On Memetic Engines | Weeknotes

My Intonal 2021 talk ‘The Future Is A Vibe’ was broadcast yesterday. Comments/feedback are slowly filtering in which is nice – more welcome. If you have 30mins to stick it on doing the washing up or whatever, check it out.

If you have seen or read my writing on Solarpunk before then this is mostly new material.

If text is your thing, you can seek out my essay ‘Solarpunk! The Vibe Dislocates the Present in Order to Refuture the Future’ published in REGENERACIJA [IR JOS ĮTAMPOS]. Which is a proto version of this talk and far less lucid.

Paul Czege had some interesting thoughts on ‘Scissor labels’ and Memetic Engines. Especially interesting was his comment on RPGs being an uncontested term that became Scissor label-like in the late 90’s. Due to the Indie RPG community based around the Forge Forum re-imagining what RPGs could be.

I'm thinking about @thejaymo's thoughts about scissor labels (@john_c_palmer) vs memetic engines, and his view that "solarpunk" is a memetic engine.https://t.co/l1JPQ27enD

I think an argument could be made that a characteristic of memetic engines is they make consensus… pic.twitter.com/Vn5QMtsb01

— Paul Czege (@PaulCzege) June 19, 2021

This morning I was asked via Discord to post my current working definition of a ‘Memetic Engine‘.

First I would also like to point you all toward T.X. Watson’s, Hampshire College Divison III project: “Memetic Engines of Anticapitalism”.

T.X. is/was an important early voice in the Solarpunk scene as the author of the fantastic Solarpunk short” ‘The Boston Hearth Project’ in Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation

Memetic Engine – Working Defintion

Instead of being a site of narrative as battleground, it becomes a site for narrative flourishing.

• The opposite of a scissor Label is A Memetic Engine.
• Memetic Engines are narrative containers that are productive and share their yield with its participants.
• A narrative space that appeals to people’s better selves.
• An engine that powers and provides ‘re-futuring’ of its participants’ imaginations.
• Memetic Engines are always questions asking for answers.
• Those answers can undergo re-formation and disruption without changing the question.
• Memetic Engine’s are ideas for producing more ideas.
• Those ideas must affect the world beyond the boundaries of its container.

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A ‘video heavy’ post this week.

I’m finding it fun working with video.

The pandemic has really changed what I think is er acceptable when submitting a talk to conference. Or what a an episode of CIWM should look like from my end of the conversation.

I am in truth still working out how to use my Sony ZV-1 (the auto focus settings for live-streaming are baffling). I’m also trying to figure out how to best light my living room to get the most from my set up as it stands.

I recently bought a ULANZI VL49 RGB Video Light.

They can be used as a defuse fill light and as accent lights. They do 256 RGB colours, or can be used as a variable warmth white light. It is also magnetic and has 0-100% brightness control.

I really like it and think I might buy another – they are only 30 quid.

One thing that has been alarming to me however, is just how much ‘raw computing’ you need to work with video. My 2015 MacPro is basically useless, it grinds to a halt and wheezes at the mere suggestion I ask it to do anything beyond video playback.

Plus my 120gb on board hard drive is fast running out of space.

Right now the process of making any video means recording it on my Macbook (because reasons) then syncing the files over to my Windows 11 gaming laptop and editing the video there.

I’m going to save up for a new M1 Macbook Pro and pre-order one in the most obnoxious colour they do whenever they get announced (the piss yellow render is really appealing to me).

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Permanently Moved

2124 | Video version

Can you see why I always wear a hat? lol My hair has permanent crazy man vibes.

COME INTERNET WITH ME – Momatoes Searches ‘The Human Brain Project’

Momatoes is a Games designer, graphic designer, illustrator and storyteller based in The Philippines. They joined me to kick off Season 2 of CIWM by searching ‘The Human Brain Project’.

Note: CIWM is gonna be bi-weekly.

The Ministry Of My Own Labour

• I’ve been working on various texts this week.
• Had an interview with the BBC.
• Reviewing a text from trust.support.
• Various chats with Novara folk.
• Attended a working group that is workshopping a response to Bank of England’s public consultation on digital money.

Despite lots of cool stuff i’ve been up to leaking out into the world, I’ve also been very frustrated with myself for not ‘getting on’ with all the things I want to do. I really need to co-work with someone or something.

Dipping the Stacks

Billionaire Bachelor Wang Sicong’s Desperate Unrequited Love Drama Exposed Online

Wang Sicong is one of China’s wealthiest and most eligible bachelors, but this love interest wasn’t interested at all. She has now shared their erratic chat conversations with the public.

Media Flipping 180° On UFOs At Pentagon’s Directive Says More About Media Than UFOs | by Caitlin Johnstone | Jun, 2021 | Medium

Half of the UFO articles coming out of the mass media these days are basically just stalwart propagandists for the western empire explaining to each other that it’s okay to talk about UFOs now and they should all feel perfectly fine and normal about that.

The Spirit of Lockdown – plasticdollheads

The Labour Zoomocracy has been quick to call for further lockdowns, harder border controls and has failed to acknowledge the inequalities that they both benefit from, and are complicit in. The middle-class sneers about pubs reopening and the protests against lockdown, whilst happy to attend and support their own protests.

Is War With China Coming? | Politics: Fast and Slow

China and America are entering dangerous times

What Are Puriteens? Why Millennials’ View of Gen Z Is Wrong – Rolling Stone

Millennials are claiming that zoomers are more sexually conservative than previous generations — but is there any truth to that, or are we just all too online?

Reading

I started reading ‘The Anthology of English Folk Tales‘ before bed, and I’m also trying to get though 10 pages a day of Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation.

I have Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts #6 Straight Silver as a release day download sitting in my Audible app but I haven’t started listening to it yet. But I can’t wait. Any excuse to have Toby Longworth read me a story is a welcome one.

My friend told me Longworth does a passable Werner Herzog impression for on of the main characters which has me intrigued. lol.

Gojira – Fortitude

I’ve been listening to the new Gojira album this week. Whilst I don’t think the band band can ever repeat the master piece that is/was From Mars to Sirius they shouldn’t be expected too.

There’s a lot of great tracks on the album but the one that piques my interest the most is Amazonia. To my ear it sounds like a classic Sepultura track brought into 2021.
(Proceeds from the song benefit The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB))

Remember Kids: