{"id":5070,"date":"2016-09-11T09:23:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T13:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5070"},"modified":"2016-09-12T11:34:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T15:34:56","slug":"on-space-witches-mars-magick-and-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5070","title":{"rendered":"On Space, Witches, Mars, Magick, and The Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, Artsy.net&#8217;s Izabella Scott wrote this piece about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsy.net\/article\/artsy-editorial-why-witchcraft-is-making-a-comeback-in-art\">how and why the aesthetic of witchcraft is making a comeback in the art world<\/a>, which is pretty pleasantly timed as not only are we all eagerly awaiting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/KimBoekbinder\/noisewitch-a-new-album-by-kim-boekbinder\">Kim Boekbinder&#8217;s <i>NOISEWITCH<\/i><\/a>, but I also just sat down with Rose Eveleth for the <a href=\"http:\/\/flashforwardpod.com\/\">Flash Forward Podcast<\/a> to talk for her season 2 finale.<\/p>\n<p>You see, Rose did something a little different this time. Instead of writing up a potential future and then talking to a bunch of amazing people about it, like she <a href=\"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5023\">usually does<\/a>, this episode&#8217;s future was written by an algorithm. Rose trained an algorithm called Torch not only on the text of all of the futures from both Flash Forward seasons, but also the full scripts of both the <i>War of the Worlds<\/i> and the 1979 <i>Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy<\/i> radio plays. What&#8217;s unsurprising, then, is that part of what the algorithm wanted to talk about was space travel and Mars. What is <em><strong>genuinely<\/strong><\/em> surprising, however, is that what it <em><strong>also<\/strong><\/em> wanted to talk about was Witches.<\/p>\n<p>Because so far as either Rose or I could remember, witches aren&#8217;t mentioned anywhere in <em><strong>any<\/strong><\/em> of those texts.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>ANYWAY<\/i><\/b>, the finale episode is called &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flashforwardpod.com\/2016\/09\/05\/episode-20-something-martian-witch-way-comes\/\">The Witch Who Came From Mars<\/a>,&#8221; and the ensuing exegeses by several very interesting people and me of the Bradbury-esque results of this experiment are kind of amazing. No one took exactly the same thing from the text, and the more we heard of each other, the more we started to weave threads together into a meta-narrative.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"jDpOjWsFri\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashforwardpod.com\/2016\/09\/05\/episode-20-something-martian-witch-way-comes\/\">The Witch Who Came From Mars<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;The Witch Who Came From Mars&#8221; &#8212; Flash Forward\" src=\"https:\/\/www.flashforwardpod.com\/2016\/09\/05\/episode-20-something-martian-witch-way-comes\/embed\/#?secret=j1zj8FOMAH#?secret=jDpOjWsFri\" data-secret=\"jDpOjWsFri\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s really worth your time, and if you subscribe to <a href=\"http:\/\/patreon.com\/roseveleth\">Rose&#8217;s Patreon<\/a>, then not only will you get immediate access to the full transcript of that show, but also to the full interview she did with PBS Idea Channel&#8217;s Mike Rugnetta. They talk a great deal about whether we will ever deign to refer to the aesthetic creations of artificial intelligences as &#8220;Art.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And if you subscribe to <a href=\"http:\/\/patreon.com\/wolven\"><b><i>my<\/i><\/b> Patreon<\/a>, then you&#8217;ll get access to the full conversation between Rose and me, appended to this week&#8217;s newsletter, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/posts\/technoccult-news-6729695\">Bad Month for Hiveminds<\/a>.&#8221; Rose and I talk about the nature of magick and technology, the overlaps and intersections of intention and control, and what exactly it is we might mean by &#8220;behanding,&#8221; the term that shows up throughout the AI&#8217;s piece.<\/p>\n<p>And just because I don&#8217;t give a specific shoutout to Thoth and Raven doesn&#8217;t mean I forgot them. Very much didn&#8217;t forget about Raven.<\/p>\n<p>Also speaking of Patreon and witches and whatnot, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/posts\/access-to-full-6720744\">current $1+ patrons have access to the full first round of interview questions I did with Eliza Gauger<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/problemglyphs\">Problem Glyphs<\/a>. So you can get in on that, there, if you so desire. Eliza is getting back to me with their answers to the follow-up questions, and then I&#8217;ll go about finishing up the formatting and publishing the full article. But if you subscribe now, you&#8217;ll know what all the fuss is about well before anybody else.<\/p>\n<p>And, as always, there are <a href=\"http:\/\/cash.me\/$wolven\">other ways<\/a> to provide material support, if longterm subscription isn&#8217;t your thing.<\/p>\n<p>Until Next Time.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em style=\"font-size: 10.7200002670288px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;\">If you liked this piece, consider dropping something in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cash.me\/$wolven\">A Future Worth Thinking About Tip Jar<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, Artsy.net&#8217;s Izabella Scott wrote this piece about how and why the aesthetic of witchcraft is making a comeback in the art world, which is pretty pleasantly timed as not only are we all eagerly awaiting Kim Boekbinder&#8217;s NOISEWITCH, but I also just sat down with Rose Eveleth for the Flash Forward Podcast to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[959,73,1031,1004,206,954,207,208,984,1105,1076,1104,969,498,1100,944,560,618,1080,1101,1077,1098,1099,1107,810,1106,1102,958,1103,918],"class_list":["post-5070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-algorithmic-systems","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-autonomous-creative-intelligence","tag-autonomously-creative-intelligence","tag-cyborg","tag-cyborg-anthropology","tag-cyborg-ecology","tag-cyborgs","tag-donna-haraway","tag-eliza-gauger","tag-flash-forward-podcast","tag-h-g-wells","tag-interviews","tag-magick","tag-mars","tag-my-voice","tag-my-words","tag-patreon","tag-podcasts","tag-ray-bradbury","tag-rose-eveleth","tag-space","tag-space-travel","tag-square-cash","tag-technoccult","tag-the-cyborg-manifesto","tag-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy","tag-the-occult","tag-the-war-of-the-worlds","tag-witchcraft"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5WByP-1jM","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5023,"url":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5023","url_meta":{"origin":5070,"position":0},"title":"Flash