(A shorter version of this post can be found at the DePaul University Institute for Nature and Culture‘s website, Environmental Critique. Thanks to Dr. Christine Skolnik for the invitation to contribute.) Introduction At first glance, the three figures under discussion – Algernon Blackwood, Marion Milner, and Friedrich Schelling – seem to form a rather unlikely… Continue Reading The roots of creative darkness
“Metaphysical Boredom in the Empire of Desire”: Prime Intellect and posthistoire
Roger Williams’s novella The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect (1994) isn’t a narrative primarily concerned with technology, but, rather, with the end of history. This is generally true of singularitarian science-fiction (SSF). Consider, for example, the degree to which Iain M. Banks’s novels Player of Games (1988) and Use of Weapons (1990) address, respectively, the fundamental… Continue Reading “Metaphysical Boredom in the Empire of Desire”: Prime Intellect and posthistoire
RoboCop is Amelia Bedelia
RoboCop (1987) is the Good Soldier Švejk – or, better yet, as a colleague suggested to me, he’s Amelia Bedelia. Both Amelia and Švejk misunderstand the instructions they receive from authorities in such a way that they’ve understood too much – ostensibly without understanding anything at all. In other words, both Amelia and Švejk hear… Continue Reading RoboCop is Amelia Bedelia
On Mark Fisher (1968-2017)
“The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.” – Italo Calvino Mark Fisher remains one of my intellectual heroes. Originally, I had typed “academic heroes,” but I quickly realized that one of the reasons why his work speaks to me so strongly is its steadfast refusal to entomb itself in the… Continue Reading On Mark Fisher (1968-2017)