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Ayahuasca Info RealityCarnival Future Hi Speaking Truth To Power Mindfully.org The Huffington Post Integral World InformationLiberation Peak Oil, Climate Chaos and the World Problematique iNoodle.com Mindful Living Guide Environmental News Network subMediaTV News Target.com LiveLeak.com EARTH CHANGES, SURVIVAL & SELF SUFFICIENCY LINKS BuildanArk.net Instructables Self Sufficient 'ish' Pure Energy Systems Wiki MotherJones Buddhist Jihad Third World Traveler GlobalResearch.ca MichaelMoore.com Culture Change The Oil Drum The Monitor Theocracy Watch Previous | Next Recent CommentsLonghair about "From Docile to Dangerous": EASY RIDER on FREEDOM Wed, 27.08.2008 11:37 Excellent post e4 So true s till today, some things never change eh A person is smart , people, not so much [...]Comments () Dirk about John Cunningham Lilly, M.D Fri, 22.08.2008 05:45 I have not had the chance to t ry one, but I have read much a bout them. They were quite a fad in the day. Basic [...]Comments () e4porti about John Cunningham Lilly, M.D Wed, 20.08.2008 21:24 Got a quick question. I went t o try out the flotation tank b ut had a bit of a negative exp erience because I wasnt [...]Comments () Floatation Tank about John Cunningham Lilly, M.D Sat, 16.08.2008 09:32 I owe Dr. Lilly a huge debt of thanks for creating the float ation tank. Using a floatation tank in 2001 helped me [...]Comments () Dirk about My life as a sponge Wed, 13.08.2008 16:03 SponegBob Square Pants takes o n a whole new, cosmological si gnificance suddenly. In t hat respect, perhaps Pat [...]Comments () e4porti about FKN NEWS: FEAR MONGER 888. BE VERY AFRAID Wed, 13.08.2008 01:12 The only thing I know that wen t down on 8/8/08 is Brezinsky giving the go ahead to Georgia to take over South Osse [...]Comments () e4porti about Russian troops advance in Georgia Mon, 11.08.2008 19:20 Dead Mercenaries Found in Tskh invali Authorities in the unr ecognized republic of South Os setia claim that dark-sk [...]Comments () e4porti about Russian troops advance in Georgia Mon, 11.08.2008 19:16 Russia’s Foreign Ministry accu sed Ukraine of encouraging Geo rgia to interventions and ethn ic cleansings in South O [...]Comments () e4porti about Rob Ager's film analysis Fri, 08.08.2008 17:48 K I fixed the link on the top of the page. The Page goes tow ards Rob Ager's site, where he has a collection of vid [...]Comments () Dirk about Rob Ager's film analysis Fri, 08.08.2008 12:35 Great post, e4. When I have s ome bandwidth, I will give the videos a gander. Oh, the U RL at the top does not w [...]Comments () e4porti about Nas - Sly Fox (Fox News Diss) Fri, 08.08.2008 02:13 Nas-America Assassinations D iplomatic relations Killed in digenous people Built a new n ation Involuntary labor [...]Comments () Dirk about DEA Can’t Do Its Own Job - Calls in Blackwater to Raid Medical Marijuana Providers Sat, 02.08.2008 11:21 Ah, the Black Shirts? The Bro wn Shirts? This has been do ne before as you know. Worked well historically. T [...]Comments () e4porti about Paper Sold To Pools Of Liquidity Fri, 01.08.2008 18:31 http://video.google.com/videop lay?docid=3340274697167011147 Lindsey Williams talks about his first hand knowledge [...]Comments () e4porti about Paper Sold To Pools Of Liquidity Fri, 01.08.2008 18:27 Heard about this guy on Alex J ones show. Apparently Lindsey Williams was told to take his site offline or else he [...]Comments () Dirk about Institute of HeartMath Wed, 30.07.2008 20:53 Getting down to the heart of t he matter. No, not the mushy, romantic, conceptual abstract ion of the heart, but th [...]Comments () |
Sticky PostingsBe sure to share the sensiblyeclectic.com link with a real friend or trustworthy, close confidant! They will be glad you did, because this is the wave you were looking for and the wait for the big unfolding is closer to over. We have our virtual finger pointed at the Singularity. We have a sense of how and why it is coming. We know the answers are actually the problems that we all face and it is clear that the change could very well be extremely dramatic in many ways with no turning back. Are you ready for this, yet? Find out more by reading ahead! Maybe that's why you have a brain in the first place? Trust us, it is complicated and seemingly chaotic, but there is a rhyme and pattern and maybe even, a reason. Join us in our bold exploration of a rebirth in the making. ![]() The solutions we are offering to our readers here at Sensibly Eclectic, are diverse and realistically fearless. We hope to encourage a rapid and tangible shift into new, (or old) technologies and ways of seeing things that can help lead to less centralization and unnecessary restrictions in regards to the fulfillment of our needs, both basic and beyond. From there, we feel that a more sensible and sustainable, even equitable, World could very possibly grow out of the old, (pun intended). In fact, it seems that the transformation must come and that we are the ones to be the harbingers of its conception and inception. How can we do that responsibly and with artistic mastery? As we search around, interesting things do crop up, (another pun). As we delve into the nature of existence and reality we return with some extremely interesting and rather ornate seeds to plant in your mind. So far, you have seen some basic, common sense on growing your own food, being prepared, and moving towards an increasing, more secure, self-sufficiency. You have also seen that reality is full of options and quite ripe for more exploration. There are so many choices to make now, and it seems clear that when you see the signs of change, the