodded. "Nice to see you again. What can I do for you today?"

"Just looking," Rayno said.

"Well, that's free." Martin turned back to his term and punched a few more IN keys. "Damn!" he said to the term.

"What's the problem?" Lisa asked.

"The problem is me," Martin said. "I got this software package I'm supposed to be writing, but it keeps bombing out and I don't know what's wrong."

Rayno asked, "What's it supposed to do?"

"Oh, it's a real estate system. Y'know, the whole future-values-in-current-dollars bit. Depreciation, inflation, amortization, tax credits--"

"Put that in our tang," Rayno said. "What numbers crunch?"

Martin started to explain, and Rayno said to me, "This looks like your kind of work." Martin hauled his three hundred pounds of fat out of the chair, and looked relieved as I dropped down in front of the term. I scanned the parameters, looked over Martin's program, and processed a bit. Martin'd only made a few mistakes. Anybody could have. I dumped Martin's program and started loading the right one in off the top of my head.

"Will you look at that?" Martin said.

I didn't answer 'cause I was thinking in assembly. In ten minutes I had it in, compiled, and running test sets. It worked perfect, of course.

"I just can't believe you kids," Martin said. "You can program easier than I can talk."

"Nothing to it," I said.

"Maybe not for you. I knew a kid grew up speaking Arabic, used to say the same thing." He shook his head, tugged his beard, looked me in the face, and smiled. "Anyhow, thanks loads, Mike. I don't know how to . . ." He snapped his fingers. "Say, I just got something in the other day, I bet you'd be really interested in." He took me over to the display case, pulled it out, and set it on the counter. "The latest word in microterms. The Zeilemann Starfire 600."

I dropped a bit! Then I ballsed up enough to touch it. I flipped up the wafer display, ran my fingers over the touch pads, and I just wanted it so bad! "It's smart," Martin said. "Rammed, rammed, and ported."

Rayno was looking at the specs with that cold look in his eye. "My 300 is still faster," he said.

"It should be," Martin said. "You customized it half to death. But the 600 is nearly as fast, and it's stock, and it lists for $1400. I figure you must have spent nearly 3K upgrading yours."

Go here to see the original:

Cyberpunk - a short story by Bruce Bethke

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Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS)

Posted: at 9:15 pm

The Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program was created in response to a pressing need. Despite the continued best efforts of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to protect the health of U.S. servicemembers and veterans, the effects of neuropsychological illness brought on by war, traumatic injuries, and other experiences remain challenging to treat. Current approachessurgery, medications, and psychotherapycan often help to alleviate the worst effects of illnesses such as major depression and post-traumatic stress, but they are imprecise and not universally effective. Through SUBNETS, DARPA hopes to generate the knowledge and technology required to deliver relief to patients with otherwise intractable neuropsychological illness.

The SUBNETS vision is distinct from current therapeutic approaches in that it seeks to create an implanted, closed-loop diagnostic and therapeutic system for treating, and possibly even curing, neuropsychological illness. That vision is premised on the understanding that brain functionand dysfunction, in the case of neuropsychological illnessplays out across distributed neural systems, as opposed to being strictly relegated to distinct anatomical regions of the brain. The program also aims to take advantage of neural plasticity, a feature of the brain by which the organs anatomy and physiology alter over time to support normal brain function. Because of plasticity, researchers are optimistic that by using SUBNETS-developed technology the brain can be trained or treated to restore normal functionality following injury or the onset of neuropsychological illness.

Through measuring pathways involved in complex systems-based brain disorders including post-traumatic stress, major depression, borderline personality, general anxiety, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse and addiction, and fibromyalgia/chronic pain, SUBNETS will pursue the capability to record and model how these systems function in both normal and abnormal conditions, among volunteers seeking treatment for unrelated neurologic disorders and impaired clinical research participants. SUBNETS will then use these models to determine safe and effective therapeutic stimulation methodologies. These models will be adapted onto next-generation, closed-loop neural stimulators that exceed currently developed capacities for simultaneous stimulation and recording, with the goal of providing investigators and clinicians an unprecedented ability to record, analyze, and stimulate multiple brain regions for therapeutic purposes. The program plan calls for research to be conducted along a schedule of prescribed milestones, culminating in technology demonstrations and submission of devices for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The SUBNETS approach is directed to advance neuropsychiatry beyond the realm of dialogue-driven observations and into the realm of therapy driven by quantifiable characteristics of neural state. In doing so, the program would create one of the most comprehensive datasets of systems-based brain activity ever recorded. If successful, SUBNETS will lead to informed and precise neurotechnological therapy to produce major improvements in quality of life for servicemembers and veterans with neuropsychological illness who have very few options with existing therapies.

SUBNETS and related DARPA neuroscience efforts are informed by members of an independent Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) panel. Communications with ELSI panelists supplement the oversight provided by institutional review boards that govern human clinical studies and animal use.

SUBNETS is part of a broader portfolio of programs within DARPA that support President Obamas brain initiative.

