This is Your Brain on the Internet

Before I go head long into some more security concerns and socio-political aspects about the internet, I thought I would also indulge in a little cultural exploration.

To think...since the first electrical telegraph (beats the pants off of smoke signals!) humans have found ways to communicate how ever, as often, and as convenient as possible. These devices, once singular in their ability to transmit voice, have undergone a rapid growth unseen since the computer it's self. They're smaller. Faster. Doing more. Replacing their desktop and laptop brethren little-by-little.

Your species, for better or for worse, are cyborgs.

Your innate desire to manipulate information and stimulus is behind the propagation of many modern devices. The Internet it's self is so..well, yesterday , it's oft taken for granted. And any new relevancy is marred in obfuscating acronyms, but that's par for the course in all things technical.

Yet, there are differences in the brains of each and every one one of you today because of this digital lifestyle. Medical science has never had so many tools at it's fingertips to conduct serious long term studies that may help shape how humans interface with it's gadgets for years to come.

Oh yes, there's a lot of innocence to the use of wireless devices, but these items currently are very easily eavesdropped. We're not simply talking about the internet connections here, either. We're discussing such innocuous devices as house phones, blue tooth headsets, cell phones, video surveillance cameras, wireless point of sales systems,(aka your credit card is floating in the air) you name it. If it's broadcasting, people can see it.

With the right tools and knowledge.

But this is the Golden Age of Google, the Best of Bittorrent. Finding this information is one search phrase and two mouse clicks away.

If you think all of that information is unnerving, consider the fact many implants today are best updated via wireless . To find the spectrum it used, you need only point a good wifi detector. Some go as high as 6.5ghz, which covers the spectrum of wireless security cams to boot.

The possibilities are frightening. Just wait til retinal implants become commonplace. You'll be getting Viagra ads 24/7.

But this isn't a survival manual for cyborgs in the 21st century. No sir.

This is a report on the human species and it's drive to be constantly, perpetually, and ever-more-so intimately connected. The datasphere is growing. And as your lives end up in bit stream octets I have only one question for you....how far do you want to take it?

To be fair, I recently watched this documentary. It isn't my sole inspiration, but it remains to be the most accessible and updated piece of internet culture. Cancel that--this isn't a cultural phenomenon anymore, because you're again, just used to it .

Now the future gets tricky. There will be several doorways to open, many parallel ways to travel there--and plenty of critics to poopoo the ideas to come.

But enough vague rhetoric.

It has only been recent that man's perception of ultimate triumph over life would be to just mimic it. You've created robots, studied consciousness, and have labored hard and long to invent an analogue to your brain.

Metropolis, Fritz Lang's masterpiece circa 1927, already envisioned a world where robots would become common place. Workers would toil endlessly to help propel the cycle entitled "modern day life," and before the credits rolled a man-machine-woman appeared on screen for the first time.

If you take fifty percent of human flesh and turn it into circuitry, would the person be any more or less the same class of citizen?

Or would they be feared?

Perhaps...taboo?

Commercial life-like dolls and love machines aside, the jury's out if the sex industry alone will single handedly create the first artificial personality. It's supply and demand--and I hear the males of your species are quite often content with as little personality in their partner as possible.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, although the last time I skipped out on a piece of advice from the same Walrus John Lennon died.

Pop quiz. Why did VHS win the format war?

VHS tapes weren't as high of quality than Sony's rival format, Betamax. But Betaxmax, despite a solid reputation, was denied full glory because it lacked adult content.

Pornography, as it so happens, is always on the cutting edge of the entertainment industry.

The first route of travel, down the world of upgrades, will be cosmetic surgery.

This segment of the market can be highly competitive.

And while some would just love to see encounters become less physical, more neurological, (keen way to encourage less population, yes?) it's not easy to believe virtual intimacy would be widely accepted barring some fringe individuals and techno-fetishists.

However, this sort of technology would only be partly born out of this desire. You're now in the realm of creating wholly fictional stimulus. Better Than Life, as it were. And it may be the product of several avenues of related neural science research.

The temptation to plugin and drop out as often life allows already exists in your timeline today, and it's called Warcraft.

That product is worth much more mention here, but it's only one virtual world of dozens where real life often blurs. Indeed, depending on your third world location, it's plenty easy gaining employ wherein all is required is to produce virtual currency so it can be sold to gamers with more money than time on their hands.

In fact, another popular online venture, EverQuest II, is said to have an average GDP per user of $11-14 a month, meaning EQII's national worth in real life dollars is on par with the economies of Liberia, among others.

You read that right.

A virtual world's economy is on par with real life counterparts.

Like China. And India.

And due to the rise of several popular games prominently featured on the face of social networking it's self, microtransactions and niche market economies are already rising to trade items and currency, too.

Is there a day where-when you may spend just as much, or more a month on your virtual upkeep than a physical one?

I'd love to show you pretty graphics and pie charts, but trending information just isn't coming in quick enough.

Ripples of cultural tension are just at the surface, however.

Stories of those entering a weekend marathon of gaming to never be seen alive, some dropping dead in net-cafes. And in eastern countries, there's growing rise to camps designed to get youngsters and adults alike off of the computer and back into the real-world society many could care less about thanks to a virtual residency.

But the drive to do well--succeed in life--and feel rather self empowered by preparedness and dungeon raids makes one question why these individuals are not gaining this sort of experience away from their screens.

The entertainment side of technology is the second most profitable avenue of advancement today. The first?

