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Articles by Ewan Morrison
We’re All NIMBY’s Now
Each one of these protesters came from a community where a hyperscale AI data centre is planned: Dunbar, Hermiston and the Gyle in Edinburgh, Larbert, Hunterston, Auchtertool, Bishopriggs, the AI growth zone at Chapelhall and Longformacus/Lammermuirs. One campaign, against the 550MW site at Hurlford, Ayrshire couldn’t attend in person but sent emails to MSPs inviting them to meet the campaigners.
How to stopper the AI genie
seaside townsBig techdiverseScienceTechnology Tech accelerationists insist that now that artificial intelligence has been invented, the genie can’t be put back in the bottle. In doing so, they betray a naive faith in progress. There have been plenty of times in history when a technological genie was released, only to be securely corked again. Consider the electric taxi.
The cruelty of Tech Utopianism
Peter ThielScienceSilicon ValleyTechnologyTranshumanismUSUtopia For almost 200 years, a spectre stalked Europe: utopianism. Fired in the embers of the French Revolution, then fanned by socialists and communists, the idea of a man-made paradise reached its apotheosis in the Sixties when the hippies promised a blissful new world ‚ÄĒ one filled with free love and strong pot.
Escaping Grief With AI Surrogates
Imagine this: In the final months of her life, your mother, while in palliative care, paid an AI company to create a digital replica of herself. The pitch was simple — this AI avatar would ease your grief, allowing her to "live on" for you and your children. Now, months after her death, you speak to this simulation almost daily. The voice is 70% accurate, the video nearly lifelike, and the illusion brings comfort.
Escaping Grief With AI Surrogates
Imagine this: In the final months of her life, your mother, while in palliative care, paid an AI company to create a digital replica of herself. The pitch was simple — this AI avatar would ease your grief, allowing her to "live on" for you and your children. Now, months after her death, you speak to this simulation almost daily. The voice is 70% accurate, the video nearly lifelike, and the illusion brings comfort.
Ewan Morrison launches For Emma
Ewan Morrison joins us to launch his latest novel, For Emma, a spectacular thriller with a science fiction twist, and intensely of the moment and our future! Ewan's ninth book explores grief, love, revenge, and the very idea of haunting through a fantastic journey through one family's tortured past and nightmarish present, and he will be discussing technological hauntings, the power and threat of Big Tech, the power and importance of parental love, and more in conversation with journalist and...
Are the Systems We Have Created Now Controlling Us?
Source: Mizunokozuki/Pexels You are awakened by your intelligent personal assistant. It adjusts the lights and the heating and delivers a news update: A major bank’s system was cyber-attacked overnight by opponents of the capitalist system. Your wrist health tracker chimes in with breakfast recommendations, noting your circulatory system is underperforming. It suggests walking 725 more steps daily to burn 450 extra calories and getting an additional 42 minutes of sleep over the next week.
ARHGAP12 and ARHGAP29 exert distinct regulatory effects on switching between two cell morphological states through GSK-3 activity
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Main reagents The GSK-3 inhibitor bromoindirubin-3-oxime (BIO) (Selleckchem, Ely, UK; cat # S7198) in DMSO was prepared as predetermined working dilutions (5 μM) in the appropriate culture medium. The multi-targeted Src kinase inhibitor Dasatinib (Selleckchem, Ely, UK; cat # S1021) in DMSO was also prepared as predetermined working dilution (10 μM) in the appropriate culture medium.
By Vinton Cheng, Philippa Vaughn-Beaucaire, Gary Shaw, Malte Kriegs, Alastair Droop, George Psakis, Michel Mittelbronn, Matt Humphries, Filomena Esteves, Josie Hayes, Julia V. Cockle, Sabine Knipp, Arndt Rohwedder, Azzam Ismail, Ola Rominiyi, Spencer J. Collis, Georgia Mavria, James Samarasekara, John E. Ladbury, Sophie Ketchen, Ruth Morton Verified, Sarah Fagan, Daniel Tams, Katie Myers Verified, Connor McGarrity-Cottrell, Mark J. Dunning, Marjorie Boissinot, George Michalopoulos, Sally Prior, Ewan Morrison, Susan Short, Sean E. Lawler, Anke Brüning-Richardson
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Cell Reports
Verified
Surviving Within Artificial Intelligence's Useless Class - Ewan Morrison
A great mass of humans will lose their jobs as they’re replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation and they will become a “useless class” who will have to be kept “pacified” with distractions like virtual reality games, entertainment, and even drugs. This was the controversial dystopian prediction of historian, philosopher, and Nostradamus-styled futurist, Yuval Noah Harari, in a series of talks he gave from 2017 to 2024.
