Extreme Futurist Fest: An Interview With Rachel Haywire
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Rachel Haywire
Rachel Haywire is organizing the second Extreme Futurist Fest, scheduled to take place on the legendary date 12/21/2012. In Rachel’s own words, “Extreme Futurist Fest is a 2 day arts and technology festival focusing on radical voices of the new evolution. Last year we had a great event and we were called ‘a TED conference for the counterculture’ by the LA Weekly. This year we seek to make XFF an even more epic experience.â€
RIKKI AUDAX:Â I recall there was an issue with Kickstarter. What sparked the move to RocketHub?
RACHEL HAYWIRE:Â RocketHub was a lot friendlier to me than Kickstarter and they were very understanding of my situation. They allowed me to block comments so my stalker could not harass me and my backers. They placed Extreme Futurist Festival on their front page and helped me promote it. They were focusing more on science and technology and I felt that their general vibe was very welcoming to people like me. It’s a really tight community of people working on projects related to science and the future. A project for NASA was just funded there.
RA: What is your vision for XFF?
RH:Â Bringing together the best minds of my generation. I worked on this video with notthisbody which explains things pretty well:
Extreme Futurist Festival 2012 Trailer from H+ Worldwide on Vimeo.
RA:Â What is your strategy for building this festival?
RH:Â Kicking as much ass as possible. If XFF 2011 was the beginning of the new evolution XFF 2012 is the pulse of its formation. We have just started to book speakers and bands. Our first announced speaker is Aubrey de Grey and we will be announcing a lot more soon. Sniff Code will be designing our website and we’re currently raising funds at RocketHub so we can get a better venue than last time and make this a fully immersive experience. I want this to be an event that people talk about for years to come. You can check out the RocketHub page here:Â http://www.rockethub.com/projects/9220-extreme-futurist-festival-2012
RA:Â What feedback have you received from Transhumanism community as well as the counterculture movement?
RH: People seem to welcome me in the Transhumanist community more than they do in the counterculture. We are a tribe of leaders and visionaries who have a shared desire to improve humanity. Meanwhile I am bringing a lot of counterculture people into the Transhumanist movement who are sick of the counterculture and its usual cliches. Creative people on the fringes of society need a more intellectual world than the counterculture provides. What I am building is a reaction to the counterculture that maintains its cutting edge and risk-taking attitude yet rejects the status quo of what the counterculture has become.
RA: For people who want to get involved, how can they assist in helping XFF grow?
RH: The main thing right now is to donate to the festival on RocketHub. We only have a few days left and every little bit is important. You can also email extremefuturistfest2012@gmail.com if you would like to speak or perform.
By Goad., August 15, 2012 @ 1:44 pm
I would like to submitt to perform some of my poetry at XFF 2012. Where may I do this at? I attached my youtube, but there is more poetry that just this.
By Negative, August 17, 2012 @ 12:35 pm
You’re so cool, dear Rachel!!!
By Kryptych81x, August 17, 2012 @ 12:58 pm
A noble pursuit, worthy of putting intelligent thought into action.
By Summerspeaker, August 17, 2012 @ 1:43 pm
XFF was a blast last year.
By DrTronix, August 17, 2012 @ 4:01 pm
I am really looking forward to seeing this festival expand to a global level, I can imagine this festival becoming the haven for futurists, with high tech entertainment systems such as AR, VR, biofeedback audio-visual algorythms in the dance areas, cultural learning facilities, VIP tents for super scientists and visionaries, this kind of festival is one of a kind, an intellectual approach to having a blast in the fields, well done Rachel for organising potentially the best festival for the geeks and freaks in the cutting edge science and technology sphere 😀 xxx (P.S. I WISH I was coming, but will be sure to be there in spirit and in the future for defo)
By Roger Ellman, August 24, 2012 @ 9:17 am
If that auxillary budget appears I’ll be there! Sounds like great fun and full of possibility in a positive direction.
In any case hope it’s beyond all expectations and leads to a new higher rate of evolution and progress.
By Elmer Fuddd, September 10, 2012 @ 8:52 am
Anyway you add it up, “transhumanism” is nothing more than techno-cratic, New Age Fascism.
Because communitarianism is the ideology of the importance of community over the individual, the creation of a communalist society is the emphatic over-reaching value that if it does not provide for the whole, it is not worth pursuit.
The concept of the neo-human and neo-humanity is the replacement for a post-industrial capitalist and consumer-based society where a new form of civilization will emerge.
At the Global Future 2045 International Conference in 2013, scientists from all corners of the globe along with experts in nanotechnology, biotechnology, transbiology and other sciences will suggest a collaborative evolution of humanity into an transcendent era where the UN’s agenda of population transformation will be implemented. A new model for society that adheres to the globalist ideologies of merging controllable humans with machines to facilitate a new race of human being that is led by artificial intelligence plunged into the global AI computer system and functions simply to be an autonomous workforce for the global Elite.
The goal of transhumanism is to replace all existing laws with the purpose of destroying the essence of humanity for the sake of control. Hybrid humans with robotic implants are expected to be released into the general public by 2014.
Humanity+, “an international nonprofit membership organization which advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capacitiesâ€.
In their Transhumanist Declaration they advocate old and new ideals of globalist transhumanism by promoting:
Using technology to “broaden human potential†by overcoming aging and “cognitive shortcomingsâ€
Provide forums where globalist scientist and researchers can “deliberate how [to enhance humanity through science] to expedite beneficial applicationsâ€
Facilitate “social order, improve human foresight and wisdom†through genetic enhancement
Influence policymakers to include the transhumanist “responsible and moral visionâ€
The Transhumanist Agenda uses eugenics, reproductive controls, sterilization campaigns, genetic engineering, RFID chips and rewiring of the brain through pharmaceuticals to achieve their goals. Their quest for immortality with the merging of human and machine is just one part in their convoluted scheme to retain their global dominance over our society.
By Murba, September 13, 2012 @ 6:40 pm
One thing developers need to do is to pbiiuclze their talents. Look at movie directors/producers/writers. Every movie goer has heard of James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Tim Burton, etc. Their reputation gives them a lot of power and influence over their projects. On the other hand, how many casual gamers have heard of Tim Cain, Brett Sperry, Jon Van Caneghem, Amy Hennig, etc.? If game developers were as well known as movie directors, they would have a lot more influence over their games.