actions you take today are always far better than the regrets you might have later. The more information, (on every level and in multitudinous ways) you have and will consider, we sincerly feel, the better off you and those around you can be. There are the practical, philosophical, and money-saving aspects of the various methods we are exploring, but there are also other benefits to be had: like the enjoyment of doing things yourself, a greater sense of independence, freedom, connection, and a the thrill of discovery and true, symbiotic accomplishment in realtime without confusion and regret. Full realization of what is and total and external actualization of what is possible is what we are all about. You can also consider joining us and sharing your own knowledge, experiences, and even the fruits of your labor, (mental and physical) with others along the way. This is a grand field of experience and endeavor and the quest is always ongoing and pregnant with unfamiliar potential! We hope you will join us and share your light. The only challenge that we have is everyday life! (To peruse our mind-blowing, true-fiction articles from this site's authors, simply select the "SE Original Article!" checkbox on the right panel and click "GO". We want to host yours, you know!) We sincerely lust for your valued comments and long to devour and digest them in iconoclastic dream states close to the edge of forever as it is all most certainly saved in mega-terrabytes somewhere by Internet archivists for future analysis by those we might become. Contribute the computations of your consciousness because the input is potentially part of a very Grand Equation. The creators of this site have always lived and breathed, (and might even die for) your own personal, something more. Tuesday, August 26. 2008"From Docile to Dangerous": EASY RIDER on FREEDOMClips from Easy Rider explaining how freedom is the biggest threat to the enslave sheep and cattle. This of course holds true to this day. Do something different in public and watch the sheep attack. Break in front of a line. Pump gas while your car is on. Ride you motorcycle in the winter. Dress differently. Whatever you do that the HERD doesn't do will cause them to go from docile to dangerous. One thing thing that popped out at me from this clip is how sheeple hate being reminded of their slavery. People hate their jobs, hate their lives and ultimately hate those who have escaped their cells as well. Last time we had this discussion about sheeple, Dirk provided the point that there are consequences that await you if you stand out from the rest of the herd. This clip encapsulates that point perfectly. So the question remains why do Sheeple hate freedom and anyone else who is free? Monday, August 25. 2008The History Of The Copyright
Gutenberg's press was invented in 1445 [13]. Prior to this time printing was possible, but it was done through use of solid wooden blocks for the whole of the printed surface. To create a new pamphlet one would need to carve a whole new block. What Gutenberg's device permitted people to do was to rearrange the letters, thus making pamphlet printing substantially easier. In 1455 the Gutenberg Bible was produced and in 1476 the first printing press was introduced into England. The invention of the printing press played a crucial role in the ferment of religious conflict during this period. Of particular note is the conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestants which was to rage both on the continent and in England for hundreds of years - and which, ultimately, are (with some assistance from various vested interests throughout history) responsible for modern copyright law. Wednesday, August 20. 2008Psychedelic drugs could heal thousandsPsychedelic drugs could heal thousands New research into the benefits of hallucinogens alongside psychotherapy is welcome: in my experience they change lives There is a horrible sense of meaninglessness and chaos that comes from the extreme loneliness of being cut off. Trauma, whether sustained in the family, or in the military during combat, renders millions feeling unsafe, insecure, mistrustful, and in the end isolated, lonely and desperate. Judith Lewis Herman, who wrote the definitive book on trauma and recovery, stated that all so-called mental illness and suffering could be seen as a person's misguided attempt to survive trauma. Fear separates, love unites. We all wish to grow to freedom, to belong, to participate. Hatred is like gangrene, shame is deadly. Forgiveness is but a faint hope. Sandoz began to market LSD in 1947 as a psychiatric panacea, the cure for everything from schizophrenia to criminal behaviour, sexual perversions, alcoholism, and other addictions. During a 15-year period beginning in 1950, research on LSD and other hallucinogens generated over 1,000 scientific papers, several dozen books and six international conferences, and LSD was prescribed as an adjunct of psychotherapy to over 40,000 patients. The current research using psychedelics heralds a reawakening to the magnificent healing possibilities of these now prohibited substances. After over 40 years of repression or oppression, Rick Doblin of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (Maps), and others are spearheading a more enlightened, less hysterical and terrified approach to the use of these substances. I am participating in what hopefully will be Canada's first government approved clinical trials in 40 years, sponsored and organised by Maps, evaluating MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for subjects with treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder.
