Main Objectives of Event (Held on Saturday August 31 2019):
I talk about the importance of discussing philosophical ideas such as the meaning of the collective Human Identity and the trajectory of Human Destiny when thinking about the advancement of technology and Human Augmentation. Next I discuss how this experimental party is designed. Part 1 (Reality) consists of lectures by scholars. Part 2 (Digestion) consists of socialization and artwork where scholars and the public discuss the ideas from the first part and are encourage to talk to people they do not know. Part 3 (Mythology) consists of designing a ceremony that uses elements from Part 2 and has symbolic components that derive from my mythological universe SOMDEland. The ceremony is meant to be a bit ridiculous and funny but also a way to remember some of the key concepts that we discussed.
The event began with a presentation by Dr. Sacha Panic who talks about how he creates virtual and augmented reality worlds to express his creativity and also to visualize data. He also talks about how this may help expand the physical limits of people with limited mobility
Building on Sacha's presentation, Ian Roy, head of the Brandeis Makerlab, talks about how how he combines virtual reality with drones to experience Displaced Reality. He talks about how he uses 3D printing to build his drones that also have cameras, so that when he is operating a drone, he can see the world from the drone's point of view, giving him an out of body experience.
In the previous presentations, Sacha and Ian talked about augmenting the human by adding technology such as virtual reality headsets, augmented reality headsets and drones. The next question was, could we augment the human just using the brain? Dr. Julia Derk explored this idea in her talk about Brain Computer Interfaces. She described an experiment where imaging (using MRIs) was used to search for brain activation in people in a vegetative state as the experimenters attempted to communicate with them.
Julia talked about using imaging to detect activation in the brain to enhance communication in people trapped in a vegetative state. Our next question was could we somehow hack the brain and make it operate better? Dr. Anant Shinde talks about how transcranial direct current stimulation (passing a current through the brain) can enhance human performance and learning .
Both Julia and Anant talked about how we can use the human brain to augment performance and learning. But what about artificial brains? Abuzar Mahmood, a neuroscience PhD candidate, first gives an overview of Artificial Intelligence and then discusses when AI can become conscious and think creatively
In the first half, all of the presentations focused on using electronic technology. I had a deep desire to explore augmenting the human using methods other than electronics. Dr. Rita Pandey (my mother) gives an overview into Patanjali's 8 steps of Yoga, explaining that Yoga encompasses much more than just the physical poses (asanas) that most are familar with. She explores how the final meditative stage of Yoga, Samadhi, where a person experiences oneness with the universe, may be a form of Human Augmentation.
My mother talked about using meditation and yoga to reach a state the augmented the human experience. Building off of this Hilary-Anne Coppola talks about psychoactive chemical augmentation as a way to connect with nature and how she explores the same experiences through meditation and mindfulness. She finishes by talking about the necessity of realigning our values with the wildness and nature.
The first half of the presentations focused on electronic technology as a way to augment the human. The second half focused on non-electronic technology. Payal Kumar explores the idea that the categories of human, technology, posthuman and cyborg may be more complex than we thought and that perhaps we have always been cyborgs.
In addition to the discussions, I wanted people to experience becoming an Augmented Human, which would provide a new fertile ground for brainstorming. Below is the instructions that I gave:
Similar to the Sensory Substitution demo, Ian Roy and Sacha Panic provided experiences in POV drone flying and virtual reality.
You can see Part 2 through the eyes of a drone. Footage below is thanks to Ian Roy.
In Part 1, people experienced Reality in the form of presentations on the topic of Human Augmentation. In Part 2, the speakers and the public interacted and had philosophical discussions on the meaning Human Augmentation, and so they Digested the Reality from Part 1. In Part 3, the ideas generated in Part 2 were symbolically represented in a ceremony. The ceremony is meant to be ridiculous and fun because it makes things more memorable. At the same time, it is also meant to physically reinforce ideas such as the need to balance our Humanity with Technology and the need to weave that into the future of Human Augmentation. In a way, these ceremonies are like developing a mythology...it becomes a way for all of us to collectively write these ideas into our personal narratives. I bring this ceremony into my personal narrative by using many aspects from my reBirth ceremonies that are derived from my mythological universe of SOMDEland.
All videos below are thanks to Ann G and all pictures are thanks to Mike S.
The audience divides into two groups and each group balances each of the halves of the mannequin on the bedsheet.
My mother, who has designed and officiated an indian wedding, marries both of parts of the mannequin (Humanity and Technology)
My mother cuts a portion of my beard. Most of my ceremonies are hair ceremonies. Hair is a record of past time. By cutting my beard, it is foreshadowing my own reBirth ceremony on July 11,2020 (everyone is invited) where I will shave my beard and head hair. This hybrid creature who lives in my office will watch me and remind me for the rest of the year of the lessons from this event. This creature will reappear as a complex adversary during the reBirth ceremony. I finish by playing the shunk (a shell) to announce the Birth of the Next Era of Humanity which represents the balanced mixture of the Primal Human with Technology.
On July 11, 2020 (everyone is invited), for my reBirth ceremony, I will host a dance-ceremony that represents the themes of this current event. Siddharth Joshi composed a song just for this event. Definitely check out his soundcloud:
The video on the left is the dance, recorded by Ann G. And the video on the right is POV drone footage recorded by Ian Roy.