For Emma by Ewan Morrison
‘If I’d known anything more about Biosys’ Infinity Project at that point, I could have worked out that your time in that Hi-tech hospital was not about saving your life at all.’ Emma is a young genius Silicon Valley scientist who dies in a secret AI brain chip experiment. Her voice then haunts her father, helping him plan the killing of the Big Tech CEO who destroyed her. A novel about grief, family, technology, and the price of ‘progress’, For Emma is an unforgettable read.
For Emma by Ewan Morrison
by Ewan Morrison Leamington Books March 25 What Are the Human Costs of Technological Accelerationism? A Silicon Valley prodigy dies in a secret AI brain chip experiment. Her voice haunts her father and helps him plan the killing of the Big Tech CEO who destroyed her. For Emma is a ghost-in-the machine tale of bereavement and of a unique and conflicted love between a daughter and her father. This is Ewan Morrison’s ninth book. For Emma is published by Leamington Books on 25th March 2025.
The Future of the Space Industry
The widely discussed private space missions financed by billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are only part of a far larger development in the space industry, where the focus is shifting from government agencies to private companies.
The Bell 212 Tolls for Tehran
On Sunday 19 May, a 1970s US-made Bell 212 helicopter carrying the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian crashed as it flew back to Tehran from Azerbaijan. Both men and several other passengers were killed. Raisi was a widely detested figure known as the “Butcher of Tehran,” and there has been a good deal of rejoicing in Iran at the news of his death. We should share that sentiment.
The Problem with Utopias
As progressive politics takes another step towards dominance across the west, there has been yet another resurgence of utopianism. The French Revolution is invoked in the Autonomous Zone of Seattle; there is talk once again of abolishing police forces and prisons; and of having a self-sustaining, global green economy.
From Caregivers to Social Reformers
A quiet revolution in the practice of medicine in North America has taken place within the last decade. Professional associations, medical schools, and an increasing number of physicians no longer consider the primary duty of the physician to be care of the individual patient, but rather social reform—in particular, the urgent goal of achieving equity by addressing the social needs of identity groups perceived as marginalised.
From the River to the Sea: The Significance of a Slogan
The phrases “from the river to the sea” and “Palestine will be free” serve as a call and response in many protests on behalf of Palestinians or against Israel. Both the prevalence and the controversy surrounding the refrain “from the river to the sea” have increased since Hamas’s 7 October attack. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was recently censured by the US House of Representatives, in part for her endorsement of the slogan.
Cute Authoritarianism
Something sinister is going on with cuteness. Over the last five years, we’ve seen the sudden appearance of cute Facial ID Recognition surveillance, cute government health messaging, cute military propaganda, cute identity wars and even cute robotic elder care. Beneath all the smiling imagery is a growing phenomenon I call cute authoritarianism. How could authoritarianism ever be cute? Surely, it is “a boot stamping on a human face, forever,” as Orwell writes in 1984.
Don’t Believe the Hype. There is Not a Sentient Being Trapped in Bing Chat – The Daily Sceptic
We need to stop panicking about AI Chatbots. No, they haven’t gone mad. No, they’re not actually trying to seduce a New York Times journalist and no we should not take them seriously when they ‘say’ that they want power or crave love or want the end of the world. AI chatbots don’t actually think or feel.
Don’t Believe the Hype. There is Not a Sentient Being Trapped in Bing Chat – The Daily Sceptic
We need to stop panicking about AI Chatbots. No, they haven’t gone mad. No, they’re not actually trying to seduce a New York Times journalist and no we should not take them seriously when they ‘say’ that they want power or crave love or want the end of the world. AI chatbots don’t actually think or feel.
HOW TO SURVIVE EVERYTHING by Ewan Morrison Read by Caitlin Kelly | Audiobook Review | AudioFile Magazine
In the future, with threats of another deadly pandemic on the horizon, Haley and her younger brother, Ben, are kidnapped by their noncustodial father, Ed, and taken to a prepper hideaway in the UK. Caitlin Kelly perfectly portrays 15-year-old Haley, who tells this dystopian story in the first person. Kelly's pacing and inflection make Haley's voice entirely believable as she is frustrated by her parents and unsure of whom and what to believe.
The Great Reboot: In Memoriam Mark Fisher
“We remain trapped in the twentieth century,” claimed theorist Mark Fisher. “The future has disappeared.” It’s hard to believe that it’s been six years since Fisher’s suicide, at the age of forty-eight, in January 2017, especially since we need his analysis of what ails modern culture more than ever before.
Ewan Morrison, Author at Areo
Posts by author Ewan Morrison 11 posts Ewan Morrison is a novelist, essayist and screenwriter. His latest novel is the thriller How To Survive Everything. Something sinister is going on with cuteness. Over the last five years, we’ve seen the sudden appearance of cute Facial ID Recognition surveillance, cute government health messaging, cute military propaganda,… “We remain trapped in the twentieth century,” claimed theorist Mark Fisher.
