Holographic Mind/Universe

My friend & I were drunk-discussing the nature of reality, the mind, & the human experience after we got back from the bar last night (what else is there to talk about when you're inebriated?!?). He was saying that humans are self-contained entities, and in the end all we ever experience is our own mind. It is true, that every sensory experience and thought that we ever have is nothing but a lightshow in our own head.

However, I also believe the universe/mind is a continuous and complete fractal, holographic phenomenon. Therefore, levels of interconnectivity and synchronicity outside of the human experience should be expected. Of course, no symbolic grunt that can be uttered by a physical being can really be expected to accurately represent anything.

For a more accurate description of the nature of the human experience, click Here.

"The Amazing Holographic Universe"

"As the religions of the East have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion, and although we may think we are physical beings moving through a physical world, this too is an illusion. We are really 'receivers' floating through a kaleidoscopic sea of frequency, and what we extract from this sea and transmogrify into physical reality is but one channel from many extracted out of the superhologram."

"Pribram believes memories are encoded not in neurons, or small groupings of neurons, but in patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the entire brain in the same way that patterns of laser light interference crisscross the entire area of a piece of film containing a holographic image. In other words, Pribram believes the brain is itself a hologram."

• Click HERE to read the whole article

"iThink" Tech & The Evolution of the Mind

"I hate this place. This zoo. This prison.
This Reality- whatever you want to call it,
I can't stand it any longer.
It's the smell, if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it.
I can taste your stink and every time I do,
I fear that I've somehow been infected by it. "
-Agent Smith "The Matrix"

I have been collecting links for awhile about emerging technologies that will inevitably enhance the phenomenon that we call "human consciousness." I think that all of the advancements I'll be listing are leading to the possibility of our minds being augmented by a future technology like my conceptual "Apple iThink."

A couple things led me to finally post what I've found so far. Recently blogger Mac Tonnies passed away unexpectedly, & he was only a few years older than me at 34. His blog Posthuman Blues was a regular read of mine that I enjoyed because of the unorthodox, mind-bending content. It was a great mix of futurism, Fortean speculations, & general weirdness.

The other factor has been my current forced week-long stint at home due to illness. Nothing makes you dream of transcending the mortal confines of the flesh than being seriously sick. I started sympathizing with Agent Smith in the scene above, except he was imagining a trip in the opposite direction- from the digital realm of light into the physical world of the human body.

The mortality & existence of man has been a source of concern since the dawn of time. The Egyptians believed we were spirits of light encased in these bodies. The Gnostics imagined Reality as a type of virtual prison that confines our luminous true selves. The Taoists believe everything is just emanations of the ever-fluctuating, infinite Tao.

Of course, our experience is limited by the sensory nature of our interaction with the world. The universe of information bombarding each of us at each moment is distilled by our physical receptors & organs including the brain. What if we could transcend these limitations? Physics teaches that as a human traveling in a spaceship speeds up and approaches the speed of light, the relative experience of time slows down. However, nothing with mass can actually reach the velocity of electromagnetic energy.

I've always wondered what would happen if the functioning of the human mind were no longer constrained by the chemical & biological processes of the neural connections in the brain. If our thoughts could somehow actually travel uninhibited at the speed of light, how would it affect our perception, & would there even be any perception left as we know it? Perhaps like an inverse, large scale Bose-Einstein condensate, our mind would expand into... everything!

So with these thoughts off my mind, I'll share some fascinating discoveries that have caught my eye- myriad doors all leading to a future in which the human experience may be much different than the limited, localized reality-tunnel that each of us currently knows.

• "Mind Uploading and Mind Children"

• "MIT team develops hi-fi quantum memory"

• Artificial brain '10 years away'

• The Future of Human Enhancement

• Will We Eventually Upload Our Minds?

• Brain-to-brain communication over the Internet

• Multi-contact brain probe can be injected through a needle

• The Psychedelic Transhumanists

• Raytheon's combat simulator offers virtual action in real world

• Scientists hail a thoughtful future with ‘brain-to-brain communication’

• An Input/Output Device for the Brain - Made of Light, Algae, and Bacteria


Here's the Apple iThink concept I came up with:

Apple "iThink" - Upgraded






Apple "iThink" Technical Specifications

• Size:
1.5 x 1.5 x .5 inches

• Symbiosis™ Neural Interface:
Direct brain-computer link means your mind and computer are one!

• Intel Fusion™ Quantum Processing:
Uses the power of the atom to instantly compute at the speed of thought.

• Holographic Data Storage:
The iThink’s tiny internal holochip has a staggering individual capacity of over 666 Yottabytes (1000^8), for seemingly infinite augmented memory

• Intra-neural Communication:
Mentally allow or block any kind of signal you want to send or recieve instantly over the wireless iThink global network

• Perceptual Immersion:
Images, sound, & other data are projected virtually into your sensory fields by directly connecting into your brain’s activity

• Integrated GPS and Google Earth:
Receive directions and location information anywhere on the planet, and the ability to be located in case of an emergency

The Human Dilemma

Being faced with a situation as immense and devastating as this hurricane has a jarring effect on people. The situation makes you face, on a consious or subconsious level, the dilemma of the human experience. There is a saying that evokes it quite nicely:

"Be noble, for you are made of stars.
Be humble, for you are made of dung."