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Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS)

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Childfreedom

Posted: at 9:14 pm

I couldn't resist when an old friend of mine posted this on Facebook. My reply was, "I don't have kids and I put others before myself", to which she replied, "That is rare in this day and age!", which is true, but let's take a closer look at why it is true. I would argue that being oriented around others is so rare today in large part because today's PARENTS - by virtue of adopting the notion that once a person has kids they become the center of the universe - have created a bunch of coddled, narcissistic entitled monsters who expect the corner office on their first day of work and who spend their days angling their IPhone for the perfect selfie and then staring down it all day long to see how many "likes" they get.

Of course, it stands to reason that only parents can put others before themselves. How could someone like me - a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a colleague, a volunteer and a companion to 3 cats, even imagine putting someone before myself? We all know that only parents know how to do this,whereas people like me are completely self-centered and spend not a single moment thinking of another person (insert sarcasm here).

The proclamation posted above does capture one thing correctly. Parents must spend the rest of their lives putting that child before themselves, whereas a non-parent like me can simultaneously attend to the needs of others as well as to her own needs, without feeling resentment and without giving up her identity in the process. Yes, I am a devoted wife, friend, daughter, etc., but not one of those roles defines me or imprisons me. I don't have to neglect my own needs or put them on a shelf for 20 years because another being is sucking the life out of me. I can have my cake and eat it too.

Imagine if a childfree woman posted self-congratulatory posts on Facebook about being childfree. How do you think it would go over? Can you imagine the response I would get if I posted something like:

Originally posted here:

Childfreedom

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Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: Whats …

Posted: at 9:12 pm

Weve all seen the words complementary, alternative, and integrative, but what do they reallymean?

This fact sheet looks into these terms to help you understand them better and gives you a brief picture of NCCIHs mission and role in this areaofresearch.

Many Americansmore than 30 percent of adults and about 12 percent of childrenuse health care approaches developed outside of mainstream Western, or conventional, medicine. When describing these approaches, people often use alternative and complementary interchangeably, but the two terms refer to differentconcepts:

True alternative medicine is uncommon. Most people who use non-mainstream approaches use them along with conventionaltreatments.

There are many definitions of integrative health care, but all involve bringing conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way. The use of integrative approaches to health and wellness has grown within care settings across the United States. Researchers are currently exploring the potential benefits of integrative health in a variety of situations, including pain management for military personnel and veterans, relief of symptoms in cancer patients and survivors, and programs to promote healthybehaviors.

Chronic pain is a common problem among active-duty military personnel and veterans. NCCIH, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and other agencies are sponsoring research to see whether integrative approaches can help. For example, NCCIH-funded studies are testing the effects of adding mindfulness meditation, self-hypnosis, or other complementary approaches to pain management programs for veterans. The goal is to help patients feel and function better and reduce their need for pain medicines that can have serious sideeffects.

More information on pain management for military personnel andveterans

Cancer treatment centers with integrative health care programs may offer services such as acupuncture and meditation to help manage symptoms and side effects for patients who are receiving conventional cancer treatment. Although research on the potential value of these integrative programs is in its early stages, some studies have had promising results. For example, NCCIH-funded research has suggestedthat:

More information oncancer

Healthy behaviors, such as eating right, getting enough physical activity, and not smoking, can reduce peoples risks of developing serious diseases. Can integrative approaches promote these types of behaviors? Researchers are working to answer this question. Preliminary research suggests that yoga and meditation-based therapies may help smokers quit, and NCCIH-funded studies are testing whether adding mindfulness-based approaches to weight control programs will help people lose weight moresuccessfully.

More information on quittingsmoking

More information on weightcontrol

NCCIH generally uses the term complementary health approaches when we discuss practices and products of non-mainstream origin. We use integrative health when we talk about incorporating complementary approaches into mainstream healthcare.

Most complementary health approaches fall into one of two subgroupsnatural products or mind and bodypractices.

This group includes a variety of products, such as herbs (also known as botanicals), vitamins and minerals, and probiotics. They are widely marketed, readily available to consumers, and often sold as dietary supplements.

According to the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey on the use of complementary health approaches by Americans, 17.7 percent of American adults had used a dietary supplement other than vitamins and minerals in the past year. These products were the most popular complementary health approach in the survey. (See chart.) The most commonly used natural product was fishoil.

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Researchers have done large, rigorous studies on a few natural products, but the results often showed that the products didnt work. Research on others is in progress. While there are indications that some may be helpful, more needs to be learned about the effects of these products in the human body and about their safety and potential interactions with medicines and other naturalproducts.

Mind and body practices include a large and diverse group of procedures or techniques administered or taught by a trained practitioner or teacher. The 2012 NHIS showed that yoga, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, meditation, and massage therapy are among the most popular mind and body practices used by adults. The popularity of yoga has grown dramatically in recent years, with almost twice as many U.S. adults practicing yoga in 2012 as in2002.

Other mind and body practices include acupuncture, relaxation techniques (such as breathing exercises, guided imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation), tai chi, qi gong, healing touch, hypnotherapy, and movement therapies (such as Feldenkrais method, Alexander technique, Pilates, Rolfing Structural Integration, and Trager psychophysicalintegration).

