This article offers the interesting notion that in medieval time, people “extended their selfhood” by creating natural born cyborgs composed from a synthesis between human and Christ. This symbiont was a “more developed, more advanced, and more powerful version of the [individual's] existing self.”

Generally, “medieval ascetic practices such as fasting, meditation on the body of Christ, and contemplation” are seen as a way for a person to reject the physical for the spiritual. However, a cyborgian (if such a word exists) perspective views these practices as “highly developed forms of distributed cognition that combine body, mind and external technologies in a continuous and semi-automatic feedback loop.”

I personally take a broad perspective regarding the definition of cyborg. From this vantage point, humans have long been cyborgs; since the time when we were fist able to act through a tool, using and perceiving this external piece of technology as an extension of ourselves. Such tools are, of course, not limited to physical devices, language being an obvious example. Taking this one step further, the ideas and concepts that exist in language can also be considered as tools.

Religion is a conceptual tool. A man-Christ (or man-any religion) combination can give rise to cyborg if the integration happens at the appropriate level – as an extension of self.

After reading the fascinating history of coffee and tea I think it is fair to classify these substances as enhancers, and as a technology (at least in the way that we often use them). With that in mind, we could say that drinking coffee and tea is one of the ways in which we are cyborgs.

Readings 1: Surviving an Alien Environment: Human + Christ as Medieval Natural Born Cyborg, by Ruth Evans, Link to Article.

Readings 2: coffee and tea chapters from Pharmako/Dynamis, Section Excitantia, by Dale Pendell.

Before reading Becoming a Dragon I had never considered the extreme forms of body modification that are becoming possible due to advancements in biotechnology; nor the possibility of using Multiuser Virtual Environments (MVEs), such as Second Life could, as means of prototyping the new identities made possible by these extreme forms of body modification.

Body modification procedures, existing and future ones, are most commonly used as a means to transform or construct one’s identity. As with any identity-related endeavor, there is an important social dimension to these transformations: “The moment of social interaction and feedback [is when] one’s conception of one’s self is affirmed and reified by others”.

Continuing on the theme of identity and self, since our reality spans realms of expression beyond the physical and social dimensions of the real-world (into virtual, digital and fantasy worlds) the very notion of a “true self” becomes rather muddied: one can contain multiple selves, each with different values and kinds of realness. In a similar vein, even within the real-world we can have multiple selves (or rather personas) that we express in different physical and social contexts.

In this chapter from his book Better Than Well, Carl Elliot examines what social and historical forces led to the pathologization of shyness and to the possibility of medicalizing this personality trait. He also investigates how culture impacts the way social phobias are treated in different parts of the world.

Social phobias are a relatively new phenomenon. In the US they were only recognized as a mental disorder in the 1980s. To understand the emergence of these types of disorder Elliot discusses the concept of personality, which only became commonly used in its current context in the last two centuries.

Personality is all about self-representation and it opens the possibility for self-transformation. In America the architecture of the self is focused on the individual, unlike in countries such as Japan. Therefore, we see personality as something that can be built in the same way that one can sculpt their body by working out. In this context shyness can be considered as a real barrier to self-representation, self-transformation, and ultimately achievement of fulfillment.

In this social life becomes a performance. Ironically, even though people are expected to perform, in America they are expected to do so in a way that is still considered “authentic”.

I can strongly relate to the structure of the American self described by Elliot. I see how in my life I have worked hard to cultivate personalities that represent my individuality in an “authentic” way. I also notice from living in and interacting with people from different cultures how my concern for “authenticity” and individuality is a cultural driven phenomena, and not just a personal choice.

For the perception augmentation/modification project I will create a wristband that is able to sense my level of arousal and provide real-time feedback when my arousal surpasses a preset threshold. Since GSR has been linked to the activity of our sympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system controls our bodies fight-or-flight response, I will the GSR reading as an indirect measure of my level of arousal.

To notify me when my arousal level the wristband will vibrate between one and five times, and lights on my wristband will light up. The number of vibrations and the brightness of the lights will vary based on how much the GSR level exceeds the threshold.

It will take me about 2-3 weeks to design prototype and build the wristband. Once the wristband has been created, I will wear it every day for the whole day for about 2 weeks in order to determine whether it is helpful, or just provides a distraction. I am especially interested using the wristband in social situations such as when I am doing group work, hanging out with friends, or giving a presentation to a group of colleagues.

To design this device I plan to use the mobile tracking device that I developed last semester for Rest of You class as the starting off point for the design of this wristband. I will modify the circuit in order to reduce the size of the device and design a new case that has led lights (the device already features GSR tracking and vibration capabilities).

