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Transhumanism, Feminisim, and Vocaloids.
14 years ago
General
This started me thinking...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
On rare occasions my thoughts on feminism and transhumanism tend to collide. Anime ,like porn, does a good job making the standard for beauty extremely high, but now its replacing actual Japanese pop stars. Here we have a Singer that can be anything the imagination desires, as short or as slender or as child-like as the demographic wants. My knee-jerk reaction here is to say 'This is being unfair to real people', but then my inner transhumanist points out where this desire and its popularity comes from.
I think it is sad when people try to widdle acceptable aesthetics down to a trend, especially when that trend is nearly impossible to achieve, but on the other hand I hate it when people look down on others trying to fit those aesthetics. For me, being a transhumanist means seeking out control of ones own body. However a person wants to alter themselves (assuming it isn't due to a pathological disorder) I think they have a right to it. Japanese fans love the Vocaloids because she is the closest they have come to a dream of their own aesthetics, an image of the world they personally hold dear. Whatever it may be, it is seemingly impossible standards like these that propel us forward.
I dream of a day I can choose to be the anthropomorphic cat In my avatar (updates pending). Do I think all the world would fall in love with me?, of course not. I'm not looking for acceptance from others, only hope for tolerance. Of course it is impossible now and perhaps forever, I know the reality behind these things and do my best to make due with what I have, but l have a right to my own yearnings despite their impossible nature. Maybe I can never get where I want, it only fuels my passions and hopes.
Even with my yearning to be something impossible I am faced with the need for painful pragmatic understanding. I think it is here, the lack of practical thought, that the problem takes root. People torchure themselves and demean others when expectations can't be met. Girls wanting to be impossibility thin kill themselves every day with insane diets and anorexia, for example. Dreaming isn't the problem, forcing it into reality can be. We shouldn't blame a bit of escapist fiction, porn, or even a holographic pop star for the cruel things we do, but the impatience for our dreams cause stupid decisions. So you'll have to hold forever a desire, welcome to the real world. Instead of crying, how about trying to find the science needed to safely alter the body or at least support those with the potential. The Right brothers didn't resolve their dream of flight by straping wings to their arms, they built a fucking plane.
So one day the vocaloid may be a solid android, maybe it will be A ghost in the shell. Don't knock the dream, its how we learn to fly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
On rare occasions my thoughts on feminism and transhumanism tend to collide. Anime ,like porn, does a good job making the standard for beauty extremely high, but now its replacing actual Japanese pop stars. Here we have a Singer that can be anything the imagination desires, as short or as slender or as child-like as the demographic wants. My knee-jerk reaction here is to say 'This is being unfair to real people', but then my inner transhumanist points out where this desire and its popularity comes from.
I think it is sad when people try to widdle acceptable aesthetics down to a trend, especially when that trend is nearly impossible to achieve, but on the other hand I hate it when people look down on others trying to fit those aesthetics. For me, being a transhumanist means seeking out control of ones own body. However a person wants to alter themselves (assuming it isn't due to a pathological disorder) I think they have a right to it. Japanese fans love the Vocaloids because she is the closest they have come to a dream of their own aesthetics, an image of the world they personally hold dear. Whatever it may be, it is seemingly impossible standards like these that propel us forward.
I dream of a day I can choose to be the anthropomorphic cat In my avatar (updates pending). Do I think all the world would fall in love with me?, of course not. I'm not looking for acceptance from others, only hope for tolerance. Of course it is impossible now and perhaps forever, I know the reality behind these things and do my best to make due with what I have, but l have a right to my own yearnings despite their impossible nature. Maybe I can never get where I want, it only fuels my passions and hopes.
Even with my yearning to be something impossible I am faced with the need for painful pragmatic understanding. I think it is here, the lack of practical thought, that the problem takes root. People torchure themselves and demean others when expectations can't be met. Girls wanting to be impossibility thin kill themselves every day with insane diets and anorexia, for example. Dreaming isn't the problem, forcing it into reality can be. We shouldn't blame a bit of escapist fiction, porn, or even a holographic pop star for the cruel things we do, but the impatience for our dreams cause stupid decisions. So you'll have to hold forever a desire, welcome to the real world. Instead of crying, how about trying to find the science needed to safely alter the body or at least support those with the potential. The Right brothers didn't resolve their dream of flight by straping wings to their arms, they built a fucking plane.
So one day the vocaloid may be a solid android, maybe it will be A ghost in the shell. Don't knock the dream, its how we learn to fly.
Permit me paint a portrait for just a moment if you'd like, you can follow along at home.
What happens when a male can't fit standards of beauty? "Suck it up." "Lol virgin nerd." "Loser." "Neckbeard." You've likely heard them all, and I probably don't have to repeat them all. Now keep those stereotypes of a male not conforming to sexualized standards for a moment. Understand that a male is pressured, quite a bit, to have sex, at all times, either subtly or not very subtly at all, directly or indirectly, from every outlet. Parents ("When are you going to get a girlfriend son,") Media, "Every commercial ever. Every television program ever. Turn on your television right now and within 5 minutes you'll see either an ad selling something by telling men if they use it they'll get sex, men having sex, or, advertising sex itself through "male enhancement") and friends, (facebook is a good example.)
Now I have established in the above that there is a standard for a man to have sex constantly and to be attractive to women. What happens when a man is rejected by women? Frequently? When a man cannot get a woman? At the risk of sounding sexist: In what we call "modern" culture, the pressure for a man to be sexually active is far greater. It is a desirable trait for a woman to be a virgin. A flower. Something beautiful. A man who is a virgin is considered a reject. A failure. A pitiful loser who shall never amount to anything.
Now. With all this pressure built up on a young man's shoulders. And ridicule. Let's say I offer this man the chance to be loved by a beautiful woman. No strings attached. She will never reject him. She will always give him the same warm smile and always look beautiful and never judge him for being a virgin. Like a bloody steak in front of a hungry bear. The result every single time will be the same.
Now. I posit the following. Fictional women with perfect smiles and perfect bodies devoid of judgement. Devoid of hate or malice. Offer that to young men who have only known rejection their entire lives. Now you ask how people can do such things.
I ask how can they NOT.
I would also argue multiple forms of relationship is also needed, but that is beside the point.