Into 2007

2007 promises to be a year of great change... both for better and for worse...

Whilst there is great upheaval taking place on the earth; tremendous suffering and outrage; and whilst there is great wrong being conducted through human greed and lust - these are not the only changes.

Humanity is changing. It may not be obvious, but we are. We are also amidst major natural earth changes and disruptions. Despite all this I remain optimistic.

No actions, thoughts, or words go unheeded. Neither do they go without consequence.

Each individual acts as a mirror to the macrocosmos and microcosmos.

In All and Everything, the human spirit must prevail. It must recognise its eternal nature, and not allow itself to be sunken in the swamp of negativity.

I will be away for several days - I wish everyone a Healthy & Happy New Year -

May 2007 make us stronger...

A Dystopian Future?

Well, I've re-connected to the Web: isn't it good to take a few days off? Must we live a 24/7 connected culture? There is much to be said about breathing a few deep breaths of fresh air and being dis-connected from everything except your self...

Yet will the future allow such a possibility? Must technology really take us down some dystopian path...like a double-edged sword it can both enhance and entrap. Yet these are old debates: what is happening though is an acceleration in technological possibilities that are outstripping the spiritual, ethical, and mindful leadership that humans are employing to oversee the technology. Never deny ourselves; we hold the key.

This article titled 'One generation is all they need' is by an associate professor of criminology and discusses human implanting and chipping in a very realistic way:

'By the time my four-year-old son is swathed in the soft flesh of old age, he will likely find it unremarkable that he and almost everyone he knows will be permanently implanted with a microchip. Automatically tracking his location in real time, it will connect him with databases monitoring and recording his smallest behavioural traits. '

There should be no fear of freedom or human apathy. We make the choices and walk the Way.

May 2007 bring us all Health, Happiness, Spirit, Wisdom, and Compassion.

The Occult Technology of Power

There are a couple of essays recently posted that I would like to point to... as they are both worth reading, for their own different reasons.

First is called 'The Occult Technology of Power' - and which discusses some of the economic flows within particular power structures.

Second is 'Advice for Newbies' from Tom Montalk where he talks about where to start when entering the fray.

Finally, I would like to send out a recommended read - 'Hidden Truth: Forbidden Knowledge' by Steven Greer. Controversial - yet important things are said.

Next Froniter - The Space Race is Heating Up

I've said a few things about the way the US military-industrial complex is weaving its technotronic web over terrestrial affairs. The plan is to have a fully weaponised satellite war-machine in place in orbit over Earth. So if there is little chance at soul-constraint, they'll go for the physical jugular.

Latest news on this - an article in The Washington Times called 'U.S. to defend space with military force':

The United States will use military force in space to protect satellites and other space systems from attack by hostile states or terrorists, the Bush administration's senior arms-control official said yesterday...

"If these rights are not respected, the United States has the same full range of options -- from diplomatic to military -- to protect its space assets as it has to protect its other critical assets," he said. "There is also a broad range of means, both passive and active, by which space assets may be protected or the effects of the loss of their services minimized," he said.'

Well - I guess that says enough. Anyone trespassing in space is a rogue entity - and that goes for both terrestrial and non-terrestrial entities. Space is for US control only... they wish...

Brain Fingerprinting...?

Yes - another way to tap into the human consciousness artificially. It is the realm that contains a possibility for transcendence - so also must it be a target for containment.

A new 'science' that has been used by state authorities is Brain Fingerprinting:

'The Brain Fingerprinting® testing system detects information directly on the basis of the electrophysiological manifestations of information processing brain activity, measured non-invasively from the scalp with MERA (multifaceted electroencephalographic response analysis). Brain Fingerprinting testing depends only on brain information processing and responses to specific stimuli. It does not depend on the emotional response of the subject and is not subject to control or manipulation by the person being tested.'

In more scary terms it claims to be applicable for counterterrorism in that 'we' need to know who is a terrorist or spy - but not to worry, brain fingerprinting will tell you!

'How do we determine if a person is a terrorist or spy? There is a new technology, that for the first time, allows us to measure scientifically if specific information is stored in a person’s brain. Brain Fingerprinting technology can determine the presence or absence of specific information, such as terrorist training and associations. This exciting new technology can help address the following critical elements in the fight against terrorism'

The more one develops their consciousness and level of mind - to put it very crudely - the greater steps will be taken to resist such materialistic acts of psychological containment and warfare against the spirit.

Powerful Magnetic Storm

It seems that the sun has been very active recently, and is emitting powerful electromagnetic energy that may affect people and systems here on earth. According to Russian scientists:

'The largest electromagnetic energy emission in the last 30 years has been recorded on the Sun, the Shernberg State Astronomy Institute said on Thursday. This energy outburst may damage equipment of space satellites, the scientists say. Doctors warn that the emission is dangerous for those afflicted with cardiovascular illnesses as well as for healthy people...

The Sun’s electromagnetic anomaly has not reached the Earth yet. However, the Earth is expected to reach the sunspots quite soon. The encounter may happen this weekend, scientists at the Shternberg Astronomy Institute report. Igor Nikulin says: “If the area of the sunspots does not diminish in three or four days and the emissions continue, it may have a serious influence on the magnetic field of the Earth.” A cloud of hot plasma from the sunspots will make the Earth’s magnetic field vibrate and will cause a powerful magnetic storm.”'

Read in full in Powerful Magnetic Storm Approaches the Earth

Risking Human Extinction

Risking Human Extinction is an essay worth reading from the Lifeboat Foundation - specifically from its Scientific Advisory Board member John Leslie.

ABSTRACT

Of all humans so far, roughly ten per cent are alive with you and me. If human extinction occurred soon, our position in population history would have been fairly ordinary. But if, in contrast, humankind survived for many more centuries, perhaps colonizing the galaxy, then we could easily be among the earliest 0.001 per cent of all humans who will ever have lived. This could seem a very surprising position to be in — a point which is crucial to a "doomsday argument" originated by the cosmologist Brandon Carter.

People who accept the argument, even in a weakened form which takes account of the fact that the world is probably indeterministic, will re-estimate the size of the threats to humankind, showing increased reluctance to believe that humans will survive for very long.

Possible threats include nuclear and biological warfare; ozone layer destruction; greenhouse warming of a runaway kind; an environmental crisis caused by overpopulation; new diseases; disasters from genetic engineering or from nanotechnology; computers replacing humans entirely, as some people think would be desirable; the upsetting of a space-filling scalar field through an experiment at very high energies, as discussed in a recent book by England's Astronomer Royal; and even the arguments of the many philosophers who see no duty to keep the human race in existence. But despite all such dangers and despite Carter's disturbing argument, humans may well have a good chance of surviving the next five centuries.

Disclosure - Information they don't want you to know...

The Disclosure Project is a nonprofit research project working to fully disclose facts that have been deliberately covered up inside the very highest ranks of the Intelligence Communities: such facts as extraterrestrial intelligence, and classified advanced energy and propulsion systems.

The Disclosure Project has collected the testimonies from over 400 government, military, and intelligence community witnesses testifying to their direct, personal, first hand experience with black operations and buried information.

I would recommend watching the 2 DVDs that show some of these witnesses, available as separate downloads from Google Video:

Disclosure One

Disclosure Two

Also related is the Disclosure parallel project called Space Energy Access Systems, Inc. (SEAS)

SEAS is 'in the process of identifying and testing new technologies that claim to be "over unity"; that is, they put out more electric power than is required to operate. It is our goal, utilizing a unique strategic approach, to bring forth these new environmentally sound technologies to replace virtually all fossil fuel, internal combustion and ionizing nuclear technologies within 20-30 years.'

