Category Archives: Transhumanist

Welcome to the era of immortalists: scientists, dreamers and crucially billionaires, who want us to think of age as a curable disease, and our final end as something that could be indefinitely postponed. According to one estimate, the revenues of the global anti-ageing industry will increase from about $200bn today to $420bn by 2030. One sure sign of its rosy prospects is the involvement of high-profile people in the US who have made vast fortunes from the internet. If many of them can avoid taxes, why not death?

Death is sort of an affront to American life, wrote Zadie Smith in 2003. Its so anti-aspirational. In tech circles, this kind of distaste for mortality often blurs into the culture of biohacking (fasting, closely tracking your vital signs, gobbling supplements and smart drugs) which is one manifestation of transhumanism: to quote the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary, a belief that the human race can evolve beyond its current limitations, especially by the use of science and technology.

The sums invested in anti-ageing research by such tech players as the Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the Trump-supporting venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, show what happens when such ideas meet big money. The same goes, somewhat predictably, for the activities of the Amazon founder and aspiring astronaut, Jeff Bezos, who has previously funded an anti-ageing setup called Unity Biotechnology, and, via his personal investment vehicle Bezos Expeditions, is now reportedly a donor to a newly founded California venture called Altos Labs. The latter company is apparently going to set up institutes in the US, the UK and Japan, and is recruiting scientists with the offer of big salaries. One insider says its initial aim is to understand rejuvenation; its focus is the kind of biological reprogramming technology focused on the manipulation of cells.

Plenty of other companies they have such names as BioViva, Youthereum Genetics, the Longevity Fund and AgeX Therapeutics are also trying to somehow arrest ageing. Piercing through the research and journalism that surrounds what they are doing, you occasionally get the vague feeling that some of the people involved may eventually come across some or other revelation about age-related diseases, but there is usually a sense of fuzzy, hubristic ideas, and money that would be better spent elsewhere. Anti-ageing research now has a long history, but as far as I can tell, no company working in the field has yet managed to push any therapy to the stage of conclusive clinical trials. In 2012, the Japanese scientist, Shinya Yamanaka, won a Nobel prize for his discovery that bathing single cells in four proteins could rejuvenate them, but using the technique on mice resulted in some developing cancerous tumours.

Besides, even if anti-ageing techniques eventually proved successful, what would be the social and cultural consequences of literally pathologising old age? If we lived much longer, would we also be expected to work indefinitely? How would the planet cope with a hugely increased population, and who would be first in the queue? I think I know some of the answers to the last two questions. They resonate with the negotiations currently going on in Glasgow, and the lifestyles of some of the people gathered there. As my colleague George Monbiot recently pointed out, keeping the average rise in global temperatures to 1.5C demands that each of us is responsible for no more than two tonnes of CO2 a year, whereas the richest 1% of the worlds population are on track to produce an average of more than 70 tonnes a head. Imagine such people jetting around until they were 140, or 200, or even existing forever.

There is something about all this that feels analogous to the space travel efforts of Bezos and Elon Musk, and what those projects seem to say about a relative lack of attention to some urgent issues playing out on the planet that the two men apparently want to escape. In the same way, sizeable investments in attempts to eventually cheat death risk neglecting aspects of ageing that we all face right now. Some of these are about specific illnesses and conditions often linked to getting older. (Bezos, in fairness, has also contributed to dedicated work on cancer and dementia, though I dare say even more help would be welcome.) But there are equally urgent questions centred on peoples everyday lives and potential answers that could certainly do with more help from self-styled philanthropists.

Notwithstanding the effects of the pandemic, the age-frontier of the planets population is already increasing fast. The World Health Organization says that by 2030, 1.4 billion or one in six people in the world will be aged 60 or over, and the number of people aged 80 or older is expected to triple between 2020 and 2050, to 426 million. The UK reflects these trends. But as evidenced by this countrys ongoing contortions about social care, we tend to live in a collective state of denial. Consider also the kind of sad facts for which there are so far no biohacks. Half of all people in the UK aged 75 or over live alone and, according to the charity Age UK, half a million people over the age of 60 usually spend each day in solitude.

Thinking about eternal youth may be a diverting intellectual exercise. But as a matter of scientific fact, we know that strong and stable relationships and immersion in communities result in people living longer and healthier lives, and the loneliness that too often grips peoples later years has the reverse effect. The idea of co-housing, whereby people often of all ages are resident in communities built on mutual help and everyday socialising, embodies exactly that realisation. So, at their best, do the kind of modern retirement villages where people live in their own spaces, and have access not just to company, but an array of services and life-enhancing leisure options.

