Hello friends!

I am very sorry that I have not made the time to post here more often lately. I could make excuses and talk about how busy I've been getting my research done and spending time with my family, both of which are true, but I could have made time to stop by here. Both my bro-in-law and a friend of mine have sent me some great reading materials which I am yet to write about, but that'll be coming soon.

In the mean time, I hope all is well for you and your loved ones. Our mortal lives are passing by us in this very moment. I find images of space often help ground me and help me see past the illusions that I and others create that obfuscate the truth (money, prestige, ego, false emotion, etc.) So, I leave you with this:

First artificial DNA a step towards biological computers

I've been hearing about this for years. I really think one of these discoveries is going to begin the exponential march toward a "Brave New World."

By Jonathan M. Gitlin | Published: July 08, 2008 - 11:22AM CT

It has been over 50 years since the discovery of the double-stranded nature of DNA, and over that half-century and more we have learned a lot about deoxyribonucleic acid, from the fact that it organizes into a double-stranded double helix all the way to having sequenced the entire DNA of humans and a range of other organisms. Now, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a team in Japan has created the world's first DNA strand made from artificial bases.

As information storage systems go, DNA is not bad. Just four different bases (adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine) are all that's needed to code for 20 different amino acids, using three base codons (e.g. AUG). In fact, the four-base, triplet codon system has the potential to be able to store information for more than just 20 amino acids; there are 64 potential combinations, so several amino acids have multiple codons, along with three stop codons that tell the cellular machinery involved that the sequence is done.

Along the way, people have looked at DNA and thought that it ought to be possible to use DNA to store nonbiological data. Better still, it can pack that information into far smaller packages than is possible with solid state memory or even the densest hard drive platters. There have also been experiments that use DNA sequences to perform parallel processing, as we covered last year.

But we needn't be limited to the four complementary bases, and that's just what has been shown by a Japanese team, who have published details of their creation of an artificial DNA strand. All the components of their DNA product are nonnatural, yet they spontaneously form right-handed duplexes with the corresponding opposite base, and these bonds have very similar properties to those of natural DNA.

The hope is that this artificial DNA could have a range of applications in the real world, from the aforementioned DNA computing proposals, along with using DNA to store data, to using it in nanotech settings. Artificial DNA has similar physical properties to common-or-garden DNA without being degraded by enzymes such as DNase (which is found everywhere), a factor that would make it quite useful for any kind of biomedical setting.

Mind/Brain Controlled Robotics

I'm sure for those who simply stumble across this blog, it may look like someone doesn't know if they are writing a spiritual blog or a tech blog. Why not both? In terms of what is happening here in this world, on this planet (semantics), the outcomes of what is happening between man (mind, body and spirit) and what we are creating technologically is, and has been for the last century or two, "speeding up" for lack of a better phrase. We went from the wheel to the assembly line to genetic decoding and controlling robotics with our brains in what amounts to no time. Just a skim through what you read below will help one realize that we are surely on the precipice of some very new territory in terms of civilization. Anyway, check it out.

For Future of Mind Control, Robot-Monkey Trials Are Just a Start

In May, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh said they had taught two monkeys to grab small amounts of food with a mechanical arm using their brains. The future of brain-machine interfaces, however, could veer toward the as-yet-unknown possibilities of human movement. (Video Still by Andrew Schwartz/University of Pittsburgh)

By Erik Sofge

Published on: July 7, 2008

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The Force, it appears, may be with us sooner than expected. A study in the journal Nature this spring all but confirmed the latest evolution in the hard-charging, heady field of cybernetics: Monkeys can control machines with their brains. In the experiment, conducted by neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, a pair of macaque monkeys with electrodes implanted in their brains were able to quickly learn how to operate a robot arm as though it were their own, successfully fee ding themselves more than half the time. Aside from building a fleet of potentially potbellied test subjects, however, could this apparent breakthrough bring mind control to human prosthetics anytime soon? Or could it mean even more?

On the research track of brain-computer interfaces—direct neural
connections that allow brain signals to operate a device—the robo-joystick monkeys look awfully familiar. That’s because Pitt released similar results in 2005, with a different kind of robotic arm used to grasp and retrieve food. And as far back as 2000, electrode-implanted monkeys at Duke University moved a robot arm—again, to reach for food—with their minds. Scientists at Duke ran similar experiments in 2003 and, this past January, showed off a rig that let an owl monkey on a treadmill control the walking movements of a 200-pound humanoid robot in Japan.

