And so it ends…

My first semester at Tech finally comes to a close. This is the last blog post I will be making for this class. It is sad to think that it was only yesterday when I went to first day of classes. It was such a short semester but it was a fun one.

As I end this blog post, I think to what I learned as to what a posthuman truly is and I have come with this definition. A posthuman is the human, upgraded. A stronger, better, more capable being that comes into being with its interactions and relationships with the knowledge and technology that surrounds him.

On a final note, can I just say that I truly had fun in this English class. I cannot wait to learn about zombies and dead people next…

Posthuman Stress

In this posthuman world of ours, knowledge IS power. The better and more we know something, the better, faster, cheaper we can make stuff. In today’s world technology is not difficult to obtain and we can thank that to the growing knowledge we have about the world around us.

Unfortunately however, acquiring the knowledge we need for this posthuman world can be a stressful ordeal. It can entail countless amounts of work, tests and sleepless nights, all which make a stressful world.

My world has been so stressed in the past month that I actually forgot the coming of my birthday! Sure knowledge is power, but people, we have to remember that there are other things around us. Let us take time to spend time with friends, taste the food, smell the roses, see the sky. Unplug yourselves from the mainframe for a second and remember that there is a beautiful world outside that can be stress free and peaceful sanctuary. Let us take time to get in touch with out pre post human selves.

Friends

So as I was perusing the library, I found something that caught my eye. A season DVD for Friends. You know Friends, the 6 friends living in New York dealing with life. I loved the way that my roommates would look at me weirdly the one minute and completely immersed in it the next….and why wouldn’t they. This is the show that we essentially grew up with.

Every episode is like a hit of nostalgia. In the past, people would reminisce about their past and remember stuff they did with other people. Is it sad that today we remember our past with television shows. Has the television become such an integral part of our lives?

Catch Them All!

So the guys across my dorm is going though some relapse. They got themselves re-addicted to pokemon and me with it. It is so weird! I got addicted to this game after 30 minutes of watching someone play it! Like a baby seeing his first toy, I was mesmerized by the thing. The catchphrase catch them all made sense to me. I wanted to train my pokemon to have the strongest abilities and have the best pokemon around.

So what is it with these games? Well, pokemon is an RPG (a role playing game). They allow us to live whole other lives and be a part of a whole new world. Like in real life we try to be the best we can be and have the best stuff and best abilities. I don’t know what makes it addicting but I know that playing something for 300hours over a 2 month period is pretty bad (I’m talking to you Persona4).

Online Dependency

I understand that in this post human world, us humans have become dependent on the internet. We turn to it for tv shows, radio, information, reading, social interaction, gaming etc. It’s a bit creepy that we are so dependent on the internet that us teenagers are spending 31 hours of our week on it. And you know what in the end of the day…I’m ok with that.

What I’m not okay with is our desire to make everything ready for the internet. Take medical assistance for instance. Websites like WebMD, Mayoclinic, wikipedia and even Youtube are being used by people to self diagnose themselves! Why? Is it really that bothersome for us to go to the doctors for help? Would we be rather be taken care of by an intangible series of ones and zeroes that actual doctors? People that are TRAINED for years to take care of us? I don’t know about you but I’d rather go to a doctor when I get sick.

I just realized

Why do we keep on trying to better ourselves. Let me clarify that. We keep on trying to create processors that try and match the human brain. We keep on creating artificial intelligence and give them human qualities. Why?

Why can’t we keep using them like we do now? Why do they have to match our intelligence and have an intelligence of their own? Deep inside cyborgs, freak me out. I don’t want them going all rebellious on us and end up killing us to death! Let’s just use them as a complement to our brains. A tool that is subservient to us.

Yes, I am afraid of a Matrix scenario occuring…let’s stop this before it happens. FIGHT THE MACHINES!

Read all about it…

Boredom, the most common enemy of the modern posthuman teenager. To combat it, most of us watch TV, play a video game, go to the internet, hang with friends, or if worse came to worse, study.

Most of the time, we just go to the internet, but there’s something interesting here. One of the most popular things that the web is known for is blogging. A blog (web log) is a site where a person can write an article, publish it in the internet and leave it for the world to see.

Like an online diary, a blog is frequently (or supposed to be anyways) updated for its readers. It is interesting how it has grown in popularity. What seems to be a plaything for a bunch of bored people has gotten so much acclaim that prominent businessmen and politicians are making them.

What is it about blogs that makes them popular. Is it the premise of the possibility that the next popular blog is created by us? Is it the adoration and response that we gather from people that we have never even met before? I believe that in today’s world, the next idols are coming from blogs and the stories and articles that come from them.

Captivate

That’s the name of my phone. I got it from AT&T this summer before going to college and it’s been with me ever since. It’s like a companion to me, and I never leave my room without it. Not only is it a phone, but it is also a web browser, a multimedia player, a (admittedly weak) game system, a bus tracker, a gps, a flash driver, a camera and so much more. I love my phone!

It is, in my opinion, the one thing that makes me a post human. It is an extension of my brain and myself. I feel incomplete without it. Something is missing when I don’t feel it in my pockets. I feel disconnected without it. It is a necessity and I am not completely sure what I would do if someone were to take it from me.

It is said that a cyborg is an amalgamation of man and machine, well this is what makes me a modern day cyborg.

MMORPG

MMORPG’s are games where people can play as a character, level it up, do missions, and interact with other players in the online medium. People can get off work or school and immerse themselves in another world with a whole new set of possibilities.

Like real life, the player acquires money and improves themselves by experience by participating in the game. Players can play the game with the other millions of people and interact with them in the process. Sounds like a good idea right? Well, not necessarily….

People get so caught up on the game that they forget that there is a real world outside. They forget that they have responsibilities and have to take care of themselves. I admit, MMORPGs are a nice distraction from the cynical world that we live in but it shouldn’t be so distracted that we still have to deal with this world. I’m not saying that no one should play MMORPGs. I’m saying like all things, play responsibly.

GTA IV

GTA is one of the most controversial game series of all time. In this game, you are dropped upon a city and you control a character, perform missions and guide the character to some sort of goal. In the process, the game allows the player to interact with the city and its surroundings. The player can steal cars, kill anybody, perform a mission, or not. The gamer is in control.

I admit, I got suckered into this game. When I was a kid, I remember playing Vice City, causing mayhem and havoc all around the city of Vice City. I have now graduated to the nth generation of the series with GTA IV. I don’t know what it is about this game. It just sucks you in and makes you play all day long. Like an addiction, (to cocaine as the author of the reading would liken it to) its hard to pull away from a game like this. Why is that?

I personally don’t even play the game. As it should be played. Is that even right? I mean I don’t play the game to do the missions and get to the end. I play it just to cause maximum chaos or just drive down the road with my stolen car. Why is this game so appealing to us? Is it because we are acting upon some deep desire to be bad? Do we really just wanna go around killing people and stealing drugs?