The amount of research on mind and body approaches varies widely depending on the practice. For example, researchers have done many studies on acupuncture, yoga, spinal manipulation, and meditation, but there have been fewer studies on some otherpractices.

The two broad areas discussed abovenatural products and mind and body practicescapture most complementary health approaches. However, some approaches may not neatly fit into either of these groupsfor example, the practices of traditional healers, Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy.

NCCIH is the Federal Governments lead agency for scientific research on complementary and integrative healthapproaches.

The mission ofNCCIHis to define, through rigorous scientific investigation, the usefulness and safety of complementary and integrative health interventions and their roles in improving health and healthcare.

NCCIHs vision is that scientific evidence will inform decisionmaking by the public, by health care professionals, and by health policymakers regarding the use and integration of complementary and integrative healthapproaches.

To learn more, visit the NCCIH Facts-at-a-Glance and Mission page.

Seasteading Institute aims to build floating city by 2020

Posted: at 9:11 pm

An organization in which Paypal founder Peter Thiel is an investor is aiming to build a floating city-state by 2020. The Seasteading Institute says semi-independent floating cities would provide an opportunity to try out new modes of government and could also tackle a number of other problems.

The Seasteading Institute says the development of floating cities is the first step in fulfilling what it calls the "8 Great Moral Imperatives," which include feeding the hungry, enriching the poor, curing the sick, cleaning the atmosphere, restoring the oceans, living in balance with nature, powering civilization sustainably and and putting an end to fighting.

The Institute believes that, in order to achieve these ambitions, humanity must harness the oceans. It cites their potential for providing space to accommodate a growing global population, for providing a source of food, and for being used to generate sustainable energy.

Not only would floating cities with some degree of independence lend themselves to these ideals, but the Seasteading Institute argues that they could create more innovative start-up governments unlike what it calls the "monopolies" of today. Now, it argues, individuals are born arbitrarily into states created by past wars and cannot change the government to which they are affiliated without leaving their home. Floating city-states, however, would allow individuals to sail their home to a new colony if they disagreed with the way a government was operating.

The Seasteading Institute argues that this would force governments to compete to attract citizens in a way that they currently do not. The city-states would be like floating jigsaws that could be shifted and reassembled at will, with popular and effective governments attracting more inhabitants. Indeed, governments could only form if people chose to attach to each other.

Since Gizmag last featured the Seasteading Institute, the group has had a feasibility report published by Dutch design firm Deltasync, crowdfunded a floating city design and explored other floating city designs. The Institute believes that there is a market for the concept, that it could be developed to a price-point suitable for the market, and that it can find a nation willing to host a residential seastead with significant autonomy.

Deltasync's initial design took the form of modular platforms that could slot together. The platforms would either be 50 x 50 m (164 x 164 ft) reinforced concrete squares or pentagons with 50-m (164-ft) sides and could support three-story buildings. Apartments, terraced housing, office space and hotels were all factored into the design. The initial concept is based on 11 modules that together could host 225-300 full-time residents and would cost an estimated US$167 million.

The Seasteading Institute says that its work surveying potential customers is ongoing, and that it is in negotiations with coastal nations to develop the first floating city with substantial political independence.

The video below is a short talk given by Seasteading Institute spokesperson Joe Quirk and provides an overview of the concept and plans.

Source: Seasteading Institute

More here:

Seasteading Institute aims to build floating city by 2020

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Hidden In Plain Sight 4 Movies That Expose The Globalist …

Posted: at 9:10 pm

by Gregg Prescott, M.S. Editor, In5D.com

While there are many movies that expose the globalist agenda, four movies particularly caught my attention.

There seems to be several agendas going on simultaneously, such as the alien agenda and the New World Order agenda, but one other agenda is being shoved down our collective throats for at least 30 years: The transhumanism agenda.

The premise of transhumanism dates as far back as mans first search for the elixir to immortality and in recent years has segued into glorifying the idea of combining man with machine.

IMDb describes Chappie as:

In the near future, crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force. But now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. As powerful, destructive forces start to see Chappie as a danger to mankind and order, they will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and ensure that Chappie is the last of his kind.

Chappie is glorifying the transhumanism agenda in conjunction with artificial intelligence where people will soon be offered to live as immortal gods in exchange for being hooked up to the matrix, which inevitably, will make these same people perpetual, subservient slaves.

We are starting to see the beginning of this through digital tattoos, smart tattoos, ingestible RFID chips, and nanoparticle RFIDs. Globalist shill Regina Dugan, former DARPA head who now leads advanced research for Motorola stated, It may be true that 10-20 year olds dont want to wear a watch on their wrists, but you can be sure that theyll be far more interested in wearing an electronic tattoo if only to piss off their parents.

For many people, The Matrix was just another science fiction movie but for even more people, this is the initial movie that truly woke the masses out of their collective stupor.

IMDb: A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.

Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality, but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines that live off of the humans body heat and electrochemical energy and who imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents: super-powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion.

More and more people are beginning to realize the many truths in this movie which basically shows how we are living in a simulated reality while our bodies are living as an energy source for our overlords.

