Weird Horizon

Continuing our series exploring the vampire, the ever-popular figure and symbol against which we can define our own humanity. Today we will be discussing probably the most famous and influential vampire in literary fiction, Dracula by Bram Stoker. We will be talking about the myriad of ways the novel complicates and extends the figure of the literary vampire while engaging with its specific contemporary context. Weird Horizon is a part of the PodPack Collective, a group of indie podcasters trying to uplift and support each other. I encourage you all to check the members out, you won’t be disappointed.

Continuing our series exploring the vampire, the ever-popular figure and symbol against which we can define our own humanity. Today we will be looking at one of the most influential pre-Dracula vampires in Carmilla, and exploring all the ways Le Fanu extends previous vampire writings and imbues them with a distinctly contemporary and literary impetus. We will continue in the coming weeks to discuss Dracula, which owes a not inconsiderable debt to Carmilla in how it approaches the figure and crystallises it into the spectre we know today. Weird Horizon is a part of the PodPack Collective, a group of indie podcasters trying to uplift and support each other. I encourage you all to check the members out, you won’t be disappointed.

Continuing our series exploring the vampire, the ever-popular figure and symbol against which we can define our own humanity. Today we will be looking at a sample of the literary vampire treatments before Dracula, and particularly the ways in which they expanded on the vampire as product of the Enlightenment to create a figure with drives and motivations, as cursed as much as it curses others. Many of the countries most captivated by the historic vampire cases would take up the figure and weave it in with emerging literary trends, to explore even more frontiers of thought. In coming weeks we will talk in depth about Dracula, before moving to more modern vampire panics and vampires on film.

Continuing our series exploring the vampire, the ever-popular figure and symbol against which we can define our own humanity. Looking today at the myriad of religious, social and political associations around blood and the body in the Age of Enlightenment. As our views of our interior world changed, own body and how it functioned, they interacted with our view of our exterior world of society and faith. All of which fed into the enduring symbols of the body and blood at the centre of the Vampire canon. In coming weeks we will take a detailed look at the vampire in literature, before moving on to talk about more modern vampire 'panics' and vampires on film.

Continuing out series exploring the vampire, the ever-popular figure and symbol against which we can define our own humanity. Looking today at some of the most famous and influential historic 'vampire' cases and panics, as well as the discourse and reporting surrounding them. These cases would form the foundation of the evolving vampire myth, and continue to this day to serve as the most cohesive origin for the figure. In coming weeks we will talk in more detail around the body and blood in metaphor and how it reflects our changing view of ourselves and our world. After this we will take a detailed look at the vampire in literature, before moving on to talk about more modern vampire 'panics' and vampires on film.

Back with a new series exploring the vampire, the ever-popular figure and symbol against which we can define our own humanity. We will be beginning by attempting to find the origin of the word 'vampire' as well as exploring some of the folklore that melded with and was absorbed into the figure of the modern vampire. In the coming weeks we will take a deeper look at some historical 'real' vampire cases and panics, as well as exploring blood and the body and how our changing attitudes to and knowledge of them influence how we view ourselves and the world. Much much more to come beyond that.

Starting a new series on AI or Artificial Intelligence by beginning to question how we measure for 'human level' or general Artificial Intelligence. Does simply 'talking' or responding like a human imply understanding and therefore machine intelligence? Exploring some of the 'classical' AI theories which seek to answer how we would practically measure this. Is understanding even necessary for intelligence? We will be continuing to explore other 'tests' for human-level AI, before looking at other theories around machine intelligence and the different ways it can be achieved. What may change in the future around how we measure or define intelligence?

Concluding our series discussing the phenomenon of Reality Shifting, a practice part spirituality, part supernatural, and rising to prominence in the perfect storm of covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns and the rise of TikTok. We have discussed whether we can see it as a response or an answer to a world in the midst of a global pandemic, a form of expression for (predominantly) school age adolescents dealing with a world eerily depopulated, socially and physically isolating, and in need of a comforting, safe, and nostalgic mental escape. But we have also discussed the potentially damaging effects the trend can have on those practicing it. Which leads to the question many people ask, is this a form of spirituality or faith and to be treated as such? Would this count as New Religious Movement? Or are we dealing with the extreme end of this spectrum, could Reality Shifting potentially be a cult? Returning (hopefully) next week with a new topic. Thank you for your patience when it comes to my near glacial uploads.

Continuing our discussion (still) on the phenomenon of Reality Shifting with a question of where it falls on the spectrum between 'normal' imaginative escape, and something more damaging. Exploring a related (and seemingly overlapping) phenomenon that surged in severity during covid, maladaptive daydreaming, and questioning once again the long term effects of the global pandemic. Exploring a few more recent case studies investigating the conflagration between acquired tics and tremors and a voracious consumption of 'shifting' and backrooms content. Continued next week with the penultimate episode.

Continuing our discussion on the phenomenon of Reality Shifting by exploring some of the potential psychological underpinnings of an emergent practice. Can we view Reality Shifting as an evolved form of Tulpamancy and explore it from the same psychological standpoint? Are there certain traits that make one more susceptible to a belief in 'shifting', such as hypnotizability or one's level of immersion. Did the covid-19 pandemic create a specific psychological situation that lead many to a belief in 'shifting' as a form of escape, or as a way of recapturing a lost sense of normality?