Discreet

If I had myself an extra 12 000 dollars I would easily go and get a pair of Bluetooth inner ear implants from the company behind investing in this little number.

But I'm trying to ask myself how this will alter peoples perception of me.
I suppose it won't be until we have an implantable processor - one, which is not at all noticeable by others that it will catch on.

However, the shoe on the other foot if someone like me - a transhumanist with money to blow, he would have an incredible advantage. Considering the price of bandwidth, this person could use the technology to be in constant communication with someone miles away.

Wired recently ruled, with gusto, that the bluetooth ear-job was out. Perhaps this is the replacement.

In anycase, if I can live my life like everyone else and receive auditory information in an additional layer. Well that's really advantageous. And people would be somewhat offended by this gross misuse of the technology.

And so the transhumanist has few options. If he wants to give the cause attention he can upgrade himself whether with cochlear implants or whatnot. But that will make people aware of the gradient. This makes it a social disservice, and the idea may be rejected.

Therefore only strict proponents to the idea will take the pioneering plunge as it were. But, it remains a question. Am I evil for being a pioneering transhumanist? Does seeking this kind of god-like advantage tell people more about myself than I can realize? It all depends on my philosophies, I suppose.

If I embrace it as a change everyone should experience.
As opposed to feeling that I am 'better' than others for having it.
Feeling the nirvana of experiencing something mainstream in the future.
Being able to know the trends to predict.

I wonder... if the inventor of the microwave felt that twinge the first time he cooked something on 'high'. Maybe, maybe not. But I know that twinge is felt by the engineer working at Philips in an OLED lab.

About a years worth of drafts...

Ok, so this is another big update, like the one below.
I am going to take from the 10-11 updates - which were never published - a few ideas and express them here.

1) Germany, The Singularity and WWII.
I am not a historical scholar, but I do tend to befriend people who are because of our mutual interest in a very, very militant transhumanist named Adolf Hitler. The connections made in this post were along the lines of Hilter being motivated the same way I and other H+ thinkers are motivated - a new world which belonged to something more than human. The argument was outlined to create distinct parallels between Kurzweil's masterpiece The Singularity is Near. The chapter I focused on is titled 'the promise and peril of GNR'.
Genetics, Nanotech, and Robotics.
If these are the ingrediants for a new world order circa 2009 than the German regime of the 30's and 40's was quite ahead of the curve. The robotics applications were contracted to IBM. One of the biggest information-based contracts of the time. Nanotech was in the shadows mostly, but you could go so far to say that tattoos are in some form nanotech related. Especially when you consider the logistics of tattooing countries of people.
And lastly, Hilter was a supporter of genetic superiority through misguided racial means.
That's that argument, there may be some more to study. We can learn alot from the past.*

2) TV is dead...
and online distribution is finally picking up speed now that bandwidth is cheap. This means the service provider model will change, and eventually if more networks decide to produce online media, net neutrality could again be an issue.
imagine though all that revenue dissapearing from all these service providers. Most, however (Shaw, ATT, Rogers) all provide internet service as well. But when talent like Will Farell and Danny McBride create enough buzz online only for HBO to renew Eastbound and Down for a second season... well no one in their right mind could dispute that's progress.

3) Microsoft Photosynth
Is a pioneer in holographic technology circa the 2020's.
It's a system that demonstrates what will be capable when we've made a little bit more progress with shrinking the transistor. Eventually a system of location aware cameras of incredibly high sensor density could capture an entire event in 3D using the same tactics. Basically bullet time + insane processing power will give us the recording method used in th film (retitle to 'entertainment') industry.

4) Clothing
made from luminescent material that can display different information and clean itself will be amazingly helpful and will be yet something more which will reduce pollution.

That's pretty much the cream of the unpublished crop for this blog of mine.
I bet no one can wait until this time next year for another half-assed batch of reject-ideas.
*(Please, avoid miscontrueing my words. Hitler was an evil sinner. I'm not defending his actions with my H+friendly attitude.)