Similar to Chappie, transhumanism takes precedent as a means of going in and out of the matrix. While caught within the matrix, we all assume that this is real but relatively few people question why we need to work for money and cannot comprehend the premise behind the question, If there was no such thing as money, what would you be doing with your life? Weve been brainwashed for millennia about living in this false reality constructed to keep us living in subservience, control and conformity to a system designed to keep us living in fear as economic slaves.

When you look at it from this perspective, does it make sense to waste the majority of your life working some job that you hate for a boss whos an a*hole, only to get that 1 or 2 weeks off a year to enjoy as a vacation while your literally recharge your battery? Theres a reason we look forward to the weekend because by the weekend, we are weakened.

Mark Passio does an amazing job analyzing The Matrix trilogy:

IMDbs description of Network: A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchors ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit.

In the 1970s, terrorist violence is the stuff of networks nightly news programming and the corporate structure of the UBS Television Network is changing. Meanwhile, Howard Beale, the aging UBS news anchor, has lost his once strong ratings share and so the network fires him. Beale reacts in an unexpected way. We then see how this affects the fortunes of Beale, his coworkers (Max Schumacher and Diana Christensen), and the network.

The star of the film, Howard Beale, even hinted at transhumanism:

The whole world is becoming humanoid creatures that look human, but arent. The whole world, not just us.

The bottom line is how the nightly news influences and persuades public opinion, even through blatant lies. Youll never feel good after watching the nightly news. Why? Because when you live in the lower vibration of fear, you can be easily controlled and manipulated. The current terrorist agenda is the perfect ploy by the globalists because its a war that can never be won. Additionally, people will gladly give up their civil liberties and freedom in exchange for perceived protection by the government to fight these non-existent entities.

David Icke calls this Problem. Reaction. Solution in which the government creates a problem through false flags, we react by saying the government needs to address the problem and the government has a solution to the problem, which ALWAYS involves the loss of civil liberties and freedom.

We are just starting to see a group of disgruntled reporters leave the industry because they do not agree with how the news is scripted or the propaganda that is being pushed by the CIA in order to influence public opinion regarding everything from how well the economy is doing to why we should start yet another war. Unfortunately, there are plenty of buffoons in search of fame and notoriety (ego) who are willing to take the places of these reporters who have left the business, and they will conform to whatever their overlords desire, even if that means hurting their friends and family by reporting lies to the masses.

John Carpenters 1988 cult classic, They Live combines an alien agenda with how the mainstream media is brainwashing the masses.

IMDb describes the movie as A drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over the Earth.

Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like Stay Asleep, No Imagination, Submit to Authority. Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued.

An intriguing part of the movie is when the aliens throw a party for their human collaborators who agree to push the alien agenda. This is very reminiscent of lobbyists who push agendas for Monsanto, Big Pharma, etc.. The bottom line is that if you support the alien agenda, you will be generously compensated to keep your mouth shut. Does this sound familiar to you?

The Terminator

IMDb:

A cyborg is sent from the future on a deadly mission. He has to kill Sarah Connor, a young woman whose life will have a great significance in years to come. Sarah has only one protector Kyle Reese also sent from the future. The Terminator uses his exceptional intelligence and strength to find Sarah, but is there any way to stop the seemingly indestructible cyborg?

Lucy

IMDb:

It was supposed to be a simple job. All Lucy had to do was deliver a mysterious briefcase to Mr. Jang. But immediately Lucy is caught up in a nightmarish deal where she is captured and turned into a drug mule for a new and powerful synthetic drug. When the bag she is carrying inside of her stomach leaks, Lucys body undergoes unimaginable changes that begins to unlock her minds full potential. With her new-found powers, Lucy turns into a merciless warrior intent on getting back at her captors. She receives invaluable help from Professor Norman, the leading authority on the human mind, and French police captain Pierre Del Rio.

While it may seem like a glamorous idea to have infinite knowledge, there will be a price to pay. For example:

Its not enough to expose these agendas. One needs to be cognizant of what is being forced upon us and be willing to make decisions that are proactive, such as refusing any RFID chip implantation or simply not buying into the false promises of how great your life will be as a cyborg. By choosing artificial intelligence, there is no spiritual progression for the soul, if any part of the soul remains.

The power of thought can also create the world you want to see. Try envisioning a world without transhumanism, money or globalist agendas. Replace the negative things in this world, such as nuclear energy, gas or coal, with free energy. We have the ability RIGHT NOW to create a world where everyone can live in abundance and prosperity without the need for economic subservience.

You were born as a PERFECT soul and upon returning to the Creator, you will remain in complete perfection without the need for artificial intelligence or transhumanism.

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Click here for more articles by Gregg Prescott!

About the Author: Gregg Prescott, M.S. is the founder and editor of In5D and BodyMindSoulSpirit. You can find his In5D Radio shows on the In5D Youtube channel. He is also a transformational speaker and promotes spiritual, metaphysical and esoteric conferences in the United States through In5dEvents. His love and faith for humanity motivates him to work in humanitys best interests 12-15+ hours a day, 365 days a year. Please like and follow In5D on Facebook as well as BodyMindSoulSpirit on Facebook!

