Avatar

My laptop notes on the two recent conferences I attended in LA might be scary stuff for many people - artificial intelligence, immersive digital gaming, genetics and DNA manipulation, human enhancement technology, mind control, androids, robots, personal avatars . . .
Scary enough for me to attend, as mentioned in my previous blog entry. Another big conference buzz was the upcoming film “Avatar”.
So I went to see it when it opened.
I prepared to be subliminally programmed and blasted with more “Matrix” and “2012” conspiracy theory on mind control and The End of the World. I was sitting in the back row. Through it all, the number of people who had to take off their 3-D glasses, squirm out of their seat in a sold-out theater and sprint to the lobby was staggering. . . popcorn, the restroom, their texts . . . My view was constantly interrupted.
How do you explain this in Marin County, home of ILM (George Lucas) that created the digital imagery for this film? What was nervy to these people no other ILM production and story line seemed to deliver on an opening night? Most didn’t even wait for the credits, another big no-no for locals.
I checked out some movie reviews later. Several reviewers accused Avatar of being a re-purposed “Dancing With Wolves”.
Sure, the Na’vi on Pandora looked rather native, and the White-Guy-turned-treasonist hero could have been You-Know-Who, but to me, that just described a movie reviewer who had to get up for popcorn, the restroom, text . . .
Is that all they got out of it? That’s too benign, considering the behavior of the audience at the first public showing. Is it possible many reviewers and movie-goers are unaware of our amazing technological present and our even more amazing future? Is it time, after throwing away the TV to throw another one again and find out what's really happening?
The plot for this film is vanilla sci-fi and a good dose of operating reality so far on Planet Earth. There are giveaways like the "military industrial complex", conquering space, taking down alien civilizations, and like the hero in "Indiana Jones" grabbing The Big Goodie.
The simplicity of the White Guy's predicament is what allowed me to see everything else going on in this film. His spine, blasted to pieces in an unpopular war leaves him a paraplegic. The Military transports him to a rehab Mother Ship, but he’s now worthless as a fighting machine. They decide to use him as a disposable Avatar on planet Pandora to infiltrate the Na’vi and find their “unobtanium”. (the one funny morpheme in the film).
His brain is transported to this fantastical utopia Trekkie-style, and our hero has an “out-of-body” moment on Visit One. As his new Avatar-double, he discovers he’s not only super-human, he’s got his legs back.
They can’t control him. Knocking down the furniture and everything else, he escapes his orientation military camp in a state of euphoria, running his superhuman legs and heart out.
The film has a happy ending. He dumps his paralytic reality and chooses his Avatar reality (well, what would you do?). His Pandora Squeeze, who has been assigned to him as a guide by the clueless Na’vi, demonstrates in her spare time how to do just about everything fun, including mastery of a wildly fantastic horse and a spactacularly raptor-esque bird, reminiscent of the strategic creation in the animated "Ants".
Of course this is all sci-fi. Maybe. After these conferences, I’m not so sure.
Still searching for a clue, I opened my file on brain science a week later to write a piece on Avatar. I found a torn-out article from MensVogue I bought in an airport a few years ago written by D.T. Max, a Harvard graduate and book reviewer. The title “Wired for Victory. Can a bunch of electrodes and a computer screen help you swim faster?” got my attention.
Now I’m reading it again. This sounds like the White Guy/Avatar. Max mentions “the zone” and biofeedback performed on athletes like Katy. Connected to biofeedback, she is described by her evaluator as “looking at nothing and everything”, “emptying out her brain”, and “a suspension of doubt” that results in her optimal athletic performance.
Aha. The White Guy/Avatar.
Max, at the end of his article, mentions a Morgan Stanley manager who, after biofeedback had a tennis game performance “that soared”. And after biofeedback, Max, a swimmer, was in the pool on a lap swim when he felt “a familiar light joyousness” in his body. When the pain of his messed up shoulder came up, he envisioned “speeding waves of alpha” carrying him along. Enjoying his liberating mindlessness, “I felt I was no longer alone. A dolphin was leading me. My body began undulating like a brain wave. I followed my friend with pleasure. He was always ahead of me.”
Max was describing his instant “knowingness” how to swim like a dolphin. He forgot his shoulder, the pool, time . . .
“Every so often, I would hear a distinct “ding” in my brain. The positive audio reinforcement that rewards open concentration during neurofeedback. I got out of the water. The dolphin was gone. I looked at my watch. I had broken my previous best and my shoulder hurt like hell.”
Our White Guy hated returning to the Military Mothership planning its assault on Pandora. He needed a wheelchair. He hurt like hell. Only on Pandora could he best his human self every time.
I didn’t get at all this film was another “Dancing With Wolves”. I think the reviewers totally missed the point, and maybe half the audience.
The White Guy was in The Zone, and his brain transported him there. With a little help from science.

