The Augment the Human Party

Main Objectives of Event (Held on Saturday August 31 2019):

• Science is becoming too esoteric and removed from the daily dreams of Human Destiny. We need to break the aseptic view of science and let it freely mix into our collective consciousness and creativity.
  • I have been exploring how to engage the public to explore the underlying philosophical questions about the role of technology in Human Destiny and Identity. I do this, possibly novel, type of scientific outreach by first having traditional presentations (Reality), followed by artistic brainstorming that mixes scholars with the public (Digestion), followed by a ceremony (Mythology). The purpose of the ceremony is help write these ideas into the collective narrative of the group. The ceremony is also ridiculous and fun which makes it more memorable and it uses ideas that were generated in the Digestion phase. I explain this in a short talk that I gave at this party.
• Another objective is to create an inclusive event that has an eclectic group of people who meet one another and create a feeling of community. This a part of my American Identity project.
• A final objective is to explore some questions such as: What is the Human Journey? What is the Human Identity, especially as we are pregnant with the next Era of Humanity, that of Technology? What is Human Destiny?

Table of Contents

Part 1 (Reality): Presentations on Human Augmentation

1. Introduction to the Human Augmentation Party: Vivekanand Pandey Vimal

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.

2. Virtual and Augmented Reality for Human Augmentation: Dr. Sacha Panic

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

3. Drones for Human Augmentation: Ian Roy

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.

4. Brain Computer Interfaces for Human Augmentation: Dr. Julia Derk

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.

5. Brain Stimulation for Human Augmentation: Dr. Anant Shinde

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 .

6. Artificial Intelligence for Human Augmentation: Abuzar Mahmood

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

7. Yoga for Human Augmentation: Dr. Rita Pandey

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.

8. Chemical augmentation through mindfulness, compounds, and wildness uncovers genuine values: Hilary-Anne Coppola

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.

9. Our Ancestors were Cyborgs and so are We (Payal Kumar)

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.

Part 2 (Digestion of Reality): Brainstorming and Socializing and Experiencing

• One objective of this party is to further the exploration of American Identity by dissolving silos and encouraging discussions and conversations between people that usually don't interact.
  • I strongly motivated people to avoid talking to people they know and suggested the following points:
    • Instead of talking with people that you know, make a very deliberate effort to talk to people that you totally don’t know and have never spoken to before.
    • If you see someone feeling shy, offer them an invitation to join your group
    • If you don’t have anyone to talk to, in this party, there is no such thing as interrupting...go and be absorbed into any group.
• The second objective of Part 2, was to Digest the presentations by having the scholars mix with the public and have deep philosophical discussions on Human Destiny and Human Augmentation. The idea was for them to capture some of those thoughts in post-it notes which would then be used for Part 3. Below is the guidance for Brainstorming Creation that I gave:
  • The point of this section is to prepare for the Birthing Ceremony, where we give birth to the Next Era of Human+Machine. Let your mind go wild as you discuss ideas on anything even slightly related to Human Augmentation. Write some of the juiciest thoughts on a post-it. We will then stick this onto the creature that we collectively give birth to.

1. Discussions and Brainstorming

2. Experiencing Human Augmentation through sensory substitution

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:

• I study spatial disorientation (https://sites.google.com/view/vivekanandpandeyvimal/research_2) and in the next stage of my research, I will be studying technological countermeasures that can enhance a person’s sense of their orientation. To do this, we are thinking about placing small vibrators on the body that inform a person about which way they are tilted. This will be potentially useful for astronauts and military pilots. The idea of using vibrators on the body is not novel but our lab has the capability of uniquely looking at the mechanisms behind it which could reveal new knowledge and capabilities. My much broader interests are studying learning, as humans merge with different types of technology and also what that reveals about the human, the brain and our identity. All of these ideas and technologies will also be used during the ‘Augment the Human’ Research Module for the course that I am co-teaching at Waltham High School (https://sites.google.com/view/vivekanandpandeyvimal/teaching/whs-research-course).
• The technology that we will develop will be in collaboration with the Automation Lab and the MakerLab at Brandeis. Jacob is an amazing undergrad who wrote the code and built the rough draft prototypes in today’s game. Basically there is an ultrasonic detector that can sense distance and this is connected to a vibrator. If you are within a certain range of an object, you should feel a vibration. In the game, several people (the targets) will be placed in different locations on the lawn. They will be allowed to move, however very slowly (after every step they have to count to 10 before they can move again). The augmented humans will be blindfolded and will have these devices and their goal is to find the human-targets based only on the vibratrations. Since these are very rough draft prototypes that were created wicked fast, they likely won’t work perfectly which will add a chaotic appeal to the game.

3. Experiencing Human Augmentation through VR/AR and Drones

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.

Part 3 (Mythology and SOMDEland): Birthing the New Era of Humanity

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.

1. Giving Birth to the twins, who represent the next Era of Humanity

• I represent Humanity who exists between Mother Earth and the elements of Water, Air and Sky which are represented by the blue bedsheets. Together we are bound by the Cycles of Energy: by Life and Death.
• I am pregnant and the bags underneath the bedsheets represent the placenta that hold my children.

2. The Arrival of the Twins

• Rita Pandey, my mother, delivers my children. She represents the Hand of Destiny that churns the karmic cycles of Cause and Effect who brings to life the Next Era of the Human Journey
• Child 1 is the top half of a mannequin which represents the Humanity-half of the hybrid creature.
• Child 2 is the bottom half of a mannequin which represents the Technology-half of the hybrid creature.

3. Balancing Humanity and Technology

The audience divides into two groups and each group balances each of the halves of the mannequin on the bedsheet.

• The audience represents the summation of community, the collective consciousness and the attentive vision of the Zeitgeist
• Using the placenta they balance each half, representing the idea that we all need to balance our Humanity and our Technology.

4. The Union of Humanity and Technology to realize our Destiny

My mother, who has designed and officiated an indian wedding, marries both of parts of the mannequin (Humanity and Technology)

• This represents the idea that for us to fully realize our Destiny, we have to balance and unify these seemingly opposing and contrary forces...not letting one overtake the other.

5. The Ceremonial Being of our Destiny is clothed in Artwork that represents Reality and Digestion

• In Part 2 (Digestion), people brainstormed and discussed ideas generated from Part 1 (Reality). The individual ideas are now shared with the larger collective and these ideas cloth the Creature. Of the three, the two to the right are videos below.

6. The symbolic nastypose enters us into SOMDEland

• The nastypose was created when I was an undergrad. The distended stomach represents potential energy (my dreams) and my hands represents kinetic energy (the realization of my dreams). However, my hands don’t move and I ask, ‘Why am I so nasty?’. This symbol was initially created in self-hatred but now represents the motivation to realize my dreams.
• This pose makes this event an official ceremony of SOMDEland and is foreshadowing the reappearance of this creature in my Hair Ceremony next year.

7. The Harvest of the Beard

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.

8. Dance of Completion

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:

• https://soundcloud.com/junglee-records/birth-of-the-robot

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.