Apartheid, Art and the singularity

Firstly: Apartheid

My part in its demise

Neil Aggett's funeral in 1982

Well After getting myself embroiled in the whole Aids debate I must say I really felt for Rian Malan. You know it was not that hard for him to back out of the whole debate with a disclaimer about his lack of Scientific training or something and then just go off and write about something else. 

Well in fact, it seems he did try to back off but the resulting hysteria it seems, forced him to give a repost and in this he has retained a certain (Afrikaner) stubborn determination not to bow to pressure, and persists in maintaining his stance about manipulation of AIDS statistics. 

February 2007

This is an excerpt I borrowed to give an idea of what he has had to deal with.

IN an HIV/Aids conference in Toronto, treatment Action Campaign honcho Nathan Geffen informed the gathering that “a journalist by the name of Rian Malan wrote a column in noseweek arguing that the Aids statistics were completely wrong, that there wasn’t a serious Aids epidemic in Africa, and that people weren’t dying of Aids in great numbers. He didn’t dispute that HIV caused Aids. He just thought that this was massively exaggerated. I ended up writing a detailed response, and today I’m glad to say that Malan’s exited the debate. 

He’s considered to be quite a fool by the South African media, quite correctly.”

Here's part of his response 

Considered a fool, eh? These are fighting words. In truth, I exited the debate because I came under attack by armies of frenzied activists, all bent on portraying me as a grubby, drunken madman whose views on Aids (as expressed in nose52) could not be taken seriously. In truth, I never claimed Aids was not a problem. On the contrary – I described it as a terrible affliction that was claiming countless lives. At the same time, however, it was clear that Aids numbers were being exaggerated and good news suppressed. I stand by that story. . . Read the whole story.

On November 10th, Rian Malan launched a collection of journalism under the title Resident Alien, his first book since My Traitor’s Heart was published in 1990. The collection, quite simply, is outstandingly good. It was also supposed to be Malan’s last word on inflated Aids stats. Quite simply, it wasn’t. Check this out on Daily Maverick

Not a Great Career move Rian . . .  

I was quite frankly amazed at his dissident stance. . .  why didn't he just back off and let the Dissenters (Denialists) and Orthodoxy slug it out trading insults in whatever media outlets they can use?
to me it raises a very nagging question
Why do the Dissenters persist?

• They are vastly outnumbered 
• And vilified and mocked by the mainstream media 
• They have little or nothing to gain, rather much more to lose (another element that is overlooked) 
• If they are scientists they lose financial backing, lose  all prospects of promotion, and devastatingly lose the respect from their peers in their respective fields of study. 

And in spite of that . . .
They are refusing to backdown and exhibit some pretty extraordinary bravery in the face of so much opposition. 
Why do they persist? If not for something worth fighting for?

Just maybe its worth investigating

People who know little or . . . nothing. . .  are very quick to join the bandwagon and formulate an opinion without even taking time to see what's being said. 
I hear the mainstream formula being repeated from people all the time, and its obvious they have simply accepted the status quo without even thinking it could be questioned.

Its seems to me the world is so mesmerised by the media and its agenda which uses expert spokesmen and slickly edited programs which project a specific point of view. This point of view is the one they have accepted as most advantageous to their political agenda. If its not really true or accurate is irrelevant and the whole angle is manipulated and portrayed by "experts" who are highly skilled in making us believe in just about anything. 

Well I am getting too old and cynical to trust the mainstream media on just about everything. 

I strongly feel I can trust what Rian Malan reports - I can say this after the painful and difficult experience of reading "My Traitors Heart" this guy belongs to a group of people who simply cannot be bought off and as stated in his words "I write it the way I saw it".

What inspires me is the fact that there are still people like this in the world, not easily swayed. There are far too many yes men, too insecure and indecisive to have a personal opinion and too lazy and indifferent to dig for information buried beneath the spoon feeding of the press. 

Just reading this now: What a great read hard to put down. . .

The first section is about corruption and scandal - which I suspect Malan revels in. It's about a one man (Paul Sullivan)crusade to bring down the corrupt chief of police, Jacki Selebi. The struggle led to the adventures of the notorious "scorpions", which was a kind of Miami Vice type police unit in SA which got disbanded for reasons Malan describes in the book, the story goes on, leading up to the murder of Brett Kebble and his connections to the police and Selebi, and the murky criminal world. I remember when the murder story broke actually driving past Brett Kebble's mansion in Bishop's Court in Cape Town never really understanding what happened until now.  

