In today’s installment of TauLife Holozene, we present you with an extra broadcast, straight from our valued archives. We discuss the Prometheans, conspiracy theories, and life with the outspoken author, Davis Zell.
Interview with Davis Zell
Welcome to another edition of TauLife Holozene. I’m Jen Singer and today I have Davis Zell on the line -figuratively and literally. Let’s see if his point of view holds up to scrutiny. We’ll take your CORETECHS calls after a brief discussion.
Davis Zell is a self-proclaimed liberal Promethean and author of the best-selling book, “To Each Their Own”. Tell us, Davis Zell, what exactly is a liberal Promethean exactly?
Davis Zell: Let’s first establish what it means to be “Promethean” before I delve into the more liberal aspects of the viewpoint.
Jen Singer: I’m sorry to interrupt you there; don’t you mean “religion”? The Prometheans are a sect, are they not? A sect with a rather specific set of beliefs -most people would classify that as a religion, no?
Davis Zell: What most people do has never interested me in the slightest. Some people -if we’re going to discuss what most people think- some people on Daedalus have taken a viewpoint, a philosophy even, if you will, and maligned it, twisted it, and politicized it. They’ve turned what, in my view, is an idea worth living by into a fanatical cult. There’s a difference between what Mathers conceived of as, “the original form -the Promethean and unaltered self” and what cult leaders like Etnos Ergas have mutated that idea into.
Jen Singer: You’re referring to Ursula Mathers, one of the supposed founders of the Promethean religion?
Davis Zell: No, I’m referring to Ursula Mathers, the author, whose works have been corrupted into a fantastic misconception if one puts it mildly and into a fanatical terrorist organization if one describes the most extreme faction of the Promethean Sect based on Daedalus. Let’s not forget that post-Catastrophe the station of Daedalus was granted a semi-autonomous status by the Consortium in large part because of their terrorist activities and threats.
Jen Singer: Well, I’m certain few disagree that some elements of the Sect have extremist tendencies, but let’s get back to you. You’ve been arrested, haven’t you? You have a criminal record -distribution of controlled substances, no?
Davis Zell: Interesting how you bring the conversation back to me. You’d rather discuss my person as opposed to what I have to say, huh? I’ll answer your question. I’ve spent time incarcerated on Moissan, on several Jump Gates, and on Tau. Are we here to discuss what I believe or what I did to get by?
Jen Singer: Many people would say that the two are inextricably linked.
Davis Zell: There you go again with what “the many” think. I sold drugs. So do many companies sanctioned by the Gaule Protectorate and the Consortium -not to name a slew of Freebooter stations. I also believe that a person will lead a healthier, saner, and more fruitful existence if they hold to the biological inevitably that they are born once and die once. I don’t think that your soul disappears -as those green and brown garbed fanatics do- if you’re cloned, I don’t believe that you’re an evil person if you gestate into a new body after an accident -I’m worried that the mindset of comfort that comes with knowing you have a backup is a dangerous mindset. Much in the same way -and I’ll bring my work experience into play here- that too much of a single drug is a dangerous mindset. You can expand your mind, while still keeping the connection to your body -your biological self- intact.
Jen Singer: Interesting point of view. Let me ask you -do you have a clone?
Davis Zell: No. Never have. Not having one keeps me on my toes. Live every day like it’s your last -that’s my mindset. You can’t think that way with backups.
Jen Singer: So, in your opinion, there shouldn’t be clones available for, say, high-risk occupations? Miners? Emergency workers? Security personnel?
Davis Zell: High risk? We’re at the end of the world here. Everything is “high risk”, so please, don’t read me the Consortium talking points -I know them well. And as far as the right to have a clone: be my guest. I’ll never infringe on anyone’s right to choose what happens to them -period. You want a clone -all yours. Your choice, but that’s exactly my concern: choice. Certain occupations -as you pointed out mandate clone purchases. Clone packages are pushed hard by Anima and its political allies -allies might I add that fly both the Protectorate flag and the Consortium colors. It’s being debated, as we speak, that all Consortium citizens should be legally mandated to have and maintain a clone at their own expense to offset, and I quote, “potential medical costs incurred when maintaining one’s original biological form” -whatever the hell that means.
