Memo21+--+Short+Annotations+Cont.

Thomas Solley STSH 4980-01 Senior Thesis Costelloe-Kuehn 10/5/2014 10/7/2014 10/8/2014

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__Memo 21 -- Short Annotations, Cont.__ 18 more short annotations; though, with special style? "18 more, now you should really be getting some breadth and depth on your topic, so much of research is mapping what's already out there so you can figure out where to make a contribution."

>> First "reference" to "hive minds." And that is the only time it is expressly mentioned in the paper. >> >> References to transhumanism are limited to Kurzweil's "Singularity is Near" paper. "The assumption here is that post humans would essentially be immortal and therefore more capable of creating a post literate capacity." >> References to a "hive mind" are limited to >> - "The power of integrated intelligence is the promise of the hive mind" >> - "Of course, the price of this capacity is significant: it is the end of the individual, the end of our concept of the self. Will our allegiance to our own individuality (arguably an artifact of literacy) be so strong that we will deny ourselves the superior understanding and knowledge accessible by succumbing to the Borg? Presumably a hive mind could be susceptible propaganda from a more powerful entity since it might lack the resilience characteristic of individual minds and independent thought. This raises the specter of “neural hacking” or “mind spam” in a post literate world." >> --> So much to follow-up on here. Seems to imply that "hive mind' is "the end of the self." Not a "notable" Transhumanist author, but still an interesting perspective to note. >> --> A "hive mind" is "weaker" than an "independant" mind? This thought might be shared by ME3, e.g. the Geth, positive ending, where the joined AI network became more powerful upon individul=ally gaining the status of AI...? >> --> Conceptual frameworks here... what is "the specter" of "neural hacking" or "mind spam"? >> >> Not much discussion of how technology has directly promoted the "hive mind" mentality --though technology has been imporving, and "non biologically-based minds" ARE discussed at-length here, in additon-to "what is consciousness." Useful scientific background. Not notably "transhumanist." >> >> --> So... difficult to tell, but not actually pertaining. Sadly. >> >> --> "World of cell phones and e-commerce" ... Seems to be in the right direction! >> --> Sadly the full article is on a subscription database, so.... I cannot actually access it. >> >> --> Damnit, and the title looked so promising too. >> >> •The Blue Brain Project under the direction of Dr. Henry Markham with the support of the Swiss government is working on developing an artificial brain with the capacity for human emotion. >> •When humans merge with machines, this leads to the creation of hybrid humans, part person and part machine, someone less than human." >> --> "Living forever in cyberspace"... Not a new idea, I've seen this before. Popular conception? >> --> Reference to the Blue Brain Project... Yep, thought that overview would come in handy. >> --> "Hybrid humans... someone less than human." Really? Interesting that the author is implying a hybrid is LESS than human, rather than "superhuman." Certainly not a transhumanist, then -- almost by definiotion. >> --> No other references to "hive" show up. The rest of the paper is a rather nice piece of reflection on "humanity," and the "struggles of defining man in a technical age" (Kurzweil, transhumanim/posthumanism are used). >> >> >> Gotta love this quote though; "The Cloud consists of compressed abstract layers of data and is often described as the \hive-mind" emerging from hardware technical solutions and abstract software Internet models. Everything corporeal is being transcoded into the Cloud. Consequently, we are becoming highly dependent on the abstract network of digital synapses within which everything is seemingly possible. However, we can never grasp or control it in its totality but just as with deities, we can only re ect our hopes and beliefs in its reliability. As noted by Kevin Kelly, the Web functions as synapses of the human brain and in that sense he compares it with a dynamic living organism we respond to and interact with thus giving rise to a highly complex unity in which technology acquires features of living systems: There is only One Machine. The Web is its OS. All screens look into the One. No bits will live outside theWeb. To share is to Gain. Let the One read it. The One is us { we are in the One. [6]"(74) >> --> Should check out this Kevin Kelly fellow... >> --> Seems to be building ogg the idea I had of society being shaped by the Internet and technology, approaching a hive-mind state... >> Should look-into [8][15][28][41]... >> >> --> Something to look into... >> Paper seems to be acommentary on the "frameworks" behind notions of AI and Kurzweil's theology... Not necessarily a commentary on "how" technology has impacted these / will impact these? >>
 * 1) "Back to the Future" article, 
 * 2) Does not really pertain to my Thesis. Author talks of John Desmond Bernal, some writer from the early 1900s. "Hive minds" are only mentioned in this article in reference to an early essay by Bernal, which the author claims was the "first explicit proposal of brain–computer interfaces and cyborgs ".
 * 1) Article itself seems to be a discussion of early British transhumanist thinkers -- not a focus on society, social networking, or current transhumanist thought. Useful only as a reference -- e.g. if I come across the names used in that paper, I have some idea of what they mean.
 * 2) "Beyond literacy" article,
 * 3) Discussion o f"post literacy," where the author makes the claim that a "post literate" culture is possible in the future, though probably not within "our lifetime."
 * 1) "The Disembodied Mind" blog, 
 * 2) Not a bad background piece in technological advancement, some projects to look-up on -- the Blue Brain Project, Randal Koene's Substrate Independent Minds.
 * 1) "Cyberculture ecologist" paper,
 * 2) Can't actually access this one. Sadly. What little can be found from the GS results reads as "**... ** the “ashen fluff” a phoenix-like, virtualized afterlife. While ecocritics and **transhumanists ** **... ** (96).6 In Haraway's view, “dichotomies between **mind ** and body, animal and human, Page 21. 11 **... ****transhumanism ** who are almost Gnostic in their resistance to the “givens” of material **... **"
 * 1) "Dispatch" abstract, 
 * 2) Look to the end, "o study cyberculture and cyberpunk is to examine the relationships between humans and machines, between society and technology. While they might seem contemporary, these concerns echo those found in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and Mary W. Shelley's Frankenstein. But today these concerns resonate and reverberate even more in our world of cell phones and e-commerce, genetic mutation and prosthetic implants, multimedia spectacle and attention span deficit, glittering plenty and crushing poverty. … "
 * 1) "Hive-mind space model" piece, <>
 * 2) ... Can't seem to access the data for this one either, some Javascript error. Great.
 * 1) "Human Immortality" paper,