But how do we recreate those innovations for millions of people? And if we did, what would it mean for our health and care systems, leisure services and transport networks? As against the cliche of retirement to the country or coast, would it be good for older people to live nearer the centre of cities and, if so, how would that work? Most importantly, if there currently is a chronic mismatch between our housing stocks and what an ageing population needs, what do we intend to do about it?

Leaving aside huge questions about their personal and corporate tax arrangements, imagine if the most trailblazing, publicity-attracting projects of 21st-century billionaires involved not leaving the planet or living indefinitely, but the kind of earthbound things that could transform lives in the here and now. Just as the Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie used the money he made in the steel industry to fund the building of 2,500 libraries around the world, they could plough their money into co-housing projects, retirement communities, adult education centres and more. Such things wouldnt be quite as head-turning as the unlikely promise of a world populated by deathless super-humans, but they would be a lot more useful.

Four years ago, scientists at Harvard University published the latest findings of a study of the lives of 268 alumni; it had started in 1938, and was eventually expanded to include people in inner-city Boston. What it said about longevity was striking: not just that close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy, but that those ties are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes. Here is what the immortalism of famous capitalists rather neglects: that the most immediate route to living better and longer lies not in hacking our cells, but helping people to be more human.

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The billion dollar race to defy ageing is the last thing the planet needs - The Guardian

A vaccination volunteer is vaccinating a frontline worker during COVID-19 vaccine dry run. COVID-19 vaccine dry run is happening in all over west Bengal with three sites in Kolkata, 69 in West Bengal. (Photo by Dipayan Bose / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

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When Dr. Carrie Madej took the stage at the MAGA Freedom Rally D.C. on Wednesday, police sirens wailed as pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol. The presidents guest speaker told the crowd, a mix of QAnon supporters and far-right MAGA fans, her thoughts on the COVID vaccine: that it contains bio-sensing nanomachines designed to alter human DNA and control peoples minds.

This is not your normal flu vaccine, Madej said. This is something totally different. This is a witches brew. Ive never seen anything like this in science or medicine.

Theres many ways it can be taken up into our genome, she continued. So when this gets into the genome, if its permanent, guess what? You, as a human, can be patented and ownedlook it up!

Madej describes herself as an osteopathic doctor and a child of God and a believer in Jesus Christ. Shes also a QAnon believer who questions why COVID-19 has been a bigger story than what she describes as a global elite pedophile ring and reposts byzantine diagrams supposedly revealing Bill Gates as the mastermind behind the global pandemic.

This past summer, she was convinced that a long-debunked website advertising the Cannibal Club restaurant in Los Angeles was in fact a real eatery serving human flesh. We taste like pork, she tweeted. Dear Godhelp us change this world for the better!

To many, Madej successfully passes herself off as a medical expert, but she operates at the intersection of QAnon conspiracy theories and anti-vaxxer science, with a dollop of Christian fundamentalism and Trump-worship added to the mix. Yet the unfounded ideas she promotesthat coronavirus vaccines are part of a global effort to change the human genome and control the populationare spreading and have already had an effect. Last month, a pharmacist attempted to destroy 500 doses of Modernas COVID vaccines because he believed they were going to change peoples DNA.

This is not your normal flu vaccine. This is something totally different. This is a witches brew. Ive never seen anything like this in science or medicine.

The specter of DNA-altering vaccines didnt originate with Madej, but shes helped popularize it to the extent that its now just taken as a given in many right-wing spheres, without the need for citation or proof. While Madej has been banned from YouTube, she still has tens of thousands of followers across other social media, like Twitter, Instagram, and Parler. And thousands more heard her unfounded conspiracies on Wednesday when she spoke as a featured guest at the Freedom Rally, alongside the president and several other big names on Team Trump.

Guys, listen, that is the ulterior motive, that is one of the agendas of this: the ultimate enslavement of humanity, she said, Wake up! Wake up! Do your due diligence. Look this up. This is real.

Needless to say, the idea that a coronavirus vaccine contains spying, mind-controlling nanomachines has been debunked. They do not affect or interact with our DNA in any way, the CDC writes, in no uncertain terms, about the shots.

Madej says she started studying vaccines as a teenager, when she first came to doubt the tetanus vaccine. (She claims to be unable to find anyone who ever actually died from tetanus.) After earning her doctorate of osteopathic medicine from the Kansas City University of Medical Biosciences, she went on to practice in Georgia.

She currently lives in the Dominican Republic, she says, because its not safe for whistleblowers like her in the United Statesher long-standing skepticism about vaccines, after all, is dangerous knowledge when elites are pushing coronavirus vaccinations for their own agenda.

Madej first began sounding the alarm about supposed gene-altering vaccines in June on YouTube. The site eventually pulled her video for being misleading and blocked her account, but you can still easily find her video titled Human 2.0 Warning - Doctor Issues Wake Up Call to the World.

