Agorism: Freedom in a Posthuman World

1. Student Writing Student Writing Tyler Lloyd Thanks for taking the time to read my work. If you found more value in this zine than the price of printing please donate with Bitcoin to the QR code above or at the BTC address: 1LKKhuWJF9kj3qzJxcVXmwpWCR5f8pUFnq You can find more of my work at: If you choose to subscribe to Liberty.me please use discount code TYLERLL to save yourself some money. http://lloydtw.liberty.me/ My Email: 10706ty@gmail.com

2. On Agorism Table of Contents • Change Through Pgs 2 – 9 • Grammar B • Social Ethics Applied Pgs 10 – 25 • to Posthumanism On Agorism Pg 26 We have all heard about the police shutting down lemonade stands on the side of the road. However, as long as a market exists of exchanges wherein willing buyers and sellers of goods and services can trade freely with each other, Agorism can thrive. After all, the US dollar is simply a measurement of economic value in the perceived global economy. Don’t let that exclusively define you financially, because you as an individual have every right to the true free market of Anarcho-Capitalism. Everyone possesses capital outside of the money simply sitting in a bank account somewhere and it often remains unutilized. This comes out of people owning their property and the freedom to trade those possessions for anything else one desires. Likewise, people are also free to work at the production of whatever goods or services they wish to trade in, or to capitalize on the production of those goods and services. Agorism means creating industry outside of the regulation and taxation forced on them by American governmental bureaucracy. Third party arbiters that impede the free market economy should not be able to regulate every good and service one wants to create or receive. How could they if each exchange is voluntary between individuals? 1 26

3. Change Through Grammar B Brick by brick buildings build people by shaping the insides of character uncharacterized from the outside by dawning thoughts in the spring and fall semesters; lives renew by perspectives anew; ambiguities askew as friends laugh, couples hugs, acquaintances smile, and the lonely pass in search of – The sun bobs to weave infinite rays finding and filling the space everywhere not shaded in this mass of surface taken over by giants made of steel, glass, and concrete; surrounded by various avenues speckled by beetles of solid solitary color drifting amidst blacktops and parking lots only to stop and part for the stream of those making left; to yield and make way for the others, every one carriage containing various numbers of ants going forth and adding to this landscape as we descend this fourth floor observatory and become one with them, losing the privilege our eyes had in accosting so many, making of the glances from such high perspective but of no authenticity – separately we push forth to set the time that is mine and yours to make OURS of the absolute. Works Cited 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dir. Stanley Kubrick.Perf. KeirDullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester.MGM, 1968. DVD. Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Prod. Michael Deeley.Perf. Harrison Ford, RutgerHauer, Sean Young. The LaddCompany, 1982. DVD. Clarke, Arthur C. 2010: Odyssey Two. Ed. Serendib BV.Ballantine Books: New York NY, 1982. Print. Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York:Ballantine, 1996. Print. 25 2

4. This rock adrift in space. Lovers spray the procreate. Running intersections. Leaping in haste. No chase just freedom unchecked. Commiserate and choose your choice to effect others or the additional option, by yes, not choosing to play. To lose by letting one think. I can’t. He lost. She lost. We all lose in the end. Stop. I say no, break that fake self-fulfilling prophecy by trying to do more than shake ‘n bake comparisons. Don’t exasperate the gloom and doom of ignorance by simply ignoring it. Let loose and live. It is now the time to give. Show the world what’s kept great in this civilization. Go outside and greet the day with enthusiasm because anything is possible in the swirl of fresh air that meet the lungs of those who only dare to be exposed to It. The ethical concerns of posthumanism rely entirely on that which makes us most human. The access to freedom, justice, and equality will be challenged by any situation where humanity’s view of a person is posthuman. It is the objective of the individual to stand up for oneself and his right to exist unencumbered by other people. Humanity must learn to respect all life if it aims for a peaceful and prosperous future. People can learn a lot about the world around them compared to how alien some ideas are from science fiction. The hope of futurists and younger generations alike is that humanity can pass the ethical tests of posthumanism. By firmly rooting humanity’s values in personal property, individual rights, liberty, and a strong spirit that will never be oppressed or oppress, the destiny of mankind looks bright. However, just as not all people will want to be uploaded into the singularity, have android slaves, or change their moods at a whim, it is our responsibility not to force these states of posthumanism onto them. By looking into ethical solutions to circumstances of the posthuman, humanity will truly define what it means to be human in the first place. 3 24