Brett Kebbles Cape Mansion is up for sale for R36million if anybody is interested. Also I see there's a movie about Kebble 

In this documentary, the three self-confessed killers, as well as Jackie Selebi, Glen Agliotti, Piet Byleveld, and the Kebble family, are interviewed, exploring a fascinating tale of greed, corruption, fraud, and murder. Exclusive first-hand accounts of the murder are included, and the belly of South Africa's dark underworld is revealed. From: imdb

Will add to this as I read . . . 

A new Direction

Trying to understand the science of AIDS would require a long (life) time of study that I do not have, there are so many other totally unrelated topics related to the materialist world I wish to discuss, I may return to it from time to time but since this is a personal journey I rather want to talk about people who interest me and what the information uncovers from my own perspective. 

Previously I felt very intrigued by the story of Kary Mullis and how he also became a target for much venom and spite when he began to question the AIDS hypothesis. 

For now I am intrigued by Rian Malan and I feel he is closer to my experience of the world since he is from South Africa. I want to compare my experience of South Africa with his book it creates a very interesting mixing of angles and experiences. 

My Traitor's Heart

"My Traitor's Heart"published all the way back in 1990 

I did in fact read the book back then, but not all of it. . . all I can remember is starting it, but not being able to finish it. 

It was published in 1990 maybe timed with the release of Nelson Mandela. 
I clearly remember seeing it on the shelves of Book Stores and reading the reviews 

These told of a reporter who had left south Africa as an exile and had returned. This book was a kind of memoir of his experiences as writer for "the Star" newspaper in Johannesburg in which he was a reporter focussing on south african murders. He gives the History of the Malan family he descended from and how he had "betrayed" his Afrikaans heritage by his anti racist stance. 

I was saying I could not finish the book, for me at that time it was so disturbing and horrifying I just didn't have the stomach to finish it, so I put it down and forgot it. 

I only made my way back to it after reading Rian's views and his inclusion in the video made by Brent Leung  House of Numbers

So I am playing catch up on Rian and have now pushed through with the book, which 25 years later is just as horrifying as when I first read it but I may have developed a tougher stomach since then. I do believe it is a very important book, written from the perspective of someone from my own generation. But there are some very marked differences about which create very different perspectives on the South African panorama. Rian is a pure bred Afrikaner which is clearly shown in his brutally transparent history of the colonisation of the Cape and his families role in this. 

I on the other hand am from the English element in SA, many english speaking South Africans, like me do not have the historic lineage in SA, my Dad was Irish and my mom from Rhodesia/Zimbabwe beyond them I am not at all sure where my ancestors came from, I suspect a real mixture. I was born in Salisbury Harare in Zimbabwe in a predominantly English speaking population which had its own brand of Colonial Apartheid and we too were brought up as privileged whites who had black servants. We took this for granted and never considered questioning it. 

My family left Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) in 1974 when I was 13 years old, our reason was to get out of the war of independence being fought against another white regime, this one being Ian Smith's "Rhodesian Front" which had declared an independence (UDI)  from the British colonial rule in 1965. Young men were being sent into the bush to deal with the terrorist incursions. In spite of early success the war dragged on for years and began wreaking terrible toll on the isolated enclave of white majority rule. So my parents decided we were not prepared to die for Ian Smith and left the country for Johannesburg SA. 

Rhodesian Soldiers in anti-landmine transporter 

We were really just too young to understand the politics and were excited about the SA adventure. So settling in Northcliffe Johannesburg my life was from then on all about surviving the dangerous environment of an english speaking South African School (Northcliffe). The Schools were far more polarised between English and Afrikaans it seems than I later found in the Cape. I quickly learned that Afrikaners were "rock Spiders" and "Dutchmen" and we were supposed to hate them.
This is not to say the English speaking Jo'burgers were in any way enlightened about racism and Apartheid, we also hated the blacks (Kaffirs) more than we hated the Dutchmen, and when they burned down their Schools in Soweto in 1976 we were "disgusted at their ungrateful behaviour".

