Tag: nuclear culture

by jad

Data Centers and the Post-Nuclear Landscape

The fight against the “thingification” of humanity is entering its new phase with the rise of the grassroot revolt against data center expansion. In support of this burgeoning movement, @seattledsa’s ecosocialists along with @350seattle and @troublemakerscommunity put on the first of two (and potentially more!) sessions of The People’s Forum on Artificial Intelligence, with the next session focusing on the labor dimension on December 8. It took a million spinning plates to pull this off, but the team smashed it (opa! pun intended). I’ve dedicated much of my adult life to the politics of infrastructure, so I’m proud to be … Continue reading “Data Centers and the Post-Nuclear Landscape” →

by jad

Gunther Anders, the Bomb, and the Thingification of Man

Pope Leo XIV was reported the other day as saying on AI: “We currently interact with machines as if they were interlocutors and thus become almost an extension of them. In this sense, we not only run the risk of losing sight of the faces of the people around us, but of forgetting how to recognize and cherish all that is truly human.” It sounds like typical priestly pablum, the kind that anyone who has ever spent any time in a Catholic school might roll their eyes at out of force of habit; I can almost hear Father Madi crooning … Continue reading “Gunther Anders, the Bomb, and the Thingification of Man” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Tokyo, Grey Skies, and the Lucky Dragon

By the time we got to Tokyo, the weather had shifted, and I started to regret my decision to load Fujicolor 100 in my camera. That first weekend ended up being very grey and rainy, and I figured the whole roll would be trashed. That influenced the sort of shots I went for. But no! It seems my trusty Nikon Lite-Touch with the dinky little flash could handle it, and it even took some really good artistic liberties like with this first shot. I did switch back to Kodak Color Plus after this roll, but I’m glad I was tempted … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Tokyo, Grey Skies, and the Lucky Dragon” →

by jad

I don’t like explosions very much at all.

It’s been really gratifying to see more people commenting on the uneven distribution of firework joy, whether as a form of reinvigorated protest, or in the shape of that poem being shared about explosions and the differentiated lives we’ve lived. That’s been a thorn in my side for most of my life. I wrote my own poem once about the rat-tat-tat of compatriots insisting on our communal bonds outside my teenage bedroom door. I wrote an email too, my first time experiencing a Royal Air Force fighter jet screaming over the Royal Mile in Edinburgh back when I barely researched … Continue reading “I don’t like explosions very much at all.” →

by jad

Total Being

I read an article today that introduced me to the notion of “total being.” It seemed like the sort of thing I should read on a day like today. The piece even opened with an image I know too well: that of a taxi weaving through the chaos of city traffic. I know this image because I’ve taken interest in the politics of urban mobility and spent many formative years of my life invested heavily in their pursuit, but I also know it more viscerally than that. It evokes a nightmare that would recur for the longest time. It doesn’t … Continue reading “Total Being” →

by jad

Easter Day

“After August 1945, the USA launching two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we became aware that we can self-annihilate. That risk has increased with the arms race, including nine nations, with chemical and biological weapons and some 16,000 nuclear warheads. The current war between Russia and Ukraine made Putin threaten the use of nuclear weapons, bringing the apocalyptic fear of the end of the human species. In this scenario, how to celebrate the greatest feast of Christendom which is Easter, the resurrection of the Crucified, Jesus of Nazareth? Resurrection must not be understood as the reanimation of a dead … Continue reading “Easter Day” →

by jad

It is Absolutely Refreshing to be Militantly Cringe

What if you spent less time worrying about which of the things you like is cringe and just liked those things more intensely instead? I’ve always liked cautionary tales like House of Leaves because they reminded me of me and the need to check my obsessions, but as all true believers will tell you, there’s something religious about excessive devotion. We started talking about that because I’d just come out from giving a talk where I’d mentioned my feeling of kinship with James Acord, the artist born in the year of “Hiroshima” (just like I was born in the year … Continue reading “It is Absolutely Refreshing to be Militantly Cringe” →

by jad

Seattle’s Nuclear History: TerraPower

“Nuclear power gambles with disaster; even proponents acknowledge that accidents are inevitable. Smaller reactors would mostly be clustered together to generate more power and offer no more safety than larger ones … Nuclear power is of course far less dangerous to human lives and the environment than fossil fuel power. But this comparison is irrelevant. The proper comparison of nuclear power is not to fossil fuel energy but to renewal alternatives like wind power, solar power, and geothermal power. These are far less risky, dangerous and costly than nuclear power. Hydropower is also a renewable energy technology; however, it has … Continue reading “Seattle’s Nuclear History: TerraPower” →

by jad

Nuclear Vancouver

We packed a lot into our very short time in Vancouver, but my favorite stop was the opportunity to visit and hang out with atomic photographer, filmmaker, and sole @uraniumfilm festival coordinator in Canada for the 2024 tour, Jesse Andrewartha, in his East Van home. Here we are in his darkroom. And here he is displaying the radioactive properties of his prized slice of polished uranium ore. Let me tell you: that crackling of the Geiger counter is an eerie basement sound! Jesse Andrewartha is a Canadian filmmaker, photographer, and visual effects artist specializing in historical & obscure darkroom techniques … Continue reading “Nuclear Vancouver” →