Are we evolving into spiritual cyborgs?

We are drenched in networks and cybernetic linkages and apps that are increasingly pushing speech, text, and even thinking itself into disembodied states of being. At the speed of a transmitted signal events now happen simultaneously from all parts of the globe. Information organically proliferates all around us at exponential rates and shrinking scales, almost as if it were some omnipresent living demiurge breaking out of it's own silicon cocoon. We surf thru virtual miniverses as much filled with dark questionable "matter" as they are driven to expand at accelerating rates. And while avatars voicelessly debate the deepest and most profound of issues in online forums, young people dreamily reflect and blog on their lives on Facebook as if ghosts who had long since died. What are we evolving into? And is it something good or bad or neither?

The Spiritual Cyborg
http://www.techgnosis.com/techgnosis/tgspirit.html

 

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Other then the fact that this is self referencing?

I think your statement is all wrong. The internet is a bunch of bits, strung together with ones and zeroes. That's all.

Your creating a completely abstract interpretation of the system. And while it may sound all well and good in the limited universe of your imagination, it does not carry over into reality.

 

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Just 1's and 0's eh? Is that like how human beings are just molecules all strung together into DNA and tissues and neurons? I think you have a simplistic view of the world. Things are not always JUST what they are made of.

 

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I disagree with that . It is more than that . It is the fall of information silos . Information silos are responsible for human activity pecking orders and the fall of the silos are having a profound effect on human activity . How else do you explain tea party candidates getting elected . Think about " people more obscure than even President Obama getting elected to make decisions for all of us. Do you think that would have happened with out the internet and the fall of information silos even if some of the silos carry disinformation . The revealing of information true or not still impacts over all decision making of human habitation and I would say that is a bit more than 1s and 0s.

 

Greater than the sums of there parts through resonance . Like if you hit 2 strings and they resonate with each other then the sustain of the sound holds on longer, but if there is discourse instead of compatibility then the sound has a drop off effect. The Pythagorean Idea of ten men resonating in like thought comes to play in my mind. It is totally amazing what ten people can do if they are all on board with the same goal . You could build a pyramid with primitive tools for example . You might need to whip a few slaves , but it is achievable still the same, as history has already proven

 

So what is it then? I defer to you and your obvious expert knowledge of the internet.

Actually, you know what, that brings me to my next question. Just what exactly do you know about the internet?

 

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I'm sure that the Catholic church said that about the printing press.

And by the way, every single time there is an economic recession a party rises and falls, most of them pathetic. The tea party is only the most recent iteration of this facet of human nature. The Great Depression had quite a few of those sorts of parties. Including the communist party.

You guys treat the internet as an abstraction, it really isn't. It is 1's and 0's, strung together by some of the sharpest minds our society has ever produced.

You would not believe how effectively people can manipulate electronic information, create, edit, destroy.

 

The massive gapping hole in your argument is this. Humans created the internet, and humans use it.

And if you consider a webpage to be a multiverse then you should read a book sometime. That's a real 'multiverse' as per your casual, albeit erroneous, definition.

How are we evolving into anything? I fail to see the connection at all. The fact that your article obviously had a bit of quote mining, as well as the actual website it was from already questions your argument.

 

It may be virtual, but the intercommunication of our species is unprecedented. Digital tools like iphones are becoming extensions of our senses and speech, just look at this forum where images and emoticons accent words. Something is happening and we don't know exactly where it will lead.

 

I think it's the greatest tool for creating real enlightenment globally. Only a complete shutdown/takeover of the internet will prevent citizens in dictatorial regimes from finding out, how other people around the world built their political systems. I think the internet plays a great role in all the places where the people rise against dictators these days.

 

We are now more aware of each other than we've been before, and more able to communicate.

Considering commuincation may enhance our ability to empathize with each other, it could be a good thing...but it also allows loons to reinforce each other.

Schizophrenics with persecutory delusions are forming support groups and political groups...to lobby Congress to stop the CIA from beaming voices into their heads...

 

I think it's a double edged sword. The capability of transmitting information is astounding. We really can become a global community. Even here, we communicate with people around the globe - everyday.

On the other hand, does everyone really need to be in constant contact 24-7? I don't think so. I don't know about you, but I need time to step back and absorb the information.

