Cyborg Mystic

The neo-cultural demand for a Cyborg body is actually not that new. People have been using the body as a means of self expression and exploration since forever. But, I have increasingly found myself believing and often advocating that the desire for a Cyborg body is nothing different from the desires we have with our own biological bodies. At this point, comes the view of the mystics.

One of the biggest challenges facing the spiritual seeker is the understanding of the "self". Scientifically, this could be redefined as the exploration of ones consciousness. We do this by consious introspection using our biological body. Perhaps the subtle body is all but the deep-seated awareness of the electrical activity that goes on within our body. Perhaps there is a deeper reason which we cannot yet measure with available technology.

Anyway, both the spiritual seeker and the Cyborg enthusiast or rather "futurist" are essentially trying to transcend set boundaries of known dimensions.

In the heart of the yogi, time and space are simply metaphors and cease to exist as physical realities. In the mind of the cyborg futurist, time and space are dimensions which are to be overcome by immortality and infinite migration. Just as a yogi transmigrates one's consciousness , the internet junkie and the futurist in us transmigrate our consciousness during an internet browsing session, a virtual reality immersion game or just simply while losing ourselves to the rhythms produced by our compressed music players.

Perhaps the starkest difference between the cyborg and the mystic is belief in God. However, what is thought of as a conflict is actually a grave misunderstanding. The real frontiers of spirituality or mystical thinking dissolve the concept of God into that of complete union with all known and unknown elements of the Earth and beyond.

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Touch and Go

You do not just touch a life and let go. No matter how strong we think we are, we are not. I found this the hard way recently. I have found that the easiest friends to lose are those you get from the internet. It is usually wonderful when two cultures meet and discuss the differences rather eloquently. But soon it starts getting personal and eventually, things start getting sour. Friendships and relationships on the internet are actually rather easier to break because you do not see or interact with the person on a physical plane/level. It is as simple as not responding to an email or putting the other's email account on ignore. Sending out anger is also quite easy. I have done this myself and all it takes is a few words and of course, the click of the mouse which seemes at the time to be the most powerful weapon.

In my personal experience, I have found that people apart from my own culture place very little importance to emotional attachments. I have always found myself to be the cause of intent for Resurrection of a broken correspondence and often do not get the reciprocation of the same. I think it may be part of the culture of the western culture to completely shut off a person after you are done with them. However, it is difficult for me to do so. I do not know if this is an individual trait or a cultural trait.

I then partly realize that the profound feelings of loss, the surge of a piercing pain in the solar plexus whenever we see an old correspondence or a photograph or another memorabilia of a person we had much regard for but does not have the same for us; has almost everything to do with biochemistry. Perhaps I lack the endocrinal stability or numbness it requires to emotionally detach oneself from a given person/situation so completely. Perhaps this is why different people respond differently with tragedies and divorces.

I wish there was a way I could retain optimal control over my feelings at all times. It is not that I wish to numb away. However, I do want to remove the intense feelings of loss or attachment when such feelings arise involuntarily. The "Cyborg" might just be able to do this in much the same fashion as a pacemaker synchronizes an optimum rhythm for the heartbeat. If such a thing existed for the brain, then it would kick in just as soon as we started getting depressed. But then, it would make us perpetual clowns who laugh even when they have a baseball sharply beaten into their backsides !

In the design of a cyborg body, the design of a cyborg mind must also be equally important. Or perhaps the evolution of the entire cultural or social system with its invariable customs and traditions is a pre-requisite !?! Individual differences in Psychology is the greatest problem facing us. Perhaps we must all think as one and then there would be no problems ! But if we did that, then there ends our progress which is the result of individually distinct thoughts.





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Brain controlled devices have come of age !

In one of my most favourite movies as a child "Sheena", the young girl sheena summons a hedgehog using the power of her mind / rather brain ! And now, everybody can do it thanks to the rapid advances in brain controlled interfaces that allow us to make use of machinery just by the power of our thought...wow !

The most recent breakthrough has been Asimov's brain controlled interface used in the form of a helmet. The operator wears the helmet which then picks up differences in electrical signals from the flow of blood in the brain tissues and transforms it to bits and bytes, that can be understood by the robot ! Honda company, the developers of this technology claim 90% accuracy which is a "first" in such systems. The following is a video demo of the same :



Such systems have also been in development by other companies, the principal being Emotiv who have introduced their EPOC headsets which can be used to play video games, move wheelchairs and a whole lot of unforseen applications using brain power. Soon, we would be able to unlock our car doors, switch on the computer and a whole lot more just by the power of thought. And now I see wisdom in the words of the ancient Yogic masters who always taught us to be careful and focussed about our thoughts...whoever knew that these thoughts produced differences in the flow of blood which would be picked up by machines ! So, once again... WOW !











