Editing Cthulhu (section)

==Influence==
===Politics===
{{main|Cthulhu for President}}
[[File:20100701 cthulhu poster.jpg|thumb|Poster from the [[2010 Polish presidential election]]: The caption translates as "Choose the greater evil. Vote Cthulhu."]]
Cthulhu has appeared as a [[parody candidate]] in several elections, including the [[2010 Polish presidential election]] and the [[2012 US presidential election|2012]] and [[2016 US presidential election]]s.<ref name="Cthulhu_for_president_2016">{{cite web|url=https://cthulhuforamerica.com/|title=Cthulhu for America|access-date=3 Aug 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803190725/https://cthulhuforamerica.com/| archive-date=3 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cthulhu2012.com/ |title=Cthulhu Dagon 2012 |access-date=2016-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014061420/http://www.cthulhu2012.com/ |archive-date=2016-10-14 |url-status=live }}</ref> The faux campaigns usually satirize voters who claim to vote for the "[[lesser of two evils principle|lesser evil]]". "Cthulhu for America" ran during the 2016 American presidential election, drawing comparisons with other satirical presidential candidates such as [[Vermin Supreme]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inverse.com/article/16964-who-is-behind-cthulhu-for-america|title=Who Is Behind Cthulhu For America?|website=Inverse|last1=Watson|first1=Zebbie|date=June 16, 2016|access-date=May 31, 2020|archive-date=October 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025092411/https://www.inverse.com/article/16964-who-is-behind-cthulhu-for-america|url-status=live}}</ref> The organization had a platform that included the legalization of human sacrifice, driving all Americans insane, and an end to peace.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/01/could-cthulhu-trump-other-super-tuesday-contenders-hp-lovecraft|title=Could Cthulhu trump the other Super Tuesday contenders?|website=The Guardian|last1=Barnett|first1=David|date=March 1, 2016|access-date=May 31, 2020|archive-date=June 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613201840/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/01/could-cthulhu-trump-other-super-tuesday-contenders-hp-lovecraft|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016, the [[Internet troll|troll]] account known as "The Dark Lord Cthulhu" submitted an official application to be on the [[Massachusetts]] Presidential Ballot. The account also raised over $4000 from fans to fund the campaign through a gofundme.com page. Gofundme removed the campaign page and refunded contributions.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

===Science===
Several organisms have been named after Cthulhu, including the California spider ''[[Pimoa cthulhu]]'',<ref name="Hormiga1994">{{cite journal |last1=Hormiga |first1=G. |year=1994 |title=A revision and cladistic analysis of the spider family Pimoidae (Araneoidea: Araneae) |journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology |volume=549 |issue=549 |pages=1–104 |url=http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/Zoology/pdf_hi/SCTZ-0549.pdf |access-date=2011-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013144034/http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/Zoology/pdf_hi/SCTZ-0549.pdf |archive-date=2012-10-13 |url-status=live |doi=10.5479/si.00810282.549 }}</ref> the New Guinea moth ''[[Speiredonia cthulhui]]'',<ref name="Genus Speiredonia">{{cite journal |first1=Alberto |last1=Zilli |first2=Jeremy D. |last2=Holloway |first3=Willem |last3=Hogenes |name-list-style=amp |date=2005 |url=http://www.museodizoologia.it/ricerca/aldrovandia/aldrovandia-volume-1-2005-1/an-overview-of-the-genus-speiredonia-with-description-of-seven-new-species-insecta-lepidoptera-noctuidae |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722043508/http://www.museodizoologia.it/ricerca/aldrovandia/aldrovandia-volume-1-2005-1/an-overview-of-the-genus-speiredonia-with-description-of-seven-new-species-insecta-lepidoptera-noctuidae |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-22 |title=An Overview of the Genus ''Speiredonia'' with Description of Seven New Species (Insecta, Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) |journal=Aldrovandia |volume=1 |pages=17–36 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and ''[[Sollasina cthulhu]]'', a fossil echinoderm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rahman |first1=Imran A. |last2=Thompson |first2=Jeffrey R. |last3=Briggs |first3=Derek E. G. |last4=Siveter |first4=David J. |last5=Siveter |first5=Derek J. |last6=Sutton |first6=Mark D. |year=2019 |title=A new ophiocistioid with soft-tissue preservation from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte, and the evolution of the holothurian body plan |url=http://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/69181/2/_system_appendPDF_proof_hi.