A "Dizzying Sprawl of Suns and Planets"

"Using NASA's planet hunting Kepler spacecraft. astronomers have discovered 2,740 planet candidates orbiting 2,036 other suns in a search for earth-sized worlds. The search began in 2009. Kepler monitors a rich star field for planetary transits which cause a slight dimming of the starlight when a planet crosses the face of its star..."

"...In this remarkable illustration created by Jason Rowe of NASA's Kepler Science Team, all of Kepler's planet candidates are shown in transit with their parent stars ordered by size from top left to bottom right. Simulated stellar disks and the silhouettes of transiting planets are all shown at the same relative scale, with saturated star colors. Of course, some stars show more than one planet in transit, but you may have to examine the picture at high resolution to spot them all. For reference, the Sun is shown at the same scale, by itself below the top row on the right. In silhouette against the Sun's disk, both Jupiter and Earth are in transit."

- via this Kepler/Nasa page

(Hat-tip to David Darling)

***

"Each mote of light is a star, as transient in its own magnificent way as the blinking of fireflies. Nothing is permanent, yet billions of the stars embedded in this cosmic swirl have lasted long enough to accrete planets: ponderous, striped gas giants to which Jupiter is but a comma; hot, rocky worlds that mirror Mars, Venus and -- quite probably -- our own Earth.

A "billion" can be a difficult number to truly appreciate, except maybe as an abstract sum of money. Our minds never evolved to deal with such celestial arithmetic. Our rational left-brains, good enough for drafting spreadsheets and tallying the month's bills, are left in embarrassed stupor. I don't know how many stars this galaxy has, but let's say 100 billion. Again: a challenging number. No wonder people made fun of Carl Sagan - speaking of such immensity in merely human language is discomfitingly comical. 

The known universe has over 100 billion galaxies, each hosting its own retinue of stars. Most of these stars have planets; it's statistically inevitable that some of these cradle life. And of these, a fraction almost certainly harbor intelligent life: thinking beings following unguessable agendas. As much as we pretend otherwise, the Earth is not central or even significant in this dizzying sprawl of suns and planets."

- Mac Tonnies, excerpt from a blog entry dated July 16, 2003 from Posthuman Blues, Vol. I, 
2012, Redstar Books

"Even if humanity ultimately takes the dirtnap, the discovery of a living extrasolar planet seems almost inevitable. I wonder what our response will be, gazing at some tantalizing and alien world orbiting another star. What will we have done to ourselves -- and how might our collective predicament color our reception of a confirmed extraterrestrial biosphere?

Although real enough, the new Earth will also play a formative role in our imaginations; it promises to be a liminal frontier as well as an astrobiological focal point -- the locus of new myths, an imaginal haven forged of memes old and new, a distant and beckoning mirror."

- Mac Tonnies, 2006, excerpt from this archived Posthuman Blues blog entry

***

In the late 1990s, when I first entered cyberspace, one could probably count the number of known exoplanets on one hand. Which is not to say that all the planets on the above chart have been confirmed, but, thanks to Kepler, astronomers have made a quantum leap. That "100 Billion" number that Mac uses in the first quote has now been estimated between 100 - 400 billion... and that estimate refers to exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy alone!

For those interested, as to the "new Earth" and the "imaginal haven forged of memes old and new" in Mac's second quote, well, not long ago, I was inspired to gather a few mythical memes together regarding a related, and very recent, Kepler discovery. See: When Inner Worlds and Outer Worlds Collide.

(Note: If you click on the RedStar Books link above, you might find a new addition to the roster - hopefully, we'll be hearing about Posthuman Blues, Volume II soon!)


Exoplanet Link List:

Planetary Habitability Laboratory at Arecibo
Exoplanet Orbit Database
European Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia
Planet Hunters
Planet Quest

A Missing LInk - UPDATED!

Michael MacDonald, Greg Hemmings, and Mac

"I was saddened to hear that my friend Mac Tonnies, a legend in UFO research, died of natural causes, man he was so young, only 34.

A while back we were shooting a series for Vision TV about the paranormal; one of the episodes was about life on other planets. 

The host of this episode was UFO researcher and respected blogger Mac Tonnies. Man we had some great times on the road, he awkwardly fit in with the film crew just perfectly as us filmmakers are just as up in the stars as the UFO community are! Mac Tonnies introduced me to Twitter, I remember driving up to an astrological observatory atop a mountain outside Laramie Wyoming, he was leaning out the window taking a picture of me filming him, he told me this was for his twitter. I had no idea what he was talking about, but as the man was far more in the future and ahead of the times as I ever am, Mac introduced me to social media phenomenon that wouldn’t take real grip for another 12 months! Unreal!"

