Minds, Money, Memories and Madness

Buses, Biology, Borat and Barack Obama

Woke up late, ran for the bus stop. Big queue. Had an ‘Immunity, Parasites and Control of Parasitic Infections’ lecture in the Biology Building in approx. 20 minutes. There was a great many students clamoured around the bus, trying to get in. Ordinarily, I would have (and I most certainly should have) done what a small minority did and walked off to make the solitary trek to university on foot. I would still have been late, but it would have been reasonable. I could respectably walk in up to 10 minutes late, I imagined. But no. Instead, I stuck with the ‘Greater Mass’. I put my faith in the greater mass, despite my better judgement – like some kind of social gravitational force pulling me in. I was tired. I didn’t have the energy to break free.

More people = greater mass = greater ‘social gravity’?

Fewer people = less mass = less ‘social gravity’?

Was I attracted by the gravity of the greater mass?

The bus driver wouldn’t let me on (along with some other students, whom I don’t know and probably never will), so I tried to walk it, despite knowing I wouldn’t make it to class – but there was no use in giving up and turning back to St Peter’s Court. I had made an intention to make a journey and I was going to try to fulfil my intention.

I didn’t even get close – so headed towards the library to sulk and to berate myself for my tardiness. As I walked through the med school car-park, I thought about mass minds again, and the individuality of the people constituting the mass mind. I likened it to proteins and amino acids. But I'd be explaining a lot if I went into that now, but it just so happens that I am craving jelly beans - and jelly beans also make an adequete analogy. In a packet of jelly beans, you have many different colours and flavours - but all of these jelly beans share a common characteristic of being a jelly bean, and collectively, in the packaging they form a pack of jelly beans. One jelly bean, no matter what colour, will not make a pack of jelly beans. The different colours of jelly beans represents the individuality of the beans, but the jelly bean nature of the foodstuff represents the common cause of the mass... perhaps? Never mind.

As I approached the library, I thought bitter thoughts about different masses or groups. The patriots, the Proles, the radicals, the racists… etc. It reminded me of division and the so called ‘war on terror’ or as Sacha Baron Cohen so aptly put it in ‘Borat’; ‘War of terror’. Too right. I thought of America. How it had good points and bad points. I tried to weight them up in my mind, and I remembered my dislike of its foreign politics – you didn’t need to be a political know-all to be privy to the downfalls of its foreign politics. As I approached the library, I walked past a poster on the notice board which was reminiscent of Barack Obama’s campaign poster –with the student in the funny colours with the slogan ‘Yes we can!’ (This leads me to think that Mr Obama watched too much Bob the Builder in his youth…or still does). I thought that despite peoples’ current resentment towards the man, he was embedded into popular culture – a defining figure, almost an icon. I am not saying whether or not he is a good or bad icon – I’m no political analyst. But that wasn’t the first time I had seen people emulate this poster. Then, as I entered the library, at the turnstile, I noticed a really small penny on the floor, I was so curious (my mind desperate for diversion from any depressing lecture-missing topic) that I inspected it closer. It looked foreign. I picked it up and realised it was an American Cent. Wow indeed. Coincidence? I noticed Abraham Lincoln, and thought to myself with a silent chuckle; even I, a silly tardy British student, recognise this man. Then again, I was a ‘90’s kid’. I watched Recess and the Simpsons. The story of ‘Honest Abe’ cropped up in both shows. Ah, The 90’s… I recalled people’s chrono-patriotism. Once something is old and long-gone, people want to hold on to it all the more. There is a current upsurge in retro-90’s reminiscence. ‘The 90’s were great!’, ‘Legendzz is from da 90’s – get me’. Obviously, we’re not the first generation to do this, but this is the retro-representation relevant to me. And so on.