5. Engraved stone Named buildings Men at work Women who flirt Ties and bows Caps, jackets, and scarves Smokers blow smoke Friends joke Time shifts Masses split People collide Apologize Stairs Hallways Corners Doors Classrooms Desks Within Philip K. Dick’s work “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” the Singularity presents itself in the form of the mood organ. In the religion of Mercerism an individual can actually dial up into a desired feeling. In the first chapter Deckard and his wife Iran argue about how they should feel that day. When Iran gives him an attitude he dials “594: pleased acknowledgment of husband’s superior wisdom in all matters” (Dick, 7). The mood organ is the last example provided here of mankind “playing God”. Using drugs recreationally to lift one’s spirit is highly illegal throughout the world, yet in this dystopia of Philip K. Dick’s human emotions are effortlessly malleable for augmentation. The use of the mood organ can be seen as controversial as one questions if a person loses some of their humanity when changing their emotions. Perhaps augmenting an individual’s feelings causes them to feel less in general, as is the side effects with prolonged drug use. Also, the feelings one experiences are a natural reaction to the environment around them. Therefore, because of the use of this mood organ people will not be able to react properly to their daily circumstances, nor will they be able to simply and complacently ignore their psychological burdens by dialing up another emotion. Leading up to the dramatic conclusion of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Buster Friendly exposes Mercerism as a “swindle” (Clarke, 209). This challenges the way Deckard views himself, but he still continues to hunt the leader of the androids for this case. 23 4

6. Fullness inside, emptiness outside, and the fear of not passing over the fear of not learning. They say my compass gives no direction because it ain’t portable, but its eight points do more than just sit there, they tell me by being here I’m going somewhere even if I can’t take them with Me. /\ | North Northwest Northeast < - West #VCUDESK East - > Southwest Southeast South | \/ The Destination The theme of transhumanism is relevant and exists within both examples of hard science fiction previously explored. In 2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke the Star Child completely manifest what an entity would exist like after the Singularity. Traveling through space toward Earth faster than a spaceship Dave Bowman scares everyone on Earth. They have no idea what to make of his physical existence of raw energy. Before actually making contact with Earth a nuke is fired at him, and the Star Child absorbs the entire blast to gains power from it which replaces the energy he just exhausted (Clarke, 152). Once on Earth, Dave seeks out an old girlfriend named Betty. In the Star Child’s insubstantial mass of energy Dave takes over Betty’s television to communicate with her. She is terrified of him and asks if Dave is dead, to which the Star Child replies, “His body- yes. But that is no longer important. All that Dave Bowman really was is still part of me (Clarke, 163).” Once again the viewer is left with the philosophic question of what is personhood, and at what point does it end. 21 5 22

7. The work of the student is metamorphosis; changing himself through listening to others alongside the books that look smarter on the shelf if nothing is gleaned from them. The social scientists practice a dream in applying their trade of challenging the system in the way educators of today should do daily. All the Humanities work at crafting a lust for humanity, instilling empathy for children yet born in the disgrace of forlorn corporate meat grinders, seen but never mentioned as some escape and others care not to by grinding the gears with their weight. Grades squeak out averages of GPAs like stock prices on individuals, bleeding them dry to make dividends on student loans, cashing in when the student fulfills or forgets graduation. Just as not all pass the class or pay for the crass failure of time ill spent, spoiled brats come and go, leaving nothing behind, with no one remembering them but statistics left asking who were they? Yet, for those of us cursed to play in this exchange of craft and knowledge we hold strong before soon buckling winds of unchanging stagnation that damn projects, midterms, papers, and finals to obliteration. Those more optimistic believe that because technology has advanced pasted the limit of the human brain then a person’s consciousness can be uploaded into a computer where he/she could exist forever virtually. This idea of living forever is once again an act of mankind “playing God” as major theologies believe only God can grant eternal life through salvation after a person’s death. Within the Heaven and Hell paradigm mankind would be seen as committing a cardinal sin in which personal salvation is forfeit. The program of yourself could exist forever within the Singularity, but that would not matter if one’s soul defines his/her consciousness. The fear is that once a person gives up their physical bodies their soul will move on to the afterlife where eternal damnation awaits. However, for those who don’t follow religious dogma then to be uploaded into the Singularity would be the greatest thing to ever happen to a person. They will have become immortal with all information available to them, and never be limited again by the human brain or their own mortality. In a sense they would become God and from this perspective further advance the posthuman race. This is yet another way humanity would be forced to fundamentally redefine itself. 21 6