Northcliffe Hill Johannesburg with its water tower 

Rian Malan left for Los Angeles in 1977,in 1978 I went to live in Braamfontein (Central Johannesburg) just having moved into the YMCA to go to School at the Art Ballet and Music School in ParkTown. The thing that sticks out in my memory is not so much the Soweto Riots that had been raging since 1976 but rather the phenomenon of the Punk Movement that had begun in England. I remember seeing red haired spikes and safety pins in the ears of some scary looking kids in the streets of London and being quite shocked at these aggressive brazen people. I was still quite naive, basically a country boy from Zimbabwe, but I was working hard on trying to look cool and dangerous as possible in the city of Jo'burg I had little time and less interest in the plight of some black people in a township I had never been near and never intended to go to.

Braamfontein YMCA where I lived for 2 years 

In my bid to be "dangerous" I naturally got involved in what rebellious teenagers are supposed to do, smoking pot (zol) and drinking and trying to have fun staying up all night running around the streets of Johannesburg, which were actually not that dangerous in those days and places like Hillbrow were actually quite a lot of fun for young folks looking for a good time. There were of course very bad people and horrible things also happened in Jo'burg all the time and to be sure I could write a book about that, but my main focus is on the huge issues of the day. 

This is Jeppe Hostel in Johannesburg central that house migrant workers whose "official" homes were in the homelands in impoverished rural districts. The men would come to the cities to find work and would live in grim crowded blocks just like this one. Outside the blocks in the streets they ran shebeens where you could buy a "stop" of "majut" (parcel of dagga) or beer. The police would run frequent raids on these places, I remember being caught in one, there was a sense of danger here but the chances of us being hurt by black hostel dwellers was quite remote, we were whities and this gave us privilege and protection.  I was caught with dagga in my pocket and they tried to intimidate me but I was actually treated quite gently and escaped with a suspended sentence that included a visit to a rehab (sanca) every week, a minor inconvenience. This picture is recent, taken from the xenophobia riots in june 2015,still being used as a hostel. 

There is a story in "My Traitor's Heart " in which Rian Malan describes how he wrote a letter to the press about the trial of an Indian activist Ahmed Timol who didn't receive a fair trial and was one of many who "fell" accidentally from a window at John Forster square. This letter he wrote at age 14, which always amazes me. How is it possible that a young Afrikaans boy would actually write something like that? showing such maturity and foresight way beyond his years and time. when I was 14, I was squeezing pimples and dreaming of girls, thats about it!

  Ahmed Timol A young teacher opposed to Apartheid arrested in 1971 died 5 days later in detention. Rian Malan managed to get a job on the Star newspaper directly as a result of having written his letter to the editor about this case. 

This is taken from Sunday Times  another "mysterious" death. In 1997 Matthews Mojo Mabelane, fell from the tenth floor of John Vorster Square, landing on a vehicle parked below. All this going on right under our noses. What would we have done had we known? Well what could we do? John Forster Square was not far from the YMCA where I stayed in Johannesburg in 1978-9, whilst we were running around having fun and getting into trouble this kind of thing was going on just down the road. 

Well I managed to survive Johannesburg and found myself in CapeTown in 1980 ready to study Fine Art at UCT.

Me and my brother Mike roundabout 1980

I was immediately aware of a different mentality of the people of CapeTown to what I had known in Johannesburg and there seemed to be a greater political awareness, of course I encountered it at UCT as well. As yet I personally had never really questioned or speculated about the whole Apartheid thing. I was not called up to the army because my passport was Irish, I had never been to Ireland but my Irish father (who I couldn't remember, died when I was 3) provided me with a passport. So I settled into student life at UCT not for a second thinking about the plight of the black man, I remember my thoughts being about worrying about my future survival and how long it would take before I got a girlfriend. 

I found myself sitting next to a black guy in my History of Art lecture and finding it quite strange, he looked like the gardener, and I wondered if he had the mental capacity to cope with lectures and exams. There were demonstrations, I never went to any of them. I found the white liberals at UCT a ridiculous lot girls shaving their hair short in punk style and not wearing bras and not shaving their arm pits, this was going too far, hairy armpits were just too disgusting to see on a woman. so I was not interested in white liberals. I do remember making a few feeble attempts to study the whole apartheid issue but gave up after a bit not being sure what I was supposed to do or to believe. 