'I drink to my Annihilation'

Ok, this is a preface to stream of recorded thought.
Please excuse the disparity between my thoughts and my words. Their reconciliation will occur at the point where I become a world-class writer.

I drink to my annihilation is an Aldous Huxley quote.
It was inscribed on the Soma-cup that was passed around in one scene or another in Brave New World. Alex Jones said in his film Endgame that the modern US culture stems from what was featured in that book.

That BNW is a blueprint for the way things are going.
Transhumanism is here for us though, Alex.

I don't know why Alex Jones is hostile towards the ideas of H+, but I agree with him that it's a product of globalization.

So, what do I need to do. What are the main ideas of transhumanism and how can I integrate them into my life? The bottom line is I need to write about every single hole in modern day society transhumanism beams through.
Whether its the enormous fact that all systems consist more and more of data only, or if its intelligent design. Calling out the trans formative nature of man, and the essential goals of humanity that are quite dark and concealed.

I drink to my annihilation is reminiscent of the term 'immanentize the eschaton' which has become trade mark with Will Gibsons new comic Doktor Sleepless.

I have also to acknowledge some other facts, more John Morgan specific, that I tend to be slightly off center on the lightness-darkness chart - in that I'm slightly more comfortable thinking about the negative consequence then the positive. This means I constantly consider the negative reward of transhumanistic thinking than the positive. Or the reward being more valuable if only I can take advantage of it.

But these ideas in popular culture, and even in the pioneering for the idea of transhumanism, seem stronger when they are true to bother the negative and positive consequences. Saying that Transhumanstic thinking and the singularity are the apocalypse reinforce the skeptics position. But also, inspire optimism. for if the world is destroyed then we are finally able to build it in whichever way we see fit.

The future of our species and the merger with machine is the most powerful idea throughout recorded human history. Important ideas are only important if they're also dangerous.

More notes to benefit myself: I need to form a blog on the dark side of the transhumanism movement.
Having said that, I am devoted to creating a transhumanism manifesto. A piece of writing that includes outlines for all proposed technology and current research. It would expose how these ideas relate to the current and future Western social climate including how quickly new trends catch on.
I'm tempted to title such a document: "Countdown to the end of Humanity" and I'm planning it will kick off the new grinding blog.
This blog may or may not be the home of the Human Recording Project, and I'm still deciding whether or not to link it to an instructibles account.

Remixing MJ is a big thing in the future...

So, MJ has died.
Honestly, I'm sad. This is how I feel. I like his music to the extent someone born in 1988 can enjoy pop from that era and earlier.

His personal life became such a destructive force in the time that I was paying attention.

This stigmatized all of what I listened to, usually because of the current mantra "all great artists in popular culture must reinvent their ideas to remain known"

Or something like that.

Because of this I had always anticipated a profound comeback in his career.
The growth of electronic music in his lifetime really made me think he was aware of the tools and would learn to make new sounds and express new meanings through his music. It always seemed likely to happen.

Now that he's gone, I think we will all learn to respect his work from the eyes of a young, hard-working man.

This brings me to my major point. MJ will be remixed. All artists will take from his work in some capacity or another.
The studio's understand the value of this kind of collaboration.

So, hold on, because MJ's musical talent has just become the new big thing.

The Second iPhone 3Gs in Canada

Ok. So. Friday June 19th the new iPhone went on sale here in Canada.
The Rogers location that was selling the unit was in the RBC tower, on Bay Street, in the Downtown Toronto financial district.

The Rogers location had a promotional opening time at 7:00 AM.
Here is a run through the events between last night and this morning.

6:00PM June 18th: Rogers flagship location at Yonge and Dundas Square informs me there is not yet a lineup, however several customer inquiries are flooding the lines.

6:01PM: Call the Bay Street location. They 'will be opening at 7:00 AM June 19th'. This makes them the earliest location open in Canada.

5:50AM June 19th: Make my way to the Subway Station.
5:55AM: Waiting on Subway Platform.

