The International Necronautical Society
From the International Necronautical Society‘s Manifesto (1999):
End-of-life
Accept death, embrace life.
Light a candle. Watch the flame for a while. Feel its heat, then blow it out. Watch the smoke drift away. Look at the blackened wick. That is birth, life, death, and non-existence. If you re-light the candle, that’s a new life; the original flame exists only in memory. Now remember the smoke and consider … Read moreAccept death, embrace life.
“Renew! Renew!” The Cult of Carrousel in Logan’s Run (1976)
(Cross-posted from our sister site, Cultpunk.art) In the futuristic world of Logan’s Run (1976), humanity – or at least that portion of humanity that the movie is concerned with – is sequestered away from the unknown “world outside”, living and dying inside vast Xanadu-like pleasure domes. Their lives and deaths are supervised by an AI … Read more“Renew! Renew!” The Cult of Carrousel in Logan’s Run (1976)
Lucy’s death hallucination (“Apple Cider Vinegar”, 2025)
In this scene from the drama Apple Cider Vinegar, Lucy Guthrie, played by actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey, experiences a shamanic vision of her own death, dissolution and reintegration into Nature during an ayahuasca retreat.
“Hospitality at the End of Life”
Debby Waldman writes for the Washington Post on the emerging trend towards home-owners facilitating comfortable, homey venues for MAID patients traveling to states in which death with dignity is legal: In a pastoral Vermont valley, a former hospice chaplain named Suzanne runs a retreat center for artists, health-care workers and educators — and, since mid-2023, … Read more“Hospitality at the End of Life”
“Canada is Killing Itself”
Elaina Plott Calobro write for The Atlantic on the state of play in Canada, ten years after legalizing medical aid in dying: The details of the assisted-death experience have become a preoccupation of Canadian life. Patients meticulously orchestrate their final moments, planning celebrations around them: weekend house parties before a Sunday-night euthanasia in the garden; … Read more“Canada is Killing Itself”
“Freedom over death”
Michael Cholbi writes for Aeon: Freedom is a notoriously complex and contested philosophical notion, and I won’t pretend to settle any of the big controversies it raises. But I believe that a type of freedom we can call freedom over death – that is, a freedom in which we shape the timing and circumstances of … Read more“Freedom over death”
“How to draft a will to avoid becoming an AI ghost—it’s not easy”
Ashley Belanger writes for Ars Technica: As artificial intelligence has advanced, AI tools have emerged to make it possible to easily create digital replicas of lost loved ones, which can be generated without the knowledge or consent of the person who died. Trained on the data of the dead, these tools, sometimes called grief bots … Read more“How to draft a will to avoid becoming an AI ghost—it’s not easy”