A A
Today, well be discussing how a Selena Gomez song might foreshadow humanitys triumph over biological death but first, raise your hand if you remember EDM. It was short for electronic dance music, a style once poised to eat the planet for lunch, and then eat itself for dessert.
Five summers ago, as a new league of superstar DJs were being paid astronomical amounts of money to perform at packed festivals the world over, the musics sustainability didnt appear to be at the forefront of anyones mind. In 2015, Forbes reported that the EDM bubble was about to burst. In 2016, Pitchfork made the case that it had.
But this unofficial collapse hasnt forced the star producers of EDM to unplug their laptops and register for the GRE. In fact, plenty are faring exceptionally well this summer, taking up residence on the Billboard Hot 100 after partnering up with an array of willing pop vocalists Calvin Harris with Pharrell, the Chainsmokers with Coldplay, David Guetta with Justin Bieber.
These kinds of genre-splicing collaborations arent anything new, but with EDM now in decline, theyve quietly reversed their polarity. Instead of making dance tracks that behave like pop songs, these producers now appear to be making pop songs that behave a little more like dance tracks.
In most instances, the result is just a mirror-image of the same old thing, but for a certain class of pop singers, it seems to be changing the way they apply their physicality to a geometric dance rhythm. You can hear it on the radio this summer whenever Gomez goes hopscotching across the grid of Kygos It Aint Me, or when Alessia Cara leans hard against the right-angles of Zedds Stay, or in the way Halsey seems to be gasping for air in the digital vacuum of her solo single, Now or Never. All three songs are delivered with mechanical clarity, with all three vocalists making direct lyrical references to eternity. Are they singing about transhumanism?
Not long after our species learned how to dream, we were probably dreaming of ways to exceed the limitations of our bodies. Its the stuff of religions and comic books. Now, its the work of Silicon Valley, where a growing number of transhumanists believe that mankinds next evolutionary leap will occur once we figure out how to convert consciousness into code, allowing for a digital transmigration of souls.
In his recent book, To Be a Machine, author Mark OConnell describes transhumanism as a liberation movement advocating nothing less than a total emancipation from biology itself. That emancipation means eternal life inside a supercomputer. Heaven is a hard drive.
The idea isnt so shocking if you watch Black Mirror, or if you listen to pop music. For well over a decade now, Auto-Tune software has been narrowing the musical gap between humans and machines, generating signature hooks for everyone from T-Pain to Future.
However, whether we as listeners embrace Auto-Tune as a tool or denounce it as a crutch often depends on whos singing through it. When Kanye West uses computer software to manipulate his voice, hes an artist. When Britney Spears does the same thing, shes a girl who cant sing.
That double standard helps to explain why Ellie Goulding hasnt been recognized as one of the more significant pop vocalists of our time. The British singer always had bright ideas about phrasing, but it wasnt until she loaned her voice to a few juggernaut EDM singles that her singing began to feel totally frictionless. And it had more to do with Gouldings inflection than whatever digital processing she was applying to it. By the time she released her 2015 album, Delirium, Goulding was weaving the curves of her voice through a world of clean-edged rhythms as if drawing a map to the future.
With Now or Never, Halsey has that map folded-up her back pocket. Its a slower, stronger, smarter, more spacious song than Closer, her massive EDM hit with the Chainsmokers, and it gives the 22-year-old the opportunity to do some captivating things with her breath. When shes breathing in, shes all human, taking sharp little hits of oxygen that dramatize the ballads sustained romantic ache. But when shes breathing out, shes at least half-machine, singing about pain with precision. Listen close to how she lingers on the words now, time and forever. The grain in her voice sounds like its pixelating.
Alessia Caras Stay a collaboration with the German EDM producer, Zedd addresses the gap between data and soul in the form of a simple duet, with a refrain thats delivered in two parts. First comes Cara pushing her voice especially hard into the songs rigid architecture. Then comes a gush of synthesized melodies pantomiming what the 21-year-old just sang. Its a game of call-and-response, but the call sounds big-hearted, and the response sounds no-hearted, giving the dialogue a sinister glint. Cara is singing about forestalling a separation, but she might as well be teaching the HAL 9000 how to sing Daisy.