The Militarization of Science and Space

There is alot to be said about the way in which science and space is being co-opted into the military-industrial complex. This is huge topic worthy of much research - especially the vast amounts of money going into the weaponisation of space, some of this filtered through scientific agencies and covert funding.

Some initial noteworthy links here:

1. A Google Video from Noam Chomsky speaking at MIT on The Militarization of Science and Space

2. A short yet informative article titled 'Master of Space' by Karl Grossman

3. A site with some good resources called 'Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space'

And I'm sure there's more to come...

Suspect Nation

Earlier in the week More4 aired a documentary on the state of Britain's surveillance - it was titled Suspect Nation .

For those who missed it, it can be viewed here as a free download on Google Video - while it lasts!

A very 'telling' exposure, and recommended viewing.

Also, I posted earlier upon the recent report that had just been released that had made a study of Britain as a surveillance state.

This study had been commissioned by the Information Commissioner and was undertaken by the Surveillance Studies Network, with the principal report authors having connection to the academic organisation/journal Surveillance & Society.

This 100 page report is now available in full here.

Awareness

John Baines is a Teacher. Well, this is the name he publishes under in the english-speaking world - his real name is Dario Salas Sommer. Dario is a teacher of Hermetic Philosophy and often takes a critical look at the current state of mankind. Dario likes to expose the “collective animal soul” which guides and directs humanity and to re-direct awareness onto Hermetic Philosophy that can aid the individual in freeing oneself from the collective influence.

in Hypsoconsciousness Dario states that:

Our modern world of rapid social, political, and technological change leaves much to be desired when trying to extract meaning from the kaleidoscope of our day-to-day lives. Behind all the difficulties that we encounter as we move through life driven to find "the answer", one single fundamental fact obliges us to suffer a host of needless ills, sufferings, misunderstandings and disappointments. This is the fact of man's low level of awareness.

He also states that 'humanity today in no way represents the peak of the species' evolution, which hasn't even met the half-way mark towards its evolutionary goal. The human being reveals himself as an incomplete structure, one that is only half-realised'.

In our present state we are under 'mass hypnosis' - falling in with the consensus of the mass mind without awakening or energising a sense of inner 'being'. Our situation is that 'the sleeper must awaken'.

Why shouldn't we be conscious of every present moment?

Also see - Dario Salas Institute and his official home web-site

Brilliant Minds on the Next 50 Years

Is the future knowable? Or, as the Tech Singularity suggests, will it just be beyond our terrestrial imaginations? Well - New Scientist had to take the role of 'ritual authority' and ask these questions to over 70 of the world's most brilliant scientists for their ideas:

the result is here in Brilliant Minds on the Next 50 Years: Instant Expert

And visit the following topics to find some answers/suggestions/assumptions/guesses?

Life: Ageing, alien life, consciousness, ecology, embryology, environment, evolution, genetics, health, humans, language, neuroscience, oceans, psychology, sex and social science.

Space and technology: Artificial intelligence, communications, computing, cosmology, space and technology.

Oil, Smoke & Mirrors

Oil, Smoke & Mirrors is a documentary film (50 mins) that discusses the issue of Peak Oil in the context of the US foreign policy and global climate trends.

This video is a sober and insightful discussion, with interviews with notable figures in both the Peak Oil/Environmental movement, such as Richard Heinberg, as well as political figures.

Definately worth a watch - and opens up the debate on civil unrest in a potential future of further resource scarcity and wars.

You can watch here via Google Video - or via the home page

The Way to Go

Great contemporary thinker Howard Bloom has delivered another thought-provoking speech on the way foward if our species is to prove successful during upcoming Mother Earth changes in
SCREW SUSTAINABILITY: THE AGE OF THE TORNADO TAMERS BUSTING THE BUBBLE OF SPACESHIP EARTH
Bloom ever so gently reminds us that: Every talk like this needs a take-home message. Before I go any further, let me sum up the most important take home message oozing from the facts I'm telling you. Mother Nature is a vicious bitch. Catastrophe is her stock in trade. And with our help or without it, Mother Nature will sooner or later yank everything we take for granted away. Unless we lay the foundations for a technology and for a civilization able to harness the energies and surmount the floods and freezes of change. What Bloom reminds us of is that the most successful species on this planet is bacteria - and we need to harness our resources and social functioning in similar patterns. In other words, a form of biomimicry. Worth listening to...

Britain has sleepwalked into pervasive surveillance

It's official - Britain is the most surveilled country amongst developed western nations. A recent report just out - The Surveillance Studies Network report- said there are up to 4.2m CCTV cameras - about one for every 14 people.

The report also stresses that dataveillance has increased drastically, as well as a future of targeted branding. This also includes satellite tracking of all future journeys and the introduction of individually customised payments, as well as job and school screening. This is the first report to really highlight the immediacy of this situation...and it sounds uncomfortable.

You can read separate accounts of this report from the BBC, Guardian, and The Times respectively:


Britain is 'surveillance society'

Spy planes, clothes scanners and secret cameras: Britain's surveillance future

By 2016, they'll be able to watch you everywhere


Also, of interest, is an article by Steve Wright called The ECHELON Trail: An Illegal Vision in which he describes how as an academic researcher at Lancaster University in the UK - he was investigating the Echelon surveillance system and was harrassed by Special Forces who came to his home and forced him to go with them to the university with the aim of confiscating his research... we researchers at Lancaster have a reputation, it seems...

This was first posted on my other blog - New Mobilities

More HAARP

The subject of HAARP just never seems to go away - in fact it's growing: exactly! And the project isn't finished yet.

Free Press International has a short video introducing this subject in a post titled Haarp: Altering Our World

Also...

Alongside this it's worth mentioning a recent story from NASA which I found to be very revealing: in A Growing Intelligence Around Earth NASA explains how its new breed of satellites around the Earth have machine intelligence and can spontaneously respond to events happening on Earth, and communicate between other satellites on this information. It says:

'EO-1 is a new breed of satellite that can think for itself. "We programmed it to notice things that change (like the plume of a volcano) and take appropriate action," Chien explains. EO-1 can re-organize its own priorities to study volcanic eruptions, flash-floods, forest fires, disintegrating sea-ice—in short, anything unexpected.

And now the intelligence is growing. "We're teaching EO-1 to use sensors on other satellites." Examples: Terra and Aqua, two NASA satellites which fly over every part of Earth twice a day. Each has a sensor onboard named MODIS. It's an infrared spectrometer able to sense heat from forest fires and volcanoes—just the sort of thing EO-1 likes to study. "We make MODIS data available to EO-1," says Chien, "so when Terra or Aqua see something interesting, EO-1 can respond."'

Well... enjoy!

Practical and Realist

Tom Montalk - over at Montalk.Net - has written a constructive argument for being practical during these confusing and disruptive times. He calls it The Trap of Combative Dualism:

in this he discusses that it is necessary to understand, and not deny, unpleasant impacts in our lives for it will be only worse if we go through life with rose-tinted glasses, like a kind of Pollyana - this does not mean dwelling on such matters. It is about being practical and realist, yet to remain positive and determined in our paths. I feel it is worth reading.

And the article ends on a quote from Steiner, which I reproduce here:

'In An Outline of Esoteric Science Rudolf Steiner wrote:

An additional way of training our thinking and feeling is by acquiring a quality we can call “positivity.” There is a beautiful legend that tells of Christ Jesus and several other people walking past a dead dog. The others all turned away from the ugly sight, but Christ Jesus spoke admiringly of the animal’s beautiful teeth. We can practice maintaining the soul-attitude toward the world that this legend exemplifies. The erroneous, the bad, and the ugly must not prevent the soul from finding the true, the good, and the beautiful wherever they are present. We must not confuse positivity with being artificially uncritical or arbitrarily closing our eyes [YCYOR] to things that are bad, false, or inferior. It is possible to admire a dead animal’s “beautiful teeth” and still see the decaying corpse; the corpse does not prevent us from seeing the beautiful teeth. We cannot consider bad things good and false things true, but we can reach the point where the bad does not prevent us from seeing the good and errors do not keep us from seeing the truth.'