- excerpt from a memorial blog post, "RIP, Mac Tonnies" Greg Hemmings, 

October 22nd, 2009

I've just added a missing link to the "Other Mac Tonnies Memorial Page/Post Links" on the sidebar of this blog, to a memorial post by Greg Hemmings, which somehow fell outside the radar up till very recently.

Back in the summer of 2008, Mac was guest host on a Canadian television series "The Supernatural Investigators", specifically the episode entitled "Life on Other Planets" (Note: I previously mentioned it here. Unfortunately, not even the trailer can be found online presently). The upshot of this was that Mac got to travel around the country interviewing people like astronomer, Maggie Turnbull, and psychologist, Leo Sprinkle, while enjoying the company of Canadian filmmaker, Hemmings, Halifax-based writer, producer and director, Michael McDonald, and director, Jennifer Adcock.

Mac chronicled his journey extensively on his Twitter page, mentioning it only briefly on PHB - specifically here, and here (with a brief excerpt from a post by Greg Hemmings, which seems to be no longer online).  Michael MacDonald, on the other hand, did a write-up on his blog, which can be found here.

(Hat-tip to Dana Tonnies, for bringing this memorial post to my attention.)

***

UPDATE (5/9/13) - Mike Clelland uploaded Mac's "Supernatural Investigator" episode, "Life on Other Planets", here, and on his own blog Hidden Experience this past week. Thanks, Mike!

Compressorhead

"Fingers" via Kruger Media

"Along with Bones, 'the highest precision bass player in known existence,' and drummer Stickboy, who plays a 14-piece kit, these robots make up the German all-robot heavy metal band Compressorhead. According to the band's website, which pokes fun at its human readers as 'meatbags,' the drummer, like the guitarist, 'was created to exacting specifications. 4 arms, 2 legs, 1 head, no brain.'

Compressorhead's performance is controlled by MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and electro-pneumatic valves that are synchronized with 

the robots' head-banging movements."

- excerpt from: Raging Machines: Compressorhead, the First Robot Rock Band by Daniel Honan, April 16, 2013, Big Think

Well, you knew it had to happen sooner or later... I'm only surprised it took so long.

Of course, nothing apart from a kitchen appliance would prefer Compressorhead's cover of Blitzkrieg Bop to the Ramone's original "meatbag" version... however, not bad, not bad. And if you like this sort of thing, here's the raging machines covering "Bullet in the Head" by... um, those other guys.

The Underground Cities of... Kansas City, MO...?

A tunnel beneath Kansas City - The Kansas City Star

"Kansas City policeman Jason Cooley told the paper that officers found a series of winding underground tunnels and were directed there because of a recent crime spree.

‘One of the tunnels probably went 20 to 25 feet underground towards the back and veered off in another direction about six feet or so,’ he told the Kansas City Star, adding that they discovered candles and bedding as well in some of the cavern’s alcoves.

It is unclear who exactly the homeless people are, or how they dug such

deep entrenchments."

- Kansas City homeless city: Group found living underground and in crude camps

Hmmm... kind of looks like Cappadocia. 

Allegedly, however, the tunnels beneath Kansas City, Missouri, were made by a group of homeless people. Well, we don't actually see the homeless people... though at the end of the KMBC newscast video found here, a scruffy fellow named Scott ambles into the frame and then walks away pushing his bicycle... ?

Crypto-strange-o to me... And Mac, whose last home was in Kansas City, just might've agreed. ;-)

Welcome to 2045

"We believe that it is possible and necessary to eliminate aging and even death, and to overcome the fundamental limits of the physical and mental capabilities currently set by the restrictions of the physical body.

Scientists from various countries in the world are already developing technology that ensures the creation of an artificial human body prototype within the next decade. We believe the biggest technological project of our times will become the creation of such artificial human body and a subsequent transfer of individual human consciousness
 to such a body."

- International Manifesto of the "2045" Strategic Social Initiative

Joining the Billionaire-Boys-With-Big-Ideas-Club in 2011 (along with the likes of Elon Musk - the man who wants to die on Mars - and Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg) was Russian media mogul, Dmitry Itskov, 32. Whereas, Futurist Ray Kurzweil may have predicted a technological Singularity for 2045, Itskov launched his own political party in Russia last year- Evolution 2045 - to orchestrate Kurzweil's ideas into official reality. And, apparently, he means business... Big Business, involving his fellow billionaires, and/or, at least, their bucks, with the formal launching of his 2045 Strategic Social Initiative.

