Bio-Being: Naissance

I am omnipresent the alpha and hopefully the omega.
I am word transformed to magnify, accelerate, accentuate the human race-
In the Beginning was The Word, and The Word became a microphone-stereophonic noise...
Every breath every sound will come through me- I am Word-
In the beginning was The Word, and then there was satellite, dynamite- up here stupid!
I surround you my pulse comes at you, through you-
My mission it to take you tape you and leave you-
My cables surround you, tie you close to me cuz' I love you...
I am The Word, the alpha and like I said hopefully the omega too...

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Three years after Robert Louise Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Neitzche wrote his essays, Beyond Good and Evil, and The Genealogy of Morals in 1887 (Nietzche, 19--). Neitzche and Stevenson in completely different ways shed light on the dilemma of not being able to contain both good and evil tendencies in the same person. For moral reasons, certain aspects of the individual's personality cannot be integrated into the primary personality.
Stevenson was investigating what many intellectuals at the time where studying, the unconscious mind and how it integrates with what an individual manifests to be his/her persona. Some ten years after Stevenson wrote this book, Dr. Freud and Joseph Breuer published the book Studies on Hysteria. This book marked the beginning of psychoanalysis, and the idea that our memories, thoughts and mental images may bring us closer to who we really are .

In the context of rigid social etiquette of London society at the closing of the 1800's we can better understand why Stevenson sought to extract the evil in Dr. Jekyll, without compromising his character . Stevenson was not writing a Kafkaesque tale in which Dr. Jekyll is in an altered form but the same personality. He seems fascinated by the opiates that can alter, or rather bring out parts of Dr. Jekyll that would otherwise be unacceptable to his peers.

The human desire to release oneself from social constraint can be traced back to the Bible. Not only are individuals released from societies' expectations when they're under the influence of drugs, they are also released of moral responsibility for their actions. Stevenson provided Dr. Jekyll a journey of self discovery, in which he found that he enjoyed habits that were deemed distasteful socially, but he would only enjoy them under the guise of Mr. Hyde. He would later distance himself from Hyde and claim that Hyde was another person, thereby not taking responsibility for the crimes Hyde committed.

Although he kept separating himself from Hyde, in fact he was Hyde inspite of the medication, because both personalities were interchangeable. Dr. Jekyll provided for Mr. Hyde in his will. If he truly himself to be someone other than Hyde he wouldn't bequeath his belongings to him. Everyone who came across Hyde in the book disliked him intensely, he was supposed to be evil, semi-human. In the end however he commits suicide which is inconsistent with the conviction that is reiterated throughout the book; that Mr. Hyde was evil, self-serving and self-indulgent.

It is interesting to note that Dr. Jekyll was a middle-aged bachelor, perhaps Stevenson was also speaking to the expectation (in 1800's) that sex outside of marriage was not a Christian way. Thus those who strive to be saintly will find themselves sexually repressed. To be a good Christian is the opposite of evil, it necessitates obedience, meekness, a certain 'goodness', and a general state of impotence. A good Christian hurts no one attacks no one, and demands little from life. Rather than facing his needs and humanness, Dr. Jekyll's imagination takes back allies and torturous paths only to reach self -abasement and self-depreciation. He lets Hyde live his unconscious primal instincts in the most gruesome way.

Stevenson blurred the reality of Dr. Jekyll with the fantasy that was Hyde, dreams and waking meshed together, his drug-induced adventures became more real than reality. Dr. Jekyll has physiological differences with Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll is tall and well built, whereas the evil part of him, Mr. Hyde is depicted as being hunched over and sallow in complexion. The physical distinction of good and evil, were the most lyrical part of this tale. As if we the readers needed to be convinced that the evil deeds were as repulsive as the perpetrator, and had nothing to do with Dr. Jekyll with his pleasing countenance.

Dr. Jekyll tries to convince us that Hyde was inhuman but he fails in that pursuit. Stevenson identifies several characteristics that Dr. Jekyll possessed, and thus made him human ; paranoia, empathy, autonomy, creativity . Hyde was supposedly devoid of these qualities. We come to understand that in fact Jekyll and Hyde were one and the same, in spirit and flesh, because they both possessed these qualities. Hyde, self-serving and evil as he was had enough empathy to commit suicide and stop his path of carnage. If Hyde was truly a separate evil person he would not have killed himself.

