ON IMMIGRATION 5. BANKING ON THE FUTURE

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged arms race, banks, Barclays, cancer, capitalism, Citibank, conflict, consumerism, crisis, developing, displacement, economic migrants, economics, featured, globalisation, Goldman Sachs, humanity, immigration, JP Morgan, Labour, migrants, migration, millennial generation, neoliberalism, on immigration, privilege, resources, systemic cause, tourism, uk, virus, war, weapons, West.

by Stu Lucy

In my previous piece I outlined a theory that compared the woes of our current modern condition to a biological model of a disease increasing its prevalence across the planet, particularly in the Western world. Although slightly macabre, I feel it was necessary to characterise the systemic issue of unbridled growth in such a dramatic and sensational fashion – after all it is the fate of humankind, and well… the planet, we are talking about here.

I finished with a simple analogy calling for global treatment of this cancer that has befallen us since the mantra of growth has been so fanatically professed by economists, politicians, and industrialists alike. How though may we undertake such a gargantuan task that requires the remodelling of all aspects of our societies, from our education systems to popular culture to our entire global trade system?Continue Reading

ON IMMIGRATION 4. TIME TO TREAT THE DISEASE

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged arms race, cancer, capitalism, conflict, consumerism, developing, displacement, economic migrants, economics, featured, globalisation, humanity, immigration, Labour, migrants, migration, millennial generation, neoliberalism, on immigration, privilege, resources, systemic cause, tourism, uk, virus, war, weapons, West.

by Stu Lucy

Humans move, we always have done and always will do. Our movement has evolved through the existence of our species from necessity – following the seasonal availability of food – to luxury, such as holidays and recreational travelling. While part of our species has been afforded the opportunity to travel around the planet in our spare time, absorbing the multitude of cultures and landscapes it has to offer, there continues to exist a drive to move to find something better, not for food, as in pre-modern times, but economic and/or environmental security. Economic, climate and conflict migrant populations are increasing year on year, and are so for one very good reason: a global disease.

DEEPGREY (9)

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, bitcoin, blockchain, City, creative writing, cryptocurrency, cyberpunk, DeepGrey, drone, dystopia, featured, fiction, gaming, gender, internet, LRAD, meme wars, mining, police, prose, science fiction, scifi, serialised, sf, shop, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, street, suits, thug, virtual reality, virus, writing.

by Rob Harding

(Part 9 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8)

I stay hidden while Adil opens up again, rates the police on their app, and sends them packing. Once that’s done, Adil’s daughter nods to me. ‘You’re welcome.’ She says. ‘Now, if you don’t mind?’

I stammer my thanks and head out the front again. Adil nods to me and lets me duck under a shutter, and back out onto the street.

There’s no sign of the police, or the hijacked DeepGrey workers, or anything particular. A Community Security bot has rolled into place at the far end of the street, but if I don’t go near it it won’t ID me and do the digital equivalent of the staring-eyed pod person screech. I’ve long since resigned to having to work around the damn things, and these days I only vaguely keep track of the forum posters who fight a constant arms race with their glassy-eyed developers out in San Francisco or Vientiane, or wherever the fuck has the most reliably gullible investors this week.Continue Reading

DEEPGREY (8)

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, bitcoin, City, creative writing, cyberpunk, DeepGrey, drone, dystopia, featured, fiction, gaming, gender, internet, LRAD, meme wars, police, prose, science fiction, scifi, serialised, sf, shop, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, street, suits, thug, virtual reality, virus, writing.

by Zoe Harding

(Part 8 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7) | CW: violence

The woman on the street is making those noises as the shouting starts again, the raw-throat all-out hate that only hysterical men can shriek. I barely recognise what they’re saying.

The woman coughs and sobs again, and I hear a fleshy impact, like the sound of a shoe hitting a stomach.

