Is People Really Evolving? And What Use is Utopia, Anyway?

Sorry, readers…

This week we splash a sobering (yet still friendly, fun, and at bottom, good-natured) modicum of cold water on hopes that humanity is on the edge, verge, or tipping point of some grand transformation. We gently question the belief that something better must be on the way.

Not that it would appear as such to most casual observers, surveying the global political and ecological scene. But there are those who nonetheless (whether through revelatory reason or inspired intuition) take the larger view and imagine that this human evolutionary project is… “going somewhere.”

The great story of cosmic evolution—from the Big Bang of the primeval quantum soup to Homo Sapiens living in a complex post-industrial society—along with the obvious progress of technological development (AI, AI, AI… enough already), and real social innovations (however threatened & precarious) such as no more institutional slavery, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ cultural empowerment, and so on—would lend support to the “great arc of moral progress” theory of the universe.

But is it really wise to count our chicks before they hatch? So much science should give us pause. There are too many ambiguous questions!

Fortunately, our featured authors this week proffer no easy answers. But they write so damn well, you’ll appreciate the circumspection more than you would any simplistic call to action.

First, warm up with Chase Griffin’s interview with Jeff Noon, an award-winning British novelist, short story writer, and playwright, who refreshingly promises that he will never use AI to write. Both Griffin and Noon are really fun writers, who make language do the wildest things that were clearly never intended by the manufacturer.

Read the interview, Abstracting Utopia, and then check out Noon’s latest book, Gogmagog: The First Chronicle of Ludwich, along with Griffin and his partner in chaos Christina Quay’s How To Play A Necromancer’s Theremin. They will knock knock (who’s there?) your socks off.

(Did I just link to Bookshop.org? Yes. IF you truly care about human evolution, you really should be buying more books—you know that, right?)

Then, strap on… whatever you most like to strap on… and give a read, or two, or three (you will definitely need more than one) to Layman’s Pascal’s latest contribution to Metapsychosis, “Is People Really Evolving?”

The essay begins:

“Bodies of light? Telepathy? Breathing underwater? Exciting ideas from sci-fi & free range mysticism suggest extraordinary physical mutations. Why not?”

But then it’s like, well, let’s think about this… And really, you should. Oh, but “should” is such a nasty, prescriptive word. I mean, if you are at all mentally EVOLVED, you will want to.

Did I really just say that? I just said that…

I hope I’m only jesting… but who knows? Everything is so multidimensional, meta-ironic, and confusing these days.

Is you is or is you ain’t evolving, huh?

The proof for me will be that you have something intelligent to say in response. I dare you. I double dare you. Read Layman’s piece and then say something just as smart—agreeing or disagreeing, both/and and/or neither/nor of the above, but fruitfully developing the discourse in some meaningful way. Here is the topic for the essay in our forum. You may need to sign up or sign in, but it is drop-dead simple. Only takes a minute. Literally, a child could do it. No excuses.

I believe in you. You are men and women! You are human beings! You are not machines! You can still (actually, organically) think! Tell us what you think…

Stepping off my silly, self-important soap box now: a little invitation. Our previous call for submissions (on “Writing from the Future”) went pretty darn well, and you’ll be seeing some of those contributions getting published over the next couple of months.

Now, we’re ready to put out a new call. But it’s more “meta” than that. We’re putting out a call for a call for submissions. This is for any of you brilliant souls who might want to take a shot at editing with us. Indeed, we’re looking for a guest editor who would like to put out their own call for submissions through us, and work with us on the publication of the best stuff that comes in.

We may or may not (most probably not) be the cool kids on the internet—but we’re inviting you to sit at our lunch table. Eat the purple jello, too. There are spitballs to be turned into the most lethal of intellectual projectiles!

Sound like fun? Send an email to editors@metapsychosis.com with your idea for our next theme, and let’s talk.

All the rest of you, how about a little more love? We’re doing the best we can over here, wrestling with the metacrisis, dancing to the spin of the computational qubits in the nth dimension. Become a member so we can start doing the noble thing and paying our writers. Not to mention, we have reading groups, writing groups, an actual community experience still available on the Web, and not surreptitiously (or rather blatantly, pathetically) serving some soulless corporate agenda.

Pay for the cultural & spiritual evolution you want to see in the world. Put your money where our mouths are. Feed us! Feed us! We’d really appreciate the support!

And that’s all I have for you today…

Stay tuned next week for a fantastic interview with Tracy Fessenden, author of Religion Around Billie Holiday, and for a stunning poem from Claire Lacey considering the implications of diatomite mining in New Zealand.

Somewhat, perhaps, maybe, who knows? evolving,

Marco V Morelli
Editor-in-Chief, Metapsychosis
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