Category Archives: Transhuman

ATHENS The recently-released book Cyborg Sapiens, written by Dimitris Orfanidis and published by Elkistis, covers very serious topics Artificial Intelligence, the Upgrading () even the transformation, of the human species via technological implants and genetic alteration, etc. Precisely because they address realities that may be coming but cannot yet be grasped, attention has been drawn to this publication precisely because it is a book of poetry, not non-fiction poets and artists being historically the presenters of states of being that are not visible or here yet.

The book presentation September 19 at the War Museum in Athens featured a learned panel moderated by journalist Fanis Papathanasiou. The participants were Orfanidis, Theofanis Tasis, professor of Contemporary Practical Philosophy at the Alpen Adria Universitt, who also teaches at College Year in Athens, Sonia Tourkolia, president of Educational and Cultural Society of Kyparissias, Sophia Lignou, President of Greeces Court of Appeals, and actor Vassilis Paleologos.

The event was organized by the society Literary Circle of Greek Judges( ) and indeed the Amphitheater was filled with judges, lawyers, and artists. Lignou is the Societys current president, Orfanidis, a judge of the Court of Appeals, is its Past President and current General Secretary.

A lively Q & A followed and Xenia Dimitriou, past Prosecutor with the Supreme Court of Greece, noted Orfanidis succeeded with his small volume of poems in eloquently encapsulating writing on the topic to date.

The value of the event, however, was the dramatization of such matters material that seems far off and abstract to us when encountered in books and articles through readings by Paleologos and others of the poems, many of which are in the voices of individuals of the future who are already living the realities being addressed. The poetry shows that while we cannot predict facts, one can explore the implications, legal, ethical, spiritual, of current developments.

Orfanidis fourth published poetry collection was inspired by a life experience. He was shaken by the power of technology to seize our souls. While he was enjoying a beautiful vista on the seashore, he noticed someone nearby captivated by a similar view on his cell phone. That prompted him to devour existing writing on these topics, books like Homo Deus and works by Professor Tasis.

Tasis and Orfanidis and later the Q&A participants touched on notions practical and philosophical: How and where are lines to be drawn? Who draws the lines and makes the decisions? Who gets the new goodies and how? What are the points of no return we must look out for and will we be able to see and act upon them in time?

The ideas that emerged during the event and the reception that followed in the Museums Foyer were pessimistic but fear is a good engine for driving people to learn and prepare to act, and that motivates the efforts of both Orfanidis and Tasis.

The discussions showed there are many slippery slopes here, as well as lines that are seemingly strongly drawn but in reality are too easily smeared.

Much has already happened, as some participants noted. We interact with AIs on the phone without realizing it. Will they gain consciousness and become our rivals or will they develop into less threatening things, not artificial persons but just cognitive functions that will add their (considerable) power to the invisible hand of the free market that already makes so many of our individual and collective decisions?

Almost everyone agrees implants would be a blessing for healing people with hearing, seeing, or even cognitive disabilities but once the hardware and software in mastered, the leap from maintaining health to granting super powers is small.

And to what degree can individuals or societies just say no to things like brain enhancements, for adults and for their children, when companies and schools might merely just suggest it but those who dont go alongare cast aside or left behind?

The poems also ask at what point do humans with implants and other enhancements become Cyborgs? Would they constitute a new species? Are we here we enter the realm or science fiction (or are we already there) who remain human going to be subjugated or eliminated by the transhuman? Again, how do you apply the brakes? Who applies the breaks?

The discussion also addressed the rise of political or religious movements that might try to advance the process perhaps erasing or replacing God or thwarting it.

With titles like Artificial Salvation, Not a (Big) New Deal, Artificial Intelligence Service, Fake Babies, Dolce Vita, and of course, Brave New World, Cyborg Sapiens is a lesson on the power of poems and a sermon on taking greater responsibility for the future.

Originally posted here:
Cyborg Sapiens Book Opening Window on Future Presented in Athens - The National Herald

Spotted

07:30

by Mary Harrington

Do you trust this man? Credit: Getty

Biotech is entering a new era, with massive US government support: last week the US Government signed an executive order that assigned $2 billion in government funding for high risk, high reward biotech projects such as CRISPR gene editing, artificial meat and further development of the mRNA technology behind the Covid vaccine.

With this shift, as I noted last week, a new paradigm of health is emerging, not as a default state where doctors are on hand to help get us back to normal when something goes wrong. In the new, transhumanist vision, humans are a kind of meaty machine whose basic functioning can be engineered toward a vision of health thats something more than the default, via biomedical interventions. And doctors are engineers we depend on in perpetuity to keep supplying new and better upgrades.

Last weeks executive order gave another signal that this dream of engineers with limitless power to upgrade nature is increasingly dominant within the worlds only superpower:

- U.S. Government

In the paragraphs that follow theres plenty of throat-clearing about protecting against accidental or deliberate harm, and safeguarding United States principles and values and international best practices. But anyone who feels reassured as a result should glance again at the third sentence in the passage Ive quoted, which makes it clear that this path of limitless upgrades will be open from the word go to commercial exploitation.

For we already have a well-worked example of how easily harm can be redefined, as values come under pressure from commercial imperatives: child gender transition. Consider, for example, the different perverse incentives in publicly and privately-funded healthcare systems where this protocol is concerned. In recent years, European nations with publicly funded healthcare systems have rowed back on paediatric gender medicine, for example citing severe side effects and lack of evidence. America, though, has an insurance-based healthcare system, where the incentive is for more and more advanced and expensive interventions and here, perhaps coincidentally, senior public medical officials call the protocol essential, life-saving and evidence-based.

And while the NHS is closing its only child gender clinic, calling it inadequate, in the US gender care for children is an explosive growth area. The first such US clinic opened in 2007, and there are now (according to the HRC) 50 such institutions, though the real number is probably as high as 300 clinics providing biomedical upgrade services to children.

Of course its not just about following the money; its also about values. America has long valorised those who overcome odds or disregard limits to realise a seemingly impossible dream. So when new technologies promise to overcome our physiological limits, extending that American Dream to human nature itself, no wonder many are enthused. And from this perspective, the harm and violation of values consists in submitting to unchosen biophysical norms. Here, radical interventions are defended as a means of protecting children from the trauma of undergoing the wrong puberty.

We are plunging blindly into the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, guided by an ascendant paradigm that views harm as a refusal to intervene in whats normal and health as structurally reliant on ongoing biomedical intervention. The reality, though, often falls short of this hubristic dream. Theres already no shortage of testimony from children who regret having interrupted their normal maturation and irreversibly surgically re-sculpted their bodies in accordance with the transhumanist paradigm of freedom-through-upgrades.