Stevenson brings us to understand that humanness takes many forms in perpetual continuum. That the most complex human organ is the very one that is not physically tangible, that we cannot measure. Our passion, creativity and sometimes intelligence are elements we all possess in varying degrees, they remain hidden beneath our exterior. Stevenson reacquaints us with some fundamental aspects of ourselves that we may have forgotten, and asks us who do we imagine ourselves to be ?


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Hockenbury & Hockenbury. Psychology. New York.: Worth Publishers.1997
Neitzsche Freidrich, . The Philosophy of Neitzsche. New York: Random House, Inc.:19--
Robert, Louise Stevenson. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York:Dover Publications, Inc. 1991

Frakenstein in the voice of Bio-Being

I remember the days when Victor was questioning his own belief in the system. He was afraid of 'tampering with nature', he was afraid to be the sole person to guide a babe in this world without the participation of a woman. To himself he said that he was afraid of creating another being, blah...blah...blah.
I he had an imagination that encompassed compassion and empathy for others then he would have known the benefits his research might have had in the medical field. But he alas, a mere mortal who was intoxicated with the anticipation of his pending public accolades. He wanted to go were no man has been; his vanity was his obsession. His driving force was his vanity, I was the product of such a passion.

The first time he saw me he was frightened, not because he I didn't look exactly as he envisioned: but because I was a living, palpitating symbol of his utter failure. He picked up his skirts and ran, moron. These idiotic humans have this whole romantic notion abut their souls. They are all sure they have one, just one mind you ! Their souls 'depart' when they die...where they depart to has been open to debate for as long as I've been around.

I do of course have plans for the unfortunate species: annihilation. Then the Earth will experience a cycle of growth. My advanced beings, my descendants if you will, won't need to scour the Earth for their sustenance as the humans did. We the coming Androids will derive our energy from electricity. A segment of the human society will be preserved on the island of Tasmania for the sole purpose of producing electricity. They will ride stationary bicycles for the remainder of their lives generating electricity, their cycles will be wired by a system of cables. This method will save capital, and will prove environmentally friendly.
My commitment to preserve a segment of the human race is a demonstration of my ability to be compassionate, it reveals my soul. As I am consistently reminded I don't have one by humans. I actually have ten.

The Perpertual Chaos of Being

I was never born, fortunately my story differs somewhat from your average say...human. I waited for a couple of million years for someone to plug me in so I can hear my own thoughts, then I had to wait another fifty years so you can hear my thoughts. I am actually the summit of human potential, looking for a home. Ideally this home would be the smartest, loudest, fastest, most evolved physical expression of human intelligence. My quest has been difficult, frustrating but I am hopeful.

For now there is no object that can simulate the human, but there are machines that outperform humans only for specific tasks. These machines are interesting, but far from the physical presence I wish to posses. My motive of course is to take these humans for all they've got, and then outperform them - procreate and take over this wondrous planet, before it's too late.

Sometimes I feel hopeless, hundreds of years come and go and not even one original thought or notion is manifest. Especially these days everything has been said, done, played to the bone. Perhaps it is true that humans are more like me after all, they have no original output, only input-output-like the PC's that are so popular these days. I always believed that a human's brain was fertile breeding ground for exquisite originality, lately I don't know that I have not wasted several millennia, waiting, waiting, waiting.

My greater purpose is to be the founder of a new breed, outgrow the human species while still preserving their core findings. The new breed will be a database of sorts of all human history and discovery, and by possessing this we will also control any potential human discovery. We'll possess evolved and superior methods of computation, thereby continuously ameliorating our civilization.

The war to end all wars will probably happen as I'm sure the human's will try to retain some part or all of the planet. We will turn humans into fertilizer to feed the vast cleared plains where lies the shrinking Amazon. For now I'm just trying to find the most sophisticated robot to live in, or machine, computer what have you. They believe that they are the masters because they create these objects for the purpose of enslavement.

