Babies Mother Hospital Scissors Creature Judgement Butcher Engineer

Genetic Engineering single cover art

The common misunderstanding of evolution is that it leads to us (anthropocentric). That is backwards. We are genetically similar to the other primates because we are primates. We are not more advanced than them because 1) we didn't evolve from them and 2) all the primates are occupying respective niches to which they are adapted.

The major difference is that humans are for the most part no longer subject to the environmental pressures which give rise to natural selection and are instead putting pressure on the environment for our own benefit.

Thirty Frames A Second

JB Mason, Self Portrait, c1912

It's been a while since more than two posts were published in a single month, with the exception of the holidays. You may notice the preceding post has origins back in 22/06/05, before this blog actually started. I'm suddenly eager to clear out the drafts sitting in the management screen. The continuing problem being that I can't seem to eke out something publishable. The dullards on the street don't have to worry about editing their thought(s) and putting them onto paper, so to speak. In light of this, I've attached two abortive posts.

The two dreams which I've previously described - Astronomic and Old Bedroom - seem to have been phased out upon mention. Most recently I've repeatedly dreamt of losing a tooth, disturbing me to the point that I had trouble sleeping. A new adaptable classic, Tsunami, has filled some of the void. The cause is always different; but always leads to a scramble up the hill I live on through back gardens and over fences, well ahead of the water. Seems to have been ripped straight from the end of Deep Impact. In fact, I love that scene, and have it on DVD. Which probably proves something about the influence of cinema.

Live Forever

Public Domain, 2006

Death is an absurdity to the living. Those who say they do not fear death, do not believe in it - rather they believe in an afterlife. We have explored our planet, the solar system, and seen beyond the galaxy. Yet death remains terminal, and the experience itself remains open to conjecture.

At the moment, a member of some online forum might be killed by some random event, and that'll be that. But in the coming years, well into the internet's lifespan, the web will become increasingly cluttered with the deceased. That is, their online life will be preserved - MySpace, Facebook, Bebo filled with dormant accounts as shrines. In twenty years we might visit YouTube and see Peter Oakley alive and well, talking, sharing his memories and experiences long after the organic matter that stored them has decayed. Part of him will be preserved electronically, essentially forever.

Poor Leno

Survival means collaboration.
Existing as entertainment, living though your home is razed.
A room of your own that you may pace.
The last specimen.
You fade out alone.
Selected.

Who can bear to be forgotten?

Photo: (The last Thylacine) Public Domain, 1933

But It's All You Want

Screenshot from Videodrome

A long time ago, when there were only four channels and you had to buy a magazine to find out what was on, there was this show on satellite called The Simpsons. The description in What's On TV was "animated adult comedy series" and it was on at 8PM. So naturally, when the BBC started showing it in 1996 it was shown at 6PM - being animated, it of course lended itself to broadcast after the kid's slot. Channel 4 seemed to think similarly three years before they got the rights. Presidential contempt looks ridiculous once South Park came along. Still, If you think you can park kids in front of The Simpsons, let them watch 09x25. Don't go crying to Ofcom.