Carnivals Come Cheap: Eco-Activists and the Attacks on Art
I am deeply concerned about the climate change issue. I come from a family background of protest, but over the decades I’ve learned which forms of protest are effective and which tend to fail. Being on the right side of history doesn’t guarantee that you will achieve your desired outcomes—in fact, if you blindly assume that the merit of your cause will justify any action, this can lead to unintended consequences that actually undermine your cause.
The Optimistic Nihilists
Life is utterly meaningless, but this is a great opportunity to have fun creating our own meanings—that’s the latest postmodern self-help mantra. The trend known as optimistic nihilism is a twenty-first-century spin on the doctrine that existence and values are meaningless. Type the question What is the meaning of life? into any search engine and there’s a high likelihood that you’ll be fed the optimistic nihilism creed as an answer. It’s trendy among the under thirties.
How Making a Nuclear Bunker as a Kid made me a Writer
I have forty-two cans of beans, ten cans of tuna, twenty-five mars bars, seven rolls of duct tape, five rolls of Bacofoil, twenty batteries for the torch and the wireless radio. In the special box I have three four litre water containers, two first aid kits, a penknife and a plastic bucket and forty-two toilet rolls.
The Six Things I Learned from Doomsday Prepping
In 2013/14, my wife and I became fearful of a phenomenon that might have led to a civilizational collapse, and so we started ‘prepping’. ‘Preppers’ or ‘Doomsday Preppers’ are essentially any people who take it into their own hands to prepare for the survival of their group or family in the face of a predicted life-threatening catastrophic event.
A Survival Guide for the End of the World
Will the Boss drop in to play with the Anti-Hero? On “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the larger the life host brought up a theory that has been circulating to guest Bruce Springsteen. “In 2023, you’ll be on tour. Taylor Swift is also going to be on tour,” Fallon says.
Book Review: ‘How to Survive Everything,’ by Ewan Morrison
Book Review|A Survival Guide for the End of the World https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/15/books/review/how-to-survive-everything-ewan-morrison.html Fiction In Ewan Morrison’s new novel, “How to Survive Everything,” a teenager is abducted to a pandemic survivalist colony that’s trying to prepare for an impending apocalypse. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Ewan MorrisonCredit...P. Harkins Nov.
Win A Copy Of The Book 'How To Survive Everything: A Novel' By Ewan Morrison
Home > Free Books > Free Giveways > Win A Copy Of The Book ‘How To Survive Everything: A Novel’ By Ewan Morrison November 11, 20222022-11-11T07:25:32-06:00 My name is Haley Cooper Crowe and I am in lockdown in a remote location I can’t tell you about. Children of divorce, Haley and Ben live with their mother. But their dad believes there’s a new, much deadlier pandemic coming and is determined to keep them alive.
Calling Out an Antisemite
To step into the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is to enter a chamber of horrors. Located in Jackson, the state capital, the museum documents the systematic oppression visited upon African Americans since the arrival of the European slave trade on American soil in the early 17th century. The Civil War that abolished the practice of human bondage did not end the terror against the newly freed, and tall plaques list thousands of lynching victims.
Biden’s Covid Probe and Cognitive Dissonance
Source: Danilyuk/Pexels, CDC/ Pexels We live by the stories we tell ourselves, however, when we get torn between two conflicting stories to live by we experience something uncomfortable called cognitive dissonance. This was first theorised by the social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957. Cognitive dissonance is the feeling of disorientation or panic we experience when forced to challenge our own beliefs.
The Lab Leak and Other Conspiracy Theories, Some Of Which Turned Out to Be True
Conspiracy theories are the new evil of our time—or so we thought. Over the past six months, there has been a unified drive from politicians and Big Tech to ban all conspiracy theories and theorists from the internet.
Asking Utopians How: An Alternative Strategy for Defending Freedom of Speech
I used to be woke a good fifteen years before it was called that. You could call it proto-woke, but I called myself a post-Marxist, sometimes a postmodernist. Being a good student of Herbert Marcuse, I held that free speech was a reactionary activity that needed to be curtailed and that those whose speech did not further social change should be silenced. Had social media-enabled cancel culture existed at that time, I would have spent a lot of time online, cancelling reactionaries.
The Book According To... Ewan Morrison
PART OF THE Covet ISSUE ‘The question ‘What life-story can we live by? ’lurks beneath How to Survive Everything, and probably behind every book I’ve written.’ It has been said that readers are not ready to read pandemic novels yet, but when they are as thrilling as Ewan Morrison’s latest novel, How to Survive Everything, we think it’s safe to ignore that opinion! We caught up with him to talk about some of his favourite books.
Banning Conspiracy Theories Will Never Work
There has been a call recently to ban all conspiracy theories from the media and the Internet. However, rather than sneering at conspiracy theories or trying to ban them, we need to examine them as they reveal insights into human psychology. I say this as someone who has been sucked into conspiracy theories in the past. There are essentially three types of conspiracy theories.