 * 2) "Hive" is frist mentioned on the 'Wonders" in the age of Biotechnology' slide.... The content seems a bit controversial, "Consciousness might be saved in a virtual reality whereby one’s mind will merge with other minds to create one super-intelligent being (hive mind). So, one may die in the physical body but live forever in cyberspace.
 * 1) "In the Machine We Trust" conference paper,
 * 2) Ermegherd 149 pages!!?? Nope I'm not reading all of this...
 * 1) "Smart Technology and the Miracle Life" web-article, <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508422.2013.787359#.VDU9K_ldXfs>
 * 2) .... Another "cookie" error. Pity. I was hoping fro at least ONE social media article discussing this topic of networkng, connectivity, or hive-minds... But so far nothing. I'm probably not looking in the right place.
 * 3) ... I take that back, the Snapshot didn't work but the link appears-to. Or at least brings me to the Abstract for this paper.
 * 4) Requires a "RensSearch" username to access fully? Need to deal with that sooner rather than later, I suppose...
 * 5) Abstract; "<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Smart technology is recording and nudging our intuitive and behavioral reactions in ways that are not fully shaped by our conscious ethical reasoning and so are altering our social and moral worlds. Beyond reasons to worry, there are also reasons to embrace this technology for nudging human behavior toward prosocial activity. This article inquires about four ways that smart technology is shaping the individual moral life: the persuasive effect of promptware, our newly evolving experiences of embodiment, our negotiations with privacy, and our experiences of risk and serendipity."
 * 6) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">... I'm intruged, of course, by the premise... But I wish I could find more info regarding just what the author means by "smart technology"...
 * 7) "Mindhacker: 60 Tips, Tricks, and Games to Take Your Mind to the Next Level" web-article, <file:///C:/Users/SOLLET-MK11/AppData/Roaming/Zotero/Zotero/Profiles/eh0ph780.default/zotero/storage/XDPJ2NNI/books.html>
 * 8) Chapter3 Hack 16, "Ask the hive Mind" sounds rather interesting -- and of course, I cannot access it...
 * 9) ... Another "cool but unreachable" artifact.
 * 10) "The age of the Diamond Age" PDF, [[file:Huereca - 2010 - The Age of The Diamond Age Cognitive simulations,.pdf]]
 * 11) Yep, is a commentary on Stepehnson's novel...
 * 12) "Rudy Rucker’s analysis of freewill and manipulation through mind transfer-downloading into android systems (Software)"
 * 1) Lots of good material here; however, to summarize the author's views on "hive minds" and "interconnectivity," the author uses late 1990s SF literature such as //Diamond Age// to create a basis for discussion on the cyberpunk versus postcyberpunk genres -- claiming the PCP genre to be more "mature" and less "pessimistic," "postcyberpunk’s hyperbolic depiction of the virtual presents two facets, one showing a ground that resembles the dystopias of cyberpunk, the other, more in accordance with our era, attempts to display both the benefits and the drawbacks of current technology, on the one hand allegorizing the excruciating, iniquitous, enslaving power of the higher spheres (e.g. by means of the Drummers’ society and the Ractive network) and, on the other, a proposal for the apportioning of information, education and awareness among the masses (e.g. CrypNet, the Primer network) that will create a field for an autopoietic evolution."
 * 2) However, it IS claimed that SF authors were able to discuss this genre with freedom due to the Internet, "“Postcyberpunk possibly emerged because SF authors and the general population began using computers, the Internet, and PDAs to their benefit, without the massive social fragmentation of this Information Revolution predicted in the 1970s and 1980s” (‘Postcyberpunk’ 2007)."
 * 3) Depictions of "hiveminds" within the article are not expressly fixed, as far as I can tell -- there is a lot of info in there, which I could only skim. However, this is a similar foundation/discussion of transhumanist/posthumanist ideals and depictions which I had hoped to find within the H+ movement. I will be looking for more info like this article.
 * 4) "National IQ and National Productivity: The Hive Mind Across Asia", [[file:Jones - 2011 - National IQ and national productivity The hive mi.pdf]]
 * 5) Aside from the title (which really caught my attention)...
 * 6) ... Useful in basing claism that "hive mind" / national IQ has meaning? Or, the relevance between "IQ" on a national scale and productivity of that nation...
 * 7) Should look into "Is Google MAking Us Stupid?" article -- between this paper and that, could show that IF patience/attention-span is decreasing, then IQ is decreasing...
 * 8) good overview of how to measure 'intelligence'
 * 9) 'intelligence' and 'patience' links...
 * 10) 'Flynn effect,' IQ increase of 2-3 points per decade -- I wonder if this trumps the smartphone/internet eeffect?
 * 11) new place to be looking... Some contention of where the 'flynn effect' applies though...
 * 12) Useful paper on tinelligence related to national GDP and roductivity, but does not expressly mention liks between technology and IQ, intelligence, or patience. Which is where I was hoping the paper would come from.
 * 13) "Redeeming the body in late western capitalism: Pondering salvation and artificial intelligence", <http://www.academia.edu/download/30589234/GrauM_RedeemingtheBodySalvationArtificialIntelligence.pdf> [[file:GrauM_RedeemingtheBodySalvationArtificialIntelligence-libre.pdf]]
 * 14) Can't seem to open the source-paper...(online link malfuncitoning)
 * 15) Trying the pdf instead
 * 16) Kurzweil, predictions of uploaded consciousness...
 * 1) Thus not strictly relevant -- but sueful from a philosophical viewpoint, at exmainging the "conceptual frameworks" ebhind Kurzweil's uploaded-consciousness. Does not delve into technoloigcal predictions or social trends, as I had hoped.
 * 2) Thus far the articles have been using some "assumed" or "established" definition of what a "hive mind" is -- I want to see more discussions challenigng that assertion!
 * 3) "Seehirot" web article, <file:///C:/Users/SOLLET-MK9/AppData/Roaming/Zotero/Zotero/Profiles/f6dz204e.default/zotero/storage/ZRHUEBSX/books.html>
 * 4) "Continued research resulted in the constructon of this hive mind with scientists able to store a human mind complete with all neurological functions to a super computer creating a collective 'bank' of minds. Its creation abided on the fringes of public awareness. Its construction operating as a memory uploading facility to facilitate a 'Noosphere,' a realm of thought, was the evolution from research into neurotechnology with the goal that of increased knowledge of the human conscious 'grid' and how manufactured phenomena affect the ocean of the subconscious mind." (ii)
 * 5) .... Seems to be some Sci-fi novel about a pisthuman-future?
 * 6) The premise, above, sounds rather cool -- but also uses terms from H+ books. <range type="comment" id="525685458_1">Noosphere</range id="525685458_1">.... Need to find out what that is. I've seen it referenced before, somewhere.

