[As my most recent submission to aboutSETI.com has yet to be posted, I must assume that I've been forgotten. As a backup measure, I've decided to recycle my earliest aboutSETI entries, beginning with the following essay from February of 2008. --Mac]
A few readers have expressed some deserved confusion about what disciplines I was referring to in the previous post. After all, SETI's long affiliation with radio astronomy makes the idea of invoking non-technical disciplines seem both heretical and ill-advised. Wouldn't we be best served, mainstream SETI pundits might ask, by "staying the course" with increasingly robust sky scans? After all, if "they're" out there, it strains orthodox acceptance to consider the possibility that "they" might have made it here.
I'm frankly disillusioned by the casual assumption that SETI is an endeavor best left to radio astronomers. While I support radio SETI, I think an equally valid case can be made for searching planetary surfaces for traces of extraterrestrial habitation.
The lunar surface -- airless and spared the erosion constantly at work on dynamic worlds like Earth -- would seem to be a prime candidate for methodical study. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the Moon (and perhaps Mars) has been visited at least once by a visiting civilization. Ironically, none other than SETI pioneer Carl Sagan championed the possibility that the Moon might serve as a platform for ET monitoring devices. (Sagan's scenario is memorably encapsulated in Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey," a book widely regarded as a formative work of "serious" science fiction.)
But if we're to take up the hunt for ET artifacts, radio-based SETI suddenly becomes of limited use. A meaningful search for lunar artifacts might reasonably call on the expertise of archaeologists (many of whom rely increasingly on remote sensing technology), anthropologists and even artists. Hardly the "hard" sciences typically associated with searching for ET life, they're nonetheless decidedly relevant if we're to advance planetary SETI as a viable alternative.
Is such an unorthodox study feasible in the face of radio SETI's staunch "electromagnetic chauvinism"? I argue that it is, and that its chances for payoff are high enough to justify committed research. In fact, it's just possible that we've already stumbled upon candidate ET structures, only to reject them for fear of violently offending the status quo.
I'll return to just such a case in a forthcoming post.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A different point of view
Paul Hughes on transhumanism:
By spiritual, I mean a deep and growing awareness of sublime, subtle nuances of consciousness that are available to any conscious explorer - what some might call "energy fields", "sacred spaces", "cosmic consciousness", or "the divinity within all things". This is as much a poetical and contextual shift as it is a scientific one, and is available to anyone who is not afraid to see the world from an enchanted point of view. I always tell people that if they believe so strongly in the scientific-materialist viewpoint, then what possible harm can come from trying to see things differently? It does not require a belief in "god", only a willingness to experience the universe from a different point of view. There is no downside, except perhaps a loss of innocence from realizing the universe is a far greater and more mysterious place than the scientific framework is equipped to handle. But the gains from such experience are infinite, as those who've been there can attest. Science is an awesome expansion of our awareness of universe, and the more science we have the better off we'll all be. The mistake is assuming it is the only awareness worth having.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
You2
The Tech Lab: Ian McDonald
Long before computers reach the same processing power as humans, there will be an uploaded me out there in cyberspace. There already is. It's cartoony and unsophisticated yet, but it's achieving a life of its own. It speaks and is listened to.
(Via Futurismic.)
Human laundry
Ultrasonic Bath: Human washing machine
Of course, everyone knows that you're not fully clean unless you're "Zest-fully" clean.
At the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, consumer electronics maker Sanyo demonstrated their vision for the future by showcasing a series of appliances they thought would populate the home of tomorrow. Included was the Ultrasonic Bath, a pod-like human washing machine that cleans, massages and dries the user in a fully automated 15-minute process.
Of course, everyone knows that you're not fully clean unless you're "Zest-fully" clean.
Speaking of transhumanist misgivings . . .
George Dvorsky summarizes the deservedly varied reactions to the launch of Singularity University right here.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Hardcore conspiracy art
Third Reich from the Sun: Artist Explores Myths of Nazi UFO Technology
If you mistook the sculpture in the picture for one of George Adamski's "scoutships," you're forgiven.
Did Hitler develop top-secret flying saucers? One Polish artist is looking at myths of secret Nazi technology in a new exhibition at the site where the notorious V-2 rocket was developed in the German coastal city of Peenemünde.
If you mistook the sculpture in the picture for one of George Adamski's "scoutships," you're forgiven.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Transhumanist misgivings
Asocial Singularitarianism - Breeding an Incomplete View of Convergent Accelerating Change
I suppose it's entirely possible that I'm not a transhumanist. If so, I'm not particularly worried. The label has always been a matter of convenience; there's no denying my general philosophical affinity for ideas such as negligible senescence, nano-scale manufacturing and artificial intelligence.
Hardcore "Singularitarianism" (the word itself seems the stuff of deliberate self-parody) has always struck me as a brittle proposition: while Ray Kurzweil's technology-saturated vision of the near-future remains valid in theory, I've never quite managed the trick of incorporating it into my own worldview except on an abstract, intellectual level.
To be sure, many of the advances proclaimed by transhumanists will probably be realized, some even sooner than anticipated. But the overarching vision of a human species suddenly free to shed its physical form at will or upload itself into virtual environments -- as resolutely fascinating as these prospects are -- somehow lacks the texture of genuine prophecy (which typically attempts to prevent at least much of the future as it tries to actualize).
My doubts regarding the future scenario espoused by Kurzweil are based, in part, on the amount of time necessary to construct the technologies in question -- and our seeming inability to make the deadline. The deeper and harder I look into the future -- or at least my mind's necessarily incomplete approximation of it -- the more I'm convinced that the latter half of the century will be spent scrambling for resources. We may well find ourselves squeezed into an evolutionary bottleneck, with relatively few of us securing safe havens against a disintegrating climate and collapsing biosphere.
While the extravagant baubles promised by many Singularitarians just might materialize in a world of plenty, I simply can't shake the feeling that the Western world's casual reliance on material abundance is nearing a jarring end, precluding the visions of ardent transhumanists.
And while I'm as impressed with the steady ascension of computing power as anyone, it often seems as if an alarming number of futurists have forgotten that Moore's Law is a human construct, not physical law in the sense that, say, gravity or thermodynamics dictate our existence. If it seems stalwart and unyielding, we must take into account its fairly recent arrival; knowing nothing else, we naturally assume that electronic systems will inexorably increase in complexity and ubiquity, perhaps to rival the human brain within the next few decades. (The issue of mind-uploading remains a powerful and uniquely daunting question, far more laden with philosophical baggage than contemporary debates over the ethics of germ-line engineering or conscientious application of brain implants.)
Sadly, I must conclude (for now), that the Kurzweilian future, for all of its marvel and promise, is unlikely to occur. How our species will react to the perils already manifesting on the planetary stage remains an open question; it's entirely possible, for example, that our present mode of consciousness must undergo some form of mutation before we can deal with future threats sensibly. Futurists such as Daniel Pinchbeck have speculated that we've driven ourselves to the threshold of extinction (the "cusp of terminal dissolution" found in this blog's masthead) as a necessary precursor to becoming something fundamentally different.
Humanity appears to thrive on shocks -- our history (and prehistory) reflect an ability to assimilate the lessons of failed incarnations. Like the line plotted by Moore's Law, our tenure as a sentient presence on Earth indicates the capacity for exponential growth. Could it be that we're skating toward two Singularity events simultaneously without consciously realizing it? Multiple Singularities might constitute a topological headache, but could hardly be deemed more perplexing than the slippery, recursive nature of consciousness itself.
The TEB is a tendency among transhumanists to force their objective vision of the future to fit with their subjective expectation of the future. Many of the futurists and outright transhumanists that I have come to know and respect over the years suffer from this. (I too came down with it for a spell when I first encountered the awesome power of Moore's Law and other hard-tech diffusion curves.) It's as if they 1) expect the future to create a magical utopia into which they project their unchanged present-day personalities, 2) can't or don't want to credit the dumb masses (their detractors) with the ability to perform amazing operations (social computation) critical to acceleration, and/or 3) are so focused on the post-human age / life-extending digitization that they fail to adequately consider what it will take to get there.
I suppose it's entirely possible that I'm not a transhumanist. If so, I'm not particularly worried. The label has always been a matter of convenience; there's no denying my general philosophical affinity for ideas such as negligible senescence, nano-scale manufacturing and artificial intelligence.
Hardcore "Singularitarianism" (the word itself seems the stuff of deliberate self-parody) has always struck me as a brittle proposition: while Ray Kurzweil's technology-saturated vision of the near-future remains valid in theory, I've never quite managed the trick of incorporating it into my own worldview except on an abstract, intellectual level.
To be sure, many of the advances proclaimed by transhumanists will probably be realized, some even sooner than anticipated. But the overarching vision of a human species suddenly free to shed its physical form at will or upload itself into virtual environments -- as resolutely fascinating as these prospects are -- somehow lacks the texture of genuine prophecy (which typically attempts to prevent at least much of the future as it tries to actualize).
