simply love.
To Ekmel and Annick, I am fairly involved in nanotechnology organizations
(Senior Fellow of Foresight Institute http://www.foresight.org/ , on the
Task Force of Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
http://crnano.org/about_us.htm ) and I write a column for Nanotechnology Now
http://www.nanotech-now.com/columns/
Just a note on nanotechnology and enhancement: A book I highly suggest is
Nanomedicine by Robert Freitas. It is a beautifully written expose of how
nanotechnology can become an essential part of the biological body. Here is
a link to it online that you can easily access
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/ . Basically nanomedicine is the
field which suggests nanorobots and nanocytes working in unison with the
biological cells (think of mitochondria working with our biological cells to
fuel our bodies).
Injecting the body with Nanorobots may not be as invasive as one might
think, especially when considering that the human physiology has always been
a synthesis of more than human cells. Some of these cells are a serious
danger and devastating harm to our own cells. These are the systems to be
very afraid of because their intention is to proliferate. Other micron
cells have merely landed on top of and inside our bodies and set up their
own house-keeping, and still many, many other micron cells have always lived
inside us and our bodies support them because they are beneficial and
consequential to our well-being.
We are comprised of many cells containing DNA that is not human - we are
"1,000 species and more than 10 trillion bacterial cells inside us at any
given time." (Nicholson) Some of these cells are invasive and our immune
system fights them. Other microns are beneficial and make their way into
our system and often even help to fight of other invasive organisms.
Because most of the cells in our body are not our own, nor are they even
human, we could view ourselves as walking superorganisms, a highly complex
conglomerations of human cells, bacteria, fungi and viruses.
A great deal of our evolution as a species was the result of bacteria,
viruses, and other foreign DNA changing our own genetic make-up. Yet,
without this "intervention" from outside sources, we would not have survived
as a species. And it is hard to say where being human ends and being
bacterial starts.
The skin is home to a virtual zoo - the human skin is populated by a diverse
assortment of bacteria, including many previously unknown species that
populate the human body.
On average, each person's skin harbors about 50 species. And the mix of
bacteria varies significantly from person to person, but only a few species
account for more than half of all the DNA sequences found, indicating that a
relatively few species tend to dominate.
"It appears that there is a conserved infrastructure or scaffolding of
organisms that's common in human skin, and then a lot of transient or
uncommon organisms that are person-specific," (Blaser)
Annick wrote that the current "cyborg" may be altered/enhanced more with
chemistry than machine parts (although this would not make it a cyborg,
right?). Nonetheless, most of use rely on pharmacology to enhance our
deteriorated biology in return it to a normal state of existence, and in
some instances a more enhanced state. For example, Viagra not only helps men
return to a youthful state of sexuality, it also could increase what that
state actually was. For women as well - Hormone Replacement Therapy returns
a woman's body from 50 back to 30ish, and sometimes a better functioning 30
than when she was 30. So, yes indeed this is enhancement.
Even considering the brain - neuroscience is currently investing an enormous
amount of time studying the electrical;-chemical charges of neurons and
working toward not just returning patients to a normal state of cognitive,
they are actually enhancing such cognition through bio-electro-chemical
means. One area that is moving along is optogenetic control of epileptiform
activity. http://www.pnas.org/content/106/29/12162.abstract The lead
scientist on this Karl Deisseroth at Stanford University, spoke at TED. Here
is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8bPbHuOZXg
Natasha
-----Original Message-----
From: yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr
[mailto:yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr] On Behalf Of ekmel
ertan
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 11:43 AM
To: abureaud@gmail.com; YASMIN DISCUSSIONS
Subject: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] R: Re: ethnic cyborg
To add Annick's note,
what about nano technologies, nano-machines?
There are many researches in the field of nano technology but I do not
really have enough information -even- to speculate; since it is quite new
topic and publicly less known.
There are artist and researchers working with nano technologies in this
list, I guess. What would they like to add?
ekmel ertan
eertan@forumist.com
+90.532.4738971
www.forumist.com
skype id: ekmelertan
On Jul 23, 2009, at 3:59 PM, Annick Bureaud wrote:
Just a quick note about "enhanced" (human)bodies.
We always consider the cyborg with "techno-mechanical" components. At the
moment, it is the Tour de France in France, one of the most, if not the
most, cyclist competition in the world. And with the (at least, some)
athletes taking "drugs" or "enhancing" their body capacity via
bio-techno-chemical means (= much more sophisticated than the "usual" drugs
like steroid and amphetamins).
Today, it can be said that quite a lot of people are actually "enhanced"
humans, but not necessarily through mechanical prosthetis but through
chemical ones. Of courses, it is obvious in sport at a high level of
competition. We hear a lot about it in the media during the big world
events. But it is also true in low level sport practice, with people taking
various kind of products and ... in many working environments, where cocain
and other kinds of drugs not necessarily illegal are used to "keep on" with
the mad pace and working stress.
The future (current) cyborg might be more chemical than mechanical ....
Annick
--
------------------------
Annick Bureaud (abureaud@gmail.com)
tel/fax : 33/(0)1 43 20 92 23
mobile/cell : 33/(0)6 86 77 65 76
Leonardo/Olats : http://www.olats.org
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