@H+ :: Anarcho-Transhumanism

THE PREFIGURATIVE ORGANIZATION
A Presentation by Norwegian Anarchist Kim Keyser

WHEN: Saturday, July 26th at 8:00PM

WHERE: UE & IWW Union Hall
37 S. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60607

Kim Keyser is an activist from the emerging anarchist movement in Norway, the so-called “social democratic paradise.” He will address the question “How can we reflect the future we want in our present work?” The presentation will touch upon subjects such as direct democracy, direct action, workers councils, anarchist organizing, and involvement in social movements.

For more information, please contact: chicago-ac@riseup.net

This event is co-sponsored by the Four Star Anarchist Organization and Chicago IWW.

PDF Flyer

* How Do We Fight Corporate Control of the Internet?

So what is the solution, if it isn’t nice crowds of people creating their own content and building their own tether-free DVRs? My honest answer is that we need organized crowds of people systematically and concertedly breaking the tethers on consumer technology. Yes, we need safe spaces like Wikipedia, but we also need to be affirmatively making things uncomfortable for the companies that keep us tethered. We need to build technologies that set Comcast DVRs free, that let people run any applications they want on iPhones, that fool ISPs into running peer-to-peer traffic. We need to hand out easy-to-use tools to everyone so crowds of consumers can control what happens to their technologies. In short, we need to disobey.

* Using a File-Erasure Tool Considered Suspicious

I have often recommended that people use file erasure tools regularly, especially when crossing international borders with their computers. Now we have one more reason to use them regularly: plausible deniability if you’re accused of erasing data to keep it from the police.

* The Big Picture: Collapse, Transcendence, or Muddling Through

I’ll start this essay by leading with my conclusion: do we make it to the end of this century? Yeah, but not all of us, and it’s neither as spectacular nor as horrific as many people imagine.

* The New Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

That’s the direction we’re heading in — more surveillance, more systemic government monitoring and data mining, and minimal oversight and accountability — with most of the oversight being very general, not particularly rigorous, and nearly always secret — and with the public being almost completely shut out of the process. But don’t worry, you shouldn’t get too upset about all this. You probably won’t know much about it. They’ll keep the dirty details from you, because what you don’t know can’t hurt you.

* Plutocracy Reborn
Interesting infographic.

….elections serve two purposes. One is to settle disputes between different sections of the ruling class, without bloodshed. The other is to give the people the impression that they rule the government.

The above is from an excellent and articulate piece by Wayne Price, called “None of the Above: The Anarchist Case Against Electoralism”, which was published in NEFAC’s Northeastern Anarchist in 2004. A local anarchist group I’m working with is doing some readings on democracy, including this one. The piece is still quite relevant, of course, and incorporates the anarchist critique of voting with some good analysis of why both reformist political measures and independent party politics are useless as end goals.

These arguments also relate to (anarcho-)transhumanism, of course, especially if you consider that the accelerating technologies transhumanists predict (and often advocate) are likely to create upheavals and massive changes in society and capitalism itself. The social-democratic transhumanists could, for example, see these transformations as an opportunity to create a more tech-friendly third party with a technoprogressive agenda. As Wayne argues, however, such a party is likely to still be an instrument of, and for, capitalism.

Suppose a major crisis were to shake the U.S., such as a collapse of the economy. There would be mass discontent. In that case, a new party might form, precisely to get in front of the mass rebelliousness and to lead it back into the established order. That is, the new party would be an obstacle to change, not a means of achieving it. The party would be based on the Left of the Democrats (such as it is) tearing itself away from the Democrats in order to maintain its base. It would include the union bureaucrats, more-or-less liberal party hacks, popular preachers, and various demagogues. It might call itself a Labor party, due to the participation of the union officials, or it might not, but the middle-class composition of the organizers would be the same. It might use democratic socialist rhetoric, but its program would really be the stabilization of capitalism. In fact it would be a new capitalist party and not a challenge to the system. Due to the very capitalist crisis that created it, it would be unable to make real improvements; but it might be able to derail a popular rebellion. Such a formation should not be welcomed but opposed.