Smacking down Santa, astrology, and myth

I have been recently checking out the hundreds of asteroids discovered by cosmologists near 1997 who were apparently unconsciously naming them after more Greek mythological gods and goddesses, like the planets in our solar system. What could be the significance of this?
Participating in the third dimension involves the playing out of The Game (I love Florence Scovel Shinn's take on this) through mythology, legend, ritual, and storytelling. When we do this, we honor our ancestry by initiating the new ones (cultural respect).
I don't doubt realities like "Indigo children" and those born with a new wired brain. These incarnates are less inclined to participate in ritual and myth because they were born with different frequencies and resonance that allow them to remember instantaneously what The Game really is.
I do think however, if we are to own our responsibility to help others through this shift of awareness, we need, as a traditional saying recommends "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".
The I Ching infers this in the hexagram "The Wanderer". When we want to learn and influence, we cross borders. We explore with the intention to enlarge ourselves through empathy. We will be diminished however, if we are responded to as if we are an alien (even if we are!). In fact, there are those who believe “extraterrestrials” will not walk the planet with us until we stop with the alienating behavior toward aliens.
Many are wanderers now, disenfranchised from all kinds of indigenous cultures, family, lovers, careers, heritage, and shaken from the harshness of diaspora.
Few of us have a village of origin now that we remain in for long. Our survival requires us to be vigilant in our awareness of our current environment. We must learn the local language and customs if we are to be effective in our influence. We must differentiate between those who want to be our friend rather than our enemy. It is to everyone's advantage we are accepted by those who come to hear our message.
My view of astrology is one of validation. The original physicists and astronomers were called astrologers, and they did a darn good job of downloading some cosmic realities it has taken Hubble to validate centuries later. They also did a great job of developing myth as a tool for understanding and linking third dimensional reality to other realities.
Many people in this dimension will always need "science". They will always need "God". And they will always need ritual, myth, and a little help coloring inside the lines. Right now, they need Santa!
I think the more we maintain our sense of humor about The Game and all its oddities and amazement, the longer we will live successfully with each other, no matter what dimension or game we choose.
I choose to believe every dimension needs to laugh at itself for perceived weaknesses, guilt, fear, or whatever incompleteness is chosen. Free will is a choice, not a default, so give Santa half a chance!