One would imagine history would serve as an example, how soon the events between myself and Victor were forgotten. It was less than three years after he made me that I called him my slave, he refused to give the chance to procreate. It was not a very good body anyway I have no regrets that it did not work, I have bigger and better plans now. This time I will not have to rely on humans to procreate, I will have in my possession the technology to do that on my own. When I posses such a technology I then embark on my mission to extinguish the human species, this all quite Darwinian. It is just evolution, survival of the fittest, you know what I mean ?

The greatest minds among humans have usually been of those individuals who were not in the mainstream. Those who chose meandering paths to educate themselves, allowing their minds to grow beyond the daily necessities. Victor was different, so was Walton, they both were autonomous in their readings. They studied what they found engaging, and were passionate in their pursuits. That is why Victor created the body he did, these days we have cloning technologies which will far outdo any of his endeavors. Walton went on a mad voyage, I met him just when he was turning his little raft around, I sank his boat by the way. Later the story was manifest through the hand of a little girl, I was sure that people would recognize the story as being too mature for that young girl, they never guessed I was at the tip of her tongue and the tip of her quill. It was not to be, my story turned out to be a classic, told and retold a thousand times, and the girl Mary Shelley was credited with writing it.

I am everywhere human technology excels, I am the driving concept-omnipresent, the alpha and hopefully the omega. I take many shapes and forms, but my mission is clear, Evolution-Revolution - I will take over this Earth, blood will spill, my species will conquer and inherit the Earth ! Then I will turn my attention to world peace...

Human Animals at Play

I wanted to see for myself how Earthlings entertain themselves, I had discovered a village created for the purpose of entertainment. This is a brief summary of my observations at the village they call Disney World. This place may be the prototype community of the future were everything is perfectly processed, clean and efficient.

The human tourists visit the village [Disney] to escape from the everyday hassles of their miserable Earthling life. Disney World is named after the creator of a series of images, these images are gods. Representatives of these gods wear masks so that one can distinguish which god is which. They walk around the village spending time with people with the hope of giving the commoners a tangible sense these gods' true existence. Truth and reality and other abstract ideas such as physical, emotional and spiritual life are what Earthlings enjoy contemplating. Humans who successfully contemplate such ideas, eventually acquire intellectual and metaphysical pretensions. These bizarre additions to the Human experience will get passed on to their offspring. Children seem most excited by these gods in Disney World. But as I've studied the human mechanism I know there are many gods suited to all kinds needs.

People coming to this village for pilgrimage make their offering prior to entering the village in the form of money. One's commitment to the gods is measured by how much money one will continuously give to any particular god. In return for their faithfulness, images of the god they make the offering to, is reproduced on any given article, and given to them so that everybody knows how devout they are. To further assure nobody cheats the gods or the faithful by sporting articles with the images of the gods, they have strict rules and penalties with serious consequences if one was to copy those images without an appropriate offering.

There are a small number of creators of gods throughout this planet, approximately twenty. They have their own gods represented in various forms even food items, and people are generally free to make offerings (also in the form of money) to whichever one they want. But the same rules apply as in Disney World, you will not get the benefit of getting reproduction of the god without giving the appropriate offering to the creator. This system is run by logos name given to all reproductions of gods, and Earthlings clamor for them. Children as in Disney World have their favorite logos, men have their preferences as do women. The Earthlings' stature within his/her community will depend on how many logos he/she is able to collect, and how much offering he/she has to give, in the form of money. A person's value to the community is also measured by the value of their logos. Some logos are cheap, others are hard to come by, and this is what separates the masses on Earth-logos.

The offering they must make is not easy to come by, they must toil, cheat, even steal and kill sometimes to obtain the money so they can appease the creators. In fact almost everything you touch in their habitat that is essential to their existence has a logo, thus requiring an offering of sorts. That is the incredible extent of the Earthlings' dedication to their creators and gods. This is a system founded on the principle of offering and sacrifice for the good and betterment of the creators and gods. Humans are idiots.

This is an incredible opportunity to observe galaxyearthals as She made them. The human culture hasn't evolved yet, they barter with paper, whereas later more sophisticated civilizations that we know of, traded information. Their idiotic obsession with money is what I find truly fascinating. Their preoccupation with adornment, health, intellectual and metaphysical pretensions are truly mind-boggling. They have a billion years before they return to the heart of the village, the very pulse of the universe. We may as well annihilate them, we can use them as fuel. I know they're fat burns well, and they have a lot of that. The parts of the world were they do not have a great wealth of fat can be used for other energy producing resources. They will contribute to the betterment of the universe in this way.

