Futurist Transhuman News Blog

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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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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.

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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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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 :

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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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ORIGINALLY POSTED ON www.betterhumans.com

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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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I made a video cartoon about a funny outlook into human evolution. Thought I would post it here.

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

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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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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Created by OnePlusYou

Got the below one after finding it initially at Daisy’s dead air blog :

Created by OnePlusYou

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Hi readers,
I am recovering from an illness and will not posting for some more time.
Sorry,
Manoj.V.R.

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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

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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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I just saw this awesome advertisement for shoes on television and thought of posting it here.. it looks awesome with Cyborg athletes playing football !

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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 ?!?

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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 !

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