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05:31
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Monday, August 18. 2008How Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying AmericaHow Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying America SE Note: Compare the rational, intellectual point-of-view, (as a World model) with the previous article here, when dreams become real. Sad but true: Intelligence is a political liability in the US. Author of The Age of American Unreason Susan Jacoby explains why. Snip ... SJ: That's really the American paradox. For example, there is no country that has had more faith in education as an instrument of social mobility. No country in the West democratized education earlier, but no country has been more suspicious of too much education. We've always thought of education as good if it gets you a better job, but bad if it makes you think too much. Hofstadter was writing at the dawn of video culture, so he could not talk about one of the key things in my book. The domination of culture by mass media, video and 24/7 infotainment has been added to the American mix in the last 40 years. Video culture is the worst possible means for understanding anything more complicated than a sound bite.
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when dreams become realwhen dreams become real Apocalypse can be interpreted literally - as a historical prediction of the end of the world. It can also be understood as a mythological metaphor - a symbol of the death and rebirth of the ego in the process of personal transformation. More than mere symbol, however, Apocalypse can also be an experience. This may be induced through a variety of cultural, religious and psychotherapeutic means. Among indigenous people, it has been traditionally evoked in sacred ritual contexts by the ingestion of psychoactive plant substances associated with the ancient healing practice of shamanism. More significantly, it may also happen spontaneously, taking over one's psyche when one least expects it. Scientific research has recently shed new light in this regard on a psychological phenomenon whose meaning has disappeared - or was made to disappear - from common knowledge with the advent of cities in Western civilisation over the past two thousand years. Targeted by the Roman Empire, declared taboo by Christianity during the Inquisition, dismissed by science in the Renaissance, rooted out by colonialism in the New World, and demoted to outlaw status by Freudian psychoanalysis, the hallucinatory experience of Apocalypse may lie dormant beneath the surface of consciousness, but it is not forever gone. Like the swallow to Capistrano in springtime, it returns in due season according to a rhythm of its inner nature.
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16:47
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Las ColoniasThe Forgotten Americans: Los Colonias In America, colonias "the Spanish word for neighborhoods" has come to describe rows of "ruddy, crudely constructed shacks that are little more than a patchwork of old boards and cardboard," according to one resident. These single or double room dwellings were placed on land that was never registered with any city or county. As a result these communities exist without fundamental services such as water and electricity. Despite a lack of basic water and sewer systems, paved roads, and safe and sanitary housing, colonias are the only housing option for more than 400,000 people in the United States. Affordable housing is difficult to come by in many border cities. This in combination with the development of new colonias that at first glance offer a cheap solution to housing needs has fueled the growth of these communities in suburban areas as well as remote rural locations. In El Paso, Texas alone, at least 20,000 additional units of affordable housing are needed, according to the Lower Valley Housing Authority. A preliminary report by the University of Texas estimates that by the year 2010, more than 700,000 additional people will need affordable housing on the Texas border if current trends continue.
