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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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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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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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

yana guptaOriginally posted on http://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 http://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. 😛

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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How to truly become "BetterHumans"

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON http://www.betterhumans.com

Betterhumans. A very aspirational word for which the human species has progressed and struggled through several civilizations. An appropriate question would now be : Are we better humans ? .

"Yes" would be the answer any person from the "Developed world" shall give upto a probability of 90 %. Such a believer would say that the human species has learnt to harness the mineral resources and build successive civilizations, enroute developing culture, improved scientific techniques and better control over the vulnerability to the elements of nature. In fact, many would point out to the incredible increase in life span due to eradication of most diseases and better healthcare, thanks to all the developments from the serendipity of Penicillin to the sheer genius of Genetic Recombination technology.We have developed our bodie's passive immunity (via vaccination / immunization ) to such an extent that only the most mutagenic of viruses or the most resistant strains of bacteria can multiply within our bodies. And research is ongoing against those vulnerabilities as well. We can all see the glory of our species in clear supremacy over much of the hardships that this planet and the immediate outer space can throw at us as a species. We now possess the engineering skills developed from our own experience and from the amalgamation of skills gathered from the other "engineer" species (some examples would be spiders and termites) we share this planet with. We can also grow enormous quantities of food through transgenic and mechanized agriculture. At the time these words are written, Bionics and prosthetic technologies have also developed to an extent where an entire organ or an entire limb can be transplanted / complimented with such technology. In a nutshell, we have become "Better Humans". Or have we ?

However, there is a 10 % in any population which would not think so. They do not have adequate healthcare, cannot afford the latest intravenous injection that can reduce heartache, nor can they stay long enough in a hospital bed with a rapidly escalating bill. Incredibly, this 10 % of the population in a "developed country" is what translates or compares to "90" of a different population. This population resides in the "Developing world".

I live in one of the fastest countries in terms of development, India. However, I share a prespective of the kind that many others in similarly evolving nations fear. Let me use the simple example of an elastic band being stretched from both sides. Eventually, the laws of physics would dictate that the band snap if the band is pulled equally from both sides. If the band is pulled with greater pressure on one side, then the other side would lose it's anchor eventually and rapidly accelerate to the other side. Now, if we consider the two sides as the two sides of economic / social growth, then the scenario I am trying to explain is easily visualized in your brains / minds / hearts; whichever you think works for your intellectual consideration. I see an increased contrast between the "haves" and the "have nots". One one side of the global human species spectrum, the human species is experiencing the full benefits of it's evolution. On the other side, our species is lagging behind on all these advancements. In the coming years, there will be a very rapid acceleration of technological progress as is predicted by numerous thoughts including the "Singularity".

Most futurists are worried about issues such as the radical transformation / supplementation of the human body , the imminent risks of artificial intelligence systems , even the existential dangers of a nuclear holocaust. While all of these events and scenarios are entirely possible and worth brainstorming over, I fail to understand why the majority of futurists fail to draw predictions on the issues that need immediate attention. Issues such as the eradication of Poverty, the inavailability of "essential" foods , the equal generation of intellectual property through education , the need for free and clean "energy" ! Such issues are usually seen from a global prespective to be solved by governments and not by people. It is usually at this stage that I am confused. Is the "Government" supposed to be like a corporation that solves certain problems by itself; within it's enforcing circle and rakes in profits ? Or is it an institution formed by the people with a guiding constitution who contribute their efforts to the government for the benefit of the entire country ? Most of us have forgotten the quotes of two people who talked to masses of people in two extremes of the world. One was John F.Kennedy who urged people to ask themselves what they have done for their countries. The other was Mahathma Gandhi who urged people to always think of the benefits or effects their endeavour is going to make on the lowest section of society ( Gandhiji's Talisman ). The answer to my confusion is very simple, if the question to whether we are really better humans can be answered.

When I listened to my first lecture in 1997 about "Cyborgs" at the University of Madras from a Japanese professor, I was amazed at how advanced prothetics technology had become. I was one of the people who asked him a question at the end of his lecture. My question was whether these technologies were affordable for amputees in India and his answer was sadly in the negative. He was not expecting such a question since he had focussed all his energy on the "cyborg" concept and how philosophically and technologically sophisticated it was. It truly was, except that it does not mean anything to a poor factory worker in India with a family to support who lost his hands, or to a victim of a land mine blast in a country such as Vietnam. In India as in any other country, sophisticated prosthetic technology is available only to those who can afford it, and that is a bare minimum. The poor still have to go for the "Jaipur leg" which is by my account, the most technologically sound prosthetic for an ordinary indisposed person.