__Concerns__ ... As mentioned in prior pieces... I suppose I will be finding new articles to review on Zotero. I'll also be adding-them to a new Folder, Thesis 1.1, to reflect the new direction I will be going-in. The prior work I had been doing for Annotations is still useful, but not as valid as I would like it to be. I need more discussion of the content -- a Summary, Reflection on Style/Bias; these are not enough. Need to now be looking-into "what opportunities do I see," "how does this relate to my Thesis," "where could I contribute to this," etc.

--> Having difficulty finding new articles online that focus on the new "topic" I mentioned (see Memo 16). Mostly since the most recent Research question I have is looking for feedback within a specific community -- so, I have to focus on sources from within that community. And I'm not sure how to find that information. EBSCO can find some things, but... Well. I don't know if the authors I would look-t in the Transhumanist community write on this; Nick Bostrum Ray Kurzweil James Hughes Max More Natasha Vita-More Gregory Stock (Nicholas Agar? peer article) Simon Young .... As of I have 12 items in my Zotero folder under Thesis 1.1, and only ONE of those are by Hughes. I need more!!!!

... refer back to this fro more in case I missed something.. Using the buzz-words from my Query, <http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=transhumanism+hive+mind+social+networking&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33>

and more (added the 'smartphone' tag) <http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=transhumanism+hive+mind+social+networking+smartphones&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33>, after going through this one I have 22 pieces now. Still only from a single search-engine, but I can't seem to get EBSCO working right now. And I don't have the time to waste trying to get that one to work.