And when we extrapolate the now US Government-backed drive to accelerate biotech innovation, we can reasonably expect these children to be merely the first bow-wave of living collateral damage. If we continue on this path without any framework for defending our normal human organisms as right in themselves, without upgrades, there will be plenty more.

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America embraces the fourth industrial revolution - The Post - UnHerd

Video game adaptions have a checkered history, but anime consistently seems to be the best medium for alternative content based on video games. Following in the footsteps of shows like Castlevania and Arcane, Netflixs new Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a phenomenal adaption of the source material that fully makes use of the series key themes about transhumanism in a cyberized world. In fact, it delivers a more compelling story than anything found in Cyberpunk 2077.

The events of Edgerunners take place one year before the start of Cyberpunk 2077, and the Night City of the anime will look quite similar to anyone thats played the game. The show uses locations from the game, and there are even a few familiar characters that pop up along the way. Edgerunners follows David Martinez, a street kid struggling to survive while his mother scrounges every penny she can to send him to Arasaka Academy. Like most stories in the cyberpunk genre, tragedy hits Davids life and continues to strike throughout the series.

Before long, David has a life-changing meeting with an Edgerunner named Lucy and joins up with a group to start pulling off jobs. In the games universe, an Edgerunner refers to someone who lives on the edge and generally works jobs outside of the law, outfitting their bodies with cyberware and other technical enhancements. Lucy is instantly one of the most memorable anime characters in recent memory. Shes a stylish and aloof netrunner with a traumatic past that informs so much of her identity, and the way the show peels back her layers is a wonder to behold.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners does a great job of integrating the UI of the game into animation.Netflix

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is filled with plenty of action, explosions, and cursing, but whats most impressive about the show is the surprisingly thoughtful and emotional relationship at the heart of everything.

Underneath all the neon glamour Edgerunners is really a story about two people struggling to find their place in a hostile world while protecting each other. They each have their own development arc across the 10-episode series, but their evolving relationship is the most compelling part of whats going on.

Theres also a strong ensemble cast to back up the core duo. The foul-mouthed and diminutive Rebecca stands out as a hilariously unhinged highlight, while the unscrupulous villain Faraday makes a good foil to David.

Impeccable pacing in a meaningful overarching narrative full of memorable characters is the recipe for good TV, and Edgerunners has it all. Each episode has at least some kind of action, and it becomes unabashedly violent and/or gory at some points.

Studio Trigger was the absolutely perfect choice to bring Cyberpunk to anime, as the studios trademark eclectic style works wonders here. The bright neon colors of Night City really pop, and the animation really has a sense of impact with bullets exploding heads and massive blows from mechanical arms making horrific bone-crunching noises.

Characters like Rebbecca stand out as some of the best the Cyberpunk series has to offer.Netflix

Action scenes consistently make use of dynamic camera angles, and there are some neat tricks the animation does to represent characters moving at high speeds. All of this is highlighted by a bumping soundtrack that sports a few original songs on top of plenty of ones from Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners really feels like it makes a blueprint for how CD Projekt Red should approach this franchise moving forward. Sure the show has all the Choombas and other slang the game does, but theres a genuineness that the anime has that the game simply lacks. Although there are certainly some strong narratives in the game, much of Cyberpunk 2077s storytelling feels like it's specifically trying to be hard and edgy.

While Edgerunners has a lot of those same elements, its more concerned with making characters that feel like real people. Because of that, the seasons climax feels memorable and important. So much of Edgerunners story isnt happy, but it definitely winds up feeling immensely cathartic.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY.

Continue reading here:
You need to watch 2022's best video game adaptation ASAP - Inverse

Cover image: Abiding Grace by Jenn Ravenna Tran

As a professor of theology and religious ethics, I believe that there is value in understanding what religions teach and how those teachings impact peoples lives and cultures. As a religious person, Im also deeply invested in reckoning with how my religious tradition and those I encounter affect me personally and the folks I loveand its hard to turn this off. For some folks, Magic: The Gathering is a needed escape from these heavy questions; but for me, Magic and especially its lore are a playground in which these issues can be played with and poked in a way that is insulated, at least some small amount, from the higher stakes of critique of a real religious tradition.

Where do I see this happening most fruitfully? So glad you asked. Here are my rankings for the top 10 religious institutions in Magics multiverse that I think have the most to say about contemporary issues in (western) religion and spirituality:

Due Respect by James Ryman

This universalist evangelical movement ostensibly welcomes mana of all colors, as long as the white mana is in charge. The Machine Orthodoxy just wants to purify and compleat you, and if it has to do that by colonizing other worlds and forcing you to comply with groupthink, then thats what it will do. Really, its no trouble.

The Machine Orthodoxy is an obvious and monstrous evil reminiscent of Star Treks Borg. The terrifying Giger-esque New Phyrexians are our projection of fascistic terror, with all its promised disintegration of individuality. The villainous eugenic aim of Yawgmoth and his worshippers has been brought forward and twisted into the dream of even greater multiversal domination.

Part of this twist is the relentlessly literal and materialist mind of the New Phyrexians, who have only recently begun to understand what a soul. There is something fascinating about how Phyrexians receive and understand informationlike anyone, according to the structures of possibility within their own worldview. As the medieval dictum goes, what is received is received in the mode of the receiver. Nevertheless, the alien nature of the New Phyrexians is distancing enough that Im more interested in the Old Phyrexia.

Phyrexian Scriptures by Joseph Meehan

Thats right, GIve me that old time religion. On Old Phyrexia, Yawgmoth came to have the power of a god, and that included having followers! If you like H.R. Giger-esque body horror (I do not) and eugenics, and/or listening to Fear Factory, this might be the place for you.

The design of Phyrexia and its scriptures is inspired by the Christian mythology surrounding Hell, where Yawgmoth is considered the great creator and the spheres of Phyrexia are patterned after the layers of Dantes Inferno. The scriptures, which appear on the eponymous card and in the flavor text of six cards, read the way one may expect a religious text to read. The flavor text on Dark Ritual is represented below, in Josephs Meehans rendering:

From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus the Grand Evolution began.

Evil cults are often meant to be readily understood as villains, and we arent meant to think too much about them, but theres something here about the notion of transhumanism and our faith in science and medicine to solve our problems and carry us forward that might be worth teasing out.

Find more about Phyrexia at: The Grail Legend in Magic Lore

Preacher by Quinton Hoover

Do you want a mishmash of everything Jesper Myrfors wants to critique about Christianity? This Church is for youits got everything: Inquisition, a Fire and Brimstone Preacher, and likely references to antisemitic violence. Whatever it may have once been before the Brothers War, The Church of Tal became a devoted witch-hunting institution in the centuries after the Sylex blast, adopting the credo Suffer not a magician to live almost verbatim from the planeswalker King Jamess Bible.

