[ExI] Xenophobic Memes

[Stuart LaForge]

On 2025-01-18 05:54, efc--- via extropy-chat wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Jan 2025, Stuart LaForge via extropy-chat wrote:
> 
>> Warhammer 40,000 which began in the 80s as miniatures wargame by a 
>> company in the UK with an elaborate canon or "lore" to become what 
>> seems like a cultural phenomenon with movies, video games, an Amazon 
>> series, and an incredible plethora of fan art of all types. The 
>> premise of Warhammer 40K is that in the 41st millenium, the Imperium 
>> of Mankind spans a million worlds and is ruled by a Council of Lords. 
>> The Imperium is a theocracy that worships the Emperor of Mankind, a 
>> very powerful psychic that has been in a coma for thousands of years 
>> and kept alive by advanced life support and human sacrifice while he 
>> serves as a psychic beacon called the Astronomicon that enables 
>> starships piloted by a guild of psychic navigators to always sense the 
>> direction and distance to Holy Terra, the capital of the Imperium. 
>> Because the Imperium is so large and spread out, it is at perpetual 
>> war with every space faring civilization in the universe. The Imperium 
>> has bioengineered transhuman super soldiers soldiers called Astartes 
>> or space marines. Because humanity is beset by enemies on all sides, 
>> the Imperial religion preaches hatred and intolerance for xenos, a 
>> derogatory for any non-human intelligence, mutants, and heretics.
> 
> Thank you for sharing. Brings back memories from my youth although I 
> never was a hard core 40k fan, I did appreciate it from a distance.
> 
>> Here is a music video inspired by the franchise.
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jHORvg8hOo
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQK3J1CNgG4&list=RDMM&start_radio=1&rv=6jHORvg8hOo
>> 
>> The video features the Adepta Soritas, essentially warrior-nuns that 
>> worship the Emperor, fighting against the Necron which are an 
>> ancient-race of uploaded alien beings that hate all biological life. 
>> The song itself is called "The Litany of Hate". In light of rise of 
>> AI, and Keith Henson's views on Evo Psych, I just thought it was a 
>> curious time for this particular franchise with its xenophobic 
>> humanist philosophy to become so popular, especially amongst women.
> 
> Maybe there's not much growth to be had for the franchinse among the 
> male nerd communities, so a logical step would be and try to sell it to 
> the women? You could grow your market with 100% if you succeded!

Yes, there are definitely market feedback forces in play, but the ratio 
of licensed material out there versus the amount of fan art is 
surprisingly small. And a lot of the fan art is of professional quality. 
Take this video "Astartes" for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7hgjuFfn3A

This animation is legendary because it is the work of a single fan who 
did this unlicensed and unpaid for YouTube views. Notice that despite 
the complete absence of all dialogue, you get a distinct impression of 
the violent xenophobic doctrine of the imperial religion.

But my larger question is what does it mean in terms of evolutionary 
psychology when women are beating the war drum and spreading xenophobic 
memes?

Stuart LaForge