My whole struggle was with my own identity and making difficult choices to give up smoking cigarettes and weed and getting fit and healthy. I was mostly self absorbed in my own crisis of what was life all about and trying to survive in a world I just didn't understand.

Demonstration in Greenmarket square, 1985 Rian Malan mentions the use of a purple dye in his book which was specifically for Black Protestors. I remember a headline quip "The Purple will govern" 

Very early in the 1980's I was sitting at dinner with some family members in Cape Town and witnessed a polarised argument about the atrocities that allegedly had been perpetrated by the Whites only government against the black people and anybody who dared stand up to the regime. 

What I clearly remember is an uncle stating something about apartheid being an illegitimate rule by a minority regime, and the truth about the SAP (south African Police) atrocities would one day be exposed. Suddenly my other relative stood up and angrily retorted that these allegations were absolute rubbish and that he would absolutely not tolerate such talk in his house. 
I then remember him saying to me afterwards that these rumours and allegations were made by irresponsible people who were far removed from reality. His conviction went something like this: There were a few bleeding heart liberals, basically dope smoking hippies living in some lala land, their view of reality was idealistic and unrealistic, these people simply did not understand the complex difficulties of governing and controlling the unruly masses in a diverse society. 

The government was in fact doing a good job in difficult circumstances and the Blacks were very fortunate that the government had built Schools for them and provided them with jobs. They didn't appreciate what had been given to them because they basically were lazy and wanted housing and amenities for free. To give in to their demands would be to encourage the influx of communistic rule in SA.

I believed him. . . 

Propoganda on TV

The South African government initially very suspicious of the subversive nature of television, refused South Africans TV until 1976, and when it eventually came they were suddenly aware of the possibilities for feeding the country their own brand of reality. 

I distinctly remember a program in which we were fed propaganda about the ANC communists who were gathering together in Lusaka (Zambia) and were busy planning a violent and bloody take over of the country and we must prepare the country for war to protect our "democratic" way of life. 

I believed them . . . 

Neil Aggett 

There was a story circulating at the time of a white doctor called Neil Aggett. Sometime in 1982, Aggett and his girlfriend, Liz Floyd, who was also a doctor and an anti-apartheid activist, were detained by the Police. Neil worked as an organiser assisting African Trade Unions. He was reportedly tortured for 70days without a trial and died by suicide. Even though many black people were murdered in detention, not many white south africans cared enough, to react, however the death of Neil Aggett shocked many whites into a new awareness of the situation. Former apartheid security police officer Lieutenant Stephan Whitehead, who allegedly supervised the torture that drove Aggett to suicide, may yet have to account for his actions in court.

Paul Stopforth - The Interrogators 1979. 

Steve Biko and Art

This was the most well known piece from a series Stopforth made reacting to the torture and death of activist Steve Biko.  I was in matric in 1979 and was quite oblivious of the existence of Steve Biko, or even Nelson Mandela. 

This painting is one of the earliest attempts to depict the suffering of Apartheid activists at the hands of prison officials in apartheid south Africa. The faces are so large it is meant to give us the viewer the feeling of being the one interrogated. The chair is a masterful piece of understatement in this chilling work, but nevertheless the average white person who knew what was happening could only give a kind of lip service to this. 

We were brought up enjoying all the benefits of  and living under the prosperity and protection of the regime, how exactly can one 'feel the pain' of the carefully segregated black communities most south africans had never even seen?

Neil Aggett's death was the exception not the rule, generally the regime was relatively gentle with white activists. But if you were black you stood a very good chance of "accidentally" dying after being viciously assaulted. The painting could be showing something that happened in a far distant country not nearby, I'm not saying it was irrelevant but speaking for myself (and probably most whites) I could not even begin to relate to it.

So maybe its purpose was to inform and draw attention to something we needed to know about. But how exactly could one express truthfully white south african consciousness in the mid 1980's?