Wearing a labcoat and a cross around her neck, Madej appears as a talking head on a soft blue backdrop. Over the course of 20 minutes, she focuses on Modernas vaccine, which uses messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA, to produce an immune response in humans. Although theyve been researched for decades, COVID-19 vaccines are the first mRNA vaccines approved by the FDA.

Most people are familiar with injecting a piece of weakened or inactivated germ into the body for inoculation, like the flu vaccine. The COVID vaccines work differently: They contain a piece of the coronavirus mRNA that, once inside the body, provokes cells to produce a distinctive (but harmless) part of the virusa spike protein. The immune system, in turn, learns to defend against this protein, thereby creating antibodies that can protect from actual COVID infection.

Madej claims that process changes a recipients DNA, making them a genetically modified organism thats subject to patent law. Further, she contends, the vaccines use nanotechnologya word that simply describes extremely small tools but is often associated with tiny computers. Those tiny computers, she claims, can be used to both monitor everything happening inside our bodies and possibly remote-control our thoughts and emotions.

Although the COVID vaccines do use nanotechnology, its not computersits simply extremely small droplets that carry the mRNA into the body. Theres no massive DNA reprogramming and nanobot-insertion program designed as a part of a transhumanist push to "Human 2.0.

Nevertheless, Madejs story found an audienceand continues to. As of late July, her YouTube video had 300,000 views, according to BBC, and archives suggest her videos were still available under her name on the platform in late August, with tens of thousands of subscribers and millions of views. Even now, supporters try to sneak her videos past YouTubes safeguards.

The idea that the COVID vaccine will alter a recipient's DNA even recently led to criminal charges. Last month, Steven Brandenburg, a 46-year-old pharmacist from Grafton, Wisconsin, attempted to destroy more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine because he reportedly thought it could hurt people by changing their DNA," according to the detective who took his probable cause statement. Its unclear whether Brandenburg was directly exposed to Madejs content, but it doesnt matterher ideas are in the ether now, carried on the winds of right-wing social platforms and media.

Since being banned from YouTube, Madej has made her home on BitChute, where she has more than 2,000 subscribers. Shes on Parler, too, with 2,800 followers; she follows lawyer and Trump conspiracist Lin Wood, the Daily Caller, Breitbart, Ron and Rand Paul, and Bongino Report. And on Twitter, she emphasizes her medical credentials (her Twitter handle is @DrMadej and her avatar features her with a stethoscope around her neck) while encouraging her more than 26,000 followers to resist vaccination.

Our genome should not be played with like a Fisher-Price playset, she tweeted on Tuesday. Say No to being in these dangerous experiments. Say No to the Va$$i&e.

Her Instagram account with 6,500 followers is a constant feed of vaccine conspiracy theories. Alongside one meme showing The Munsters, with one normal, smiling blonde family member, is the caption, That one family member who refused the vaccine. She also once posted a screenshot of the CDCs tongue-in-cheek guide to zombie preparedness and asked with no apparent irony, Why is this on the CDC website?

Of course, Madej has chatted with Alex Jones, still the semi-tarnished king of conspiracy mongering, and he opened his interview by saluting her for her courage. Farther afield, shes appeared on the podcast of anti-vaxxer Robyn Openshaw. She joined Christian preacher Bradlee Dean, whom Popular Information calls a super-spreader of health misinformation, on Facebook Live, likely violating any number of Facebook rules while telling viewers that the coronavirus vaccine is also causing HIV. Bradlee Dean has almost 800,000 followers.

Madej is also a mutual Twitter follower of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, the radical anti-vaxxer who has called out the impending transhumanist plot, saying Bill Gates is behind it all and is working toward blocking out the sun. Dr. Ben Tapper similarly trades on his medical authority, while telling his 15 thousand Twitter followers that the vaccine will change their DNA.

In other words, the belief in gene-altering, nanobot-spying, mind-controlling vaccines is now bigger than Madej, one of its earliest, most persuasive, and prominent proponents. And with people like her stoking paranoia, next time it might not be the Capitol thats besieged by angry MAGA-hat wearing believersbut a stockpile of life-saving vaccines instead.

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The more AI gets established, the more likely it will be forgotten that decisions can ultimately only be made by humans, says the psychiatrist-philosopher

Thomas Fuchs is a psychiatrist and philosopher who lives and practises in Heidelberg, Germany. He holds the prestigious Karl Jaspers Chair for philosophical foundations of psychiatry and psychotherapy at Heidelberg University, where he is a senior physician in the psychiatric unit and heads the department of Phenomenological Psychopathology. In this exclusive interview, he talks about AI, data-driven societies, and contests the transhumanist notion that human beings are fundamentally imperfect and need to be reshaped and enhanced.

