Wanting to Marry a Cartoon Character
Labels: Anti-Humanism. Marry a Cartoon Character. Misanthropy. Transhumanism.
This is very sad but I think it qualifies as a form of the profound anti-humanism that is running rampant in the world. A man in Japan wants to marry a cartoon and has started a petition drive to pressure the government to permit it. From the story: A Japanese man has enlisted hundreds of people in a campaign to allow marriages between humans and cartoon characters, saying he feels more at ease in the "two-dimensional world".
Comic books are immensely popular in Japan, with some fictional characters becoming celebrities or even sex symbols. Marriage is meanwhile on the decline as many young Japanese find it difficult to find life partners. Taichi Takashita launched an online petition aiming for one million signatures to present to the government to establish a law on marriages with cartoon characters.
Within a week he has gathered more than 1000 signatures through. "I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world," he wroteBut some people signing the petition are true believers. "For a long time I have only been able to fall in love with two-dimensional people and currently I have someone I really love," one person wrote. "Even if she is fictional, it is still loving someone. I would like to have legal approval for this system at any cost," the person wrote.
Well, until transhumanism's unlikely success, after which these sad people could perhaps upload their minds into a cartoon world on a computer, I am afraid they are stuck in the three dimensional world with the rest of us.
But I think we need to take a long, hard look at why so many want out of the real world and waste the precious time of their actual lives dreaming of living in fantasy lands or becoming extraordinary without having to exert the effort that makes one truly unique. (I wrote about this phenomenon in a review of the television program The 4400.) There is a decadence here, that I haven't quite got my mind around yet.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 9:24 PM
11 Comments
11 Comments:
HOLY Manure!!!! :S A lot of crazy people in the world...
But you brought Transhumanism up.. and it's worth mentioning this lil thingy:
http://www.deusex3.com/
The latest in a series of videogames heavily influenced by the transhumanist movement... it's worth watching the trailer and dropping by the forum :)
(And if your wondering about the games quality... the first is an absolute classic of gaming... the second one was scheisse.. and the third is still in limbo.. haha
Very interesting. Again, note the implied theme: We can become extraordinary without effort, through the wonders of biotechnology.
Hardly without effort.. but that's only apparent to those who played the game =) Most of the "modified" caracters are still plagued by the lowly aspects of the human mind, some becoming psychopatic and paranoid... inspired by transhumanism but still critical of it... and the technologies necessary to become "posthuman" are only available to the military and defense agencies wich is a bit of a kick in the ass of the more Utopian aspects of transhumanism :)
See the ghost in the shell movies for more examples of transhumanism in pop culture... they also tend to be a bit pessimistic.
But that's part of the allure, become extraordinary through science, not personal effort. We can all be Superman.
Interesting Ricardo. Thanks for sharing this.
oh definitely part of the allure... and for gameplay purposes it's pretty awesome :D haha but by the end of it you'll come out with a very cynical view of it... at least i did :)
The allure of transhumanism for me is to become extraordinary through personal effort via science. I wish to be one of the scientists on the forefront of human enhancement, where my hard work and dedication in my field of science translate into real benefits for myself and others.
It may be of note that if everyone is Superman, being Superman would be ordinary. To be extraordinary in a superhuman body would require just as much personal effort as to become extraordinary with our current feeble frame.
Joshua: Your desire to be extraordinary through hard work is the solution, not the problem.
Yes, well Superman is only extraordinary because of the earth's environment. Anybody from his planet has the same powers.
So, in that sense, he didn't do anything to become "super" either.
When my husband forwarded this to me late last week, my first thought was how sad it is. This guy has a mental imbalance, but we're all so determined to be accepting of anyone or anything that he'll most likely receive none of the help he so desperately needs! What a horrible disservice to him and people like him.
I think the danger with transhumanism is less people expecting to be superhuman without effort, and more the idea that the fundamentals of human nature can be overwritten - everything bad about humanity and society can be changed. Look at this case - the poor souls signing this petition apparently believe that they can deny basic reality.
I think that people are capable of almost infinite cruelty and evil when they think that they are fixing all the world's problems, so I'm skeptical of any movement that thinks they can do just that.
I guess there are degrees of transhumanism and superhumanity. This morning, the wonders of modern medical science manipulated my body, using an unnatural trick to trigger natural processes making me effectively immune to the 'flu. That doesn't mean I expect to be leaping tall buildings or surviving the death of my body this afternoon.
Making improvements to yourself doesn't have to be about silly power fantasies or impressing the neighbors.
Back on topic, lonely misanthropes are hardly a new development, but I'm baffled that they would want or need government validation of their obsession with a fictional character. What benefits are they hoping for the government to grant them or their imaginary spouse? If the government isn't providing any benefits, why get them involved in their sex (or fantasy) life?
Nathan: Immunization is not transhumanism, unless we want the definition to be so flexible that the term itself loses all meaning.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home