Posthuman Blues

I enthusiastically suggest hustling over to John Shirley's blog and checking out his new essay on "constructive megalomania" (see left-hand sidebar; Shirley's not too big on permalinks).

I, too, have been in a somewhat utopian mode lately. Where do we go from here? Even assuming we can somehow change the minds of -- or, more likely, simply outlast -- the fuckwits running the show right now, can we repair the damage and make society tolerable?

Personally, I'm not convinced. So I've been playing with the idea of founding a space colony -- whether a Gerard O'Neill-type orbital station or an extraplanetary refuge I haven't decided -- designed to minimize the possibility that the good parts of the human legacy on Earth aren't irrevocably lost.

Only one problem: I don't have the resources to reach orbit, let alone help spawn a brave new world among the planets. So I suppose I'll continue doing what little I can here, hopefully staying moderately sane in the process.

Don't misunderstand -- I want the world to end. But I want it to end in a conveniently selective sense, retaining all that's just and enlightening and disposing of all the crap that stands firmly in the way of a meaningful human future.

Oh, well. Read John's editorial. It's a start.

Utopianism