So what have I gleaned from this experience? Wake up earlier to take an earlier bus, and don’t take the late bus with everyone else. Also, I think too much. I try to be too aware. My mind works in overdrive, thinking inordinate quantities of pointless thoughts. Can you even quantify thoughts? Where is the distinction between one thought and another? Sigh. Is this a sign of madness? Why am I asking all of these questions? I could probably begin to think up answers for all of these (maybe right, maybe wrong) but that would just be unethical – we’d both be here all day. I think the Madness of Captain Nitrogen is another story for another - rather more productive - day

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Theory of the Mass Mind

Thinking about electrons and different kinds of special, and talking some nonsense along the way

Writing these really is a learning experience – just letting my mind loose onto the screen, forgive me

I usually try to write these posts with, at least in small part, the future in mind. The chances are, nobody except me will return to these in the future, which is all good and well. For me, these posts will serve as a reminder of what depraved state of mind I was in at the time, as is the case with the ever changing mind. This being said, I try to write them in a kind of generic style, not really dwelling on my current state of life. Well, that’s my own impression. Perhaps the reality of this is that I do indeed write these in a closed chronic context, limiting its meaning in the moderately distant future. Anyway, all tangents aside, the shelf life of this particular piece will probably only be as long as it takes for anybody reading this to finish studying and enter the actual world of work and self-support.

It begins on a cold February morning, in the rush to get to a ten ‘o’ clock lecture. It wouldn’t be so much of a rush, but arrhythmic sleeping habits often lead to late mornings (or early afternoons). Ordinarily, the situation would cause me to hop onto my bike and pedal manically to university, but since most of it got stolen (yes, most of it. Accept it without question, Prole), the bus has become my life-line for frenzied morning runs. That is not to say I am always like this, I can normally get up with time to spare, and spend the time leading up to the lecture leisurely drinking coffee whilst reading Charlie Brooker, or NewScientist magazine. On this particular morning, I got onto the bus just before it drove off, and I shuffled through the crowded aisle, up the stairs and found a seat somewhere near the back of the bus. It was at this moment, looking around me that a slightly unnerving thought struck me – I am now just a part of the daily commute, just another faceless what’s-his-name in the grey humdrum of modern life? This was a bit early. I am not even 19 yet! However, the thought was shaken off relatively easily, as I reminded myself that things aren’t usually like this.

This did have me thinking for the remainder of the journey about the grand ‘Social Organism’. This is probably reverting back to ‘The Ode’ slightly, but the thought seemed like one to explore. We always look around and see ‘the masses’ as one big mind. A mass of unwavering people all with the same view, drilled into them through whatever means, subtle or blasé. But each and every one of the mass seems to see themselves as an individual. Nobody admits to being one of ‘the masses’, or one of ‘general society’ - that is more or less likening them to a worker ant. An unidentifiable tool of the system. Nobody wants to be that. Even if it is for a greater good. I see myself as an individual, but I am not, of course, alone in this thinking. We all have our reasons for why we are ‘individual’ and they may all be valid. Then again, they may not. Who knows?

So what exactly is this idea of ‘the masses’? And does it exist? By my own reasoning and experience, perhaps it does exist and it doesn’t. My own twisted theory came from physical chemistry; the idea of Van der Waals forces. The conclusion of such odd thoughts wound up to say that we all, at some point, are a part of the faceless social organism. The way in which we end up as a part of this social organism is most likely by chance. I shall briefly explain Van der Waals forces. Without going into too much detail, they originate from the classic model of the atom with a nucleus and its many orbiting electrons. The electrons are all buzzing around at impossible speeds, in all directions around the nucleus. Then, by chance, the electrons all just happen to be in the same place at the same time. So what? I hear you say. Well, all of these electrons being in a particular place at a particular time cause that region of the atom (or molecule) to become negative, and all of the other parts to become relatively positive. This is called a dipole. This has a knock on effect on neighbouring molecules or atoms, as the negative region of the atom/molecule repels all of the electrons on the adjacent atom/molecule, causing them all to migrate to the side of the atom furthest from the original offending electron cloud. Electrons are negative; just like poles on a magnet they will repel other negative electrons. Now a dipole has been created in the adjacent molecule/atom. This can have a knock on effect on all of the surrounding atoms/molecules.

I think of minds to be somewhat like electrons. They’re all whirring on, thinking their own individual thoughts, but at some point all of the minds settle on a single idea though they all arrived at the idea perceivably individually. If enough people think the same idea, this will be noticed by oppositely thinking minds, who will all challenge the opposing idea. The opposing points of view will probably see the other as ‘the masses’ as there appear to be a lot of people thinking in the same way. This state is usually transient as peoples’ minds change or people just lose interest.