As interesting (if repetitive) as each of these incremental achievements are, the endgame for mind-machine interfaces is nothing short of astonishing. In the years to come, this technology could lead to prosthetics that react perfectly to a user’s thoughts, or devices that move in ways we never imagined, responding to mental commands faster than our own bodies can. The future of hyperspeed brain control outside of the lab may come littered with more pratfall than promise—even the field’s leading neuroscientist offered plenty of caveats and insisted, like his peers, that one or two major breakthroughs in other fields are still needed to open up the devices to everyone. But if the recent run of mind-bending success in this field is any indication, the big breaks can come faster than expected.

Building Postprosthetic Cybernetics

For Miguel Nicolelis, a professor of neuroscience at Duke University Medical Center, the backbone of mind-machine interfaces is the ability to analyze neural activity. Sure, the system demonstrated at Pitt in May accessed information from 100 neurons at once. But Nicolelis’s lab has managed five times that amount, with data coming from up to 10 different brain structures. “We’re able to look at brain dynamics on a scale that no one else has been able to,” he says. “You’re transferring information into motion. When more neurons are recorded, it allows you to extract many more parameters from the brain, to look for more elaborate output.” The result is more fine-tuned movement for devices—and more data recorded from a given subject—to help researchers analyze the relationship between brain signals and physical activity.

More neuron data paths could also improve the capacity of monkeys (and, some day, humans) to not only send outgoing commands to a device, but also process incoming signals. Nicolelis and his team have created what he calls “brain-machine-brain” interfaces wherein monkeys respond to feedback from a device. In some cases, the test subjects show surprising amounts of so-called “brain plasticity”—the mind’s adaptability to new kinds of movements. According to Nicolelis, that’s more promising and less abstract than it might sound.

Current prosthetics, even devices as advanced as Johns Hopkins superstar Proto 2, rely heavily on brain plasticity. A user might train himself to close a prosthetic pincer by shrugging his shoulder, and his brain adapts, with the shrug-grasp motion eventually becoming second nature. Proto 2 can respond to signals from residual nerves on the surface of a limb or in the user’s chest, but the feedback it provides is something of a sleight of hand (no pun intended). Without a direct connection to the brain, the best it can do is simulate the sensation of pressure or heat wherever the electrodes come into contact with the body. So the surface of an amputated limb might seem hot, or the embedded electrodes in a subject’s chest might feel a poke. But it’s up to brain plasticity to associate that sensation with the warmth of an open fire or the tactile feedback of a tennis ball.

With a physical neural connection, Nicolelis believes that brain plasticity can be achieved quickly and with greater precision than current prosthetic control systems. “When you link the brain to a device, it could allow scaling in force and time—things that, today, your body can’t do,” he says. So the brain would not only respond to data from sensors in the bionic limb, but would account for unfamiliar amounts of speed and force. For sci-fi fans, the implications don’t need spelling out: prosthetics that are faster and stronger than normal limbs, with roughly the same level of control as their flesh-and-blood predecessors. Without a closed neural loop, it would theoretically take much longer to become accustomed to an enhanced arm and fold it into normal brain activity. The key to cybernetic devices that restore function and increase it rests with the humble electrodes currently popping out of monkey skulls—and the loads of data therein.

Technological Advancement

I personally see technological advancement as a sign of ever increasing spiritual and psychological progress. This DOES NOT mean positive spiritual progress, but progress in terms of our understanding of how create and manifest our subconscious and imagination. In many ways, humankind taps into greater and greater power as we near THE end. All of the new technology really represents new knowledge and knowledge, as we all know, can be used for good or for evil. I often think about how our progress in terms of artificial intelligence, genetics, and nanotechnology will eventually result in our demise.

This little video demonstrates something of relative insignificance yet, at the same time, it's so surreal and "cool," for lack of a better term, that is really makes one think of how far we've come. My boss at work told me about writing his first computer program using hole punched cards. We've come a long way since then!


Holographic Google Earth from Nicolas Loeillot on Vimeo.

Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind and More of My Ranting

I just read this article and had to laugh. Of course scientists can't figure out the answers to some of these questions. While there are physiological reasons and scientific explanations to questions such as why we sleep, there are also spiritual aspects to the brain/mind. The answers to these questions are accessible to those who pray, study and and ponder, or meditate, on them and on the meaning of our lives. Asking why we dream is actually very similar, if not the same, as the last mystery that the article brings up: what is consciousness? These are questions of a spiritual, mystical, esoteric nature and perhaps the answer from the most common of people a thousand years ago would provide us with more insight than a doctor of psychology could today even with all of her learning and scientific understanding. Perhaps I might be accused of being anachronistic, but I'm starting to feel more and more that that's OK.

