The failure of conservatism and need for a progressive right that embraces utopianism and radical creativity
The mentality of defeat vs. traits of power (The New Man)
Transhumanism Jason Reza Jorjani‘s Prometheism Cosmological natural selection: the science of creating new promethean universes
The political situation in France
Michael’s background, interest in transhumanism and artificial intelligence, and political evolution
Potential impacts of artificial intelligence on inequality and the liberal worldview
Why the post scarcity economy (Fully Automated Luxury Communism) is a long ways away
The Bay Area futurist scene and the Gray Tribe
The demographic and class dynamics of the San Francisco Bay Area
The trend of demographic fragmentation into enclavism/neo-tribalism and end of the mythos of America
The economic strategy of diversity
Thoughts on the election, civil unrest, crackdown on the right, and alt-tech
The politics of acceleration vs. boiling frog theory
Paul’s critique of the Left’s handling of environmental issues
The focus on carbon emissions and the degree to which climate change is responsible for habitat loss
The Left’s focus on the West while ignoring ecological devastation in the developing world
The Left’s lack of concern for overpopulation in the developing world while telling Westerners to reduce their birthrates
Mass immigration’s impact on ecological footprints Education, IQ, and Fertility
The need for rural revitalization for the new green economy
How sustainable agriculture would need a much larger and higher skilled workforce
The mainstream right’s neglect of environmentalism
How economic nationalism and tariffs would help end the exploitation of resources by global capitalism
The environmental origins of the coronavirus pandemic
The problems of a consumption based economic model
Why profits should be based upon reciprocity One-Third of American Workers Pay Is Being Stolen. Here’s How
The decline in workers’ purchasing power
Why the Financialization of the economy is a bigger issue than labor supply
Paul’s book Psionism about rejecting an imposed mono culture in favor of neo-tribalism
Aesthetic Socialism is the concept of viewing politics with aesthetics as one of the basic principles. I discussed the concept at length in my essay Aristocratic Aesthetic Socialism and show with Matthew Pegas and Giovanni Dannato. Aesthetics signifies one’s class and social status and influences and manipulates peoples decisions and economic output. Extreme inequality in aesthetics shapes the core foundations and social mechanisms of a society.
In politics the debate about the distribution wealth is primarily about the distribution of monetary assets and how to make basic needs widely available. Due to mass production and future trends in automation we are now entering a Post Scarcity Economy where many goods and services can be provided to a larger segment of the population.
We have the wealth, resources, and technology to provide basic services such as food and electronics that can be mass produced. In the future healthcare could be provided cheaply due to automation but the goods that are positional will remain increasingly scarce.
Positional Goods according to Lion of the Blogosphere “are goods and services that people value because of their limited supply and they convey a high relative standing within society.” These resources are positional because they are ranked in value to other resources.
Giovanni’s New Alt-Dissident Fantasy Fiction
The theme of Heaven and Hell as an analogy for those who are within the system and those outside of it
The importance of creating a cultural vision beyond political policies Alt-Centrist Scum Will Rise
The importance of focusing on what works over having a rigid ideology There’s No Power Without “Downward Distribution”
How wealth distribution has a history going back to Ancient Mesopotamia
The flaws of conservative individualism and why people must co-operate as tribes
The limited demographic of conservationism and how to create a broader coalition
Rejecting both Right Wing Social Darwinism and Left Wing Egalitarianism
How to effectively distribute wealth(ex. Smart Socialism and State Capitalism)
How to effectively take care of mediocre people and the “losers” of society
Why economic “handouts” are necessary to gain political support and maintain a functional society
How better urban planning can address economic and class problems
The concept of the urban gene shredder and how to address it
The importance of having a leisure economy for innovation
The need for a specialized economy that utilizes a wide variety of personality types
Roger Blackstone is a fictional presidential candidate in Robert Stark’s novel Journey to Vapor Island.
