Then & Now

 

Love this temporal examination of photography. More over here.

Are Brands Frightened Of The Future?

This ties into my Cosmic Capitalism post where I assert that capitalism and brands seemingly don't believe in the future. This prompts the question 'How can we believe in capitalism if it no longer believes in itself? '.

More of "Future Ford" over at But Does It Float

Space Time

So much is dependant on the velocity and vectors of space time as we perceive it. I was reading about meditation increasing the clock cycle of the brain and thus slowing time down ( I may have that the wrong way round) which is an insight into conciousness.

Creativity

I'm totally behind this initiative though I would point out that real creativity is disruptive to the process of unmitigated wealth creation. The primary reason for the deplorable state of education in both the UK and the States is that it serves the State poorly to have independent, educated and free thinking creative individuals. There's no money in it.

Cairo

More over at Boing Boing.

Egypt

Mubarak is gone. Well done the people of Egypt. What an inspiration and what courage in the face of State terrorist tactics.

Mubarak's successor Omar Suleiman is known as the CIA's man in Cairo, and is reported to have personally tortured Mamdouh Habib an Egyptian born, Australian citizen. Habib was seized at the request of the CIA in October 2001, and while detained (for extraordinary rendition) in Pakistan, was suspended from a hook and electrocuted repeatedly before being handed over to the CIA in Egypt. 

In his memoir My Story: The Tale of A Terrorist Who Wasn't, Habib was repeatedly electrocuted, immersed in water to his nostrils and beaten. His fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks. At one point, his interrogator slapped him so hard his blindfold was dislodged revealing the identity of his tormentor. Omar Suleiman.

Frustrated that Habib was not providing useful information or confessing to involvement in terrorism, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a shackled prisoner in front of Habib, which he did with a vicious karate kick. In April 2002, after five months in Egypt, Habib was rendered to American custody at Bagram prison in Afghanistan - and then transported to Guantanamo. On January 11, 2005, the day before he was scheduled to be charged, Dana Priest, the Pulitzer prize winning journalist of the Washington Post published an exposé about Habib’s torture. The US government immediately announced that he would not be charged and would be repatriated to Australia.

It was Suleiman who in 2005, vowed to stop the elections in Gaza in order to prevent Hamas from gaining control. Here he is talking to Shimon Peres of Israel.

More recently it was Suleiman who, wishing Gaza to go 'hungry' but not 'starve', blocked a final agreement for the Gaza Peace Flotilla to take sanctuary in Egyptian El-Arish. Turkish intelligence prevailed, though regrettably in vain. The IDF boarded and seized the flotilla's chance to ever take refuge 74 kilometres away.

Full article over at Al Jazeera

Malcolm Gladwell

More over here

Steve Jobs First TV Appearance

Anybody else think he and Piers Fawkes look eerily like each other in this video? More details about this video over at Salon.

Hermaphroditism

Very pleased to see that my hot tip of January 2008 Joy Island, is back in Beijing (after a spell at St. Martin's I think) and is being picked up by Neocha on her latest exhibition at Yang's Gallery in Beijing called Hermaphroditism.

Ancient Aliens

Over the weekend I kicked back and watched the entire series of Ancient Aliens. Irrespective of whether the evidence is conclusive or inconclusive it's some of the best and most interesting video content I've seen period. The episode below is an hour and a half of freshly uploaded video so unless you've seen it on TV it's probably new to you too. 


I've been pursuing a couple of key themes lately on quantum mechanics and mysticism, and there's a lot of barmy stuff out there but History.Com here have churned out some of the finest produced material I've come across. I've always had trouble switching off and relaxing but I spent a lot of enjoyable hours learning more than I ever expected.


In Particular (for me) my attention has narrowed in on the Sumerian culture who may possibly be even more interesting than the Egyptians; if anything could ever possibly be more interesting than the Egyptians given the pivotal role in contemporary and ancient world history. (Watch that space closely as it unfolds)

Cosmic Capitalism

 

If survival of the species is a worthwhile game-plan then application of logic can't be harmful.

My thoughts are we have three options:

1. Laissez faire Corporatism/Capitalism/Scientific Materialism

There's enough history to argue that we are no more in control of our destiny, then there is evidence of why we exist in the vastness of the universe, apparently alone. Most of our discoveries are more a case of accidents then purpose-driven discovery, and so the solution is let it unfold without a plan. I have a deep conviction about transition of energy after death and don't fear dying, but it strikes me as odd that those who are least predisposed to this kind of thinking, are most unlikely to openly and vocally champion Capitalism's course of action. If one doesn't believe in life after death why hand over to those who are living?

2. Harmony

This option requires a more immediate and locally self-sufficient discussion on managed population decline. In 50 years with one-family-one-child policies, as China has already shown, we could be in a position to conclude what that harmony means. How the resources are intelligently shared, how much untouched nature is to be contiguous with humans and how to rewire corporations to wean them off addiction to profits.

3. Cosmic Capitalism

The picture of the Chanel logo on the moon was the first visualization that made sense to me.

It never occurred to me until recently that capitalism could be the solution to our problem. Not the mutant strain we are working. Currently capitalism is a shoe scraping cripple for unbiquitous wealth creation. It's the HIV of abundance, a malignant tumor on our collective hope for a better tomorrow. 