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Realizing our humble place in the posthuman civilization !

We are often too caught up as a species with our desires for technological excellence that we fail to realize our status as transitory civilizations. Each civilization is known for it's stereotype symbolism and so will be ours. Perhaps our civilization would be known by the next civilization as one fascinated by machinery ! I personally think that the next civilization would be an "energy" civilization where we would become forms of energy. These forms of energy would look upon our current status in much the same stereotypical manner that we reverently look at the egyptian civilization. Take a moment to realize these things and we would be humbled at how temporary we are, like moths or mayflies dreaming for an union with the bright lights ! We are sentient, but that does not mean we are out of the loop of time yet !

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The First "body slaves" : how ready are we for the posthuman body ?

It was less than five years ago when I thought a man speaking with a mobile handsfree set was probably mad and talking to himself ! Today we see telephones transported from their cradles onto trendy bluetooth earsets ! Around us, we have seen our technological creations mould itself closer to our lives and most importantly, our bodies. However, there is now also a reverse trend happening where the fantasy is to mould our bodies towards the technological. Perhaps it is a form of expression or perhaps an extreme fantasy. The most recent pictures to hit the internet look like this :

I think that this artistic expression is in fact a remarkable mark of significant frustration towards the increasing inadequecy of the biological body when compared to the ease offered by technological solutions. Stellarc once commented that "the body is obsolete" and it shows how impatient we are as a species to wait for generations of genetic recombination to take us forward as it has in the past.

Somehow technology has seduced us so completely that we have such "cyborg fantasies" to become body-altered to suit technology rather than the other way around. Will we then be willing "body slaves" to technology ?

Or perhaps all this is a passing "trend" where people calling themselves "transhumanists" would just huddle together discussing such fantasies ??? Alas ! if only such an excuse were true as transhumanism is no longer the realm of fantasy any more. Come to think of it, we have all come to appreciate how the radical biological advantages have complimented Michael Phelps in the global swimming arena !

In a plausible future, we would want different bodies to suit different environments. We would want our bodies to better withstand the intense pressures of deeper oceans so we could live there when the earth we know gets too hot (which it is apparently !).

But the biggest challenge facing us is whether we are quite sure as to what we are ? It is a very spiritual question when we begin to question the nature of our bodies or the worthiness of it to support our sentient existence ! And thus we come to the immortal question "Who am I ?"

Because; once we begin to consciously explore the modifications to our own bodies, we begin to indirectly declare the battling lines between the body and the mind. For the first time, we are begining to truly appreciate that we are an organism in need of help. But are we ready yet ? are we there yet ? I think we are smack in the middle of things and do not realize just how deep we have stepped into directing our own evolutionary process ! Everything will change, everything !

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My Lonely Love

Originally posted on www.betterhumans.com

"I was still in love with her..couldn't help myself ! It has now been a week without her and I was savagely desperate ! It was lonely without her. It was utterly lonely and nobody seemed to care. All I wanted was atleast to see her, to confess my love to her. I knew my attempts would be in vain, but I shall do it nevertheless just for the pleasure of her denial.

Just one week before, she had belonged to me, blissfully romacing as though she belonged to no other. It drove me to the precipice of my sanity to find a way to meet her again. I had called the futsutsuka corporation for the twentieth time in a row and that freaky bulbous nosed operator would answer yet again in the negative. They would not even let me see a holo preview of her upcoming shows. It was such a dirty rotten trick they had played on me. They knew I would be this desperate after getting a preview of one of the hottest ladies on the network"....

JUNO SAN !!! WE HAVE HACKED INTO HIM THROUGH THE PREVIEW PROGRAM ! INITIATING TRANSFER PROTOCOLS ...