The social democrat transhumanists argue that many of the approaching technologies will help to democratize government in positive ways — such as how citizen journalism and the internet are making government processes and actions more transparent and accountable now — and this may be true to an extent. What they are overlooking, however, is how many of these technologies lend themselves to more efficient methods of authoritarian social control (the burgeoning trend of ubiquitous urban surveillance for example, or mass data-mining in the name of fighting terrorism) and — even more importantly — how some of these technologies threaten the control of capitalism by their very nature (such as longevity or nanofabrication). It is far more likely that the political arm of capitalism will steer towards authoritarian measures and right-wing attitudes in response to these developments; at best, the social democratic transhumanists might soften the blow. It is worth noting that these same transhumanists also favor strong government regulation of potentially dangerous technologies.

Rather than playing electoral political games, anarcho-transhumanists should be pushing for extra-electoral mass movements, direct action, and counter-institutions to promote real transformative social change.

Also relevant: Voting Only Makes Things Worse

Once again, we’ve fallen behind in the blogging, though not from lack of interest. Here are some random tidbits to keep you occupied until we get back on track:

* Worth reading: Towards a Democratic Conception of Science and Technology

* Added an old Aufheben critique of primitivism and Liberate Not Exterminate, an anarchist defense of cities, to the sidebar links.

* If any of our readers happen to be tabletop RPG geeks, there’s a transhuman-flavored sci-fi RPG in the works called Eclipse Phase that has a significant anarchist element. Some info here and here.

* If you’re looking for more reading, check out these (dated) threads on the Anarchist Black Cat Forums: Techno-Hubris or the Shape of Things to Come? and The Continuing Appeal of Primitivism

NEFAC recently (re)published a refreshing look at the ecological problem from a libertarian communist perspective. Though this is only a framework, and doesn’t take into account the accelerating pace of technological change, it does correctly pinpoint the solution as dismantling capitalism and establishing new models of production, distribution, and energy rather than opposing (the misuse of) technology.

* Open Source 3D Printer Copies Itself

The RepRap (Replicating Rapid-prototyper) printer can replicate and update itself. It can print its own parts, including updates

* Science 2.0 — Is Open Access Science the Future?

A small but growing number of researchers (and not just the younger ones) have begun to carry out their work via the wide-open tools of Web 2.0. And although their efforts are still too scattered to be called a movement—yet—their experiences to date suggest that this kind of Web-based “Science 2.0” is not only more collegial than traditional science but considerably more productive.

* Liberate and Disseminate

So, I’ve taken it upon myself to start an organisation called MLOP, the “Movement for the Liberation of Old Papers”. What I do is hack into restricted websites, download the documents I’m interested in, and then use my favourite open-source paint program to remove the copyright statements from each page. Next I assemble the pages into one single pdf file and upload it to the Internet Archive, where it will become universally available to both researchers and citizens.

* DIY Weapons

We can expect to see these weapons become dominant (in use) in the next decade as they branch out into new areas and begin to take advantage of newly emerging capabilities. For example: personal fabrication that can churn out rockets/UAVs with tight form factors and customized/integrated flight systems — or — bioengineered pathogens that use commonly available materials, university sequencing/design software, widely available skills, and labs on a chip. The only limiting factor are the imaginations of the world’s guerrilla entrepreneurs. In combination with systems disruption and increases in lethality, the sky’s the limit.

NOTE: In contrast, the big defense contractors will find themselves focused increasingly on developing anti-weapons to counter innovations in the DIY space. Not sure they will be flexible enough to pull it off.

See also: Tinkering Networks and DIY Rockets.

* Hackers Publish German Interior Minister’s Fingerprint

To demonstrate why using fingerprints to secure passports is a bad idea, the German hacker group Chaos Computer Club has published what it says is the fingerprint of Wolfgang Schauble, Germany’s interior minister.