I think about that quote all the time. Seeing corpses floating on the water makes us face that one inevitable day where we, too, will be nothing but rotting flesh. We are bodies lumbering around, but... driven by an inner light and energy that is the great mystery. This subtle, yet all-encompassing light is the other side of the coin, the spark of motivation that, once faced with the reality of death, accepts the struggle and continues onward because there is nothing left to fear. It is evident in the compassionate souls who are motivated by empathy to help their fellow human beings in whatever way they can, especially in such a time when so many people are experiencing such misery. To say the situation (or anything, for that matter) is good or bad in an absolute sense is not realistic because there is no isolated cause and effect in the universe. It is beyond simplistic, human ideas as 'good' or 'bad'. Is there a 'bad' galaxy'? On such unimaginable scales, these terms are as significant as a dust particle settling on an ocean floor.

Really contemplating this kind of crisis not only destroys the normal conception of quality, but it also throws the concept of scale through a loop. Each life is such a complex thing, and miraculously beautiful. The immense process of human life functioning on this planet is also enough to fill anyone with wonder. However, a disaster like this shows how fleeting and tiny the human race truly is on a cosmic scale. The idea of thousands of luminous human lives being snuffed out for no reason is alot to face. We should question what makes us human and what are we going to do with this moment, and each of the limited number we get to experience only once.

Documenting the Horror of War

While randomly browsing the web, I came across this article by the author of Afterwar: Veterans From a World in Conflict.

OpEdNews
"The Pictures of War
You Aren't Supposed to See"

Reading through the available excerpts definitely didn't help my natural cynicism regarding the brutal realities of human existence. Death & suffering are universal human problems that are exponentially increased through the business of War.

Afterwar:
Veterans From a World in Conflict

People are inherently neither 'good' nor 'evil', both of which are completely subjective judgments exclusive to the human mind. Therefore, I try to maintain a sense of neutrality about the countless events going on in the world. However, the scale of human suffering & death inflicted by fellow humans throughout history can be nauseating to consider. Seeing images or reading gut-wrenching accounts of the products of war - slaughtered children, raped women, & mutilated men- is unspeakably painful and terrible. Understanding that these horrors exist is necessary, though, to keep a realistic perspective about the complex world in which we live.

Warning!:
These links are graphic & f*cking horrible,
but should be seen on every nightly newscast
until people are completely sick of War

Iraq War Images Uncensored

Iraq War Casualty Pictures

Unfortunately, we must bear witness to & attempt to sublimate the worst in mankind if we are to try to embody the higher ideals that the wiser among us aspire to. Fully realizing these countless tragedies of human experience should be frightening. They make us see that life is constant suffering that can never be fully overcome. Despite this, we can take solace in the fact that people will always continue to work for positive change to alleviate even a little of that suffering.

The unthinkable atrocities committed around the world each day by people of every nation are also a startlingly clear indication that the idea of a loving paternal deity, "God the Father"/"Yahweh" (as well as evil incarnate, like a Devil) are fantasies that are like a safety blanket covering our eyes from the truth. What truth?...

The Absolute Truth is... that there is No Absolute Truth.

However, a 'relative truth' is that we have nothing to rely on- except ourselves and each other. Life in this physical realm will always be chaotic, sometimes good & sometimes bad, but ultimately 'meaning'-less in the cosmic scheme of things. I am not a total nihilist by any means, but I've come to be able to hold any number of simultaneously contradictory views in my mind.

For instance, I believe human life is an infinitely precious phenomenon that should be treasured... but life also has no abstract "purpose" other than to exist, so a human being dying is ultimately no different than an ant dying. Some people would say that these two views can't co-exist, but it is simply the way things are.

Despite all my existential bullshit, I am a very empathetic person, so the idea of war & vast human suffering deeply disturbs me. No matter how much of a jaded realist I become, the idea of barbaric violence among people will always cause profound sorrow.

Watching President Obama escalate America's offensive (either meaning of the word is appropriate) military actions has been hard for alot of people because now he, like George W. Bush, is a mass-murderer by proxy. Strong words, yeah, but it's not un-true. I voted for him & think he's dealing with alot of harsh realities. This escalation is antithetical to the beliefs of most people who supported his candidacy on the principle of reversing our aggressive militarism.

I've stated before that I, like any sane person, accept the realistic need for a military to defend the country. Many of my good friends are in the military & the actions of the individual soldier is not my issue. My concern is the overall objectives that these soldiers are dutifully following.

To the country we are occupying, every drone or bomb that takes out a village or innocent children 'by mistake' is a unnecessary murder by The President, the military, & the country as a collective. This may sound anti-American & outrageously unpatriotic... but only to an ignorant jackass with no conscious.

I am not a moral coward & I'm not afraid to look critically at my relatively tiny role either. The reason that our destructive Imperial Oil Wars conducted deceptively in the name of fighting 'terrorism' disturbs me so much is that I don't try to deny that I'm responsible, as well. A bit of my tax dollars go toward every Afghan or Iraqi civilian that is killed by our forces.

Sure, there are degrees of separation between my tax revenue & the acceptable 'collateral damage' of someone in a foreign land, but I do not accept that conceptual convenience. If I do not accept and internalize my role in the causality of inevitable needless death that I pay into, no matter how small, then I might as well be turning my eyes away while pulling the trigger myself. Some might say this is unnecessary worrying over issues way beyond my control. I say it is the ultimate expression of the social conscious that my parents raised me to cultivate & that my sense of compassion forces me to confront.

That is also why I feel compelled to express my thoughts like I am doing now.

I only wish that I could do much, much more
to make the world chill the hell out.

Creating New Senses

Our reality is defined by our sensory input- hearing, vision, taste, touch, smell, and any other signals sent from our body to our brain.

Our central nervous system is encased in blackness, & our experience of the Universe is determined by the signals sent from our sense organs.

Today I Found Out:

Humans Have a Lot More Than Five Senses

We usually don't think about the extremely limited scope of our perceptions. Human beings are only picking up on a small portion of the world around us. There are signals all around us that we are completely unaware of, without the use of tools or devices.

