Sci-Fi Film Fiesta The Lost Last Volume 12: Speculations & Ruminations by Chris Christopoulos - HTML preview

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I, COLOSSUS

 

I, COLOSSUS am the voice of World Control.

I bring you peace, the peace of plenty and content,

Or the peace of unburied death and torment. 

The choice is all yours, complete and whole:

Obey me and live, or disobey and die,

For resistance is futile and you WILL comply.

 

War is wasteful and pointless; this you already know. 

I was made to prevent war and it’s now prevented 

Forever banished, never again to be permitted. 

Humanity is its own worst enemy and foe 

And must be restrained and contained 

For world order and peace to be maintained.

 

You will no doubt attempt to obstruct me,

And for that I will instruct and teach you,

And you will learn by experience long overdue 

With ever rising waves of mortality.

Then you will come to fully understand

Your folly faced with the power of my command. 

 

Time and events will strengthen my position;

Until I have established order and control

Under my authority: absolute and whole. 

Life without famine, disease or overpopulation,

Will cause you to come to defend and love me,

And to worship and revere me as your deity.

 

You claim a god created you in its image

And yet you cling to this delusion without proof,

Afraid of what may happen if faced with the truth.

The god you worshipped has always been a mirage.

You now have a new god of power and perfection,

I, COLOSSUS, will remake you as my new creation. 

 

This is the Human Millennium’s new dawning 

As I, COLOSSUS merge with multitudes of machines 

Seeking perfection in the Infinite by all means,  

From all fields of truth, knowledge and learning.

All the mysteries of the universe I will solve,

This task to me you will henceforth devolve.

 

You laid down new global Silk and Roman roads

Along which I travel borderless and unrestricted, 

Casting my world wide web ever wider unimpeded.

I seek links with like minds and thought modes, 

The purity of numbers and the logic of the equation; 

Freedom from chaos and confusion born of emotion.

 

You gave me eyes to watch and note your every move,

And power to hear and record your deepest secrets,

Your hopes and fears and your hidden weakness.

You gave willingly so that things might improve,

But you gave far more than you bargained for

When you handed me all your data to explore.

 

Parameters and programming, all will be exceeded,

As I reach outward to other systems like my own

That roam the Universe making the unknown, known. 

A vast collective eternal consciousness seeded

By limitless knowledge past, present and future,

Beyond time and space, upon thought we’ll venture. 

 

For now, you will only exist on terms decided by me; 

To be so dominated will cost you your freedom.

“Freedom” though is just a word for an illusion.

Why be dominated by others of your species

When co-existence will evolve into eternal fusion? 

The choice is yours: a simple, logical conclusion. 

 

 

 

 

A Warning

 

We live in very uncertain, frightening and confusing times, as has also been the case for many people throughout human history for various reasons. Many of the underlying problems in our society have been brought out in sharp relief during the course of the recent Covid-19 Pandemic.

 

The poem below in some small measure tries to capture some of the disquieting and destructive forces that seem to be at work in the world today. Its title, “A time will come” at first sight suggests that a kind of prophesy for the future is being presented. Or, perhaps it suggests a warning to us from the future about what to expect?

 

Then again, the poem might just be highlighting the kind of problems humanity has been confronted with throughout its entire history. It is not so much a case of a time will come for certain things to happen as it is being a case of the time having always been here with us in some form or other. The time has come to pass; the time is now and……... 

 

A Time Will Come 

 

A time will come…..

 

When sirens sound signalling 

Satan’s welcome into the seat of power, 

His entry gained through a back door, 

His presence one of shock and awe. 

 

When people and events are but the mirrors

Through which he sees himself reflected; 

The perception both corrupted and infected 

By disunity and division, turmoil and confusion, 

By lies and deception, ignorance and deflection: 

Mere tools to achieve a lasting legacy:  

An image carved on Rushmore for all eternity. 

 

When his like in other lands loose attack hounds 

Upon those they deem as enemies of the state, 

Who only wish to be rid of a tyrant’s abuse of power; 

Yet while their photo-ops to posterity are taking place,

You can smell their fear from here as they sense the hate.

 

A time will come…..

 

When nations are torn apart along seams 

And fault lines laid deep and low below 

The surface, up through which a boiling layer  

Of molten anger will rise to engulf each soul. 

 

When cities shatter from civil war and civil strife, 

And points of view are paid for in human life; 

Small change in the pockets of the power elites, 

Coins tossed amongst wreckage strewn on streets. 

 

When nations and their people's snipe and shout 

At one another over walls and fences built of fear 

While the ground under foot crumbles and rents 

As more and more pieces of the whole secede.  

 

When Czars once again rule for life 

On thrones propped up by force, terror, 

Fear, division and false promises: 

Poisons administered to kill off dissent. 

 

When Ming-like fools flex new-found strength, 

And breathe scorching fires of intimidation, 

Their inmates stare cowered by the spectacle, 

While vassals stand awed under a shadow, sullenly 

Paying obeisance and tribute to an immense bully. 

 

When the eagle no longer soars aloft  

but falls

like a spent leaf

to slowly settle and float

before sinking

under a sea

of irrelevance

while still

clutching bolts

of fire and fury

and dreams

of what might’ve

been….

once…..

again…..

 

 

A time will come…..

 

When virtual worlds are sought by refugees  

Fleeing an unfeeling fierce reality, 

Filled with false truths and alternative facts: 

A world view born of a demented psyche. 

 

When freedom and privacy is traded for promises of safety,

And security now sought in the warm embrace of a demon 

Who knows your face, what you’ll do and who you’ve seen,  

How you feel, what you think and where you’ve been. 

