Daily Archives: February 22, 2024

The Giannis Immortality 3, though carrying a lighter price tag, never wavers in terms of how it experiments and pushes the boundaries for the Greek Freaks signature line as a whole. A slew of new colorways for the shoe have emerged since the start of the year, and now a triple-white pair is joining the pack.

Stepping back a few months, it was almost only a matter of time before a pair like this arrived. While vibrant, bright colorways of the shoe are more easily associated with the Immortality 3, a Black/White pack in June tipped off more monochromatic looks. Along those same lines, a Triple Black Giannis Immortality 3 broke in the fall, hinting towards the same thing.

In this all-white look, the hardware of the shoe is more or less left to stand on its own without emphasis and detail derived from a flashy palette. The breathable mesh on the inside and under the Swoosh here take precedence, and possibly open up a lane in this conservative outfitting as more of a lifestyle, everyday shoe rather than the basketball performance it was drawn up for.

Expect the White on White Giannis Immortality 3 to begin a roll out in the next several weeks with a retail price of $90.

In other Swoosh news, they and a fashion house collaborator came out of left field with the Jacquemus Nike Swoosh Bag.

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Nike Giannis Immortality 3 "White On White" DZ7533-102 - Sneaker News

In the 2009 documentary Transcendent Man, the American inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil shares his thoughts on death. Although many philosophers and theologians accept mortality as an inevitable and indeed defining feature of human existence, Kurzweil refuses to accept this line of thinking. Death is a great tragedy, a profound loss, he declares in the film, haunted by the memory of losing his father at age 22. I dont accept it.

Kurzweil would have found an ally in the little-known 19th-century Russian philosopher Nikolai Fedorov, whose posthumously published text Philosophy of the Common Task made the at-the-time daring argument that death was little more than a design flaw one which advancements in science and technology could help to rectify. Fedorov also believed that this goal of rectification of achieving immortality would unite social groups whose mutual fear of death had historically pitted them in opposition to each other.

Our task, Fedorov wrote, is to make nature, the blind force of nature, into an instrument of universal resuscitation and to become a union of immortal beings.

Fedorovs writing never turned mainstream, but it did spawn a short-lived, visionary philosophical movement known as Cosmism. Materialized during the Industrial Revolution a time of unprecedented societal change the movement generally sought to redefine mankinds relationship with technology and progress, with the ultimate goal of regulating the forces of nature so that humanity could achieve unity and immortality. The movement offered a more spiritual alternative to both futurism and communism.

Although the latter annihilated Cosmism before it had a chance to mature, its maxims have acquired new relevancy in the age of Big Tech. The following interview with Boris Groys, a distinguished professor of Russian and Slavic studies at New York University and editor of the new book Russian Cosmism, reveals why.

To understand Russian Sosmism, we must first look at other movements and ideas that arose during the same period. More influential than Fedorovs Philosophy of the Common Task was interdisciplinary scientist Alexander Chizhevskys 1931 article The Earth in the Suns Embrace, which interpreted human history as revolving around the Sun. Starting from the questionable proposition that revolutionary movements require energy and that energy in its most basic form is derived from solar rays, Chizhevsky listed some historical developments that lined up with astronomical developments. He noted, for example, that progressive governments in the United Kingdom coincided with periods of high solar activity, while conservative ones tended to appear when solar activity decreased due to sunspots.

Chizhevskys article profoundly impacted Russian avant-garde artists like the painter Kazimir Malevich. Malevich helped stage a futuristic opera titled Victory Over the Sun, which heralded the Suns eventual extinction and the worlds descent into chaos. Rather than dreading this disorder, the avant-garde welcomed it. By the beginning of the twentieth century the embrace of chaos seemed imminent, as no one could be expected to believe any longer in the stability of divine or natural order, Groys explains in the new book.

The very idea of a stable order, be it religious or rationalist, appeared to lose its ontological guarantee to permanently replace, make obsolete, and ultimately destroy old things, old traditions, and familiar ways of life, thus undermining lingering faith in the traditional world order. Technological development, subjected to the logic of progress, presented itself as a force of chaos that would not tolerate any stable order. The future came to be seen as the enemy of both past and present. Precisely because of that view, the futurists celebrated the future, as it held the promise that everything that had been and still was would disappear.

