But this is no mere anniversary of vows matrimonial, judicial or even funereal; rather this is yet again the anniversary of when I was first unleashed into this existence. Today is my birthday.
Happy Birthday to you,
but beware what you do...
or this might be the last time
that we sing this to you.
Oh, I do love that song... It's a sinister celebration of what most would consider a day of joy and light and life; a memento mori, a reminder of death. It may seem unusual to commemorate each year of one's life with a reminder of death, but I find it apt. Not only because my birthday is 13 days before halloween, allowing for this yearly round of the Halloween Countdown, but because I enjoy the odd, the horrific, the unseemly.
And this year is no different, I'm looking at things that most people don't do, or I should say most humans. This year, we've faced the inhumane quite a lot. Not only with developing technologies that supposedly think to themselves, but also questioning whether we should reconcile our dark past and dare I even mention, the war and bloodshed?
So, I find it fitting that the theme of this year's Halloween Countdown, and the Word of the Day is: INHUMAN
Inhuman /in'hyūmən/ adj. 1. Lacking qualities of sympathy, pity, warmth, compassion, or the like; cruel; brutal: An inhuman master. 2. Not suited for human beings. 3. Not human.
We can face unthinking monsters, man's inhumanity to man, and perhaps even those things which exceed human ability, or understanding. Although, admittedly, I have been thinking a lot about artficial intelligence and the horrors of the mind-like machine. Can blood and flesh ever compete with ones and zeroes? I want to find out.
I'm the Absurd Word Nerd and I hope you'll join me as we explore humanity's dark opposition, found both within and without ourselves.
Until Next Time, why not join me for a piece of birthday cake. I promise you, I didn't poison it this time...
