ASFO 2025–01–18

Has the capitalist owner–class, like its mediaeval equivalent (albeit with far less tangible reason), embraced the delusion that it represents a higher order of life than the working class? Will the USA, as a result, see a wave of CEO shootings in the coming year? Are our measures of historical time obsolete in the face of increased human life expectancy? Also, a little bit of astronomy, a little bit of space travel, and Mail Call! Two postcards from Canada this week, and a letter from Australia.

Supplementary Show

2025–01–21 “The fundamental and prior problem of Man’s surviving successfully on this little sun–orbiting spaceship, ‘Earth’, cannot be solved by political theory and is not to be left to the politician’s ultimate lever — war — hot, subversive, cold, or cool.” More of Geosocial Revolution from Utopia or Oblivion by R Buckminster Fuller.

ASFO 2025–01–11

The metaphenomenon of recurrent phenomena occupies a considerable part of my attention this week. Also, a recommendation for a book, The Flying Sorcerers by Gerrold and Niven ; a consideration of the Car Culture in America ; and a warning to be aware of the ape brain that lies between the lizard brain and the higher faculties of consciousness.

Supplementary Shows

  • 2025–01–14 “There is now a very large inventory of ways in which Man has been teaching, thinking, and accounting events and values which have no experimentally–demonstrated validity.” The remainder of Summary Address at Vision 65 just rounds out the hour (hey, it had to happen sometime), and provides the title for the book, Utopia or Oblivion.
  • 2024–01–17 “For every problem solved a plurality of new problems arise to take their place. But the problems need not be those of physical and economic survival.” More from Fuller, a short piece titled The World Game — How to Make the World Work, describing a very interesting computer simulation effort, and the beginning of a longer piece entitled Geosocial Revolution.

“A Step Farther Out” 2025 Shows

ASFO airs weekly at 19z00, with occasional bonus shows at 15z00 Tuesdays or Fridays. Here you will find links to recordings of the shows from 2025, each accompanied by a brief description.

To understand what this show is about, and for recordings of the shows from 2021, go here. 2022 shows are here, 2023 shows are here, and 2024 shows are here.

  • 2025–01–04 We humans, time–binding animals that we are, have now exhausted the first quarter of the twenty–first century. And what do we have to show for it? Colonies on the Moon, research outposts on Mars, expeditions to the asteroids and Jupiter? Peace, prosperity, and healthy ecosystems on Earth? Make better choices, children!
  • 2025–01–11 The metaphenomenon of recurrent phenomena occupies a considerable part of my attention this week. Also, a recommendation for a book, The Flying Sorcerers by Gerrold and Niven ; a consideration of the Car Culture in America ; and a warning to be aware of the ape brain that lies between the lizard brain and the higher faculties of consciousness.
  • 2025–01–18 Has the capitalist owner–class, like its mediaeval equivalent (albeit with far less tangible reason), embraced the delusion that it represents a higher order of life than the working class? Will the USA, as a result, see a wave of CEO shootings in the coming year? Are our measures of historical time obsolete in the face of increased human life expectancy? Also, a little bit of astronomy, a little bit of space travel, and Mail Call! Two postcards from Canada this week, and a letter from Australia.

Supplementary Shows

  • 2025–01–03 “The domain of the virus is apparently the threshold between what we have known in the past as the animate and the inanimate.” Back to Bucky Fuller and Utopia or Oblivion — The Prospects for Humanity, which seems very appropriate as we begin this Glorious Future Year of 2025.
  • 2025–01–07 “When we have something vital to say we can usually develop the means of communication. Today with our great vocabulary inheritance we squander meanings on unworthy causes and communicate little that needs to be said.” More of Utopia or Oblivion by Bucky Fuller, the tail end of Prevailing Conditions in the Arts, and the start of Keynote Address at Vision 65.
  • 2025–01–10 “We find that man is developing an increasing confidence in the way in which computers are resolving heretofore vexing and seemingly unsolvable problems.” Completion of Keynote Address at Vision 65, and beginning of Summary Address at Vision 65.
  • 2025–01–14 “There is now a very large inventory of ways in which Man has been teaching, thinking, and accounting events and values which have no experimentally–demonstrated validity.” The remainder of Summary Address at Vision 65 just rounds out the hour (hey, it had to happen sometime), and provides the title for the book, Utopia or Oblivion.
  • 2024–01–17 “For every problem solved a plurality of new problems arise to take their place. But the problems need not be those of physical and economic survival.” More from Fuller, a short piece titled The World Game — How to Make the World Work, describing a very interesting computer simulation effort, and the beginning of a longer piece entitled Geosocial Revolution.

ASFO 2025–01–04

We humans, time–binding animals that we are, have now exhausted the first quarter of the twenty–first century. And what do we have to show for it? Colonies on the Moon, research outposts on Mars, expeditions to the asteroids and Jupiter? Peace, prosperity, and healthy ecosystems on Earth? Make better choices, children!

Supplementary Shows

  • 2025–01–07 “When we have something vital to say we can usually develop the means of communication. Today with our great vocabulary inheritance we squander meanings on unworthy causes and communicate little that needs to be said.” More of Utopia or Oblivion by Bucky Fuller, the tail end of Prevailing Conditions in the Arts, and the start of Keynote Address at Vision 65.
  • 2025–01–10 “We find that man is developing an increasing confidence in the way in which computers are resolving heretofore vexing and seemingly unsolvable problems.” Completion of Keynote Address at Vision 65, and beginning of Summary Address at Vision 65.

ASFO 2024–12–28

Key phrases for our final show of the year include “influencer–management companies”, “ten thousand Ronald Reagans”, and “the last full measure of devotion”. Also, the news from Finland should seriously call into question some of the more popular energy strategies, and the Chaos Computer Club is raising money for some folks who really need and deserve it.

Supplementary Shows

  • 2024–12–31 “The future development of mankind, on the spiritual no less than the material plane, is bound up with the conquest of space.” On this final (366th) day of the year, I take the opportunity to read Arthur C Clarke’s famous essay The Challenge of the Spaceship (the version from the 1961 book of the same title).
  • 2025–01–03 “The domain of the virus is apparently the threshold between what we have known in the past as the animate and the inanimate.” Back to Bucky Fuller and Utopia or Oblivion — The Prospects for Humanity, which seems very appropriate as we begin this Glorious Future Year of 2025.

ASFO 2024–12–21

Canadian retaliation? It’s more likely (and more effective) than you think! Also, a description of some potential future “Man and Atom” merchandise (or supporter premiums) I am working on ; Skylab helmets making a comeback ; and more of my thoughts on some of the many things people mean when they refer to “the gold standard”.