This condition of apathy extends all the way from prosthetics to drug development. Rich people who are rockstars or business tycoons can afford to extend their lifespans inspite of a HIV infection by more than 10 years; thanks to the latest in expensive AIDS drugs. However, a normal member of society who suffers from the HIV virus must take the routinely available medicines that may or may not help his non-immune body.

Most people who write or research about the advancement of the human body or it's enhancement are insensitive to whether such advanced technologies are available to every human being. Many among us would shrug a shoulder and say it is "the way the world works, so deal with it". But sadly, most of us do not realize that all of this can change if there is a small effort to change our consciousness.

The most important philosophical and an existential reality that we must bore into our collective consciousness is that tides can change very quickly even if we ourselves do not change. The consequences of our indifference to NOT making and developing technology that is equitably available to all members of our species will overwhelm us one day. Already, there are conspiracy theories that a great percentage of the "undeveloped" world will be conveniently re-exploited leaving an "elite" population to dictate terms. Deep inside all of your hearts, you know that this is wrong. So, with all of our gadgetry and medical miracles, are we better humans ? NO.

In order to be "Betterhumans", we must first become "Better Persons". We are well on our path in terms of the desire if the number of huge online memberships to social causes could be assessed. However, technologies that are being developed must become accessible to all spectrums of our species. It is time to stop thinking of ourselves as members of a country or a race or even a gender. Even now, we look back and wonder if it really was this same human kind which was responsible for genocides or colonialism or slavery ! If we were appaled by such past discriminations and exploitations, we must have learnt our lessons by now.

It is therefore important for every aspirant of the better human race to develop and support technology that is affordable and of benefit to all sections of the human race. Only when we fully develop such a compassionate outlook to our own species; can we fully mature to take care of the other species and eventually the planet and the universe. Such is the power of our destiny.

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Lost in Transcendence : A Tribute to Dr.Albert Hofmann

Dr.Albert Hofmann, the man who gave the world LSD ( Lysergic acid diethylamide), popularly known as the addictive phsychedelic drug, "acid" is dead. He discovered the drug and intended that it would be used properly and carefully with respect.A similar person who proposed the use of drugs to explore our mind with drugs died in 1996. He was a controversial person who proposed drug use to transcend consciousness. His name was Dr.Timothy Leary and he was perhaps the most respected and yet, one of the most controversial figures of drug culture. I do not intend to glorify these gentlemen. However, I do wish our society could have learnt something more from them instead of prosecuting them to seclusion and infamy. These were people who were unique because they wanted us to transcend, to realize the possibilities.

There will be several more chemicals which will allow the human species to transcend and remove deficiencies. Men always thought that erectile dysfunction was to be accepted once they became "old people" until Sidenafil citrate (VIAGRA) came along. Men and women throughout the world thought that they could never stop getting depressed until Fluoxetine hydrochloride (PROZAC) came along. Hundreds and thousands of such remarkable chemicals are being discovered and tested in the R&D laboratories of the world. The only thing pending is our acceptance.However, just acceptance does not suffice. There are many slippery slopes in the path to human transcendence and the path is particularly much more slippery when technology comes to lend a hand. Dr.Albert Hofmann's LSD was accepted in the begining as a fantastic medication for mentally ill patients. However, it soon became very much similar to Dr.Alfred Nobel's Dynamite and still continues to haunt us.

One of the most important things we must learn to accept in order to transcend into transhumans, cyborgs, superhumans or whatever transcendent being we want to call ourselves; is that we are nothing more than an organism composed of flesh and bone. We carry out our lives as bodies composed of biological cells aggregated together into an organism. Once we begin to understand this; both humility and the passion to transcend would be sown into our minds with double the effect. A revolution could come about in our species if we could cast away our cultural entanglements and understand that our human nature and our human bodies still has a lot to improve.

Having written all of this, I must now state that most of us are merely enthusiastic voyeurs of consciousness. On the one hand, there are radical libertarians or even extreme hedonists who wish to slip easily into the deepest and most exciting realms of the consciousness using synthesized chemicals. On the other extreme of the human spectrum are ascetics who seek the same extremes using renunciation and extremely difficult meditations.

I am very sad to say to both these extreme forms of human nature have in fact wandered away from things that need more immediate attention. More and more news stories are about drugs that help men have better sex or other cosmetic purposes.