And then there’s the wail of a siren, right around the corner, and the burglar-alarm scream of an LRAD blots out all other sound. A huge armoured police car with tires as tall as I am comes grinding down the street, a pair of armed officers walking alongside it. The turret on top is swinging to bring a grenade launcher to bear against the fight. Hopefully they won’t fire it. I like this jacket, and the stink of chemical riot dispersant is designed with a half-life of about fifty years.Continue Reading

DEEPGREY (7)

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, bitcoin, City, creative writing, cyberpunk, DeepGrey, drone, dystopia, featured, fiction, gaming, internet, meme wars, prose, science fiction, scifi, serialised, sf, shop, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, street, suits, thug, virtual reality, virus, writing.

by Zoe Harding

(Part 7 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6) | CW: violence, language

1087

I push the shop door open, and nod to Adil. He smiles back, salt-and-pepper beard twitching, and goes back to watching an old taped football match on his TV. I like Adil, even though we rarely talk. He’s a paid-up inhabitant of the Real World, the proverbial Englishman whose home is his castle, running his shop and veg garden like the world around him isn’t going to hell. I imagine his sitting room’s a comfortable throwback to the last millennium, kettle boiling and football on the TV glaring off the brown wallpaper.

DEEPGREY (6)

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, bitcoin, City, creative writing, cyberpunk, DeepGrey, dystopia, fiction, gaming, internet, meme wars, prose, science fiction, scifi, serialised, sf, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, suits, virtual reality, virus, writing.

by Zoe Harding

(Part 6 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5)

955

Speaking of, I decide it’s time to go for a walk. Staying active is good for your mental health, which is why every single public park and footpath is perpetually rammed with DeepGrey drones trying to keep their brains stable enough to run the god-spreadsheet – in my case it also helps immensely with the dysphoria, which is useful because nothing else is going to any more.

I pull on a bomber jacket and a baseball cap, opting for relatively shallow heels in case I need to out-sidle a DeepGrey recruiter. For once I’ve got enough money for a solid grocery shop, and near me there’s still a place that takes cash, earned scandalously but (in my opinion, anyway) honestly. I feel a solid meal coming on tonight.Continue Reading

DEEPGREY (5)

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, bitcoin, creative writing, cyberpunk, DDoS, DeepGrey, fiction, gaming, internet, LinkedIn, meme wars, Nazi, prose, ransomware, Russia, science fiction, scifi, serialised, sf, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, suits, Ukraine, virtual reality, virus, writing.

by Zoe Harding

(Part 5 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.)

Once you write off the shambling hordes of DeepGrey-infected marketing consultants who make up most of the population, what’s left? The Nazis, of course. That persistent yet cannibalistic and insular sub-species, still reeling from the swift and brutal Consequences that followed their atrocities during the Meme War. When the War began, the tech industry was on the verge of realising what human society took several world wars to realise: fascists are poisonous to any system they’re allowed to root in, and should be rapidly expunged with fire and extreme prejudice. Continue Reading

DEEPGREY (4)

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, adware, bitcoin, Brexit, creative writing, creepypasta, cyberpunk, DDoS, DeepGrey, fiction, gaming, gender, hasthag, indoctrinated, internet, LinkedIn, meme wars, military, prose, ransomware, Russia, science fiction, scifi, SEO, serialised, sf, shitposting, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, suits, Ukraine, virtual reality, virus, writing, zombie capitalism.

by Zoe Harding

(Part 4 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here.)

1003

This thing that’s now installed on the brains of nearly three billion people, across pretty much all but the top levels of every single first-world government (and even then, one wonders if MPs have always been this weird and robotic – oddly, history would seem to confirm yes). What does it do?Continue Reading

DEEPGREY (3)

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, bitcoin, creative writing, cyberpunk, DDoS, DeepGrey, fiction, gaming, internet, LinkedIn, meme wars, prose, ransomware, Russia, science fiction, scifi, serialised, sf, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, suits, Ukraine, virtual reality, virus, writing.

by Zoe Harding

(Part 3 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Read part 1 here and part 2 here.)

1058

I kind of like the attack map. It’s nice to visualise the whole thing, even if perhaps ten percent of what I’m seeing is actual data derived from a fearsome net of analytics tools and keyword tracking.he rest is pretty colours and lines for the cheap seats and the press. It’s a nice reminder to stay on my toes, as well – that grey blob that covers three-quarters of my screen would love me to let my guard down so it can eat my brains and make me sell insurance.Continue Reading

HUMAN

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged AIDS, creative writing, dust, end, germs, HIV, human, human immunodeficiency virus, love, poem, poetry, virus, worlds aids day.

by Vince Laws

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, H.I.V.
Human first and foremost,
A maker of mistakes.
The mistake I made,
Was to fall in love.
Make sure it doesn’t happen to you.Continue Reading

virus

ON IMMIGRATION 5. BANKING ON THE FUTURE

ON IMMIGRATION 4. TIME TO TREAT THE DISEASE

HUMAN

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