By Earl Wynn
Life seems so simple when you boil it down to its basest level. We’re born in a body of meat and bone, skin and the flesh that surges beneath it, muscles and organs and hair and sweat glands. We ripen suddenly at puberty, reach out for the rungs and begin our climb up the ladder of adult life, taking each step in turn, mouthing the names of each bar as we set our sweaty hands upon it. Job, car, house, school, mate, children, retirement. It’s a cycle as old as time. We’ve seen our parents go through it, our friends, our loved ones, countless others. It’s burnt into our minds, seared into the very fabric of society and culture, the meat-and-potatoes of business. Every day people die totally unaware of this cycle they’ve adhered so well to, totally unaware of anything outside the fleshy, two dimensional existence they’ve so willingly been a part of. Wake up, get dressed, go to work, come home, watch TV, fall asleep, then repeat. It’s natural, it’s normal, and it’s worked, with or without a few minor variations, for thousands of years, if not longer. It’s the result of millions of years of tinkering, just another step in nature’s attempt to make simple, ordinary biological existence as fool proof as humanly possible.
But what if one were to break the cycle, say reorient themselves with the world and lead a more spontaneous life? That’s natural too. It’s just another form of mutation, tested and judged by nature and the currents of the normal cycle. But this little change is not a mutation in the classic sense– when we think of mutation, we often think extra digits or a change in skin pigmentation, but there is a completely different set of mutations afoot, mutations that are part of a world that is often overlooked and taken completely for granted, a world of ideas and hyper-amped evolution not of the body, but of ideas and the mind.
Awareness of this transition from biological adaptation and change to the rapid, purely mental sort of idea and thoughtform mutation that is gaining speed and snowballing as inventions and networks like the internet bring us closer together is the foundation for a post-modern mode of thought bordering on movement status called Transhumanism. It goes beyond religion, beyond philosophy, incorporates the sort of “beyond-thinking” common to Nihilism, and yet carries all the need and patient devotion of a priest waiting for the rapture. It is the idea that we are capable of something more, that we are something more, something greater than just the biological, and many Transhumanists believe that the key to the potential locked away within the human race can and will be found in technology, that perhaps salvation, or just as likely the next step of our development, one where we transcend the simplicity of flesh and become wholly idea, is waiting in the hard, logic-spun embrace of the machine.
Have you ever watched an idea? Truly watched it from birth to wherever it happens to wander? They start so innocently, conceived from a conglomerate of other ideas, other experiences, clusters and clusters of idea families forming long lines to the point where they come together and create something new, something wholly different, with bits of its parents coloring it as clearly as kittens born from a litter with multiple fathers. Given enough vectors, each idea will spread, growing, changing, assimilating and moving on to “infect” the minds of others as easily as any virus. It’s the basis of advertising, the raw idea behind viral marketing. Like any other mutation, each new idea is thrown to the wolves, swept up in the natural flow of the system, and either proves itself as a successful adaptation of the collective consciousness and survives to reproduce with other thoughts to create new forms of the original idea (The computer and everything that came after) or fails and sinks beneath the waves like so much smell-o-vision. But unlike biological adaptations, ideas are immortal, or nearly so. As long as they are remembered by someone, or retained in some form of external memory storage, they live on, and like bacterium locked away in ancient tombs, can still prove viable in the right habitat. Ideas, like life, find a way.
Since the dawn of time, most religious philosophies have taught that the soul is immortal, that while the flesh may fail and decay to its basest elements, the true essence of the person lives on in some form or another, that the idea, the part that truly made them human, and not just a sack of meat and organs, continues to exist and persist in a life of its own. Other philosophies have spoken also of transcendence, the ascension of the spirit despite the shackles of the mortal frame to a “beyond” or “god-state” in a sort of non-violent sacrifice of self akin to death or perhaps graceful, spiritually-achieved and sanctioned suicide. Transhumanism is an idea that takes it all a step further, focusing on the idea of the spiritual essence itself, its ability to transcend the flesh, and the avenues of thought and ideas that go with these assumptions, bringing forth an almost dichotomic combination of the straining, passionate need to survive and evolve posed against the Nihilistic thought pattern of “nothing really matters.”
What does this all mean? In simple terms, Transhumanism is a fourth-dimensional, non-lateral mode of thinking about ourselves, the world around us, and what it means to be human. It combines all the elements of faith and need and the things that make us truly human with the fact, logic, and theory of the scientific world of data and possibility we’ve spawned as a species. It looks at the material world as an experience, the flesh as a vehicle (an inefficient one, but better than none at all), and puts the emphasis of survival and reproduction into the idea as opposed to the body and the world with which it interacts. Transhumanism is the response to the growing pains felt by a species whose intellectual evolution and adaptation far exceeds its penchant for physical change, and opens a new frontier of possibilities that emphasize both quality and quantity of thought alongside the synthetic evolution of a steadily more efficient human form, whether it be of flesh or something entirely different. It is that straining need for something more, something greater, the need to harness the potential to change within ourselves and reach a higher intellectual plane while still staying rooted by some means or another in the material world we know from sight, sound, taste, smell and touch.