Very little news about drugs that help combat AIDS or help reduce the pain of Cancer patients comes up. Why ? because we don't want to listen in to news that causes pain. Instead, we want to hear about exciting things ! Sadly, I have found recently in my own experience that there is less and less news about AIDS research on television. The latest fashionable crisis seems to be climate change. Wonder when this fad will pass on ?

If humanity as a whole is seriously interested in transcending per se, then it must do so in a balanced manner. It does not matter if a new world order is going to be set up. Such global conspiracies bear no meaning to a malnourished child without education in a warn torn African country. Party and club drugs mean nothing to a teenager seething in rage against nations that discriminate him/her on the basis of religious values.

Buddha tried renunciation to the extreme and found that he would die without so much as a whimper or a glimpse into what he was seeking. He then chose the "middle path". He has since found out one of the ways of transcendent existence.We could have followed him. Instead, we have dissected his teachings and built concrete palaces for him outside instead of within our hearts.

I am quite sure that many other Bob Marley's, John Lennon's and Leary's would come and go. But we would always be interested in their "coolness" and "rebel" nature instead of their "message of love" or the need to look beyond discrimination and monetary interests.

This was somehow my tribute to a scientist who with good intention discovered a potential chemical gateway to transcendence; which sadly has again been sucked into the darkness of human nature instead of into the light. I hope we come to look at the therapeutic uses of such drugs instead of mindlessly indulging into the "easy road".

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An Inconvenient Truth indeed ! – Google style

incnvtruth

Okay. Today on Earth day, I have finally seen Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". They screened it on cable television and I must say it is every bit as engaging and inspiring. The credits in the end of the movie showed a number of interesting messages including a call for action. I liked the movie for it's close personal touch and found myself in agreement with the protagonist of the movie, Al Gore a lot. Truth be told, people listen to you if you happen to have been the vice president of the United States of America. Having said this, I must also say that Al Gore has done a tremendously important service with his position to create a new wave of consciousness on this very serious environmental issue.

After watching the movie, I came online to see how important these issues were on the internet. Now that I was enlightened with specific keywords, my searches became more refined. However, as every seasoned internet surfer knows, it is often common to wander into a rogue wave. I also deviated slightly onto rogue or rather exotic waves and was surprised that there were more important things on the internet than the planetary crisis !These I soon found were my all time favourite female Diva, Madonna ! and close on her heels was Lindsay Lohan. I found that there were more hits on Google for the pop diva than there were for the climate crisis. I bring to you the story in pictures :

The above three pictures are snapshots of my searches in Google. The number of hits I got for each keyword in quotes (to make them more specific) are as follows :

1. Planet Earth : 13,500,000 hits.
2. An Inconvenient Truth : 1,720,000 hits.

I thought the number of hits were a little lower than what I expected. So, I googled up Madonna and Lindsay lohan (two of the most popular worldwide celebrities) and their snapshots are here below :

The results :
1. Madonna : 75,600,000 hits.
2. Lindsay Lohan : 30,000,000 hits.

I was very disturbed to find that Madonna and Lindsay Lohan commanded far more google hits than a search for this planet and arguably one of the finest documentaries ever to be made on the most pressing global issue. However, I continued and looked up if people were concerned at all with "climate change" ! and thankfully, they were. The keywords "climate change" brought up 57,500,000 hits. This is still quite less than the number of hits scored by the pop diva
( 75,600,000 hits !).

The next thing that I did was to see if there was a trend to all of this and so I consulted the venerable Google trends to see if climate held up to Madonna by any standard. Lo and behold, what you see is :
google-trends

This is the trend in just the past 30 days where Madonna clearly seems more important than the climate !

I am not arguing that we are a bunch of flesh crazy or celebrity driven populace. I am trying to show that the most powerful medium that we have to look into the issues of the world, namely the internet is being used more for peering into the private lives of celebrities. There are more serious issues at stake and our trends online show that we are more concerned with short time pleasures.

Al Gore makes several important points in his movie. It is not yet late to save the planet. But, for that to happen, our attitude should change. Going by the way hits turn up at Google, we are still a long way away from that.

PS : Several keywords can be jumbled to argue against what I have stated. But the point remains that we must change our fundamental human nature, perhaps even transcending it in order to acheive goals such as carbon sequestration in order to save this planet, the tiny pixel that Gore points to in the end of the movie !