The Three Types of Conspiracy Theory that Won't Go Away
There has been a call recently to ban all conspiracy theories from the media and the internet. It's an aim that - although possibly well intentioned - is misguided. Rather than sneering at conspiracy theories or trying to ban them, I believe that they need closer examination as this can lead to insights into human psychology. I say this not as a scientist but as someone who has been sucked into certain conspiracy theories in the past.
Bunker Boy: Preparing for Apocalypse Since 1979
When I was 11 years old, back in 1979, my mother helped me build a nuclear bunker. It was kitted out with about 50 cans of beans and pulses, tuna, and peaches; every shelf was stuffed with bags of rice, crisps, and chocolate bars; I lined the walls with tin foil (to protect us from gamma radiation from the impending nuclear blasts), and we had three torches, a huge supply of batteries, a home doctor manual, a first aid kit, iodine, a ton of toilet roll, and a bucket for human waste.
What Story Will We Live By Now?
After the COVID-19 pandemic, we may seek out the big belief systems. Posted Mar 04, 2021 In the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, a quote from Joan Didion that I came across 15 years back came back to me with new significance. She said: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” I understood this on a visceral, emotional level when I first read it. I’d been recently divorced, I was unemployed and the career path I’d been on had been shattered.
Apocalypse No: Why I No Longer Believe in the End of the World
My family was big on apocalypse. My Calvinist grandmother and my anti-nuclear father were both convinced, in different ways, that the end was nigh. For my father and me, this manifested in building an amateur bunker in preparation for nuclear Armageddon. The apocalypse mindset was passed on through our family, though over the years it morphed into new forms. Since childhood, I had subscribed to the population explosion doomsday theory that was prevalent from the 1960s until quite recently.
The Unexpected Benefits of Conspiracy Theories
Source: Photo by Noelle Otto from Pexels We all know that conspiracy theories are bad: They cause people to make outrageous claims and to do misguided and sometimes dangerous things. We say an idea is a conspiracy theory when we want to completely discount it and to discredit its speaker.
COVID-19 and the Denial of Death
Source: Eric Hunt/Creative Commons. Has COVID-19 changed the way you behave? Has it made you more depressed, defensive, or even aggressive? Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen increases in mental illness, anxiety, domestic violence, and suicidal ideation. Some of us feel—I know I often do—that we’re like lab rats in a vast global experiment. In many ways, we are.
Does Fanaticism Run in Families?
Research shows that extremist beliefs may have common psychological roots. Posted Sep 11, 2020 Source: Christopher Burns/Unsplash Does fanaticism run in families? This question has bothered me throughout my life, having emerged from a rather eccentric family that held different iterations of extremist beliefs over three generations.
COVID-19 and the Denial of Death
Source: Eric Hunt/Creative Commons. Has COVID-19 changed the way you behave? Has it made you more depressed, defensive, or even aggressive? Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen increases in mental illness, anxiety, domestic violence, and suicidal ideation. Some of us feel—I know I often do—that we’re like lab rats in a vast global experiment. In many ways, we are.
Why We Must Walk Away from Omelas: The Problem with Utopias
The history of Utopian Fiction proves that we can’t even imagine a better world. As progressive politics takes another step towards dominance across the west, there has been yet another resurgence of utopianism. The French Revolution is invoked in the Autonomous Zone of Seattle; there is talk once again of abolishing police forces and prisons; and of having a self-sustaining, global green economy.
Can We Create Utopia?
Are you dreaming of a perfect society? If we come together, we might address health, poverty, education, and other pressing problems. Working cooperatively as a global community may give us a chance at a healthier future.
Declining Med School Standards in a Time of Pandemic
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Forget This Article
Continued from Part One There are places on the net with less exacting standards, and they can be used by people with toxic political agendas to create verification of their political beliefs through false attribution to historical figures.
Forget this Article
Source: Image courtesy of Unsplash. We have entered a new era of mass Historical Amnesia, and oddly enough, we really seem to be enjoying it. To force a metaphor, it’s like we’re burning the entire library of History so we can toast marshmallows on the flames. The main reason for this new period of forgetting is the internet. And this is ironic, because the internet was supposed to be the great engine of eternal remembering; the infinite library of Jorge Luis Borges brought to life.
Alistair Braidwood Reviews: Nina X by Ewan Morrison
Nina X has no idea what the outside world is like. Nina X has a lot to learn. Ewan Morrison is one of Scotland’s most exciting and thought-provoking writers. Alistair Braidwood finds his new novel, Nina X, is another ambitious, challenging and necessary read. Nina X By Ewan Morrison Published by Fleet With all the turmoil, storm and stress of recent times one literary voice has notably, and unexpectedly, been missing from much of the public and artistic debate – that of Ewan Morrison.
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