Duende The popular Canadian drama series Mary Kills People centers on the life and work of Dr. Mary Harris (Caroline Dhavernas), who covertly operates an illegal medically-assisted suicide business with her partner Des Bennett (Richard Short). Both are willing to risk their freedom due to their conviction that people should be allowed to end their own … Read moreBrendan’s Death Ceremony (“Mary Kills People”, Season 2, Episode 6)
In this 2018 episode of his Expanding Mind podcast, author, scholar and speaker Erik Davis interviews conceptual artist Lindsay (now Scarlet) Tunkl about confronting death, therapy as art, pre-apocalypse counseling, humor, and her book When You Die You Will Not Be Scared to Die.
Humanist chaplain D.S. Moss, who was the creator and host of the popular Adventures of Memento Mori podcast series, presents this series of bedtime memento mori meditations. Each 14-minute session begins with relaxation, breathing and visualization exercises, proceeds through a review of one’s day giving attention to a particular theme, and then ends with intention-setting … Read more“Goodnight Lovelies”: a Humanist Memento Mori Meditation with D.S. Moss
Wendy Syfret writes for Psyche on the positive nihilist perspective: Key points – How to be a happy nihilist The rise of meaningless meaning. The search for meaning used to be a noble pursuit, but it’s become commercialised and now inspires more angst than awe. Nihilism as a solution. This is the philosophy that says life is meaningless. Handled with … Read more“How to be a happy nihilist”
Scifiinterfaces.com offers this series of in-depth articles analyzing the various interfaces shown in the Soylent Green (1973) thanatorium sequence: When considering this model for the real world, we should take great exception to the no-questions-asked expediency seen in Soylent Green. We would want such a service to be slow, deliberative, and life-affirming, with counseling and assistance … Read moreA Deep Dive Into the Technological and Ritual Interfaces of the Soylent Green Thanatorium
A short video preview of the upcoming Beyond Granite project, which will invite visionary artists to create special commemorative works, performances, and installations on the National Mall and throughout the District of Columbia.
Adam Kirsch writes for The Atlantic, comparing and contrasting transhumanism with Anthropocene anti-humanism: The apocalyptic predictions of today’s transhumanist and anti-humanist thinkers are of a very different nature, but they too may be highly significant even if they don’t come to pass. Profound civilizational changes begin with a revolution in how people think about themselves … Read more“The People Cheering for Humanity’s End”
Jesse Dorris writes for The New Yorker on the newly-unveiled permanent memorial for the six teachers and twenty young children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012: The memorial’s spatial poetics—the balance between circular pathways and blocks of granite, its enduring engravings of names in stone and perennials for texture and color … Read more“The Contemplative, Unnerving Beauty of the Sandy Hook Memorial”