Post-Posthuman Blues

October 24, 2009 10:54 PM

Posthumanist, Fortean thinker and writer Mac Tonnies, dead at 34.
A popular author, blogger and futurist, he was one of the more intelligent folks involved with deeper thinking about many aspects of the paranormal. Mac is widely respected and liked in UFO, futurist, science fiction, and associated esoterica circles, and is considered as one of the most open, inquisitive, intelligent minds exploring these areas. His very last book about his thoughts on the "crypto-terrestrial hypothesis" will likely be published by Anomalist Books. Metafilter's own dbiedny has 3 podcast interviews with the late author as well: 1, 2, 3
posted by boo_radley (26 comments total)

Condolences to his family and friends. His presence and writing will be missed by many.
posted by 8dot3 at 11:05 PM on October 24

(Also: this is a very nicely done fpp obit, boo_radley. Thank you.)
posted by 8dot3 at 11:06 PM on October 24

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NOT LONG AFTER THE SYSTEM CRASHES SATELLITE STRUCTURES WILL ORBIT THE EARTH FREED FROM THE LIMITATIONS OF FRICTION AND GRAVITY. WITH THE ABILITY TO UPGRADE THEIR OWN INTELLIGENCE, EVENTUALLY THE ELECTRON IMPULSES THEY SEND WILL BE UNLIMITED AND FACILITATED ONLY BY THE TINIEST PHYSICAL MACHINES, IMPERVIOUS TO AGING IN SPACE. ULTIMATELY THEY WILL DISAPPEAR ALTOGETHER, THEIR MATERIALITY BECOMING OUTMODED BY THE ADVANTAGES OF PURE TELEPATHY.

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speaking of post-humanism




(no, you have never seen this before)
posted by philip-random at 11:11 PM on October 24 [1 favorite]

I posted this in the MeTa thead, but...

I've been an internet acquaintance of Mac's for about 5 years, and he really was a wonderful and interesting guy. I'm what you'd call a skeptic regarding the alien/ufo stuff he was all about, but I found what he wrote interesting (and his blog was fucking amazing), and we had some really great interactions via Twitter. For the last few days, I've definitely been in mourning. More mourning than I ever would have expected from someone I've had a few conversations with at 140 characters at a time. I'm definitely missing him.
posted by brundlefly at 11:26 PM on October 24

That's an awful shame. I never knew his name but I could tell just from the post who it was about. I used to read his blog from time to time whenever I wanted to feel enthusiastic about the future. Here's wishing the best to all those left behind.

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posted by CheshireCat at 11:33 PM on October 24

Just for the record: MeTa.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:33 PM on October 24

philip-random: Actually I have seen that before.
posted by clarknova at 11:33 PM on October 24

Also, if someone can tell me what he's said or thought that wasn't a rehash of Jacques Vallée or John Keel I'd be interested.
posted by clarknova at 11:35 PM on October 24

Yeah, I need to say that this post isn't really mine, and kinda leave it at that. You can read the MeTa here. I like the subject and find cryptozoology fascinating, so I wanted to make sure that the post got seen.
posted by boo_radley at 11:36 PM on October 24

clarknova, that's hardly fair. You could turn around and ask what Keel's written or thought that wasn't a rehashing of Charles Fort's. If you're interested in the topic, you could start here and see what you think.
posted by boo_radley at 11:42 PM on October 24

Oh, yeah. And an incredibly emphatic...

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posted by brundlefly at 11:45 PM on October 24

if someone can tell me what he's said or thought that wasn't a rehash of Jacques Vallée or John Keel I'd be interested.

As I have never before heard of Jacques Vallee or John Keel, all I can say is ... shhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by philip-random at 11:57 PM on October 24

You are a good citizen, Boo Radley.
posted by LarryC at 12:04 AM on October 25

boo_radley; That's identical to the last five "start here"'s I got from google. The top hits are either interviews with or videos of Tonnies on the subject of what he thinks about what he thinks.

What did he think? It's like an echo chamber. I see face on mars stuff, detail-free echos of Vallée and Keel, and tip of the hat paraphrasing of the same Posthumanist academics we read when we were in university.

You could turn around and ask what Keel's written or thought that wasn't a rehashing of Charles Fort's...

Keel collected new data. Not seeing any evidence of original research here or here.
posted by clarknova at 12:13 AM on October 25

Condolences to those close to Mac, but I'm going to go hug up on some James Randi writings while we're still lucky to still have him.
posted by inturnaround at 12:53 AM on October 25 [2 favorites]

Condolences. Did he have medical issues? 34 is way too young to go.
posted by bardic at 12:59 AM on October 25

bardic: Didn't you know? All the best UFO researchers die young, for perfectly explicable reasons.
posted by kaibutsu at 1:31 AM on October 25 [1 favorite]

What is a post-humanist? Besides posthumous?
posted by fourcheesemac at 2:44 AM on October 25

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posted by emperor.seamus at 3:04 AM on October 25

I'm a fourteen thinker. Our motto: Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce!
posted by delmoi at 4:52 AM on October 25 [4 favorites]

kaibutsu: Didn't you know? All the best UFO researchers die young, for perfectly explicable reasons.

That's really tasteless. I guess you've put the final shit in this already shitty thread.

Thanks to dbiedny and booradley for the info; I had never heard of this guy, and his work seems really interesting, if a but nutty.

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posted by zardoz at 5:34 AM on October 25

I'd like to think we could become a space-faring species within the next century, ensuring that human intelligence will persist if things go awry here at home, which seems increasingly likely.

While I'll admit I'd never heard of Tonnies and much of what I'm reading in the links seems a bit wacky, he does make a good point occasionally.

My condolences to those who knew him.
posted by JaredSeth at 6:11 AM on October 25

Post-humanism isn't hard to understand if you have a bit of perspective on human history. Imagine going back about 50,000 years and telling some random human that you all live these ridiculously long lives, it's highly unusual when your children die before you, that we can get new teeth if we want them, that we're hardly ever savaged to death by animals, that we can smite the equivalent of hundreds of tribes of the enemy and make their land barren for a hundred years, and so forth. Between pacemakers and Predator drones, we'd seem like gods to them.

Post-humanism is simply looking forward and saying, "Provided we don't boil the oceans and poison ourselves with our own wastes, or anything else stupid (and that's a big if), we'll probably be doing some things we can barely imagine right now, in a rather short period of time, should change continue to accelerate. Rather than be caught unawares, let's think about this a little bit, so we can anticipate, make plans, and perhaps even provide a tiny scrap of hope."

You may continue with the lulz at the too-early death of someone who will never live to see the future he spent much time pondering.
posted by adipocere at 6:41 AM on October 25 [9 favorites]

I've found that people who talk about futurism or transhumanism are usually not doing anything particularly technologically significant with their lives.

I must also observe that Mr. Tonnies was a transhumanist, not in-fact a posthumanist, which mainly extends humanism by giving non-humans moral value.

So transhumanism is mostly about implants & robots while posthumanism is largely about animal rights. Btw, antihumanism is cryptic bitching about humanism's failures.
posted by jeffburdges at 6:44 AM on October 25 [1 favorite]

His crypto-terrestrial hypothesis sounds like he's read the Artemis Fowl books.
posted by knapah at 7:45 AM on October 25

What did he die of? 34 is scary young.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:58 AM on October 25