Topics:
Ashley’s article Roger Blackstone: The Politics of Aesthetics
Roger Blackstone’s ideology as a psychedelic futurist form of social nationalism
Roger Blackstone utilizing capitalism as a real estate mogul to rise to power
Roger Blackstone’s Utopian visions in contrast with Trump who has been a major disappointment
Roger Blackstone’s campaign commercial
“Advancing civilization and furthering human progress” implies a rejection of the NRx reading of history (inverted Whig view) and assumes that some forms of progress are actually meaningful
Basing political ideology on aesthetic values
New Urbanism and the necessity of creating aesthetically pleasant living spaces
The idea that simple libertarianism is just not enough and we need to create intentional communities for every possible group
The 1980’s Retro Futuristic theme; “Neon Nationalism”
Roger Blackstone’s idea of making humans, rather than just art and architecture, the subject of aesthetic concern
Roger’s Blackstone’s economic views and support for a basic income
The power to completely re-engineer the human genome to enhance human potential(Transhumanism)
The book The Chemical Muse about the prevalence of drugs(especially entheogens) in pre-modern societies, and the importance of drug use to a lot of artists and anti-conformists
Roger Blackstone’s father Alistair and his manifesto “Why The True Aristocrat Must Rule”
The notion of a natural aristocracy(ex. Ralph Waldo Emerson and HL Mencken)
The term “Aristocratic Radicalism” pops up, which has been used to describe Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy
Similarities to Alistair Crowley’s concept of “Aristocratic Communism,” where society is geared towards empowering those who are naturally non-conformists, artists, and intellectuals
There is some evidence that Alistair is sympathetic to distributive economic philosophies, because capitalism has this stifling effect on the creative class
The mock presidential debate scene where Noam has to represent Roger Blackstone against the Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian
The growing trend of political fusionism
The importance of using fiction to influence political discourse
The Mechanics of Status
How status enables reproduction with desirable mates and increases ones odds of survival in pre-modern societies
The utilitarian culture that views all problems from a statistical basis and therefore neglects social status
Social status as a driving force behind economic motives
How social status will become even more important in a post scarcity economic future
How manipulating the status system is more effective and far less energetically expensive than direct coercion High School And Status in America
The silly myth that the quarterback ends up bagging groceries while the unpopular kids become Silicon Valley billionaires
How corporate culture mirrors high school
Attacking ones political opponents by disparaging their social status
How Trump to many symbolizes the crass high school bullies who scored with their first crushes The Macro-Sexenomics of Female Beauty The Social Cosmology
How people create their own status within sub-cultures The Alt-Sphere Should Embrace Culture and Aesthetics
JEFFERY J. SMITH published The Geonomist, which won a California GreenLight Award, has appeared in both the popular press (e.g.,TruthOut) and academic journals (e.g., USC’s “Planning and Markets”), been interviewed on radio and TV, lobbied officials, testified before the Russian Duma, conducted research (e.g., for Portland’s mass transit agency), and recruited activists and academics to Progress.org. A member of the International Society for Ecological Economics and of Mensa, he lives amidst the beauty of Northern California. Jeffery is currently Chief Editor at Progress.org.
Topics:
Jeffery Smith’s new science fiction novel Perfect Timing about time travel to a future society
How the book conveys the tone of Hitchhiker’s Guide, offers insights like Stranger in a Strange Land, and presents an upbeat alternative to Brave New World
The theme and implementation of a Basic Income in the future society
Why a basic income is necessary and ways to implement it
The artificial notion of the work week and the book The Overworked American
The Post-scarcity economy and how the surplus of wealth is concentrated in the top 1%
The theme of Utopia; Aldous Huxley’s utopian novel Island
The future society of Geotopia, the theme of Ecotopia, and the book by Ernest Callenbach
Ecological based economics; Herman Daly’s Steady State Economics
Geonomics, Georgism, and the land value tax
How a land value tax is different from a property tax and leads to more efficient land use City Density—Friend of Trip Efficiency
The book Better NOT Bigger: How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve your Community
Jeffery Smith’s upcoming book on measuring the indicators of land value