Truth and Reconciliation commission established in 1995 in which horrified South Africans learned the rumours were not only true but even worse that was initially reported. I was totally shocked at what i heard and just like Rian Malan's book I couldn't bear watching as one horror story after another was presented before the commission. Many white south africans again became angry at the commission for rubbing their noses in apartheid atrocities . . . "we just didn't know" they complained 
Conjures up the memory of horrified german citizens who were given tours of the concentration camps by the American troops at the end of WWII. 

I remember well the disillusionment I felt when the truth and reconciliation commission began its hearings and the awareness that we had been totally lied to. . . well we knew that. . .  just not to the extent we were now hearing about.  

Even though there was an awareness in white south africans we watched it from a distance This apartheid struggle was more of a class struggle that simply divided itself in this particular arena around race, we were part of the aristocracy who were saying "Let them eat cake"  For us it was an interesting game, an intellectual exercise with no connection to our personal experience. 

We were self indulgent kids, how the black people must have resented us. what good could a few art works do? What kind of Art work could genuinely reflect this time from our own point of view and experience? 

Maybe this famous piece called "the Butcher Boys" by Jane Alexander

 Jane Alexander "The Butcher Boys". Plaster, bone and horn. 1985-1986. National gallery of arts, Cape Town, South Africa.

This is truly a chilling piece, it is meant to display the indifferent attitude of the white south africa with its soft hands and demonised heads, to the atrocities of the apartheid regime. As a piece of sculpture it is quite clearly not about its interpretation of the human form. The figures are fairly static and unremarkable, that is if they were just figures, but they are hybrid creatures not human at all. They look like demons, not that I have ever seen a demon but if I did wouldn't they look a bit like this? 

Perhaps Alexander's intention was to create in these sculptures a reactionary work illustrating her own guilt and horror at the mentality of South Africans who prefer to look the other way rather than acknowledge the atrocities being committed in their own backyards. Maybe we knew what was happening but in our hearts we were secretively supportive of a system that kept the riff raft out of our restaurants and our beaches black free. This may be much closer in reality to white mindsets, even ostensibly liberal ones, which makes this idea closer to the bone than Stopforth's painting.

Common sight in Apartheid SA 

In order to show this, the young post graduate student hit upon the idea of combining animal parts, specifically the horns, with human figures. There are lots of precedents she could draw upon, images of horned gods, Medieval depictions of the devil, shamanistic tribal practices in which the spiritual leaders wore horns etc. This was meant to show the callous mindset of a dumbed down people who pretend to care but are concerned more about their own comfort than the suffering of others.

But is it specific enough?

The final result does not seem at first glance to be a depiction of white South Africa in the apartheid era at all. This work would probably have drawn the same fascination and attention if it had been shown just about anywhere in the world. Nobody would be aware about any visual links to South Africa. 
And it did create an enormous response but. . .was that because it eloquently exposed the guilty mindset of south african indifference in the apartheid era?

Or did the sculpture create a response that appealed to something quite unrelated to the professed issue at hand?

Is it even South African?

There is a universality about these figures and as sinister and provocative as they are, we actually have to be told what the context is, it is certainly not obvious to the eye. It's connection to apartheid only becomes clear after we are coached to look in that direction.

I would suggest there is more to this than meets the eye, and . . .perhaps more than met Alexander's eye as well. It is entirely possible in my mind, that she had no idea she was touching a deeper reality that reaches far beyond the issues of apartheid and white peoples apathy. She may have become aware of this later on when the work began to develop a kind of life of its own that seemed to go beyond the expectations of its creator. . . 

Interestingly she became notoriously unwilling to discuss the work. 

In fact she has demonstrably distanced herself from it. 

There is a disturbing element to the sculpture which I believe has a powerfully negative spiritual connotation which could possibly explain her attitude towards it. 
Like Frankenstein she wants nothing to do with the monster she created. 
Speaking of which, this is an interesting point to consider, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein (published 1818) when she was only 18 years old! Did she have any idea at her young age about the deep chord she was touching, that rings forth to this very day?

I think this is significant,  Alexander could have really profited by making variations on the piece with plenty of (weird rich people)collectors queuing up to buy them, but she never has.  It is quite a simple matter to churn out all kinds of variations on these horned hybrids, some artists would have had no compunction on milking a theme to fabulous fame and fortune. 