Manipulation of Will

Today we are living through a battle of Wills - can people be fooled as easily as the foolers want us to be? Do we give permission?

Conflict in developed regions is less about physical cohercion and more about covert manipulation. The real objective of war - as well as these days since we are living in 'days of war' - is the imposition of Will.

Prussian military strategist von Clausewitz called war 'an extension of diplomacy by other means. Imposition of will, not physical destruction, is the appropriate measure of success'

For example, look into this influential US military document that did the rounds - O'Neill, Richard P. (CDR, USN). Toward a Methodology for Perception Management. Newport, RI, Jun 1989. 58 p. (Naval War College (U.S.) Center for Advanced Research. Paper)Doc. call no.: M-U 41662-6 D58t

As Retired Colonal John Alexander puts it:

'The fact is, perception management has become a well-honed, fine art in the civilian sector. We call it politics!...Perception management is ubiquitous in today's society...and the target of information warfare is the human mind. The only logical solution is to acknowledge perception management and execute it well' (Future War - p. 112-3)

Our we literally losing our minds...???

The Coming Bio-Economy

Going small... the future is in the minute, micro universe rather than the macro - according to the bio-economy. In LIFEBOAT FOUNDATION SPECIAL REPORT - GETTING READY FOR THE COMING BIO-ECONOMY: AN ADVANCE SURVEY WITH TEN PRACTICAL TIPS Scott Borg - Director and Chief Economist of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit - has this to say:

TEN TIPS ON GETTING READY FOR THE BIO-ECONOMY
1) Learn to Let Things Operate Slightly Out of Control
2) Think Small, Think Very, Very Small
3) Look First in the Cracks and Shadows
4) Open Everything to the Spotlight Right Away
5) Don't Let Your Big Picture Be a "Picture"
6) Promote Collective, Self-Organizing Processes
7) Look for Biological Efficiencies, Not Mechanical Ones
8) Expect the Value to be in the Source Codes
9) Don't Assume Politics Will Remain Less Changed Than Business
10) Watch for the Tipping Points in These Technological Waves

'If we step back and try to take a long-range view of these developments, there are three big themes that emerge:

The first big theme is that everything, in the future, will be saturated with ideas. This is not just a matter of information permeating everything. It's a matter of thought or concepts dominating the economy in a new way.

The second big theme is that everything will be recognized to depend on creativity.

The third big theme is that everything will become increasingly individualized.

This, too, is something that was already happening as a result of information technology. For several years now, there has been talk of "mass customization", of "personalizing" information media and advertising, and of providing "unique solutions." But the bio-economy takes this to a whole new level.'

So we are dealing with the information of ideas... and individualisation - question is, will it be a positive or negative type of individualism?

Last man standing... or we all stand together?

To not Fear

There is alot of what appears to be deliberate stimulation - perhaps 'over-stimulation'? - going on in the world today. Alot of this is noise; distractions from ourselves; disturbances to our inner peace. Making us fear.

They want us to fear. To be fearful. To be fearful of others. To produce fear.

What better way to keep us bound up in our self-perpetual prisms of insecurity. Fear attracts fear. Like attracts like. That which we project determines what we encounter.

If we resonate in these lower frequencies we give away our capacity, and our power to act for ourselves. Passivity and apathy is not about failing to take to the strees to protest or to fight against the system like a 'great rebel' - this is exactly what is expected of us for it gives the appearance of democracy. Genuine apathy is to give over our self-determination, faith, and confidence to those external to ourselves. To always resonate with balance, goodness, strength and energy is to defy the grand delusion being fostered upon us in these days...


'The times propel you to create new neurological patterns in your being, and what seems at first to be too much stimulation, eventually becomes manageable. Every species goes through a similar process of an expansion of consciousness when it is their time.' - Family of Light

Ancient Soundtracks

Various sources have discussed the use of accoustics for interfering with objects and either moving or destroying them. The famous Biblical story of the fall of Jericho is often cited here. Some investigators have even speculated that the Egyptian pyramids were formed by some type of accoustics.

See Stone Age Soundtracks as a good introduction on this topic and which discusses sections on Infrasound - below the hearing ability of the human ear, but one can feel it - brainwave states, the resonation of body parts, and music and mysticism.

Is it rare that such subjects get a mention in more orthodox books. Yet I have recently been reading Future War which deals with the military use of non-lethal weapons. Here the author - retired colonel John B. Alexander - discusses accepted military findings on accoustics based on recorded instances:

'Ancient Tibetan applications of sound for levitation of heavy objects have been documented in recent years. A famed Swiss aircraft designer, Henry Kjellson, observed and recorded heavy stones, each about 1.5 meter cube, being lifted to a position 400 meters above them by monks using musical instruments... other stories have suggested that a similar proceedure may have been used to move stones at the pyramids in Egypt'

The book also goes on to note Russian and US military research into infrasound accoustic weapons.

The future is less about what is perceivable and more about what affects the human body-mind beyond the senses.

How can a person block unwanted external environmental impacts?

Do not accept Fear. Produce no Fear. Retain your own strength & energy.

Ponerology

At present being part of the project of humanity requires living under a set of constraints, control structures, and containments. Some of these are physical - both overt and covert - whilst others are beyond perceptual means. Power is a form of control that feeds upon itself in order to maintain its leverage. There are various theories that deal with the who the 'World Management Team' are, and I will not further elaborate this here.

What is interesting is the notion that pathological evil in humans is a dis-ease that affects many individuals. The nature of evil for political reasons has been named as Ponerology. In this essay Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes Andrew M. Lobaczewski's ideas are given commentary and additional quoted material by Laura Knight-Jadczyk, and is worth reading. A quote:

"Current day statistics tell us that there are more psychologically sick people than healthy ones. If you take a sampling of individuals in any given field, you are likely to find that a significant number of them display pathological symptoms to one extent or another. Politics is no exception, and by its very nature, would tend to attract more of the pathological “dominator types” than other fields. That is only logical, and we began to realize that it was not only logical, it was horrifyingly accurate; horrifying because pathology among people in power can have disastrous effects on all of the people under the control of such pathological individuals."

A Twisted Simulacrum of Reality

I have just returned from listening to acclaimed journalist and Middle East specialist Robert Fisk give a talk at Lancaster University. And to hear from the horse's mouth what is actually happening beyond our media only reinforces how conditioned we are by our institutions of lies. We are lied to from birth - by our society, our state institutions - especially the media and education - and endlessly through the tubes we willingly place in our minds to be fed utter deceit.

The energies are changing however - and the onus is increasingly upon the individual to claim their own inheritance. An inheritance that belongs to each one of us: the sleeper must awaken..

Tom at Montalk states the situation correctly when he says:

'There is far more to this world than taught in our schools, shown in the media, or proclaimed by the church and state. Most of mankind lives in a hypnotic trance, taking to be reality what is instead a twisted simulacrum of reality, a collective dream in which values are inverted, lies are taken as truth, and tyranny is accepted as security. They enjoy their ignorance and cling tightly to the misery that gives them identity.

Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over ignorance.

Knowledge is the key to unlocking our potential. It gives us the self-determination, responsibility, and power necessary to cast off the chains of covert oppression. Knowledge is therefore the greatest protector, for it also gives us foresight to impeccably handle the challenges of life and, most importantly, to sidestep the traps on the path to awakening. The more you know of higher truths and apply what you know, the more you begin operating under higher laws that transcend the limitations of the lower.'

The opportunity is for us.

