pbsarts:

Is Futurama the Best Argument Against Transhumanism?

Transhumanism is a scientific philosophy that says technology will solve all our human biological constraints and that immortality is right around the corner (well not RIGHT around the corner, but WAYYY closer). They envision a world of endlessly euphoric robo-humans that represent the next step in evolution. And while this sounds super awesome, we had to ask, will this really make us happy?! If you watch Futurama, than you know that the answer is probably NO. While not an exact illustration of transhumanism, Futurama does show a future of vast technological ability, where today’s everyday problems are rendered moot, and yet the characters on the show still seem to find themselves in some very non-euphoric emotional states. Does this disprove what transhumanists expect for our future?

And memes are still a way to self-identify. Sure, more people are catching on to meme culture, but their grasp to it is limited. Sites and communities each have their own share of humor and interests. For example: Using the word “nigger” (no offense) is hilarious to 4chan, but Tumblr will most likely find it racist. What a person finds funny, and what interests him, shows how he identifies to the rest of the web and what website he likes. Just because the people you know disgust Advice Animals, doesn’t mean this is a mutual opinion shared by everyone. Things didn’t got big if there wasn’t a group of people out there who really like it.

Instead of becoming a way to seperate internet culture from IRL culture, memes have become more a way of seperating internet communities within that internet culture. And with a constant growing web like ours, that’s only a good thing, as it still allows us to self identify and show others where we belong. We are part of the same web, but we aren’t part of the same communities within that web.

Just Some Random Blog: amandab!: kenyatta: fridge-logic: continuants: chrismenning: chuckhistory: I…   (via kenyatta)

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Source: chuckhistory

Reporters find the entire notion of maximizing profits a bit dicey.
Recall now that reporters aren’t working for similar rewards as those in business. They are out to save the world.
Newspaper owners have for centuries utilized this leaning to pay reporters peanuts. In fact reporters are the lowest paid among occupations that require a college degree. In most places they earn 40-50 percent less than the local librarian.
The newspaper owners benefit greatly from the naiveté of those in their newsroom. They’re not going to say a word.
Articles: The Fall of Journalism

Source: americanthinker.com

We in the newsroom should have no illusions. Our entire purpose is to fill the “news hole,” which is the space left over after the advertisements have been placed on the page.

Theodore Daws in The Fall of Journalism, American Thinker.

Dawes, a long-time journalist, criticizes idealism and naivete in young journalists (in other words: those who think the industry is something other than a business that needs to make money), as well as j-school and false understandings of journalism ethics:

Of course, everyone overvalues the academic training they’ve received.  It makes the debt, hassle, and spent time seem worthwhile, or at least less futile.

And imagine the thrill of using “lede,” which is the new spelling of lead, as in the opening sentence of a story.  Its use provides the pleasing sensation of possessing specialized knowledge, knowledge well beyond the ken of the average Joe.

That is particularly pleasant to those who know so very little about everything else.

For example, I always ask job candidates a second question: “What is the difference between regulation and legislation?

Only one j-school graduate has ever known the answer.  That was because, he sheepishly provided, he had worked as a legislative assistant the summer prior.

Tell me, please.  How do you prepare a student for a career as a “government watchdog” and fail to provide the most fundamental instruction in how government works?

As befits their lofty status and lofty purpose, journalists work under a lofty ethical construct.  Unfortunately, it is as flawed and juvenile as their journalistic purpose.

On occasion the ethical imperatives are simply incompatible, for example: 1) saving the world and 2) journalistic objectivity. 

This illustrates perfectly an important fact: journalistic ethics weren’t arrived at philosophically or accidentally.

As is the case with many codes of ethics, the ethics of those in the journalism industry have as one of their primary purposes the maintenance of the status quo, particularly the economic status quo.

Read on.

FJP: Would love to see a rebuttal to this.

(via futurejournalismproject)

decolonizingmedia: Decolonize the Advisor: Tom ‘Sacred Buffalo’ Flanagan What national leader wouldn’t take strategic advice on Indigenous issues from a buffalo-coat wearing, Aboriginal assimilationalist ideologue like this guy?  And then there’s his homebase of ideological operations, the University of Calgary: ‘Calgary School’ Political pseudo-Science on Indigenous Nationhood #BuffaloCoat The polemic linked to above is pure takedown gold.
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decolonizingmedia:

Decolonize the Advisor: Tom ‘Sacred Buffalo’ Flanagan

What national leader wouldn’t take strategic advice on Indigenous issues from a buffalo-coat wearing, Aboriginal assimilationalist ideologue like this guy? 

And then there’s his homebase of ideological operations, the University of Calgary: ‘Calgary School’ Political pseudo-Science on Indigenous Nationhood

#BuffaloCoat

The polemic linked to above is pure takedown gold.

*Actually, there is a connection between Ahmed Al-Kabaz and Aaron Swartz. Ahmed investigated a powerful institution to see if it was competent and safe, and when he discovered that it wasn’t, he exposed it. Aaron believed passionately in the public’s right to information. Both were doing journalism. In decrying their actions, the Globe has in effect taken a position against the basic mission of journalism .
Globe and Mail runs loony screed against “hackers”, Aaron Swartz, logic - Boing Boing (via aaronleaf)

(via aaronleaf)