So, by this logic of ‘opposing masses’, we’ve all been part of a ‘mass’ at some point. Some masses are larger than others, so from here, ‘the masses’ are the ‘masses’ that outnumber the rest – or look as if they outnumber the rest. Or a few from a particular ‘mass’ stand out for whatever reason – perhaps out of feverent support for their system and this sticks out in peoples’ minds causing anybody who has slightly similar thoughts to be tarnished with the same brush. The people with similar thoughts may not be a part of the mass – in fact, the few sticking out are most likely a minority… or perhaps a large minority… a ‘mediority’. I invented a word for my own use. It’s fun. You should try it, seriously. It’ll make your day.

After this peculiar set of thoughts, I made my way to lectures, and learned all sorts of fascinating facts, but I became aware of my initial gloomy idea again as I sat in Human Physiology and Pharmacology 2. There must have been over 200 of us in that particular lecture, and we all had the lecture handbooks which were in essence reproductions of the PowerPoint slides being displayed. When a particular slide would change, everybody would turn their page in unison. Yes, this is trivial, when do I expect them to turn their page? The sound of 200 people turning their pages at the same time is fairly audible. And I noticed that I was turning my page at the same time as all the rest. This just wouldn’t do! I resorted to hurriedly turning over, slightly before the end of the slide or after everybody had already turned their page. That way I felt slightly out of sync with everyone. I feel better that way. We students see ourselves as a diverse bunch, and we probably are, we probably aren’t, I don’t know that isn’t the topic under discussion currently, but all this will end at some point when we decide to settle down and start our nine to five routine. Sucks. Bummer. Darn. And whatever else people say these days.

But this microscopic act of defiance gave me some hope, and helped me to realise that we are all a majority here. We’re all students. I am a student, just like the thousands of other students here in the university. We all chose this university because we all share some basic thought process, or we share a particular point of view about this university with many other students. The sheer variety of students shows the diversity of ‘masses’ and ‘majorities’ that are around. But these majorities are formed of individuals; individuals who seek to maintain their majority because it is what they believe in, despite their own individuality. The unity in a ‘mass’ can be seen as a good thing, as different individuals put their differences aside to support a common cause, and to even seek out friends. The majority exists as a result of ‘safety in numbers’ and to preserve a common sentiment or belief, not to quash the spirit of the person who feels like they are different. Every individual who may lead some kind of mundane life has their own story to tell. It may not seem spectacular to the great wide world, but their world- their friends, their community, their comrades know the story and its’ history. They share in the moments and they know that that particular story means something special. Not because it is special to the whole world, it probably isn’t special to the whole world. Your first kiss isn’t necessarily going to change THE world. But YOUR world, it will. And to the individual, it is their own personal little world which gives their life meaning, and makes them, at least in their own mind, stand out.

Brainstorm

DOOM, GLOOM and Megan Fox

I sent my friend this most ominous text, some time back.

“Well you have to clear your head sooner or later… I’m a work-aholic just like you and I get sad when I don’t have work to do because I’m hopeless but sometimes it’s just nice to savour the freedom of being youthful. Because in a few years when uni is over we’re going to be miserable adults looking for a job and weeping at how stupid life is. All of a sudden, that shotgun looks really attractive and BANG we’ve blown off our heads. Sounds extreme but it’s true. No uni student lives past 25. Old post grads are just a lie. I know. I blew my head off once. Believe it… Heed my warning Frank! We’re all doomed to a grisly end. Har! Har! Har! ”

In retyping that text message I have just noticed a pun. ‘…clear your head sooner or later’ and then ‘…BANG we’ve blown off our heads’. I sent this to a Spanish friend, and only once I sent the message did I realise that his reaction may not be the same as somebody who had grown up here and had spent some time with me to realise just how bitter I can be. He’s usually a very jolly chap, who is always smiling and telling amusing stories, so I am unsure as to how he received this information. His reply seemed happy enough though so perhaps he understood the humour.

Humour is a vital tool in modern society as it distracts us from the doom and gloom of all that is wrong with the world. Let’s face it, without a bit of humour, the above scenario described in the text would probably be true. The text was written to make a mockery of the life without humour. With nothing to laugh about, shotguns would probably start to look more attractive than Megan Fox… unless it was a matter of Megan Fox holding a shotgun. Suicide could never be sexier. Right. This is starting to get dark, I’m frightening myself again, and I was prepared to provide further elaboration on that idea. Some ideas are better left alone… I can fully affirm that I am my own worst enemy – for reasons such as this. My mind is a storm of thoughts. Some good, some bad. I am pretty sure that many people have conflicted minds like my own, but they seem to handle their conflicted minds better than I. Or perhaps they don’t handle it better than I. Perhaps they hate themselves to the point where they would do anything to make themselves feel better about themselves. Perhaps they would pose naked to please millions of the opposite or same homosexual, sex.