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The latest Cyborg movie !

I would not be dong justice to this blog if I do not embed a youtube movie about the latest Cyborg movie about IRON MAN... yep...that comic book superhero just came alive on celluloid....errrrr.....on the movie theatres anyway....btw.. is it celluloid anymore, now with most movies being belted out on high definition discs ? Anyway, enjoy the trailer...this cyborg is cool...and POWERFULL ! rawrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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Spiritual Transcendence in Transhumanism now published

I am happy to say that my paper "Spiritual transcendence in transhumanism" has been published in the Journal of Evolution and Technology 17(1) – March 2008 issue
( http://jetpress.org/v17/manoj.htm ). Following is the abstract so you may have an idea :
ABSTRACT

The evolution of science and technology to the next several levels must include a harmonious symbiosis between science and religion. Human civilization has so far shown a stereotyped conflict between either. Both science and religion must be regarded as equally important methods for spiritual transcendence in transhumanism. This paper discusses how religion can complement the ideals of transhumanism if looked from a new perspective. The paper draws primarily on Eastern religious thought, particularly Hinduism, to explain why it is important for transhumanists and progressive futurists of science and technology to find common ground with religion in order to evolve. It is important for transhumanism to extract the transcendent messages from different religions. It also becomes important for religious thinkers to draw from the ideals of transhumanist philosophies in order to allow the survival of progressive religious thought into the undefined future.

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Chennai Science Festival 2008

My City saw a major science festival from Feb 6 to Feb 10. The department where I do research also had a stall put up. We had a stall on Wastewater treatment technologies and we demonstrated different methods of waste disposal including community treatment technologies such as Ooranies to Constructed Wetlands to Sewage treatment. I liked explaining stuff to the visitors and most of them seemed very interested in knowing the things we explained. There were other interesting things also in the exhibition. I was particularly interested in the robotic arms or the micro manipulator developed indigenously by India's Atomic energy agency. I made a video clip of it and it was one of the most popular exhibits in there because they allowed kids to play with it. I also tried my hand at it and found that it was an interesting experience. On the whole, I observed that interest in science has blossomed from the mere fantastical to it becoming more and more technical. This shows that people's understanding of science in my country has come to a much more matured level ! I especially enjoyed explaining things to the kids from schools who had a lot of intelligent questions too.

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Renewable Energy and the New world

In the future, we would still need considerable amounts of energy for doing our work. But, from where do we derive our energy to carry out our manufacturing, transportation, lighting and even cooking ?!?

Energy is easily obtained from non-renewable sources such as coal and hydrocarbons. However, this form of energy uptake is not forever if you consider the long term sustainability of such energy resources. These sources are becoming more and more expensive by the barrell and the cost paid by the planet in terms of environmental degradation would only come back to haunt our healthy lifestyle.

Renewable sources of energy are the most sustainable in terms of both cost and the forseeable future. Especially for countries like my own India, renewable sources of energy offer an independence from relying heavily on oil-rich countries for oil and natural gases. Brazil has also broken new ground with it's revolutionary commitment to Bio-fuels ! So, in the future, we are going to see more and more countries, especially the ones from the developing world opting for renewable sources of energy which directly produce energy on site; reducing costs incurred in procurement, transportation and overall dependence and burden on the economy.

I was travelling from Thirunelveli, a town in Tamilnadu to Kerala when I noticed enroute that a village had a lot of windmills. It was a very windy village and all around, one could see windmills of all shapes and sizes rotating gently with the wind. I later learned that it was a village called Muppandal in Tamilnadu, India which was actually a model village for India's 2 billion dollar wind energy programme. It generates enough energy for the village's works. I was amazed to learn that the State of Tamilnadu alone has produced 3216 MW of energy from wind by 2006 !

In the future, no matter how glitzy it becomes with artificial intelligence or cyborgs and androids, we would still need energy. The most important criteria for the affordability of such technologies to the common people would be the energy required to power such technologies. It would be extremely important that we remember to develop technologies that can effectively make use of such renewable sources of energy. Automobiles being develped recently are extremely fuel efficient. I heard from a friend recently that an old car of the 60's used to run only for 5 Kilometres on a litre of Petrol. Compare that to an average family car which gives upto 18 kilometres for a litre of Petrol. A motorbike gives even more mileage. But, just imagine if we could have the option to switch from Petrol to say, battery power. In my city Chennai as in many others, that has also become a reality in the practical sense. There are many autorickshaws in Chennai, which commute passengers to and fro. Most of these "autos" now run on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). Most autos have a switch which the driver can use as an option to switch between his gas cylinder and his petrol tank. This to me is pretty amazing ! I like such options, and I know that most of us would have loved our very first electronic calculator that used to run on both battery and solar power. Let's just hope that we have more and more of such options.