8. The passionate from anywhere will find a crash course in love and virtue as the appraisement of humanity evolves continually no longer reflecting on the once staged coup to free the ideas promised by hope; now got no reason to hope as the word plays the mind games of bad faith and good philosophy, regulating a future none ever happen to predict but influences in spite of _________. For now timelines wade in lanes not fit to travel alone, but together we happily swim down the ripples of a teacher to find new interests in their echo bouncing back off the objective truth none sees far off in the horizon, yet most rationalizing it as existence out there, somewhere. Does it matter? Do you care? I do and don’t. Dads spit game for sons to listen while daughters take arms to words spoken of in the before unbroken silence. Mothers take aim to desensitize their children to the jagged lives of the less fortunate saving them from the jaded reality- we are not all going to make it. The pain and suffering of those who don’t are eclipsed by those that do, while so many wait for others to make their life happen. From here, a person must ask why anyone would want a job hunting synthetic life if he/she was not inherently prejudice against all non-humans. The problem posthumans fail to grasp within both the film and the book is that all life should be respected, and intelligent life (most of all) deserves certain inalienable rights. Sentient life forms cannot be mankind’s slave or pet. This will always backfire as alien life will respond violently to liberate itself from human hostility or domination. Once again, humanity should not create sentient synthetic life if humanity denounces empathy toward such a creation. Androids do not dream of electric sheep, but only of a world they can be accepted living in, with a little more time on the clock. As mentioned earlier, within transhumanism the concept of the Singularity is commonly referred to as the ideal goal of transhumanism. The technological Singularity can be defined as the evolution of computers’ artificial intelligence past that of the human mind. Once technology begins to develop at a faster rate than humanity can even comprehend it, a new wave of transhumanism takes shape where technology creates exponentially more innovative technology. At this point human dreams that were once clouded by reality would manifest into a new existence for mankind that hopefully makes mankind’s biological body obsolete. Once supercomputers are smarter than mankind many fear a human genocide as machines try to take over the planet. 7 20

9. Homeless and pregnant, anything helps; Affluent and male, don’t want nothing from nobody; Sorry dear no change, just plastic, ATM around the way, but they only spit twenties. No one who cares leads to one who matters, and time batters the stray hunting in the scraps of all rejected. Lack of value springs the clink clap crap trap of sold souls recruiting new. Broken dreams cast flames to sixty thousand dollar pieces of shred. Learning buck. Hunting muck. Lashing the stash of bankrupt cash. Listen DUCK! Bob and weave. To smash and grab. Conform the norm of dorm room behavior – boring the door of lucid decorum, peeping in to find there little outside of yourself or how you relate to It. Androids gain moral autonomy by first staining their ethical image forever. They are between a moral rock and a hard place where no human will ever find themselves. The fear that secures Deckard’s employment comes from the fear of violent people in general. Is the human criminal just as big a target as the android scheduled for “retirement”? One can’t argue whether a human murder is just as big a threat to mankind as an android, because in the act of murder one must completely sever empathy for others. In the film adaptation Deckard’s job title is changed to “Blade Runner” from what was originally “bounty hunter”. The Blade Runner implies sole job priorities to be that of replicants, yet as a bounty hunter an employee may be free to simply chase anything that’s wanted for “retirement”. However, by contrast to what the conventional idea of what a bounty hunter does, Deckard has no plans of making an arrest. While within the film Deckard is reluctant to even work for Bryant. Yet, he is given little choice in the matter and is forced to take the assignment. 19 8

