H+ Magazine

In October Ken Goffman (aka. R.U. Sirius) launched a new venture. The cyberculture icon of Mondo 2000 fame has a new transhumanist magazine, H+. You won’t find this one on your newsstand yet, issue #1 of this quarterly publication has been released as a PDF only. You can download it here (and you should).

Transhumanism is a philosophy that explores/embraces the increasing integration of technology with the human race. In the words of the World Transhumanist Association — “The ethical use of technology to extend human capabilities.” H+ covers these issues technologically, biologically and philosophically — concerned with both the possible, and its implications for humanity.

I had held off covering this on GigantiCo, because I’ve been discussing with Ken a possible role for myself with the publication, and thus far none has precipitated. I had intended to cover the launch of the magazine in a more timely manner, with an announcement of my involvement. So far we are just talking. That’s not a bad thing, I hope the dialog will lead to something more. If it does, readers here will be first to know. Until then, keep an eye on H+.

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EDIT: I am now working with H+. Details to come.

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FURTHER READING:

San Francisco Weekly — Mondo 2000

Boing Boing — Bart Nagel’s Mondo 2000 collection

Coilhouse — Mondo 2000: Where Are they Now?

Temple of the Screaming Electron: A history of Mondo 2000

R.U. Sirius @ Maybe Logic

The R.U. Sirius Show

Contact?

Left to Right: Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes; President Elect, Barack Obama; Alien; Former President, Bill Clinton; Former White House Chief of Staff & co-chair of Barack Obama’s transition team, John Podesta.

It seems UFO/space-alien stories rise to the surface of our popular culture about once a decade. Perhaps we are simply at the crest of this decade’s wave. The new spin is in the number of voices coming from inside the establishment.

In the past year several former NASA Astronauts have come forward to rather adamantly insist that alien spacecraft have visited Earth and various governments have been covering this up. Most outspokenly, Apollo 14 Astronaut, Edgar Mitchell (see video below), and Mercury-Atlas 9 / Gemini 5 Astronaut, C. Gordon Cooper (see video below).

NASA Astronaut, Gordon Cooper		NASA Astronaut, Edgar Mitchell

In May of this year Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory stated that the existence of extra terrestrial life “doesn’t contradict our faith” in an article for the Vatican paper titled “The extraterrestrial is my brother.” What does the Vatican know? or What is the Vatican preparing itself for?

President Elect, Barack Obama has tapped John Podesta to head his transition team. Podesta, the former Chief of Staff from the Clinton administration, is a known UFO buff. In October, 2002, acting as a lobbyist for the Sci-Fi channel, Podesta held a press conference to announce a freedom of information lawsuit where he stated, “It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the true nature of the phenomena.” Some dismissed it as a publicity stunt.

But it is worth pointing out that John Podesta was previously a member of Bill Clinton’s administration. Clinton’s Executive Order 12958 declassified many national security related materials including some documents related to UFO investigations (Edit: while blocking others) to satisfy Clinton’s own interest in events like the Roswell incident, and yet no shaking hands with the alien photo-op ever transpired… or did it?