Colonising Space

Are we there yet? Only a few months ago world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking said that the survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy the Earth. Hawkin told a news conference in Hong Kong that humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years...

Well, there are those who believe that there are already humans occupying the moon and mars, care of military black-operations... so it seems the smokescreens are already out and the Counter-Intelligence Programs are well and truly up and running...

‘Many utopian themes, arising in fantasy, find their way to reality’ - Frederick Polak

Decades ago science writer Arthur C. Clarke wrote about a space elevator - now a company called the Liftport Group has published preliminary plans [PDF] to design and build the first space elevator.


The Presidential Directive on National Space Policy says that the United States will:

* [P]reserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so; take those actions necessary to protect its space capabilities; respond to interference; and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests; oppose the development of new legal regimes or other restrictions that seek to prohibit or limit U.S. access to or use of space.

* Proposed arms control agreements or restrictions must not impair the rights of the United States to conduct research, development, testing, and operations or other activities in space for U.S. national interests.

You can always read the document yourself.

So the future might not only involve attempts at developing/creating superintelligence but also concerted efforts to push colonisation programs beyond terra firma.

Yet have people-in-power totally forgotten the creative impulses in homo sapiens sapiens that are on the rise... acceleratingly so?

Galactic Travel

Virgin Galactic's new Spaceship 2 interior. Test flights begin next year, and passenger flights soon after that.

Virgin Galactic gives an overview of the type of training needed for the flight - includes 3 days of pre-flight training....

I guess those with the cash may have the opportunity for experiencing orbit... hopefully those who return will have a heightened awareness of our breathing, living planet...

Hail to Space...

Science Smorgesboard

Here is a brief mention of some of the latest science tidbits to pass my attention...

NewScienceTech discusses throwing satellites into space via huge superconducting magnets in Huge 'launch ring' to fling satellites into orbit:

'An enormous ring of superconducting magnets similar to a particle accelerator could fling satellites into space, or perhaps weapons around the world, suggest the findings of a new study funded by the US air force.'

yet - 'The US air force's interest stems from the ring's potential to launch small, 10-kilogram satellites into orbit, though the team says it has not been told what kind of satellites these are...This is because of its potential for use as a weapon, launching missiles that could reach anywhere in the world. "The ring then becomes one of the most important targets on the planet,"'

Also - The Irish Times writes in '2051 space oddity: TV station aims at an alien audience' that 'Eurotrash goes intergalactic tonight when two naked television presenters host the first programme conceived for aliens and broadcast to a star located in the Big Dipper, 45 light years away. The TV show has been conceived as an idiot's guide to humankind, or close encounters of the nude kind. The hosts will explain how the human body is created - thus justifying their own nakedness - and will tell about the main elements of daily human life.

Cosmic Connexion will talk to sociologists, scientists and space experts, as well as explain to viewers - on earth and in space - about previous attempts to contact other life forms such as the gold and aluminium disc placed on board the Pioneer 10 probe launched in 1972 and last contacted in 2003.' Oddly curious yet dubious!

Finally - 'PC World's 100 Fearless Forecasts' which looks at plenty of exciting technology advances that may be upon us fairly soon...

Ah - science... oddly lost without a dose of the Spirit...

A future networked society

The future of the world is the future of the collective: autonomy is decreasing in a covert sense. The perceived existence of the 'individual' will remain yet the identity, position, and knowledge of the individual will be wrapped in a meshwork of interconnectivity and interdependencies.

At present there are many voices calling to be granted access to the priviledged networks of communication and information. In the future the question will be reversed: it will not be can we get on the Net but rather can we get off the Net...

The plans are in place - future networked 'smart' infrastructures are designed to enmesh nations and civilians into networks of efficiency... see this EU paper (pdf) called the Trans-European Transport Network that outlines the infrastructures of future movements. And these movements will be tracked by the Galileo satellite consortium of 30 satellites to track all movements within this mesh: t he report states:

'More and more often, it will become necessary to ascertain one's precise position in space and time in a reliable manner. In a few years time this will be possible with the GALILEO satellite radio navigation system, an initiative launched by the European Union and the European Space Agency. This worldwide system will ensure complementarity with the current GPS system.

Satellite radio navigation is an advanced technology. It is based on the emission from satellites of signals indicating the time extremely precisely. This enables any individual to determine his or her position or the location of any moving or stationary object (e.g. a vehicle, a ship, or a herd of cattle, etc.) to within one metre thanks to a small cheap individual receiver.'

The 'part' will become enmeshed in the 'whole' towards a global collectivised society - the only question is whether this is a desired future or a controlled one...?

Something happening...

Either something is happening, or I am simply dumb...dumb, dumb..

Creepy Experiments...

A recent discussion on brain experiments - 'Creepy Experiment Exposes Paranoia and Sense of Alien Control' - tells how a woman had doctors to probe her brain in order to find out where her seizures came from... yet this probiing led the woman to experience the 'illusion' of being shadowed by an eerie presence...:

'When the patient sat and embraced her knees with her arms, she noted the "man" was now also sitting and clasping her in his arms, which she described as unpleasant. When asked to read a card in her right hand, she noted the shadow tried to interfere, saying, "he wants to take the card" and "he doesn't want me to read."

Researchers said today that what they learned from this woman, who is not named in their scientific paper, could help shed light on psychiatric effects, such as feelings of alien control, paranoia and persecution.'

Is this a product of brain activation or the unexpected consequence of activating certain latent sensory capacities?

See also - 'Mind Control by Parasites' - which lovingly reminds us that 'Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma, parasites in the body—and the brain. Remember that.'

The Emerging Mind of the Cosmos

Several years ago James Gardner published his first book 'Biocosm' which I mentioned here and which postulated 'that the cosmos possesses a utility function (i.e., some value or outcome that is being maximized) and that the specific utility function of our cosmos is propagation of baby universes exhibiting the same life-friendly physical qualities as their parent-universe, a sort of cosmic reproductive organ'

In his new book 'The Intelligent Universe: AI, ET, and the Emerging Mind of the Cosmos' (not yet published) Gardner envisions a final state of the cosmos in which a highly evolved form of group intelligence--a cosmic community--marshals the assets of matter and energy bequeathed by the Big Bang and engineers a cosmic renewal: the birth of a new baby universe endowed with the same life-giving propensity that our cosmos enjoys:


"The purpose of this book is to tell an extraordinary story. You will meet a senior NASA official whose passion is investigating the probable impact on religion of the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence; a computer scientist who is coaxing software to undergo a special kind of Darwinian evolution, thus becoming ever more adept and financially valuable over time; and a technology prophet who, in my view, is the true contemporary heir to Darwin's intellectual legacy.

"You will also meet a fascinating cast of non-human players likely to have leading roles on tomorrow's cosmic stage. They include:

• Super-smart machines capable of out-thinking humans without breaking a sweat;
• Speedy and cost-efficient interstellar probes consisting of elaborate software algorithms capable of "living" in the innards of alien computers they may encounter on far-off planets; and
• Intelligent extraterrestrials, which SETI researchers have not yet discovered but whose probable existence is strongly predicted by my Biocosm hypothesis.

"The Intelligent Universe, then, is a kind of projected travelogue--an imagined future history--of the cosmic journey that lies ahead. The foundation for that projection--the defining leitmotif of that imagined future--is a vision of the deep linkage between three ostensibly separate phenomena: the appearance of life, the emergence of intelligence, and the seemingly mindless physical evolution of the cosmos. In discussing these topics, the book will not only provide news dispatches from the frontiers of cosmological science but also offer musings about the philosophical implications of emerging scientific insights for our self-image as a species."

Yet it's all down to how one defines 'Intelligence' - and in whose terms: the danger is anthropomorphic approaches to this understanding...