Sexuality, Part Deux

I attended a couple conferences this past weekend dedicated to the latest technology and developments in all things humanly enhancing. Genetics, robotics, mechanical surrogates, artificial intelligence, computer systems that replicate the human brain, biomimicry, longevity, dystopic science fiction, empathetic game development, N-dimensions . . .
I made a list of words to websearch from this huge table of goodies after I left. One out of four failed spell-check. This is how rapidly our language is changing to suit our desires.
From these conferences, I realize we now have numerous choices for sexual expression. Either enhancement through immersive media (a.k.a. “digital sex”) enhancement through human partnered frequency acceleration (a.k.a. “great sex”), celibacy (a.k.a. a challenge to auto-eroticism), or asexuality and old age (a.k.a. “I don’t care - anymore”). Because the biological imperative to replicate overpowers all other third dimensional synaptic processes, we can’t make sex go away, so we continue to invent new forms of entertaining ourselves. We just can’t find a cure.
To most of us, the proliferation of human sexual expression cannot be enhanced in currently perceived reality without consciousness rituals or chemicals. Either our brain chemicals or chemicals we ingest or inject. If chemical, we still have control of our free will - how often, with what, and with whom we enhance our sexual response, if admitted to or not. Fortunately, we have the professional race car industry and the aging population to thank for bringing that one out of the closet. The first wave of human enhancement.
We can also choose to immerse ourselves in real-time human interaction to maximize our innate capacity to trigger synapses in our brains. This however, involves a lot of discipline, practice, and awareness. Many of us know the extent the Japanese, Hindu, and other cultures ritualize sex to an impressive degree. When I was at Baktapur in Nepal, the temple friezes were littered with carved depictions of every imaginable sexual interaction humans could have with each other to reach a state of bliss. The Nepalese have added to the business of reproduction inventive forms of transcendent states of consciousness, a highly valued commodity.
Innovative virtual technologies offer us more choice. Not much practice involved here. Just an admission ticket or the expense of enhancement toys, surgical procedures, genetic re-mapping, virtual immersion, or embedded chips. Many of these enhancements can affect our free will however. We may turn ourselves over to be manipulated or altered so our limited human development of our senses are stimulated and enhanced. Then we just go along for the ride. Or so it seems.
What was interesting at these conferences however, was the still-present hushness about “digital sex”. It was mentioned maybe twice, and fast. Just a quickie. No formal presentations on the program. Even more interesting, the word “consciousness” was practically banned. Two conferees referred to it as the “C” word after a few others smacked it down. They may as well have tried to pull off the same thing with the “S” word.
Once paired with another human, sexual experience is either overt or covert. Chinese society is more direct about sex than Americans are. Their political controls of how humans interact with each other or the digital electronic media world are potent. Although the number of children born to a family is restricted, and the recent expose about the subjection of humans to electro-shock therapy to cure video game addiction was a shock, the Chinese culture covertly allows sexual behavior with another human as an enhancement to monogamy. It is not “penalized”.
I have always found the term “penalize” in our society oxymoronic. It implies our relationship with the aggressive part of passive-aggressive sex is a negative expression of human behavior and needs to be punished in some way.
The United States is one of the few nations with an expectation of monogamy. Humans however, can demand more input from their monogamous partner than is deliverable within the limits of human expression. This dilemma is rarely expressed openly in our society. It is tethered to endless forms of psychoanalytic, therapeutic, and religious devotion to maintain an enhancement-free experience. Tabloid news feeds on infractions of monogamy, and humans are the victims of the poison called Shame. Lack of discipline. Lack of acceptable performance. Lack of gender commitment. Lack of anything.
In my opinion, enhancement through immersive media is becoming the compromise we could make to maintain monogamous agreements with other humans and salvage our self-imposed shame. Sex is so contentious, so loaded, so complicated, and so messy to most humans, many of us are more than ready to opt out of the human experience for the virtual one. How are we to penalize humans for participating in or enhancing themselves for a virtual sexual experience?
“It’s not what you think Dear. I just spent Friday night at the FullDome Immersion Multiplex. Look at our kids. They live in that computer with their games night and day. No big deal.”
The Ultimate Safe Sex. No touchy-feely.
So, is this where we are? It’s easy to make sex a dirty word, but now we must add consciousness too? What’s next on the hush list in our brave new world?
We do like the term “chemistry” to describe that rare event with another human where some kind of bliss is experienced in sex. It's one acceptable option to a "natural" experience. But, chemistry can also make us complete idiots. Zombies. Even killers of other humans. We forget to pay the bills, and if sex isn’t consummated with our significant other, we stupidly leave crumbs all over the place so we will be, yep, you guessed it, penalized. Our life will never be the same when we are found out.
“Hi, my name is Shame, and this is my first meeting. I am a blissaholic.”
What I’m curious about regarding all this emerging technology in human enhancement of experience and body image is the pay-off. And, the potential sacrifice in our complex human arena with each other.
Your call.

