Modern propaganda wanted to make you believe something that may or may not have been true. Soviet propaganda, for instance, wanted you to believe in a communist utopia. Postmodern propaganda wants you to believe nothing. It wants you to believe only that there is nothing to believe. Postmodern propaganda isn’t trying to recruit you toContinue reading “Postmodern Propoganda”
Category Archives: Writing & Publishing
Was H.G.Wells racist?
Did H.G.Wells write these words? “Those swarms of blacks, and brown, and dirty-white, and yellow people … will have to go” You will find this quote used in many attacks on H.G.Wells that accuse him of racism. The source is rarely if ever cited. So are these the words of H.G.Wells? The simple answer isContinue reading “Was H.G.Wells racist?”
Nazi Kitsch
Legendary Polish science fiction writer said of American science fiction that it was “…a literary form that claims to be a mythology of technological civilization while in fact it is simply bad writing tacked together with wooden dialogue.” In his essay Looking Down on Science Fiction: A Novelist’s Choice for the World’s Worst Writing. AndContinue reading “Nazi Kitsch”
Are games EVIL?!!
Some years ago I gave up playing games. I occasionally backslide and start playing online chess again. I think The Player of Games by Iain M Banks is a big part of why. It’s my favourite novel in The Culture series. I’ve read it many times and will hopefully read it many more. The bookContinue reading “Are games EVIL?!!”
We are in a Seldon Crisis
We are in a Seldon Crisis. A pivotal moment of transition, from one stage of civilisation to another. A transition we can make better…or worse…by learning from history. Isaac Asimov crafted a powerful metaphor for exactly the situation we are in with Hari Seldon and Psychohistory. So it’s great that a big budget tv showContinue reading “We are in a Seldon Crisis”
DON’T PANIC Post-Election Sanity Check
Good afternoon Science Fiction community. Today I took a walk among the the rice-fields of Bali and recorded 45 minutes of thoughts on today’s election results, and our ongoing discussions of science fiction, Actual Viable Stories for our future, the end of Modernity, and what a post-modern science fiction might look like. And DON’T PANIC…becauseContinue reading “DON’T PANIC Post-Election Sanity Check”
Cronenberg meets Ballard
One of the best moments researching the JG Ballard video essay was watching Crash Cronenberg is an unnervingly gifted filmmaker. Crash is a lot like an 80s straight-to-video erotic thriller. Because it kind of is, except it’s now the mid 90s, and Crash, at $10 million dollars, is one of Cronenberg’s higher budget outings. SoContinue reading “Cronenberg meets Ballard”
The Birth of Sci-fi
It was the 1980s and science fiction was becoming SCI-FI Star Wars had blown-up the box office and every new science fiction movie was trying to be the next sci-fi blockbuster Big men. With big muscles. And even bigger GUNS! Arnold Schwarzenegger was dominating the cinema screen, and the body counts were skyrocketing But underContinue reading “The Birth of Sci-fi”
Scifi Plato
The true meaning of SILO It’s Plato’s Republic And they ain’t subtle about it The Silo itself is basically the “ideal” society described by Plato and the Silo residents spend half their time watching images projected on the cave wall while a heroic few climb upwards to the truth it’s a pretty cool idea HughContinue reading “Scifi Plato”
The Ministry for the Future
There’s a long running argument among socialists about the role of the state. Socialism’s roots in the philosophies of Kant and Hegel focussed it on state power. The perfected state was the tool that would develop society up to its highest potential. The 20th century version of this was the idealisation of state agencies likeContinue reading “The Ministry for the Future”
AVS
AVS Actual Viable Story For the next 75 years of the 21st century ahead of us Without a future to head towards we’re going, to put it mildly, slightly crazy Science fiction has given us futures we don’t want…too many dystopias to list Science fiction has given us futures we can’t have…woo woo starships galoreContinue reading “AVS”
Modernity Is Done
So. I want to present a political thesis for your consideration That relates to an upcoming political event of some importance And to the wider sense of What The Feck Is Going Onness that I suspect most of us feel THE THESIS is this Modernity Is Done Now, modernity has been done for some time.Continue reading “Modernity Is Done”
Damien Walter 