PinnedBarry VackerinTHEORY/ON/CONSPIRACYAncient Aliens: Evidence of Stephen Hawking’s Claim that “Philosophy is Dead”Note: This article was cited in the New York Times (July 22, 2018) as an intellectual counter to the emerging religion of “Ancient Aliens.”14 min read·Feb 26, 2017--93--93
PinnedBarry VackerinTHEORY/ON/CONSPIRACYApollo Moon Landings: Pseudoscience and 6 Reasons Why There Was No NASA HoaxIt happens every year. One or more students ask me if I think the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. I teach critical media studies at…8 min read·Oct 20, 2017--26--26
PinnedBarry VackerinMediaSceneHot and Cool in the MediaSceneA McLuhan-Style Art and Theory Project19 min read·Jan 28, 2018--1--1
PinnedBarry VackerinExplosion of AwarenessGargantua, the Tesseract, and Existential Meanings in InterstellarStars, Dirt, and the Cosmic Sublime11 min read·Jan 14, 2017----
PinnedBarry VackerinExplosion of AwarenessHonoring the 50th Anniversary of 2001: The Monolith and Hope for the Human SpeciesFifty years after its debut, 2001 is more relevant than ever. Released at the height of the space age in 1968, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A…14 min read·May 9, 2017--2--2
Barry VackerinTHEORY/ON/CONSPIRACYAnti-Vaxxers, Conspiracy Theorists, and Jean Baudrillard’s “Perfect Crime”We live in a world where the highest function of the sign is to make reality disappear6 min read·Aug 30, 2021----
Barry VackerinCuriousDark Skies PhilosophyIt Starts in the “Chill” Gaze16 min read·Nov 14, 2020--1--1
Barry VackerinCuriousConnery’s 007Bond, Nietzsche, and Sartre: Double 0s of “the Future”11 min read·Oct 31, 2020----
Barry VackerinSocrates CaféNo Time to Die? 007 and the Spectre of NihilismTrapped between Nietzsche and Sartre, 007 is the being that confronts nothingness— the would-be Ubermensch in a future filled with 00s.17 min read·Sep 18, 2020----
Barry VackerThe Largest “International Dark Sky Reserve” — Signpost for a New Philosophy for the Human Species?This essay explores the philosphical meaning of the world’s largest “International Dark Sky Reserve,” now underway in Texas and Mexico.13 min read·Sep 5, 2020--7--7