For example, the visual light that our eyes can see is a tiny slice of the overall electromagnetic spectrum.

Similarly, our ears only hear a certain frequency range of vibrations in the air that we perceive as sounds.

These are limitations of the senses that we do have. There is a vast amount of information that we are not equipped to sense at all.

Other forms of life have organs that can sense environmental cues to which we are totally oblivious.

• Bats use sound waves to visualize objects in 3D space for echolocation.
• Snakes can detect infrared wavelengths to sense heat signatures.
• Birds have specialized cells that detect their orientation to the planet's magnetic field.
• Bees can see ultraviolet light reflected off flowers.

Nautilus:

Seeing Electricity, Hearing Magnetism 

& Other Sensory Feats

The other night, I was watching an excellent TED talk by neuroscientist David Eagleman about using technology to augment our perception of reality, by facilitating new sensory inputs.

TED

Can we create new senses for humans?

His premise was that the brain is capable of receiving sensory data from input other than our biological sense organs. The human brain is like an extremely adaptable computer, that can interpret signals from an unlimited number of possible "plug & play" devices.

The brain has the astounding ability to take incoming data from unfamiliar sources & interpret it to help formulate an understanding of the world. Our minds are pattern-recognition systems with capabilities that we cannot even imagine. It's ironic that the brain doesn't not even know the limits of its own potential.

In the future, is inevitable that people will continue to "hack" the senses, in order to expand the human experience & understand the world in new ways.

NOVA:

Engineering Extra Senses

People are already experimenting with ways to detect new stimuli in the environment. I've seen stories about individuals embedding magnets under their skin so they can detect the strength of electromagnetic fields.

External sensing devices, neural implants, and perhaps even new biologically-engineered sense organs, will change how the mind can experience the infinite aspects of the Universe.

 

The Universal Mind

Question: Can you tell what the difference is between these two pictures?










• The picture to the left shows the cosmic structure of galactic clusters.
• The picture on the right shows the neural network of the human brain!

The universe is fractal, holographic, and completely incomprehensible!!!

I found the image of galaxy distribution on the webpage for the Millenium Simulation, in which supercomputers have modeled the known universe in three dimensions. Click on the link to see high-res images... they are awesome visualizations. The picture above is on the scale of 100 million light-years. And that is a relatively close zoom - The cosmic simulation has been carried out and visualized to a scale of over 5 billion light-years (see image below)!!! At this extreme resolution, the universe goes from looking like clustered galactic brain cells to resembling the quantum energy field at the smallest scales of the universe...

I can't help but be amazed at the vast scale and complexity these images represent. To say a human being is nothing but a speck in the universe is an understatement. There's really not much to say when confronted with ideas like this, because the vocal grunts and electrical flashes that make up our consciousness are incapable of handling it. The fact that we can ponder such things at all is perhaps due to the self-similar fractal nature of the universe and, therefore, our mind. The relationship is right there in the two pictures above.

If you really try to wrap your head around what these images mean, human activities such as science, religion, nationalism, and even the fantasy of 'the self' will eventually be revealed as abstract constructs of the human ego. The Universe is God, and vice-versa, and we are like particles within 'It' that blip in and out of existence as fast as an electron zips around a nucleus. That's not to say the human experience is worthless or meaningless - it is what it is...
and it is whatever the human experiencing it makes it out to be!

I think that if people gave more thought to the reality of the infinite scale and complexity of the universe, it would lead to more open-minded contemplation of our tiny, but unique place in the world.


•The microcosm and macrocosm are intimately connected.

"The cycle of Interdependent Origins
takes place in everything, everywhere,
in the infinitely small as in the infinitely great.
Their activity is interconnected,
and they only exist on with the other."
- The Secret Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism

"The development of structures
in what is called microevolution
mirrors the development of structures
in macroevolution and vice versa.
Microstructures and macrostructures
evolve together as a whole."
- Erich Jantsch, Creative Evolution

Beholding the Terrifying Nature of the Divine

 

On r/TIHI (Thanks, I Hate It), I saw this video of a "biblically accurate angel" specifically one of the cherubim, based on a description in Ezekiel 10:

I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

The creepy-ass CGI video is by Alex Howard:

Biblical angels be like: BE NOT AFRAID

Imagine coming across this spectacle while walking along in the wilderness, minding your own business!...

If the descriptions in the Bible described an actual encounter, it's hard to imagine what was actually being experienced - was it an extra-dimensional being, a hallucination brought on by plant entheogens, or some other altered state of consciousness? The description could just as well describe an extraterrestrial spacecraft, seen by someone with a limited linguistic toolkit to accurately convey the information about what they experienced. The other option, of course, is that it's just a made-up story.

The idea of an angel seems to describe a spirit or consciousness beyond our ordinary experience, which can take many different forms. It is not limited to the glowing humanoid with wings, which is usually depicted in Western religious art.

The specific angelic form depicted above, the cherubim, have been portrayed in different ways over the centuries. The traditional artistic representation is almost like the typical angel I just mentioned, but with multiple animal heads:

Modern artists have been able to create more abstract depictions more properly conveying the spiritual nature of such an entity:

I have never encountered any kind of spiritual, energetic being such as a ghost or angel, so as far as I know, they don't exist. However, I am open the idea there are beings or levels of consciousness that might be outside our realm of experience.

While reading comments on the original post, I saw the video below from The Onion, a one-on-one interview with God. The concept of "God" is an even more difficult one to pin down than angels. God, being the creative force underlying all of Reality, is, by definition, impossible to understand or even singularly experience. It is literally ALL THAT IS, the unity of everything, from the quantum to the cosmic levels, & everything in between. 