What is the next stage of humanity, this “post-human” form that Transhumanists strain so hard toward? Only time may tell for sure. As the ever-evolving complexities of the mind and the realm of thought and idea continue to adapt and change and dominate, using culture and technology as a vector and playing a steadily larger role in our lives to the point of eventually overshadowing the crude industry of the flesh entirely, thought modes and philosophies will change and grow and present us with as many options as dead ends, thousands fold what we’ve run across as a fledgling species barely getting to know ourselves and the vast world around us. The next step is an idea, one that’s growing, spreading, and ripening steadily as information and the essence of humanity become more important and mingle more easily in the collective mediums of the electronic. Already, we use our bodies and our computers to interface our minds with the primitive collective network of the internet, a system far more complex than the foundation constructions of written language and printed materials, and yet a grand step below direct neural interface and the sharing of thoughts with others in a vast sea of data, unimpeded by the inefficient machinations of the physical. It’s coming, this next step in our development as a species, and the idea of a steadily more globally collective consciousness is really only a short step away, itself standing as just another step in bringing ideas and thought together to ensure easier survival and faster change. But no matter what form the human body of the future takes, whether it be the same body of flesh and bone or merely a digital personality stored within the realm of the electric, there will always be contemporaries of the Transhumanists straining toward the next step, and perhaps that is just one of the things that really makes us human.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Pzizz: Computer Assisted Hypnosis, By Earl Wynn
Hypnosis is a tool and an art that have fallen under the bootheel of as many stigmas and jokes as tattoos and anything with the word “punk” in it. By using the subconscious to access the hidden parts of the mind and cure bad habits or pit the mind itself against the ailments of the body, the age-old practice of hypnosis is one that is in fact a great deal more credible than the movie spinsters with their swinging watches may have left you believing. As an art, hypnosis is preformed by trained professionals, using sounds, music and voice techniques to lure the mind into a meditative state, a state where we are closer to our true selves and our barriers are all but down, allowing the power of suggestion to mold and assist our actions in the waking world by augmenting our own willpower. As a tool, it is the root of most, if not all psychologically-based healing techniques, working near-miracles simply by interfacing directly with the body’s most powerful self-healing and control mechanism, the brain.
And now this art turned tool and all its wondrous potential have come to the computer in the form of a neat and well thought-out program called “Pzizz.” Utilizing a simple little player with a number of customizable tracks (AKA modules), Pzizz provides a hypnotic experience that allows you to slip into a rejuvenating powernap or drift off to sleep on those insomniatic nights without having to seek out a licensed hypnotherapist or buy any “metaphysical journey” CD collections from your local palm reader. The modules used by Pzizz come pre-configured and randomly generate different naps at the touch of a key, but using Pzizz’ high-powered built-in toolkit, you can also configure the program to change the things you hear while napping or descending into your nap to provide you with the ultimate in personally-tailored hypnotherapeutic experiences.
Advantages:
What Pzizz offers is a short cut around the years of training it often takes to put oneself into a self-hypnotic state and the equivalent of an at-home hypnotherapist without the bills or the jokes from friends and co-workers. (You are getting very sleepy, etc.) It’s light, streamlined, low impact, and compatible with both PC and Mac, with licenses that work on up to three separate computers, meaning you can use it at home, at work, and even take it with you on your lap top for those out-of-town excursions or business meetings!
Disadvantages:
Requires you to take a nap! Headphones aren’t a must, but they definitely help, as does a quiet place where you can be alone and uninterrupted for a half hour or more. When it comes to powernapping to become more energized, expect to be lulled off, and if you’re a heavy sleeper (or just really tired) the slow, subtle ending might pass by unnoticed, only to be followed by the loud, alarm-clock blaring that comes like a last-ditch mortar shell to shatter whatever shreds of sleep your body might be hanging onto.
Final Thoughts:
Does it work? Seems to! Normally when I try to take a mid-day nap, I wake up feeling like my head is full of sand, but using Pzizz’ energizer module, I felt like less of my brain was pulverized, so I figure that’s got to be a plus. How fun and how useful is it? Well, I guess that depends on the person, but you don’t have to take my word for it– try the demo for yourself (mac and PC friendly!) at www.pzizz.com and see how a short, mid-day nap can bring more peace and happiness into your life by simply making you feel better.
Ease of Use:ιιιιι
Sleekness:ιιιιι
Fun to use:ιιιι
Usefulness:ιιιι
Overall:ιιιι
And now this art turned tool and all its wondrous potential have come to the computer in the form of a neat and well thought-out program called “Pzizz.” Utilizing a simple little player with a number of customizable tracks (AKA modules), Pzizz provides a hypnotic experience that allows you to slip into a rejuvenating powernap or drift off to sleep on those insomniatic nights without having to seek out a licensed hypnotherapist or buy any “metaphysical journey” CD collections from your local palm reader. The modules used by Pzizz come pre-configured and randomly generate different naps at the touch of a key, but using Pzizz’ high-powered built-in toolkit, you can also configure the program to change the things you hear while napping or descending into your nap to provide you with the ultimate in personally-tailored hypnotherapeutic experiences.
Advantages:
What Pzizz offers is a short cut around the years of training it often takes to put oneself into a self-hypnotic state and the equivalent of an at-home hypnotherapist without the bills or the jokes from friends and co-workers. (You are getting very sleepy, etc.) It’s light, streamlined, low impact, and compatible with both PC and Mac, with licenses that work on up to three separate computers, meaning you can use it at home, at work, and even take it with you on your lap top for those out-of-town excursions or business meetings!
Disadvantages:
Requires you to take a nap! Headphones aren’t a must, but they definitely help, as does a quiet place where you can be alone and uninterrupted for a half hour or more. When it comes to powernapping to become more energized, expect to be lulled off, and if you’re a heavy sleeper (or just really tired) the slow, subtle ending might pass by unnoticed, only to be followed by the loud, alarm-clock blaring that comes like a last-ditch mortar shell to shatter whatever shreds of sleep your body might be hanging onto.
Final Thoughts:
Does it work? Seems to! Normally when I try to take a mid-day nap, I wake up feeling like my head is full of sand, but using Pzizz’ energizer module, I felt like less of my brain was pulverized, so I figure that’s got to be a plus. How fun and how useful is it? Well, I guess that depends on the person, but you don’t have to take my word for it– try the demo for yourself (mac and PC friendly!) at www.pzizz.com and see how a short, mid-day nap can bring more peace and happiness into your life by simply making you feel better.
