The Final Frontier

During the 1950's and 60's Outer Space was being heralded as the final frontier for man to conquer.

We had emerged out of the trees and onto the grasslands.

We had left the grasslands of Africa for lands unknown.

We had built sea-sailing vessels to cross the great oceans.

And we had mastered aeronautics and created airplanes, blimps, and helicopters.

The next logical step was outside of our planet's atmosphere and into the great black abyss.

Baby steps were made, we landed on the moon and sent out hundreds of probes.

But, unlike all other arenas of human technology, space exploration did not have an explosive acceleration, but rather, withered and came to a virtual halt.  Why was this?

Some say it was lack of competition with the Russians, or, impossibly large budgets.  My bet was that the engineers and scientists along with the upper echelons of American government realized that Space travel had little to offer present day man.  The ships and programs were prohibitively expensive and the programs themselves seemed to produce little of scientific or material value.  A combination of these drawbacks caused man to withdraw his full effort from space.  Technology and resources went towards communications(The Internet, TV, music) and to an ever more powerful military technologies.  Leaving man without an [obvious] frontier.

The hidden frontier is within our own minds.  The same hyperspatial reality that was plumbed by Shamans, medicine men, and mystics throughout history.  It can be accessed with meditation, yoga, breathing, and any number of hallucinogenic substances.  Isn't it strange that the very government that was so for Space Travel is against this other alien frontier?
     In Space Travel they saw possible material gain and strategic military advantages.  The only treasures that one can plunder from the interior of the mind are new ideas or modes of being.  These are of no interest to those who hold our material lives in check.  This is why they have begun an inquisition and repression of the exploration of this new interior frontier.

Good luck psychonauts.

x0xb0x Acid

I have recently purchased a x0xb0x analog synthesizer and it puts out a real fat and punchy bass sound sequenced by analog circuits.  The b0x is an MIT created clone of the famous later 80's base synthesizer, the Roland tb-303.  It can be utilized in all kinds of electronic music yet, is most famous for its use in acid house.

Why change the outside when you can change yourself?

    In today's world of rapidly expanding industrial infrastructure it has become hard to discern what all this progress really accomplishes for humanity as a whole.  People often say technology helps us live easier and more fulfilling lives, but, evidence exists that gives credence to the idea that the technological demiurge actually mitigates our ability to live rewarding lives.  Obesity and technological addiction represent only two of the facets of modernity that seem anything but progressive.  People have given up their inherent rights to enjoy their bodies alongside their minds when they become sedentary obese consumers.  Much of the technology that we believe extends our human capabilities actually makes us into machines where our only self-directed activities have become pushing buttons or other input devices upon the computers we love so deeply.  Along with these negative externalities we place upon ourselves there also exists the obvious stress technology and industry places upon the environment.
    Modern agricultural man has always tried to adapt the environment to his own devices when all other humans have adapted their culture and mind to the environment they found themselves in.  Humans have adapted to different ecosystems and niches across the globe throughout our long history.  Humans live full lives in the Arctic Tundra, the Amazonian Rainforest, and the Arizona desert, among many other places. Why do westerners and their capital system demand that a given area be adapted to suit the needs of their monolithic culture?
   I personally believe that this method of attempting to control the environment will continue to wane in the years to come.  Environmental awareness and global activism represent just two aspects of this rising trend.  Now what will the system of environmental degradation give way to?  A 1960's like return to nature and abandonment of technology? No, I believe that the object of our transformative technology will cease being the outside environment and will begin focusing upon our own physical vessels, our bodies.  Why adapt the outside world to our minds and bodily tastes when we can use man's inherent mental adaptability coupled with our new found technology to transform ourselves so we may fit into any ecological niche, terrestrial or extraterrestrial, that we wish.  Nanotechnology, genetics, computer brains, all these frontier technologies would allow man to adapt his self to any role he saw fit.  As technology advances we may even become so amorphous that we are able to change both our thought patterns and body structures at will.
  An example application of this idea would be to create photosynthetic men that require only sunlight and water rather than solid animal food.  This would quickly solve our population and hunger problem.  Let us hope that man realizes the futility in attempting to control the chaos outside him and begins to turn his need for adaptation inward, upon himself.