What I think needs a defence today is the humanistic image of man. At the centre of this image is the human person as a physical or embodied being, as a free, self-determining being, and ultimately as an essentially social being connected with others. The definitions that constitute a humanistic, personal image of humanity culminate in the concept of human dignity, understood as the claim to recognition that human beings raise through their bodily existence and co-existence. To what extent is this self-image of man currently under challenge?

In his book Homo Deus (2017), historian Yuval Noah Harari has sketched out a gloomy scenario for the future, according to which scientific and technological progress will gradually render the liberal and humanistic view of humanity obsolete. According to Harari, we will increasingly surrender to the algorithms, data analyses, and forecasts of artificial intelligence, as they can already provide better information about the future than our limited human intelligence: Homo sapiens is an obsolete algorithm, he says.

More generally, with the progress of artificial intelligence, digitalisation of the life world, and the reduction of the mind to neuronal processes, the human being appears more and more a product of data and algorithms. Thus, we conceive ourselves in the image of our machines, and conversely, we elevate our machines and brains to new subjects. At the same time, demands for an enhancement of human nature culminate in transhumanist visions of taking human evolution to a new stage. Against this self-reification of the human being, my book defends a humanism of embodiment: our corporeality, aliveness, and embodied freedom are the foundations of a self-determined existence, which uses new technologies only as a means instead of submitting to them.

This is not an easy question to answer. Classical humanism is undoubtedly anthropocentric to a high degree, and this can no longer be sustained today. Its lack of consideration of our embeddedness in the earthly environment is all too palpable today in the ecological crisis. The post-humanist criticism of anthropocentrism, however, overshoots the mark. To radically question or even want to overcome man because of his misconduct towards nature is absurd humans are the only beings who can take responsibility for the world, there are no others. As I write in my introduction: Even an ecological redefinition of our relationship with the earthly environment will succeed only if our own embodiment and aliveness as connectedness or conviviality with our natural environment is at its centre. The death of the subject much invoked by postmodernism would also be the end of the collective effort to save the earth algorithms, cyborgs, or post-human beings will not do this in our place.

Apart from the many positive possibilities of digital technologies, one of their main dangers is that they provide forms of technocratic regulation and manipulation of society that push freedom further and further back. We will be increasingly willing to get rid of the burden of our own responsibility and hand it over to machines and their algorithms. In this way, international IT companies on the one hand, and authoritarian regimes and state apparatuses on the other, are increasingly taking control of our lives.

The more the idea of AI as a supposedly superior form of analysis, prediction, and evaluation becomes established, the more likely it will be forgotten that decisions, with all their imponderables, can ultimately only be made by humans. Responsibility is no technical category; it cannot be passed on to artificial systems. But if we conceive of ourselves as objects, be it as algorithms or as neuronally determined apparatuses, then we forget our fundamental capacity of freedom and responsibility, and we surrender ourselves to the rule of those who seek to manipulate such apparatuses and to control them socio-technologically.

The term intelligence is derived from the Latin intelligere to see, understand, comprehend. It, therefore, presupposes subjectivity, namely someone who sees or understands something; above all, someone able to see himself and his situation from a higher perspective, so that he can find creative solutions to problems based on an overview. For example, he who leaves signs on his way through a forest to find his way back later, acts intelligently.

So, if we use the term intelligence to describe the ability to grasp oneself or a situation from a superordinate perspective in order to solve problems, then we certainly cannot attribute such abilities to any apparatus that lacks consciousness. The term intelligent is used here only improperly, just as one does not assume that a smartphone is really smart it only blindly executes programs that can be described as cleverly developed. The supposed intelligence of AI is, therefore, only borrowed: each of these programs is only as smart or sophisticated as the programmer who designed it.

The transformation of our social interactions into a semi-virtual screen experience is a mass experiment and we do not yet know how it will affect our psyche and social life; nor do we know what the consequences of social isolation and gradual de-realisation will be. In any case, being bodily together in a real space is still the most effective form of presence. And touch and resistance are the primary test of reality. The increasing transformation of our relations with the world into images and virtual spaces is already undermining our shared reality. Research has shown that conspiracy theories (e.g. Trumps stolen election or COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs) are mostly spread among people with reduced or missing social contacts, who compensate their loneliness by means of Internet echo chambers. We should keep this in mind when singing the praises of digitalisation. Humans are social beings in need of bodily resonance and contact; they need the physical presence of other people, otherwise they will dry out like plants in the sand.

It is true that increasing digitisation is resulting in a disembodiment of social relationships, which is making some of the differences tied to the body, its appearance, its gender, etc. less meaningful or even eliminating them. Whether this will contribute to higher justice and equality of individuals, however, can be doubted. Because the lived body is ultimately also our principium individuationis if it is replaced by a digital pattern or cluster of information received through social media, we will be formally more equal, but at the cost of losing our bodily presence, our appearance, our charisma. That seems like a bad deal to me.

