Dream of the Dragon

Category: rising above

June 19, 2010

Becoming Robots

by Justin

I worry about encouraging the seduction of the material world. The dichotomy of Haves and Have-nots inspires crime and prejudice, hatred and conflict. If a new pinnacle of physical achievement emerges that further stratifies the world, how dangerous might that be for all involved? I’m not so sure I’d sign up for what certain groups believe is the next round of evolution.

The New York Times ran a piece last week about the Singularity movement, interviewing some of the crazier geniuses and technophiles at the new university funded by Google founders and other Silicon Valley darlings. For a lot of people the concepts of transhumanism, of a post-human world of biotech and other science fiction wonders this isn’t a revelation. The fact that a university with extensive funding is actively pushing for the realization of that particular utopia may be a bit surprising. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments
June 6, 2010

Ol’ Blue Eyes

by Justin

The Guardian ran a story about this photograph by Giacomo Brunelli a little while back. It’s unreal.

May have been blind.

It was about 10 in the morning when I took this photograph. The light was coming from behind me. There was a tree that protected the scene from direct sunlight, allowing me to take the picture with a beautiful diffused light. I didn’t use any kind of filter, nor did I have to do anything to the image the dark-room. I took eight or nine shots on black-and-white film, and I was just lucky the dog’s eyes were lit so well.

As it turns out, this wasn’t lightning in a bottle. His other work offers a similar unreality. Creepshow of wonder.

Leave a comment
May 28, 2010

Mourning Aftermath

by Justin

“A ritual is an opportunity to participate in a myth. You are in one way or another putting your consciousness, even the action of your body, into play in relation to a mythological theme, and, as I hope I’ve made clear, mythological themes are projections of the order of the psyche… by participating in a ritual occasion you are in a magical field, a field that is putting you in touch with your own great depth.”

Joseph Campbell from The Myths and Masks of God

In the thick of a more immediate and shocking wave of grief, I’ve started mourning the absence of ritual in my life. Ritual, mind you, not worship. America, or rather post-industrial culture in general, lacks a strong tradition of practicing ritual without specific and distracting religious baggage. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments