Archives for category: Consciousness

Morbid title but an interesting thought exercise.

This one starts with 3D printing. It has provoked the human imagination and charge innovation in ways that was once not possible. We can build intricate parts with our imagination and will them into the physical world. From 3D printed sky-scrapers to 3D printed kidneys and bones. We are starting to see money being poured into these verticals to supercharge them and industrialise them.

There are many game changers out there but for this line of thought, I want to think about medical science of 3D bio-printing and how we think about mortality. When you look at causes of death, the majority of the causes are technical such as organ failure, toxicity or loss of blood. 3D bio-printing may advance to the level where organ failure may have a real technical solution. Imagine the companies which are already working on this area [1]. New ones are coming up quickly and they are bringing new possibilities to change how we live our lives. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is the tragic event in Santa Barbara, California symptomatic of a viral social media behaviour?

Ever since cases such as Columbine, we seem to be getting steady occurrence of such events. It’s not just localised to the US, this phenomenon has gone global. With school shootings globally on the rise, not to mention the Norwegian tragedy, violence in schools in China etc., there has been a tangible increase in troubling violent events happening outside the scope of war, general crime and terrorism.

The world may be getting smaller but certain problems appear to be getting bigger. Is this a case of higher visibility due to pervasive media or higher population density, or a real issue of mental disease spread through social networks. We know the active use of social networks in “organised” conflicts such as war and terrorism and even it’s use in organised crime. It is also known for it’s direct influence in the success of viral marketing and social influences. The term “going viral” can take on a real serious and scary place in dark teenager’s bedrooms around the world.

The phenomenon of social media in youth lone-wolf violent behaviours should not be overlooked.

A person who believes his faith is fragile and easily bruised does not have any faith to begin with.

As the size of the universe is infinite (as opposed to the observable universe), we can boldly claim to be at the center of it all.

It’s a cop-out answer from being stumped by not being able to get a straight answer to: where is the center of the universe.

If we lose our religion, do we lose our insecurities?
We were born naked, stupid and scared,
Discovering questions with no knowledge for answers,

We think “the sun shines so there can be light”,
The world spins so there can be day and night.
The season change so we till the land,
For this frame of mind, we are thankful to a god who created life.

As we gain knowledge to answer these life questions,
We know that the causes are incidental and not the purpose.

There is light because there is a sun,
Day and night because this rock turns,
Winter is not a good time for planting crops,
Society are the ones busy creating their perfect gods.

There is no purpose for life but to live to give purpose.
We do not overcome a fear of the unknown by giving it a name,
We overcome it as how evolution has prepared us for it.
As sentient explorers, constantly discovering and learning

There is a place for religion for some.
For others, we satisfy these insecurities in other ways.
These other ways have shown the world to be round,
that the universe do not revolve around us,
that we can conquer the seas, the sky and finally,
the gravitational pull of the earth.

We add new pages every moment. New experiences, emotions, insights. The only parts written in pencil are regrets. 

I for one, hope that my book will be a long and interesting one before the final chapter is added. The final chapter would be written by someone else and titled: Obituary.

 

This is a beautiful view of what the conscious mind can be at an altered state where identity and reality has shifted. What is to say that she is now seeing more clearly than before she took LSD? Before, her brain and identity was chemically tuned to social constructs. LSD changed it – so which is her true self?

Do you think you are normal? What a little chemical can do to your consciousness. The mind is beautiful. What is real to you, now?