To learn more about Renewable sources of energy in Tamilnadu, India, you could visit :
The Tamilnadu Energy Development Agency

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The Rebellious Voyeur in our Society

I recently saw the movie, Evano Oruvan. It is a tamil language movie about the futile rebellion waged by a middle class bank employee against the monotony of his life and the callous nature of the society that engulfs him. In the end, he is killed by it's very guardians and his end is mourned in his killer's introspective reflections. Poetic and bloody ironic !

Most of us do not like the world we live in. There is some problem or the other with which we are not happy. From the penniless wanderer in the street to the ultimate millionaire, everybody complains. Perhaps it is a genetic disease that compels us to never be satisfied.

The city dweller endlessly circuits the educational system, the social ladder, the health system leaving a trail of mechanical doings reflected in equal measure in paperwork and documentation.
It is very easy to snap from pressure as did happen with the protagonist of this movie.

What I loved in it was the futility of his protest rather than the nature of it. Most historic figures who have dared to raise their voices have been tragically silenced (Mahathma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr).

Movies have this unique quality of awakening the voyeur in all of us. In the end of the movie, the hero is exalted and the rest of the human population who quickly forgets him are compared to flies feasting on a dead rat, competing in a mad rush to have a bite of the decaying morsel. I agree that we may be no different.

What can be done about this ? Does the answer lie in superhuman bodies and immortal lives ? I do not think so. This is why I believe that the system in which an immortal shall come into being should itself be rich in it's disposition. If we become perfectly alike in our genetic perfection, would it make us any different from what we are now ? We would still need money. We would still need love, a family, a social acceptance amongst our peers for our values. Is this not why we constantly seek out this hyperbola of online communities and penfriends ? Virtual worlds and real worlds still are going to be filled with people. Artificially intelligent life forms that emerge shall also base itself on our nature. Just what is our nature. Are we really as innocent as Alice in Wonderland ? Hardly !

In the quest for immortality, I somehow fail to see our social structure evolving. We may become more intelligent. But will we become more human...or rather.. more humane ? I ask this because there are a lot of futurists who are already on the slippery slope that we can escape the need to be moral. I hope we direct our evolution properly and not in the current monotonous direction we are experiencing.

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Playing God in a Video Game !

When the Puppett becomes the Puppeteer, then what happens ? But then we are not Puppets, are we ? We like to be the super NEO who breaks out of the Matrix and shows the world that all you see is an illusion. This is what Buddha, Jesus, Krishna and Mohammad all tried to tell us. Live free ! The ancient way of watching ourselves has always been meditation, many times under a tree in a secluded forest. The new cool thing is to play a video game where you get to play GOD ! Yes !
I just heard of this awesome game about to be released sometime in April 2008 called SPORE where you get to develop a cellular organism, direct it's evolution from the cellular level to a spacefaring sentient being ! WOW ! This game is from the makers of the SIM game. The game has four phases : POOL PHASE, CREATURE PHASE, TRIBAL PHASE , CIVILIZATION PHASE and the SPACE PHASE.

It looks like it is going to be fun. I enjoyed playing the Shaman in Populous and the City Mayor in SimCity. Now here is a chance to play God...just hope I have the hardware to run life on my computer ! read more here...

Oh and by the way, Wish you all a Happy New Year !

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Lessons from the Silver Surfer !

I just saw the Movie : Fantastic Four : Rise of the silver surfer ! I should say the hero of the movie is the Silver Surfer as he is the one who sacrifices his life in order to save our planet. In the process, he destroys "Galactus", the eater of worlds !

On a more serious note, the finale of the movie of the explosive ending of a world eating villain by a seemingly small surfer is quite similar to our own fight against our superstitions. Our cultural civilizations have forced us to serve masters we do not often wish to serve. The most common reason is that we do not have a choice. In order to merge into society, we are often forced to align ourselves favourably to certain guidelines. This is often what blinds us from the truth, for example, the underlying spirituality beneath religious rites.

In the Movie, the silver surfer realized that we do have a choice and he chose to break away the bonds of his captivity and in turn saving others and paving the way for a future with choices.

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