This same sentiment can be found in the writing of the anarchist-futurist poet Alexander Svyatogor, who compared progress to the sudden eruption of a volcano: a violent outburst that destroys everything in its wake while fertilizing the soil to sustain new life. In his essay The Doctrine of the Fathers and Anarcho-Biocosmism, he rejects Fedorovs idea that science and technology are agents of restoration of recovering and preserving what has been lost. He argued instead that future generations would knead with their own hands, like sculptors knead clay, the spirit and matter of the world, so as to create an absolutely new cosmos. Crucially, he also relished in the fact that detractors referred to his intellectual group the Kreatory or Creatorium as a crematorium.

They are probably right to come to this conclusion, he wrote. Indeed, we need to burn quite a lot, if not everything.

Fedorov and Svyatogor represent two sides of Cosmism, which Groys writes never had a unified doctrine. Where adherents of the former viewed technology as a force that would destroy the old world and open the way for building the new from point zero, the former hoped technology would become a strong messianic force that could transmit knowledge from one generation to another.

Cosmists who believed in technology as a messianic force clashed not just with the Svyatogor camp, but also with the communists, whose guiding ideology of Marxism-Leninism was predicated on the dismantling of age-old social systems to establish a novel world order. Fedorovs philosophy was especially irreconcilable with the concept of the New Soviet Man, the Soviet governments campaign to physically and mentally rebuild its citizens into more obedient, self-sacrificing people. While some Cosmists embraced communism, they opposed the notion that a socialist utopia should be built on the backs of generations who would never get to experience its benefits commentary that put them at odds with Joseph Stalin and his purges.

Although interest in Russian Cosmism was quickly eradicated, the movement has acquired new life in the 21st century. In fact, it might be more relevant today than it was in the early 20th century. Fedorov and Svyatogors shared call for the colonization of outer space to protect humanity from earthly disaster, for example, is a direct parallel to Elon Musks promise to move people to Mars.

Thanks to climate change, Cosmisms ambivalent and generally hostile attitude towards the natural world should also sound familiar. Today it is fashionable to like nature, Groys told Big Think, but nature does not like us. It is a one-sided love. Cosmisms central idea is that we can survive only under artificial conditions, if we create an artificial world to protect us.

Fedorovs writing, meanwhile, serves as a reminder that we should not let scientific or technological progress come at anyones expense, but rather strive to uplift the world in its totality: past, present, and future. To be interested in the past is to be interested in ourselves, Groys said, because everything, including us, eventually becomes part of the past.

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Cosmism: The philosophical movement that predicted space travel - Big Think

Summary

The Lord Of The Rings set up tropes that would be used in fantasy storytelling for decades. J.R.R. Tolkien didn't invent Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, or Dragons, but his conceptions of them would become common. A great example of this is Tolkien's Elves. In folklore, Elves were often tricksters, creatures of magic and madness who loved to bewitch mortals. Tolkien's Elves were quite different. While they were certainly magical beings, they weren't tricksters, but divine. The Elves were the first beings to awaken on Middle-earth and were known as the "favored Children of Ilvatar." The Elves were also immortal and lived through some of the darkest moments in Tolkien's entire saga.

Elvish immortality in The Lord Of The Rings universe is quite interesting because it's about more than just living forever. The fate of Elves is bound up with the fate of Middle-earth itself, and even the only death they can die - in combat - isn't actually the end for them. The Lord Of the Rings created modern fantasy, and the changes it made to the Elves are unique. Elvish immortality is something that is a bone of contention in Middle-earth between Elves and Men, but it's as much of a curse as it is a blessing.

The Valar are basically the gods of LOTR and they were the servants of Eru Ilvatar. Ilvatar showed the Valar the Music of the Ainur, a song that would become the universe and Middle-earth. During this music, the Valar and the Maiar, lesser divine spirits, saw the Children of Ilvatar, beings who would live in the world but would be different from the Valar and the Maiar. The Valar and the Maiar were given great power by Ilvatar and could exist outside Middle-earth. The Children were given different gifts and were to be the primary movers of the Music of the Ainur, the unfolding creation of Ilvatar, as time went on. The Valar and Maiar learned much about the Elves from the music, as they were akin to each other in many ways.

