While reading through @extie-dasilva's ultra-dense post, The Singularity And The Web for some reason I was reminded of the most bizarre evening of my life: the night I spent inside a cult in California some years ago.
The cult was a 12 Tribes Community and it is filed in my brain as one of those "never again" experiences.
This particular cult was located right outside of Oceanside, CA and here's their website. Now come the cult highlights, condensed for fast comsumption:
Upon entrance to the 12 Tribes Cult property, we were greeted then delivered to a receiving area, where I was separated from my boyfriend.
Sex segregation practices were in full-swing there. They didn't like the fact that I had my pet cat with me, but they sort of tolerated this. I was stripped of my real name and given an Old Hebrew-sounding name which was to be used from that moment onwards. We then were seated in a dining hall and had the most amazing meal of grilled fish with vegetables, homemade bread and lemonade served to us, all free of charge. The girls surrounding me seemed intent on trying to make me feel comfortable. I felt that I was being psychologically screened.
After dinner, the cult members formed into a circle and began doing step-like dances, all holding hands and chanting some religious song.
It was like the kind you would see at some sort of German festival. It definitely freaked me out. All the women wore plain long dresses and the men also wore plain-looking clothes. Everyone had strange-sounding names like Jezweh, Saraij and the like. Here's a real photo from the cult's website and these were the same people who were at the one we stayed at:
Simultaneously, while I was thinking about that bizarre night inside a cult, I was bombarded by the thought of neural lace and how Elon Musk wants someone to develop this new technology so he can become the first real cyborg to walk the earth.
Here's neural lace as Gizmodo reported about it back in 2015:
A group of chemists and engineers who work with nanotechnology published a paper this month in Nature Nanotechnology about an ultra-fine mesh that can merge into the brain to create what appears to be a seamless interface between machine and biological circuitry. Called “mesh electronics,” the device is so thin and supple that it can be injected with a needle — they’ve already tested it on mice, who survived the implantation and are thriving. The researchers describe their device as “syringe-injectable electronics,” and say it has a number of uses, including monitoring brain activity, delivering treatment for degenerative disorders like Parkinson’s, and even enhancing brain capabilities.
I wrote about neural lace for Interesting Engineering and here's an excerpt from my article:
The reason Musk keeps mentioning neural lace is because I believe he may want to speed up becoming a cyborg. Just imagine how many more companies he could found if he were a cyborg? With neural lace, he could probably harness his dream and subconscious energies, thereby transforming latent energies into productive output. I think Elon Musk would make an excellent cyborg, but I shudder when I think about people with harmful intentions becoming digitally enhanced.
Basically, Elon Musk said in that Recode video that he would immediately become a customer of a company who dedicated resources to developing neural lace. But he admitted that it wouldn't be able to be pulled off by just anyone. He basically said that he would have to start up such a company to ensure that it was done properly.
So, while the whole world was obsessing over whether we are in a simulation or not, I was intrigued by the idea of neural lace and how that technology would work. I am curious if the neural lace will have the ability to be removed or not. If it's not removable, how would one effectively "unplug"? Or would "unplugging" not even be an option at that point and the cyborgization be complete?
Is anyone currently working on the neural lace technology?
Speaking of neural lace, how many of you would like to be a cyborg?
I think that becoming a cyborg would make me a better person and I would gain more control over my organically created emotion states. I think emotion states can be useful, but I believe they are often detrimental to clear thinking. Without our limbic system controlling our moods, reactions and states of mind, I think humanity could move forward in several areas. Limbic systems record pain and alter the course of the future based on pain programming. The Removal of Painful Memories as a Service ............Well, I could see a clinic for this type of service in the future. I think even I would sign up for that service. There are some memories that cease to serve any purpose, after one loses years of decent living due to the painful memory.
However, this is a slippery slope because I believe it is pain and hardship that form the foundation of empathy.
Machines don't experience pain. Without empathy, I think our world would be grey, cold and completely lacking in sanity. The emptiness of controlled life, with no mysteries, surprises or kind gestures left, that is what a world without empathy would be like.
This kind of perspective-shifting mindset is one that I have noticed recently fighting for space in my own brain. It's something I personally struggle with daily: emotion vs. logic. The thing that makes us all human is emotion, but it's a bad thing to base motivations and decisions on. Once you begin to understand that emotion exists in waves, you can start to separate yourself from them to a certain extent. It's not easy though because our very selves exist in a sea of chemicals, feelings and random thoughts, all conspiring together in such a way to bring about an action, reaction, or a move of sorts.
So what does neural lace and cults have in common?
Technology has come a long ways, but the ability for humans to live among each other in harmony is sorely lacking.