With It Aint Me, Norwegian producer Kygo isnt playing a game so much as conducting a test one in which Selena Gomez must first coo alongside a gently-plucked guitar, and then over the relentless thuds of sub-woofing bass. As the song builds its graceless crescendo, the coffee shop turns into a rave, with the most promising 25-year-old in pop showing us how she can make her voice feel artificial in an intimate setting and expressive in an anonymous one.
Originally posted here:
Pop music moves a step closer to eternal life - The Columbian
- Transhumanist Values - Nick Bostrom [Last Updated On: March 23rd, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 23rd, 2016]
- Transhumanism | Foreign Policy [Last Updated On: March 23rd, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 23rd, 2016]
- Transhumanism | Foreign Policy [Last Updated On: March 24th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 24th, 2016]
- Transhumanism: An Attempt To Use Technology To Turn Men Into Gods ... [Last Updated On: March 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 25th, 2016]
- transhumanism | social and philosophical movement | Britannica.com [Last Updated On: March 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 25th, 2016]
- Transhumanism | Bioethics.com [Last Updated On: March 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 25th, 2016]
- Transhumanism - RationalWiki [Last Updated On: March 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 25th, 2016]
- transhumanism | social and philosophical movement | Britannica.com [Last Updated On: March 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 26th, 2016]
- Transhumanism Wikipedia [Last Updated On: March 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 26th, 2016]
- Transhumanism | Bioethics.com [Last Updated On: March 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 26th, 2016]
- Transhumanism by Julian Huxley (1957) [Last Updated On: March 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 26th, 2016]
- Transhumanism - End Times Bible Prophecy [Last Updated On: March 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 26th, 2016]
- Transhumanism: The History of a Dangerous Idea: David ... [Last Updated On: March 27th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 27th, 2016]
- The Politics of Transhumanism - Changesurfer [Last Updated On: March 28th, 2016] [Originally Added On: March 28th, 2016]
- Outline of transhumanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 15th, 2016]
- ThinkBeyond.us | What Is Transhumanism? [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Transhumanisme | Don Juan: Wozu bermenschlich, wenn du ... [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Teilhard de Chardin and Transhumanism [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Transhumanisme | Don Juan: Wozu bermenschlich, wenn du ... [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Vaccination Agenda: An Implicit Transhumanism / Dehumanism [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Synthetic Life - Robotoids, Parasites and Artificial ... [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- Immortality, Transhumanism, and Ray Kurzweils Singularity [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2016]
- Transhumanism: The World's Most Dangerous Idea? [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2016]
- Transhumanism in fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2016]
- ThinkBeyond.us | What Is Transhumanism? [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2016]
- Library : Transhumanism | Catholic Culture [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2016]
- Hidden In Plain Sight 4 Movies That Expose The Globalist ... [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2016]
- Transhumanism Australia [Last Updated On: September 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 14th, 2016]
- Transhumanism - Transhumanismo [Last Updated On: October 1st, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 1st, 2016]
- Transhumanism The History of a Dangerous Idea [Last Updated On: November 27th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 27th, 2016]
- What is transhumanism, or, what does it mean to be human? | ExtremeTech [Last Updated On: November 27th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 27th, 2016]
- Trexit?: Transnationalism and Transhumanism and why They ... [Last Updated On: January 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 13th, 2017]
- Sociologist: 'Capitalism 2.0' about to slay liberalism's sacred cow - WND.com [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Transhumanism: Genetic Engineering of Man - the New ... [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- One Response to Buddhism and Transhumanism - Lankaweb [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Touring transhumanism 'To Be a Machine' - Maine Edge [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- The Reality Principle - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2017]
- Essay collection Nietzsche and Transhumanism: Precursor or Enemy? To be Released - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2017]
- Brave New Transhumanism World - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2017]
- Can Transhumanism Help Achieve Human Immortality? - Science World Report [Last Updated On: March 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 23rd, 2017]
- Transhumanism: An Attempt To Use Technology To Turn Men Into ... [Last Updated On: March 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 23rd, 2017]
- Covert Transhumanism: A Mind Control Documentary - YouTube [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2017]
- Transhumanism Is Just Fancy Sex-Shaming And Self-Loathing - The Federalist [Last Updated On: April 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 7th, 2017]
- Spectrum: Transhumanism, human uploads, and Homo Deus - Deutsche Welle [Last Updated On: April 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 12th, 2017]