My doubts regarding the future scenario espoused by Kurzweil are based, in part, on the amount of time necessary to construct the technologies in question -- and our seeming inability to make the deadline. The deeper and harder I look into the future -- or at least my mind's necessarily incomplete approximation of it -- the more I'm convinced that the latter half of the century will be spent scrambling for resources. We may well find ourselves squeezed into an evolutionary bottleneck, with relatively few of us securing safe havens against a disintegrating climate and collapsing biosphere.
While the extravagant baubles promised by many Singularitarians just might materialize in a world of plenty, I simply can't shake the feeling that the Western world's casual reliance on material abundance is nearing a jarring end, precluding the visions of ardent transhumanists.
And while I'm as impressed with the steady ascension of computing power as anyone, it often seems as if an alarming number of futurists have forgotten that Moore's Law is a human construct, not physical law in the sense that, say, gravity or thermodynamics dictate our existence. If it seems stalwart and unyielding, we must take into account its fairly recent arrival; knowing nothing else, we naturally assume that electronic systems will inexorably increase in complexity and ubiquity, perhaps to rival the human brain within the next few decades. (The issue of mind-uploading remains a powerful and uniquely daunting question, far more laden with philosophical baggage than contemporary debates over the ethics of germ-line engineering or conscientious application of brain implants.)
Sadly, I must conclude (for now), that the Kurzweilian future, for all of its marvel and promise, is unlikely to occur. How our species will react to the perils already manifesting on the planetary stage remains an open question; it's entirely possible, for example, that our present mode of consciousness must undergo some form of mutation before we can deal with future threats sensibly. Futurists such as Daniel Pinchbeck have speculated that we've driven ourselves to the threshold of extinction (the "cusp of terminal dissolution" found in this blog's masthead) as a necessary precursor to becoming something fundamentally different.
Humanity appears to thrive on shocks -- our history (and prehistory) reflect an ability to assimilate the lessons of failed incarnations. Like the line plotted by Moore's Law, our tenure as a sentient presence on Earth indicates the capacity for exponential growth. Could it be that we're skating toward two Singularity events simultaneously without consciously realizing it? Multiple Singularities might constitute a topological headache, but could hardly be deemed more perplexing than the slippery, recursive nature of consciousness itself.
Shades of Tunguska
2 big satellites collide 500 miles over Siberia
Meanwhile, Greg Bishop offers another ufological perspective.
Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space station.
NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the crash, which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday.
"We knew this was going to happen eventually," said Mark Matney, an orbital debris scientist at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Meanwhile, Greg Bishop offers another ufological perspective.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Does it get anymore nightmarish than this?
China's Death Buses Deliver Executions, Organ Harvesting On the Go
This kind of thing makes my very psyche recoil. It's like some insane mashup of "Brazil's" industrious dystopia and the turbo-charged nihilism of "Mad Max."
If you're a criminal in China, you'll want to avoid its new death buses, vehicles that carry out executions while streaming live video of them, then provide some privacy for organ harvesting.
The buses, of which over 40 are currently in use, are replacing firing squads as China's preferred method of execution. The buses provide a setup for lethal injections, and the acts are carried out on streaming video so local authorities can observe and ensure that everything is done legally.
This kind of thing makes my very psyche recoil. It's like some insane mashup of "Brazil's" industrious dystopia and the turbo-charged nihilism of "Mad Max."
I can see myself in one of these.
Trylon Viper
Behold, the Trylon Viper, a three wheeled commuter vehicle created in the 1990's by one Rick Murphy. Inspired by the Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica the Trylon Viper can seat two -- one behind the other -- can be fitted with either a 1600cc or 1835cc Volkswagen engine, giving it a top speed of 120 miles per hour.
Telepresence bots on the way?
Life-size telepresence robots make their appearance
Of course, one could argue that our own bodies are meat-based versions of the robots cited above. There's nothing especially daunting about the idea except for one thing: for our reality to be telepresence-derived, we'd have to exist in a state of perpetual forgetfulness of our "real" ontological status. Maybe it's worth recalling the spiritual traditions that maintain that our reality is inherently fictitious or deceptive.