Ease of Use:ιιιιι
Sleekness:ιιιιι
Fun to use:ιιιι
Usefulness:ιιιι
Overall:ιιιι
Thursday, July 5, 2007
WinJournal: Keeping a Journal with 21st century tools
A software review, by Earl Wynn
Keeping a journal is an age old practice, but with the release of Mariner Software’s WinJournal, the idea of recording your personal life takes on a fresh new meaning. Better than blogging with simple tools, WinJournal is packed with features that make it the electronic equivalent of the ultimate scrapbooking kit– and then some. I was lucky enough to test the program myself, and I have to say that, even as a person who really doesn’t do much journaling of my own, I was impressed– so much so that I will probably continue to use WinJournal in the future, even if only to record my thoughts and writings offline in a format that can be accessed by myself or others in the years to come.
Advantages:
The install was quick and easy, free of those annoying extras that so many programs seem to come with nowadays, extras that clog up your memory and slow things down with “neat functions.” WinJournal is a clean program, sleek and well designed, goes in clean and problem free.
The first thing that struck me as being totally awesome about the program itself is the documentation. Not only is Mariner software’s WinJournal a tree-friendly product in that their guides, help, and how-tos are all electronic, but the sheer size of the documentation provided with the product is staggering! 92 pages of sleek, stylish full-color PDF await your perusal, containing info on a whole slew of features just waiting to be discovered! Large, comfortable text size also makes this an easily accessible resource for people of all ages.
Troubleshooting with WinJournal is a breeze– whatever problems aren’t handled by the impressive help system can be answered directly by Mariner Software’s people on a support forum, or VIA email in some cases. Real person-to-person customer support! Wow! Now that’s impressive.
Writing blogs with WinJournal turned out to be a snap. Click and type, just like a word processor– save and print are easy to find and work like a charm. Spelling is a cinch too– simply right click the word underlined in red and select “spelling” to be presented with not only the spell checker’s suggestion, but the ability to add unfamiliar words and force the spell checker to ignore certain words as well!
Another cool feature that comes with WinJournal is an adjustable autosave feature that works behind the scenes to help prevent data loss in the case of unexpected power loss or computer failure. As a big fan of the Word Perfect series of products, I have to say that this particular function endears WinJournal to me more than any other feature– with WinJournal, long gone are the days of losing hours worth of work just because you forgot to save. Very cool.
WinJournal is open, with enough freedom to spread your wings and fly through journals without feeling hampered by options that don’t work or only work under certain, mysterious circumstances. It’s well designed, and it gives the user the kind of freedom we deserve and just don’t find often enough in the programs we use. It can print, export, import photos and audio, even provide a statistical analysis of how often you use certain words in your journal entry! Copy/pasting from wordprocessing documents is flawless, and it can even podcast your custom audio as well! Amazing! Want to share what you’re listening to with the world? WinJournal can import the track title of the song directly into the journal for you!
Oh, and did I mention the price? Where else can you find a program as amazing as WinJournal for the incredible deal of $34.95? Simply amazing!
Disadvantages:
Very few, and certainly fewer than your average program. Shoutcast radio station track names tend to come up as a four digit number value when you try to stick their title info into a journal entry as a shortcut to typing out what you’re listening to, but that’s so minor it barely deserves mentioning. Other than that, the program currently lacks Myspace compatibility, but they’ve got blogger, wordpress and livejournal covered, which is three out of four when it comes to the big sites.
...And if you’re planning on publishing online, make sure you’ve got a place (like a server or FTP) to stash your imbedded pictures and/or audio. You can still go to town with the technology offline, which makes the program an incredible tool in itself, but files of any substance will have to be uploaded to a site like photobucket separately.
Final Thoughts:
Not bad! WinJournal truly is the next generation in journal technology. I was impressed! It makes me want to start blogging again, and coming from a guy who isn’t much into online journaling, that’s one heck of a statement!
Ease of Use:ιιιιι
Sleekness:ιιιιι
Fun to use:ιιιιι
Usefulness:ιιιιι
Overall:ιιιιι
Keeping a journal is an age old practice, but with the release of Mariner Software’s WinJournal, the idea of recording your personal life takes on a fresh new meaning. Better than blogging with simple tools, WinJournal is packed with features that make it the electronic equivalent of the ultimate scrapbooking kit– and then some. I was lucky enough to test the program myself, and I have to say that, even as a person who really doesn’t do much journaling of my own, I was impressed– so much so that I will probably continue to use WinJournal in the future, even if only to record my thoughts and writings offline in a format that can be accessed by myself or others in the years to come.
Advantages:
The install was quick and easy, free of those annoying extras that so many programs seem to come with nowadays, extras that clog up your memory and slow things down with “neat functions.” WinJournal is a clean program, sleek and well designed, goes in clean and problem free.
The first thing that struck me as being totally awesome about the program itself is the documentation. Not only is Mariner software’s WinJournal a tree-friendly product in that their guides, help, and how-tos are all electronic, but the sheer size of the documentation provided with the product is staggering! 92 pages of sleek, stylish full-color PDF await your perusal, containing info on a whole slew of features just waiting to be discovered! Large, comfortable text size also makes this an easily accessible resource for people of all ages.
Troubleshooting with WinJournal is a breeze– whatever problems aren’t handled by the impressive help system can be answered directly by Mariner Software’s people on a support forum, or VIA email in some cases. Real person-to-person customer support! Wow! Now that’s impressive.
Writing blogs with WinJournal turned out to be a snap. Click and type, just like a word processor– save and print are easy to find and work like a charm. Spelling is a cinch too– simply right click the word underlined in red and select “spelling” to be presented with not only the spell checker’s suggestion, but the ability to add unfamiliar words and force the spell checker to ignore certain words as well!
Another cool feature that comes with WinJournal is an adjustable autosave feature that works behind the scenes to help prevent data loss in the case of unexpected power loss or computer failure. As a big fan of the Word Perfect series of products, I have to say that this particular function endears WinJournal to me more than any other feature– with WinJournal, long gone are the days of losing hours worth of work just because you forgot to save. Very cool.