6:00AM: Subway trains start running east into the city.
6:20AM: Off Subway, making way through the underground Concourse that runs between King Station and Union Station and all the Bank towers.

6:30AM: Arrive on the scene. Indoors location makes the lineup kind of tricky. I am the third customer. We argue with the security guard about lining up infront of the store location.

6:31-6:59AM: Six more people line up, and wait for the doors to open. As civilized Canadians, we arrange ourselves by the order of arrival.

7:01AM: Doors open, there are 3 Rogers reps staffed today. I am immediately setting up my contract. 25.99 for the cheapest voice, 30.00 for the 6gb data plan.
$62.95 a month including access fee and 911.

7:19AM: Signing on the dotted line.
7:20AM: Paying the bill, walking out the door.

7:25AM: Walking above-ground, in the business part of the city with the fancy new iPhone. The Second 3rd Gen iPhone sold in Canada.

OK, so I just found out the tagline on IMDB for Kill Bill is "In the year 2003, Uma Thurman will kill Bill".

It's an interesting tag not only because of what recently happened in the news with the very talented David Carradine taking his life in Thailand, 6 years later.
But also because it goes between an actors name and a characters name.
Quentin associated Uma with the revenge motive, while Bill... Well Bill had to justify his actions or try to.
But it wasn't David doing the justifying. It was Bill. Uma was Beatrix, but David wasn't Bill?

This makes sense because of how Quentin consistently views Evil Forces in his work. As necessity, but still dehumanizing.

Oh, and I guess because they had to keep Uma's characters name secret until the last scene.

Facebookers has done it again.
I am now, forever locked into the URL: facebook.com/jdmorgan.
I can live with this, but some guy from Nashville got www.facebook.com/johnmorgan.
I'm not bitter, I technically had it first, but then freaked out and tested if an intermittent period in the name changed anything - it doesnt.
john.morgan and johnmorgan are directed to the same profile.
Which is helpful.
I remember the same was true for Gmail for a time - not sure if it still applies.

So, I'm JDMorgan, jdmorgan, J.DMorgan and j.d.morgan all at the same time.

It is concise and it will work. It also seems that it's more restrained than johnmorgan.

I'm currently having an identity crisis.

just a minor piss-off

Firefox is good but...
When the memory capacity is exceeded and I don't get a warning, I miss alot of the bookmarks I'm saving.
I know what you're thinking: modern architecture doesn't really require bookmarks, you can always just recall your input values and searches will populate the same results.
It does if you're apartment hunting.

Theatre Stunt en Francis

Ok, so the field of theatre these days means more and more: telling a story through technology.

Or amplifying a story using technology.
This considerably lowtech puppet was built and moved through this French town.
The movement revolved around telling a story, and it looks to have been effective.
There is a link here. Thanks Divine Caroline!



Like ringing a giant bell, this team of two jumps from a platform to put weight on the mechanism that makes the beast walk.

Everywhere I look the future is happening

Ok, so it is the current top slot on Digg.com: Futurama has officially been renewed for another season. Humans are excited for the future.

Since the beginning of this sport of TV, the networks never renew series.
Ideas come and go, and when they're gone.
The truth: things like the stories of Serenity from people like Wheadon and Futurama are ahead of their time.

But they follow the pattern because they came back.
Sure, that only happened because of the internet, but still.
The Lone Gunman was never renewed, and sort of fits the category here.


The other piece of news comes from a new favorite blog to supplement the readers of Doktor Sleepless. The article originates from New Scientist. A rather dense blog to supplement the magazine of the same name (to which I'd like to subscribe).

Apparently the kids in the science faculty I used to belong to at York have proposed a supertall structure design.
It uses hollow, flexible tubes and lightweight gas to create a pneumatically grown tower.
This is really got me excited.
If we can start working the kinks out with this project than we'll be really prepared with some new ways of thinking when carbon nanotube technology becauses viable.

These new ways of thinking are critical.
[Link]