Of course, one could argue that our own bodies are meat-based versions of the robots cited above. There's nothing especially daunting about the idea except for one thing: for our reality to be telepresence-derived, we'd have to exist in a state of perpetual forgetfulness of our "real" ontological status. Maybe it's worth recalling the spiritual traditions that maintain that our reality is inherently fictitious or deceptive.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
Nick Redfern interview
Nick Redfern explains his perspective on UFO crashes and cryptozoology in a brief but revealing interview here. Nick's uniquely skeptical approach to all things Fortean has resulted in a healthily iconoclastic disdain for typical, belief-driven approaches to the paranormal. For example, Redfern embraces the Roswell controversy while insisting -- and not without evidence -- that the infamous event had nothing whatsoever to do with crashed alien hardware.
Like Nick, I'm convinced that ufological discourse will remain mired in its present state of uncritical acceptance until we dispense with the unspoken need for cosmic company. (Which isn't, of course, to preclude the possibility that some UFO events indeed represent the machinations of extraterrestrials.)
Fungal habitats
Mushroom Cities: Tropical Urban Rainforests
A play upon the symbiotic nature of organisms thriving in the rainforest, TROPICOOL @ KL envisions a series of symbiotic energy-generating skyscrapers modeled after mushrooms. These tropical trees of life provide housing and recreational facilities while mimicking the five layers found within a tropical rainforest: the overstory, the canopy, the understory, the shrub layer, and the forest floor.
Challenging the barriers of the "real"
Augmented reality continues to approximate the trippiness and whimsical clarity of Charles Bonnet Syndrome:
(Thanks to Future Blogger.)
(Thanks to Future Blogger.)
You know you want this.
Japanese company builds your robotic twin
Just what my bachelor pad needs: plush clones of me chattering away in my own voice. I'm sure my cats would positively love it.
What you get for your money is a 40cm tall doll fashioned in your image, which can synthesize your voice and recite RSS feeds. It runs on Windows XP and responds to voice commands. The dolls are equipped with a 500MHz processor with 512MB of RAM.
Just what my bachelor pad needs: plush clones of me chattering away in my own voice. I'm sure my cats would positively love it.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Paul Kimball on film-making and UFOs
Friend/comrade Paul Kimball makes some essential points about the postmodern spectacle that is YouTube and its implications for imparting serious ideas about scientific anomalies.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
The posthuman condition
We are becoming a new species, we are becoming Homo Evolutis
Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, Enriquez says that humanity is on the verge of becoming a new and utterly unique species, which he dubs Homo Evolutis. What makes this species so unique is that it "takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of the species." Calling it the "ultimate reboot," he points to the conflux of DNA manipulation and therapy, tissue generation, and robotics as making this great leap possible.
Friday, February 06, 2009
New prospects for augmented reality
MIT researchers create cheap "sixth-sense" ubiquitous computing device
According to the researchers, the gadget (unveiled by MIT researcher Pattie Maes at the Technology, Entertainment, Design [TED] conference currently underway in Long Beach, California) uses about $300 U.S. worth of store-bought components, and can do things like recognize items on store shelves, retrieve and project information about products, look at an airplane ticket and let the user know whether the flight is on time, or recognize books in a book store, project reviews or author information from the Internet onto blank pages, and recognize articles in newspapers and retrieve the latest related stories or video from the Internet.
Sour seas
Oceans Are the New Atmosphere
What we mean is, that concern for the state of the oceans and the potential impacts of the on-going catastrophic collapse of ocean ecosystems is reaching a pitch that we haven't seen on any other environmental issue other than the build-up of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. We don't live in them -- many of us have never even seen them -- but we're handily trashing them. And the state of the oceans is inextricably linked to the state of the planet as a whole.
It's easier than you think.
How to control a herd of humans
Scott Wiltermuth of Stanford University in California and colleagues have found that activities performed in unison, such as marching or dancing, increase loyalty to the group. "It makes us feel as though we're part of a larger entity, so we see the group's welfare as being as important as our own," he says.
ET civilizations: how many?
Number of alien worlds quantified
Chris Wren writes:
The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.
The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.
The work is reported in the International Journal of Astrobiology.
Chris Wren writes:
Sure, it's based on a simulation - a very complex simulation, but it beats saying "I didn't see any alien Von Neumann probes when I looked out my window this morning. We're obviously alone in the universe." Which is basically all the Fermi "Paradox" amounts to, no matter how people try to dress it up.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Aliens and archetypes
I was struck by some of the formations depicted in the theosophical book "Thought-Forms," shown here.
A few of them (seen above) could pass for witness reconstructions of UFO sightings. That the authors of the book consider them depictions of psychic intent suggests a commonality with the mandalas of Jung's collective unconscious.
