Why Westerners Fear Robots and the Japanese Do Not

Joi Ito, writing for WIRED:

As a Japanese, I grew up watching anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, which depicts a future in which machines and humans merge into cyborg ecstasy. Such programs caused many of us kids to become giddy with dreams of becoming bionic superheroes. Robots have always been part of the Japanese psyche—our hero, Astro Boy, was officially entered into the legal registry as a resident of the city of Niiza, just north of Tokyo, which, as any non-Japanese can tell you, is no easy feat. Not only do we Japanese have no fear of our new robot overlords, we’re kind of looking forward to them.

It’s not that Westerners haven’t had their fair share of friendly robots like R2-D2 and Rosie, the Jetsons’ robot maid. But compared to the Japanese, the Western world is warier of robots. I think the difference has something to do with our different religious contexts, as well as historical differences with respect to industrial-scale slavery.

The Western concept of “humanity” is limited, and I think it’s time to seriously question whether we have the right to exploit the environment, animals, tools, or robots simply because we’re human and they are not.

A fascinating take. The Japanese are really onto something here.

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Vigilante Drug Testers at the Gathering of the Juggalos

Allison Tierney, writing for VICE:

It was the late afternoon on the last day of the Gathering of the Juggalos, and we were looking for a cocaine dealer.

Great story and a hell of a lede. I've seen Bunk Police at a lot of the music festivals I've attended, but hadn't ever thought about whether they would go to other types of events. Visiting the Gathering of the Juggalos definitely pushed the envelope, and it's great to see that they are planning to expand to even more types of events.

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This Parasite Drugs Its Hosts With the Psychedelic Chemical in Shrooms

Ed Yong, writing for The Atlantic:

Imagine emerging into the sun after 17 long years spent lying underground, only for your butt to fall off.

This fungus surreptitiously doses its host with a psilocybin-cathinone cocktail, driving the cicada to spread fungal spores far and wide, resulting in yet more fungus.

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Psychedelics' Buddhist Revival

Gabriel Lefferts, writing for Tricycle:

Buddhist interest in psychedelics has been around for a long time. Many seekers like to refer to them as “entheogens” to emphasize their spiritual value. Entheogen, derived from the Greek adjective entheos, translates roughly as “God-inspired” and is the root of the English word “enthusiasm.” Almost a quarter-century ago, Tricycle published a special section titled “Psychedelics: Help or Hindrance?” to address Western Buddhists’ somewhat behind-the-scenes fascination with these substances. Now, the willingness to explore them has gone more public.

A brief introduction to an ongoing debate within the Buddhist community concerning whether the use of psychedelics is acceptable for one's Buddhist practice, an argument that takes center stage in the book Zig Zag Zen.

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Cops Are Investigating a Hallucinogenic Desert Toad Heist

Drew Schwartz, writing for VICE:

After sundown on Friday night, a band of thieves allegedly snuck into a conservation area in the Arizona desert with flashlights and grocery bags, and started hunting. According to the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, they'd come there to steal Sonoran Desert toads—innocent-looking little hoppers that produce one of the most potent natural psychedelics on Earth.

Almost seems like it's from a scene in a movie.

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