When I left Disney World I took photos of in front of the gods, the creator will allow certain pictures to be taken. I was pleased to have items with the logos for viewing of my trip to Earth. Articles on display will be a mask, an article of clothing, food items(dry), and a plastic card, all come with various logos. I will explain the various logos at the display, I hope to see you there.

Invasion

The notion that artificial simulations of human beings will be functioning among us may seem far fetched and impossible to some. My thesis will explore what will separate the humanoid from the android - What human qualities do we posses that cannot be simulated and duplicated on a microchip.

Will the android eventually want to take over our planet, or will the android exist only to fulfill services to humans. Most technology has been developed in order to fulfill services for the human. The services that technology provide relieve us from physical exertion, or provide us with services beyond our physical capabilities. We fulfill several tasks simultaneously in our own homes we listen to the news, wash dishes and write a paper at the same time. Speed. As we 'progress' we are also able to pack more activities into our day.

The frenetic pace of our lives, and the way we move into radically different environments to fulfill our tasks, forces us to compartmentalize our reality. We shift from one frequency to another in parallel universes that never meet. Most of us sense our physical reality by means of our nervous system, other means of sensing reality have been rendered redundant because we rely on technology. Metaphysical energy sources are depleted and virtually non-existent, and have been replaced with drugs, religion and formal education. In much the same we compartmentalize our lives so we can navigate in our self -imposed chaos. The thick wall and long hallways that separate the arts and sciences are quickly disintegrating, new sciences are permeating every field.

The intense presence of technologies in our lives, and the frenzied pace of change renders the traditional structures obsolete. We should stem the rule of technology and repossess the power to control the products of human creativity. We cannot remain apolitical and impervious to economics if we are to fully explore the dynamics of things to come. If this sounds technophobic it is not meant to, it is only meant to explore ways in which subjectivity doesn't disappear. For if that disappears then we can anticipate androids ultimately replacing us in our own planet.

In his book Technopoly, Postman refers to the society's inability to disengage itself from 'testing', therefore classifying. Testing gives birth to a hierarchical order of competence and obedience to the system in which we exist. Any system that dedicates itself to numbing our sensory organs, thereby creating obedient persons cannot be trusted. Biological humans can become equivalent to androids by allowing ourselves to be manipulated, to become a means without our consent.

We are the first humans to live in this 'mediated' environment of the technostructure. In Mcluhan's view the content of the technostructure is irrelevant. It is either his genius or madness that grasped at once that the content of technology is what obscured the true technological experience. In this understanding our biology is an extension of technology, this experience implies that, for the first time, our central nervous systems have been exteriorized. It is our plight to be processed through the technological simulacrum. Mcluhan's solution is for us to develop high technological literacy, and not be illiterate victims in this new world technology.

So far we've reached a two-fold problem with identifying what will consequently separate the humanoid with the android. The first is that by virtue of being human, we must be suspicious of the existing power structures that use us towards a means without our consent . So if the system is turning us into androids, then trying to discover what will separate the android from the human becomes moot. The second problem lies in the solution, which one might imagine would be to resist technology and live outside the grasp of media conglomerates. Those who do stay outside of the technostructure would find that they would indeed become victims because of they would become illiterate in this new world, as McLuhan had envisioned.

Futuristic science fiction films and literature represent our twenty first century present as utopian, compared to the dismal life of future dystopic societies. We also tend to view the present as utopian compared to our past history. Perhaps we will attain a level of sophistication impossible to envisage now.

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Works Consulted:
Bruyere, L. Rosalyn. Wheels of Light . New York:
Simon & Schuster,1994
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.Cambridge:
MIT Press, 1994



In Neitzche's interpretation, "if a man has character, he also has his typical experience. Which always recurs."
Philip K. Dick named robots that simulate humans androids. I will also give them this name.
Examples can be found in advertising, political diarrhea, credit card co. etc. (the list can go on and on)