Given the Churchs history of reacting against the immense violence of artificers and wizards, theres probably something interesting to say here about the danger of the oppressed becoming the oppressor, but the Dark wasnt yet ready to say it.

Read more about Magic & Witch Hunting at Religion & Horror in the Season of the Witch

Have you ever gotten so upset over religious complacency that you founded your own massively popular breakaway sect of zealots and doomsayers which elevated you to such prestige that you were able to convince an eternally young woman to have an affair with you, only to have her leave you for a Sarpadian dwarf, so you decided to tell everyone she was the reincarnated high priest of the evil dark lord of a different religion, and sent your former concubine to go and kill her, not realizing that your intended victims brother had godlike magical powers and could incinerate you? Well thats what it feels like to drive the new Ford F-150.

The Farrelites were a charismatic cult of personality, preaching the end times, demonizing their enemies, and waging a culture war within Icatia, all while the cult leader manipulated women within his sphere of influence. Can someone go check on whether they ended up making Icatia great againits gone? Oh. hm.

Revival by Paul Canavan

Ravnica is what you get when you think to yourself, wow, what if every church in Prague was actually the architectural style for the whole world. The Orzhov Syndicate is what you get when you reduce 16th century Catholicism to the doctrines of purgatory and indulgences and the material excesses of clergy and make it an entire churchs personality. The resulting institution functions something like a mob or a crime family, which the wealthy extorting the weak and less powerful, and binding them to contracts that they will likely never repay.

Like Innistrads Church of Avacyn, what started out as a two-dimensional portrait of a Church run like a shady bank later becomes an idea for at least a faint consideration of deeper issues. When Kaya kills the Obzedat and assumes leadership of the guild, the notion of debt, penance, and reparation are briefly raised, and the confluence of the spiritual and the economic set the stage for some potentially worthwhile reflection on how money and faith interact. The story during the WAR era didnt quite get there, but perhaps next time.

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose by Lie Setiawan

Another take on 16th Century Catholicism. If doing a what if with indulgences and purgatory wasnt enough, the Legion of Dusk on Ixalan seemingly compares the Spanish Catholic conquistadors to bloodthirsty vampires. But wait, they arent really conquistadors

I mean, sure, theyre pale and they dress in clothing and armor styled after the 16th century. They have Spanish names, and sail galleons across the seas from their homelandand admittedly, they do have hostile encounters with the natives. But they arent really colonizing anything. Adanto is just a temporary thing while they look for the Immortal Sun. We promise! We also promise they arent Catholics. Yes, they apparently have a supreme pontiff, and they build cathedrals and practice a kind of baptism and the consumption of a sacrament in honor of their founder. But look, its not like they said that Catholics are bloodthirsty, colonizing fanatics.

Caricatures aside, the stories of the Apostle Mavren Feins epiphany upon finding Elenda, about how the purpose of their faith has been twisted and misunderstood in her absence, and about VItos resistance to this news, has resonances with the experience of many young religious people who begin to see the world and their old faith with new eyes (or those who refuse to) after leaving home for the first time. Whether we explore this further in the coming years Ixalan set is yet to be soon, but I hope we do!

Read more at: The Thorn in Our Side: Vito & the Legacy of the Spanish Conquest

Basri, Devoted Paladin by Jason Rainville

Have you ever spent your life training to be worthy of special service to your gods so you could pass the test and go to the afterlife, but in reality your gods had been dominated generations ago by an immensely powerful dragon wizard from another world in an elaborate plot to create an unstoppable army of undead super soldiers so he could invade a different world and reclaim his lost immortality? Well thats that it feels like to drive the new Ford F-150.

Amonkhets population is the victim of a different sort of pyramid scheme, a sham religion replacing their original, indigenous faith. Using their old gods, who seemed to be genuinely concerned about the ideals and concepts they represent and embody, Nicol Bolas twisted the Amonkhetis understanding of spirituality to funnel power to himself, manipulating the beliefs of the Amonkheti for his own dark purpose.

This story is common enough in American culture: a strong personality tweaks Christianity just enough to walk away with the riches of their congregation while still maintaining all of the appearance of being a religious expression concerned with the spiritual well-being of its members and even still perhaps possessing ministers who are serving from genuine and benevolent conviction.

While we havent gotten to see him in action in the story, yet, Basri Ket is a fascinating example of someone healing from the spiritual loss that is felt when a religious community is rocked by scandal and the revelation that so much of what they believed was a distorted fabrication. What Basri Ket does in the wake of this knowledge is to separate enduring truth from its abuse by demogogues. Taking up Oketras ideal of solidarity, Basri begins a new faith that aims at something transcendent without reliance upon the falsified cosmology of the Amonkheti religiona tremendously fascinating approach in an era where more and more people in developed nations are disaffiliating from organized religion while remaining as spiritual as they ever were.

Idyllic Tutor by Jaime Jones

If the poems, dialogues, and philosophy we have from Ancient Greece is any indication, the Greek Gods were, for layfolk, almost never gods of exclusive devotion (henotheism) until very late (4th to 2nd centuries BCE). However, being in any sense devoted to Heliod, as a pilgrim, champion, or priest would certainly cause consternation. In the wake of rumblings about Heliods actions regarding Elspeth, and with whispers mounting that gods are the patterns that we perceive, given sentience, there are few places in the multiverse that are likely to have more lively conversations about philosophy of religion.

What is the power of collective belief? Can collective belief become so strong that it develops something of its own will and life? Is that (all) what religion is? Is that the truth of religious doctrine? If thats the case, then what is apotheosis (ascending to godhood), really? Is it giving oneself over so fully to the collective belief that ones name becomes symbolic of, even synonymous with some primal force? Like Fred Rogers, and kindness? The way the world of Theros provokes theological questions like these is why Ive ranked it at number 3.

Read more at:Reflections on the Return of Idyllic Tutor

Abiding Grace by Jenn Ravenna Tran

If, for your mental health one day, you need to daydream about a religion that is everything it says it is, an institution dedicated to the teachings of its legitimately benevolent founder, that sets out to protect the weak and help those in need, then the Church of Serra might be for you. This Churchs floating towers are a little piece of heaver, Serras Realm on Dominaria.

The Serran Church preserves a lot of the aesthetics that we expect in Christianity-inspired fantasy churches, like glorious stained glass, takes it to the next level, and sets it within an institutional structure wherein the strongest authority figures all take the form of strong, flying women. If the current Church is keeping the old traditions of Serras Realm alive, then it also has hymns and liturgy! High Church Anglicans rejoice!