Jen Singer: I think that means that hospitalization, surgery, and convalescence cost more, over the long run than a backup body.
Davis Zell: Yes, thank you for regurgitating that Anima study -a study, might I add, that wasn’t reviewed by a single Iatric department in any reputable university. What Anima is really talking about are disposable humans. And they never mention, when bringing up the benefits of cloning or pointing out the fabulous safety features the process offers, any of the potentially crippling side-effects or -and this one no one talks about- the carnage that is the human disposal business.
Jen Singer: You’re referring, I take it, to the .5 percent mis-gestation rate. There are standard risks involved with all scientific procedures. You could undergo general anesthesia and not wake up from it -we haven’t forgone surgeries.
Davis Zell: We could debate the statistics. It’s higher, much higher than a half a percentage point, but my concern is more along the lines of Amigchip malfunctions -a necessary and invasive procedure required for cloning, and other technologies. Perfectly sane and healthy humans have lost their minds, dropped dead -and, in cases of cloning had-
Jen Singer: I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Let me jump in here. Those are outlandish conspiracy theories. Not to mention that the Amygchip is a BeDyne product, instrumental not only in cloning but in most everyday functions. Are you saying that Prometheans are against CORETECHS interactions? You’re speaking to me on CORETECHS now.
Davis Zell: I’m against the manipulation -especially for profit- of the human soul and body-
Jen Singer: That’s rich coming from a convicted drug dealer.
Davis Zell: There’s a huge difference between experimenting and expanding your consciousness and physically manipulating both the human mind and body for control and profit. I believe that the human being needs to exist in as unaltered a state as possible -I’ll go as far as to say that technology has not only ripped us from our roots on earth and banished us to this void, but has disconnected us from one another. “Most people” as you’re so fond of saying won’t even interact with another person unless they do so virtually or via CORETECHS. Human birth rates -after a cataclysmic event, in which ninety-nine percent of humanity was wiped out -again, if you ask me, due to an over-reliance on technology- are at abysmally low rates.
Jen Singer: We’re going to have to call it here so that we can hear from you, the listeners. Gary from Madame de Pompadour, you’re live. What’s your question for Davis Zell?
Gary: You’re a dead man Zell. All you drug dealers should burn. I’m going to personally buy you a clone just so that I can kill you again after I’ve killed you the first time.
Jen Singer: Right. Sorry about that Davis -that wasn’t even a question. Jaylanda from Moissan. You’re live.
Jaylanda: Yes, hello.
Jen Singer: Hi.
Davis Zell: Hello.
Jen Singer: What’s your question Jaylanda?
Jaylanda: Yes, Davis… I was cloned -I suffered a terrible accident when I was young. I’ve lived a full and happy life. I would have been paralyzed otherwise. What is it that you think is missing in my life exactly?
Davis Zell: I don’t think that anything is missing. That would be presumptuous of me. To each their own, but with a reminder that we need to discuss uncomfortable subjects like these to be certain that we aren’t missing anything, as you put it Jaylanda. A second chance at life doesn’t mean that life isn’t worthy living for some, but, as Jen is fond of saying, “most people” take what you’ve appreciated and cherished for granted. I want us to appreciate what a unique and beautiful creation the human mind and body are.
Jen Singer: Why don’t we leave it there. Davis Zell -thanks for calling in… with technology you seem to abhor so vehemently.
Davis Zell: What? Wait, hey…
Jen Singer: That’s all the time we have today. You can download Davis Zell’s book “To Each Their Own” direct from the Mesh at no cost. Guess he’s made all the credits he needs dealing drugs.