* How to Fake Fingerprints

Instructions from the Chaos Computer Club.

* Reward Offered for UK Minister and Home Secretary’s Fingerprints

Privacy International and the UK’s NO2ID are offering a reward for the first person to collect and submit the UK Prime Minister’s and Home Secretary’s fingerprints. Plus you can download and print your own Wanted Poster!

* The Myth of the Transparent Society

This article by Bruce Schneier does a good job of expressing one of the critiques I’ve held regarding calls for a transparent society or participatory panopticon:

Explained in books like David Brin’s The Transparent Society, the argument goes something like this: In a world of ubiquitous surveillance, you’ll know all about me, but I will also know all about you. The government will be watching us, but we’ll also be watching the government. This is different than before, but it’s not automatically worse. And because I know your secrets, you can’t use my secrets as a weapon against me… Except it doesn’t work, because it ignores the crucial dissimilarity of power. You cannot evaluate the value of privacy and disclosure unless you account for the relative power levels of the discloser and the disclosee.

See also: David Brin’s reply.

Had a great time this past weekend at the FOR conference, even though we didn’t do the workshop we ended up getting to discuss most of the issues in another workshop. For anyone visiting from that workshop the links to the programs we talked about are over to the right under #6.

But that’s not why I’m here today. I want to discuss the announcement from PETA about the fake meat challenge. Admittedly I’m not huge fan of PETA, they often have confusing and damaging media campaigns and a bit too much of the wild eyed fanatic in most of their rank and file. But still this is a big step in the right direction.

Even though they are using the logic of capitalism to foster innovation I think in some ways it short-circuits the larger flows of global capital. This isn’t going to be a prize that is chased after by big ag companies, but by smaller inventors and innovators, and it also boosts interest in biosciences among the lay public. So in that sense it’s a multiple good. I’d love to see more of these small Ansari X prizes for more scientific fields to spur innovation among garage inventors and basement chemists.

FYI to folks in the Midwest, the annual Finding Our Roots anarchist conference is going on in Chicago this weekend. This year’s focus is on anarchist organizing. The list of workshops can be found here.

Antisocialite and I may throw together an impromptu guerrilla workshop on Sunday to talk about issues relating to @ organizing and technology — stuff like:

– technology and security culture (surveillance, sousveillance, crypto, etc)

– internet organizing, open source models, new media, hacktivism

– organizing around tech issues, universal access to tech, subverting authoritarian tech for libertarian purposes

* Interview with Ursula LeGuin

My utopias are not blueprints. In fact, I distrust utopias that pretend to be blueprints. Fiction is not a good medium for preaching or for planning. It is really good, though, for what we used to call conscious-raising.

* Inside the Twisted Mind of the Security Professional
Just as important for subversive minds.

* Build Your Own War Bot
A wiki resource for the hacktivists working on the future anarchist air force.

* How to Make Your Phone Untappable
Interview with Phil Zimmerman, the creator of PGP, about his new Zfone software for encrypting VOIP calls.

So unencrypted VoIP is vulnerable not just to government wiretapping but also to cyber-criminal spying.

With traditional telephony, our threat model was mostly government wiretapping. With VoIP, anyone can wiretap us: the Russian mafia, foreign governments, hackers, disgruntled former employees. Anyone.

Historically, there’s been an asymmetry between government wiretapping and everyone else wiretapping that’s been in the government’s favor. As we migrate to VoIP, that differential collapses. The government itself is just as vulnerable.

* Zfone Project Start/Download Page

* Fake Anarchist Sites
Details on how http://anarchy.net and related sites are not really anarchist at all.

In the off chance that you happen to be in the Chicago area, there’s going to be a transhumanist meetup this weekend:

Date: Saturday March 22nd
When: 3pm until ?
Location: Mercury Cafe, 1505 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago

It’s an open gathering, with the purpose of meeting each other, talking about H+-related issues, and possible setting this up as a monthly event.