What explains the absence of truly awesome visionary branding, selling futures of cosmic   promises with travel or luxury brands (for example) vying with each other right now to brand the lunar surface as a terrestrially inspired vision. I'm talking about a celebration of firm conviction in cosmic capitalism, physically investing in the wealth needed to enable us to eject ourselves from the orbit of an uninhabitable Earth, and leaving behind a spent womb and bruised uterus ready for metamorphic change? A Goodbye-Earth lunar-branding experience, celebrating escape from orbit, and out of this solar system and onto the next.

With capitalism that has vision such as this I can roll with the costs of what is left behind. But the capitalism we have. It has no balls. It's a parasite. It has no future.

What say you? 

Doug Rushkoff & Social Media

As per Jon's advice I played around with the settings on the embed code (it's hard work and the width is 1020 if you're using blogger) and as it's such a far reaching thought piece on social media and the internet I'm reposting it. I still haven't figured out how to stop the autoplay so if somebody knows how to do that I'd appreciate some feedback.

Unsettled (Updated Political Position on Zionism)

Both Israel and Gaza are two places that I intend to visit as soon as I can, as I regret not taking the chance a while back. This Louis Theroux documentary is fresh out on Youtube and as per the usual format of Theroux's affable questions in the face of extremists, it makes for compelling viewing. 

I appreciate that the subjects are all characterised as Ultra Zionists but it's evident they have the full backing of the Israeli State. Even though, and this isn't too well known, the State of Israel is one of the most atheist/agnostic countries in the world and that the peaceful yet campaigning intellectual elite live in Israel unlike the AIPAC nutters in the States manipulating legislation through lobbying backed by sheer force of disposable dollars.

Perhaps unexpectedly, I am a Zionist. I might have said something different around the Balfour Declaration but as it's a done deal it's insane to suggest anything other than that Israel has a right to exist. 

Not however, at the expense of others.

I cannot in good conscience remain pro Zionist any longer. The last bombing by Israel of Gaza with F-16 jets murdering 500 people including 50 children destroyed the Zionist project. It is doomed to fail and our task now it to figure out how the Palestinians and the peace loving Israelis can find a two state solution (or one if they wish) without the psychos who currently run Israel anywhere near the levers of power. I've been patient. Maybe too patient. Not any more. Brand Israel does not deserve to be a part of the future. When the landlines have been agreed on I want a name that doesn't make me feel nauseous to  be applied. A rebranding if you like - Charles March 2013

Groupon

Even before I heard about this execution this morning, I saw a tweet in my stream from the agency Crispin Porter Bogusky congratulating the work that went into it and thought immediately that it sounded like the self congratulatory pep talk of adland that probably wouldn't reflect the quality of the ad. I was disappointingly right.

It was then followed with a flurry of tweets on Groupon's poor taste. I used to like CPB when Alex Bogusky was there as I think he understood the nature of controversial attention securing comms, though it seems since he left standards have plummeted and in many ways this whole ad is a short allegory for the wealth of the United States which is built on the exploitation and suffering of others round the world.

Things People Don't Say About Advertising

Isn't it ironic that advertising hasn't picked up on the growing satire of reckless growth advertising in social media? More over here.

Zizek on Egypt

Zizek saves his most explosive logic till the end in relation to Israel's hand wringing over Egypt. He asks that since the decline of suicide bombings in Israel over the last five years has increased the velocity of stolen land off the Palestinians, has Israel tacitly proved that terror is the only language it respects?

Heat Wave

The problem with the sun as it was once put to me is that nobody can put a meter on it and bill us. Which is why renewable energy is not about the science. It's about us and what we think is more important. Money today or survival tomorrow. There is an interesting side discussion here about the accessibility of young people to potentially shocking technology in the future but again it's less about the technology and more about why do we not trust our children with danger. Maybe it's because we let the Pentagon get first access to any scientific discoveries we make. How can we weaponize space (as is being done) and then lecture about good and evil? More on the "Death Ray" below over here.

Cult Buddhism?

Interesting photojournalism article in Foreign Policy on Wat Dhammakaya in Thailand. Worth a look for the extraordinary photography.

Open Source DNA (LSD & Francis Crick)

I had no idea how Byzantine and Machiavellian the plot for discovery of the double helix structure of DNA was. This is a must see. Regrettably for spoon-fed Nanny United States TV documentaries, the crucial 'visionary' moment of Francis Crick's use of LSD, where the structure revealed itself to him (built on Rosalind Franklin's shared contribution) is not mentioned. The important fact can only be alluded to at the end where Crick talks briefly about the mysteries of space and time, though it's well know he devoted the rest of his career to dreams.

What would make the story really incredible would be if anybody confirmed that it was Linus Pauling's son who gave them the LSD while working with Watson and Crick even though his twice awarded Nobel prize winning father was flat out competing with them on the other side of the Atlantic. That would be symmetry to the narrative that would make Rosalind's reluctant partner Maurice Wilkins at Kings College the rightful father of open source scientific discovery as it was he who believwed most in sharing information.

Just look at Linus' son in this documentary and ask yourself. Is this the kind of West Coast rebellious son of a Chemist, who in the late 50's could have dropped acid, and might have introduced it to the Cambridge genius of Crick thereby unwittingly working against his father who put him there in the first place? * Ahem. 

*(Pure speculation on my part)

Update: The original video was removed so a "related" video has been posted instead.

Fail Whale

Via failwhale