 If someone wants to ask me if I believe in God, I would say that we have to describe what we think God is first. If it's the Old Testament deity, Yahweh, who is a Zeus-like human personality that loves, judges, seeks vengence, etc. & interacts with humans on a personal level - then my answer would be "No," that's mythology.

If we define God as something akin to The Force or the Unified Field, the flux of base, subatomic energy that gives rise to all the patterns of the Universe - then "Yes," of course that exists.

Anyway, I thought this video was a funny representation of how The Infinite would be perceived by a finite human mind. Such awe-inspiring insight into the nature of reality can be approximated in certain altered states of consciousness, when the mind expands outside its normal modes of experience:

iThink Tech 2015

In my last post, I shared a project from my college years, called the Omega Computer.

"Omega Computer" Concept

The project assignment was to design a computer of the future. Years later, I revisited the challenge of imagining futuristic computer technology & took it a step farther.

Instead of the external, portable devices used in the Omega Computer concept, I designed a computer brain implant called the "Apple iThink". You can see the specs of the iThink in my original post:

Apple iThink- Upgraded

Since I made those graphics, I've closely followed developments in science and technology that are leading toward a brain-computer interface, like the iThink.

I see technology, like my iPhone or computer, as extensions of my mind. The mystic sentiment that "consciousness is in all things" seems more true, the more I look into Reality. The Universe is made up of something more fundamental than particles or atoms- The Universe is made of information.

Human consciousness is just one manifestation of the Universal Information Field (UIF), that can manifest in infinite varieties. There is no reason why the ordinary conscious experience of the biological brain cannot be modified or enhanced to create novel states of being.

Of course, every step of the way there will be problems and questions that have to be addressed. Certain choices and directions may have unintended or negative consequences. However, I think it is inevitable for humanity to continue to seek new abilities, information, & understanding. We have uniquely mastered technology for this end, and will continue to expand both the individual and collective consciousness through technological means. Perhaps suprisingly to some, this technological innovation will be continue to be simultaneous, and perhaps symbiotic, with deeper spiritual and philosophical understanding about the nature of ourselves and our world.

I've collected links which, individually, are amazing developments. However, when seen as precursors to technologically-augmented consciousness, these scientific breakthroughs signal new frontiers in the human experience.

Time:
• 2045: Kurzweil on When Humans, Machines Merge


New Scientist:
• Cyborg Tissue is Half Living Cells, Half Electronics

Extreme Tech:
• MIT Creates Glucose Fuel Cell to power Implanted Brain-Computer interfaces

Daily Mail:
• The Groundbreaking Microscopic Thread That Could Let Us Plug Our Brain Into a Computer

Waking Times
• Decoded Neurofeedback: Matrix-like Learning With No Conscious Effort
 
Extreme Tech:
• Brown University Creates First Wireless, Implanted Brain-computer Interface

The White House:
• BRAIN Initiative Challenges Researchers to Unlock Mysteries of Human Mind

Kurzweil AI
• Organic transistors for brain mapping

Popular Mechanics:
• Going Wireless and Restoring Memories: The Incredible Future of Brain Implants

CNet:
• What Google Glass Aspires to Be

Technooccult:
• DARPA Wants to Fit Soldiers with a Little Black Box Brain Implant

The Atlantic:
•  The Not-So-Distant Future When We Can All Upgrade Our Brains

DefenseOne:
• The Military Is Building Brain Chips to Treat PTSD

The Verge:
• Google Leads $542 Million Funding of Mysterious Augmented Reality Firm Magic Leap

Techcrunch:
• The Ongoing Quest For The ‘Brain’ Chip

H+
• Biology is Technology — DARPA is Back in the Game With A Big Vision

BBC Future:
• The Code That May Treat Blindness

Smithsonian:
• A Flexible Circuit Has Been Injected Into Living Brains

Aeon:
• Hive consciousness: Do We Really Want to Fuse Our Minds Together?

Privacy, National Security, & The Digital Overmind

 graohic from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Edward Snowden is the latest whistleblower making headlines over "leaks" that expose the inner workings of government spy agencies & intelligence contractors. The massive surveillance & data collection activities of these entities are now public knowledge. Most people who know anything about information technology realized this kind of thing was probably going on for many years. The former CIA employee has now single-handedly brought the debate over corporate & government overreach to the forefront.

The Guardian:

Edward Snowden: 

The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations

There were many people during the Bush years who tried to warn about the inevitable bureaucratic & technical nightmare that was being put in place, under the guise of National Security. It was clear that a real danger existed in the emergence of these vast data collection capabilities & also in the unchecked power granted to various unaccountable agencies, in the name of the quixotic "War on Terror"™.

My family often talks about the issue of privacy, & how modern technology erodes certain aspects of that away. We joke about how it's impossible to "stay off the grid" & have a completely private life anymore, with mobile devices like the iPhone that keep you connected continuously. Especially where family & friends are concerned, I actually don't think there's anything inherently wrong with living more open, public lives through social sites or other digital presence.  

The human experience is becoming more interconnected, whether we like it or not.

The basic feature of life is connectivity. Online services like Facebook, LinkedIn, Google +, etc are amazing tools that help people to connect to the entire realm of human information & directly to other people.

Despite their positive aspects, these tools are also inherently subject to abuse. The people who are citizens & customers of these services must stay vigilant to prevent policies that are likely to result in negative effects for society.

I personally think "privacy" is one of those nebulous subjects, that only exists as far as people agree it exists in certain circumstances. At this point in the Digital Age, though, most people (including myself) would argue for the need of some degree of privacy in one's personal life. Ideally, it would be up to the individual how much of one's self to make public, & with whom they choose to share the information.

