July 21

Improvisation on "Improvisation"


Lenswork Podcast #546

Yoga Journal - "In the Zone"
Yoga Journal: "Riding Your Breath Home"
Creative Pro.com Newsletter
Dick Cheney's "Executive Assassination Ring".
Was British Weapons Expert Dr. David Kelly a Target?
KurzweilAI.net Newsletter
The Crowd Is Wise (When It’s Focused)
Mind Uploading Home PageMind Uploading.org
Harnessing Crowds: Mapping the Genome of Collective Intelligence (pdf-download)
Bacteriophage
Pirates and Revolutionaries
Scott Wollschelger
Would you give up your immortality to ensure the success of a posthuman world?
Ben Goertzel's BlogNASA Newsletter


Spent some time today going through a wide variety of things but, the one that really "got me" was the info on "mind uploading." OMG!!! It reminded me of a meeting I had a few months ago with a guy that works with an online virtual reality company similar to Second Life. We were having an interesting talk about futuristic kinds of things. I couldn't believe it when he casually told me that people will eventually be loaded onto discs! I was thinking, "What?! Did I hear him correctly?" Oh my, we're living in interesting times...

July 6

Becoming Posthuman Essay - James Sparks

Posthuman Artists

"STELARC is an Australian-based performance artist whose work explores and extends the concept of the body and its relationship with technology through human-machine interfaces incorporating medical imaging, prosthetics, robotics, VR systems and the internet."

STELARC website

Stelarc images
Stelarc
NeMe: Prosthetic Head: Intelligence, Awareness and Agency by Stelarc
STELARC on Wiki

Alexa Wright
Orlan

Democracy Now
Noam Chomsky



Spent some time this morning researching a few "posthumanist artists" (Stelarc-Wright-Orlan), reading the above essay and listening to Noam Chomsky's talk given recently in Harlem. Had to leave early for a rehearsal and a gig. Nice gig tonight with a new band led by Tim Lyddon. Tim has recently moved to Tokyo from New York. I really like Tim's harmonic vocabulary. Gives me space to go a lot of places melodically. Gives me options for color. He is a great listener.

July 3

Books/Magazines
I couldn't stop myself. Went to the cafe at the Shirokanedai Book-Off and ended up picking up a couple of books and 3 magazines. Work has been slow and money low but couldn't resist spending ¥1000 for these things.


A look further into the "transhumanist" movement and beyond into "posthumanism". "Posthumanism?" Yes, it seems as though there are millions of dollars being pumped into think tanks, university research departments, etc studying the period after humans have been completely genetically altered and/or merged with machines/computers. Sounds crazy? Yep. I thought so too. But, the more I check into this, the more real it gets. Went to see "Terminator 4" a couple of days ago and I just read some things in Cyborg that were identical to things I saw in the "predictive programming" in the movie.

"We are told almost daily and from many sources that it is impossible for human beings to direct their common life intelligently."
John Dewey - Experience and Education (pg 100)

Wow! Isn't that nice? And I grew up thinking John Dewey was a guru in the American education system. For more info on the background of the education "system" that was installed by corporate America, click on the links below for a shocking interview with John Taylor Gatto.

John Gatto Interview with Alex Jones


John Gatto Interview with Alex Jones (part 2)

I've been having some trouble with night photos. As I scanned this book, I quickly saw a couple of things that I think will help me out with my technique.


Found a few really good helpful bits of information as I read this on the train going home from the store. Great magazine!


Some great articles on yoga. The photography and lay-out of the magazine is beautiful.