Middle-earth would exist for countless years before the Elves awakened. The Elves lived on their own for a time before being found by the Valar known as Orom, who would bring the three chief Elves - Elw, Ingw, and Finw - to Valinor to see the Valar. The Valar loved the three of them and invited the rest of the Elves to Valinor as well. The three kindreds of Elves - Teleri, Vanyar, and Noldor - would begin the journey to Valinor. Some Elves would stop their journey, choosing instead to stay in the lands they saw on the way.

To understand the way death works on Middle-earth, it's crucial to understand the fa and the hra. The fa is the soul, for lack of a better term, and the hra is the body. Elves and Men have both, but they are not equal. The Elves's fa is more powerful than that of a human, allowing them to perform greater feats of magic, and it is bound to Middle-earth. The Elves' hra is also different than Men's, as it's immune to aging and disease and is stronger in general. All Elves go to Valinor when they die and reside in the Hall of Mandos, the home of the Valar Nmo. Nmo was known as the Doomsman of the Valar, proclaiming the judgments of the Valar and helping to judge the dead.

When an Elf is killed, they wake up in the Hall of Mandos, surrounded by other Elves that were also killed. They are only fa at this point and have no body. This doesn't mean that they're ghosts, however, wandering through Valinor. They are consigned to the Halls of Mandos and cannot leave for a time. Eventually, Elvish fa are given a new body and allowed to live among their kindred in Valinor, enjoying all the fruits of the Blessed Realm.

Death for an Elf is a waiting game. They are immediately transported to the Halls of Mandos, spend an indeterminate amount of time - probably contingent on if they were "good" or "bad" in Nmo's estimation - and then are reincarnated into a body that is basically their old body. Once Men awakened, they would also learn of the fate of the Elves, which was quite different from their own.

Men in Middle-earth were weaker and dying of age, disease, and hardships. Wounds that could kill a Man often didn't kill Elves. When Men awoke, there was no Valar to guide them. It is believed that Melkor and his servants found Men first and put the fear of death into them. Men's deaths worked in a different way than Elves did as well. The Elves's fa was bound to Middle-earth, and they were meant to reside in it until the end of time. Men's fa left Middle-earth and it is not known what happened to them. The Elves and the Valar both believe that the fa of Men goes to be with Ilvatar directly, leaving behind Middle-earth.

Men are jealous of Elves for their immortality, but Elves are jealous of Men because they get to leave Middle-earth. This isn't possible for the Elves, although many believe that after the Dagor Dagorath, the last battle at the end of the world, the Elves will finally get to join Ilvatar. Elves eventually become weary of Middle-earth and desire to go beyond it, but never can. Many fear that the destruction of Middle-earth will be the end of them. Men think that Elves live forever, but for the Elves, their longer lifespan still leaves behind uncertainties over what comes next.

Dwarves basically get the same treatment as Elves, with a few key differences. Dwarves were created by Aul, the Valar of smithcraft, and given life by Ilvatar. Dwarves get to live longer than Men and are tougher physically, but they do die. They have their own wing of the Halls of Mandos, but unlike the Elves, they don't get reincarnated. They reside within the Halls until the Dagor Dagorath when they join the rest of the forces of the Valar in the last battle against Melkor. It is thought among the Dwarves that they will help Aul build a new world, but other than that, they have no idea what will eventually happen to them either.

The Elvish life cycle in LOTR is well-known to every Elf, but exceptions have been made several times. The first example of this is the tale of Beren and Luthien. Beren was a Man from the House of Barahir, one of the three houses of Men that were known as the Elf-Friends. Luthien was the daughter of Elu Thingol (formerly known as Elw, one of the first three chiefs) and Melian, making her half-Elf and half-Maiar. Beren and Luthien fell in love and Thingol told Beren that the only way he would allow a Man to wed his daughter was if he was brought Silmarill from Morgoth's crown.