Idealistic depictions of institutions like this one help us to imagine whats possible, to put our hopes and aspirations into a form where we can examine and improve them, and learn from our own narratives about our motivations and our goals. While having too rosy an idea of any institution can blind us to inequities and other moral failures, not pausing to imagine a better world can tempt us toward an unhelpful nihilism. The goodness of the contemporary Church of Serra is a gleaming respite from the often depressing examples of religious institutions elsewhere.

Read More at The Church of Serra

Arlinn, the Packs Hope by Eric Deschamps

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. Karl Marx, Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right, 1844

What if we made Marxs words about religion the entire plot of a Magic: The Gathering set?

Seriously though, while the initial premise of Innistrads main institutional religion could seem like it leans into a thin literalization of Marxs critique, recent visits to Innistrad hint at the possibility for deeper reflection about how to hold on to faith and rebuild after the institution is rocked by corruption and scandal, or after your relationship to yourself puts you at odds with the beliefs of many in the Church (cf. Odric, Thalia, and Arlinn).

Now that the Church is rebuilding and many folks are turning to Sigarda, and folk religions are returning in the absence of the Avacynian Churchs persecutions, the religious landscape on Innistrad is poised to become one of the most interesting places in the multiverse to ponder issues analogous to contemporary real-world religious issueswhich is why Ive given it the top spot!

Read More at As Hallowtide Approaches: Negotiating Faith and Festival

I hope youve enjoyed this tour of different religious expressions in the multiverse. There are so many more religious or quasi-religious institutions we might have examined, and in more detail, that Ive omitted for a lack of lore, or because they land in an area that is far enough outside of my expertise that I didnt think I could fairly articulate the issues they raise. If these 10 provoked any deeper thinking, then Ive done my job, and I am happy to leave the rest to you for now.

Until next time.

Jacob Torbeckis a researcher and instructor of theology and ethics. He hails from Chicago, IL, and loves playing Commander and pre-modern cubes.

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Top 10 Magic Churches Through Which To Work Out My Real World Feelings About Religion - Hipsters of the Coast - Hipsters of the Coast

June 28, 2022

By James Grundvig, American Media Periscope

On the first summer Sunday, Dr. Carrie Madej and her partner, Billy, crashed in a single-engine plane in Woodbury, Georgia. The bucolic town, located 70 miles south of Atlanta, became the second leg of their journey after returning from a trip to Florida.

Why is this last point critical? Because it almost rules out sabotage to the engine and aircraft. Had someone tampered with it, the plane should have crashed on the first leg flying back from Florida, not at the Roosevelt Memorial Airport in Woodbury.

This observation came from a major airline and small aircraft pilot. Still, a source within the FAA will notify me if evidence is found to the contrary. Another airline pilot texted me, stating: This is why I only fly in twin-engine planes in case of a stall on a single-engine aircraft.

With broken legs, successful surgery, and a massive outpouring of best wishes, prayers, and speedy recovery, Dr. Madej moved from critical to stable condition yesterday. As of this writing, many of her close contacts believe she will be released from the Atlanta metro area hospital today.

From the Washington Standard:

It happened around 2:15 p.m. The FAA said they were flying a single-engine Piper PA-24.

According to Michael Watson, the chairman for the Meriwether County Airport Authority, the flight was on the way from St. Petersburg, Florida, near Tampa, to Newnan-Coweta County Airport when it experienced an engine issue as the plane started its descent. The flight was diverted south to Warm Springs, but crashed. Flight tracking website Flight Aware shows the path of the flight before the crash.

The FAA is working with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine a cause for the crash. Neither agency would provide specifics of the investigation.

Dr. Carrie Madej Spear of Truth

For those unfamiliar with Dr. Carrie Madej and her work, or who havent seen her interviews on my show Unrestricted Truths, Episodes 75 and 32, or on AMP Breaking News segments here, here, and here, or at the June 2021 Tampa Freedom Conference, her story is unique.

Before COVID-19, I knew hundreds of doctors, scientists, journalists, and researchers uncovering the hidden dangers of the U.S. immunization program. Today, I know thousands and more and more experts have come out to defend freedom, liberty, truth, and the power of the individual to choose by informed consent. All of that has been absent since the pandemic started in early 2020.

Before Covid, I didnt hear or know Dr. Carrie Madejs name. But when the CDC, FDA, and NIH began fabricating the virus data, creating the casedemic fraud via the bogus PCR tests to push the Covid vaccine agenda, her name rose quickly to the top.

We in the truth movement learned that Carrie Madej had been in the same fight as us, but on a different parallel track dating back to a 2013 techno-transhuman conference she attended in Atlanta. Chilled by what she learned and how scientists had sold out to the devil Dr. Madej became known as the transhumanism whistleblower. She saw where the Covid vaccineswith the quantum dot technology, Luciferase Bluetooth neural link, graphene oxide, and mRNA technologyled to a very dark place and future for humanity.

She exposed the dark plan and bleak future at countless conferences, as guests on shows, expert witness, and podcasts, by shining a light on the transhumanist Covax agenda.

Over the past year, Dr. Madej became known as one of the 5 Docs alongside Drs. Lee Merritt, Christiane Northrup, Sherri Tenpenny, and Larry Palevsky on their hit Bitchute channel show, Critically Thinking with the 5 Docs.

If you dont know her brave work, risking her life every day, to tell the truth, lay out the facts, and break it down in plain English for her viewers and audience, you can find more about her on the Dr. Carrie Madej website.

Yes, a plane crash after takeoff typically ends in death and tragedy. However, in her case, and that of Billy, as many have stated since the accident, that they are alive and out of ICU so quickly was a miracle.

In this fight of good vs. evil, light against darkness, truth over lies, Dr. Carrie Madej will have time this summer to reflect on what she has accomplished over the past 30 months of Covid fraud. During her rehab and recovery, she will also have time to look at the big picture signals of how the global medical tyranny plan will come to an end this fall.

And end it will.

Soon without the ability to print money, corrupt governments worldwide will collapse, and along with it, their three-year, concocted pandemic plan and lockdown, along with their instruments of destruction in the Covid clot shot.

Heres to a speedy recovery, Dr. Carrie Madej!

Best wishes, love, and faith to you.

Our prayers are with you.

James Grundvig, Editor-in-Chief

John Michael Chambers, Founder and CEO

Dawn Martin, Executive Producer

Kris Edlekamp, COO

And the rest of the AMP Media team.