I really feel like I’m making progress here. It is as if I’m talking to a psychiatrist, only I’m talking to you. Whoever you are. I am most likely talking to myself, as is usually the case. Ha! I make a good psychiatrist for myself then! I am my own worst enemy but I can also cure myself with some assertion. So I am my own worst enemy and my own best friend at the same time. Is that possible? To be enemy and friend, in equal measure, at the same time? Perhaps it is possible to the onlooker; to the outsider. It would be like the Schrödinger’s cat paradox. I must say, the Schrödinger’s cat paradox is probably my favourite paradox. It really is sublime.

Imagine a sealed, opaque box. You can’t see inside, you can’t hear what is going on inside. Inside the box is a cat. There is also an unknown radioactive isotope in the box. There is a flask of noxious acid. There is a hammer mechanism linked up to a Geiger counter. When the Geiger counter detects a certain amount of radiation, the hammer will strike the flask, spilling the noxious contents into the box, thus killing the poor cat. I would like to add that this is hypothetic, no cats were harmed in the development of this thought experiment. You, on the outside of said box must reason whether or not the cat is dead or alive. The cat could be either. It is entirely plausible that the cat is dead. It is also equally as plausible that the cat is still alive. From your distant outside perspective, you have no way of knowing which state the cat is actually in, and for all intents and purposes (déjà vu), that cat is perceived to be both dead and alive at the same time, due to there being equal reasoning for either argument that is ascertaining the cats death or life.

Well, my head is in a similar situation. Imagine my head as the sealed box. To the onlooker, I could be my own enemy, or my own friend… kind of in the same way as the Schrödinger’s cat paradox. Kind of. Loosely. Just use your imagination, OK? Use it. I said so. Lost your imagination already? Your loss, now you can’t amaze in wonderment at the depravity of my mind. You’re probably better off that way, why would anybody want to know what is going on in my mind anyway? You’d need as much psychiatric help as I do, perhaps more. Treat yourself, I manage it just fine.

I seem to have gone off at a tangent there. I apologise for going mad at the readership… if there really is a readership out there. I think a sense of awareness can be perceived as madness, only because everybody takes things for granted. For instance, I sometimes like to listen to the sound of my heartbeat. After exercise, I can hear it pretty clearly without using a stethoscope. It is a surreal feeling. The sound of my life, beating away, maintaining some kind of rhythm - as long as I am not undergoing fibrillation or arrhythmia - that would be bad. But the sound of your own heartbeat can be a sobering experience, even though it is an everyday thing. You are in essence listening to your life. If you want to know what your life sounds like, then there you have it. On a particularly quiet, dark night, it is possible to hear your heartbeat. You should try it. The darkness helps as the lack of light sharpens your other senses.

Where is the point that you finally ‘lose it’? Listening to ones’ own heartbeat is all good and well, but what about ranting at people who may not be there? Or likening ones’ own skull to a feline death chamber? Or calling suicide ‘sexy’? This piece has been very educational to me, as it has let me read what my mind is capable of. When something is still in your head, and hasn’t been voiced in any way, it usually sounds like a good idea. Saying something out loud, or writing it helps you judge whether or not it is a good idea. What could have been written could have been a lot worse, but we have a little thing known as a conscience. A wonderful regulatory mechanism that tells you to stop when it can see you are going too far. Certain substances dull the effect of this excellent mechanism, and lead you to do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Such is life, and it really isn’t my problem. The world has its’ own liberties and its’ own customs. Go knock yourself out, world.