Beren, Luthien, and Finrod Felagund, a king of the Noldor, went to steal one of the Silmarills, although Beren was mortally wounded during the hunt and would have left the circles of the world if it wasn't for Luthien. Elves can will themselves to die, departing their bodies for the Halls of Mandos, and Luthien did so. At the Halls, she sang a song of such sorrow to Nmo that the Valar retrieved Beren's fa before it could depart Middle-earth. Beren was sent back to his body and Luthien came back as well, but she was no longer immortal. Together, the two of them would eventually die of old age after having a child named Dior.

Dior was the first of the Half-Elven and the grandfather of Elros and Elrond. They were given a choice at the end of the First Age - they could have Elvish immortality or Mannish mortality. Elrond chose to be an Elf and Elros chose to be a Man. Tolkien never really explained if the Half-Elven were given this choice because of their divine blood or through a connection to the Silmarills but it seems like the only ones who got to make the choice were those of the First Age. For example, Aragorn and Arwen's child doesn't get the choice of the Half-Elven, despite being of the blood Elves, Men, and Maiar.

Glorfindel is a LOTR character who has only appeared in the books. Glorfindel stands among the most powerful Elves in Middle-earth. In Fellowship Of The Ring, Elrond sends Glorfindel instead of Arwen to find Aragorn and the Hobbits when the Nazgl are chasing them. The book establishes that Glorfindel is an Elf-lord of great power, one feared by the Ringwraiths. The text describes white light coming from Glorfindel when he first comes on the scene, and Frodo sees him as a glowing figure at the Ford of Bruinen. There's a good reason that Glorfindel had that much power, though, as he was a Noldor of the First Age, one who returned from the Halls of Mandos.

The Silmarillion sets up the Elven realms of Middle-earth like Gondolin, which is the last Elvish kingdom to hold out against Morgoth's forces. Glorfindel helped the survivors escape the city when they encountered a powerful Balrog. Glorfindel jumped out to battle the demon even though Elves usually lost against the Balrogs. However, Glorfindel was able to not only save the refugees of Gondolin from the Balrog but also kill it. He died in the attempt and went to the Halls of Mandos where he was eventually reincarnated. Glorfindel was sent back to Middle-earth in the year 1600 of the Second Age by Manw, and given the power of a Maiar.

Glorfindel is the only example of a reincarnated Elf going back to Middle-earth. However, in certain writings of Tolkien, there were two Glorfindels. One was the Balrog killer of the First Age and the other was named for him. Later on, Tolkien decided to change the story of Glorfindel, as outlined in The Last Writings, and Glorfindel of Gondolin and Glorfindel of Rivendell became the same.

Tolkien changed the way Elves were seen forever, taking them from the tricksters of folklore into noble, semi-divine beings. Their immortality was meant to be a part of this, but Tolkien didn't want it to be as easy as "Elves live forever." Instead, Tolkien linked Elves to Middle-earth, much like the Valar and Maiar who left Ilvatar.

Tolkien dealt with the sadness of Elvish immortality in the Akallabth. The King of Numenor asked a visitor from Tol Eressa, the Elvish island outside of Valinor that was part of the Blessed Realm, why the Numenoreans shouldn't be jealous of Elvish immortality. The answer was that immortality wasn't a reward for the Elves, it was just a part of their being. They were bound to Middle-earth and had to deal with the reality of never finding anything new; their lives were just an endless repetition with no hope of an ending. To the Elves, the death of Men was something special, as they got to leave Middle-earth and journey into the mysteries of the universe.

Looking at it from that perspective, Elvish immortality is as much a curse as anything else. The best an Elf can hope for is Valinor, but even then they will spend countless ages awaiting the final battle of the world and what comes beyond it. Elves' immortality is an illusion for mortals, as one day they will face the same uncertainty that Men do. Throughout Tolkien's Legendarium, there are multiple examples of it being more than just immortality, showing it for what it is - another tragedy, of endless separation with a mysterious endpoint.

The Lord of the Rings is a series of epic fantasy adventure films and television series based on J. R. R. Tolkien's novels. The films follow the adventures of humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits and more in Middle Earth.

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Is Immortality Really All Its Cracked Up to Be in The Lord of the Rings? - CBR - Comic Book Resources