Original post:
Dr. Carrie Madej Out of Georgia | American Media Periscope

Berliners! Check out Der Dritte Stands 5 day programme at Au Topsi Pohl starting Tuesday:

5 DAYS AT AU TOPSI POHL Berlin

12.7.2021ALCHIMIA ORGANICA Matthias Bauer & Maria LuccheseDER DRITTE STAND

13.7.2021DUO Matthias Bauer & Anna KaluzaDER DRITTE STAND

14.7.2021XENOFOX Rudi Fischerlehner &Olaf RuppDER DRITTE STAND

15.7.2021ZSOLT SORESsoloDER DRITTE STAND

16.7.2021FOILS Matthias Mller &FrankPaul SchubertDER DRITTE STAND

With an art exhibition byMaria Lucchese

Concerts start at 20:30Au TopsiPohl, Pohlstrae 64, Berlin

Shanzhai Acid takes its inspiration in equal parts from the Chinese culture of imitation electronic products that often surpass that which they imitate through punk customisation, and the psychedelic consciousness that Mark Fisher, Jeremy Deller and Florian Hecker, amongst others, have inferred from the social and philosophical catalyst of Acid musics.

Manifested via a kind of knock-off orchestra of mutant modules and bastardised synths conducted by DIY machine learning algorithms, its a construct designed to explore what kind of auditory trip this combination of opinionated, chaotic sound generators and ML can hallucinate into the world of electronic music minstrelry.

Throw the switch on this frankensteinian analogue computer and vortices of covariance, fractal geometries and nonlinear attractors are born, evolve and die as sonified complex systems in the hands of an omnivalent machine savant. Hundreds of parameters and routing assignments are invoked from hundreds of thousands of training data points, exploding the labyrinth of analogue circuitry into myriad trajectories, sometimes improvising constellations and galaxies of sound that dance and weave before collapsing in on themselves like blackholes.

As these nucleic worlds evolve and collide, the rigours of musical analysis spontaneously combust, leaving only a kind of amorphous ectoplasmic string theory of sound. In this effervescent, primordial flux, noiseforms evolve and run amok, speaking in tongues, self-organising and conjuring for their listeners spontaneous creation paradoxes.

Retrain in Cyber they said. QED.

Der Dritte Strand is a new trio featuring Matthias Mller (trombone), Matthias Bauer (double bass) and Rudi Fischerlehner (drums and percussion). Have a listen to the awesome Umstand from their forthcoming album, releasing on March 11th 2022.

Great to see Martin, Leonie and Laura taking their Still/Moving light sculpture to COP26 follow them and its progress over here: https://stillmoving.org/

Transhuman Haromlodics takes inspiration from a diverse network of actors and phenomena, allowing them to shape and influence the nature and form of the music in an attempt to imagine a fluid, expressive symbiosis; a small contribution to forging a more engaged and emancipated understanding of how thinking more openly about our culture of music might help us think more openly about other aspects of our reality.

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Not Applicable Website for Not Applicable label and artists ...

The Proms, Printworks, and multimedia mayhem. Created and co-produced by award winning counter tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, Philip Glass's meditative Minimalism and Handel's Baroque elegance crash together in a cacophony of artistic media.

It certainly wants to be more than just a musical conversation between two composers. But its ambition is often its own worst enemy.

Performed at Printworks, which usually houses DJ sets and raves, it's an artistic free-for-all with everything thrown at the wall. The Handel and Glass combinations are taken from Roth's Grammy award winning album ARC. Karen Kamensek conducts the English National Opera Orchestra alongside a variety of films projected overhead, artist Glenn Brown produces live painting, there are dancers darting around, and Jason Singh's "nature beatboxing."

Everything clamours for attention; moments of coherence are few and far between. When the different media do fuse its the psycology of Glass's brooding repetition leading the charge in carving the fraught emotional landscape. The visuals add colour afterwards. The Prom sees first performances of extracts from Songs from Liquid Days, Monsters of Grace, and The Fall of the House of Usher, alongside a world premiere of 'No more, you petty spirits' from Cymbeline.

It's the opposite with the Handel whose music is sadly relegated secondary to the visuals. His 'Vivi, tiranno' from Rodelinda is juxtaposed with a loud satirical collage of videos from Toiletpaper Magazine's Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari; brash and surreal inversions of adverts and dadaesque visual puns are projected onto the venue's walls.

The films are vaguely linked by a theme of evolution. Starting with Handel's Rinaldo, medieval knights wander green and pleasant lands. It then morphs into a clunky 90's video game before it mutates into a futuristic cityscape with humanoid robots wandering around contemplating their trans-human existence. The narrative, as ambiguous as it is, chimes with Glass' undecorated and precise emotional language, but the overstuffed visuals become too bombastic and too distracting alongside the rich complexity of Handel's music.

Naturally some of it does veer into pretentiousness. Costanzo strides through the crowd guided by assistants brandishing blinding lights to split them as if he is the messiah descending from Heaven. It's a little bit silly, but it is undeniably exhilarating to be so close to Costanzo's blisteringly melancholic performance as lights, colours, and sounds swirl around above.

The experience is only possible because of Printworks. The space is entirely democratic. There is no hierarchy as in other venues; there is no best seat in the house. The audience can and do move around the space engendering a sense of conceptual freedom to engage in the artistic anarchy unravelling around them. But there are some trade-offs: the orchestra rely on microphones giving their timbre a distinctly metallic quality. Whilst fitting for the industrial ambiance, Printworks is an old printing plant clad in concrete and metal, it leaves the orchestra feeling cold.

But maybe it is something that is best enjoyed without overthinking. Picking one thing and focusing on one's own narrative is the way to engage in this, not letting everything battle for attention. It's a bit like an art gallery in that sense: you can't give every painting the time it deserves so best to pick out a handful to savour.

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Review: BBC PROMS AND THE ENO at Printworks London - Broadway World

For the time being, it seems that far more dangerous than artificial intelligence itself are the people who manage it and are already using it, for example, to invigilate society or to control peoples moods, preferences, even opinions, says Father Dr Micha Zikowski MI.

TVP WEEKLY: Ilya Samoylenko, one of the commanders of the Azov battalion, is called a Cyborg by the Ukrainian media. In 2015, he lost his left arm, which was replaced with a titanium prosthesis, and his right eye in the fight against the Russians, so he uses an artificial one. Can we consider this as an example of transhumanism?

FR. DR MICHA ZIKOWSKI: In order to judge whether a particular intervention in the biological structure of the human being is transhumanist, it must be assessed against the overall perspective of this ideology. Transhumanists write a lot about the cyborgisation of the human being, but it should be remembered that in transhumanism the whole sphere of science is subordinated to a certain neo-Gnostic, techno-spiritualist vision. Transhumanism in its futuristic projects ultimately wants to free the human mind (consciousness) from the body. The body is therefore an obstacle to divinity, which transhumanists identify with the abiological post-human stage. This is why transhumanism nurtures one might say a deep hatred of the body.

