Just saw this future history post in The Manifest E-Zine.

OMFG - this is some righteous sh*t.  Now that's what I'm talkin about!

Some of the pleasures -

N.E.S.T - New Earth Systematized Transformatron.

Not only a physical space incorporating self-sustaining edible gardens, hydrogen fuel cells, and a brownwater waste system, unlike most "communes" of its kind, it features an award-winning business model: it doubles as a reality TV show, where NEST's more charismatic members interact in real time using the latest in environmentally-friendly and personal growth-oriented products and services. Think Big BrotherFriends as sponsored by Horizon Organics and Dharma Crafts and you're halfway there. The 2009 Fall Season starts off with NEST co-founder Marcopolis Greenstem failing to clean the composting toilet due to excessive meditating in the middle of a terrorist attack, whereupon a general meeting called to discuss Greenstem devolves into a paintball fight with guns named after Great Sufis of the 20th century. Wicked.


Also this:

. The Japanese Ken Wilber
Move over "Einstein of Consciousness", in 2009 there will be a new hip knowledge machine on the scene, one Takenobu Igarashi, son of the great graphic designer of the same name, who will take Integral Methodological Pluralism to a whole new level with the help of genetic enhancements, ultra-fast internet access, and a severed brain which allows him to read and process two books at once (one for each eye). And no "theory and practice of everything" would be complete without pushing the frontiers of what is acceptable: what KW did to help bring Eastern mysticism into serious academic and scientific discussion, Igarashi will do for the studies of exobiology (aliens, dude, aliens) and parapolitics. And, as the Japanese are wont to do, he will take it to all new ridiculous extremes, so much so that his massive 3000-page magnum opus Holarchical Development of the Cluster God Spark-Lifter will be adapted to become the world's first #1 game show where Japanese families of four battle each other by break dancing through the well-stocked libraries of Pacific Rim Central University in search of the lost texts not incorporated by Igarashis's massive, 3-dimensional theory. And don't even ASK about the footnotes....

I don't see many good riff's on combinations of mysticism and cyberpunk anymore - not since The Invisibles, at least.

As much as I love Ken Wilber, sometimes you want a little less Apollo archetype and a little more Dionysus archetype, you know what I mean?

As a meta-commentary -

It's funny to view the tracks of my mind in this instance, and how much of it is programmed to - the rebellious mystic, the cool zen kids ethos.  I would bet that a lot of this ethos that I appreciate is some weird growing up combination of faux "rebel" movies, combined with video games and anime...