I think that it is only through intersubjectivity that we attain reality in a genuine sense: the experience of that which exists independently of our subjective, momentary perception. This experience requires transcending our subjective, egocentric relationship to the environment, which only becomes possible through the experience of an alien subjectivity. Only the other, and especially his gaze, breaks through my subjective horizon and forms a reality beyond my own. This also fundamentally changes space it is no longer just surrounding space or environment, but an intersubjective space.

As I like to say: Even Robinson Crusoe saw his island for 10 years through the eyes of others it belonged to a common world, although nobody else saw it. Only in dreams do we dive into a purely egocentric world, where everything refers only to ourselves.

I dont know Agambens critique in detail. I have only read that he doubted at the beginning whether the pandemic was not just an invention, which was, of course, nonsense. That the state of emergency must always remain a temporary state in need of clear justification is, however, essential for a democracy on this, we probably agree.

Seralathan teaches German at Goethe Institut Chennai and Milind teaches German language and literature at IIT-Madras.

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Humans are the only beings who can take responsibility for the world, there are no others: Thomas Fuchs - The Hindu

There may be no more definitively 2021 musical artist than PinkPantheress. Huge on TikTok, just barely past her teens, drenched in nostalgia for Y2K-era dance music, founded on overt sampling, intersecting with prevailing movements like bedroom pop and hyperpop and the pop-punk revival this still mostly anonymous 20-year-old university student from South London could not be more zeitgeisty if she tried. And with the release of her debut mixtape to hell with it this Friday, she becomes the latest organic viral sensation to be swept up into the major-label machine.

Although the oldest post on PinkPantheress TikTok account dates back to last Christmas, its the second video the one posted Jan. 29, captioned day 11 of posting a song every day bc i have nothing else to do that marks the proper beginning of her story. The 12-second clip found her with her face obscured singing over a sample of Flowers, UK garage duo Sweet Female Attitudes Erik Satie-inspired classic from 2000 (the year before PinkPantheress was born in Bath). Its 8 oclock in the morning, now Im entering my bed/ Had a few dreams about you, I cant tell you what we did, she sang, before collapsing into playful la la las that belied the heartache and longing on display in the lyrics. From its woozy, almost vaporwave-like keyboard loop to its airy singsong vocal, the track resembled Clairos bedroom-pop staple Pretty Girl reborn for the dance floor. Pain quickly took off on the platform, and with that, the PinkPantheress hype train had left the station.

Within days she had shared another song built on an instantly recognizable UK garage sample: Attracted To You flipped Just Jacks ska-infused 2007 smash Starz In Their Eyes into dreamy dance music that could almost slot into the Avalanches Since I Left You without missing a beat. More sample-based tracks ensued. Break It Off deployed Adam Fs drum n bass classic Circles as the canvas for a playfully flirtatious melodic flutter. Last Valentines turned a churning, translucent break from the early Linkin Park deep cut Forgotten into breathy, spidery dance-tinged rock.

Soon she was singing over original production that continued to evoke classic drum n bass and garage sounds. Those frenetic digital drums coursed through Noticed I Cried, produced by indie striver turned studio mainstay Oscar Scheller. Helmed by IZCO and Jkarri, Passion laced similar beats with soft acoustic guitars out of a pop-R&B ballad from the same era. Produced by Mura Masa, Just For Me topped off further acoustic textures with an android-like hyperpop vocal; its my favorite PinkPantheress track to date, one that most clearly affirms her potential to be a paradigm-shifting figure.

By spring Pain was on Spotify and rapidly climbing various viral charts. By summer the first round of interviews was popping up, with PinkPantheress repeatedly describing her sound as new nostalgic and citing the influence of Lily Allen and Hayley Williams. Just as quickly backlash arose, mostly from listeners old enough to recognize the source material. Critics have derided PinkPantheress for defiling the classics, reignited debates about obvious samples that date back to the height of No Way Out and Big Willie Style. Ive seen questions about whether anyone beyond Gen Z is too old to listen to PinkPantheress (echoing similar ridiculous discourse about Olivia Rodrigo this year) and speculation about when Drake will inevitably jump on one of her tracks. She has become a controversial figure before ever dropping an album.

