Hello there, supporter of Theofuturism. I wish I could explain how much each one of you mean to me (and yes it is possible to form a parasocial relationship with your subscribers based on their email address). In preparation for the New Year, I am looking to increase my efforts to reward you for your trust and belief in the vision. Also, because it’s fun 😎
And so, without any promises at a routine schedule or predictable results, we’ll begin to issue these carefully assembled data dumps, a few hand-selected links at a time. Think of these as locational markers that I’ll leave behind as we foray deeper into the surprising, wonderful and frightening world that unfurls before us and our children. No endorsements, no guarantees, and certainly keep your wits about you.
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The Butlerian: A New One
The Theofuturism Dune saga continues. A tiny startup journal/zine with a decidedly human-focused approach to modern technologies like AI, with contributors from within the technology space, not just cranky liberal arts types like me. This perspective increasingly convinces me, although I am wary of Ludditism in all its forms.
“Know this: the machine is doomed to be man’s inferior. It is our creation and each of its parts are put into place by us. It is imperative we understand this property of computational systems.” ~ Adam Jesionowski, “To The Followers Of The Prophets Of The Machine”
The Allure of Retrofuturism: An Old One
Published in Countere by Sofia Oaks, this short piece is a great starting off point for anyone wondering where to find more of those gorgeous rocketman paintings. I would have liked a bit more discussion about whether our nostalgia for “neverwas” futures is totally positive, but maybe we’ll have to visit the topic another time.
What Modern Humans Can Learn From Ancient Software: A Weird One
Ok work with me. If software emulation allows us to reconstruct the computational world that our parents inhabited-and we all acknowledge (or claim) certain levels of dissatisfaction and even disturbance in the world we are currently inhabiting. Then maybe “going back” isn’t all that difficult a process after all? I can vividly remember the experience of using a Gateway Windows 95 to run incredibly low-resource programs. Is it possible that we are going to see a revolution, not just of hobbyist “vintage” computing, but of the worldview that built pre-cloud, pre-iPhone computing?
Keep Christianity Strange: A Holy One
I’m not sure I’ve articulated my thoughts on this as well as Justin Lee does here. If we intentionally mute and neuter the power of spiritualist Christianity, we risk exchanging the reality of God for a carefully built fiction that we are much more comfortable with.
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