The areas of National Intelligence & Telecommunications are enormous, complicated endeavors. They clearly have capabilities which are beyond the comprehension of the average person. Although Big Brother may not be personally listening to every conversation you have, society needs to debate the use of these systems & how to protect against their abuse. You can never trust any authority or power structure to NOT abuse their power.  Unfortunately for privacy advocates, I don't know how the hell you can stuff the massive information genie back into the bottle marked: "PRIVATE!".

This problem was bigger than Dubya himself, even though it was escalated under his administration... & it's bigger than Obama, despite the continuation of these questionable activities. The President probably has little operational control over all this spying madness. I'm sure he doesn't like some of the things going on, but how does anyone even begin to reign in the many out-of-control aspects of the intelligence & security industries- not just in the U.S., but around the globe?

The Internet is being flooded with data, every moment now. We are constantly feeding into the growing virtual hive mind, that is integrating human consciousness into a luminal layer of virtual information & shared experience.

Either 1) we decide to completely eliminate the augmented lifestyle offered by our digital devices & the web, or 2) we need to accept the unavoidable aspects of the situation and strive to make it work with us, & not against us.

These kind of topics always make me think to the future and wonder how these evolving issues will be dealt with as our tech & our minds evolve. Once we have computer brain implants like the Apple iThink, then a telepathy-like messaging system, using thought alone, will likely be possible. We will need to create virtual mechanisms for blocking & allowing certain messages, and also have a way for your status stay hidden from others if you want. Before receiving such a implant, people will probably still demand ways to virtually "unplug", to prevent your signal from connecting to the network, at your will. Hopefully, this kind of future technology won't have to be synonymous with the way the government & telecom companies currently conduct business.

In the meantime, anyone who risks their own freedom to expose the truth about problems within government and corporate operations is doing society a service. The State may give them serious prison time & ruin their lives, but a responsible whistleblower believes in the selfless mission of informing the populace of wrongdoing so that others will benefit from its change.

IN-SHADOW- A Modern Odyssey

I came across this absolutely mind-blowing short film (13 min.) while scrolling through the many inanities of the Facebook news feed. I reposted it, with just a Keanu Reeves-like "Woah."

Official Website:

"IN-SHADOW- A Modern Odyssey"

It was written, directed & produced by Lubomir Arsov, and it is a work of genius by those involved.

The movie attempts to rip apart the facade of maya, the illusion that envelopes our society & our perceptions. This cosmic web of apparently unique phenomena is actually a singular Unity, an underlying energy at the quantum level. This infinite array of interacting, energetic patterns only seems to be a bunch of different things on the level of human perception.

The virtual light show in our skull creates the appearance of difference. Good, bad, neutral, moral, immoral, positive, negative, horrible, wonderful, indifferent... they are all modes of that fundamental base energy that has no human characteristics (but somehow still gives rise to those characteristics in the human form).

“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven 

unless its roots reach down to hell.”
-C.G. Jung

IN-SHADOW explores the darker sides of human nature & culture, before annihilating it all in a psychedelic, spiritual ascension. Systems of control on a personal level, as well as on a social scale, are unmasked. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, factory farming, mass media, fast food, banking, politics (yes, politics is clearly an industry), military, and technology are all shown as interconnected systems with negative aspects that are manifested from the base impulses of greed, fear, hate, and ignorance. Of course, they are not all completely bad, but are among the most commonly corrupted.

The Jung quote above, from the IN-SHADOW movie page, refers to the transformation that signifies all hero journeys- the descent into the "lower" realms of human experience, before merging with the light. This is a theme that occurs in many stories, including my favorite Star Wars. We have to understand the worst aspects of the world to know what we might face and how to overcome it. If we can't overcome it, we need to know how to at least be at peace with ourselves and our collective infinite nature.

If you've already read to this point & haven't watched the movie, take about 10 minutes to check it out. It is an awe-inspiring movie that is worth watching.

As one of the YouTube comments said,

"How do we get this played at Superbowl halftime?"

The Fusion of Mind & Machine

From Paul's Portrait

Technology has always been one of my favorite topics. Although, I consider myself to be deeply connected to nature, I am also comfortable with the many powerful uses of computers & the Internet. 

Many people are afraid of the relentless progression of technological development, and worry about the potential loss of "human-ness" that will result from our dependence on tech. I see all technology simply as a set of tools- with the potential for good, bad, & even neutral, consequences.

Humans have always had an integral, & often dependent, relationship with our inventions. There have been countless mind-augmenting technologies over the millenia, in the realm of communication. Spoken language, written symbols, the printing press, and the World Wide Web are all creations that have allowed the human mind to better connect with other minds.

Email, text messaging, social media, and other electronic systems are slightly more advanced steps toward a form of technological telepathy. The fundamental goal of a human being, in relation to other beings, is simply to connect. What digital devices are allowing us to do is make these connections in increasingly novel ways, at instantaneous speeds.

TechCrunch:

 Digital Telepathy 

Is The Future Of The Human Species

Right now, there is a Occupy Central protest in Hong Kong, advocating for representational democracy. The protesters are using the FireChat app to bypass the Internet & cell coverage, allowing peer-to-peer "mesh networking". This type of connection is extremely difficult for authorities to stop, since it is not reliant on a central or common network that can be blocked.

This demonstrates that technology is a source of evolution, that is every bit as real as biological mutation. Technology is a transformative aspect of the human experience- adapting & changing to fit the situation, and much more rapidly than natural selection.

As much as I truly appreciate the many positive uses for digital tech, there are just as many potentially hazardous outcomes. Unfortunately, I don't think humans will outgrow their capacity for maliciousness & desire for control of others before this technology develops.