Tags: agenda, artificial intelligence, chappie, gregg prescott, lucy, movie, movies, network, propaganda, RFID chip, the matrix, the terminator, they live, transhumanism, transhumanism agenda

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Hidden In Plain Sight 4 Movies That Expose The Globalist ...

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Dave’s Philosophy – Ethics: Ethical Egoism & Altruism

Posted: at 9:10 pm

The word egoism derives from the Latin ego which means I. Egoism is the idea of being selfish and always putting your own needs first without regard for the needs of others. Someone who is a complete egoist does not care at all about other people, but only about their own goals, interests, and their own benefit. An egoist will not necessarily be greedy and selfish in an obvious sense, for example, they may be polite and friendly, even happy to share and help others. However, their motive will always be their own gain, for example, they will help others in order to be helped in return at a later date, and they will obey laws because this helps to bring about peace and security in society, something which they will benefit from. Their motivation for seemingly thoughtful and caring actions will not be actual concern for others, but intelligent self-concern and prudence. There are two different kinds of egoism, so it is necessary to describe their differences: (i) Psychological Egoism; (ii) Ethical Egoism.

Psychological Egoism is not a moral theory, but aims to be a psychological theory about human motivation. Psychological Egoism holds that all of us are completely selfish and are hardwired to only think of our own needs. It is literally impossible for us to genuinely care about other people. Whenever we perform an action it is always with our own good in mind. When you help a friend it is so they will help you back. If a man gives money to a cancer charity this is not because he really cares about those who are suffering from cancer, but so that he can feel good about himself, or so that there will be good health care available for him to use if he is unlucky enough to get cancer. Ethical Egoism, on the other hand, states that it is possible for people to genuinely care about other people (to be altruistic), but that they should not bother caring about others. Instead people ought to be selfish and think only about their own needs. This article will focus purely on Ethical Egoism.

Altruism

The word altruism derives from the French autres which means others. A person who is altruistic cares about and is motivated by the needs of other people. Altruistic actions are selfless, they are done for the sake of other people and not for any personal gain, perhaps even sacrificing your own needs and desires for the sake of others. Many people argue that actions can only be moral if they are done for the sake of helping others rather than yourself. It is often thought that we have a natural inclination to be selfish, so that learning to think of others is an admirable thing to do. Mother Teresa is often seen as an example of altruism, she was a Catholic nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor in India. A Psychological Egoist would say that she really did this for her own benefit, to feel good about herself or get in to heaven. An Ethical Egoist may view her care for others as genuine, but see it as foolish, because she should have been looking after her own needs, not other peoples needs.

There is a common assumption that you are either selfish in your actions, or selfless. This is perhaps too simplistic, for most of us probably have a complicated mixture of selfish desires and selfless desires. Many philosophers argue that egoism and altruism do not totally exclude each other, you do not have to lose all care for yourself in order to care properly about other people. Jesus said love thy neighbour as thyself which is clearly demonstrating a balance between your own needs and those of others yes you should care about and look after yourself, but you should also recognise the humanity in other people and care about them too: you should not hurt them and where possible you should help them.

Ethical Egoism

Ethical Egoism does not deny the possibility of altruism: Ethical Egoists would admit that it is perfectly possible to care about other people. However, according to the Ethical Egoist you ought not to care about the needs or welfare of others, you should only care about and act on your own needs and interests. This means that Ethical Egoism is a Normative Ethical theory stating how people should act, and stating that you should act selfishly. The theory turns conventional morality on its head by saying it is good to be selfish: people are capable of being altruistic but they should not bother caring for others. Of course it makes sense to help other people and not to be outwardly greedy, to share for example, but only because this is the best way of achieving what you want for yourself in the long term.

Ethical Egoism is a teleological theory according to which the correct action a person should take is the action that has the best consequence for that person themselves, regardless of the effects on other people. As Michael Palmer puts it:

"Egoism maintains that each person ought to act to maximise his or her own long-term good or well-being. An egoist, in other words, is someone who holds that their one and only obligation is to themselves and their only duty is to serve their own self-interest If an action produces benefits for them, they should do it; if it doesnt, then it is morally acceptable for them not to do it."

Michael Palmer, Moral Problems, page 34.

An Ethical Egoist only cares about his own needs and desires, and would view himself as having value, whilst others are not of value to him. This is very similar to the way that a commercial companys only concern is its own profits these companies exist to expand as much as they can, to conquer as much of the market as they can, and to overtake their rivals or even put them out of business. If a company takes actions which benefit its rivals at its own expense then from an economists point of view we would automatically call it mismanaged and condemn its actions as foolish. This is what the Ethical Egoist does to all actions which are altruistic, he condemns them as foolish: people should look after number one and not be burdened with the needs of others. Of course, this doesnt mean that people should go out looting shops, stealing cars, killing enemies and generally doing what they want, because as Thomas Hobbes pointed out, such actions would lead to anarchy and wouldnt be good for anybody. Rather, Ethical Egoists should live in peace with one another, help each other, and work together, because that is the best way for the individual to get the good living conditions he is after. You do not steal from others so they will not steal from you, and so on.