The Lifeboat Foundation

Now I feel this deserves a mention - The Lifeboat Foundation:

According to their statement - 'The Lifeboat Foundation is a nonprofit nongovernmental organization dedicated to ensuring that humanity safely adopts increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics/AI as we move towards a technological singularity.

Lifeboat Foundation is pursuing a variety of options, including helping to accelerate the development of technologies to defend humanity, including new methods to combat viruses (such as RNA interference and new vaccine methods), effective nanotechnological defensive strategies, and even self-sustaining space colonies in case the other defensive strategies fail.'

Also, the list of Lifeboat Foundation Scientific Advisory Board members today totaled 200 with the addition of multidisciplinary scientist/author Howard Bloom, who is bringing together space scientists to explore beaming solar power from space and setting up a colony off-planet in case humanity is extinguished due to warfare.

The Board's members, grouped in 23 sub-boards, include inventor/futurist Ray Kurzweil; Alex Wolszczan, discoverer of the first planets ever found outside our solar system; Ian Foster, "father of grid computing," Frank Wilczek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics; Sir Clive W.J. Granger, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics; and Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Board's research programs, designed to deal with future existential risks, now total 21. The newest: LifePreserver (radical life-extending and life-enhancing technologies), PersonalityPreserver (such as uploading), SeedPreserver (storing seeds in a safe location), BioPreserver (preserving animal life and diversity on the planet), ClimateShield (protecting against harmful climate changes), EnergyPreserver (such as solar power from space), InfoPreserver (preserving civlization's information), and NeuroethicsShield (prevent abuse from neuropharmaceuticals, neurodevices, and neurodiagnostics).

What a community of thinkers! Lets hope such a vision comes married with humanity & spirit...

Connections & Reflections

I've been impressed with a site called Montalk.net that deals with diverse subjects in an intelligent and clear manner: it covers such topics as Earth energies, Gurdjieffian subjects, Stages of Conscious Awakening, Realm Dynamics, and much more...

There are some fascinating essays - such as 'Food for the Moon' and 'The Art of Hyper Dimensional War'

...as well as some thoughtful reflections:

'The best sources of truth help you realize what you’ve known all along.'

'The Universe never lets you down—in the long run.'

'Ordinary relationships involve two parts comprising a greater whole. Exceptional relationships require two wholes playing a greater part.'

'Spiritual fulfillment is about fulfilling the spirit of others.'

'Your conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time; to focus on everything, perceive that everything is one.'

Everything needs to connect now... and its up to us...

The Differences Between Us.....

The Differences Between Us..... is there really?


‘In everything, do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ – Jesus/Christianity: Matthew 7:12

‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour’ – Talmud, Judaism, Hillel, Shibbath 31a

‘Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others that which you wish for yourself’ – Mohammed/Islam: Hadith

‘This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you’ – Hinduism: Mahabharata 5:1517

‘If thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself’ – Baha’i/Zoroastrianism, Shayast-Na-Shayast 13.29

‘Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful’ – Buddha/Buddhism, Udana-Varga 5.18

‘Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself’ – Confucius/Confucianism: Analects 15.23

The New Measure of Man

This is worth considering:

‘There is no epoch in history that seems to us as it must have to the people who lived through it. What we live through, in any age, is the effect on us of mass emotions and of social conditions from which it is almost impossible to detach ourselves. Often the mass emotions are those which seem the noblest, best and most beautiful. And yet, inside a year, five years, a decade, five decades, people will be asking, “How could they have believed that?”’ Doris Lessing from Prisons We Choose To Live Inside

Also....

'we are not just an accidental anomaly, the microscopic caprice of a tiny particle whirling in the endless depths of the universe. Instead, we are mysteriously connected to the universe, we are mirrored in it, just as the entire evolution of the universe is mirrored in us...The moment it begins to appear that we are deeply connected to the entire universe, science returns…in a roundabout way, to man and offers him his lost integrity. It does so by anchoring him once more in the cosmos’

Vaclav Havel – ‘The New Measure of Man’

The Millennium Project

The Millennium Project--a global participatory think tank--has released its 10th annual State of the Future report.

'The report distills the collective intelligence of over 2,000 leading scientists, futurists, scholars, and policy advisors who work for governments, corporations, non-governmental organizations, universities, and international organizations.

Among its findings:

Dramatic increases in collective human-machine intelligence are possible within 25 years. It is also possible that within the same time frame single individuals acting alone might create and use weapons of mass destruction.

Just as computer code is written to create many kinds of software, genetic code will be written to create many varieties of life, including those that make hydrogen from plants.

25 million are likely to die if avian flu mutates for human-to-human transmission.

The 2006 State of the Future comes in two parts: a 125-page print executive summary and a 5,400-page CD. The CD contains all the research behind the print edition, plus the Millennium Project's 10 years of cumulative research and methods.'

Academia & Sufism

Once again, the two approaches meet. Similar to how Ibn Arabi came face to face with the scholars of his time centuries before: now Ibn Arabi is deconstructed through Derrida.

Seeker After Truth has an interesting post titled 'Sufism and Deconstruction: The Honesty of the Perplexed' which features a relatively recent book called 'Sufism and Deconstruction':

"Neither Ibn ‘Arabi nor Derrida seem to be afraid of bewilderment – or, for that matter, bewildering. Whether it is the constantly ‘exploding semantic horizons’ of the disseminating text,3 or the guidance which means being ‘guided to bewilderment’,4 the ‘acceptance of incoherentncoherence’5 or the God Who is everywhere and nowhere, both Derrida and Ibn ‘Arabi part with a philosophical and Koranic tradition which sees confusion synonymous with error, failure, untruth and sin."

Well... prepare to be confused!

The Illuminati and the Scientific Conspiracy

Phil Collins (no, not the singer/drummer/part-time actor!) is a Christian conspiracist who thinks the Bush administration is part of the ancient, global oligarchical conspiracy to establish socialist world government. He writes at conspiracyarchive.com and is author of The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship you can listen here for a podcast

If a conspiracy takes your fancy!

Futurism Without Gadgets

Jamais Cascio from the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies has recorded a spoken version of his Futurismic column, “Futurism Without Gadgets” - worth a listen.

Back-up DNA

The Alliance to Rescue Civilization advocates a backup for humanity by way of a station on the Moon replete with DNA samples of all life on Earth, as well as a compendium of all human knowledge:

"It would be run by people who, through fertility treatments and frozen human eggs and sperm, could serve as a new Adam and Eve in addition to their role as a new Noah.

Organizers: Robert Shapiro, professor emeritus and senior research scientist in biochemistry at New York University; Ray Erikson, who runs an aerospace development firm in Boston; Steven M. Wolfe, a Congressional aide who drafted and helped pass the Space Settlement Act of 1988, which mandated that NASA plan a shift from space exploration to space colonization, and was executive director of the Congressional Space Caucus; and author William E. Burrows, director of the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program at N.Y.U."

Life After Earth: Imagining Survival Beyond This Terra Firma

Taking a Quantum leap

Alot of chatter and talk is going on in research circles about quantum computing - and what it means for the evolution of information - and thus for 'humanity'. One article - 'Quantum leap' - cites the following scenario:

"Having your brain surrounded by a thin band of ultrasonic transducers controlled by hypersmart quantum computers, all linked up to a global network with infinite bandwidth, means that any sense can be stimulated in any way. You can be made to see, hear, touch, taste, or smell anything.

Getting instructions back from the brain - mind-reading computers, in other words - is harder but not impossible (neuroscientists have already developed communication devices for the disabled that read brain waves).

Wolf anticipates that within 20 years, instead of cellphone conversations we will have "network-enabled telepathy." Imagine you're on a busy street, and a small percentage of the people in the crowd around you have decided to let their headbands transmit their field of vision - you could literally see around corners. A vehicle could be driven by thought. Dreams could be recorded and passed around online as easily as we share photos on Flickr."