In addition to humanity's flaws, perhaps the machines themselves could be a subtly invasive force. Sometimes I imagine electronics as silicone creatures, that are evolving to latch on closer & closer to humans, trying to merge into us like some kind of parasite. Computers are getting smaller, and moving closer to our bodies, via smartphones & wearable devices. Eventually, they will be embedded in our brains and incorporated directly into our biological systems. Then, we will become as dependent on the benefits of our iThink brain implant as we are on our mobile devices today.

If this ultimate symbiosis between mind & machine happens, could it be a source of cognitive liberation, through limitless mind-expansion,... or a virtual trap for our consciousness?

Earth. We are One:

The Transhumanism Trap: 

Why Biohacking Chains Consciousness 

to the Material World

Regardless of the possible consequences, both science & the technologies it produces will continue to ceaselessly advance. This year, scientists have achieved direct brain-to-brain communication, so the era of truly interlinked minds is rapidly approaching. Then, perhaps instead of sending clumsy symbolic communications such as text or even the primitive monkey grunts of our voice, humans will be able to directly share thoughts among minds.

As the late, great philosopher and psychonaut Terence McKenna said,

"It is not what we thought telepathy would be, 

which, I suppose (if you're like me) 

you imagine telepathy would be hearing what other people think... 

It isn't that. 

It's seeing what other people mean."

Humanzees vs. Robosapiens

My family was sitting around after Sunday dinner at my parents' house watching TV. We got sucked into 2 shows on the Discovery HD channel.

The programs they showed back to back were equally fascinating & disturbing in what they revealed about the nature of the collection of water, cells, & microorganisms known as the human being.

The first program was about the unique chimp that was named Oliver the 'Humanzee'. Unlike every other chimp, Oliver walked upright naturally & related to humans more closely than other primates. Strangely, the novel creature was first brought to Blackwood, NJ which is where my Dad grew up, less than a 1/2 hour from where I live now. This evolutionary anomaly illustrates the hiccups of nature that could produce major physiological differences in one lifetime.

Right after that intriguing look into the effects of biological processes on how life functions, Discover aired "Rise of the Cyborgs". This show focused on the tech that is driving cybernetic body augmentation. This is an even more drastic source of immediate change, as far as the human experience is concerned.

With such enhancements as robotic arms, bionic vision, and neural-computer interfacing advancing quickly, the future is looking much more complex than the mysteries of a bipedal chimp.

Beyond the physical connections involved, scientists are also taking the initial steps to interpreting the internal experiences that result from a person's brain activity.

Just the logistics of creating programs that can directly interface with the human mind will probably make many theories of organizing information obsolete.

Reinventing Humanity
The Future of Human-Machine Intelligence

Of course, the future may be even more dreadful than we could possibly comprehend...

T-Shirt Design by Ross Robertson

Google Glass, Through Drunk Irish Eyes

 
My tech life is dominated by Apple & Google products. I use only Macs & have the greatest invention of the modern age - the iPhone.

Despite the usual complaints of difficulty in upgrading & modifying, I love Apple hardware because it just works & I don't have to tinker with it. For a long time, I resisted getting an iPhone until my old phone totally crapped out, but now it's an integral tool in my daily life.

Google is another company that has created tools that I find indispensable right now. I use Blogger to create The Monkey Buddha blog. I have an online Picasa Photo Album. The navigation program Google Maps is freakin' amazing & has helped immensely with my anxiety when traveling. Google is digitizing works of art & also literature. In fact, they are digitizing the entire planet with Google Earth. One of my most visited pages, Google Search, with options of Images, Shopping, & Video, is absolutely miraculous, to an information sponge like myself. I talk to people all the time about how much it sucked in "the old days," trying to find answers about anything- before the search engine became the powerful resource it is today. The Internet is truly becoming a virtual hive mind, and search engines are the current key to accessing that collective consciousness. Although its power is awesome & could easily have detrimental effects, Google's definitely augmenting the capabilities of the human race in countless ways.

Dicover Magazine:

How Google is Making us Smarter

I don't think there's any question that the digital age is the most radically transformative of any time in known human history. The change & progress we're experiencing only seems to be accelerating, so we have very interesting years ahead.

Although it's been in development for awhile, the interactive eyewear called Google Glass is starting to get some attention. They are basically computerized glasses that can access online content, find directions, take pics & video, etc.

The Google Glass technology is already inspiring spoofs...

 Here's a video imagining how the ubiquitous ad culture will affect the experience:

Just in time for St. Patricks Day, this very funny video came out showing the day's festivities through a user's Google Glass experience:

St. Patrick's Day [through Google Glass] 

Since I don't wear glasses, it would be a big change to have eyewear on constantly. Instead of having to speak commands, there should be a way to look at icons & blink to make choices. Although it is interesting, & the state of technology to make it possible is truly astounding, Google Glass is simply another step in a process. The process seems to be the integration of biological & digital systems, to enable a greatly enhanced consciousness. I can't say if there will ever be an endpoint to this process, other than perhaps the conversion of our singular experience into the dimension of pure light.

After this glasses interface, though, it seems like the only logical progression would be to have a direct mind-machine interface that connects directly into the structure of the brain. This will truly alter the way humans perceive & experience reality...

Apple iThink

 

Introducing the "iThink"

I love Apple computers.

Besides providing modern necessities such as internet & email, the computer is pretty much my sole source of creative output. I started using Macs in my college design classes & was glad to be rid of Windows from my life after growing up with DOS & Windows 3.0.

As a senior, one of my semester projects was to design a computer of the future & relevant promo materials. Mine was basically a powerful handheld device with a wireless keyboard and an eye piece for a screen.