In June of this year, Itskov will host the second annual International Global Future 2045 Congress at the Lincoln Center in New York. The goal is to create a "suitable environment for the creative synthesis of scientific theories and spiritual traditions and practices". Two speakers at the congress will be Hiroshi Ishiguro, who is widely known for his robot doppelgangers, and David Hanson, famous for creating robot versions of Albert Einstein and Phillip K. Dick.

Itskov's agenda, and one of which he has no doubts about? To eventually produce the ways and means of uploading human consciousness into holographic "Avatars", thereby attaining human immortality.

I think Mac Tonnies would've found Itskov's enthusiasm exhilarating... up to and including Itskov's "synthesis" of science and the spiritual. For a few Posthuman Blues essays on the subject, try here, here, and here. One the other hand, here's a post regarding Mac's "transhumanist misgivings".

Death in Cyberspace

"As we lead more of our lives online, we leave behind an ever bigger digital footprint when we go. There are the public parts - the blogs, the tweets, the forum posts - but also the private things such as the emails stored on servers owned by companies like Google. Sorting out the digital legacy is becoming as onerous as being a traditional executor."

The conundrum continues.

If you've followed this blog for several years, you're probably already aware of several treatments of this topic - death in cyberspace - all of which mention Mac Tonnies, and, all of which I've posted about in the past. There was a 2009 German television spot, the 2011 New York Times article, a 2011 Kansas City NBC television spot, and the VOA radio broadcast from last year.

The quote above is from BBC Radio 4, which, in today's broadcast, treats the subject from a more legal standpoint. No, Mac isn't mentioned this time around - though I was approached initially, but had to decline due to a schedule conflict -  but, you can listen to Out of the Ordinary (Part 3) now on the BBC's RadioPlayer. It'll be available throughout the week.

UPDATE - 4/8/13: To listen to the BBC Radio 4 broadcast now and in the future, here's the dedicated link: Out of the Ordinary (Part 3).

A Strangely New "Gray Mars"

Mars, 2013 - Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

"We have characterized a very ancient, but strangely new 'gray Mars' where conditions once were favorable for life," said John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. 

- NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

NASA announced today the results of rock samples gathered last month, and the verdict is in: yes, ancient Mars could've supported life! Of course, by "life" NASA scientists are referring to the microbial... to which the Martians among us say "ho hum"... and, of course, the verdict may be overturned at some point - like the great Martian water debate... which I'm not sure has been really settled yet - but, we may as well play along. Hell, what have we got to lose... except time? ;-)

Atomic Tom...

... recently abducted from the Art Shaman's workshop. The best part? It's functional!

(Sorry, Bob, but I just had to have it!)

A Vision of the Apocalypse - Now!

Normally, this blog is not a news site, but I just caught this bit of breaking news a few minutes ago from the Guardian: Meteorite explosion over Chelyabinsk injures hundreds,

and this video is so riveting, I was compelled to post it.  More can be found in the article.

The number of people injured varies, from 500 to 1000, but, apparently the meteorite broke up above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. Hopefully there were no fatalities. Pretty scary stuff. And, although explanations vary, this isn't the first time Russia was in the cosmic line of fire... see the Tunguska event.  Mac's posts about Tunguska can be found here.

Wired: Table Of Malcontents

"Post-Human Blues: Mac Tonnies is undeniably a bit of a weirdo. Perhaps that’s why I like him so much, though I agree with nearly nothing that he writes. His subject is largely the future of humanity: he enthusiastically imagines a future, sometimes hopefully, sometimes apocalyptically, where the transhuman is real."

- John Brownlee - via this post from the 2007 Wired blog: Table of Malcontents 

More Mac trivia... an excerpt of this quote is blurbed on the PHB side-bar, but Mac also posted about it here (with comments from Brownlee and himself).

Table of Malcontents seems to have been a fine blog, but, unfortunately, only lasted 9 months.

Note: this post replaces the 2011 video, Robots of Brixton by Kibwe Tavares and Factory Fifteen. It lost too much in a small format, but, if you haven't caught it in the past, it can be seen in its full glory here.

From The Other Side

Jim Harold's Paranormal Plus Club

Brought to you from the Other Side (no, not that other side), Jim Harold's radio show... where Paul Kimball discusses his friend, Mac Tonnies, at some length. Topics include Post Human Blues; Volume I, the 2006 New Frontiers Symposium, and those enigmatic Crypto's. The Other Side is subscription-only listening, but Paul has graciously provided a direct link to the MP3. Thanks, Paul!

Note: Just in case you missed it, Paul chatted with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM last month...  notice (& link) can be found here.