Ethical Egoism & hedonism

In many cases Ethical Egoists are also hedonists, which means that they view pleasure or happiness as the ultimate goal of life, to be specific, their own happiness and pleasure. Generally Ethical Egoists will recommend acting with long term interests in mind rather than seeking short term advantages, for example, instead of going out with friends all the time in your teenage years it would be better to spend more time working for school in order to get good qualifications and a good job in the future, which will bring a happy life rather than just a happy couple of years. Hedonists view pleasure as an intrinsic good, something which is good in and of itself, and they view pain or discomfort as intrinsically bad, however, hedonists argue that sometimes pain or discomfort will have to be accepted in order to achieve a good pleasurable thing. Exercise may be hard work and sometimes painful, and dieting will mean missing out on pleasurable experiences, but the health benefits will make the effort worth it. This is what is know as an instrumental good, something which is not good in itself but which leads to something else which is good. Another example is work; many people find it unpleasant and boing, so work is a bad thing to them. However, work means that you to get paid and so it helps you to get the pleasurable things you want: food, clothing, a house, trips to the cinema, etc. This means work is an instrumental good. For the average Ethical Egoist the goal of life is their own personal long-term pleasure, and achieving this will mean treating others well, but not because they care for others, rather, because it is an instrumental good that will allow them to have a pleasurable life.

Epicurus

The Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BCE) was a hedonist and stated pleasure is our first and kindred good. It is the starting point of every choice and of every aversion. It is from his name that we derive the word epicurean which means someone who revels in the delights of food, which is ironic because Epicurus himself had a very plain diet since he suffered from stomach problems. Taking a line somewhat similar to Buddhism, Epicurus argued that true pleasure was the absence of pain in the body and trouble in the soul and so he actually advocated a simple life where people try to give up desiring all the things they cannot have. He did not think that a life of sex, drink, and good food was a truly pleasurable life because he held that the greater the upside is the greater the downside will be also, for example, the more you drink the bigger the hangover is. Instead Epicurus advocated a life of sober reasoning and knowledge.

Epicurus also argued that a life cannot be truly pleasurable unless it is also a life of prudence, honour, and justice, which indicates an important idea that the happiness of the individual is dependent on the happiness of his community, so we must therefore treat others well. Epicurus would have said that the best way to be happy is to have friends and to act honourably towards other people.

Adam Smith

Adam Smith (1723 1790) was a philosopher and economist, and was a champion of private property and free market economy. He took the view that intentionally serving your own interests will bring benefits for all. Philip Stokes gives the following example: suppose that Jones, in seeking his own fortune, decides to set up and run his own business, manufacturing some common item of everyday need. In seeking only to provide for his own fortune, Jones entrepreneurial enterprise has a number of unintended benefits to others. First he provides a livelihood for the people in his employ, thus benefiting them directly. Second, he makes more readily available some common item which previously had been more difficult or more expensive to obtain for his customers. Smith argued that a free market and competition would ensure that businesses kept their prices at competitive rates, helping to make customers better off as well as the business owners. Through selfish action everyone is better off, therefore, capitalist selfishness is the key to universal happiness and prosperity for all.

However, arguably the consequences of businesses acting in a self-interested way is not necessarily benefits for all; we need only look at the appalling conditions of people working in factories during the Industrial Revolution to see that this is so. Today the people of industrialised countries have a much more comfortable lifestyle, but most of the rest of the world still languishes in poverty and exploitation, and it is precisely through their subjugation that we have our high standard of living: we have so much material wealth because we exploit those who are powerless and poor, we give them the choice of working in dire conditions to make us cheep goods or starving. Arguably, the factories have not improved, they have just moved.

James Rachels

James Rachels discusses Ethical Egoism, but he does not endorse it, and in fact gives reasons to reject it. None the less, his discussion of Ethical Egoism is very enlightening. He states that the idea that we have duties to others is a common assumption. We are often made to think that there is a natural obligation towards others because they are people and because our own actions could help or harm them. One argument for Ethical Egoism is that this simply is not so, we have no specific reason to think of others as important, we have no specific obligations towards them, whereas on the other hand, we have a self-evident duty to look after ourselves.

One argument for Ethical Egoism that he considers is that altruism is self defeating. According to this perspective each individual person is in the best position to serve their own interests, whilst others are not. I know intimately what I need, whereas others, if they try to take an interest in my life and help me, may not know what is best and should therefore mind their own business and not interfere. There is a sense in which helping others is an intrusion on their privacy, and similarly, there is the view that charity towards others is degrading: it robs them of their individual dignity and self-respect. The offer of charity says, in effect, that they are not competent to care for themselves. Rachels rejects this argument as ridiculous as it is perfectly clear what a starving man needs, especially if he is actually asking for help. Also, arguing that we shouldnt interfere because it invades another persons dignity hardly seems like a valid egoistic argument, as it appeals to the needs of other people.