And yet Sony has already filed a patent earlier this year for ultrasonic technology that will beam videogames into our brains - is this really the other side of the technology?

Telepathy does not require ubiquitous informational technologies - our spirits are quantum too... always have been. Remember, the quantum world still exists within laws of a physical universe - we dont have to...

Why not a quantum leap in ourselves first...

The ionosphere as a giant wireless antenna

First there was HAARP messing with the ionosphere - now it is an electronics company wanting to provide blanket wi-fi coverage!

Atmospheric broadcasting

'The layer of the atmosphere known as the ionosphere, at an altitude of 50 kilometres, is already used as a radio reflector, bouncing low frequency radio signals from one side of the world to the other.

Researchers at Samsung in Korea are now working on a way to turn the ionosphere into an antenna. A patent application filed by the company reveals plans to direct higher frequencies radio signals, at about 1 gigahertz, at the ionosphere, to alter its behaviour.'

An excerpt from the NewScientist article

Biotech, Demons and Stargate

Interestingly odd....Tom Horn is a conservative Christian conspiracist who believes that biotech may be paving the way for the re-creation of angel-human hybrids or “nephilim,” and that Bush is controlled by demons. Horn runs raidersnewupdate.com and his novel The Ahriman Gate is a cross between Left Behind, Stargate, the X-Files and Lovecraft.Biotech, Demons and Stargate:

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies has a radio podcast available here

Open minds for all of us...

Brain surfing

An article on CNN (although this has been posted by several web sources recently) titled 'Surfing the Web with nothing but brainwaves' discusses the recent developments in producing brain chips that can interface directly with computers without the need for any cables, etc:

"Already, the Brown researchers say, this kind of technology can enable a hooked-up human to write at 15 words a minute - half as fast as the average person writes by hand. Remember, though, that silicon-based technology typically doubles in capacity every two years.

So if improved hardware is all it takes to speed up the device, Cyberkinetics' chip could be able to process thoughts as fast as speech - 110 to 170 words per minute - by 2012. Imagine issuing commands to a computer as quickly as you could talk."

The article also contains a link to a demonstration video.

By the way, this post was written directly from my mind...

Man-Machine Merger

NPR Radio has a podcast on the Transhuman debate titled 'Man-Machine Merger Arriving Sooner Than You Think' - again this subject is generally weighted towards top-heavy US thinkers such as Kurzweil which, much as I follow his thinking and applaud some of his though, I still feel lacks a true grasp of human potential and the spirit.

Listen via NPR

Monday, September 27, 2004

Today I was looking over an archive - as a chance read. And I felt it was something worth repeating again here, especially since de Chardin's writings are still so relevant:

Monday, September 27, 2004

A true anecdotal story:

A seeker once went to visit a well-known Teacher. After having been permitted to attend an audience with the Teacher, the aspiring seeker asked if he could be permitted to join the circle of disciples. The Teacher replied that he wasn't yet ready. "You need to do more preparation" casually remarked the modern Teacher. "What should I do?" inquired the despondent seeker.

"Read more science-fiction" came the reply. There was a little confusion on the seeker's face!

Much of what is nowadays being discussed in terms of our human evolution has appeared, in various forms, over the last century among scattered science-fiction novels; some more well-known than others. Such ideas have indeed been scattered into the consciousness of many readers through such means. A reading of many sci-fi classics will throw-up a thread of such major ideas, as have been discussed by such notables as A.C. Clarke; O. Stapledon; H.G. Wells; T. Sturgeon; R. Heinlein...amongst others.

There have also been other spheres of exposure. For example, what Teilhard de Chardin was writing about once seemed like, and to some still does seem like, science-fiction - yet it was a deep philosophy. Now such ideas are making a comeback, a resurgance. Chardin's ideas proved to be integral to such cultural theorists as Marshall McLuhan (famous for coining the phrase 'global village' back in the 60s). Again, I will leave a few poignant quotes here - all taken from de Chardin's 'Let Me Explain' (Fontana, 1974):


- 'but if on the contrary man sees a new door opening above him, a new stage for his development; if each of us can believe that he is working so that the universe may be raised, in him and through him, to a higher level-then a new spring of energy will dwell forth in the heart of earth's workers. The whole great human organism, overcoming a momentary hesitation, will draw its breath and press on with strength renewed.' (: 5)

- 'In us the world's evolution towards spirit has become conscious. Our perfection, our interest, our salvation as elements can depend therefore on nothing less than pushing this evolution forward with all our strength. We may not yet understand exactly where it is taking us, but it is absurd for us to doubt that it is leading as towards some end of supreme value.' (: 60)

- 'no longer only, as of old, for our little individuality, our little family, our little country-no longer indeed only for the whole earth-but for the salvation and success of the universe itself, how should we modern men best organise the maintenance, distribution and progress of the energy of man around us? Therein lies the whole question.' (: 61)

- 'an irresistible and irreversible technical-cultural organization... is manifestly in progress of development within human society. On the other hand, as an effect of co- reflection, the human mind is continually rising up collectively-collectively, because of the links forged by technology-to the appreciation of new dimensions' (: 72)

- 'Nevertheless there are certain precise conditions in the field of energy that must be satisfied by the event we anticipate (a more pronounced a wakening in man, as it comes closer, of the 'zest for Evolution' and the 'Will to live'); and from these we are forced to conclude that all ultra-reflection coincides with a final attainment of irreversibility. (: 73)


The beauty of Teilhard de Chardin is that he talks about the collective, unified soul of humankind as a 'conspiracy' of individuals who 'associate themselves to raise to a new stage the edifice of life. The resources we enjoy today, the powers and secrets of science we have discovered, cannot be absorbed by the narrow system of individual and national divisions which have so far served the leaders of the world.' (:67)

From shroom to spirit

NewScientist reports in 'Magic mushrooms really cause 'spiritual' experiences' that:

'“Magic” mushrooms really do have a spiritual effect on people, according to the most rigorous look yet at this aspect of the fungus's active ingredient.

About one-third of volunteers in the carefully controlled new study had a “complete” mystical experience after taking psilocybin, with half of them describing their encounter as the single most spiritually significant experience in their lifetimes.'

Well, the 'academy' is finally catching up with the wave of the 60s from Leary, Castaneda, RA Wilson, Tart, Grof, and many others...

The spirit is ripe for activation: the triggers may only be different this time.

Metaverse

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies has a post called 'The Near Future of the Metaverse' which discusses the future convergences between physical/virtual reality, artificial intelligence and human-embedded technology. It also examines future scenarios of mind-implants to plug a person directly into an interactive 3D-virtual world:

"Every citizen on the planet can be on the net anytime, anywhere with very high speed wireless connections accessed via brain implants (direct brain to net interfaces). Instead of “reading a web page” users will enter a 3D, fully immersive VR Metaverse with total sensorial stimulation indistinguishable from physical reality. Most work and entertainment will take place in the Metaverse.

When? I think 2030 but let’s make it 2050 to have a solid long-term forecast."


Whilst there are many forecasts like this roaming the Web, and have been for many years - not to mention sci-fi - the output from The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies has generally been of high quality.

Virtual worlds to test telepathy

A BBC article titled 'Virtual worlds to test telepathy' discusses how a virtual world has been designed at the University of Manchester in order to test human telepathy - a meeting of science-technology and matters of the spirit(?):

'Pairs of participants enter separate virtual rooms in the game and try to select which virtual object they think the other is interacting with.

The designers of the system say it overcomes some of the problems associated with real world studies.

Critics of previous tests say they are easily manipulated to create an effect that looks like telepathy but is not.