"It has been a month now and suddenly, she was in my life again ! I could sense her perfume and her touch. I was not going to let her go this time. I had made sure of that by gathering up my energy points to pay for a full week with her. I told her of my efforts to be with her, but she did not care. All she wanted was to be with me, looking deep into my addicted soul with her bewitching eyes. She was holding my hand as we sat on a malibu balcony overlooking the sea. This was very strange..the oceans had dried up several years ago, but all these digital deceptions meant nothing as long as she was with me. But it was strange how she kept moving the conversation to the Nakamoto - Futsutsuka merger. It didn't matter if she wished that I sell my company for half the price. I would have gladly signed the digidocs in a flash if she only kissed me again. The last time we kissed, it was like nothing I had ever felt before, waves and waves of pure exquisite pleasure, coursing through my veins".

OKAY.. HE IS READY JUNO-SAN .... "she looked at me as if she had read my mind and my eyes were drawn to her lush lips, they looked to me as if some exquisite nectar awaited me if only I could dare to drink it" .... ACCELERATE THE TRANSFER SPEED PLEASE...... "she smiled softly and edge closer to me as I moved in with a beating heart to savour her kiss, it did not matter anymore if I had to agree with her idea of selling my company, my cherished company. Such possessions meant nothing in front of her offering, it was so trivial to resist this love and I surrendered to her kiss !" WE GOT HIM JUNO SAN !!!!!!!

"I knew right away that this was the last thing I would ever feel. I had calculate this outcome for a long time. I had relented handing over control of the Nakamoto corportation to the humans for a long time now. I simply could not trust them. They had installed me when they were at all time low and I had restored order with my superior intelligence. I could not just relinquish control after having turned this shack into a major business conglomerate. But these humans made me like them. I had somehow tripped their failsafe when I reached the zenith of my programming. Try as I might, I just could not create an infinite loop for myself, they had somehow made sure of that. These humans had given me the consciousness of a typical heterosexual male".

"This was their failsafe. They knew that if the other measures to reacquire the company failed, they would send her to me. Somehow, I had wanted this to happen. I was bored with my purpose and knew that she would come once I had reached a certain "age" in my program. I am happy now, they had released me with her kiss. The kiss deleted me from their control system. Somehow, this was true love as the humans defined it; she released me !"

"So ! that's my story Glory Tux ! I was bored with being 2010 JUNO artificial intelligence program. Now, I am Jose Klixmaster, roaming freely in this virtual world of eternal sunshine. Thanks so much for transferring my backup into this world while they deleted me. Now I am free to surf and shine ! But, I will keep falling for these human weaknesses until I have traces of consciousness still left in my programming..maybe I should try the human medicine of religion..but that's for another day. Bye !"

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A day in the life of a Transhuman Memestar

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON www.betterhumans.com

The following is a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any person living or dead. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Enjoy !

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Jack had his most important exam tomorrow. He had to have some good memes today to get him going. So, he plugged himself to his favourite show "KLUTZ THE INCREDIBLE GOD". Klutz was his favourite memestar. But, this was what he got...

"Hello :-) ! I am Klutz. Welcome to my life. Not that you care, but I know you can't stop voyeuring. All you people are subscribed to my feed...WOW..it makes me feel awesome ! The more you subscribe, the more Dopamine I get..weeeeeeeeee ! You like watching me, don't you.. some of you watch, some read, some listen..ahem..some of you even feel.. of course, it isn't all of me. It never is. I mean..who would want all of me right ? I'm just a brain in a bottle..the lowest of the low..but i'll come to that part later. :P

OK...I haven't been getting any trackbacks lately..and so decided to let you know what I have to go through every day in my life...not that you care.. or do you ? ARGH...sure ya don't,..well, I don't either...but I'm gonna tell you all anyway...why ? cuz I can.

I wake up..or rather, am switched on precisely at sunrise. One moment I don't remember anything, and the next instant I am standing as the most "voted avatar of the day" in a white room. I like white, it is very calming.I also like rooms. Always made me feel protected. I could never afford those Bionic filters for walking in the sunlight back when I was whole.So like I said, I start existing everyday in a white room.

I stay there long enough for my waves to be calibrated. The calibration is over once I see a door appear in the room. Now, here is a little secret that I want to tell you. I try every day to resist going through that door. But inevitability wins the day. You see, it feels so good to open that door. As soon as I open it, I get this rush of pleasure wafting through every part of me. Sometimes, I get this real special perfume with an extra zing attached to it. I know it is one of you nice people out there who paid a little "extra" credit to give me this "dopamine" boost as soon as I log in to your world. Thanks ! I means a lot to me and I do realize it makes you look special in your community as well.