Next Rachels considers Thomas Hobbes (1588 1679). Hobbes believed that selfishness was natural (he was a Psychological Egoist), and therefore that Ethical Egoism was the only theory that made any sense. Rather than saying that Ethical Egoism runs counter to our common sense morality, Hobbes argued that it actually explains and underpins it. When we treat others well, help them, and do our best not to harm them, it is all done in order to create the kind of stable society which is best for our own personal needs. By not killing or stealing from others we ensure that we ourselves will not be killed or stolen from. By putting welfare measures in place we ensure that we ourselves will be helped in times of trouble. Hobbes takes the view that when we join society we make a promise not to hurt others and to help them when they are in need, and we make this promise so that we in turn are not hurt and so that we may be aided in times of need. What Hobbes has tried to do, then, is say that Ethical Egoism is not counter to our common morality, it is the foundation of our common morality.

Ayn Rand

Another famous egoist is Ayn Rand (1905 1982), however, her version of Ethical Egoism is very different from the average case of acting in self-interest. For Rand it is important to be a hardworking and creative person and to be as independent as you can. In her view people should work hard to satisfy their needs, they should not expect others to give them a hand-out or a free ride. If you work hard and achieve a good life for yourself, such as having wealth for example, then you have earned what you possess and no one should have the right to demand that you give it away to those less fortunate or successful than yourself. She views altruism as a moral philosophy founded on leeching, she sees it as a philosophy which tells people that they ought to give up all they have, and all their own interests, to satisfy the needs of others. In her view people should strive to fulfil their own needs and not be parasitical upon those who are more successful than themselves.

Interestingly, Rand also rejects those who get into positions of power and leech off of those below them, people such as tyrants and gang leaders. This is what marks her Ethical Egoism as different from that of the average Egoist; whereas the average Ethical Egoist will say that it is fine to abuse others to get what you want, all that matters is your own gain, Rand believes that this is wrong you should work hard to get what you have, not steal it from others in some way. If you have worked hard and been creative then you have a right to be proud of yourself and to reap the rewards. In her view those who label this kind of independence and self-motivation as selfish are doing so because they wish to force creative and useful people to share with them. The following quote is from her novel, The Fountainhead:

"The first right on Earth is the right of the ego. Mans first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men. A man thinks and works alone. A man cannot rob, exploit or rule alone. Rulers of men are not egoist. They create nothing. They exist entirely through the persons of others. Their goal is their subjects, in activity of enslaving. They are as dependent as the beggar, the social worker and the bandit. The form of dependence does not matter."

Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Criticisms of Ethical Egoism

As you may imagine, there are many criticisms of Ethical Egoism, the most obvious simply being the insistence that selfish actions do not have moral worth. Read these criticisms and consider how an Ethical Egoist might respond to defend their view:

1) Anything can be justified, so long as you can profit from it and get away with it.

It is clear that if everyone were to adopt Ethical Egoism then, in general, life would function admirably well, people would help each other because team work produces the best results for every individual, and people would not harm each other because everyone is better off in a world where they feel safe and protected. However, what if the opportunity arises for a person to gain from harming another person and get away with it? Suppose, for example, that I am good with computers and know how to hack websites and hide my trail; why not commit some fraud and live a millionaire lifestyle? Or what if I was in a secluded place and came across a man asleep on a bench with a briefcase full of cash; why not kill him and take the cash and run? And why stop at one killing if I can profit from many, perhaps becoming a drugs baron, living in luxury safe and secure whilst people die to line my pockets? If Ethical Egoism is true then it becomes morally correct to hurt others when you can gain from it, just so long as you can get away with it. Surely it is the very point of morality to hold our selfish and violent urges at bay, and yet, Ethical Egoism gives them clear justification as and when you can get away with it.

However, James Rachels claims that this attack against Ethical Egoism is ineffective because it simply presumes that Ethical Egoism is false; the criticism assumes that it is wrong to hurt others for personal gain, but this is essentially just assuming Ethical Egoism is false. Surely an Ethical Egoist would just accept that it was right to hurt others for gain, as Hobbes put it, in a war or conflict the cardinal virtues are force and fraud violence and trickery.

2) Ethical Egoism cannot provide answers for moral conflicts

Kurt Baier argues that the reason why we need morality is in order for it to settle conflicts of interest, however, Ethical Egoism does not provide a means to resolve these conflicts and actually exacerbates them, thus, it is an insufficient moral theory. Imagine, for example, that Kate and Bruce are getting divorced and are arguing over who should have custody of their children. Surely moral rules should be in place to establish who is the best parent to care for the children, who is most deserving of the custody, and so on: morality is there to resolve the problem. However, under Ethical Egoism a judge has no reason to care who the children end up with because neither option is particularly in his interests, unless one side offers a bribe of course. Moreover, Ethical Egoism would actually exacerbate the problem by encouraging both Kate and Bruce to argue all the more in pursuit of their own desires: each ought to do whatever they can to get their own way, without any care or concern for the effects on the other party, or even their children. So we see that rather than resolving the conflict Ethical Egoism will actually make it worse. Baier states that the Ethical Egoist solution to the conflict is for each side to up their game in their efforts to win custody, for Kate to seek to liquidate Bruce (either kill him or somehow make him ineligible to win) and for Bruce to attempt the same with Kate. This escalates the conflict and so is the exact opposite of what morality is meant to do.