Not that shes really releasing an album this week either. Out Friday on Parlophone, to hell with it compiles most of PinkPantheress early hits into a breezy 18-minute introductory statement. As a mixtape its kind of slight, which is in keeping with its TikTok origins and far preferable to a bloated tracklist full of cool-hunting guest-star interlopers. This is a collection you might find yourself running back from the top several times over. And anyhow, 10 quick tracks is more than enough to establish PinkPantheress talent for breathy, fragile, tender-but-chilly topline melodies. On tracks like Nineteen she reminds me quite a bit of Grimes, her predecessor in polarizing hyper-online pop stardom, with a coy British accent and none of the transhumanist sci-fi tendencies. Its a compelling voice, and the samples and originals behind it cohere into a distinct and pleasing sonic template that tweaks those retro dance styles just enough to make them feel hypermodern. PinkPantheress may not have pioneered this aesthetic, but for better or worse it belongs to her now. Im excited to see where she takes it.

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PinkPantheress 'to hell with it' Review: The TikTok Phenom's Debut Mixtape - Stereogum

David Cronenberg plays Spencer Galloway, a megawealthy, cruel patriarch of a dysfunctional family, in Slasher: Flesh and Blood.

Cole Burston/Handout

Over the years, David Cronenbergs oeuvre and his persona have fused into something, well, Cronenbergian.

In the films he writes and/or directs his earlier, squishier output (Scanners, The Fly); his 1990s mindbenders (Naked Lunch, eXistenZ); his more recent, human-nature-is-scary-enough work (Eastern Promises, A Dangerous Method); and his most recent, the evolution thriller Crimes of the Future, which he shot this past summer hes a neo-existentialist.

I think the human body is what we are, Cronenberg, 78, said in a phone interview last week. When it dies, were dead. Theres no afterlife, no God. We have to come to terms with that. The subject matter of all art is the human condition, and for me thats a physical thing. So its inevitable that my filmmaking is going to involve the body in a very intimate and impactful way.

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In his real life, Cronenberg is gentle, courtly, intelligent. He projects an air of unflappable civility. His gaze is calm and unblinking. His voice is as mild and pleasant as butter scratching across white toast.

We shot Crimes of the Future in Athens during an intense heat wave, 45 degrees, wildfires burning on the horizon, Don McKellar, who plays a bureaucrat in the film, told me in a separate phone interview. Davids ability to maintain calm and keep his sense of humour was remarkable. His movies are so personal and idiosyncratic, you expect a kind of autocratic vision, but it doesnt feel like that on his set. Hes incredibly engaging, personable, nonhierarchical. He inspires trust and loyalty. Douglas Koch, the director of photography, remarked to me that David should set up a school on how to make movies. Not just technically, but how to make them enjoyable to work on.

Cronenberg's most recent thriller, Crimes of the Future, was shot this past summer in Athens.

Cole Burston/Handout

When Cronenberg acts, however, the characters he plays morph with the person he is to create a delicious uneasiness. No matter the role, were also watching him and we know how his mind works. We see the skull beneath the skin. Think of his silken assassin in To Die For, his ungodly reverend in Alias Grace, or his scientist in Disappearance at Clifton Hill, where his mere entrance, flapping out of the water in a frogman suit, elicits nervous titters from an audience.

No wonder the creators of the anthology series Slasher wanted Cronenberg to headline their fourth season, Flesh & Blood. The minute we announced his casting, fans began direct-messaging me to say how much he freaks them out, Slasher writer Ian Carpenter said in a joint Zoom interview with showrunner Aaron Martin. (Season four premieres Oct. 4 on Hollywood Suite.)

Cronenberg plays Spencer Galloway, a villain who could not be more on trend: a megawealthy, cruel patriarch of a dysfunctional family, a la Brian Cox in Succession and Donald Sutherland in Trust. In the Galloway family, however, dysfunction includes dismemberment. Spencer, who is dying, sets up an elaborate competition among his potential heirs; only the winner inherits all. Meanwhile, a killer stalks the isolated family compound as players are eliminated from the contest, theyre also eliminated from Earth, in grandiosely grotesque ways.

I got to do things Ive never had a chance to do, in acting or in life, Cronenberg said gleefully. I got to yell at people and say foul things to my children. I said to my own children, You see how I could have been? It was a lot of fun. It was cathartic. I loved it.

David brought intellectual ferocity to his character, but this lovely energy to the set, Carpenter said. We shot these long dinner table scenes; the actors sat there for much of the day. In between takes David told story after story. We had rich writing conversations, about how he comes to his work as a writer first. He celebrates the stuff that everyone else wants to turn away from, be it behaviour, or things in the body. He has no shyness, no reservations about exploring anything.

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Crimes of the Future sounds like vintage Cronenberg. He wrote the script in 2000, but it sat untouched until producer Robert Lantos convinced him it was timelier now than ever. Its set in a near future where nature and evolution have spun out of control. Some humans, including a performance artist played by Viggo Mortensen, are adapting by growing new organs or merging with technology becoming transhuman. Some are evolving past pain, able to operate on themselves. Others resist, including McKellars bureaucrat and his colleague, played by Kristen Stewart.