So the aim of transhumanism is not to help human beings on the basis of therapeutic intervention?

No. Endo or exoprosthesis (cyborgisation) is not in itself transhumanist, unless the person undergoing it wishes to no longer be human and has done so for that very purpose. The nature of transhumanism is a disagreement with remaining in a biological body. We can call the enhancement of the body by various kinds of technology transhumanism if it is strictly subordinated to the expectation of the arrival of such technology that will make it possible to leave the corporeal dimension, e.g. by transferring the mind to cyberspace.

Is transhumanism characterised by an extreme instrumentalisation of human existence?

Of course. It is not difficult to see in it a technological substitute for an anti-Christian religious system. Such conceptual creations found in transhumanism as technotranscendence, techno-gnosis, the technological singularity, super-intelligence or the post-human are in fact parareligious concepts, merely dressed up in a technological robe. Transhumanism is judged by the representatives of this movement themselves to be a neo-Gnostic system. History shows that the doctrine of Gnostic sects has been fought against by Christian intellectuals, if only because of the glorification of the figure of Satan by some Gnostics. We can also find similar examples in transhumanism, e.g. in one text by leading transhumanist Max More we find a manifesto entitled In Praise of the Devil.

Click here to read the full article.

By Tomasz Plaskota

Translated by jz

source:WEEKLY.TVP.PL

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The fruit of the transhumanist project will not be a better human being - TVP World

The unelected globalists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) are envisioning an augmented society ruled by digital identity and transhumanism via the Internet of Bodies.

Digital identity has long been on the Davos agenda and has been gaining speed ever since the official launch of the great reset in June, 2020.

On August 17, 2022, the WEF published a story by Callsign CEO Zia Hayat on its Agenda blog claiming, Digital identity is vital element of building trust both online and in our wider economies to everyones benefit.

According to Hayat, If we dont know for certain who we are interacting with online, we cannot have trust. Digital identity must therefore be the foundational element to our digital economy.

But its not just for our digital economy that the unelected globalists want to usher-in digital identity for all.

They want that digital identity be embedded into every aspect of our lives even under our skin!

This digital identity determines what products, services and information we can access or, conversely, what is closed off to us World Economic Forum, 2018

Technology will become more intertwined with the body in the form of implants Kathleen Philips, WEF Agenda, 2022

For years, the WEF and its partners have been pushing digital ID for a number of reasons including:

Digital identity is also a foundational element for building a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-style system of social credit where access to goods and services are based on a citizens behavioral score.

When trust is broken in one area, a citizen may be locked out of participating in just about every aspect of society.

As scary as chip implants may sound, they form part of a natural evolution that wearables once underwent Kathleen Philips, WEF Agenda, 2022

Going hand-in-hand with digital identity and subsequent digital ID is the push for a transhumanist future.

The WEF published another blog post in August, this time exploring how merging humans with technology will create an augmented society and that stakeholders in society will need to agree on how to ethically make these amazing technologies a part of our lives.

Written by imec VP of R&D Kathleen Philips, the article describes augmentation as going beyond rehabilitative healthcare whereby the extension of rehabilitation where technological aids such as glasses, cochlear implants or prosthetics are designed to restore a lost or impaired function.

Philips goes on to say that when the merging of humans and technology is added to completely healthy individuals, then what you get is augmentation.

Welcome to the Internet of Bodies (IoB).

The WEF is fully behind widespread adoption of the IoB despite recognizing the enormous ethical concerns that come with having an unprecedented number of sensors attached to, implanted within, or ingested into human bodiesto monitor, analyze, and even modify human bodies and behavior.

The Internet of Bodies might trigger breakthroughs in medical knowledge []Or it might enable a surveillance state of unprecedented intrusion and consequence RAND Corporation, 2020

Increased IoB adoption might also increase global geopolitical risks, because surveillance states can use IoB data to enforce authoritarian regimes RAND Corporation, 2020

As acknowledged by Philips herself, the idea of augmenting a perfectly healthy human being with technology carries many ethical concerns.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in 2020, National Academy of Medicine presidentVictor Dzautold the Davos elites that augmenting humans beyond their natural capabilities was crossing the ethical line.

I think youre in pretty safe ground when you use these technologies for the purpose of curing disease, treating disease, or at least addressing impairment, he said.

I do think you start crossing the line when you think about enhancement and augmentation.

Fast forward two years and nine months, and the Davos Agenda blog is saying, As scary as chip implants may sound, they form part of a natural evolution that wearables once underwent.

I do think you start crossing the line when you think about enhancement and augmentation Victor Dzau, WEF Annual Meeting, 2020

Should you implant a tracking chip in your child? There are solid, rational reasons for it, like safety. Would you actually do it? Is it a bridge too far? Kathleen Philips, WEF Agenda, 2022

The unelected globalists are even seeding the idea of implanting children with tracking chips while claiming to be concerned about the ethical concerns.

The limits on implants are going to be set by ethical arguments rather than scientific capacity, Philips wrote, adding, For example, should you implant a tracking chip in your child? There are solid, rational reasons for it, like safety. Would you actually do it? Is it a bridge too far?

While children were used as a use case for digitally tagging, tracking, and tracing people like cattle, the same concept can be applied to the rest of humanity for our safety of course!

This is what the so-called fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is really all about in the words of WEF founder and executive chair Klaus Schwab, What the Fourth Industrial Revolution will lead to is a fusion of our physical, our digital, and our biological identities.

Another way of looking at the 4IR is the merger of humans beings with technology while simultaneously creating a control grid to monitor and enforce compliance.

What the Fourth Industrial Revolution will lead to is a fusion of our physical, our digital, and our biological identities Klaus Schwab, WEF, 2019

Brain implants take us one step further and allow us to tap straight into the bodys operating system Kathleen Philips, WEF Agenda, 2022

Going back to Philipss blog post on an augmented society, she acknowledges that the brain is part of our human operating system, stating, Brain implants take us one step further and allow us to tap straight into the bodys operating system.'

But what does it mean to tap into someones operating system?

Historian Yuval Noah Harari has already answered this question on several occasions.

When you tap into a persons operating system, what you get is the ability to hack human beings.

This means governments and corporations would know more about you than you know about yourself.

When humans become hackable, they risk losing all their free will. They will be able to be manipulated in seemingly unconceivable ways.

We are no longer mysterious souls; we are now hackable animals Yuval Noah Harari, WEF, 2020

Ethics will advise us Kathleen Philips, WEF Agenda, 2022

In her WEF blog post, Philips asks, When do we enter the grey zone?

The answer is simple. Weve already entered that grey zone.