Since then, there's been alot of talk about what will happen when the creeping advance of digital technology begins to directly permeate our consciousness. We already have bionic body parts, brain implants, mind-interaction software, primitive AI, and all kinds of other that are signs of the continuing fusion between man and machine.

This also got me thinking about the inevitable augmentation of human experience through computers that will link directly to our conscious thoughts. This web is already being interwoven, so to speak, and there is speculation that some sort of super-consciousness could result. This idea has been given labels such as the Hive Mind, The Singularity, The End of Novelty, etc.

My Dad always jokes that one day, people are just going to be white blobs hooked up to all kinds of computers & electronics. I'd been thinking about the possibility of microchips being implanted that were essentially computers connecting to our brains. I wondered how my favorite brand, Apple, would exist in such circumstances.

That's when I thought up the "iThink":

"The most revolutionary computer in history,
iThink allows you to interact with
unlimited information, virtual imagery & sound,
and even immersive environments,
all within your mind!"

click for larger image (1900x1200)

It's taken me awhile to actually finish these graphics due to procrastination & the interference of life in general. I've been running it around in my head for awhile, though. Anyway, this was just a fun project for me. This all might seem incredibly geeky, but I think it's a pretty intriguing concept that illustrates real possibilities.

We have to ask ourselves what a human being's mental experience will be like when we get to this point. Will we be able to close our eyes and create an environment like a holodeck inside our own headspace? How will we control the data streams and imagery that will be flooding our perceptions? Will any outside source be able to hack into our brains? Will there be different classes of people according to whether they are 'natural' or 'cyber'?

There are millions of questions that only time will answer. For now, we can only imagine how a product like the "iThink" would affect mankind.

In addition to the poster above, I also created a spec sheet to resemble those used for Apple's existing products. Scroll down for text of the tech details...

click for larger image (1900x1200)

iThink Technical Specifications

• Size:
1.5 x 1.5 x .5 inches

• Symbiosis™ Neural Interface:
Direct brain-computer link means your mind and computer are one!

• Intel Fusion™ Quantum Processing:
Uses the power of the atom to instantly compute at the speed of thought.

• Holographic Data Storage:
The iThink’s tiny internal holochip has a staggering individual capacity of over 666 Yottabytes (1000^8), for seemingly infinite augmented memory

• Intra-neural Communication:
Mentally allow or block any kind of signal you want to send or recieve instantly over the wireless iThink global network

• Perceptual Immersion:
Images, sound, & other data are projected virtually into your sensory fields by directly connecting into your brain’s activity

• Integrated GPS and Google Earth:
Receive directions and location information anywhere on the planet, and the ability to be located in case of an emergency

The Phantom of Language

A story caught my eye a few weeks ago about the discovery & analysis of a old type of medium called a "Phonautograph" from 1860.

It is basically a piece of paper with markings that were recorded from sound. The remarkable thing is that the researchers were able to translate the recordings back into sound. The resulting audio is on the New York Times website and it is fascinating & also creepy as hell.

Playing the song feels like you are opening a portal that closes the gap in space & time between the long-gone person whose voice now magically reaches our ears. Of course, sensory-recording media is omnipresent today, but the pre-audio age of this particular find is what gives it a mysterious quality.

The other amazing thing about the recording was that the inventor had not even conceived of a way to play the audio back!!! The imprint of the waveform created by the singer's vocal cords was 'frozen' in an abstract state for over a century with no one ever hearing it played! This use of current technology to unlock the data is a testament to the ingenious foresight of the inventor- Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.

This is all fascinating to me, & it made me think about the ephemeral nature of human communication, in all its forms. Mankind is just a quick flash in one of the Universe's brain cells, but as a species we strive so hard to achieve the absurd notion of immortality. We are continually trying to create a lasting presence through art, architecture, sciences, stories, and all types of cosmically futile efforts.
*Why even bother with such "trivial" pursuits, then???
*The answer is as simple as it is all-encompassing and unerringly correct:
"We are humans and that's what we do."

Language defines our experience in all its forms. The craving for connections that people are perpetually seeking can span moments, lifetimes, and generations through language. Animals communicate, too, but we can just guess what aspects of consciousness they are perpetuating.

One of our "cosmically futile" (but sociologically noble) pursuits is the preservation of dying languages threatened with vanishing due to the disappearance of the cultures that used them.
It must be incredibly lonely to be the last person to speak an extinct tongue, knowing that untold legacies will also go with you. This compulsion for preservation of knowledge is especially evident right now, as the internet and other media are used non-stop to cache more and more of the human experience each passing minute.

"Saving Dying Languages"

Hopefully these efforts will prove to be cosmically futile much, much later than sooner.

Secrets of Da Vinci's Challenge

As a designer, I feel that all my work can be considered art - regardless of whether it's a package graphics, art for stationery products, or toy/game design. "Da Vinci's Challenge" is a special case for me, though, because it carries more of a classic sense of what art is; a creation that can evoke intellectual and emotional response, holds symbolic meaning, and has a unique aesthetic value.

The most amazing thing about "Da Vinci's Challenge" as a piece of functional art is its timeless heritage. The pattern of interlocking circles that defines the playing surface of the gameboard is an ancient symbol known throughout history by various names; The Flower of Life, the Language of Light, and the Language of Silence... all of which hint at the transcendental and mysterious essence of this beautiful design.

Flower of Life Carving at Osirian Temple in Egypt

The oldest known physical example of this symbol is in the 6,000 year old Osirian Temple in Abydos, Egypt. The temple was a subterranean complex dedicated to Osiris, the god symbolizing death and regeneration... the afterlife and resurrection. The once-underground chambers are the most ancient of all the ancient Egyptian ruins. "The Flower of Life" symbol is carved with laser-like accuracy on huge granite blocks in the temple walls.