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Friday, August 15. 2008RD LaingRD Laing Ronald Laing, the radical psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist who profoundly altered our understanding of mental illness, was the founder of just one organisation - the Philadelphia Association.Snip ... At a time when psychiatry and psychology are convinced of the biological basis of mental illness and of the (largely) chemical answer to the problem, Laing's best work stands as a challenge, a voice claiming that there is another way of making sense of these matters and that there are other ways of helping people deal with them. Still valid too is Laing's insistence that there is indeed meaning in madness and that the discourse of the disturbed may well make sense if listened to in the right spirit. While it is common to hear that his ideas have been discredited or even disproved (whatever that might mean), there seems little doubt that he (among others) changed the way that mental illness is understood, and changed the ways in which those designated mentally ill are treated. Some Quotes: MadnessThe experience and behaviour that gets labelled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unlivable situation. R. D. Laing (1927-89), British psychiatrist. The Politics of Experience, ch. 5 (1967). Madness Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death. R. D. Laing (1927-89), British psychiatrist. The Politics of Experience, ch. 6 (1967). Mental Illness There is no such "condition" as "schizophrenia," but the label is a social fact and the social fact a political event. R. D. Laing (1927-89), British psychiatrist. The Politics of Experience, ch. 5 (1967). Human Nature We are all murderers and prostitutes- no matter to what culture, society, class, nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature, one takes oneself to be. R. D. Laing (1927-89), British psychiatrist. The Politics of Experience, Introduction (1967). Guilt True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is. R. D. Laing (1927-89), British psychiatrist. The Self and Others, ch. 10 (1961). Normality Normality highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last fifty years. R. D. Laing (1927-89), British psychiatrist. The Politics of Experience, ch. 1 (1967). John Cunningham Lilly, M.DIn Loving Memory of John Cunningham Lilly, M.D Dr. John C. Lilly died on September 30th, 2001, in Los Angeles, of heart failure. Dr. Lilly was best known for his work with dolphins and interspecies communication, his development of the isolation tank, and his research into altered states of consciousness. The main characters in two popular films, The Day of the Dolphin and Altered States, were based on Dr. Lilly. Snip ... While working at the National Institutes of Health on isolation, solitude and confinement, he invented the floatation tank, a tool to maximally isolate sensory stimulation to "better understand what the mind does without exterior influence. NASA and other important organization have used his research into sensory isolation. After ten years of tank research, and while still in the employ of NIMH, he was given the responsibility to experiment with LSD in the tank. The results of that study were reported and published by that institute in his classic treatise, Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer. Like all his research, this was eventually made available to the public. Dr. Lilly considered this documentation his most original work. This is where he first published his famous statement, "In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended. In the mind, there are no limits"More Quotes: "At the highest level of satori from which people return, the point of consciousness becomes a surface or a solid which extends throughout the whole known universe. This used to be called fusion with the Universal Mind or God. In more modern terms you have done a mathematical transformation in which your centre of consciousness has ceased to be a travelling point and has become a surface or solid of consciousness... It was in this state that I experienced 'myself' as melded and intertwined with hundreds of billions of other beings in a thin sheet of consciousness that was distributed around the galaxy. A 'membrane'." Programming and Metaprogramming in THE HUMAN BIOCOMPUTER:
Dream Frame Over Time - Chapter 2Dream Frame Over Time Chapter 2: Exegeses in the Twilight of the Ordinary "There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first is excellent, the second good, and the third useless." --Niccolò Machiavelli The sky looked overly 'shopped with some dark, ominous swirls and textures of twilight with an aura of B-movie gloom. A damp, musty breeze blew across the cracked and speckled flatlands from the jagged, gray mountains in the cloudy distance. The soft howl of the wind undulated, rising and falling against a solitary background of silence. Jah-Free finally felt solid and as the sensation of his self image aligned with the frame below him, he fell to his knees involuntarily. They ejected small, greenish puffs of the layer of dust beneath him, from the impact. Pain! His face grimaced and his eyebrows knitted tightly. The impact on the ground felt like shrapnel piercing his kneecaps and, as the intensity of what seemed like a new form of agony shot through his nervous system, he slumped over and cupped his face as tears and snot, (was it even real?