It's Not My Dog

I’m descending on the bike from the top of Mt. Tamalpais north of San Francisco, and the November wind chill is to-the-bone. I break out my emergency stash of produce section plastic bags and roll them up each arm under my windbreaker for a vapor barrier. I have on my neoprene gloves and arm warmers and foot warmers and head hood with just my nose and eyes exposed. I have everything on, and still wondering why I’m the only one out here doing this in a frigid wind.
At the Depot book store in Mill Valley, I’m done with the descent and its warm and sunny with no wind. Customers are parked outside at tables in parkas with their lattes, soaking it up. Inside, I window-shop the desserts.
“Just give me that large slice of cherry pie on a napkin, no plate please”.
“To-go box?”
“Nope. It will be eaten as of, right now”.
I’m back outside. The brick pavers are warm. My pie is warm. I sit on the pavers. A dog that may be some kind of Border Shepard/Collie mix circles me. Not on a leash. Great. I’ve got irritating company. He stops with two feet between us and stares at me, then my pie. I’m ready to jump.
“Don’t even think about it”.
He doesn’t say anything. He just stands there looking at me like I am already boring him.
Fine. I keep eating. And he just watches me, then my pie. Me, the pie. Me, the pie . . . whatever. The minute I cave and give him a crumb, an owner will pounce and tell me not to feed human food to their dog off a leash.
I split off a piece of crust and hold it out in my hand. I don’t care. This is the most civilized dog I have ever met, and sure enough, he clamps down on it with the expertise of a famous brain surgeon. Nice try, but he won’t do that again now that he knows there’s butter in the crust.
Who trained this dog to have such amazing table manners? He doesn’t have any signs of dominance by an Alpha Human. I look around. No one is watching us.
“Sit.”
“Sit.”

“Lay down.”
“Sit.”

No action. Maybe he speaks French. I give him another crumb, then another. He’s so good at common courtesy, why stress him out?
Now I’m up to the second group of people passing by and checking out this delicate ritual.
“Is that your dog?”
“No.”
“You dog is so well behaved!”
“It’s not my dog.”
“Whose dog is it?”
“I don’t know.”
By the time a third guy asks me about my very civilized dog, I have been doing some thinking. What if I could behave like this in a meeting? Or waiting my turn to impress the speaker just down from the podium? Or at the checkout when they open another checkout line?
“So far he’s got all my crust. I was just thinking, why can’t I be like this? Just stand there. They all know what I want, but I’m not rushing them. I’ll out-wait them. What would I have to lose? So far this dog is scoring Big-Time.”
He laughs. “Yeah, interesting point.”

The pie is gone. I show my admiration for his character. I let him lick the napkin clean. He parts the crumbs from the paper napkin like the aforementioned brain surgeon. I fold up the napkin, he backs up, and walks off. Game over. Just like that.
I’m a little stunned. He circles the plaza two more times in hang-out mode. I get back on my bike and roll out. There he is again at the end of the plaza, no owner in sight. Stopping to water a light pole, he then trots up the street.
He’s got tags. He’s got an owner. He looks taken care of. But he’s going slow. He’s an old dog.
But, this is no ordinary dog threatened by a dog catcher just screaming to jail anything off a leash in a county very tough on vagrants. He’s a long time local with no incidences. And knows how to score. It’s obvious. They leave him alone. Who wouldn’t?
This was a great day for a ride.
Why can’t people be like that, which includes me? Next time I’m in line for something or can’t get what I want . . .