"Future Soldier" programs, and other first world military projects often are the height of technical excellence. There's more funds in the Department of Defense than any other generally year to year, and the 2010 Federal Budget is no different:

As you can see from the Federal budget, the largest chunk by far is spent on Department of Defense . Don't draw any conclusions, really, because it's just a fact of war time principles.

Which really haven't wound down since World War II.

On a side note, don't mistake "discretionary" for "mandatory."

Mandatory spending has been completely altered since 1995, when the Social Security Administration split off from the Department of Health. It gained a new home in the executive branch, and it surpasses military spending by a slim margin.

And before someone asks, you may wonder what "Health Services" pay for?

That would be "Healthy People 2010 initiative," which began in 2000. This covers all the ads and what-not promoting good hygiene, eating veggies, mental health, etc. But mostly this budget is used to employ highly trained agents skilled in identifying Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

I completely have digressed, and for this, I apologize.

The reason I broke these numbers down is to show the disparity between DoD budgets and the rest of the Discretionary budgets.

With these numbers in your head, you can see how the military could throw millions of dollars at various technologies and end up with something useful.

Past the point of demystifying analog and digital circuitry, DARPA is really using what the military and private sector technologies have to offer, only taking them further.

They also promote an annual race, called the DARPA Urban Challenge. 

Now, you'll note here that two out of three of these products have applications in networking.

The bionic arm, which is very impressive, will most likely see more private sector use--especially as the technology gets cheaper and more reliable. Broke an arm? Buy a new one!

Not yet, no. However, depending on who and where you are it can be quicker to get elective surgery than specialized or emergency medical treatment.

And an electronic arm has a known failure rate. It's rather easy to crunch numbers and insure the device.

Expect similar results with genetic engineering, although environmental factors can damage DNA.

Also note that these devices require some sophisticated software.

Cutting edge cyberpunk envisions a world where we plug into our machines and direct them with thoughts. While there is little doubt that this mechanism of interaction would lead to unparalleled digital intimacy, the network of everything is not necessarily intrusive.

As you drive, water pipes below signal the municipality that all is a-okay. And this is just one item you don't see. Traffic signals speak to one another.

Humans love gadgets. They love to touch, interact, play with, and turn off. While the future for wetwired circuitry is bright, society at large will most likely continue to have a firewall of flesh, and it's surrounding environment will adapt to communicate on those terms.

In fact, this trend is so virulent, it's already present in your home. And how dedicated are companies to these technologies?

Well, Nintendo is making a killing on both it's Wii and DS hardware, and even at it's current retail prices it still may be garnering a slim profit.

Which is unreal, seeing as how the X-Box 360 and PS3 are marketed at a loss by their respective companies. The new X-Box 360 "Kinect " and PS3 "Move " is operated on a similar principle.

What you really must understand is it's not the hardware in these devices that create features propelling consumers to purchase, but rather, software .

Because, of course, no one wants a gadget without use.

With Microsoft's Kinect you are garnering a motion sensor environment that'll allow you to control a small array of X-Box Dashboard options. It's tailored currently for those interested in buying movies from the Zune store, and doesn't even allow Netflix interaction.

But expect a console generation where controllers will be purchased for use with only certain games or series. If at all.

And expect these devices to pop up in televisions standard, computers as well.

The Apple iOS has given users a touch interface that's heading to their mainline of computers.

Cutting edge interface technology born from military background is now out pacing it's source, leading to new investments in next generation technology.

Since your species have become experts in creating digital data, these new technologies are concerned with presenting new ways to understand this information, and learning how the user interacts with the computing environment.

No longer is the computer a dumb machine operating how it's programmed, but it will learn to filter, categorize, label, and predict work flow. As your gestures guide it.

And this profile, personal digital assistant thumb print--will follow you around, exchanging data between embedded objects.

And again, it's not the hardware--which yes, has become cheaper, smaller, more efficient...but it's the software propelling their real-world applications.

Which couldn't be so smart without networking.

At the beginning of the 20th century mankind had begun to master affective long distance wireless communication. Spurned by the industrial revolution and Ford's automation, machines began to speak with one another, too.

Today, as you've seen with some of the technologies presented above, the line between computer and reality is dissolving, encroaching upon traditional lifestyles inch by inch, as the consumer buys, and the tax payer pays.

The human thus far has adapted to these changes, often welcoming at arms length, fascinated by modern ingenuity.

And soon, the human species may unintentionally create an internet self aware.

Far beyond Hollywood fantasies of killer robots, this discovery could provide the last key bridge between the digital realm and the meatspace occupied by humans.

An intelligence carved out from the neural network spanning the globe would be truly alien life, and present it's unwitting progenitors with several possibilities, many welcoming just as much would be feared.

But then, this pace--and willingness to adapt--is ultimately your choice. And ever the optimist, I have faith that your species will not abuse these coming paradigms.....much.

Rising fear of cyber terrorism has alluded to an internet which can be arbitrarily shut down, or hampered with firewalls and unresolved Domain Name Service requests.

The trouble with this is that the internet is a force in it's self, and no governing body will ever control it. China, North Korea, among almost every country, exhibits some form of internet censorship.

But the rising majority have spoken, and these self-imposed restrictions are no longer such; private sector technology again out pacing large unfocused government projects.

From here to there will be tricky. But the end result will transform the world yet again, leaving an environment that responds to it's current conditions.

And a humanity ever more connected, enveloped, and codependent on instant communication and knowledge.

Welcome to the 22nd Circuitry.