 

you sound like my mother gmil... r u old?

 

What does it help to be aware of someone who lives thousands of miles away from you - while you don't even know your neighbor's name?

Not to mention that some faceless entities on the internet get more of your attention than your actual friends, family and pets - who live in the same house with you.

 

This is off-topic with the current topic but:

This doesn't mean they are wrong about what's been occurring, just possibly wrong about the who's and why's in regards to their misuse. Such misuse is global and it's done in such a way so as to not identify too much about who's doing it, it's done in a way where whoever the observer is has to fill in the gaps of who is doing it and this is where delusion arises.

After all some will think it the voice of God, others the Devil or some Demon or other, others still will think it ghosts of a dead relative, or aliens or Telepathy to a person miles away that they have never met. (More recently you've had the Scientologists with their perception on "Thetan's")

Such systems have been known to be tested for use during the cold war, you see cold war governments like to send espionage agents to infiltrate various groups (usually anarchist ones) with the intention of getting them placed high enough in the groups structure so as to cause internal conflicts within a country to lessen a countries defences or capacity to attack. The problem with placing an agent is they usually don't do it for free and this means there is a trail leading back to the country that the agent is working for.

The usage of radiological matrixing of "unwitting participants" meant that such a country would gain a completely disposable agent with not ties back to the country of origin. These unwitting agents don't even have to lift a finger to become a problem to a country, they could just be impaired enough to consume more finances than they themselves can add to a countries coffers creating a financial espionage attack. (This is greatly exaggerated when you take into consideration how Medical Doctors tend to automatically assign schizophrenia as a term and force drug usage on the individuals, since that costs a government money to sustain a treatment which itself is based on a complete misdiagnosis.)

Think it a delusion? Perhaps, however just contemplate countries of a large size that might be seen as a threat to another country which can't enter into open hostilities, there is potentially a method to induce a complete economic collapse or civil unrest en-mass either by manipulate all of their citizens to fall foul of manipulation or just a few key individuals to stir up a hornets nest.

 

Probably. 53.

 

I wonder if that resonant effect increases geometrically with the number of agents. If 10, then what about a 100? Then a 1000. Then a million! Add to that multiple iteration, complexifying interconnectability, and system level coherence and suddenly you have possibilities and emergent properties not reducible to the agents themselves. With the internet not only do we have this social amplification effect, but we have it channeled into creative and time-unconstrained modes that have near instantaneous global effects. Witness the revolutions in the Middle East. There really is a sort of chaotic attractor swirling at the heart of our cyberevolution such that nobody can really tell where it is headed. For now I guess we can just sit back and enjoy the ride on this massive tsunami of 1's and 0's.

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You just took a metaphor, an inherently fictional device, and used it as very real evidence...

 

On the subject itself:

David Wood within his ice-breaking talk at January's UK Humanity+ event applied a diagram from "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey A. Moore.

The following diagram is the one I refer to:

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[Source:Wikipedia]

The concept of Digital Physics, Transhumanism and Emulation philosophies can be applied very similar to a new technology sold as a product. The model itself is a little different from a marketing model that shows that the diagram itself is actually a double bump, with a small bump prior to the larger with the Chasm being in between.

In essence some of us that have belief, reasoning's or conceptual designs are seen as Innovators or Pioneers, the problem is that we are at a proto-adoption stage prior to this "Chasm". It's called a Chasm because to most it can be seen as a giant leap of faith, with a potential future goal as a result, riding on the initial success of the pioneering phase.

While some people don't believe or understand the concepts, it doesn't necessarily mean that we shouldn't endure, we just need to revise and look towards reattempts at crossing that chasm. Notably Venture Capitalists in regards to business are often looking to ascertain as to the feasibility of an objective, because for the most feasible projects the only thing that stops the "pioneer escape velocity" is usually funding.

So in essence education on the subject, mock examples and greater examination aids the potential for development by greatly enhancing the overall feasibility.

 

I can safely tell you that the vast majority of people won't make that jump.

Look, the people at the innovators end of the scale are absurdly good. Those are typically the hackers, white hats or black hats.

Those are the sorts of people that can create programs that can infect 75,000 servers in ten minutes.

There would be no point to the graph if it were easy to jump the chasm.