I've been meeting a quite fascinating range of people at this event — this isn't what my story here is about, but out of the fifty or so people that are here there are two transsexuals which is rather interesting (and numerous other quirky folk). Anyway, I wanted to tell a story though from one person I met, although I'm going to have to anonymize it a bit because while I don't believe that it was told in confidence I should probably still treat it as such.
This person was on the last flight out of Newark early in the morning of September 11th, 2001, so when the attacks hit, they found themselves stranded in Europe. Like most of us, they spent the first couple of days glued to their television. Their brother is a (person of import) in New York City, and, as Bush stood overlooking the wreckage of the twin towers, next to him on TV was my new friend's brother. Bush turned to him, whispered something in his ear, and then went back to the photo op.
Of course the first thing my friend asks his brother when he makes it back to America is “what did George Bush whisper in your ear?”
So, what was George Bush's reaction to seeing the first September 11th attacks? “Wow, did ya ever seen anything like this before?” I'm not exactly sure what to make of that. Part of me finds it humanizing, part of me thinks it's a dumb-ass thing to say, and part of me thinks it's really crass…
On that story as well, I'll add that he's a journalist, so one of the stamps in his passport was from Pakistan. As he was about to board his plane (as I mentioned, he was literally on the very last flight out of Newark before the one that was hijacked), agents rushed in and started checking everyone's ID — because of his Pakistan stamp he got pulled out and got tons of questioning before they let him continue on his way. The impression he got is that they knew something was about to go very wrong…
Of course, “no one knew it would happen”… right?
Jordan and I also have lots the internal gossip on the World Transhumanist Association — it's funny because when it's a bunch of scientists and future science-oriented people, you don't except this, but the organization really seem riddled with internal strife and bickering, sometimes to the point of nearly ripping the group to shreds. There's been really surprising back stabbing and career sabotage, clashing egos and narcissism, and worse.
I don't know whether it's appropriate to talk about that aspect of it or not publicly (I don't really consider writing about it here as “public” — I mean in a published article)… It's fascinating to me though that a group of people who believe that the subject they're debating has an almost religious value in terms of absolutely transforming the future and bringing about perhaps the most important historical shift since life first began can't get past their personal differences and are just as likely to succumb to petty character flaws as anyone out there.
Other than that, today is the end of the convention. Last night I “won” an amazing item in the TransVision fundraiser auction, a first draft copy of Ramez Naam's book More Than Human. It's a spiral bound early version of his book covered head to toe with hand written notes on revisions, sections to cut, add, and so on… Outside of the obvious interest, from the point of view of someone that is both a publisher and an author personally, it's really quite enjoyable.
Arthur C. Clarke spoke this morning, and I'm a little ashamed to say that I didn't really want to get up so early (it was at 7AM or something because it's a webcast from Sri Lanka), so I did not see it. That said, the video conference part of it apparently failed totally, so they had to do it by telephone, with the phone simply held up to the mic (a bit of a fiasco)… They tell me it will be archived on the website, but they said that last year as well about the presentations and I don't think it ever happened… Still, I'm sure I'll be kicking myself for missing it in a week.
This is probably my last post before I leave Venezuela first thing in the morning. After TransVision ends, we're spending the day with Emilio (I know I keep saying this, but he's really been an amazing host and he deserves a great deal of public thanks from me for his generous hospitality) to talk business and experience Venezuela as well, and then it's off to the airport first thing in the morning, and after a day and a half of traveling I'll be back with Rachel in Mexico. It's silly, I know it's only been a few days, but it's hard for me being away from home without her.
…and since it'll be fully up and running soon, I've been thinking about how I want to paint my
Montage. The picture above is total crap, but I'm thinking about an orange desert camouflage pattern with a matching interior done in tan and gray pleather. I've seen a Lamborghini painted like this and it looked good… Emilio's truck is zebra print inside and out and seeing it's got me thinking about doing something really garish. As if it's not silly enough looking already!
Oh, and here at Transvision I've been thinking about things I'd like to present, so I roughed out an article last night on “why transhumanism needs more sex” discussing both the role of sexuality in new technology and futurism, and an overview of current sexual augmentation, expansion, and new ways of experiencing sex… I don't know if they'd ever accept a talk like that (because I couldn't do it without getting very graphic), but I think you can expect it as an article soon.