(I have to ask. . . who exactly would want to buy one of these? Personally I would not like to have this work in my house). But there are a lot of people who wanted it apparently, which is disturbing in itself. . .Were they wanting to have a keepsake commemorating  the ardent defenders of human rights in the South Africa struggle for freedom? I doubt it frankly.

I don't think this has anything to do with her "Artistic Integrity" that this is a 'once off' work that makes a Historical statement that is 'unrepeatable'.

Sometimes we inadvertently hit a nerve

But this just illustrates the spiritual aspect of this world we live in.  Artists strive to delve into this realm, even hardened materialists will acknowledge a place of ideas and concepts that transcends these grimy streets, this is what artistic expression is all about. 

I think Alexander quite unwittingly touched on a deep dark reality, well now. . . dark realities can be interesting and titillating as we see with the plethora of media shows with occult themes. 
But this sculpture hints at something far more than a psychological state. It points towards a part of the human psyche is much lower than simple cruelty and selfishness, which is as far as she was meant to go, but the work has gone over onto another totally unrelated realm. This is not just frightening in its potentiality, it is an unknown that exudes an unclean and odious smell. 
I suspect Jane Alexander cannot stand the sight of her work.

Lets have a brief look at this Odious connection

Just an interesting aside, something that demonstrates the longevity of this piece. . . The sinister black eyes in the work have  have cropped up again quite recently in a phenomenon called "Black eyed kids" there are quite a few stories about this. . .  Encounters with Black Eyed Kids  . . .Lots of stories on You Tube


Urban legend or what ever, the kids have solid black eyes just like Alexander's sculpture. 

Die Antwoord er. . wat was die vraag?

Also our very 'dubious' export "Die Antwoord" like wearing black contacts to (successfully) create a sinister look 

Yolandi Visser of "Die Antwoord"with her black contacts in a recent video, they recently released a promotional video for their new album Ten$ion that referenced The Butcher Boys. Apparently this sparked a controversy when "Die Antwoord were accused of plagiarising Alexander's sculpture in their video.

Die Antwoord were quite open about their use of "the Butcher Boys" and were surprised when Alexander prepared to take legal action. They immediately withdrew the teaser video for their new Album. "Ninja" reportedly stated that the sculpture is the only south african work he is "truly proud of". 

But some would say perhaps for all the wrong reasons 

I am reminded of Jack Nicholson as the joker in Batman, admiring a Francis Bacon painting by refusing to deface it as his henchmen were doing to all the other paintings, saying "I like this one just the way it is". Perhaps the irreverence not quite in keeping with the high art label the work is use to enjoying. 

I do wonder about this "reissue" of a work that Alexander obviously feels should be left alone to exist within the context of the apartheid era and does not want it to be used to express anything other than its original intention. 

But she is very adamant about this. . . Why?

In a video on you tube a Vlogger called Chris English defends the right of "Die Antwoord" to reuse old iconography in the new context of a changing identity for white south africans. 

Whilst it is clear what his argument is and I personally say yes legally speaking they have the right. But I do sympathise with poor Jane Alexander who has painted (sculptured) herself into a corner by using the kind of iconography that has a far broader context than she ever could have intended or perhaps known(?) Perhaps I am assuming too much innocence on her part. . . only she would know. 

It would appear that perhaps her worst fears have been realised and the sculpture meant to express the anguish and tragedy of a specific time in History is taken out of the context she intended and into another context 
in which it looks disturbingly. . . very much at home. 

Read another report on the debate HERE

Perhaps Beyonce would understand this . . .

Beyonce's eyes Turning Black in her Super Bowl performance 

Lets just examine another popular urban legend.

Then there is the popular thread of super bowl illuminati performances in which we see iconography that is totally puzzling, explained as public rituals of secrete cabalistic illuminati groups who fund and run the banking, movie and music industries 

In this particular example there was a much publicised performance by Beyonce in which we see close up frames of Beyonce's eyes turning black as she is allegedly possessed by her altar ego Sasha Fierce.

In Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein she writes about the possibility of man playing God and trying to creating a living soul. In the story Dr. Frankenstein deeply regrets creating the monster. . . 
There is a new God game  modern science is playing today, also hinted at in Alexander's sculpture .This is the controversial foray of modern science into Trans-Humanism. Again the prescient nature of Alexander's Butcher Boys is apparent when one considers that scientists are experimenting with combining human and animal DNA .