WinJournal is open, with enough freedom to spread your wings and fly through journals without feeling hampered by options that don’t work or only work under certain, mysterious circumstances. It’s well designed, and it gives the user the kind of freedom we deserve and just don’t find often enough in the programs we use. It can print, export, import photos and audio, even provide a statistical analysis of how often you use certain words in your journal entry! Copy/pasting from wordprocessing documents is flawless, and it can even podcast your custom audio as well! Amazing! Want to share what you’re listening to with the world? WinJournal can import the track title of the song directly into the journal for you!
Oh, and did I mention the price? Where else can you find a program as amazing as WinJournal for the incredible deal of $34.95? Simply amazing!
Disadvantages:
Very few, and certainly fewer than your average program. Shoutcast radio station track names tend to come up as a four digit number value when you try to stick their title info into a journal entry as a shortcut to typing out what you’re listening to, but that’s so minor it barely deserves mentioning. Other than that, the program currently lacks Myspace compatibility, but they’ve got blogger, wordpress and livejournal covered, which is three out of four when it comes to the big sites.
...And if you’re planning on publishing online, make sure you’ve got a place (like a server or FTP) to stash your imbedded pictures and/or audio. You can still go to town with the technology offline, which makes the program an incredible tool in itself, but files of any substance will have to be uploaded to a site like photobucket separately.
Final Thoughts:
Not bad! WinJournal truly is the next generation in journal technology. I was impressed! It makes me want to start blogging again, and coming from a guy who isn’t much into online journaling, that’s one heck of a statement!
Ease of Use:ιιιιι
Sleekness:ιιιιι
Fun to use:ιιιιι
Usefulness:ιιιιι
Overall:ιιιιι
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The New Heroes: Technology’s Active Role in Modern Mythology
By Earl Wynn
Dedicated to Joseph Campbell, 1904-1987
Mythology. To many, it’s just a word, bringing to mind the Gods and Goddesses of ancient Greece that we were all introduced to as kids, but to others, the word is like a precious gem, rich and beautiful, with enough loaded facets to keep us redefining the term practically every time we look at it. Mythology is an integral part of the human experience, it lives and breathes within us, within every aspect of society and culture irregardless of place or time, and despite the fact that we often associate the word with the dead and their ancient, dusty tombs, those who know where to look realize that even in the information age, mythology as a concept is not only both alive and well, but growing in size and influence with every new technological leap we make.
So just what is mythology then? Well, for starters, it’s a story, the kind of stories that get handed down from father to son, mother to daughter, from friend to friend– stories that teach us values like perseverance, courage, and honesty, stories that reaffirm our sense of justice, our sense of right and wrong, and give us a hero or a god to look up to and hold as an example of everything we could hope to be and strive for. It’s nothing new, and it’s nothing dead– Greek and Roman kids grew up with Hercules and Aeneas, our kids grow up with Mario and Spongebob. Sound incredulous? Think about it– it’s all the same hero myth in the end. Whether you go into battle with a shield and spear or an M-16 and kevlar vest depends on the time and culture you belong to– and it’s no different in Mythology, with little boys who grow up wanting to be like Odysseus in the past and G.I. Joe in the present, it quickly becomes clear that mythology is an ever present and ever changing influence on culture that’s been with us since the beginning and isn’t likely to separate from culture any time soon.
You see, people need heroes to look up to, especially when they are young. Kids naturally seek out a mold to pour themselves into, someone besides mommy and daddy that can do extraordinary things to model themselves after. Whether that’s a legendary warrior in the age-old tales of a village shaman, a big sister, a laser-firing robot or the ideal of a firefighter, cop or princess is irrelevant– what matters is the accessibility of the character, how easily he or she can be understood, how easily and how much he or she can be respected, and for what qualities or actions.
So how does this play out in today’s world? Anyone can tell that we’ve transcended the single hero mentality by a long ways, that we’ve left the days of three-or-four “great heroes” behind in favor of endless hoards of protagonists (and antagonists) vying for our affections– and it’s all thanks to the information age and the steady climb that we’ve made toward it. Think about it– growing up in a small village in the ancient past, you wouldn’t have had much to go on. You’d look up to your father or your mother, maybe a grandparent or an uncle as your “hero”. The mythology would be his or her exploits, harrowing adventures, and near misses– sound familiar?
The kind of things we share around the table today are the same kinds of things we shared around the fire in the distant past, inspiring the young to go out and try new things, to assert themselves and change the world around them. As time went on, the number of available heroes and the number of stories expanded– larger communities and contact with other cultures brought divinity and great heroes and other peoples’ relatives into the picture, and then the heroes spun and spread by poets, bards, and storytellers alike blossomed and tantalized in ever-increasing droves until a whole plethora of heroes became available for the common man or woman –or most importantly, the common child– to look up to.
In the not-so-distant past, the heroes of books, radio, and much later, movies, followed this example as they popped up and began to snare our attentions. The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, and even Captain Kirk inspired countless children to push forward and attain their own superhuman heights– and new heroes were thus born, more men and women that could be looked up to and idolized, used as a benchmark for progress and a guide whenever the flying got hard. And with each new decade, with each new technological mark we surpass that brings humanity just a little closer together, the number of available heroes to inspire us continues to grow, hundreds pouring out of the stories that come to us through books, television, movies, even anime and interactive media like videogames and “action books.”
It’s all the same– from Lancelot, Indra, and Jason to Luke Skywalker, Ellen Ripley, and Cloud Strife, the hero myth proves itself eternal and continues unabated, rising up and griping us, giving us men and women with superhuman qualities that we can look up to and emulate consciously or unconsciously throughout the rigors of our everyday lives and the not-so-everyday circumstances we all-too-often find ourselves face-to-face with. Every second, new heroes are born and new people are exposed to them– it’s an endless cycle. Just ask anyone the simple question of who their hero is and you’ll get an incredible array of answers, from relatives and friends to characters that have never existed outside the imagination, with many people not content to pick or stick to just one in any given circumstance.
Mythology is a pervasive and inextricable part of the human condition, tied and rooted firmly in the fabric of society and the meat of culture that clings therein, alive and growing with incredible speed as the minds of the masses meet and merge irrespective of distance or upbringing. Myth is a tradition, the element of story itself. It is the tale and the adventures of heroes both male and female, meek and strong, just and misguided, and it is the underlying current of imagination and uncommon character that gives us the hope and power to succeed in the face of incredible odds, to pull luck out of our hats at the drop of a dime and land on our feet when it matters most of all.
In this sense, there is no difference between the old guard and the new guard, the heroes of today and yesteryear save perhaps age itself, putting heroes like Aeneas of Virgil’s Aeneid, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Hayao Miyazaki’s Naussicaa, the crew of Joss Whedon’s Firefly, the characters of Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu series, the scores of X-men and super heroes to come out of the comic book industry over the years, and even the Bible’s own David, the well-known, legendary boy who single-handedly fell Goliath in typical heroic fashion using only a tiny stone in an equally tiny sling on an equal footing, each just a dot in an infinitesimally small smattering of faces that represent the very best, as well as the very worst, that every human being has to offer, as well as everything in between.
Dedicated to Joseph Campbell, 1904-1987
Mythology. To many, it’s just a word, bringing to mind the Gods and Goddesses of ancient Greece that we were all introduced to as kids, but to others, the word is like a precious gem, rich and beautiful, with enough loaded facets to keep us redefining the term practically every time we look at it. Mythology is an integral part of the human experience, it lives and breathes within us, within every aspect of society and culture irregardless of place or time, and despite the fact that we often associate the word with the dead and their ancient, dusty tombs, those who know where to look realize that even in the information age, mythology as a concept is not only both alive and well, but growing in size and influence with every new technological leap we make.
So just what is mythology then? Well, for starters, it’s a story, the kind of stories that get handed down from father to son, mother to daughter, from friend to friend– stories that teach us values like perseverance, courage, and honesty, stories that reaffirm our sense of justice, our sense of right and wrong, and give us a hero or a god to look up to and hold as an example of everything we could hope to be and strive for. It’s nothing new, and it’s nothing dead– Greek and Roman kids grew up with Hercules and Aeneas, our kids grow up with Mario and Spongebob. Sound incredulous? Think about it– it’s all the same hero myth in the end. Whether you go into battle with a shield and spear or an M-16 and kevlar vest depends on the time and culture you belong to– and it’s no different in Mythology, with little boys who grow up wanting to be like Odysseus in the past and G.I. Joe in the present, it quickly becomes clear that mythology is an ever present and ever changing influence on culture that’s been with us since the beginning and isn’t likely to separate from culture any time soon.
You see, people need heroes to look up to, especially when they are young. Kids naturally seek out a mold to pour themselves into, someone besides mommy and daddy that can do extraordinary things to model themselves after. Whether that’s a legendary warrior in the age-old tales of a village shaman, a big sister, a laser-firing robot or the ideal of a firefighter, cop or princess is irrelevant– what matters is the accessibility of the character, how easily he or she can be understood, how easily and how much he or she can be respected, and for what qualities or actions.
So how does this play out in today’s world? Anyone can tell that we’ve transcended the single hero mentality by a long ways, that we’ve left the days of three-or-four “great heroes” behind in favor of endless hoards of protagonists (and antagonists) vying for our affections– and it’s all thanks to the information age and the steady climb that we’ve made toward it. Think about it– growing up in a small village in the ancient past, you wouldn’t have had much to go on. You’d look up to your father or your mother, maybe a grandparent or an uncle as your “hero”. The mythology would be his or her exploits, harrowing adventures, and near misses– sound familiar?
The kind of things we share around the table today are the same kinds of things we shared around the fire in the distant past, inspiring the young to go out and try new things, to assert themselves and change the world around them. As time went on, the number of available heroes and the number of stories expanded– larger communities and contact with other cultures brought divinity and great heroes and other peoples’ relatives into the picture, and then the heroes spun and spread by poets, bards, and storytellers alike blossomed and tantalized in ever-increasing droves until a whole plethora of heroes became available for the common man or woman –or most importantly, the common child– to look up to.
In the not-so-distant past, the heroes of books, radio, and much later, movies, followed this example as they popped up and began to snare our attentions. The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, and even Captain Kirk inspired countless children to push forward and attain their own superhuman heights– and new heroes were thus born, more men and women that could be looked up to and idolized, used as a benchmark for progress and a guide whenever the flying got hard. And with each new decade, with each new technological mark we surpass that brings humanity just a little closer together, the number of available heroes to inspire us continues to grow, hundreds pouring out of the stories that come to us through books, television, movies, even anime and interactive media like videogames and “action books.”
It’s all the same– from Lancelot, Indra, and Jason to Luke Skywalker, Ellen Ripley, and Cloud Strife, the hero myth proves itself eternal and continues unabated, rising up and griping us, giving us men and women with superhuman qualities that we can look up to and emulate consciously or unconsciously throughout the rigors of our everyday lives and the not-so-everyday circumstances we all-too-often find ourselves face-to-face with. Every second, new heroes are born and new people are exposed to them– it’s an endless cycle. Just ask anyone the simple question of who their hero is and you’ll get an incredible array of answers, from relatives and friends to characters that have never existed outside the imagination, with many people not content to pick or stick to just one in any given circumstance.
Mythology is a pervasive and inextricable part of the human condition, tied and rooted firmly in the fabric of society and the meat of culture that clings therein, alive and growing with incredible speed as the minds of the masses meet and merge irrespective of distance or upbringing. Myth is a tradition, the element of story itself. It is the tale and the adventures of heroes both male and female, meek and strong, just and misguided, and it is the underlying current of imagination and uncommon character that gives us the hope and power to succeed in the face of incredible odds, to pull luck out of our hats at the drop of a dime and land on our feet when it matters most of all.
In this sense, there is no difference between the old guard and the new guard, the heroes of today and yesteryear save perhaps age itself, putting heroes like Aeneas of Virgil’s Aeneid, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Hayao Miyazaki’s Naussicaa, the crew of Joss Whedon’s Firefly, the characters of Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu series, the scores of X-men and super heroes to come out of the comic book industry over the years, and even the Bible’s own David, the well-known, legendary boy who single-handedly fell Goliath in typical heroic fashion using only a tiny stone in an equally tiny sling on an equal footing, each just a dot in an infinitesimally small smattering of faces that represent the very best, as well as the very worst, that every human being has to offer, as well as everything in between.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Pranking in the PC Age
By Rocco Tool
Remember when, as a kid, you and your friends would soap a school’s windows or toilet paper a schoolmate’s trees? It was fun, relatively harmless, and if you got caught, you were banished to your bedroom for a week or two. That was the worst, because you were cut off from the telephone, your friends, and maybe the stereo.
Compare that to the current bedroom of an average teen. The Kaiser Family Foundation did a study indicating that 31% of kids ages 8-18 have a computer in the bedroom, and 20% have Internet access. Add to that their probable ownership of a cell phone, television, and CD/radio player, and their bedroom becomes a Command Center. Being sent to your bedroom is no longer a punishment.
What are the kids doing in those bedrooms after school? The University of Minnesota School of Public Health did a study that showed teenage girls spent about 13 hours a week on non-school related PC activities and boys, 15 hours. They’re not walking down the street anymore and getting exercise, or visiting friends. In fact, some of them might be taking down your employer’s network as part of a prank.
It seems many of the stories in the media concerning harmful viruses or network hackers involve more and more young people; people less than thirty years old. They can use messaging software to compare notes and coordinate attacks and their parents are none the wiser. The software can also be used to “bully” or threaten coworkers they dislike, if they’re not trying to send them a virus in their email. A lot of power can be at the hands of our teens and it’s their little secret. To illustrate that, ask yourself how many times you’ve had to ask your teen about a PC problem. They’re more than happy, and experienced, to fix your software problem in no time - and they’re chuckling about how little you know about computers.
What’s the first thing the neighbor of a hacker says in a news interview? “He’s such a quiet boy. We had no idea he was doing this.” It’s no wonder, because it can all be coordinated and controlled from the relative security of their bedrooms after school, when most kids have working parents. By the time the parents get home, Little Johnny is already done working on the next attack or virus and watching television in his room or talking on the cell phone.
Many kids use their Command Center to illegally download porn, movies, or music. We have all seen or heard about it being done by adults and coworkers, and we can only assume our teens are doing it, too, when we’re not around. Look at the news stories in the media: a grandmother is being charged with illegally downloading a movie, and it was done by a grandkid using her computer. Those are only the known cases that are reported on. What else are kids doing without active parental supervision?
Identity theft has become a pervasive issue, and it’s convenient for someone with a computer. Many young people have access to sensitive information such as credit card numbers, phone numbers, and social-security information, because they work in retail or customer-service capacities. Whole lists of this information can be traded or bought between school friends and even exchanged over the Internet with messaging or email. A wink and a smile is given with thoughts of being able to purchase new stereo speakers for their car or a new video game console. There’s no need to ask the parents for a teenager’s wants and “needs” at that point.
This article isn’t to scare you, or suggest that your child is a hacker. It’s a tip to become more involved in your child’s activities and understand the relative ease of data, personal information, and illegal media.
The next time you hear about a network under attack, just remember it might be that quiet kid who mows your lawn on the weekends.
For more from this talented writer, click here.
Remember when, as a kid, you and your friends would soap a school’s windows or toilet paper a schoolmate’s trees? It was fun, relatively harmless, and if you got caught, you were banished to your bedroom for a week or two. That was the worst, because you were cut off from the telephone, your friends, and maybe the stereo.
Compare that to the current bedroom of an average teen. The Kaiser Family Foundation did a study indicating that 31% of kids ages 8-18 have a computer in the bedroom, and 20% have Internet access. Add to that their probable ownership of a cell phone, television, and CD/radio player, and their bedroom becomes a Command Center. Being sent to your bedroom is no longer a punishment.
What are the kids doing in those bedrooms after school? The University of Minnesota School of Public Health did a study that showed teenage girls spent about 13 hours a week on non-school related PC activities and boys, 15 hours. They’re not walking down the street anymore and getting exercise, or visiting friends. In fact, some of them might be taking down your employer’s network as part of a prank.
It seems many of the stories in the media concerning harmful viruses or network hackers involve more and more young people; people less than thirty years old. They can use messaging software to compare notes and coordinate attacks and their parents are none the wiser. The software can also be used to “bully” or threaten coworkers they dislike, if they’re not trying to send them a virus in their email. A lot of power can be at the hands of our teens and it’s their little secret. To illustrate that, ask yourself how many times you’ve had to ask your teen about a PC problem. They’re more than happy, and experienced, to fix your software problem in no time - and they’re chuckling about how little you know about computers.
What’s the first thing the neighbor of a hacker says in a news interview? “He’s such a quiet boy. We had no idea he was doing this.” It’s no wonder, because it can all be coordinated and controlled from the relative security of their bedrooms after school, when most kids have working parents. By the time the parents get home, Little Johnny is already done working on the next attack or virus and watching television in his room or talking on the cell phone.
Many kids use their Command Center to illegally download porn, movies, or music. We have all seen or heard about it being done by adults and coworkers, and we can only assume our teens are doing it, too, when we’re not around. Look at the news stories in the media: a grandmother is being charged with illegally downloading a movie, and it was done by a grandkid using her computer. Those are only the known cases that are reported on. What else are kids doing without active parental supervision?
