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”
On Sunday I presented my “Unboxing an Antique Ghost Show” show-and-tell lecture for an audience at the Chicago Insect Asylum art gallery. After a couple of years of performing the presentation via Zoom for various organizations around Halloween, it was fun – and rather poignant – to be able to show my Dad’s collection of … Read moreDays of Life and Death: Seasonal Observances
My family was among the many thousands of people who were left disappointed by the Spiritlandia river parade in San Antonio last night. We (and, again, thousands of others, many of whom had paid pretty serious money for riverside seats at restaurants, etc.) were underwhelmed when the first float arrived nearly an hour late, then … Read moreMass Disappointment at San Antonio’s “Spiritlandia” Day of the Dead River Parade
The ironic “fear” of the Halloween season isn’t normally my bag, but I can’t resist featuring this 2015 short horror film by David Schmidt, who had previously directed another horror short – The Lovecraft Syndrome (2004) – starring my wife, Kat. The Underpass is set in our fondly-recalled former neighborhood of Rogers Park and explores … Read moreThe Underpass (2015)
Thanks to Morbid Anatomy founder Joanna Ebenstein for sending me this photo of a 17th century memento mori mirror from Aargau, Switzerland. The motto on the plinth reads “memorare novissima”, which translates as “remember the last”.