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TechnoPagan
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- Alameda, CA
- United States
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TechnoPagan's Discussions
The Road Towards a Neo-Human Culture
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Started this discussion. Last reply by TechnoPagan Apr. 17, 2009.
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- Website:
- http://www.meetup.com/neotopia
- Areas of interest:
- Collective Intelligence, microcontrollers, reef aquariums, science fiction, neurofeedback, evolution, wearable computers, nanotechnology, table top fantasy role play games, Sustainable society, Intentional Communities, drumming, Neo-Paganism, natural building materials and techniques, desktop fabrication
TechnoPagan's Blog
The Bay Area Collective Intelligence Meetup
This group will discuss ideas and projects involving Collective Intelligence, which is defined as a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals, connected by computer hardware and software, so that collectively they, learn faster, create more intelligent ideas and make more intelligent decisions than is possible for any individual human being.
The meetup will be on Sunday March 15th 2009 at 2:00pm in the San Francisco Bay Area. The exact… Continue
The meetup will be on Sunday March 15th 2009 at 2:00pm in the San Francisco Bay Area. The exact… Continue
Posted on March 5, 2009 at 12:46pm —
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First off, I have a very non-supernatural (almost anti-supernatural) viewpoint. So for me, the study of spirituality and ritual starts with Ethology, rather than Theology (yu'r a click away from google or wikipedia, so don't look at me like that). Ritual behaviors are how animals deal with community, conflict and life passages (those that animals deal with anyway). I think that being the most socially complex animal on the planet, our need for ritual would be greater and more complex than for most other animals (so I'm species-centric, sue me).
Organized religions are social institutions that have co-opted our need for ritual and use it as a means of crowd control and for gaining power. It is amazingly effective and controlling people's behavior and getting them to do the most unspeakable things imaginable. As Dylan said in one of his songs, “You don't count the dead when God's on your side”
For me, Paganism is a very DIY spiritual path. You use what works for you, what touches and moves you. You discard the things that don't. I'm hoping to see Paganism become more systematic in its understanding and evaluation of why things work or don't work. I want to see neurobiology and game theory brought into the mix (and more than I can currently imagine). I'd like to see a technology of spirituality developed as part of creating a Neo-Human culture and community (a long term project of mine). I don't see any other spiritual path as being up to the challenge.
TechnoPagan
"Neo-Paganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by pre-Christian pagan beliefs of Europe.
Neo-Pagan religious movements are extremely diverse, with beliefs that range widely from polytheism to animism, to pantheism and other paradigms. Many Neo-pagans practice a spirituality that is entirely modern in origin, while others attempt to accurately reconstruct or revive indigenous, ethnic religions as found in historical and folkloric sources."
Wikipedia
Hi Jim
I sometimes get a lot of flack from the more serious atheist/rationalist wings of the Transhumanist movement (I don't mean you, just in general) for my beliefs. I've been told I shouldn't believe in anything. That when we die, that's the end. There is nothing else and nothing after.
I have a couple of problems with this. First, it's a belief. No more or less valid than my own. We don't have enough evidence to decide either way. Secondly, and more importantly, it's just so very boring.
Pagans invent myths and art and ritual. We take in everything we can find, keep what touches us and change it to make it our own. Discard what what doesn't (or no longer) works for us.
In the end, my beliefs may be wrong (and I'll be less surprised than anybody) but it's still a blast.
One myth about Neo-Paganism (or Paganism, use interchangeably) is that it is a belief in the supernatural. This is a misconception that most Pagans have as well (some antics with semantics). If the supernatural is things like ESP, ghosts, astral projection, etc., then yes, most Pagans believe in the supernatural. But it still doesn't explain what it is.
Supernatural means "above" or "outside" of Nature. For Pagans, myself included, there is no "outside" of Nature. Everything, including higher dimensions and parallel universes is a part of Nature. While people of some religions believe they are "in this world, but not of it", Pagans are very much of this world. :)
TechnoPagan
I'm definitely interested in Transhumanism + spirituality myself. I'm writing a book featuring Transhumanism as a main theme, & it is heavily occult-influenced (ex: each chapter is based on a Tarot card).
PS: I adjusted the colors on my profile. ;)