Identity theft has become a pervasive issue, and it’s convenient for someone with a computer. Many young people have access to sensitive information such as credit card numbers, phone numbers, and social-security information, because they work in retail or customer-service capacities. Whole lists of this information can be traded or bought between school friends and even exchanged over the Internet with messaging or email. A wink and a smile is given with thoughts of being able to purchase new stereo speakers for their car or a new video game console. There’s no need to ask the parents for a teenager’s wants and “needs” at that point.
This article isn’t to scare you, or suggest that your child is a hacker. It’s a tip to become more involved in your child’s activities and understand the relative ease of data, personal information, and illegal media.
The next time you hear about a network under attack, just remember it might be that quiet kid who mows your lawn on the weekends.
For more from this talented writer, click here.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Future of Books: More than just the Printing Press
By Earl Wynn
A lot of us grew up with classic libraries– those long, crisp halls created by shelves lined with books of all sizes, shapes, and colors, each fending off the dust with plastic covers that announce their ISBN numbers from that little white box placed at the bases of gently curved spines. These libraries were all the same– stone and wood, with brown the predominant color, and that same smell of aging paper that tickles your senses every time you stick your nose in a book– or in the doors of a library.
I can’t speak for everyone, but as a child of the eighties, that image of a library seemed eternal to me. Levar Burton passed through book after paper-and-binding book on Reading Rainbow and the easily recognizable look characteristic of so many books stayed the same in his hands there as it did when he picked up his visor and played the distant-future engineer Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. That look, that paper-page tome design was something that remained unchanged in practically every future portrayed in the science fiction programs of the time, with each tome an easily recognizable piece of the past that grounded the future and proclaimed, however subtly, that some things really are eternal, that the same bound sheaf of paper pages can persist in hardcopy on through the centuries despite changes in technology and lifestyle. To me, books had reached their final stage of development, the sort of apex of Caxtonian evolution that would never change much more than the corded telephone or the toaster because it was so inherently perfect. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected computers to play any sort of role in the next phase books were to go through, nor did I ever imagine that libraries of software and coding stored in neat rows represented on a computer screen and sent across miles and miles of cable and wireless from a distant server could be something that the future might hold, much less make a viable alternative to hardcopy. After all, how far could the descendants of our once-venerable and valued Apple II-E’s go beyond “sweet” green-and-black pixel games and dot-matrix print-outs? Certainly not to something capable of holding the complete text of a book, much less a library, right? And even then– who would want to read Shakespeare or Mark Twain in one-inch high font the color of radioactive waste?
Thank goodness for the innovations of the future.
All the technology that makes reading on the computer easier, more reasonable and more comfortable aside, the conversion of books to computer coding and text (I.E. Analog to Digital) is probably one of the greatest innovations in computer science that is continually overlooked because people just don’t read as much anymore.
Luckily, that is changing.
The internet itself has revolutionized reading– with audio and video that tantalize the imagination (and can, at times, almost reach the same level of wondrous detail) readily available through any number of different mediums, it’s easy to overlook books and just go straight to the instant gratification of having a whole crew of film-makers or programmers think for you– but when it comes to the most pertinent info (especially simple navigation), the data available through the Internet still requires its fair share of reading (which, granted is still a long shot from regular consumption of books, but is still better than what was available when the channel buttons on the remote were the only things we really had to read to fill our minds with the light and sound of television entertainment.)
In the literary arena, however, perhaps the most incredible advancement we’ve seen through the Internet comes in the form of digital encoding, or E-books. Sure, we take them for granted, but they have to be one of the single most wonderful ideas to spring to life and find a niche in the fast-paced environment of a full blown information age. Just think about it– Adobe Acrobat’s PDF files serve as the preferred wrapping and serving tray for most important online texts, from literary classics and recently published E-Books to freely distributed, home-brewed texts (everything from house-rules for games to informative research documents) and even online E-Zines like the one you’re reading now, seeming almost synonymous with professionalism, if anything else is. Sure, we also see E-books being distributed in a number of other, equally impressive formats, (Microsoft Reader is nice) but like most things Adobe (think Photoshop) nothing has become a household name like Acrobat.
And the E-Book idea has a lot going for it. Converting a paper medium to digital bits means less impact on the environment, (and therefore lower costs, which means more content more easily accessed by more people) as well as easier portability (E-books can be sent VIA email or stored on a portable data device, like a USB key or a mini SD card). Sure, this means they have to be read from a screen (and that can get tedious sometimes, especially if you’re not accustomed to getting irradiated by a computer terminal on a daily basis) but that’s not so bad when you consider the ease of paging through a book on a handheld PC (the technology is getting much easier and cheaper) and knowing that practically the entire stock of any municipal library could easily be stored in a chunk of plastic and software smaller than your average mass-market paperback.
This ease of distribution has also allowed humanity to take one very important intellectual leap forward as well, not only providing access to hundreds of books either donated or past copyright limitations to those who might otherwise not have access to them, but also preserving such texts for generations to come. This is a dream that has been realized by non-profit organizations like Project Gutenberg, and has been carried on by colleges and universities across the globe, supported by thousands of donors and volunteers with an eye to the future, an eye seeking the kind of intellectually open future that humanity deserves, a future where the creative are free to create, and everyone, no matter their location or profession, is free to enjoy the fruits at their leisure and be enriched.
So where will the future of books go? It’s hard to say. While we can (and do) hope for a time of unparalleled intellectual availability and enrichment, the backbone of a system built on the exchange of financial resources for enrichment is a hard one to bend, and even if it could be bent in the near future, we can’t completely dismiss the value of the controls it has in place for quality and consistency. Could it be done better? Yes, without question. Every system has room for improvement, and the current literary market/process is no exception, but that doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen overnight or that we’re likely to see an end to printed books anytime soon (I like my 6x9 paperbacks, thank you very much!). In the meantime, we have the power to watch and point and bend the system, even if only ever-so-slightly, toward a better future, carving a better system out of the old one with fresh publishing houses, new talents, and each turnover of staff in the offices of stagnant industry mainstays where money speaks the loudest and artistic talent is still judged by sales and the trends of the top 100.
