LINK TO FREE WEB COMIC VERSION OF TESTAMENT #10 (NSFW)
Quick reminder that TESTAMENT can get pretty explicit!
Original solicitation copy for TESTAMENT #10:
“Concluding the 3-part ‘Down to Egypt.’ Fallow and Alec push consumer
culture to a sinister new level, goading millions of young people to
collaborate in their own enslavement. Jake, Amos and Pig attempt a
daring hack to stop it, but when
Dinah enters the realm of Astarte they all learn the true meaning of
power.”
Rushkoff’s Chapter Ten (#10) Notes are available here.
The beat goes on! I’ll leave my comments in the chat, so long as I don’t upset the
blogger auto deletion Gods!
And we’ll be back on February 22nd, for issue #11
same TESTAMENT time, same Jechidah channel :)))
It is pretty wild how much is in Genesis. That was something that struck me looking over this issue and the notes. So many of the most familiar "Bible stories" are derived from the first book. Perhaps that is because people don't make it that far into the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThe story of Joseph always perplexed me as a child. It is presented as a positive story and yet leads the Jews into (almost certainly fictional) centuries of slavery. I never really understood the relationship between God and the Jewish people in the Old Testament. I actually don't think this is from being born into a Christian family, as most of my Jewish friends seem just as confused by God's fuckery.
Fallow does inspire the same feeling of revulsion in me that our real tech-overlords do, but at least they aren't as competent. Or that was what I was thinking until I ran across the term "open system." I don't think Fallow is going to get a happy ending or anything, but he's someone who can unleash a lot of misery before he goes down. He needs a Twitter account where he can talk about how sad he is and how women shouldn't vote, then he wouldn't be able to pull off his mystique.
I do like that Jake's hacker compatriots are capable and ready. I also like Jake's decision to rescue Alec. And, I am somewhat embarassed to admit this, I really don't understand Ishtar's game. Hopefully it just isn't clear yet and I'm not being slow.
The opening drawing of Atum-Ra draining the Nile by drinking it from the gutter I find fantastic!
ReplyDeleteAlec: “economics with emergent intelligence.”
AI’s invisible hand? What could possibly go wrong…
Apuleius, I also understand neither how to “become enslaved to be set free” is supposed to make sense, nor what the Daughters of Ishtar really are about. It seems that not all the girls have a clear idea of it either, “I thought it was about staying off the streets” being a more pragmatic approach than Dinah’s vague ideas of “manifesting the Earth’s energies” for empowerment.
What I like about the Fallow character is that, not only he accurately predicts the Silicon Valley billionaire type that we see around nowadays, but coming from Rushkoff’s mind who was influenced by Leary and RAW, he also comes to tamper the wild futuristic and borderline transhumanist optimism these two had going with the SMI²LE formula. See for example Fallow’s creepy rendering of the line “isn’t it our nature -our duty- to evolve?” Like a fascistic and elitist counterpart to Leary’s rose-tinted views on ‘future mutants’. The proverbial other side of the coin, a perhaps apt expression in this case, with all the talks of currency.
Like Rarebit, the story of Joseph has perplexed me as well. I hope to read the next chapter soon.
ReplyDeleteWhew! That's quite a bit to process!
ReplyDelete"US invades Persia to keep oil a dollar-based economy. And then the costs of war crash the dollar anyway"
The Iraq war stuff in the comic now has extra urgency with the Iran quagmire in full swing.
Fallow spouting techno-psychedelic platitudes about a living currency of abundance is wildly prescient, as is his fundamental error of identifying himself as the plenum.
Stavros has that great bit about a tech bro having a visionary experience on ayahuasca: "What if cab drivers couldn't afford to feed their families!?"
The importance of set and setting appear confirmed. Seems pretty safe to categorize Psychedelics as a value neutral tool.
"Is this news or an infomercial?"
Daughters of Ishtar seem maybe just comparable to OF? That weird mix of empowerment in someways, but exploitation in others? I had a whole bit about their more 2006 inspiration, but think blogger didn't like me using that phrase, so I'll leave it as initials: SG.
I like Jake resisting the script for Joseph's story
I'm reminded a bit of the Black Mirror episode: 15 million merits.
If you successfully communicate the need for collective action you get rewarded with individual success, which dulls your passion for collective action.
Jake rejects the offer of individual success and invites Alec back into the collective.
I took a World Religions class in college that presented God's covenant with Abraham as an agreement wherein he and his decedents will endure God's wrath as needed in exchange for health, wealth, and progeny. I've never seen it put that starkly elsewhere, but reading between the lines I can see how he arrived at that interpretation.