David is exploring the limits of what it means to be human, McKellar said. Does our identity transcend the body? Its an incredibly rich question, tied into our cyber lives, how were transferring our inner lives to technology, incorporating our online life into our personalities. Wheres the line? Does the authentic self mean anything anymore?

Creators of the anthology series Slasher got Cronenberg to headline their fourth season, Flesh & Blood.

Cole Burston/Handout

Not surprisingly, Cronenberg is a tech-embracer. In the 1940s and 50s, technology was often conceived of as something that came from outer space, menacing and inhuman, he said. But for me technology is 100 per cent human it reflects back to us what we are, its an extension of ourselves. Im listening to you through my hearing aids, which are streaming directly to my phone. Those are my ears now.

Like all Cronenberg projects, Crimes of the Future took years to finance. Its conservativism, he said. If youre doing anything outside the mainstream that seems to be risky not transgressively risky, but risky in terms of audience reaction its hard to get made.

He hoped that streaming services would be much more radical, but an experience with Netflix proved otherwise. He went to their Los Angeles office and pitched three of their top executives on a series called The Shrouds (which he still hopes to sell, so thats all hell say). They paid him to write two episodes, but didnt green light the series.

My experience with them was exactly my experience with studios, Cronenberg said. Theyre bright, literate, they know stuff. But underneath theyre afraid. They say, We love your work. Then you give them something, and they say, We want to work with you, but not on this.

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Whats remarkable is what David can get made, McKellar countered. Im sure hes explored the limits. Hes never pandered to commercial audiences, even with his most commercial stuff, like The Fly. Im sure its always been a struggle. But somehow hes maintained his career without compromise and thats amazing.

Ive learned so much from him about how a career in Canada as a filmmaker is possible, McKellar continued. How to maintain integrity, to adhere to and expand your vision. I can think of no one whos done that better.

As our time ran out, I asked Cronenberg one last question: if were our bodies and nothing more, how does he feel about being 78? Things are going on with my body, he replied. Im not as flexible, Ive got aches, strange neurological pains that happen for no reason. But it hasnt altered my understanding of life and death. I think I anticipated it relatively accurately, even from my youth.

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David Cronenberg is ready for the terrifying future, as both director and actor, too - The Globe and Mail

Not too long ago, a collaboration between adidas and transhuman creator Ruby 9100M emergeda partnership that allowed for the digital world and the world of footwear to collide. The adidas Ozrah resulted from the joint efforts, becoming one of the brands most interesting silhouettes yet. This adidas Ozweego-variant is now joining the Three Stripes brands mainstay line as it introduces a clean Bliss/Cloud White/Mint Ton colorway.

Velvety, neoprene-like materials construct the upper in a mix of cream shades. A TPU cage in a matching tone wraps around the upper for a bold, 360-degree look. Suede overlays around the toe and heel tab as well as the partially translucent Adiprene midsole deliver a casual aesthetic that is still futuristic. A touch of aqua on the tubular details found on the heel as well as a blue-coated outsole round out the look with a much-needed pop of color.

Enjoy official images of the adidas Ozrah below, which is available now at adidas overseas. Details on a stateside adidas.com release are yet to be announced.

In other Three Stripes-related news, the adidas Yeezy Boost 700 Wash Orange is confirmed for an October release.

: N/AStyle Code: N/A

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Make sure to follow @kicksfinder for live tweets during the release date.

Mens: N/AStyle Code: Q46433

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EuropeSep 22nd, 2021 (Wednesday)

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The adidas Ozrah Is An Expressive, New Take On The OZWEEGO - Sneaker News

How can we learn to comprehend and relate to shifts of our changing contemporary world? Online platform and discussion forum NEW NOW is launching this weekend with a programme of expert bi-monthly talks, with panellists including philosophers, artists, activists, and researchers.

The platforms inaugural event, Neomythologies and the disintegration of reality, will go live on 18 September at 6pm BST. Viewers can join philosophers Federico Campagna and Reza Negasterani, as they talk to Sarah Shin, co-founder of feminist publishing house Silver Press on how revisiting myths can help humanity adapt to climate change and promote gender equality.

Organised by St Petersburgs The Manege Central Exhibition Hall, the platform will stream events online for free in English and Russian. Prior to each talk, the platform will also publish a curated list of suggested readings.

What drives the programme is the absolute uniqueness of the present moment. Humanity as a whole is facing the necessity to analyse its history and where it has led us, curator Anna Kirikova told The Calvert Journal. As American writer William Gibson famously said back in the 1990s: The Future is already here. It is just not evenly distributed. The NEW NOW is one of the means to put the unevenly distributed pieces together, and allow us to accept challenges and risks, get insights into opportunities, and indeed take a better control of our own fate and shared future.