_ dribbled through his aching fingers. His mouth and throat felt like dry, desert bones, parched, stiff, and constricted as if glued together with hyperpoxy. Any effort to moan or cry out from the excruciating pain and startling circumstances where muffled and unsatisfying as any release for his highly afflicted emotional state. This was not the landing into the Dream Frame he expected. As flashbacks of the transition ressurected in his mind's eye, he chose to ignore the intense and traumatic memories for now, preferring the pain of what seemed like a miniature crash landing into some very foreign and foreboding territory -- most likely a virutal mindscape evoked and imparted by one of the spectrum components of ElectroMind in the Dream Frame. This seemed like an ElectorMind in Blue production that rumor and research had indicated might be the Initiator deck. As Jah-Free composed himself and resorted to distracting his awareness from the intense bolts of sensation and the heavy metal feeling of incarnation, he couldn't help but recall parts of the process he had gone through after taking the lozenge. This would never lead him and he felt compelled to scan through them, avoiding the more vivid, intense, and utterly repulsive aspects and tuning in the more pleasant, transcendent and even ecstatic sense of liberation and merging. He felt he had more insight into why no Weaver or Dweller would reveal one iota of the transition itself. Maybe only Existers, (as he once was) are kept in the dark, or maybe it was considered a personal and private process and ordeal? Continue reading "Dream Frame Over Time - Chapter 2"
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03:45
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Wednesday, August 13. 2008Grasping the Conduit to the Advent of HyperspaceWarning: This transmission is a directed packet of congealed Hyperthought and various byproducts. Running almost parallel, (with a slight angle towards a convergence point) to the current modality of our multifaceted, consensus reality and thought, is a conceptually separate stream. We can refer to this as Hyperthought. Hyperspace, (as we use the term here) is the medium, area, or realm of Hyperthought.The definition of that terminology centers more on the transcendent aspects of the word "hyper" in contrast to the implication of speed. However, while acceleration is a potential in that stream, we will focus on the currently estranged otherness of its nature. Thought, is used to denote any of the abstract parcels of information that we process and parse with the biocomputer -- often unwittingly and without much insight or awareness of its vast and prehistoric potential. Although intellectual prowess and the contents of one's internal database affect and color and decode the immersion into Hyperthought, our concepts of intellectual quotients and the currently dominant predisposition towards rather predatory oneupmanship of logic, reason, academic pursuits -- intellect et al -- is not the primary, determining factor in the process of absorption into Hypherthought. At this stage, you are more likely to be tugging on the conduit of Hyperthought or intuiting its advent based on the access you have to a larger scope of information -- the larger the quantity the better. This is because, in the glaring, white noise, of informationalization of objective reality, the chances of happening upon a Hyperthought node increase by exposure. The culturally induced, pragmatic prohibitions to this kind of access create the contrasting limitations to this ultimate and impending catalyst of the Natural State with its synergistic results. Continue reading "Grasping the Conduit to the Advent of Hyperspace"
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21:14
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Tuesday, August 12. 2008My life as a sponge
June 10th, 2006 by Erich Vieth [It]’s with the sponge that pre-animals began to take shape, [evolutionary microbiologist Mitchell Sogin] believes, because the sponge was first to grow different cell types. For all their simplicity, sponges have “a lot of organization.” With their choanoflagellate-like choanocyte cells and a second type of cell, an archaeocyte, that can shift shape and function as needed to absorb food, secrete new skin, or reproduce, they became the first multicellular animals. All the other animals emerged from this simple architecture and are built upon this platform. FKN NEWS: FEAR MONGER 888. BE VERY AFRAIDMonday, August 11. 2008Russian troops advance in Georgia
Russian troops advance in Georgia
![]() The US president strongly criticized Russia, saying it might be planning to depose the Georgian government. Tuesday, August 5. 2008Rob Ager's film analysis
Rob Ager's film analysis
part 1 part 2 Stanley Kubrick openly stated that 2001’s true meanings had been visually encoded to bypass the conscious rationalizations of the audience and sink straight into the unconscious. And as we shall discover in this review he wasn’t kidding. There are very few films in history that have received such varied reviews and interpretations. Depending on which review you read 2001 is either an adaptation of the classic Greek play The Odyssey, an adaptation of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a pretentious and self-indulgent art house film, a bold statement about mankind’s evolution to the stars, a promotion of Masonic philosophies or a propaganda film to increase public support for the cold war space race … and the list I have just offered is by no means exhaustive. While there is evidence to support some of these interpretations, none of them offer anything near a full understanding because no matter which analysis you apply there always seems to be other symbols and concepts that remain elusive. Kubrick’s bizarre statements of a visually encoded meaning seem to suggest that the film’s formal narrative is only a part of the story. It seems that 2001 was deliberately designed to incorporate a multitude of concepts so that it is near impossible to interpret consciously. It’s like a cinematic rubick’s cube … or should I say Kubrick’s cube? He definitely surprised me with his theory on the monolith. I think he is mistaken with the alignment of the planets. I think they have to do more how early humanity worshiped the constellations, and how certain alignments signified great change. Nemesis took it a bit further and said that the ability to predict eclipses is how the Illuminati gained power in the early days. Still its crazy how a film this old can sprout so many new and interesting theories in this day and age. It reminds me why its one of my favorites. Friday, August 1. 2008DEA Can’t Do Its Own Job - Calls in Blackwater to Raid Medical Marijuana Providers
