Prosthesis (Technology As Prosthesis)
From Wiki
Technology as Prosthesis is a key concept in the philosophy of Epimemetics, a stackable technology meta-belief system proposed by technology inventor Russell Wright. The 'tech prosthesis' concept was first popularized by Marshall McLuhan and later used more rigorously by one of Wright's stronger influences - american psychonaut, writer and lecturer Terence McKenna. Also See Technology Shamansim.
See First: Definition of prosthesis:
pros·the·sis
/präsˈTHēsis/
Noun
An artificial body part, such as a leg, a heart, or a breast implant.
The addition of a letter or syllable at the beginning of a word, as in Spanish escribo derived from Latin scribo.
Digital Technology as Prosthesis:
The meaning of Technology as Prosthesis used in the context of Epimemetics and technology shamanism is best revealed by Terence McKenna in an excerpt of his work “The Age Of Intelligent Machines” lecture, April 27 1999:
“The bridge between the human mind and the machine mind is symbolic logic,that’s the commonality between Minds and machines of the calculating species.
Computers are what I would call, function specific arrangements of matter and as we develop nano-technological abilities as we move into the next century, it will be more and more clear that the difference between certain drugs and computing machines, is simply that one is too large to swallow.
The new computational machines represent extensions of human function,they are forms of prosthetic devices for extending the human mind, the human perceptual apparatus, into hidden realms or inaccessible realms.
Phenomenon as different as the modern notion of the democratic citizen, the modern notion of interchangeable parts on an assembly line, the modern notion of conformity to canons of advertising, these are all spectrums of effect created by the linearity and the uniformity of print. It opened that narrow window that permitted the rise of modern science, modern mathematical approaches to the analysis of Nature and the growth, the appearance of the electronic technologies: Our World is made of Language”.
Fun With Stacking Technology Memes: The Future of Human Machine Prosthesis:
1. Death by "Cell Phone" Tech Prosthesis - Third Replicator 10 Points, Humans Zero
Above: The Now-Common text while driving Darwin award. Third Replicator 10 points, Human Zero.
Above: Teen Death by "cell phone" Tech Prosthesis (texting while driving number 2 cause of teen road death).
3. Google's Solution to Dangerous Cell Phone Tech Prosthesis
Google Glass(es) - Released, 2013.
Google Glasses - Google - All Rights Reserved.
3. Possible Future Tech Prosthesis After Google Glass(es)
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Possible Future Tech Prosthesis after Google Glasses (2025) - Advanced Google Interface without Glasses- "Revisions" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of Stargate SG-1 television series: All Humans are connected to "Google" via direct cybernetic implants and 90% of Reality for humans is Augmented Reality.
Above: Everyone is Body Mapped onto the Google Beam and "Wired" personhood means that you are a de facto Tech Prosthesis. Your body map is virtual in its entirety (Third Replicator 50 points, Humans er . . .
4. The Borg: Possible Tech Prosthesis Following neuro-Interface with The Beam (Global Google)
Above: A few iterations / generations later - pure human-machine hybrid nanotech-enabled tech infusion with human DNA - humanoid prosthesis with only 2 percent margin of error in operations.
5. Post Borg Era - Full-Robotic Artificial Humanoid Life Form as Technology Prosthesis
Above: Later still - A few iterations / generations later - pure humanoid artficial intelligence prosthesis with .001 percent margin of error in operations:
6. Pure Cybernetic Life Form as Third Replicator and Prosthesis:
Finally, one century later - Third Replicator Reaches for Fourth Replicator - pinocchio tries to become a "real boy" . . . things get weird - 100% human looking artificial intelligent beings that are genetically indistinguishable from humans and have full reproductive capability (possibly even with humans - eeew!). Margin of Error? Well, errors (Er . . . I mean emotions) must be PROGRAMMED into "Skin-Jobs" in order for them to gain highly novel and unpredictable experiences . . . (*What do you give a being who can predict ANYTHING????)
7. Recursion in Prosthesis - The Third Replicator Repeats Itself - or Becomes the Fourth Replicator
Heading towards what Terence McKenna called The Alien Artifact at the End of Time? Does technology as prosthesis accelerate this process?
Caution: Such futures can be both imagined and stacked. Some concepts are no longer Sci-Fi. Epimemetics attempts to stack simplicty into complexity . . . and the accuracy of such an Intuition Pump is highly uncertain due to likely oversimplifications . . . and so we stack these ideas only for fun. (smile)
Also See This Stuff:
You may see this video talk at entry Technology Shamanism
Also See BattleStar Galactica's Gaeta's Lament
Alone she sleeps in the shirt of man
With my three wishes clutched in her hand
The first that she be spared the pain
That comes from a dark and laughing rain
When she finds love may it always stay true
This I beg for the second wish I made too
But wish no more
My life you can take
To have her please just one day wake
To have her please just one day wake