While details on future talks are still to be announced, the programme promises discussions on mental health, environmentalism, transhumanism, and the idea of post-truth.

Continued here:
New Now: a programme of online talks seeks to find answers to the dilemmas of our rapidly-changing world - The Calvert Journal

Legendary Metal Hurlant inventor Jean-Pierre Dunet will headline the 33rd edition of the FID from September 25-26 in Perpignan.

80 vinyl exhibitors and about ten comic book exhibitors will attend in Perpignan. They come from all over the world, mainly from Europe, France, Belgium and Spain. It will be possible to buy, sell as well as trade during this recording and comics fair. In addition to this space, various events are planned around the event:

The cover of Mtal Hurlant that will appear on September 29, 2021 after a 15-year disappearance. Drawing by Ugo Benveno

Organizers expect for this edition between 3,500 and 4,500 visitors. A health permit will be requested.

The full program is available for consultation Here.

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Perpignan: Metal Hairlant creator on the bill at the International Festival of Records and Comics - Tech News Inc

Brian Armstrong, CEO of popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has disclosed that he and other crypto enthusiasts have made significant donations toward research to prolong life.

Armstrong, who made this known in a Twitter post today, said they all made an undisclosed amount of donation to the $2.5 million longevity research project in dogs launched by Matt Kaeberlein, a co-director at Dog Aging Project.

At the moment, the research team is focused on dogs as a breakthrough in the species could mean the feat can be successfully replicated in humans since dogs share the human environment, Armstrong said.

It is worth noting that the Coinbase CEO did not disclose whether his donation was made in cryptocurrency or fiat.

While the post was made to inform his over 828,000 followers about the ongoing project, the crypto mogul also used the opportunity to seek more funding, since the project still requires an additional $200,000 to reach the $2.5 million requirement.

I made a donation along with a number of others from the crypto community and we are close to hitting the $2.5m. But they need to raise the final $200k, excerpt of his tweet reads.

In response to Armstrongs calls, Peter Xing, co-founder of Transhuman Coin, a crypto initiative focused on funding research and development to solve disabilities and various diseases, said the company will be donating to the longevity project as he hopes to:

Make the aging process a treatable disease in our lifetimes and for future generations to come.

The initiative was originally funded through a grant from the National Institute on Aging, making it possible for the Dog Aging Project to enroll 350 dogs into the program.

The company is seeking to increase the number of dogs it would be studying and has requested for funds from interested individuals.

Once the $2.5 million funding is complete, it would help the research institute increase the number of dogs it is currently researching from 350 to 580.

The research will focus on the Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs (TRIAD), to discover whether the Rapamycin drug can slow aging and increase lifespan in middle-aged companion dogs by 9%.

Meanwhile, Armstrong, who recently called out the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for refusing Coinbases crypto loan initiative from launch, is not the first popular cryptocurrency enthusiast to donate to longevity research in different species.

Back in 2018, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum donated $2.4 million worth of Ethereum to The SENS Research Foundation, a charity organization focused on treating age-related disease and extending peoples biological ages.

Earlier this year, Buterin also made a similar donation worth $2million in ether to Methuselah Foundation, a non-profit poised to reduce aging in humans and the parent organization of the SENS Research Foundation.

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Coinbase CEO and Others Donate Nearly $2.5M to Fight Aging - Coinfomania

Hot off a highly successful earnings season for Crocs, the clog maker has its eyes set on higher goals for the coming years. The cult-favorite has officially revealed plans to hit $5 billion USD in sales by 2026, which translates to a compound annual growth rate of more than 17% starting from 2021.

Crocs CEO Andrew Rees says, Looking forward, we expect the Crocs brand to grow to over $5 billion in sales by 2026. We are confident in our ability to deliver this growth while maintaining industry-leading profitability, creating significant shareholder value, and having a positive impact on our planet and our communities.

In order to reach their 2026 goal, the companys plans are devised to focus on four key areas of growth including, digital sales, increasing market share in the sandals market as well as in Asia and further product and marketing innovation. Back in July, Crocs surpassed Q2 expectations with a reported revenue growth of 93% and quarterly net earnings hitting $319 million USD. Sales from e-commerce and brand-owned retail stores contributed to 52% of Q2 earnings with an increased 78.6% year over year sale. Crocs expects that at least half of its total earnings in 2026 will come from digital sales.

The focus on digital and direct-to-consumer sales began earlier this year when Crocs announced it was ending business relationships with some of its long time wholesaler partners. Crocs is also making big moves into sustainability, committing to achieving net-zero by 2030.

In case you missed it, CGI Transhuman RUBY 9100M is getting futuristic with adidas Consortiums Ozrah.

Link:
Crocs Unveils Plans To Achieve Over $5 Billion USD in Sales by 2026 - HYPEBEAST