Frankenstein contemplates his reflection for the first time.

Lynd Ward one of my favourite illustrators, with a series of beautifully executed wood engravings for which he was famous.

Frankenstein - must be one of the most famous stories every written.
Movies by the dozen, books and illustrations and in modern times TV shows and graphic novels. The youthful Mary Shelley never wrote anything of any consequence ever again. 

The story strikes a chord deep within the human psyche. What is it that evokes such a compelling and lasting response?


Beyond Human. 

Transhumanism advocates the use of science and technology to radically improve our species.

The idea that scientific research is going to improve life for all mankind is the basic premise of most funding and development. 

However, not wishing to rain on the scientific research and development's parade. . . There are some interesting issues with regard to scientific development and its philanthropic claim to have the best interests of humankind at heart.

My specific problem is simply this, it is clear at least to me, that the basis for all research is not so much about the concerns about our health as much as they are about . . . FUNDING.

SO WHAT . . . they say, without funding how is progress going to made? Well sure, but the problems arise when the issues are not primarily about health services but rather about politics and where the money is being channeled, there are plenty of stories of gross mismanagement and sheer waste.  

At the end of the day we have to start asking if we truly can trust these guys with things like the manipulation of genetics and various experimental procedures.

There are a lot of voices talking about how transgenics will help us to overcome things like paralysis and blindness and other physical deficiencies. This is very compelling when one considers how many people are suffering from physical problems that reduce significantly their quality of life. 

Just Joined this FB group discussions and possibilities around the Transhumanism issues. There is a great deal of optimism about the possibilities here. SINGULARITY NETWORK

What would Mary Shelley think about this?

A tantalising story has just been posted about a head transplant 

 Sergio Canavero

A doctor in Italy submitted a paper detailing the procedure required for a human head transplant. 
A volunteer has been found, Russian-born Valery Sprinidov has agreed to be the first patient to undergo the procedure, according to the AFP. Sprinidov reportedly has Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, which causes atrophy of the muscles. Read it HERE
They are hoping to be ready for this by 2017, of course there is much debate with plenty of doubts about the chances of success. 

Vladimir Demikhov 

In 1950s and ’60s successfully grafted the head and forelimbs of a smaller dog onto the body of a larger one. 

The dog actually lived for six days before dying. 

Robert White 

In 1970s, inspired by the work of Demikhov, in the USA transplanted a monkeys head successfully to another body, the monkey survived for 9 days.

The posthumanist movement 

Sees the age of transition as an acceleration of history towards technological explosion, whose culmination is to be expected no later than the year of 2050, when, it is predicted, the singularity is to finally commence. 

 The Singularity

The most common meaning for the singularity is the moment in history when a torrent of technological progress becomes so strong, so quick and so pervasive that human life in turn becomes irrevocably transformed. 

Contemporary posthumanists join this to a fully developed artificial intelligence immeasurably stronger than that of man and the final assimilation of not only human beings, but the universe in toto, with intelligent machines."


But - who finances the development of all this new technology? Are the institutions full of philanthropic technocrats trying to figure out the best way to propel all of mankind into a better brighter future? 

The Financiers get to Decide

At the 2013 Bilderberg conference at the Grove Hotel in Watford England, a clue as to their Agenda was seen in this transhumanist sculpture in the Pond outside.

The sculpture shows a figure ostensibly emerging from the (primordial) waters, perhaps referring to the evolutionary concept of early man developing sentient awareness out of the chaos of natural selection. 

The sculpture shows a human form losing its exterior of soft skin and tissue exposing the skeleton that lies beneath. Over these 'bare bones' develops what appears to be a new 'exoskeleton' the tougher stronger material that demonstrates the possibilities that technology can develop and improve the new post human. 

Post humanist man's "emergence" is not as a result of the forces of nature, the results of which are somewhat random and unpredictable. The rise from the waters is merely a symbol of a "New Chapter" a new kind of emergence in which mankind is able to develop himself through his own intellectual ability and technology. Man is able to direct evolution himself rather than wait for 'nature' to do it for him.  

The idea of developing a technological future in which all society can become better and improved perhaps living much longer and healthier than before is a tantalising idea filled with hope and optimism.