James Rachels argues that this attack is not completely successful against Ethical Egoism because it is based on the assumption that morality exists to resolve conflicts in order to create harmony, a view which and Egoist might not agree with. An Egoist might say that life is essentially a long series of conflicts in which each person is struggling to come out on top. For the Egoist morality is not about amicably resolving conflicts and compromising, the good man is the one who wins and gets what he wants.

3) Ethical Egoism is arbitrary, like racism

James Rachels rejects Ethical Egoism on the basis that it makes unjustifiable and arbitrary distinctions between people. There are numerous ethical perspectives which create distinctions between groups of people, for example, racism. Racism works by dividing the people of the world in to two groups, those of my race and those not of my race. Next it asserts that one group (your own) is superior in some way to the other group. This is then used to justify unequal treatments of those who are not of your race. In the past white racists have asserted that non-whites are intellectually inferior, or morally inferior, and this meant that it was acceptable for whites to get better treatment than non-whites, and it was acceptable for non-whites to do the menial jobs, or to be slaves, or to have their countries invaded. In reality there are no important genetic or cultural differences between the races which would justify saying that one group was superior to the other in any way. We reject racism, xenophobia, and other prejudices such as sexism because we see them as groundless: there is no valid reason to make a division between one superior group and another inferior group. Rachels argues that if we look closely at Ethical Egoism it makes the same mistake:

"Ethical Egoism is a moral theory of the same type [as racism]. It advocates that each of us divide the world into two categories ourselves and all the rest and that we regard the interests of those in the first group as more important than the interests of those in the second group. But each of us can ask, what is the difference between me and everyone else that justifies placing myself in this special category? Am I more intelligent? Do I enjoy my life more? Are my accomplishments greater? Do I have needs or abilities that are so different from the needs or abilities of others? In short, what makes me so special? Failing an answer it turns out that Ethical Egoism is an arbitrary doctrine, in the same way that racism is arbitrary. And this, in addition to explaining why Ethical Egoism is unacceptable, also sheds some light on the question of why we should care about others."

James Rachel, Ethical Egoism

Rachels rejects Ethical Egoism because it takes the view that an individual is, from his own perspective, more important than others, even to the point where he might willingly sacrifice millions for his own needs, but there is no rational basis for an individual to think of himself as being any more important than any others. Thus, Ethical Egoism is baseless and we must recognise that others and their needs are just as important as ourselves and our own needs. Yes it is normal to seek your own happiness, but this cannot justify treating others like they have little or no value, because these other people are no different from ourselves.

Summary and Conclusion

Whether or not people have a duty to help others, or at least not to harm them, is a key question in Normative Ethics. Ethical Egoists argue that you should only care about yourself, and ignore the needs of others. This means that it would be acceptable to hurt other people for your own benefit, so long as you can get away with it. James Rachels argues that it is illogical to think of yourself as being more important than anyone else, indeed, that this is equivalent to racism. Is he correct, or is selfishness a good thing?

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Trump: Maybe ‘2nd Amendment People’ Can Stop Clinton’s …

Posted: at 9:08 pm

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday when he suggested there is "nothing" that can be done to stop Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court picks, except "maybe" the "Second Amendment people."

"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," Trump said to the crowd of supporters gathered in the Trask Coliseum at North Carolina University in Wilmington. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.

"Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."

After the speech, Clinton's campaign seized on the remarks.

"This is simple what Trump is saying is dangerous," read a statement from campaign manager Robby Mook. "A person seeking to be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."

ABC News reached out to the Secret Service for response to Trump's comment, and the agency said it was aware of the remarks.

The Trump campaign insisted the candidate's words referred to the power of "Second Amendment people" to unify.

"It's called the power of unification 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," read a statement, titled "Trump Campaign Statement Against Dishonest Media," from senior communications adviser Jason Miller.

In a tweet Tuesday night, Trump tried to explain his remarks.

And in an interview with Fox News Tuesday night, Trump told the network: "This is a strong, powerful movement, the Second Amendment" and called the NRA "terrific people."

"There can be no other interpretation," he said of his earlier remarks. "I mean, give me a break."

Trump's running mate Mike Pence rose to the candidate's defense and said Trump was not insinuating that there should be violence against Clinton.

"Donald Trump is clearly saying is that people who cherish that right, who believe that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens makes our communities more safe, not less safe, should be involved in the political process and let their voice be heard," Pence said today in an interview with NBC10, a local Philadelphia TV station.

Clinton's running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine told reporters today in Trump's comments "revealed this complete temperamental misfit with the character thats required to do the job and in a nation."

"We gotta be pulling together and countenancing violence is not something any leader should do," Kaine said.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who led a 15-hour filibuster in June to force a vote on gun control measures, took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with Trump's comments.

"This isn't play," wrote Murphy. "Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you, @realDonaldTrump."

And Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who wrote in a tweet that because he believed Trump "suggested someone kill Sec. Clinton," called for a Secret Service investigation.

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