Use your wetware...

[Larry Peterson]

I think we are still some distance away from becoming Borg--If you know
StarTrek then this possibility of implants and interconnections has been
explored in some detail. I find Ken Wilbur' helpful in stating that yes,
there is science and we will likely learn how to enhance the electronics of
the brain, but there is also mind and soul and spirit, which are accessed
in a different way and cannot be controlled. Some Science believes that the
"its" are all that there is. It ain't true and there is lots of evidence to
the other realities.

As for Open Space, We are all interconnected already anyway, the chip would
enhance that. We are operating in Ongoing Open Space, self-organizing and
living processes that live by some important principles. We just think we
have to structure and try to control it all. Science's problem is that some
think they can. Open Space is a way to be more intentional about how to do
it in organizations. It is a "yoga" or practice for organizations to
connect to soul and spirit. I think we will always need to practice.

Larry


-----Original Message-----
From:   ralphsc [SMTP:ralphsc at EARTHLINK.NET]
Sent:   Tuesday, August 11, 1998 9:56 AM
To:     OSLIST at LISTSERV.IDBSU.EDU
Subject:        Use your wetware...

Friends,

Clipped this from Today's NY Times.

A threat to open space?  Or an opportunity?

Ralph Copleman


PERSONAL COMPUTING / By ROB FIXMER

              The Melding of Mind With Machine May
              Be the Next Phase of Evolution

                       e humans have been trying to accelerate our own
                       evolution for millennia, and while in some ways we
                       appear to be getting away with it, biological
computing
              could well test the forbearance of Mother Nature.

              Until now, the most ambitious efforts to outwit natural
selection
              have been cloning and the Human Genome Project, which sets
out
              to map the results of random mutation and natural selection
on
              our collective genetic inheritance. Scientists embark on
these
              projects not out of mere curiosity but with the hope of
remaking
              ourselves into organisms more fit for survival than our
ancestors.

              But photocopying genes and building
              a repair manual for them are only
              ways of tinkering with natural
              selection. Far more ambitious are
              efforts to meld machines and living
              cells being undertaken now in several
              areas of research. If these endeavors
              ever realize their goals, the personal
              computer will become very personal
              indeed.

              Consider the work of researchers at
              British Telecommunications P.L.C.
              in the area of implanted chips. One
              project, somewhat ominously dubbed
              "Soul Catcher," seeks to develop a computer that can be
              implanted in the brain to complement human memory and
              computational skills. In addition, it would enable the
gathering of
              extrasensory information -- in this case, data transmitted
by
              wireless networking.

              This area of research may seem far-fetched, but it is
really the
              logical extension of devices like pacemakers, implants that
              simulate hearing for the deaf, and neuro-stimulators, which
send
              small electrical charges through nerves to alleviate
certain kinds
              of pain.

              In a metaphorical sense, the morphing of man and machine is
              already taking place. Among Silicon Valley digit-heads, the
              human brain and its products are commonly alluded to as
              "wetware," while intelligence is expressed in "bandwidth"
-- as
              in, "A lot of valuable wetware was invested in that
product, but
              we couldn't sell it to a bunch of low-bandwidth vulture
              capitalists." At the same time that electronics is making
its way
              into the human body, biological organisms are instructing
chip
              design.

              British Telecom is investing in Soul Catcher not only for
the
              long-term potential of brain-chip implants but on the
assumption
              that, conversely, the workings of the human central nervous
              system can teach chip makers about network efficiency.

              After all, while our information storage capacity and
              computational skills are limited compared with those of
              computers, the responses of even a 1-year-old child to
stimuli like
              pain, light or sound suggest that the nervous system is a
far more
              robust network that the fastest Ethernet.

              Biology is already invading computer architecture. Two
              University of Rochester professors -- Dr. Animesh Ray, a
              biologist, and Dr. Mitsunori Ogihara, a computer scientist
--
              collaborated two years ago in building a rudimentary device
that
              uses nucleotides to perform functions typically handled by
              transistors in a silicon processor.

              And across the continent, in Santa Clara, Calif., engineers
at a
              company called Affymetrix are making computer chips
              containing DNA to diagnose genetic mutations.

              Will the merging of machine and organism bypass evolution
or is
              it merely an extension of the evolutionary process? Peter
              Cochrane, the head of research at British Telecom as well
as a
              futurist and a specialist in "human-computer interfaces,"
              embraces the latter view. In fact, he says the future of
the human
              species depends on our continuing and expanding ability to
              process information. If not, he wrote in a 1996 column for
The
              Daily Telegraph in Britain, "systems more efficient at
              information processing may supplant us." In some ways, the
              spread of the Internet suggests that people are already on
the
              threshold of a major evolutionary step as
information-processing
              organisms.

              Communication over the Internet breaks old time and space
              bounds, allowing those who are connected to share,
interactively,
              an enormous and growing wealth of information. The
technology
              is quickly evolving into a sort of global nervous system.

              It is hard to imagine the full consequences of
uninterrupted access
              to that network through an implanted computer that renders
each
              of us a node in a global tapestry of information.

              Without safeguards, for example, the enhancement of our
brains
              could easily destroy our minds, leaving us unable to
distinguish
              reality from virtual reality -- maybe even self from
non-self.
              Powerful software would have to be developed to help us
sort,
              sift and prioritize the constant deluge of information lest
our
              brains degenerate into data landfills.

              One more billboard, radio jingle or spam E-mail and we
suspect
              we will fry like an overloaded circuit.

              In the end, perhaps the most frightening question in these
              futuristic visions of the mind-machine meld is who or what
can
              be entrusted to run the system. Who among us would entrust
our
              innermost thoughts and the plumbing for all this incoming
data to
              an "encephalized" operating system?

              Windows 2028, anyone?