The Brain Becomes Electric

I have mentioned transhumanism before, it is the belief that man and machine should become one in order for man to evolve further. Well, if you like that your going to love this article. It seems that we are continuing down that path. Above the linked article are the names of three books. One of the books is called "You are not a gadget". I read some of what he wrote and felt that we were in agreement. Basically the concern is that this technology tends to separate and dehumanize.

My second concern (well I have many including privacy) is that people will let the internet become their knowledge base. There are people that want access to all knowledge; but, that doesn't mean they understand it. When that occurs, people get lazy and stop seeking understanding and that is really dangerous. It is not just a matter of knowing things, it is a matter of understanding the proper way to use the information.

Here is another article on the internet. It discusses how we have run out of new IP addresses. It then discusses how we are going to test out a new set of them. The test will be conducted tomorrow so you just might see the net not work properly for a bit. Not long ago the Playstation network went down and Lady Gaga apparently shut down Amazon not long ago by selling her album on line for like 99 cents (practically free cookies). What happens, lets just say, if the test crashes and shuts down the whole internet and I am not predicting that or anything else. I am saying, how will you get around, get money, talk to people, whatever?

Now consider this, if you blend your mind with technology, what happens when it goes down for a day? Kinda scary if you really think about it. You never learn basic math because you have a calculator in your brain, you never learn to follow directions because you have a map in your brain. When that sucker shuts down you are completely defenseless.

People are so obsessed with fast and easy that they don't bother learning anything. Yet, all people can see, for the most part, is the cookie, the reward. By the way, the second article mentions that:

"By the 1980s, DARPA rolled out the Internet to the public, with the fourth revision of the address system"

Hey, that is the first time in regular media that I have heard anyone discuss how DARPA is still at the helm of the internet. I bet nobody even cares now. The single greatest machine for propaganda in history, the single greatest way to get the sheep to move in unison. Flash mobs, civil protests, look how fast rumours spread. Even Wall Street moves too the internet, remember the flash crashes that cost billions?

A nice song that sums it up and the title is a good one, Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parsons Project.

What these articles are telling you is that what you receive, what you obtain from the internet is individually tailored. It is designed to follow your preferences and biases to select what you will see. It is a non-stop comforting experience of you being programmed. People talk about the Matrix, this is the matrix, algorithms and the illusion of true interaction. Next year it will even be in 3D. We are not forced into captivity, we merrily head in that direction because that is where the cookies are.

Now we come to a new place or at least we will very soon. I will be ending this blog soon. I have decided to take a break and will be ending most of my online presence for a bit. I will still be using e-mail and will still be using it for research; but, I think I have pretty much touched upon the issues that I wanted with this little experiment.

This blog turned out to be a source of great fun for me, it kept me researching everyday for what was out there, what is coming. For those who know me personally, I will continue to be the same insane person and continue to discuss these things, just not online anymore.

To those who I have never met, I am so glad that you got a chance to see into my little warped brain, a messy thing; but, my own. Don't take anything here too seriously, just examining stuff. I don't have a planned date; but, I will give notice and not just delete everything, in fact I may leave everything up; but, just stop contributing to it. I would even offer to let another take over the blog if they demonstrated and interest and we could agree on what was appropriate.

In the meantime, here is an article that I highly suggest you read. It states that 30% of all companies plan to cease offering employer sponsored health coverage. The fact is that when people switch to the "Affordable Care Act" sometimes referred to as Obamacare; but, it will have another name like HealthyYou or something similarly pleasant. You might not even notice the change and be given more in compensation or have your retirement benefits restored with the money that is saved. Those are some pretty nice looking cookies.

Now, if you go way back somewhere in this blog I talked about how the "Affordable Care Act" would put all government employees off of their current employer sponsored healthcare. Maybe that is how we will solve the government pension crisis. Wait a second, did the GFOA say that there was no government pension problem. Hmmmm, could putting government employees on the new government healthcare program save us from having to lay off all these people, save their jobs?

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a miracle, a solution has been found to our fiscal crisis. The article I wrote long ago said this was going to happen, I just hadn't put the pension crisis into the "solution". Will you miss me when I am gone, will you watch these things as they roll out and understand that it was all orchestrated. I do hope that if anything this blog has helped people to look at things differently. That would make me feel good.

Just because I will not have an online presence does not mean that I will cease to exist, in fact, I will be spending more time in person with new people. I intend to start going out more often. I think I am ready again, I have had my time to heal and to become social again for the first time.

This decision will mean that I write less and I do love writing, I used to really enjoy writing using a pencil and a piece of paper, I liked using typewriters, something so physical and mental at the same time. I liked the clackity clack that typewriters made, it was sort of musical. I do hope you followed the link.

My arthritis makes it very difficult to even sign my name anymore, I certainly couldn't ever draw again, I don't have the fine precision in my hands that I once did. My two favorite things about my body growing up was my incredibly dark black hair, so black it looked blue and my hands. I used to tear phonebooks in half. It is about grip much more than strength.

I don't know how to explain what this blog has meant to me and maybe I won't really know for many years. I love knowing that many start their day by reading it, that pleases me immensely. I am also on a very large website and will be signing off of that soon. My thoughts are in my head and will cease being on the internet. New thoughts will be on the web and my voice will not. I kind of like that. You can wonder when you see some article what I might be thinking about it; but, my hope is that you will just begin to read them differently and dig deeper and look for context before forming an opinion. That is my hope. Be well.

In looking at the stats I see that I began this blog in June of 2009. It is almost the two year anniversary and that might be a good time to finish. This current iteration began in March of 2010 all the prior posts were deleted on two separate occasions. I have posted just about everyday and sometimes multiples for two years straight. If you have been here for any amount of time think about how many different things were discussed.

I won't say that this has been a lot of work, it was more fun than anything else; but, a lot of reading went into this and searching and thinking. It has served it's purpose in my life and it is about time to move on, I had given a hint about this a couple of months back. Be well and I will give the date of the end of this before just ending it.