10. The omission of my mission in this transmission serves to confuse the scolding dread of life outside of here. I don’t want to leave college and if I stay long enough maybe they’ll keep me. Yet, all the while I acknowledge the fate of the unfaithful in turning away only to be run over by the world of consumerism, insurance, healthcare, mortgages, and taxation. The institutionally established and accredited mouths of professors try to spit value into the heads of those who knew but never said how to change the world. However, now it is them who elude the blame of those just arriving to this same lame game of traditionally strict high-stake academia. The con job binary is to think that you need this or that this is all you need, while Change recycles the old to new and corrects the tragedy of youth, which is to be Unoriginal. It is certainly unethical for anyone to kill another person, yet the lines have always been grayed by the posthuman conflict of replicants. In the book that Blade Runner is based off of (Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) the reader also struggles with this notion of morality. The idea of one human killing another human is to be expected when investigating homicide. Also, the greatest call for the apprehension of the guilty party comes from self-preservation of other humans. Murder is the cardinal sin that breaks all ties a person may hold within humanity, as the criminal has proven himself capable of such a deplorable antisocial behavior. These acts of violence are intolerable because to murder is the most unjustified action one man can place upon another. Interestingly enough, the same is not to be said about androids. Their act of murder does, in fact, slash their ties from humanity, but only through this violence can the android truly define itself as an individual. What costs are associated with human estrangement if one’s place within humanity is that of no personal autonomy? 9 18

11. Two key elements within hard science fiction are the concepts of transhumanism and the posthuman. Social Ethics Applied to Posthumanism Even more morally convoluted is the idea of freedom for the enslaved replicants. Is it morally permissible to kill one’s master to gain freedom from slavery? The Blade Runners know all too well that it is not, because the only way for replicants to even gain autonomy is by killing their respective human oppressors. To reject this idea of robo-slavery humanity must do one of two things. As mentioned earlier humans could create replicants that are not sentient, or they could simply respect replicants as they would fellow humans. The struggle to empathize with the replicants is no more apparent than at the ending of the movie. The problem with providing compassion for replicants comes from both technological inadequacy and economic interests. Instead of redeveloping self-aware robotic life to improve the state of human socialization; humanity finds little value in the fact that replicants can think for themselves. The technological detriment to replicant life comes from the fact that replicants could not be designed to live more than four years. A fact that ultimately costs the head of the Tyrell Corporation his life, when his creation truly came to terms with his replicant mortality and Roy kills Tyrell. This act of violence once again affirms the belief that men are not to “play God” leading viewers to question the role Deckard plays throughout this movie (Scott, Blade Runner). Transhumanism can be defined as the biological imperative technology provides for Homo sapiens to transcend past their present stage of human evolution. It relies deeply on an exponential growth curve in the rate of technological innovation which ultimately leads toward the Singularity. Posthumanism, however, can be expressed as challenging the very social construct of what it means to be human, and how interactions with the posthuman develop. It is interesting to see how synonymous the multiple perspectives within science fiction weave the two concepts together. 17 10

12. Alternatively, it is important to deconstruct both aspects of philosophy to gain a greater grip on how humanity can responsibly reinvent itself when confronted with the posthuman. Ideas of cybernetics, clones, aliens, and self-aware computers are all illustrated within science fiction to revolutionize what it means to be human. In a lot of ways the key to posthumanism does one of two things. It either forces humans to recreate themselves to transcend Homo sapiens’ biological evolution, or to make contact with intelligent life outside of humanity. Regardless of how posthumanism presents itself to mankind, it is still a man’s moral actions that define himself in the presence of all humanity. The principles carried forward by man’s experience struggling with social ethics should not be neglected by posthumanism. For posthumanism is merely the next step in moral evolution. It invites new challenges toward the decisions of right and wrong, which lead to ethical improvements through science fiction. While viewing the movie Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, the viewer will recognize the theme of extreme prejudice toward synthetic sentient life. Deckard is a Blade Runner which means his job is to track down and kill replicants which have escaped from Mars. The true irony within this story comes from the Voigt-Kampff test. For a Blade Runner to determine whether or not a person is human or replicant the Voigt-Kampff test is applied to measure empathy. However, humanity is not empathetic to the replicants; whose sole purpose was to live on Mars and work as slave labor for human colonists that chose to settle the planet. Every human is given a replicant once on Mars and these sentient creatures must follow every command from their human masters. Slavery is the least compassionate state of social interactions between two parties. To be oppressed is bad, but not nearly as horrifying as enslavement. One also wonders why humans made the replicants sentient in the first place. The test administered by Deckard with Rachael proves her lack of empathy when he tells her his briefcase is made of baby skin. Now Deckard expected her to react emotionally to what he was telling her, but instead she did not reply at all. The audience can tell that his briefcase is obviously not made from babies, yet they still realize anything created out of the skin of dead babies would be disturbing (Scott, Blade Runner). However, from the replicants perspective; who cares about humans at all if their relationship to you is either to enslave, or hunt and kill your species? 11 16