To give one recent example, a Pentagon-sponsoredRAND report publishedin November, 2021 outlined the technological potentials of this controversial transhumanist research, which includes potentially adding reptilian genes that provide the ability to see in infrared, and making humans stronger, more intelligent, or more adapted to extreme environments.

This means that governments are already fundamentally altering what it means to be human, funding research into creating super humans that are smarter, faster, and stronger through human performance enhancement.

Its happening now, but not to worry!

Philips assures, Ethics will advise us.

Authoritarianism is easier in a world of total visibility and traceability, while democracy may turn out to be more difficult World Economic Forum, 2019

It all starts with digital identity, and the agenda continues to move toward an augmented society.

Those who control the data and the technology are poised to rule the world, but the future doesnt have to be this way.

We all have choices.

You can choose to trust that your digital overlords are doing whats best for society, or you may use common sense and reason to see through their agendas and therefore feel compelled to speak out to friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, or anyone else who will listen.

Of course, there are many people whose minds are already made up, choose not to see, or are too busy just trying to get by that they dont have the time to look into these things.

Knowledge is power.

What will you do with the knowledge youve acquired?

Read more:
WEF agenda envisions an augmented society ruled by Internet of Bodies, digital ID - The Sociable

Prebunking DisinformationThe SST AlliancePrebunking Disinformation

I propose fighting truth decay by prebunking disinformation. I propose that scientists, skeptics, and theologians ally with one another to prescribe evidence-based reason for the health of our common good. Lets call it the SST Alliance.

Recently I found myself writing an editorial for the forthcoming final 2022 issue of Theology and Science. I ended up saying that theologians and scientists along with skeptics should form an alliance on behalf of evidence-based reasoning. This alliance could defend us against the intellectual plague now infecting the globe through digital social media. The symptoms of our infodemic include too much information, misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, just plain lies, and profiteering off untruth such as perception management (PM) firms.

The forces of disinformation have become a threat to social cohesion, world peace, and even the fecundity of Planet Earth. More than one million Americans have died of a pandemic disease that deniers have variously claimed to be a deliberate pandemic or a nonexistent media hoax, wails skeptic Daniel Loxton(Loxton 9-10/2022, 15). The very course of national, international, and planetary events is now being influenced by disinformation. The climate crisis burns out of control, with necessary action having been delayed for decades by denialist pseudoscience(Loxton 9-10/2022, 15).

Post-truth, as the societal manifestation of a prolonged subclinical collective trauma response, is a reflection that society is profoundly wounded, is the diagnosis of theologian Jennifer Baldwin(Baldwin 2018, 104).

Conspiracy theories and pseudoscience are no longer merely weird, crazy, or looney. Theyre dangerous. Our defense against truth decay and promotion of the common good must include prebunking disinformation.

Prebunking is basically debunking as the avante-garde.

What is prebunking disinformation? Well, lets call to mind debunking. It was the summer of 1952 when flying saucers buzzed the White House in Washington DC. The unknown aircraft were tracked by multiple radar screens. Scrambled pilots chased them, radioing their exploits to the control tower. The nation was in a state of alarm.

The Pentagon was in a pickle. Top military brass had determined that the Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) were not hostile or dangerous. But, the Soviet Union was. How could U.S. national defense officials discriminate between the non-hostile flying saucers and the lethal missiles that Russia might send to destroy North American cities?

The problem: too much information. How could the new U.S. Air Force filter through the whelming flood of UFO reports to find hostile Soviet threats? The solution: debunking. The U.S. Air Force set a policy of debunking citizen reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. By debunkingproviding alternative natural explanations as well as discrediting the reputations of those who reported sightingsthe military could reduce the net number of cases requiring thorough examination. The now famous astronomer, J. Allen Hynek, then at Ohio State, became the chief information debunker. The rest makes for quite a textured history down to the present time.

Its time now for critical thinking to expand with the speed of a California wildfire. To change our metaphor, lets hone our critical thinking into a sharp sword to cut through the blur between truth and untruth.

So, just what does it mean to be a critical thinker? Ive long contended that critical consciousness begins with holding two different accounts of the same subject in your mind at one time. These two differing accounts could be ones own plus that of someone else. Only after weighing the merits of each account does the critical thinker then render a sound judgment.

Now, let me introduce Helen Lee Bouygues, founder of the Paris-based Reboot Foundation that promotes reflective forms of thought in schools. She was recently interviewed for Skeptical Inquirer. Bouygues describes critical consciousness as I understand it. Being a good critical thinker means questioning your assumptions, walking through problems logically, and then reflecting on your thinking to better understand it(Bouygues 9-10/2022, 18).

What about the sharp sword of critical thinking? Note Bouygues motto: SHARP. What does this stand for? SHARP stands for: Stop, Hone, Accumulate, Reason, and Perspectivize(Bouygues 9-10/2022, 18). By accumulate, she refers to accumulating evidence. Where Bouygues puts perspectivize, I would put something like, render judgment.

Bouygues employs the word, prebunk. I like that word. According to Bouygues, prebunking takes the form of educating ourselves about various disinformation techniques. Knowing the enemy is the best way to arm oneself in the battle for truth.

Now, I must admit, that Ive not yet fully prebunked myself. Im still a tad nave. Im still more gullible to misinformation and disinformation than I wish to be. Even so, I like that word, prebunk. I wonder if we might expand its meaning to include an aggressive skepticism regarding pseudoscientific claims and acerbic political rhetoric?

Truth matters, says the theologian. The danger of modern political lying is not merely that we will believe lies, but that we will lose the capacity to distinguish what is real from what we merely wish was real, and will stop thinking this difference even matters, avers theologian Lisa Stenmark. This kind of lying undermines the very foundation of public life and judgment, destroying the world itself, and this worldlessness undermines our sense of reality and of community(Stenmark 2018, 5).

Truth matters, says the scientist. Misinformation has reached crisis proportions, say Jevin D. West and Carl T. Bergstrom, writing for the National Academy of Sciences. It poses a risk to international peace, interferes with democratic decision making, endangers the well-being of the planet, and threatens public health(West 4/2021).

Truth matters, says the skeptic. To combat truth decay, we need to prebunk disinformation by taking two doses of critical thinking. At least according to skeptic Daniel Loxton. First, we all must accept that misinformation matters(Loxton 9-10/2022, 16). The days when we could chuckle and dismiss conspiracy theories as looney are over. Truth is now a matter of life and death.

The second dose, again according to Loxton, is study the intricacies that go into manufacturing denial, misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, deceit, and lies. Disinformation Studies is the discipline (Loxton 9-10/2022, 17). I recommend starting with websites such as Tools that Fight Disinformation Online along with Catalogue of all projects working to solve Misinformation and Disinformation, even though some links are not connecting.