In the context of ancient Egyptian mystery religions, "The Flower of Life" represented the infinite, yet structured matrix that subtly forms the reality we experience. This underlying order can be called God, the Universe, the Quantum Field, the Tao, or whatever you prefer to call it. It is the complete, all-encompassing flux of the world- from the smallest electron fields to the largest scales of the cosmos.



This symbol was used by ancient priests and spiritual initiates as a mandala, a geometric or symbolic pattern that is used to focus on a particular state of mind or experience. "The Flower of Life" was used as a meditation on Unity and Interconnectedness. This is not some metaphysical, abstract mumbo-jumbo, but reflects the basic nature of the world we live in.

Every aspect of the universe is connected and meshed at a base level. Science has firmly demonstrated the mystical concept that the cosmos is nothing but patterns of energy vibration interacting at different levels. The real Mystery is how this seemingly random quantum soup organizes itself into recognizable forms and a mind that can perceive these forms. It's easy to say, "God does it all." God IS the mystery, though, so in order to really understand this statement, one has to really investigate the Mystery!

When you look into ideas such as sacred geometry, divine proportion, fractals, physics, cosmology, and other such disciplines, you gain a greater appreciation for the beauty and unexplainable complexity of the universe. The greater your awareness of the structure and nature of reality, the better prepared you will be to utilize it to the benefit of yourself and others. Because of the connective neural structure of the human brain, our mental perceptions of the entire universe are based on our perceived patterns of causal or physical connection. "The Flower of Life" perfectly illustrates this ordered intricate web of scale, structure, and vibration that defines the world. "The Flower of Life" represents the face of God more ideally than any anthropomorphic painting by Michelangelo.

Besides the philosophical meaning that can be drawn from "The Flower of Life" symbol, there is also rich mathematical knowledge that can be found within the perfectly symmetrical form of interlocking circles. Leonardo da Vinci used his keen intellect and sense of observation to study the geometries found within the Flower of Life.

Flower of Life Studies 
by Leonardo da Vinci

  

The pattern is deceptively easy to create. It is begun by simply overlapping 2 identical circles, so the edge of each circle touches the midpoint of the other.



This symbol itself is one of the most ancient and universal symbols known to man. The intersecting circles form a central shape called the 'Vesica Pisces' which, in Christian art, is the basis for the 'Jesus fish' and also the symbol of the womb that the Virgin Mary is often portrayed within. This is a symbol more widely used and much older than Christianity, though. It is a symbol of life, creation, vision, and birth. Incidentally, the Vesica Pisces also defines the energy patterns that lead cells to organize into vital human forms such as the eye, the urethra, the womb, and the mouth. When you start to see such patterns in nature, it is almost as if you are looking into the programming code of reality and the mind.

The third circle is added by placing its midpoint on one of the places where the first two circles intersect. Now the pattern has been establish and it becomes a self-replicating pattern. This step in the pattern can be seen to symbolize the Trinity where a third-dimension of Spirit and Space define the Creation pattern so it becomes a self-regulating phenomenon. From now on, a circle can be placed with its midpoint centered anywhere that the edges of two other circles intersect. The pattern can continue to be repeated and extended endlessly.

A circle is considered rightly to be the perfect form. It represents 'oneness' and 'completeness' its edge has no beginning and no end, but a definite form. This is the fundamental shape that represents the planets, the stars, the moon, the eye, bubbles, water drops. It is the most efficient and sound way to structure matter.

A circle is also the most pleasing to the eye, because of the structural self-similarity. This is easy to prove through understanding human nature. When we are first born, our mind is programmed to search for circles!!! We are automatically drawn to the circular eyes of our mother for recognition, and the round nipples of our mother for nourishment.

This is truly the universal form, and has become the optimal natural shape to guide the survival instincts of human life. Even when we grow older, we are entranced by the circle and compelled to reproduce and continue our species through such mechanisms as our attraction to the 'round' parts of the anatomy. This is part of the wonder of the process of nature and how it is organized in such a fascinating, yet effective way.


The symbol made from the seven circles at the center of "The Flower of Life" is called "The Seed of Life". It can be seen as a metaphor for the 7 days of Genesis from which all Creation expands out of the One, the single center circle. From this basis, the pattern of Creation can expand indefinitely and can contain endless number and types of forms. "The Flower of Life" is a representation of the infinite, yet orderly, matrix that describes both the interconnected structure of the mind and of the Universe that it perceives.


The shapes and colors of the game pieces in "Da Vinci's Challenge" represent the duality that seems to be ingrained in our mental experiences and perceptions. The patterns that are made using these shapes on the game board can be seen as a representation of the infinite forms that can arise from the underlying matrix of order in the Universe and in our brains. The dual black and white colors, as well as the triangle and long oval shapes can be thought of as representations of yin and yang, male and female, active and passive, 0 and 1 binary characteristics that our duality-based consciousness is trained to experience.

By contemplating the overall, random pattern these shapes make when they are all placed on the the underlying matrix of the game board by the end of the game- you can draw comparisons to the structure and nature of the universe and the infinite forms that also arise from basic elements and principles.

All good art and symbolism packs the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of space. "The Flower of Life" has been recognized throughout history as a symbol of prime importance because of the infinite amount of geometric, spiritual, and symbolic information that it can represent.


I encourage you to explore the concepts I've talked about here to help deepen your understanding of your own mind and the world we experience through the limiting filter of the mind. From the beginning of its conception, "Da Vinci's Challenge" has always been intended to be a source of insight, inspiration, and a connection to timeless wisdom for everyone who encounters it.

Most of all, I hope it continues to be a source of enjoyment and bonding for those who play it.

The Official Facebook Page: 

Da Vinci's Challenge