FizerPharm: Flexible ethics for a complex world

December 24, 2006 9:20 AM

Peter Watts on Vampire Domestication (embedded Flash video, must click to start).The mythical corporation FizerPharm ("Trust. Profit. Deniability.") share their detailed research into the evolution and possible commercial applications of Homo sapiens whedonum. You will learn: How and why the "crucifix glitch" came about. Why you should run from a blushing vampire. How many kilograms of human are needed to make one kilogram of vampire. How vampires resemble two year old humans, domestic shorthaired cats, and lungfish. And why "survival of the fittest" should be reconceptualized as "survival of the least inadequate". [more inside]
posted by maudlin (19 comments total)

This isn't just original and funny, but as Watts is a biologist, his application of evolutionary principles to vampirism seems pretty plausible.

You can download a zipped WMV version of the whole presentation (36 minutes, and worth every second) at Watts' site, but Flash video and an illustrated PDF are also available. If you prefer novels, the complete text of his vampire novel Blindsight (for which this presentation is a teaser) and almost all of his backlist are available there as well under a Creative Commons license.
posted by maudlin at 9:22 AM on December 24, 2006

Also.
posted by jaysus chris at 9:30 AM on December 24, 2006

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Sorry.

And -- shit!
posted by maudlin at 9:38 AM on December 24, 2006

The thumbnail summary of what must be most of the funnier jokes is appreciated by those of us who never committed the 36 minutes necessary to get to them in context. Technically these are known as 'spoilers' and might annoy someone who meant to actually watch it but were perversely appreciated in my case.
posted by George_Spiggott at 9:43 AM on December 24, 2006

Not quite spoilers, as they're setups rather than punchlines, but yes, they were meant to entice people to commit to a long viewing.
posted by maudlin at 9:56 AM on December 24, 2006

I'm not quite understanding the rest of the site. Is it based on a series of novels, is it an elaborate set-up for an rpg?
posted by kindle at 10:00 AM on December 24, 2006

Watts has written several novels set in a specific universe, but Blindsight stands alone. The presentation is tied in with the vampire concepts in Blindsight. I don't see anything about RPGs on his site, though.
posted by maudlin at 10:03 AM on December 24, 2006

Fantastic, thank you for the yummy 36 minutes maudlin.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:05 AM on December 24, 2006

I missed it the first time, so I'm grateful for the repost. :-)
posted by five fresh fish at 11:16 AM on December 24, 2006

Peter Watts scares me. He is astoundingly smart and creative and fills his books with ideas that might make you bleed from the ears. I didn't realize, until I started reading the first reviews for Blindsight, that he was responsible for the vampire domestication video.

In any case, it's the SF novel of the year. Maybe of the decade.
posted by solid-one-love at 1:20 PM on December 24, 2006

I agree. And also appreciated the reminder.
posted by hank at 1:38 PM on December 24, 2006

Oh, this is the guy who wrote Starfish and Maelstrom, both of which I read on the web quite some time ago. Both were very good, I remember, although he was harping a bit too much on the BDSM stuff in the second one.

Anyway, he's a very smart guy. I'm looking forward to reading his novel.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:29 PM on December 24, 2006

This is hilarious. Thank you. I had not seen this posted before.
posted by basicchannel at 4:37 PM on December 24, 2006

Thanks for this.
posted by retronic at 1:26 AM on December 25, 2006

That whole site is fantastic. And I love that you can read his all of his first two books online - I'm not going to, because it's hard to curl up on a couch with a PC, but it certainly gives me enough of a taste to want to buy them.
posted by Jilder at 4:02 AM on December 25, 2006

Blindsight was amazing! It should win the Hugo next year.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:25 AM on December 25, 2006

But what do the rest of of The MillenniuM Group have to say?
posted by cerulgalactus at 3:14 PM on December 25, 2006

Oh, and also - after reading the site and listening to the presentation - bravo, you magnificent bastard.
posted by cerulgalactus at 3:29 PM on December 25, 2006

I'm going to chime in and say that Blindsight is probably one of the best Sci-Fi books I've read this year.
Very intriguing with all the biological adaptation references and talk about human consciousness versus hardwired biological function of the brain. Really cool stuff, mindfucked indeed.
posted by daq at 10:31 AM on December 26, 2006