“Everybody loves a joke
But no one likes a fool
And you're always cracking the same old lines again
You're well rehearsed on every verse
And that was stated clear
But no one understands your verity”

-Green Day

A Figment of my Imagination

To lose one eye when you have two is unfortunate, but to lose an eye when you only had one to begin with is nothing short of a catastrophe

In general, as we grow older, our imagination diminishes. Such a shame, I’m still trying to cling to mine. It’s all that I’ve got going for me. Being able to pull crazy ideas out of the air is something I’ve gained some notoriety for…well no, I haven’t. The only thing I am notorious for is not being notorious. It should probably stay that way, maintaining a reputation is hard work. Being a nobody means you can do what you want and nobody cares. Obviously, it also means that nobody cares when you do something worth notice – like solve the meaning of life, cure cancer, or end world peace. It just so happens I’ve done all of those things over the past week – at least I have in my mind.

Huzzah for the mind! Huzzah! Of course anything is possible - especially if you have a decent imagination and the loosest grip on the social view on ‘reality’. Reality is indeed what you make of it, mainly because reality is what you perceive through your senses. You see what your eyes are capable of seeing, you feel what you can feel, and you smell what your nose can smell. It’s a fairly obvious concept. But we must remember that our senses are limited to what our sense receptors are capable of receiving.

Sight is a wonderful example of the limitations of our senses. Light is just a type of electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic radiation will exhibit different characteristics based on the energy of the photon involved in the wave of radiation (my physics knowledge is limited at best). The radiation that reaches our eyes is electromagnetic radiation in the visible wavelength. The radiation can adopt other energies, starting from low energy radio waves, to the highest energy gamma radiation. Light is somewhere in the middle. The receptors in our retina are only capable of detecting light in this small region of visible light. Other animals seem to be able to see radiation of other wavelengths. For example, snakes can see in the infrared wavelength, the wavelength of radiation lower than light. Bees and some birds can see in the ultraviolet wavelengths (the wavelength higher than light). The colours we see are only a small part of the radiation bombarding us. There are sounds that we can’t hear as they are out of our frequency range, yet dogs can hear them. Moths, beetles and dogs can also smell smells that we can’t. There’s another world out there that we are incapable of detecting, sometimes I feel that we are missing out.

Whatever we sense, it influences the way our body reacts, how we behave and so on, but it will also indirectly affect our imaginations and our thoughts. If you’ve not experienced something before, you won’t be privy to the sensation therefore you won’t be able to reproduce it in your mind and thoughts. You don’t miss what you haven’t had. Somebody who is born blind has no concept of sight, as they have never experienced sight. If they suddenly did learn to see, they would probably be overwhelmed by the sensory overload as they haven’t had time to get used to it like people who were born with sight. Somebody who goes blind in later age will probably miss their sight as they have experienced the visible world, and have adapted a life to live accordingly. This is all stuff of philosophical debate, and my thoughts are bound to be challenged by other people who think I’m an absolute tit – they’re probably right. Other people usually are right. They’re other people.

We have approached an interesting point in science, where the walls between philosophical debate and scientific pursuit are becoming ever less defined. There are now bionic ears and bionic eyes. They can be hard-wired into the afferent nerves (the input nerves to the brain) to perform the function for the faulty sense organ. Prosthetics have gone from performing mechanical function for a missing leg or arm to receptive sensory function. Pretty cool stuff. But of course, there are questions which have a philosophical origin that crop up. If they implant these bionic organs in people who have never seen or heard before, what will be their reaction? Will they be able to handle the information? Especially in older people. They’d have to learn what various things are. They’d be amazed by the sight of an apple. Or they’d have to learn to understand language. How would somebody who had spent their lives as being deaf react to music? Music, one of the greatest human achievements. It can induce feelings in us-who take our senses for granted, who don’t usually appreciate the wonder of being able to hear. Imagine the reaction of this weird type of sound to somebody who had never heard before. Currently, these bionic organs are still being developed and their quality of sensing isn’t quite up to biological standard yet, but their technology is improving, and the understanding of the nervous system is also increasing as time goes on. These are the rapidly growing areas of science currently, and I deem this a pretty exciting time in these areas of science; the science of the brain and the science of mimicking nature’s glory – the advanced mammals. Imagine an artificial digestive system… you’d need a pretty strong stomach to develop something like that (no pun intended).