My hope is that  by helping me become more aware of my body’s response to situations it finds stressful or exciting, this modification will help me deal better with stressful situations. That said, I am not certain whether it will help  or just provide an annoying distraction.

I am still uncertain regarding the best way measure the success of this endeavor. Currently, my plan is to keep a daily journal regarding my experiences with the wristband and how it helped, or hindered, my ability to deal with stress and excitement.

Neuropunditry refers to abusive uses neurological concepts done in the name of politics. The specific incident mention in this past week’s reading involved a neurologist who wrote an opinion piece for the NYTimes that was founded on shoddy research with non-scientific methodologies and sampling techniques. This incident fits into a broader pattern of behavior where media companies and “experts” use misleading data or use data in misleading ways to support a biased point of view.

This type of abuse is an important issue in our modern sensationalist media-driven culture. Neuropunditry is one of the new pseudo-science weapons that media companies and politicians will add to their arsenal of propaganda tools.

The poem “Bring Them On, The Power Plants” speaks to the inebriating effect of many natural plants, and the often difficult relationships people have with these substances. I have had my fair share of experiences with power plants of the pleasurable decadent kind to the unhealthy dependency type. These substances are extremely powerful and should be handled with caution. I personally do not believe they are intrinsically good or evil.

Our last reading, the chapter “True Self” from Carl Elliott’s book, focuses on how enhancement technologies have become tools for “working on the soul”. This makes sense to me from a personal standpoint because I notice how much time, effort, and technologies I use to nurture a state of psychological well being. In this statement I am taking a broader view of technology, as Quinn suggested in her article from last week relation to thinking about cyborgs.

From this perspective it is easy to notice how humans have long used technology in their pursuits related to the soul. When god was central to our soul and salvation we created technologies to satiate this higher power; now that we view ourselves as the ones responsible for own souls and salvation enhancement technologies can play the same role of helping us save ourselves (or become ourselves).

The common thread that I found across all of the readings from last week was that they offered different perspectives regarding how we define self, and the boundary between the self and the world.

Descartes’ piece, though at times somewhat hard to comprehend, provided a fascinating perspective regarding the relationship between the way we perceive the world around us and the world itself. One of his conclusions is that our perception does provide us with information about real phenomena, though the data is rather cloudy and our instincts sometimes do not translate this data in a way that is appropriate to modern life.

“it must be concluded that corporeal objects exist. Nevertheless, they are not perhaps exactly such as we perceive by the senses, for their comprehension by the senses is, in many instances, very obscure and confused”

To me this part of his conclusion is sound – our experience of the world is subjective and in many ways an illusion. That said, I do not agree with much of the scaffolding he uses to reach that conclusion (such as god’s role in it), or with many of Descartes other notions.

Other fascinating aspects of Descartes’ view include his distinction between our ability to understand things abstractly (power to conceive) and our ability to create mental images of things (power to imagine); and his theory regarding how we differentiate between the world of our dreams and reality.

“When I perceive objects with regard to which I can distinctly determine both the place whence they come, and that in which they are, and the time at which they appear to me, and when, without interruption, I can connect the perception I have of them with the whole of the other parts of my life, I am perfectly sure that what I thus perceive occurs while I am awake and not during sleep.”

Whitman’s piece, I sing the body electric, is an ode to the human body. Whitman’s elevation of the human body is an interesting contrast to Descartes elevation of the human mind. According to Whitman, the human body is our soul; unlike Descartes, who famously stated “I think therefore I am”. Ultimately, Descartes and Whitman draw different boundaries to define that self – Whitman includes the whole body, whereas Descartes believes that we are ultimately our minds.

Quinn’s piece helps bring it all together by calling for development of new vocabularies to help us distinguish between the numerous types of human/machine combinations that currently fall under the generic cyborg moniker. Quinn points out that technologies, such as written language, aspirin and the wheel, are so deeply integrated into our culture that we often forget the ways in which we are already cyborgs. This reminds me of the saying: “technology is anything that was invented after your childhood.”

Lastly, the final piece from Robert M. Sapolsky was fascinating. It provided a neurological explanation regarding why stress can have a large negative impact on the health of our brains, and how personality ultimately determines how well a baboon (and human) deal with stress. So what are the stress-management characteristics of the healthier baboons?

• they can tell the difference between big and small things
• if it is a big thing, they can take action
• they can tell the outcome of the event
• they can find an outlet for their frustration
• they are socially connected to other baboons