DEA Can’t Do Its Own Job - Calls in Blackwater to Raid Medical Marijuana Providers
Yesterday, the DEA raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Culver City, spending hours on site detaining employees and ultimately leaving the facility in disarray. This is unfortunately not an unusal story. Since 2005, the DEA has raided dozens of state-sanctioned dispensaries in California. But this time was different. We’re used to the DEA calling in help from various federal agencies and local law enforcement. But I guess none of their usual buddies were available yesterday because from the picture below, which appeared in the LA Times today, it looks like they had to resort to calling in Blackwater: ![]() ![]() Never knew a federal agency can employ a mercenary group to do its drug bust. Thursday, July 31. 2008States of ConsciousnessThe SE Book Club presents: States of Consciousness Charles T. Tart, Ph. D. Introduction to the Web Edition at the Psychedelic Library:
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16:52
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Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan's TeachingsAnother entry in the SE Book Club reading list:
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14:27
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Is Google Making Us Stupid?SE Comment: Is this article self-contradicting? Can you make it all the way through it without going to a new page, changing a tab, checking some email, etc.? Can you even finish it at al? First there was the spoken word, then the written word, then the printing press. Now we see the sound byte, the 60-second spot, the short attention span, cyber-wonders of the World Wide Web ... and now, in the process of a gradually, almost imperceptible unfolding, digital birth, (in our own, plastic brains) the Video Word Made Flesh? Does the advent of AI imply a singular consciousness of rapid data streams with greater volume but with growing superficiality revealed in a thinning shadow of meaning and depth? ![]() Rather than pigeon-holing my current reality tunnel in the trap of the Luddite as a label, I would rather entertain prophetic visions and extrapolations of the implications of this historically dramatic and seemingly inevitable shift. As a cyber-shaman, it is the edges that fascinate me and the cracks in the surrounding structures that beckon more precise inspection lest it come like a thief in the night where one wakes up in the morning to find one's self cleaned out, hacked, and cyberpunked into an universal, compelling paradigm with nothing but nostalgia and prematurely antiquedated musings in its wake. In the end, what is sold ad progress and advancement still turns out to be yet another shuffling of atoms rife with fleeting and enticing novelty and maybe even more adept at signifying nothing like the tales told by idiots, or like my non-existent specter of a virtual flux confused with a substantial and tangible entity deemed to be, by convention, a substantial and tangible self. The simulation now projects the virtual, but imposing collective; a unity based on conformity disguised as diversity and fleeting intimacy devoid of depth and organismic tangibility. The Global tribe that will pride itself on individual uniqueness that only mirrors a prescribed codex of acceptable boundaries, behaviors, activities, and responses. A facade of glamorous and copious trivia will supersede the internal landscape of depth and vision as if compensating for the grand exchange where the plastic mind becomes nothing more than a node in a complex, interconnected web of cyber-social insects. Kafka's Metamorphosis might have been less gradual or ubiquitous, and it may turn out to be a child's fairy story compared to the dawn of the Simulated Collective already in progress. Is Google Making Us Stupid?What the Internet is doing to our brains"Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.” I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.
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00:19
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Wednesday, July 30. 2008America's Cyborg Warriors
America's Cyborg Warriors
As the costs of imperialist war skyrocket, securocrats find themselves under the gun so to speak, of corporate and Pentagon masters demanding "results." No matter that the solutions sought are for "smart" weapons--particularly those that "think"--systems they believe capable of dominating global south and "homeland" cities. This quest for technological mastery has been dubbed by Pentagon theorists as "network-centric warfare" (Rumsfeld's "Revolution in Military Affairs" [RMA]) a "transformational" process that turn cities, any city, into a limitless "battlespace." See also: Neuroscience, National Security & the "War on Terror" Operating with little ethical oversight, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been tapping cutting-edge advances in neuroscience, computers and robotics in a quest to build the "perfect warfighter." Dovetailing precisely with other projects to "dominate" the urban "battlespace" of global south and "homeland" cities, DARPA researchers are stretching moral boundaries where clear distinctions between "human" and "machine" are being consciously blurred. (see "Simulating Urban Warfare" and "America's Cyborg Warriors")
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16:47
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