What is the imagination like, of somebody who has never been able to see, or somebody who has never been able to hear? Our imaginations and thoughts are composite of all the sensory information we receive. Thinking about this, makes me try to imagine what life would be like without sight – and it is a terrifying concept. I rely on my sight so much. But I’ve had all of life to get used to my eyes. If I lost my hearing, I would never hear birdsong again, or my favourite music. It is a frightful scenario for somebody who has had the privilege of having all senses working adequately and I pray that they remain functional. We do indeed take our senses for granted, they give us some perspective on the universe that we live in, and they fuel our imaginations. And without imaginations, where would we all be? For all I know, everybody in the world could just be a figment of my imagination. In which case, without certain senses, none of you would exist. In the most part, I would probably unaffected by this notion, but there are some people out there who are truly special and make life worth living – the loss of which would be personally catastrophic.

The Life Machine

Amazing, Crazy and Unethical

Perhaps this is the Espresso-Mars bar concoction speaking, but I am feeling really psyched about today! The sheer amount of information I got through in today’s lectures may have been overwhelming, but it was fascinating. I am worried that I will not be able to remember the fascinating science that I learned today. I learned about the fascinating world of DNA, of Epigenetics, blood clotting and its regulation, amino acid chemistry, protein function, post-translational modification and cancer proteins. To the untrained ear, some of these may sound dull, but they are key hues and ingredients in painting the grand picture of life.

For instance, Epigenetics is almost heretic in the ideas it presents. I’ll give a brief explanation with an example. It tells us that our genes aren’t entirely responsible for making us what we are. Genes aren’t entirely responsible for how we look, how we function or even how we function when we are born. It explores the effect of the environment on our genes, and it turns out that the world outside of our bodies has a profound effect on even how our genes function. You’ll find that genes can be ‘switched on’ or ‘switched off’, and different environmental stimuli will switch different genes on or off, thus controlling how our DNA works within our body. It is in this way that a pregnant mother can affect how her baby will turn out. The food she eats, or the substances that enter her body will enter her blood stream. The blood will flow through her body carrying these substances or their derivatives, eventually reaching the baby, thus being absorbed by the baby. Within the developing baby, different genetic switches will be altered, thus affecting how the baby will turn out. Basically, the idea of Epigenetics means that our genes aren’t the creation powerhouses that they once were, but are in fact just fuzzy guidelines as to how we should turn out, with a lot of room for change from the outside world.

This leads me to the amazing world of Post-translational Modification of proteins. Do not be put off by the name. The principles really are something interesting. Our proteins are massive (organised) tangles of linear chains of a type of chemical called amino acids. There are 20 (well technically 22) amino acids in nature. Different combinations of these amino acids will provide different proteins. A protein is a giant molecule, made up of a specifically tangled chain of these amino acids which have been bound together. Most of our solid build-up is protein, so proteins are basically what we are. Proteins are the product of the information stored in DNA (DNA is the biochemical hard-drive which stores all of our genetic information).

Well, I’ll keep this short so I don’t start going into too much detail, but our proteins aren’t stationary molecules with a fixed tangle shape. Other proteins can come along and change small parts of the protein to change the way the protein works. They only need to add a few tiny atoms to this giant molecule and the protein suddenly does something else. Some proteins are capable of operating with over 30 different modifications! Each different modification is achieved with the help of another different protein which is just responding to a change in the environment (Epigenetics). You must remember that there are tens and thousands of different proteins in the human body alone. This is just a single protein I’m talking about. Incidentally, this protein is a protein involved in cell suicide (apoptosis). Different stimuli will cause the protein to turn on the genetic switch for Cell Suicide.

The idea of proteins needing further modification from other proteins sent a shudder up my spine at the time. I mean, the amount of different proteins in our bodies is a large enough number, but there number of different controls for each one and the sheer diversity of functions in all of them are just staggering. Just how complex is life? Just how complex is the human body on its own? Then there are over a billion different species of organism on the planet. The range and quantity of functions and life processes out there are simply mind blowing. Absolutely crazy.

