THE TRANSHUMANIST SCRAPBOOK: THE FIRST BRAIN TO BRAIN INTERFACE

When Dr. Scott D. de Hart and I were researching and writing Transhumanism: A Grimoire of Alchemical Agendas, one of the areas of research we concentrated upon was the growing field of what we called "alchemo-mineral" man, the fusion of man and machine, and hence, of man and the minerals represented in computer chips. The transhumanist quest, we averred, was in part a quest to create, via such chimerical fusions, a kind of "group" or "hive' consciousness rather like the Borg in Star Trek, the Next Generation: resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. There, in the Borg collective, the individual's consciousness is not so much suppressed, but rather, overwhelmed by the equal presence to his or her mind of scores, if not hundreds or thousands of other individual consciousnesses. It is like that conversation we all have in our own minds, with that voice that is another part of our self, only in this case, it's not just one voice, or even the "two" voices of a schizophrenic, nor the several voices of a multiple personality disorder.

It is literally hundreds if not thousands of voices.

Now, almost no sooner than the ink on our book is dry, than that future seems to be one frightening step closer:

Researcher controls colleague’s motions in 1st human brain-to-brain interface

Note now this one paragraph, pregnant with frightening implications:

“It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get translated into actual action by another brain,” Rao said. “This was basically a one-way flow of information from my brain to his. The next step is having a more equitable two-way conversation directly between the two brains.” (Emphasis added)

Now, I don't know about you, but to me, the two-way flow of information I can immediately see being of benefit to the military: the ability to see and hear, for example, what your colleagues on the battlefield are seeing and hearing. OK. I get that. This whole area of research would be of interest to, and we know is at some level being funded by, the military industrial complex.

It's that one way flow of information that bothers me. Just how one way was it? It raises the possibility of a technology able to override an individual's own will, and perhaps to a certain extent, their own interior consciousness and, to a certain extent, their interior assent or dissent to such externally commanded actions. That prospect, we know, would be of extreme interest to all sorts of repellent people dreaming of technetronic societies and wonders.

Even worse, why would the "one-way flow of information" even have to come from another human at all?

In Transhumanism: A Grimoire of Alchemical Agendas, we pointed out that the transhumanist singularity comes in a variety of apocalyptic shapes and sizes, the heaven scenario of people like Ray Kruzweil, the "muddle through" scenario which has elements both of a heavenly and a hellish transformation of human culture and society, and the Hell scenario, where the whole technological transformation is one gigantic nightmare.

Now, historically, human technological progress has usually resulted in the "muddle through" middle-of-the-road scenario. Technological progress has given us medical capabilities far beyond what existed prior to the industrial revolution. It also gave us the hell of poison gas during World War One. So the track record is mixed.

But when I contemplate the alchemo-mineral man and the "one way flow of information," I increasingly think that these people, smiling in their laboratory chairs and producing such bizarre experiments, are unknowingly (or perhaps, knowingly) working to transform human existence into a nightmare.

Time, and our vigilance, will tell.

See you on the flip side.

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

8 Comments

  1. henry on September 12, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    animal man- hunter gatherers
    vegetable man- agriculture, agrarian settlements, civilizations
    mineral man- industrial revolution, factories, output of steel, and fossil fuels

    as noted in “Covert Wars and Breaksway Civilizations”, besides technological aspect, there is also the consciousness aspect to UFOs.
    If “the ultimate goal of alchemy is to reach higher level of consciousness”, it mentions the “fusion” of technology and man yet also emphasized on the consciousness aspect of human being.
    Then J.P.Morgan’s confiscation of Tesla technology is excusable because of the potential detrimental outcome of misuse, that he thinks he’s “responsible enough” to handle the technology.
    It also depends on which alchemical “transhumanism” are we talking about, the one interpreted by “Yahwism” or the one retained by non-Yahwist traditions.
    “Yahwist” approach seems to be the “crude” fusion of technology and man, where consciousness is subjected to technology, while “non-Yahwist” approach, perhaps like the ancient builders of Stonehenge who spend alot of time “meditating” before piloting UFOs to enjoy the show in the 21th century.
    In a sense, “Yahwist” approach is as much a misrepresentation as a misguidance as far as human potential is concerned, in a sense, a Hindu Guru levitating without “Nazi Bell” or Taoist monk flying around without rocket pack is far more “superior” than the heroes in Elysium, in a sense “transhumanism” is just a variant of “Yahwism”.



  2. MQ on September 12, 2013 at 3:58 pm

    Who signed up to be the effect point on a one-way brain control flow? Ya think they were really volunteers… I then thought, wow, there’s a way to really use that 2 million prison population of mostly physically fit, dangerous and (most importantly) disposable bodies: for good army cannon fodder [you *know* someone’s already thought of this]. Of course, absolute control, like other absolutes in this universe, are unobtainable, but this won’t stop these weirdos from trying…



  3. jedi on September 12, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    only on the weak minded….however subliminal imaging works well on the unsuspecting as does suggestion and whispering campaigns…..childs play compared too this form of communication which btw is very ancient, and apparently has something to do with dna..

    gordo light foot sang about it, if you could read my mind lord, what a tale I could tell …those chains upon his feet are dna…and that is a ghost from a wishing well you cant see



  4. Sophia on September 12, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    Beyond ST NG & the Borg, wouldn’t an earlier SF work that deals with collective psy-melding of intelligences be Asimov’s “Foundation and Earth?”

    In which robots inhabit the inner sub-lunar structures of the Moon?

    Been a while since my sci fi days.



  5. marcos toledo on September 12, 2013 at 8:57 am

    The ultimate slaves our Elites are licking their chops. Those who wish to control others are the real slaves parasites feeding on the rest of us,



    • Robert Barricklow on September 12, 2013 at 3:03 pm

      Well put.



  6. Robert Barricklow on September 12, 2013 at 8:30 am

    That Borg meme is ubiquitous:
    Resistance is Futile, You will be Assimilated

    I’d like to see the counter meme take the lead:
    Resistance is Fetile,
    and growing by Leaps & Bounds.

    Yes,
    the controls freaks are
    licking their bloody fangs.



    • Robert Barricklow on September 12, 2013 at 8:32 am

      Resistance is Fertile
      Even with bad typists



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