A few of them (seen above) could pass for witness reconstructions of UFO sightings. That the authors of the book consider them depictions of psychic intent suggests a commonality with the mandalas of Jung's collective unconscious.
Clarification
Readers who follow the "Majestic 12" document controversy might have puzzled over my inclusion in a recent email newsletter promoting the book "Majic Eyes Only." The newsletter features a quote from an early Posthuman Blues blog entry, then segues into a most unsubtle advertisement for a health supplement.
Although it's not explicitly stated, the implication is that I endorse either "Majic Eyes Only" or the supplement when, in fact, I endorse neither. I wasn't contacted prior to the ad's release and have nothing to do with either of the products in question. Further, I'm not affiliated with the Majestic Documents site in any capacity.
Just so you know.
Although it's not explicitly stated, the implication is that I endorse either "Majic Eyes Only" or the supplement when, in fact, I endorse neither. I wasn't contacted prior to the ad's release and have nothing to do with either of the products in question. Further, I'm not affiliated with the Majestic Documents site in any capacity.
Just so you know.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Stranger than fiction
Ghostly faces and visions of 'little people': The eye disorder that leaves thousands of Britons fearing they've lost their senses
'The unpleasant feeling was of not being in control,' she says. 'Once they are identified, they are not a problem.'
Hallucinations can last from only a few seconds to several hours. In a minority of unlucky cases, they are continuous throughout the day. Patients usually have several daily before they taper off to once a week, then once a month.
For 60 per cent of patients, they will stop entirely after 18 months. There has not yet been a long-term study, but some patients report having them for at least three years.
Part of Dr ffytche's research involves looking into ways patients can stop the hallucinations. 'There won't be a single recipe for everyone,' he says. 'But hallucinations tend to occur when you are in a state of drowsy wakefulness, so you want to rouse yourself.'
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
The secret megalopolis
Talk about surreal. It's as if these guys are unearthing an alien artifact -- which, I suppose, they are.
Another contender in the "new space race"
Iran claims first launch of its own satellite
Iran sent its first domestically made satellite into orbit, the president announced Tuesday, a key step for an ambitious space program that worries the U.S. and other world powers because the same rocket technology used to launch satellites can also deliver warheads.
For nearly a decade, Iran has sought to develop a national space program, creating unease among international leaders already concerned about its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Do not attempt to adjust your picture.
A final alert: "my" episode of "Supernatural Investigator" will air tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT on Vision TV (Canada). Watch as I hang out with astrobiologist Maggie Turnbull, chat with psychologist Leo Sprinkle and pontificate atop desert hills.
Prospects for manned spaceflight
Russia Wants to Build New Space Station, Extend Life of ISS to 2020
The Russian space agency (Roscosmos) has announced that it will lobby Moscow with a proposal that would see the construction of a new Russian space station in low-Earth orbit. Also, the agency has expressed a desire to extend the operational lifespan of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2020 (the outpost is set for retirement in 2015). Building a Russian space station will aid Russia's desire to kick-start their lunar program, possibly acting as a staging post for future missions to Mars . . .
Paracast appearance
You can hear me on the latest edition of The Paracast with Mars Society founder and author Robert Zubrin.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Feral technology
A Trilobite Made of Welded Steel and Time
In a similar DIY vein:
Ugly body mods turn regular 1992 Civic into a 95 MPG gas sipper
Its carapace has turned to steel in the hundreds of millions of years since it went extinct, but the watch in this Trilobite's brain never stops tracking the seconds passed since the Cambrian ended.
In a similar DIY vein:
Ugly body mods turn regular 1992 Civic into a 95 MPG gas sipper
German UFO incident?
UFO over Germany official - says air traffic control
It will be interesting to see what becomes of this case -- assuming it doesn't succumb to utter obscurity.
German air force jets were put on red alert and there were dozens of reports of the object as it flew across southern Germany including several airports which were put on emergency standby.
It eventually vanished above Grafenwoehr, an area used by American troops on training exercises.
Raab said: "When it vanished from the radar we believed that whatever it was had crashed - but there was no crash site to be seen.
It will be interesting to see what becomes of this case -- assuming it doesn't succumb to utter obscurity.
Charles Platt on animal intelligence
Communication with Cats
In my experience, if you treat a cat as "just an animal," that's how he will behave. He will sense that you are not really trying to understand him, and naturally enough, he will give up trying to communicate. The more you engage with him as an equal and try to understand his perspective on the world, the more he will respond to you, and the closer your relationship may become.
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