- Transhumanism Is Just Fancy Sex-Shaming And Self-Loathing [Last Updated On: April 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 12th, 2017]
- Transhumanism University of Minnesota Press [Last Updated On: April 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 25th, 2017]
- 'Prey' (PS4) review: More hybrid than human, and that's OK - Auburn Citizen [Last Updated On: May 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 22nd, 2017]
- Guardian Weekly letters, 26 May 2017 - The Guardian [Last Updated On: May 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: May 23rd, 2017]
- 4 life-changing emerging technologies to get excited about - Born2Invest [Last Updated On: June 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 9th, 2017]
- Radicals Chasing Utopia Sets out to Be Your User Guide to Radical Movements - HuffPost [Last Updated On: June 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 14th, 2017]
- Peter Thiel is Funding the Comeback of the Woolly Mammoth - Inverse [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- Futuristic Thriller State of Mind Gets 15 Minutes of New Gameplay Footage - DualShockers [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- What's Love Got to Do with Transhumanism? - First Things [Last Updated On: June 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 23rd, 2017]
- Transhumanism Conference at Samford University [Last Updated On: June 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 29th, 2017]
- Would human enhancement create Supermen or super tyrants? - RT [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2017]
- transhumanism | social and philosophical movement ... [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2017]
- Let's Turn America's Military-Industrial Complex into a Science-Industrial Complex - HuffPost [Last Updated On: July 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 17th, 2017]
- Transhumanism - Catholicism.org [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2017]
- Putting Infants Down Like Dogs - First Things [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2017]
- Fringe movements key to changing the world - Winnipeg Free Press [Last Updated On: July 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 23rd, 2017]
- Luton hate crime probe over St Thomas's church graffiti - BBC News [Last Updated On: July 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 26th, 2017]
- The MetroSpiritual: Creating super-humans through Transhumanism is becoming a reality - New York Daily News [Last Updated On: July 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 28th, 2017]
- Artificial intelligence ethics the same as other new technology - Crux: Covering all things Catholic [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2017]
- How the death of EDM brought pop music one step closer to eternal life - Washington Post [Last Updated On: August 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 3rd, 2017]
- TRICOAST ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES FIRST TRANSHUMANISM VOD, AMELIA 2.0 - Digital Journal [Last Updated On: August 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: August 9th, 2017]
- The Solace of the Jersey Shore - Splice Today [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2019] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2019]
- David Goldman on Gelernter's Darwin Apostasy - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2019] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2019]
- Mark O'Connell wins Rooney Prize for Irish Literature Books - RTE.ie [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2019] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2019]
- Long live candidate Harris, Milwaukee's US Transhumanist Party presidential hopeful - Milwaukee Record [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2019] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2019]
- Author Mark OConnell awarded 10,000 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2019 - The Irish Times [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2019] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2019]
- Peter Thiel's VC Fund to Host Conference for Ideological 'Heretics,' Maybe Summon a Ghost or Two - Gizmodo UK [Last Updated On: October 6th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 6th, 2019]
- Peter Thiel's Promised Land For Intellectual Troublemakers - SafeHaven.com [Last Updated On: October 6th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 6th, 2019]
- Hereticon, From Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Is a 'Conference for People Banned From Other Conferences' - The Daily Beast [Last Updated On: October 6th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 6th, 2019]
- Man meets machine: 21st century is age of the upgradeable human, says expert - Express.co.uk [Last Updated On: October 6th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 6th, 2019]
- Insight: Transhumanists believe in the bionic body beautiful - The Scotsman [Last Updated On: October 6th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 6th, 2019]
- The transhumanists who are 'upgrading' their bodies - BBC News [Last Updated On: October 6th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 6th, 2019]
- Asad J. Malik's AR Studio, 1RIC, Is ScalingTo Ground The Augmented In Reality (Exclusive) - Forbes [Last Updated On: October 24th, 2019] [Originally Added On: October 24th, 2019]
- Religious and spiritual online forums consist of chaotic, impactful ideas - Lamron [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2019] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2019]
- What is biohacking? The new science of optimizing your brain and body. - Vox.com [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2019] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2019]
- New Connections Emerge Between The Clintons And Jeffrey Epstein: Report - The Daily Wire [Last Updated On: December 4th, 2019] [Originally Added On: December 4th, 2019]