Damien Walter

Death Star vs Enterprise

It’s in no way a coincidence that the two biggest scifi mythoi of the 20th century both feature a mythic representation of the same aircraft carrier. The Death Star is the nuclear powered American super-carrier CVN-65 that served in the Vietnam war, launching over 13,000 missions in the war that inspired George Lucas to baseContinue reading “Death Star vs Enterprise”

What is the PROBLEM with transhumanism?

We’re exploring The Machine in the new series of video essays on the Science Fiction channel… …and one upcoming essay in that series is Those Transhuman Bstrds : a history of transhumanity. Here’s a little preview. The modern world is built around a powerful mythic image THE MACHINE We think of reality as a bigContinue reading “What is the PROBLEM with transhumanism?”

All warfare is narrative warfare

All warfare is narrative warfare. The tanks and bombs, or drones and robodogs, the explosions and killings, the military dominance and monopoly on violence are all about one thing. Whose story wins. Imagine you woke up tomorrow and everyone around you spoke German and Japanese. White Americans are the underclass. The history youtube channels allContinue reading “All warfare is narrative warfare”

A prize for rats run by cats

So. Why do I not share the excitement of some for a $3.5M prize for an “optimistic” scifi movie? Well it’s not just that I watched Angela Collier rip the piss out of contest sponsor Peter Diamandis for 100+ supplement a day transhumanist plan to live forever. Diamandis is the chief cheerleader of the loonsContinue reading “A prize for rats run by cats”

Scifi For Dummies

Consumer capitalism makes people dumb THE CONSUMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT (as long as they keep consuming) Consumerism tells you that the measure of EVERYTHING is your emotional response Imagine if we did science this way “Einsteinian relativity didn’t work for me, I’ll be sticking with good ol’ Newton” And we ARE doing science this way,Continue reading “Scifi For Dummies”

One man’s utopia…

So let’s talk more about utopia. Thomas More’s Utopia 🤣 Utopia is a very clever pun coined by More. It is a play on the Greek “eutopia” or good place, with the U making the meaning no place. An imaginary good place. And “topia” is also the root of “topic”, the word for an ideaContinue reading “One man’s utopia…”

The mythic king England needed. To steal.

An interesting thing about the Arthurian mythos is that there is no canonical version. Indeed there’s no especially good King Arthur. Arthur has stayed in existence more for political than literary reasons. England and Britain have a very scrappy history. The Celts were hundreds of tribes that didn’t know they were Celts until centuries afterContinue reading “The mythic king England needed. To steal.”

Why did science fiction die?

So, why did science fiction die? Science fiction’s “golden age” is really the late 1800s and early 1900s when it is a powerful creative and political force. Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward published in 1888 almost sparked a social revolution in the United States. When people compared what their lives could be in a better future,Continue reading “Why did science fiction die?”

A thought on Le Guin

I don’t know how science fiction gained the reputation of being written by and for men. Actually…wait…no…I do. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley the “mother” of science fiction is, in the early 1800s, actually about midway in the early history of the science fiction novel. Between the late 1600s and Margaret Cavendish’ Blazing World to the earlyContinue reading “A thought on Le Guin”

The Matrix is the movie the Matrix makes to keep you in the Matrix

The best way to understand the broken, crazed, indulgent filmography of the Wachowski’s is as a quest to make the Matrix movie the Matrix would never make. Time. Is money. And in the cold unfeeling eyes of Hollywood a “movie” is just a business strategy to convert two hours of your time into shareholder value.Continue reading “The Matrix is the movie the Matrix makes to keep you in the Matrix”

Jupiter Ascending SCRIPT PREVIEW

So. Why. WHY. Have I written a 5000 word script about the Wachowski’s worst movie? It’s not to make fun of Mila Kunis non-acting, although rest assured, fun is made. Or Sean Bean cashing a big cheque for what is, even for him, an epicly lazy performance. Or the brown sludge CGI that is 78%Continue reading “Jupiter Ascending SCRIPT PREVIEW”