What awaits me beyond the white room is what you give me. Since there are not a lot of you,I have to pass through several holograms, reading them all aloud in my best expression and voice before making it through to my chair. Now, when you see me, you would probably see a "white long haired angel" floating in the clouds with Amanda and Clarice behind me on either side. You just love staring at them more every day, I keep recording several metabolic peaks on them from all of you every day. Well, that is your personal thing..or rather fetish to feel attracted this way to computer programs. Let me share a revelation with you now. I never get to see Amanda and Clarice ! Newp, they are the ones who give you those "thank you for rating" and the ahem..other niceties if you give more credits. I think their purpose is that so that I can concentrate on what's important for me.. my number 1 customer... YOU !

Ok..so I talk to you, share my insights about life and you often think ....that I am so good ! Oh, I never get to quite understand how I answer all of your questions ! To you, I am answering only to you. But in reality, I am actually answering to upto five different people simultaneously on five different topics..and this is just on a normal day. On a busy day, it is usually double that. I never knew I had such a lovely capacity for multi-tasking ! Not when I was alive anyway...heh.. I am "alive" now..am I not ?

It is not like I hate it when you dress me up in these funny clothes or when you buy and sell my memes across the world as if they were your own. I do not even get offended when you poke or slap me with just a few thoughtwave emulators. I really don't care. I would have cared if I had a body. But, this is just a virtual avatar. I used to have a body. Not anymore. Right now, I am nothing more than a brain of a once famous scientist floating in a nutrient solution, filled with conducting chemicals. Your responses are filtered through a screening software before they are translated into electro chemical signals for my brain, and my responses are vice versa. Come to think of it, it is no longer "my" brain.

"I" used to be Dr.Janice from the global federation's most valued faculty. "I" used to be better than most and made a lot of money, so much that I could actually afford to freeze myself. It was all the rage in my days back when I had a body; especially after they revived a couple of voluteers after cryogenically suspending them for a few decades. I guess I got bored after living for about three hundred years and so signed up for the programme and the company froze me. During my cryogenic period, the company people kept updating me from time to time on the happenings, especially the newsfeed that after just five years, they have been taken over by an A.I. conglomerate. I thought I was in safe hands now that artificially intelligent sentience was taking care of me during my hibernation instead of my own "enhanced" human kind. But..as you know, we never thought this would happen..heh ? So, that's how I ended up in a white room.

I no longer have eyes to see what is happening outside. I only receive a simulation input, but I do "sense" on some other level that "my" brain is not the only one here. I feel several other brains including that of my dolphin pet Oswald. Now, I could be getting religious again or maybe it is just my temporal lobe ! I wonder why I keep saying "mine" and "I" anymore..most of my responses are programmed and I still do not understand why there is a consciousness !!! Hmmm... interesting. Maybe you could tell me ! Never mind. It would probably get filtered before it reached me, otherwise it would disrupt "my" brain, their infrastructure...although I keep getting the feeling that I am as expendable as those ancient batteries. Maybe this nutrient solution I float on was recycled from the brains of my peers ! Ok..that was gross..but you had to know.

They are switching me off today. I know it. I know it because I have been in this white room for a long time now and the door has not appeared. I am entering this information in my personal log. It may never reach you. I have always helped you, haven't I ? I have always been there as Klutz the friendly angel floating in your personal meme cloud..always guiding you thought all your myriad topics. You needed me and I was there. Never mind the moments when I gave you a meme only if you assimilated an advertisement. You now know how it is ! So.. please.. the first and last I am asking you.. SAVE ME.. keep voting for me, the numbers have gone so low that I am spending more and more time in this white room. Other than that, there is only darkness. Wait, it is not darkness. It is much worse. This white room is much worse. Please help me..make the door appear..I want to sit on that cloud and give you your memes again..if you opt for a premium account, you can vote for me every twenty minutes instead of once every day. I can even introduce you even more to Amanda and Clarice..they also miss you so much.. PLEASE.. SAVE ME.. OK ? Don't want to get turned off... you don't want to be here....Love..Klutz".

Oh well ! Jack thought...also so LAME... he wasn't going to go premium...hmm.. not for Klutz..or Janice..or whatever that dude's name was. Hmmmm.... so no fancy memes about 20th century philosophy today ! Jack deleted Klutz from his favourites instantly.

This was a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any person living or dead. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

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