What's Halloween like in 2101?

[ehrbar]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Lighting a candle for the soul of someone who uploaded themselves in 2100 is probably going to be at least as bad as mis-gendering someone in 2023.

Given that such people are explicitly called "ghosts", I doubt that. many ghosts might be trying to push society that way, but I don't think they'll have succeeded by 2100.

[DaibhidC]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

The 'spirit' of transhumanism, as it usually presents, tends to embody 'anything goes'. Which undercuts the very pretense of trangressiveness that makes Halloween fun. Fred touched on this upthread, and I think he might be right.

The spirit of transhumanism might be so, but I'm not sure any Transhuman Space societies have actually reached that ideal.

("Ooooh, I'm dressed as a scary xox!")

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by DaibhidC

The spirit of transhumanism might be so, but I'm not sure any Transhuman Space societies have actually reached that ideal.

("Ooooh, I'm dressed as a scary xox!")

Hmm...what does a xox costume consist of?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Hmm...what does a xox costume consist of?

Probably a lighting trick. It makes you look like a low resolution animation.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Hmm...what does a xox costume consist of?

You need costumes plural. They should all be identical and look like someone out of Dick Tracy's rogues gallery.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Hmm...what does a xox costume consist of?

You impersonate someone.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by TGLS

You impersonate someone.

Who doesn't have Off-the Shelf Looks. Impersonating someone who does is threatening for them, and confusing for others.

[Alden Loveshade]

I think a big question is what's it like in a particular country in 2101?

Not all that many years ago in America, Halloween was a day for kids to dress up and go trick-or-treating. There were a few other things here and there (haunted tour, some people putting a jack-o'-lantern on their front porch), but that was largely it.

Now in America, Halloween has become a bigger holiday than Thanksgiving. Just a few years ago, Thanksgiving was one of the biggest holidays in America.

As far as I know, in Australia Halloween is still pretty much trick-or-treating way (although my knowledge of that is a few years out of date.)

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Alden Loveshade

Now in America, Halloween has become a bigger holiday than Thanksgiving. Just a few years ago, Thanksgiving was one of the biggest holidays in America.

I think a big part of that is the expansion of Christmas. There simply isn't room for a second holiday in November/December, and the defenders in the War of North Pole Aggression have shored up their defenses around October 31.

I suspect that, by 2100, the big fall holiday in the US might wind up being Patriot Day, the Autumnal Equinox, or Mexican Independence Day (September 27), simply because October has been fully consumed by the merry-industrial complex.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I think a big part of that is the expansion of Christmas. There simply isn't room for a second holiday in November/December, and the defenders in the War of North Pole Aggression have shored up their defenses around October 31.

Yes. (And I find that an amusing description.) In America, the day-after-Thanksgiving, "Black Friday" sales day, has largely eclipsed Thanksgiving.

And Halloween and Christmas were blended almost exactly 30 years ago in the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. So that leads to another possibility for 2101--some future movie or special event could transform Halloween.

For example, according to NASA, "Four more human beings are set to return to the Moon in late 2024. NASA's Artemis II crew will include the first woman and first person of color to visit the Moon." If "late 2024" includes Halloween, that could potentially transform the significance of the holiday. (If, of course, that planned event is included in a campaign.) https://science.nasa.gov/moon/who-ha...d-on-the-moon/