In this, the modern age (the age of information as we proudly declare it to be) we continually layer on falsities and pride so that the true nature of our own consciousness becomes a mystery to us. I want to join the ranks of those disciples who sincerely want to strip away or "unlearn" much of what we've been taught either consciously or unconsciously in this life. In Matthew 10:39 the Master and Lord Jesus declared: "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (This is similarly said in Matthew 16:25 and Luke 9:24.) In Luke 17:33, Jesus said, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." We must remember that the person/thing we think of as ourselves is just a shell. The further we can move beyond, or transcend, what we take for granted as oursleves, or our lives, we begin to see that much of what is considered real is just an illusion. For example, I have asked myself the question, "Who am I? What am I? Am I the body I see in the mirror? Am I the thoughts I think in my head? Am I the emotions I feel, such as anger, love, sadness, or fear? Or am I something beyond all of this?"

The skeptic, or he that has not been initiated into even the simplest of mysteries, might be baffled by this. "You're a human being man! Get a hold of yourself!" But what is human being? Then there is the next level of understanding: "You're a son (or daughter) or God." Now this is true and it is so simple even a child can undertand this "mystery" if we may call it that. But as we grow older this statement can lose it's meaning or, perhaps better stated, it can lose it's gravity. So, if I'm a child of God, what now? The answer is that we must shed the ego, or lusts or desires of this world and begin seeking after a higher level of being. If we seek out the principles of a higher, or more noble nature, and live those principles or laws, we begin to prepare oursleves to enter into a higher state or dimension. Although we must wait until we shed this mortal coil to move to the next level, our eyes, or our understanding, begins to open and we begin to see things for what they really are. As we shed the ego, the desire, we begin to make room for holy things to enter our temple, or body/mind, and we cast out the, spirits of lust, envy, anger, greed and so forth.

Now these are not just words or thoughts. These are truths. One can actually DO this, but it is work. It requires focus every day, every hour, indeed every moment. I find myself being sucked back into the illusion when I get angry, or I see someone gaining great wealth, and I begin to feed the desires of this world that abide within me. This is why daily study, prayer/meditation is so important. Within our families we have the chance to do service, to show love, to sacrifice, everyday but we often think of service as something we do primarily to strangers, in a soup kitchen, etc. but I believe that the greatest moments of potential spriritual growth happen in every moment and most of our "moments" are at home and work. So THE work is to be done NOW and when we fall short, we slip, we lose focus, we pray to God, our Father in Heaven, in the name of the Son, to forgive us and we can begin the work again and slowly, but surely, begin to work out our salvation by weeding out those aspects of ourselves that are not truly us and move closer to our true self. Where is the Kingdom of God? Christ said it is within us. The more I ponder that statement the less fear I have about where I will eventually end up but, simultaneously, the more I realize that the process is work and must be done and there's no such thing as waiting for something, such as death, to bring it on. Thanks to the Savior, though, I am allowed to "mess up" as long as I do my very best and that, my friends, is the hard part. So, let's work at doing our best in every moment.

WHY DO WE SLEEP?
This is a very superficial and, obviously, brief treatise on the subject of why we sleep, and while I may not agree with all of the semantics, it's a good place to start if you've never delved into the subject. It might seem strange, or funny, or like a lot of mumbo jumbo, but remember that all things are related and that EVERY aspect of reality is spiritual. How can the physical world, for example, not be spiritual when all things were created spiritually? How can sleep not be spiritual when us, our lives, our bodies, are all spiritual? What's the point of separating things as being physical or spiritual? Of course when we use the term "spiritual" we do so to refer to things that cannot be seen, or of a religous nature, but the more we separate ourselves from spirituality the more we risk believing the false doctrine that certain things aren't as important as others because they're not spiritual. Watching TV, for example, is a spiritual experience, but what kind of spiritual experience? Negative, evil, nuetral, positive/uplifting? Hmmmm...kind of makes me wonder how much time I'm utterly wasting of my finite life in this world OK, enough rambling:

What Happens While We Sleep: A Spiritual Perspective

The human body [bodies] has never truly been separated from the higher realms of light, despite one's waking experience. At night, this body rejoins its higher counterparts that are the non-physical energy bodies, and a more seamless union of different aspects of one's being takes place than can normally occur during daytime functioning.

The body is a miracle of organization and intelligence in which life is continually renewed and energy continually replenished so that the total organism can continue to live. Sleeping involves part of this renewal, and is a process through which the higher vibrations of light are permitted greater access to the physical body because the emotional and mental components of personality that are often limiting factors in the awake state are no longer present while one sleeps. Although dreaming produces mental and emotional content and therefore creates emotional states, the content of these is part of the sleep state itself and not a barrier to the energies that would restore, heal, and rejuvenate.

The quality of sleeping has a great deal to do with the amount of restoration that can take place. Deep sleep produces not only different brainwave patterns, but also permits a greater influx of light energy into the cells and tissues so that toxins can be removed and greater energy can be infused on a cellular level. This does not happen in any kind of conscious way although one can become conscious of it as well as every other act the consciousness partakes in while the physical body slumbers.