"By creating a virtual environment we are creating a completely objective environment which makes it impossible for participants to leave signals or even unconscious clues as to which object they have chosen," said Dr Toby Howard, one of the team that designed the system. '

Sunspot

I shall be travelling for a while. I will be with Shems (the sun) - thus I leave here a visual sunspot to look after the site for a couple of weeks.

With Spirit.

A future of selfishness?

The UK newspaper The Independent recently ran a story titled Society in 2025 'will be based on selfishness' which proclaims that many people will lose their altruistic nature:

"A new study suggests that consumerism and individualism may prove a more dominant force by 2025 than caring about the problems of poverty at home and abroad. It found that, for the first time since 1994, Britons regard looking after themselves as more important to quality of life than looking after their communities."

A future of more intense consumerism...? Is this a U-turn away from collective intelligence and participatory culture?

If this is so, its a kind of future I won't be interested in fuelling.

The Computational Universe

I have already mentioned Seth Lloyd's recent book 'Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos' - yet here is a review of it in American Scientist Online:

"Seth Lloyd appears to be exaggerating when he claims in his informative and entertaining new book that he "advocates a new paradigm" by postulating the universe to be a machine that processes information. However, in the book, which is titled Programming the Universe, Lloyd does somewhat distinguish himself from his predecessors by focusing on the weird world of quantum computation. He lucidly explains what quantum computation is all about, how the process of quantum entanglement seems to involve an instantaneous exchange of information between locations that can be light-years apart, and why this phenomenon unfortunately cannot be exploited to transmit information faster than light. He also describes how quantum computers would be able to solve certain problems much faster than their traditional counterparts."

Harmonics to heal US military?

BBC News has written 'Ultrasound to treat war wounds' where they talk about how the US military is developing ultrasound waves to heal wounded soldiers in the field:

"The device would first use ultrasound imaging technology, in particular "Doppler ultrasound", to locate internal bleeding. This employs a physical phenomenon known as the Doppler effect to look for a characteristic signature of bleeding vessels.

It would then deliver a focused beam of high-powered ultrasound to those sites in order to cauterise the damaged vessels.

The Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation (DBAC) programme is sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa)."

Harmonics from the US to heal as well as programme... thats a decent touch...

Other Intelligent Designs

Scientist and science fiction writer David Brin has written a post on 'Intelligent Design Creationism called 'The Other Intelligent Design Theories' that looks at numerous “other alternatives” to Darwinian evolution that creationists don’t want you to know about - such as the designer of the Intelligent Designer, Panspermia, and others. As an example extract:

"Guided Evolution - This is the deist compromise most commonly held by thousands — possibly millions — of working scientists who want to reconcile science and faith. Yes, the Earth is 4.6 billion years old and our earliest ancestors emerged from a stew of amino acids that also led to crabs, monkeys and slime molds who are all distant relatives. Still, a creative force may have been behind the Big Bang, and especially the selection of some finely tuned physical constants, whose narrow balance appears to make the evolution of life possible, maybe even inevitable. Likewise, such a force may have given frequent or occasional nudges of subtle guidance to evolution, all along, as part of a Divine Plan."

What's your take??

Creative minds

According to a recent post in Logic + Emotion a new type of dynamic mindset is emerging:




"Individuals possessing this “New Creative Mindset” blend Analytical, Expressive, Curious and Sensual qualities into their thinking process. The result is a holistic approach to creativity that is effective across multiple touch points and experiences."

The author states that such a mind makes for a more able to create 'customer experiences' in a world where the consumer is increasingly more central. Personally I prefer to stay away from consumerist/capitalist analogies about engaging in a competative marketplace - I would rather say that an 'evolving' creative mindset is more adapted to collaborating towards a global cooperative mindset that is more receptive to fluctations in consciousness and the species information field... but thats just me!

CTP -- The Unified Energy Field?

According to Drazen Premate, President of the CTP Energy Club, and originator of the CTP consciousness hypothesis:

"The World finally has a scientific explanation for various still Unknown Phenomena. Current science cannot explain such because it is missing the component of non-physical Conscious or C-energy that exists behind all of these phenomena such as Gravity, Faster than Speed of Light, Paranormal and others. It is also missing the existence of T-energy that codes C-energy into proper vibrations to become visible in our physical world. CTP Energy Science is the Ultimate Science that can explain all unknown phenomena. Click on the rotating cube side to see the still picture of each topic covered and then click on the corresponding titled link below to have CTP Energy Science brief explanation of the same."

Also, the CTP Energy site states that...

"How do you think every single cell, molecule and billions of other single cell organisms of your physical body know what to do? Do you believe they are getting signals what to do via brain or blood? No they are not. All atoms, molecules and cells in human body know exactly what they are supposed to do thanks to C-energy Units existing behind such. These C-energy Units are also aware of each other and each other’s purpose. It is C-energy and T-energy Units behind the cells of your physical body that create it and keep your body functioning."

Another conscious-field theory fad....? Or something in this? Read for yourself...

Dangers Ahead

Responsible Nanotechnology - from a post on June 12, 2006 - has stated that:

'We're approaching a critical period in the history of humankind. The choices we make -- or don't make -- over the next five to fifteen years could have consequences that will be felt for centuries to come'

Here are some scenarios of potential geopolitical instability:

when weapons of mass destruction will be more varied, more deadly, more available, cheaper to obtain, and easier to hide;

when the strength (and the ambitions) of regional powers will increase rapidly while the stabilizing might of the U.S. could be in decline;

when new technologies such as genetic engineering, robotics, nanotechnology, and possibly artificial intelligence could enable radical shifts in the balance of power;

and when global climatic conditions -- including increased frequency and severity of killer storms, droughts, infrastructure damage, crop failures, and even whole ecosystem collapses -- will contribute to growing tensions.

And these are only some of the more overt ones...

No information is safe

A recent post from NewScientist - Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites - discusses how surveillance tactics are being used, or going to be employed, on social networking sites:

"New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals."

Anyone interested in reading up-to-date reports on military analysis of information warfare, electronic warfare, and psychological warfare should check out this largely US-centric site - IWS - Information Warfare Site:

Information Operations Roadmap is an interesting report...

Is It Raining Aliens?

I thought this was interesting, especially for those who never ridiculed the theory of panspermia, or life being seeded on Earth from microbes and bacteria from space. A recent article titled 'Is It Raining Aliens?' notes how:

"In April, Louis, a solid-state physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science in which he hypothesizes that the samples—water taken from the mysterious blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis’s home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001—contain microbes from outer space.

Specifically, Louis has isolated strange, thick-walled, red-tinted cell-like structures about 10 microns in size. Stranger still, dozens of his experiments suggest that the particles may lack DNA yet still reproduce plentifully, even in water superheated to nearly 600?F. (The known upper limit for life in water is about 250?F.) So how to explain them? Louis speculates that the particles could be extraterrestrial bacteria adapted to the harsh conditions of space and that the microbes hitched a ride on a comet or meteorite that later broke apart in the upper atmosphere and mixed with rain clouds above India. If his theory proves correct, the cells would be the first confirmed evidence of alien life and, as such, could yield tantalizing new clues to the origins of life on Earth."

What is so incredulous about panspermia...?? Interested people should read Francis Crick's seminal work 'Life Itself'

Communication & Reflection

When we communicate and reflect among ourselves as citizens—publicly learning about and affirming our shared sentiments as an extended community—then we “know that we know.” In our dangerous and difficult time of global transition, it is not sufficient for civilizations to be wise; we must become “doubly wise” through social communication that clearly reveals our collective knowing to ourselves. Once there is a capacity for sustained and authentic social reflection, we will then have the means to achieve a shared understanding and a working consensus regarding appropriate actions for a positive future. Actions can then come quickly and voluntarily. We can mobilize ourselves purposefully, and each person can contribute his or her unique talents to building a life-affirming future.