Even cults cannot properly exercise a balance between individual will and peaceful coexistence. Our minds and societies have not caught up with the technological innovations that surround us. The war for resources rages on.
I'm already a cyborg: I wear an optical device which makes me able to see at almost 140%, a big part of my memory and mind is already strongly connected to a supercomputer I carry in my pocket and a big part of my identity itself is online on social media, bank accounts and message services.
Neural net would basically make it possible to use tech without using our hands. Its just another man-machine interface.
the idea of a cyborg is nothing more than an organism which body is made out of both biological and technological parts. Wearing something or having it in your pocket is simply not the same. Sorry for being the partypooper objecting to your witty interpretation of a cyborg.
A very interesting post and well written. Anything that has the possibility of enhancing empathy, compassion, and virtue would do wonders if the recipient is oriented in a positive direction to begin with. However, given human history over the last 2000 years, I shudder to think if the downside which is inescapable.
To those with failing eyes or other inputs, the idea of connecting a camera to the brain would be a major enhancement. As to eliminating memories, I fail to see how that would be done. Memories are dispersed across the brain - you would have to fry half your brain to remove one memory. The brain always has pretty good repression mechanisms, and for those who want more, NLP is a good solution.
Very interesting! I had not heard of neural lace but I have been following cyborg projects since the 90s when Kevin Warwick became the "first cyborg" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Warwick#Project_Cyborg
I'm going to read up on neural lace. I searched for it on Bing, and THIS article is the first search result!
Nice post
Wowsers... That was an epic read.
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd be up for a brain injection of electronics... I bearly trust doctors taking my temperature, but that just sounds one step too far!
Technology has always affected every individual will and peaceful coexistence. I don't think that is a way to stop technology if we have it or not.
there is no way to slow it down.
My older sister is part of the twelve tribes community lol east coast though
Oh boy!
Idea sex at it's best.
Try a very grounded, empathetic psychotherapist into secular non-dualism.
I like the fishy picture.
thanks Michele
A friend of mine's sister had gotten involved with a cult. His family met with a professor who warned them about the standard tactics that cults employ. Sure enough, when he (the brother) asked to attend a meeting, the cultists picked them up and immediately separated them, placing the sister in the front seat with the driver, and placing the brother in the back, between two attractive young ladies, with his favorite music playing on the car stereo. How did they know this? They had pumped the sister earlier for information. It was (according to him) one of the creepiest nights of his life.
The separating of us was truly disturbing and creepy. The assigning a new name for me was the flag to get the hell out of there which we ended up doing after dinner.
I am glad you are not a cyborg. I think that the ability to love is something that sets us apart from from robots. While it may seem like a great way to erase difficult memories, it is quite a slippery slope.
Can you imagine hacking into someones brain or having them hack into yours (if this is possible).
I like Elon Musk and his innovation, but think he is a bit out there with many of his ideas. He may be right, but for me I tend to be a bit skeptical once someone claims we are in some sort of matrix like system.
I think everyone would enjoy forgetting certain painful memories, but being able to erase all pain and only have good defeats a lot of what I feel life should be about.
I'd rather be able to be bruised and broken than not feel any emotion. I guess we will see what happens in years to come.
That cloud with it's period is really speaking to me right now
wait, which cloud? the fish one at the end?
lol no the one bleeding to death. Under this" However, this is a slippery slope because I believe it is pain and hardship that form the foundation of empathy"
I really hope that's a bleeding cloud and not something completely not a bleeding cloud
I guess becoming a cyborg beats cloning oneself - since each successive clone is stupider than the last... but for sure it'll be interesting to see where scientific advances take us next. Will we live much longer, replacing the bits and pieces that wear out?
BTW, how did it happen that you ended up spending that night with the cult?
We were looking for an ecovillage to live at. The website was misleading as I thought it was an ecovillage, not a cult. I don't think they believe they are a cult, but I think they are.
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Removal of Painful Memories as a Service
This grabbed my attention. I experience phantom limb pain 24 hours a day and it is said that this kind of pain is an'emotional pain' i.e. has its roots in the trauma experienced during the event which caused it. Accepting this as true has done nothing to ease the pain and it can be misunderstood by those around me as something I should be able to gain control over.
The dea of being able to remove pain 'electronically' as it were is intreaguing. Thanks for sharing this interesting read. You lead an interesting life @stellabelle
Shared my perspectived here a while back:
How Steemit Is Convincing Me That Becoming A Hybrid Human-Robot Might Not Be Such An Evil, Horrible Thing Afterall...
Though also been working with some energy tech under the radar that could essentially achieve the same thing without physical invasion, functioning on brainwaves alone. Very interesting developments in progress and ahead.
Fucking crazy ass cult sons of bitches. Lol. The human race is quite odd at times... ☻👻👿😈