Forward Podcast Ep 10: Rude Bot Rises","author":"Damien P. Williams","date":"April 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/www.flashforwardpod.com\/2016\/04\/05\/episode-10-rude-bot-rises\/ So. The Flash Forward Podcast is one of the best around. Every week, host Rose Eveleth takes on another potential future, from the near and imminent to the distant and highly implausible. It\u2019s been featured on a bunch of Best Podcast lists and Rose even did a segment for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"A Future Worth Thinking About\"","block_context":{"text":"A Future Worth Thinking About","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?tag=a-future-worth-thinking-about"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com\/widget-images\/become-patron-widget-medium%402x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5039,"url":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5039","url_meta":{"origin":5070,"position":1},"title":"Direct Link For &#8220;The Metaphysical Cyborg&#8221;","author":"Damien P. Williams","date":"July 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the direct link to my paper 'The Metaphysical Cyborg' from Laval Virtual 2013. Here's the abstract: \"In this brief essay, we discuss the nature of the kinds of conceptual changes which will be necessary to bridge the divide between humanity and machine intelligences. From cultural shifts to biotechnological integration,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"artificial intelligence\"","block_context":{"text":"artificial intelligence","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?tag=artificial-intelligence"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5738,"url":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5738","url_meta":{"origin":5070,"position":2},"title":"Appendix A: An Imagined and Incomplete Conversation about  \u201cConsciousness\u201d and \u201cAI,\u201d Across Time","author":"Damien P. Williams","date":"September 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often, I think about the fact of one of the best things my advisor and committee members let me write and include in my actual doctoral dissertation, and I smile a bit, and since I keep wanting to share it out into the world, I figured I should\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ableism\"","block_context":{"text":"ableism","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?tag=ableism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5396,"url":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5396","url_meta":{"origin":5070,"position":3},"title":"Heavenly Bodies: Why It Matters That Cyborgs Have Always Been About Disability, Mental Health, and Marginalization","author":"Damien P. Williams","date":"April 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[Cite as Williams, Damien P., Heavenly Bodies: Why It Matters That Cyborgs Have Always Been About Disability, Mental Health, and Marginalization (June 8, 2019). Available at SSRN: https:\/\/ssrn.com\/abstract=3401342 or http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.3401342] \u00a0 INTRODUCTION The history of biotechnological intervention on the human body has always been tied to conceptual frameworks of disability\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"A Future Worth Thinking About\"","block_context":{"text":"A Future Worth Thinking About","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?tag=a-future-worth-thinking-about"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PortACath.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PortACath.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PortACath.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PortACath.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5299,"url":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=5299","url_meta":{"origin":5070,"position":4},"title":"Recollections of Decolonizing Mars","author":"Damien P. Williams","date":"August 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"So The U.S. Transhumanist Party recently released some demographic info on their first 1,000 members, and while they seem to be missing some some rather crucial demographic markers, here, such as age and ethnicity, the gender breakdown is about what you'd expect. I mention this because back at the end\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"A Future Worth Thinking About\"","block_context":{"text":"A Future Worth Thinking About","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?tag=a-future-worth-thinking-about"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/thumbnails\/image\/pia04591-16.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/thumbnails\/image\/pia04591-16.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/thumbnails\/image\/pia04591-16.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/thumbnails\/image\/pia04591-16.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4859,"url":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?p=4859","url_meta":{"origin":5070,"position":5},"title":"My First Appearance on Mindful Cyborgs","author":"Damien P. Williams","date":"April 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I sat down with Klint Finley of\u00a0Mindful Cyborgs to talk about many, many things: \u2026pop culture portrayals of human enhancement and artificial intelligence and why we need to craft more nuanced narratives to explore these topics\u2026 Tune in next week to hear Damien talk about how AI and transhumanism intersects\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"A Future Worth Thinking About\"","block_context":{"text":"A Future Worth Thinking About","link":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/?tag=a-future-worth-thinking-about"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5070"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5076,"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5070\/revisions\/5076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afutureworththinkingabout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}