Duane Elgin

Analysis on Mind Control Electromagnetic Weapons

Harlan E. Girard has posted this thorough and well-researched essay titled 'Effects of GHz radiation on the human nervous system: Recent developments in the technology of political control' at GlobalResearch.

This was a paper first presented at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Coherent and Emergent Phenomena in Biomolecular Systems, The University of Arizona, January 15-1991

Abstract

The United States has developed communications equipment which can make the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. It can relieve the terminally ill of all pain, without the use of any drugs. A man might retain the use of all his faculties up until the day of his death.

This communications equipment depends on a new way of looking at the human brain and neuromuscular system, and gigahertz radiation pulsed at ultra-low frequencies.

Some of this equipment is now operational within the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will never be used to make the blind see and the deaf hear and the lame walk because its use is central to the domestic political agenda and foreign policy of James A. Baker and George Herbert Walker Bush.

Domestically, the new communications equipment is being used to torture and murder persons who match profiles imagined to be able to screen a given population for terrorists, to torture and murder citizens who belong to organizations which promote peace and development in Central America, to torture and murder citizens who belong to organizations opposed to the deployment and use of nuclear weapons, and to create a race of slaves called Automatons or what is popularly called the Manchurian Candidate.

Overseas, experimentation is taking place on hostages held by the United States in Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Finland and France. In addition, there has been a long series of bizarre suicides among British computer scientists, all of whom had some connection to the United States Navy.

Considenng how recklessly, wantonly and indiscriminately America's new weapons have been used, physicians attending the dead and dying should consider the patients known political views and associations before making a diagnosis or conducting an autopsy.

Enjoy the read!

Total Recall of memories

Forget what it was you were supposed to remember....? Or can't visualise a past event with a loved one...? Fear not (or fear alot), as here comes the future in total recall. Popular Science has an article - 'In 2021 You'll Enjoy Total Recall Software will allow you to easily carry years’ worth of searchable memories—in your pocket' - that looks at the possible solution to this:

'Upgrading our memory is a matter of improving our recording and retrieving abilities. At the current pace of miniaturization, camera components could be made tiny enough to fit in a contact lens in just a few years. A high-precision microphone could fit in your ear. And the data could be downloaded to a searchable handheld gadget.'

Yet would we want to remember everything...? Even the willed blackouts?

A world of 'software beings'??

In a recent article titled 'Scientists build a world of 'software beings': Research project will study social interactions between millions of virtual human beings' it describes how a new research project underway between five European universities will create a software virtual environment in order to watch artificial life grow and develop, and socialise:

'Politicians could one day determine the results of elections before they take place, thanks to a European research project that will study social interactions between millions of virtual human beings.

Five European universities are collaborating on the New Ties project, where they plan to create millions of "software beings" (human beings that live in computers) with the goal of studying how they interact and evolve.

The software beings don't have names, but they do have distinct characteristics, including gender, life expectancy, size and metabolism. Their traits will be passed on as they reproduce, but they'll also be able to learn and gain new characteristics.

Two thousand artificial beings have been created so far in a single computer, but the goal is to create a grid or cluster of computers to host potentially millions of them, said Gusz Eiben, a professor of computer science at Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands and the project's leader.'

Well - this falls within the category of Artifical Life: does this mean the scientists need to consider whether these artificial beings have any rights? What if they want to finally shut down the computer - is it right to end these virtual lives that have developed and grown?

Doesn't this somehow remind you of our own predicament...living inside of an incredible quantum simulation?

See Seth Lloyd's 'Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos'

Also, see Nick Bostrom's 'Are You Living In a Computer Simulation?'

Smarter than thou?

Ahh..the endless transhumanist debate: are we on the verge of transition to a higher form of evolution? Perhaps...yet just exactly how this emerges is still endlessly open...personally, I wonder how 'enhanced humans' will vibrate - seriously, all the cosmos vibrates, thats the consciousness-matter relationship. So: do transhumanists support vibration?

Anyway, here is a post that covers the recent Stanford University Singularity Summit:

'Is technology poised to develop machines that can outsmart their human creators?

And what will happen to mere mortals if such superintelligent machines arise?

Borrowing a term from physics, singularity suggests a horizon beyond which we can't see. It describes the point at which some form of intelligence spawned by technology gains the ability to rapidly improve its own programming -- becoming so powerful that we cannot predict what it might do. At that point, its capabilities could exceed even the power of our imaginations.'

Read: Smarter than thou? Stanford conference ponders a brave new world with machines more powerful than their creators

Also: as I have mentioned in the past, Mark Pesce is worth checking out - his site has an interesting video you can download which he produced for one of his presentations at Mindstates- called 'Becoming Transhuman'which also touches upon human evolution and brain patterns.

The new incredibles: Enhanced humans

The recent front-cover article in the newly published NewScientist discusses enhanced humans...

'People with enhanced senses, superhuman bodies and sharpened minds are already walking among us. Are you ready for your upgrade?

They're here and walking among us: people with technologically enhanced senses, superhuman bodies and artificially sharpened minds. The first humans to reach a happy, healthy 150th birthday may already have been born. And that's just the start of it. Are you ready for your upgrade, asks Graham Lawton

IT IS 2050, and Peter Schwartz is deciding what to do with the rest of his life. He has already had two successful careers and he wants another one before he dies, which he expects to happen in around 50 years. By then he'll be about 150, which isn't bad for a baby boomer, but he expects his son, now 60, to live a lot longer than that.

The world that Schwartz lives in is radically different from the one he grew up in.'

Shame that the site requires subscription - or you could read it at a local library or whilst standing in the shop browsing...!

Technologies for the brain

In a recent 2-part article by researcher Nick Begich titled 'Mind Control:
The Ultimate Brave New World', subtitled - Technologies for stimulating the brain and controlling the mind can have benefits, but they have a dark side that military and intelligence planners have been exploiting for decades - he discusses the military implications of energy-directed technologies. Excerpt:

"The idea that the brain can be made to function at a more efficient and directed level has been the subject of research by scientists, mystics, health practitioners and others for as long as mankind has contemplated such matters. In the last decade, advances in the science of the brain have begun to yield significant results. The results of the research are startling, challenging and, if misused, will be frightening. The certainty to be expected from the research is that it will continue to proceed.
The idea that people can be impacted by external signal generators which create, for example, pulsed electromagnetic fields, pulsed light and pulsed sound signals is not new. The following information demonstrates some of the possibilities and gives hints of the potentials of the technology."

Again, more material worth reading on the notion of brain-frequency manipulation occuring in modern technologies that are creeping into more civilian areas.

Laszlo is Back

I have mentioned here on a number of occassions about the pioneering scientific spiritual work of Ervin Laszlo, not to mention his evolutionary theories and publications on the 'tipping points' of Earth's future(s).

Now, almost simultaneously, Laszlo has two works published this year - both of which deserve a mention:

The first is 'Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos: The Rise of the Integral Vision of Reality' - this book follows on from his previous work about the quantum vacuum, the holographic nature of the universe and its relationship to an intelligence field (see earler work of 'Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything ')

Secondly, is the work to be published at the end of this month title 'The Chaos Point: The World at the Crossroads' which also follows on from his previous work in this area - especially the wonderful book 'Macroshift: Navigating the Transformation to a Sustainable World'.

Ervin Laszlo is also the founder of The Club of Budapest.

Visionary work.

Talks at the Technium

Tech author and Wired editor Kevin Kelly has a range of insightful essays over at his webpage , especially in his bloggy-papers page known as The Technium:

Here, there are some worthwhile articles such as

The Speed of Information

Civilizations are Creatures

The Singularity is Always Near

Speculations on the Future of Science

Take your pick!