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=286 |issue=1900 |pages=20182792 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2018.2792 |pmc=6501687 |pmid=30966985 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923134442/http://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/69181/2/_system_appendPDF_proof_hi.pdf |archive-date=2019-09-23 |access-date=2019-09-23 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Two microorganisms that assist in the digestion of wood by termites have been named after Cthulhu and Cthulhu's "daughter" Cthylla: ''[[Cthulhu macrofasciculumque]]'' and ''Cthylla microfasciculumque''.<ref name="james">{{cite journal|last1=James|first1=Erick R.|last2=Okamoto|first2=Noriko|last3=Burki|first3=Fabien|last4=Scheffrahn|first4=Rudolf H.|last5=Keeling|first5=Patrick J.|editor-last=Badger|editor-first=Jonathan H.|journal=PLOS ONE|issue=3|volume=8|date=2013-03-18|title=Cthulhu Macrofasciculumque n. g., n. sp. and Cthylla Microfasciculumque n. g., n. sp., a Newly Identified Lineage of Parabasalian Termite Symbionts|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0058509|pages=e58509|pmid=23526991|pmc=3601090|bibcode=2013PLoSO...858509J|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 2014, science and technology scholar [[Donna Haraway]] gave a talk entitled "[[Anthropocene]], [[Capitalocene]], Chthulucene: Staying with the Trouble", in which she proposed the term "Chthulucene" as an alternative for the concept of the [[Anthropocene]] era, due to the entangling interconnectedness of all supposedly individual beings.<ref>{{cite AV media | url = https://vimeo.com/97663518 | title = Donna Haraway, "Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene: Staying with the Trouble", 5/9/14 | people = [[Donna Haraway]] | date = 9 May 2014 | publisher = Vimeo, Inc. | access-date = 2017-03-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170128054002/https://vimeo.com/97663518 | archive-date = 28 January 2017 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Haraway has denied any indebtedness to Lovecraft's Cthulhu, claiming that her "chthulu" is derived from Greek ''khthonios'', "of the earth".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Staying with the Trouble|last=Haraway|first=Donna|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-8223-6224-1|location=Durham and London|pages=174n4}}</ref> However, the Lovecraft character is much closer to her coined term than the Greek root, and her description of its meaning coincides with Lovecraft's idea of the apocalyptic, multitentacled threat of Cthulhu to collapse civilization into an endless dark horror: "Chthulucene does not close in on itself; it does not round off; its contact zones are ubiquitous and continuously spin out loopy tendrils."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.publicseminar.org/2016/09/chthulu/ |title=Chthulucene, Capitalocene, Anthropocene |first=McKenzie|last=Wark |date=September 8, 2016 |work=PublicSeminar.org |access-date=2017-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201082438/http://www.publicseminar.org/2016/09/chthulu/ |archive-date=2017-12-01 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2015, an elongated, dark region along the equator of [[Pluto]], initially referred to as "the Whale", was proposed to be named "Cthulhu Region", by the NASA team responsible for the ''[[New Horizons]]'' mission.<ref name="brokenheart">{{cite news|last1=Feltman|first1=Rachel|title=New data reveals that Pluto's heart is broken|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/07/14/new-data-reveals-that-plutos-heart-is-broken/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=14 July 2015|date=14 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715112003/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/07/14/new-data-reveals-that-plutos-heart-is-broken/|archive-date=2015-07-15|url-status=live}}</ref> It was given the informal name [[Belton Regio|Cthulhu Macula]],<ref name = "disk-integrated photometry">{{cite journal |author=Amanda M. Zangari|display-authors=et al|title=New Horizons disk-integrated approach photometry of Pluto and Charon |journal=AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #47|pages=210.01|publisher= American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #47, id.210.01 |date= November 2015 |volume=47|bibcode=2015DPS....4721001Z }}</ref><ref name = "Pluto System after New Horizons">{{Cite journal|last1=Stern |first1=S. A. |last2=Grundy |first2=W. |last3=McKinnon |first3=W. B. |last4=Weaver |first4=H. A. |last5=Young |first5=L. A.|title=The Pluto System After New Horizons|journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics |volume=56 |pages=357–392 |arxiv=1712.05669|doi=10.1146/annurev-astro-081817-051935 |year=2018 |bibcode=2018ARA&A..56..357S |s2cid=119072504 }}</ref> though the feature was later officially named Belton Regio by the [[International Astronomical Union]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Two Names Approved for Pluto: Belton Regio and Safronov Regio {{!}} USGS Astrogeology Science Center |url=https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/news/nomenclature/two-names-approved-for-pluto-belton-regio-and-safronov-regio |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=astrogeology.usgs.gov}}</ref>