13. Two works by Arthur C. Clarke that introduce the posthuman are 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: Odyssey Two. The two books, from the three part series, present alien life as central to the mission objective. The black monolith, as introduced in “The Dawn of Man”, towers over early primates once discovered. After touching the object the animals learn to use bone tools to hunt, but later fight with each other with those same tools (Kubrick). Notice however, that one of the first uses of the technology within this story manifests itself through violence. The assumption to be made here about technology should not be that all progression through technology comes at a violent price. It is more important to ask how humanity can develop technology, and avoid the antisocial behavior of those who should not be trusted with such privilege. Technology works to not only make human life better, but to also allow for more abstractions within what humans are generally capable of. However, this view is not posthuman because one does not consider the alien technology which is completely untouched by humans. One of the largest fears about extraterrestrial life is that other creatures from unknown planets would be hostile, and more technologically advanced. Yet, this happens on Earth between first and third world countries. Those following Clarke’s space odyssey won’t miss the dramatic irony of man playing God and his creation ultimately turning on him. This however, is not the fable behind HAL 9000 because in 2010:Odyssey Two HAL actually saves the crew aboard the Leonov (Clarke, 248). The actions of HAL to preserve human life in this sequel go beyond the characteristics of redemption to explore personal self-sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. Also, HAL’s creator Dr. Chandra offers to stay on board the Discovery with HAL so that they could die together, but HAL refuses. These variations of compassion do not discriminate between synthetic and organic life, only human mortality remains the priority as HAL exhausts his fuel for the Leonov’s survival. Shortly afterwards the Discovery becomes decimated by Jupiter’s supernova morphing the planet into the star Lucifer. In a show of compassion the Star Child steps in to save HAL by immortalizing HAL and himself in the Europa monolith. HAL demonstrated many human qualities that far exceeded a simple operating system. Humanity at the moment of sentient synthetic life must able to ethically adjust to this element of posthumanism for the betterment of both parties. Synthetic and organic life can work together in peace and harmony, or at the very least coexist. 15 12

14. No one asks how U.S. drone strikes of enemy combatants benefit Pakistani civilians when civilians represent 98% of all drone strike casualties. The answer is obvious; this is wrong and it should be stopped. An acronym for war is: Wrong Allowed Rampant, but one for peace: People Ethically Accepting Criminal Events. There are few true paradoxes more polarized than war and peace; one of them is moral and immoral behavior. Therefore to reject the idea of hostile aliens would also imply the rejection of hostile humans. Extraterrestrial life could evolve to be morally superior to humanity because of how much greater alien actions could potentially bear upon the entire universe, not just humanity. The spectrum of moral evolution does not span from animal to alien with humanity somewhere in the middle. The real spectrum of morality is the grey between what is socially acceptable and socially intolerable. One of the ways modern humans struggle with the posthuman is in the matter of law and order. Violence should not be used on people and yet the violent offender leads a life of little peace as he/she evades law enforcement. Once a man’s integrity is compromised all of humanity witnesses his downfall in a free and just society. Conclusively, in the comparisons of both 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: Odyssey Two mankind rejects the element of their ship that makes its crew the most posthuman. HAL 9000 is a sentient supercomputer used for the daily operations of the ship; assisting toward the ultimate objective. The irony comes from the posthuman crew struggling to find alien life that they completely neglect HAL 9000 innate autonomy. One wonders what motives HAL would have to help humans, other than the fact that was the purpose behind his design. In an interview with BBC HAL said, “I enjoy working with people. I have a stimulating relationship with Dr. Poole and Dr. Bowman. My mission responsibilities range over the entire operation of the ship, so I am constantly occupied. I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscience entity can ever hope to do” (Kubrick). HAL’s response in this interview, in part, shows very human emotions because he is not only proud of his work, but he also implies receiving intrinsic benefits from working toward mission objectives. Later, HAL’s sense of identity is challenged by the mission to Jupiter when he is programmed to not tell the crew that they will soon be discovering alien life. Deception was new to HAL, and he could not properly adjust to this lie of omission. Once killing four of the five crew members aboard the Discovery, HAL is shutdown by David Bowman. 13 14