But where will we see this technology arise first?

The Super Soldier 

The New Arms Race race one suspects, was one of the principle topics at the Bilderberg meeting. Most of these technologies begin with military applications, and only after a period of use by the military or black operations are they unveiled to the general public. 

In 2008 the JASON group, the Pentagon’s top scientific advisers, warned that the U.S. military could face enemies with technologically enhanced abilities. These capabilities include brain-machine interfaces and pharmaceutical drugs that enhance cognitive abilities.

This new arms race will eventually force our society into a transhuman future due to the never ending desire to dominate our enemies. The debate over whether or not we should genetically modify or chip our soldiers will inevitably spill over into the general public, who will be using these technologies themselves. According to CNN, human trials in the civilian world for memory enhancing brain chips are set to begin in less than a year. Exoskeletons, which provide super-human strength to those who wear them, were originally developed by DARPA, the Department of Defense’s research agency.

When one considers the dangers of human nature namely greed, corruption, domination and control, one begins to wonder what will happen if new technological developments can create a stronger tougher human being. Will they use this to help paralysed and suffering civilians? 


The real issue that creates the most moral problems for this new post-humankind is not so much the use of new synthetic materials as the idea of genetic manipulation. The idea that we can improve human beings by crossing our DNA with that of various animals is not that new. It has occupied the pages of science fiction since the time of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. 

The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, 

In his book "The Island of Dr Moreau" H.G.Wells creates a story that tells about a doctor who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection. H.G.Wells would obviously have had no idea about crossing strains of DNA. But the human-animal hybrids on the island does not make for a story with a happy end. 
In "The Limits of Individual Plasticity" (1895), Wells expounded upon his firm belief that the events depicted in The Island of Doctor Moreau are entirely possible should such vivisection experiments ever be tested outside the confines of science fiction.

Do the scientists of today believe their knowledge and technology can do a better job Today?

One may wonder about the results of DNA tampering, the internet is rife with rumours of experiments happening today. When one looks back over time, there are plenty of references of this type of experimentation by the Nazis and various dictatorships in their inhuman experiments during the last century, which gives the idea that the curiosity of scientists with regard to this idea will not be satisfied until all the possibilities have been exhausted. 
Vivisection is basically the dissection of a subject whilst it is alive, in order to study its innards as they are operating. Obviously the humane method is to anaesthetise the subject whilst doing this. 
It is documented that these operations were performed on subjects the second world war in Japan in the infamous 731 unit where prisoners were experimented upon using vivisection and other procedures.Nazi human experimentation involved medical experiments on live subjects, such as vivisections by Josef Mengele, usually without anaesthesia.

The modern Island of Dr. Moreau ?

Plum Island

Shrouded in secrecy, the Island is the site of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) which was established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1954., the Island is also the site of the former U.S. military installation Fort Terry.

Plum Island is owned in its entirety by the United States Government, access to the island is controlled by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

There are some mysterious events that have tickled the ears of conspiracy theorists, the most exciting was the discovery of the corpse of a strange looking animal dubbed 'the montauk monster' giving some weight to the claims of strange experiments going on at the Island facility. 


WEIRD CREATURES FOUND WASING UP ON THE SHORE

DNA a whole new playground 

Crossing human DNA strands with animals. . . what are the implications? 

The Reports keep rolling in. . . HERE'S THE LATEST

The body of a mysterious creature in an advanced state of decomposition has been found by a group of firefighters in waters off the Coast of Carmen del Paraná, Uruguay.

The Locals belive its the famous and elusive Chupacabra, a legendary creature that drinks the blood of its victims.

The Official report states the creature is merely the body of a monkey that drowned. But this is so unsatisfactory as the type of monkey is not known, it's completely hairless, (even if the hair was falling out as the animal began to decompose, there would be still be areas that had hair attached) 

Another headline states: INHUMAN Genetic Mutation Experiment Escaped From Lab? Mysterious Creature With Human Hands Found Dead In Paraguay. 

Another weird corpse that is totally unidentifiable, quickly written off by authorities as something obvious but leaving more questions than answers. Could this be a genetic experiment gone wrong? The proliferation of these types of discoveries is certainly fuelling the conspiracies.