For more from this talented writer, click here.
A lot of us grew up with classic libraries– those long, crisp halls created by shelves lined with books of all sizes, shapes, and colors, each fending off the dust with plastic covers that announce their ISBN numbers from that little white box placed at the bases of gently curved spines. These libraries were all the same– stone and wood, with brown the predominant color, and that same smell of aging paper that tickles your senses every time you stick your nose in a book– or in the doors of a library.
I can’t speak for everyone, but as a child of the eighties, that image of a library seemed eternal to me. Levar Burton passed through book after paper-and-binding book on Reading Rainbow and the easily recognizable look characteristic of so many books stayed the same in his hands there as it did when he picked up his visor and played the distant-future engineer Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. That look, that paper-page tome design was something that remained unchanged in practically every future portrayed in the science fiction programs of the time, with each tome an easily recognizable piece of the past that grounded the future and proclaimed, however subtly, that some things really are eternal, that the same bound sheaf of paper pages can persist in hardcopy on through the centuries despite changes in technology and lifestyle. To me, books had reached their final stage of development, the sort of apex of Caxtonian evolution that would never change much more than the corded telephone or the toaster because it was so inherently perfect. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected computers to play any sort of role in the next phase books were to go through, nor did I ever imagine that libraries of software and coding stored in neat rows represented on a computer screen and sent across miles and miles of cable and wireless from a distant server could be something that the future might hold, much less make a viable alternative to hardcopy. After all, how far could the descendants of our once-venerable and valued Apple II-E’s go beyond “sweet” green-and-black pixel games and dot-matrix print-outs? Certainly not to something capable of holding the complete text of a book, much less a library, right? And even then– who would want to read Shakespeare or Mark Twain in one-inch high font the color of radioactive waste?
Thank goodness for the innovations of the future.
All the technology that makes reading on the computer easier, more reasonable and more comfortable aside, the conversion of books to computer coding and text (I.E. Analog to Digital) is probably one of the greatest innovations in computer science that is continually overlooked because people just don’t read as much anymore.
Luckily, that is changing.
The internet itself has revolutionized reading– with audio and video that tantalize the imagination (and can, at times, almost reach the same level of wondrous detail) readily available through any number of different mediums, it’s easy to overlook books and just go straight to the instant gratification of having a whole crew of film-makers or programmers think for you– but when it comes to the most pertinent info (especially simple navigation), the data available through the Internet still requires its fair share of reading (which, granted is still a long shot from regular consumption of books, but is still better than what was available when the channel buttons on the remote were the only things we really had to read to fill our minds with the light and sound of television entertainment.)
In the literary arena, however, perhaps the most incredible advancement we’ve seen through the Internet comes in the form of digital encoding, or E-books. Sure, we take them for granted, but they have to be one of the single most wonderful ideas to spring to life and find a niche in the fast-paced environment of a full blown information age. Just think about it– Adobe Acrobat’s PDF files serve as the preferred wrapping and serving tray for most important online texts, from literary classics and recently published E-Books to freely distributed, home-brewed texts (everything from house-rules for games to informative research documents) and even online E-Zines like the one you’re reading now, seeming almost synonymous with professionalism, if anything else is. Sure, we also see E-books being distributed in a number of other, equally impressive formats, (Microsoft Reader is nice) but like most things Adobe (think Photoshop) nothing has become a household name like Acrobat.
And the E-Book idea has a lot going for it. Converting a paper medium to digital bits means less impact on the environment, (and therefore lower costs, which means more content more easily accessed by more people) as well as easier portability (E-books can be sent VIA email or stored on a portable data device, like a USB key or a mini SD card). Sure, this means they have to be read from a screen (and that can get tedious sometimes, especially if you’re not accustomed to getting irradiated by a computer terminal on a daily basis) but that’s not so bad when you consider the ease of paging through a book on a handheld PC (the technology is getting much easier and cheaper) and knowing that practically the entire stock of any municipal library could easily be stored in a chunk of plastic and software smaller than your average mass-market paperback.
This ease of distribution has also allowed humanity to take one very important intellectual leap forward as well, not only providing access to hundreds of books either donated or past copyright limitations to those who might otherwise not have access to them, but also preserving such texts for generations to come. This is a dream that has been realized by non-profit organizations like Project Gutenberg, and has been carried on by colleges and universities across the globe, supported by thousands of donors and volunteers with an eye to the future, an eye seeking the kind of intellectually open future that humanity deserves, a future where the creative are free to create, and everyone, no matter their location or profession, is free to enjoy the fruits at their leisure and be enriched.
So where will the future of books go? It’s hard to say. While we can (and do) hope for a time of unparalleled intellectual availability and enrichment, the backbone of a system built on the exchange of financial resources for enrichment is a hard one to bend, and even if it could be bent in the near future, we can’t completely dismiss the value of the controls it has in place for quality and consistency. Could it be done better? Yes, without question. Every system has room for improvement, and the current literary market/process is no exception, but that doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen overnight or that we’re likely to see an end to printed books anytime soon (I like my 6x9 paperbacks, thank you very much!). In the meantime, we have the power to watch and point and bend the system, even if only ever-so-slightly, toward a better future, carving a better system out of the old one with fresh publishing houses, new talents, and each turnover of staff in the offices of stagnant industry mainstays where money speaks the loudest and artistic talent is still judged by sales and the trends of the top 100.
For more from this talented writer, click here.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Welcome to Tech!
This is where you can find all the latest updates from the Tech section of Hot Psychology Magazine! We're always looking for new writers and new leads on the latest and greatest tech out there today!
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