Then, while I was trying to process all of this information on my way home, I had a sudden idea. Another crazy idea. It was a ridiculous thought experiment that given the appropriate resources and time could even be possible. What if scientists built a supercomputer with information about forces and the elements of the periodic table stored within? It would have all of the elements, their properties and their structures stored in digital storage. Then a program could be designed based on these chemicals. It would have a built in planet, with gravity set by the programmer. The planet will have a predetermined chemical make up, preferably one similar to Earth. All nutrients are there. Then you would focus on a small part of this cyber-planet to an area where all of the nutrients necessary for life were present and you’d insert the chemical structure of the DNA of a few types of plants. You’d have programmed the computer to create the adult plants to begin with so as to avoid the usage of seeds and evolution and wombs and whatnot. It would provide all of the nutrients required for growth in infinite supply to begin with, just so the first plants and human would operate properly. The plants would be edible. The energy being input into the computer would only be used to maintain the cyber-sun in the corner of the screen and to maintain the operation of the system. This would be analogous of the residual energy in the universe holding everything together for our cyber-sun, our cyber planet, our cyber-plants and our cyber-human. You plant an artificially intelligent human into the program. A DNA template would be there to make it a cyber-biological organism once it had been uploaded. There would have to be a constant supply of energy to the computer as cutting this supply would dissipate the entire universe of this intelligent human.

This cyber-human would eat cyber plants to obtain cyber nutrients to maintain it. It would excrete. It would release energy for cyber-biological function. It would breathe the cyber-atmosphere. It would be artificially intelligent so it would have emotions. In all intents and purposes, this cyber-being is meeting all of the requirements for being scientifically alive. And you have complete control of its entire universe. What just seemed as an interesting experiment which was physically possible, providing the technology was developed just turned into an ethical nightmare. You have just assumed the place of God. You have control over this organism’s life, or its death. You have complete power over its entire existence and the cyber-organism can do nothing to stop it. Nobody should wield that kind of power. I just realised that this is wrong. It should never be tried. It should stay in the minds of dreamers, and avoid the minds of doers. I’ve just frightened myself once again.

Prologue

A ‘lot’ to live up to and an ego to satisfy

It is going to be pretty hard to follow up what I wrote in ‘Ode to the species’ seeing as I analysed pretty much everything… but I’m sure there are other things than everything to discuss…. I can see that this is going to be tough.

I ended the previous series on a slightly more personal note though I like to think I still kept it quite general. Seeing as it was more of a universal work, I will probably focus on more down to Earth, smaller topics which are relatively important none the less. The topics will probably be somewhat more personal, others not so personal… described as somewhat more synthetic topics.

It seems that the more that is written, the harder I find it to produce ideas to write about it. Have I exhausted my idea well already? Have I peaked before I even gained a readership? I anticipate that the target audience for my writing is all of nobody and that I am really writing as if I am talking to myself. Perhaps blog-writing is just a less egotistical way of talking about ones’ life and thoughts. It’s just talking to oneself except it lacks the sound of my voice. Well, let’s (let’s? Who am I actually referring to here?) face it, my voice doesn’t really sound too great. I might as well go the rest of my life as a mute to clear the atmosphere of noise pollution. I would imagine that would have certain setbacks in the whole ‘quality of life’ department, but perhaps I could use one of those synthetic voices, like the one that Stephen Hawking uses. Or I could somehow get hold of a prosthetic voice box, with a voice-style of my choice! I could sound like Steven Fry, or Patrick Stuart! This is all jolly exciting; perhaps I shall google the prosthetic voice-box.

In the belittling realm of everything, perhaps such a prosthesis is too much to ask for. It would be wise to be happy with what I’ve got, as to try and change what is already serving me well could end in me having nothing at all. This could be interpreted as a ‘the grass is greener’ scenario. Well, the grass is always greener-at least greener in the way that it is perceived to be greener regardless of the reality of the situation on the other side. Once again, it is just referring to my ‘Ode to the Species’ text… Could it be that I covered too much in The Ode and now I am doomed to spend my life living in repetition? Will I have to read the same newspaper, eat the same breakfast, break the same vase, laugh at the same ‘Charlie Brookers Newswipe’ episode from now into eternity? I don’t think so. Incidentally, the best way to experience such a dull, repetitive meaningless life is gain employment at SportsDirect as one of those employees who is supposed to pick up the fallen T-Shirts and restack shoes which have been half eaten due to being the subject of a customer brawl, not too dissimilar from two bulldogs fighting over a choice steak. Were the prior notion correct, ‘A Collection of Hearts and Prosthetics’ probably wouldn’t have a title (or even exist for that matter) Inspiration has come knocking at my door, and my thoughts will be spraying all over the screen as if I had just slit an artery. Never Fear! Captain Nitrogen is here!