The third dose of critical thinking in our fight against truth decay is this: create a spirited alliance between Scientists, Skeptics, and Theologians. Im prescribing an SST Alliance defending and promoting evidence-based reasoning as a chief ingredient in public policy formulation.[1]

Now, we must acknowledge that scientific reason and theological reason, though overlapping, are not exhaustively identical. Systems biologist and philosopher of science Stuart A. Kauffman confesses that Science is not the only pathway to truth (Kauffman, 2008, p. xii). Reason can take us beyond the physical reality described by science. Or, perhaps more precisely, the theologian finds its meaning within a more comprehensive horizon that includes revelatory truth. Philosopher of science Kelly Smith shows how one can build on the other.

Science is a very powerful heuristic for exploring the natural world, but it is not an ultimate arbiter of truth. If we are clear about that, then we are free to go beyond scientific evidence as long as we acknowledge what we are doing and take care not to damage science in the process. So, if one chooses to overlay the fact of increasing complexity with a faith claim that supports a sense of purpose and meaning, science should have nothing to say about this one way or another(Smith 2020, 5).

In sum, theologians can just like the scientist in the lab next door hold up evidence-based reason regarding the world we live in as our cultures desideratum.

We should expect, nevertheless, that a few scientists and nearly all skeptics might be suspicious that theologians should be their allies in defending and promoting evidence-based reasoning.[2] Theologians are frequently dismissed for being superstitious, ideological, or just plain ignorant.[3] Therefore, a responsibility falls on the shoulders of the theologians to demonstrate their age-old commitment to the partnership of faith and reason (fides et ratio).

It is clear from history, then, that Christian thinkers were critical in adopting philosophical thought(Pope 1998, 39). These are the words of His Holiness, Pope and Saint John Paul II, issued Fides et Ratio in 1998. This special activity of human reason, the pontiff continued, yields indispensable and celebrated results in the different fields of knowledge and fostering the development of culture and history(Pope 1998, 5). Through reason the critical theologian becomes a public theologian, contributing positively to the development of culture and history.

Will the scientist let alone the skeptic welcome the theologian into a partnership for prebunking disinformation? Perhaps the theologian should be on his or her or their best behavior.

We cannot take for granted that theologians or other religious leaders should be trusted when it comes to evidence-based reason. A quick surf of the internet uncovers many religious figures looking like the west end of a horse facing eastward.

Much to my chagrin, too many alliances have already been formed. Unhealthy alliances. There are soul-selling political alliances between evangelicals and the Republican Party. Correspondingly, the theology of liberal Protestants has become the Democratic Partys platform with just a little prayer added. The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus, Kirill, marches in Vladimir Putins war against Ukraine. One can only wonder: where did Jesus go? Where did reason go? It seems that our worlds Christian leaders are practicing soul abuse.

Churches need to teach their members about discernment, now more than ever, says progressive Patheos columnist, Jayson Bradley. I believe that evangelical Christians are particularly susceptible to believing dangerous conspiracy theories, and they need to learn how to become more discerning. Susceptible? Or responsible for our post-truth society?

Bradley is a progressive who blames evangelicals. Which is more difficult? An alliance binding theologian with scientist and skeptic? Or, an alliance binding evangelicals with progressives?

Perhaps todays public theologian needs to convert the churches to evidence-based reasoning right along with converting the internet. This is a pretty tall order. Perhaps the theologian should seek allies. How about our scientists and our skeptics?[4]

Patheos columnist James McGrath aches when watching Christians contribute to the post-truth culture. The problem of spreading rumorshas the potential to be deeply evil. We must prescribe fighting truth decay within the church while, simultaneously, debunking disinformation in the digital media.

In the most recent issue of Skeptical Inquirer, editor Kendrick Frazier warns us to repent like the prophets warned ancient Israel to repent. Suddenly, says Frazier, the things we skeptics have been warning about for decadesthe dangers of a population unable or unwilling to discern truth from nontruthhave become a mainstream concern(Frazier 9-10/2022).

If this were the 1960s, theologians might call this the secular work of the Holy Spirit. If skeptics live up to their commitment to defend and promote evidence-based reason, then theologians as well as scientists might find them to be good allies. Would an SST Alliance be possible?

Ted Peters pursues Public Theology at the intersection of science, religion, ethics, and public policy. Peters is an emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union, where he co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. His book, God in Cosmic History, traces the rise of the Axial religions 2500 years ago. He previously authored Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom? (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2002) as well as Science, Theology, and Ethics (Ashgate 2003). He is editor of AI and IA: Utopia or Extinction? (ATF 2019). Along with Arvin Gouw and Brian Patrick Green, he co-edited the new book, Religious Transhumanism and Its Critics hot off the press (Roman and Littlefield/Lexington, 2022). Soon he will publish The Voice of Christian Public Theology (ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.

This fictional spy thriller, Cyrus Twelve, follows the twists and turns of a transhumanist plot.

Baldwin, Jennifer. 2018. Knowledge, Power, and Fear: The Role of Religion and Science in Populism and Our Shared Public Life. In Navigating Post-Truth and Alternaive Facts, by ed Jennifer Baldwin, 97-112. Lanham MA: Lexington.

Bouygues, Helen Lee. 9-10/2022. Rebooting Critical Thinking by Julia Lavarnway. Skeptical Inquirer 46:5 18-19.

Frazier, Kendrick. 9-10/2022. Skepticisms Newly Recognized Relevance. Skeptical Inquirer 46:5 4.

Kauffman, Stuart A. 2008. Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion. New York: Basic Books.

Loxton, Daniel. 9-10/2022. Critical Study of Nonsense Finally a Mainstream Concern. Skeptical Inquirer 46:5 14-17.

Peters, Ted. 2018. Public Theology: Its Pastoral, Apologetic, Scientific, Politial, and Prophetic Tasks. International Journal of Public Theology 12:2 153-177; https://brill.com/abstract/journals/ijpt/12/1/ijpt.12.issue-1.xml.

Pope, John Paul II. 1998. Fides et Ratio. Vatican: http://web.archive.org/web/20131001225220/http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ESL0036/_INDEX.HTM.

Smith, Kelly C. 2020. Cosmogenesis, Complexity, and Neo-Natural Faith in the Context of Astrobiology. Religions 11 (12): 1-10.

Stenmark, Lisa. 2018. Modern Political Lying: Science and Religion Critical Discourse in a Post-Truth World. In Navigating Post-Truth and Alternative Facts, by ed Jennifer Baldwin, 3-18. Lanham MA: Lexington.

West, Jevin, and Carl Bergstrom. 4/2021. Misinformation in and about science. PNAS 115:15 https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1912444117.

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Prebunking Disinformation | prebunking disinformation - Patheos