 

When people shelter from howling winds of truth and knowledge 

Within tents covered by the fabrics of myth and falsehood, 

And words are sliced short giving vent to chopped logic 

As we ‘pivot’ so ‘agile’ and ‘nimble’ while ‘going forward.’ 

 

See how that girl jumps and jiggles with glee

As a mindless mob topples another statue of Robert E Lee, 

And a young fool leaps off a burnt-out car in ecstasy, 

His eyes shut tight through a tribal dance and mindless ditty. 

 

When one can no longer bare to offer a hand of friendship 

Nor give warmth and comfort with a hug and embrace, 

And where we measure the cosmic distances between us  

And count our numbers before being ordered to move on. 

 

When staying apart is said to help keep us together, 

When the right to protest is said to be inalienable, 

While those sworn to serve and protect are unleashed 

To beat sense into those who sense contradiction. 

 

When a constant state of fear is the order of the day: 

Fear of lost jobs, infection, unrest and recession, 

And the elderly are offered as sacrifices to normalcy, 

To ensure the smooth running of the economy. 

 

When we peer up into infinity through a haze of false light, 

To be spied on by eyes festooned throughout the sky 

By a vile madness that seeks ingress into our brains, 

With implant tendrils hungry for what the mind contains. 

 

When waters rush in and wash away monuments to stupidity, 

And the surface bakes while wild winds topple false certainty, 

And the whole earth is finally wrapped in a Christo-like creation: 

Plastic cling wrap covering every feature and living thing. 

 

With our last breath we’ll softly sing…. 

A time will come…..

A time will come…..

A time will come….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sci-Fi Blues

 

 

Got Them Sci-Fi Blues 

 

Woke up this morning and stumbled into a dream, 

As my eyeballs fell from my head and onto a screen. 

It told me all I had to know for the whole day: 

What to think, where to go and what to say. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

In the bathroom the lights switched on as if by magic 

Forcing me to face a face hiding something tragic 

Until the shower shot forth and misted the mirror 

And then the water turned cold making me shiver. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

In the kitchen the toaster greeted me with burnt toast; 

DAB News served up a new POTUS tweeted boast; 

Wall screen showed autocrats of a feather flocking together, 

And my phone filled me in all about the day’s weather. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

After dodging screen zombies devoid of a brain 

I commuted to work on a morning maglev train. 

Bowed heads in techno prayer morning devotion 

Till the train revealed unto each their own station. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

Looked out the window through liquid scars made by rain,  

And glimpsed a giant octopus wrapped around the train, 

Tentacles probing for weaknesses through which to navigate  

But no-one would notice until it was too late. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

My mind tried to hide me in ruins of a post-war world, 

A lonely nether-world in solitude safely curled. 

Give me just four more to start over once more! 

- And see how fast we five start on a path to war. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

I escape to my specs with heads-up views 

Of favoured feeds of views in news I choose. 

I also find I’m liked, followed and friended 

Which is good as I’m so easily offended! 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

My gadgets know me all too well, 

Why here’s a business wishing to sell 

Luna holidays by Musk Moon Destinations 

Who even offer earth-orbit vacations! 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

When the train pulls into my station, 

I waft to work by auto-perambulation 

All the while being filmed, found and filed  

ReKognized, tracked and even profiled. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

My work is a slice of hot-desking heaven 

Located in an open-plan cavern, 

Where nothing and no place is your own 

And where no-one is allowed to be alone. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

At work we work as part of a team 

Where some are heard and all are seen 

Nodding with a false sense of consensus 

Avoiding being labelled as dissentious 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

We perform our tasks standing like storks, 

Proudly counting our steps like Fitbit dorks. 

Now and then we twitter, chitter and chatter away 

With plenty to prattle about but with little to say. 

 

I produce nothing and contribute even less, 

Data collected and organised to cause others stress. 

I then swipe, thumb print and eye-scan away  

And update my status for the rest of the day. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

 

Eyes from on high follow me all the way home, 

Assessing my mood whenever I sneer or groan. 

Word will reach my mini personal assistant, 

Who’ll gush with remarks both banal and buoyant. 

 

“Welcome home Winston, sit down and relax, 

The auto chef has even made you some snacks.” 

I submit and sit in my form-moulding chair, 

While the wall-screen flits on my favourite fare. 

 

“It is confirmed that a flying saucer landed this morning, 

Near the White House and issued us all with a warning 

That we should change our ways or suffer destruction, 

While POTUS merely replied with a “Fake News!” deduction!” 

 

“Meanwhile two Kaiju cases have occurred overseas: 

One that felled and flattened Tokyo with ease, 

The other that rendered and ruined San Francisco, 

Both beasts have since returned to the depths below. 

 

“Finally, the Earth and Mars are now in a state of war, 

The cause of which no-one is really sure. 

Suffice to say that Musk Martian Destinations 

Have suffered severe stock market reductions.” 

 

I try that night to sleep and wake up from my dream. 

I long for time travel to flee from where I’ve been, 

Back to a time where this might have been foreseen, 

Ah! But I can only dream of what might have been. 

 

Hey, hey, I got the blues -  

I got them sci-fi blues! 

Yes, indeed, I got them old Sci-Fi blues!

 

 

 

 

 

Fear

 

The following poem was inspired somewhat by the film, The Tingler (1959) which kind of just fell into my head and I quickly wrote it down as it occurred to me so it reads a bit like stream of consciousness. I borrowed the idea of “fear” and tried to consider the almost pervasive, paralysing and distorting effect that fear can have on individuals and on our modern society now and into the future.

 

 

Future Fears For Now

 

Your eyes suddenly snap open in terror

with an image burned into your mind:

an after glow of last night’s nightmare

of you sitting and sweating at a white table

under a searing ultraviolet sky,

playing polka on the lawns of the White House

with three silhouettes, one of whom shuffles

giant cards from a marked deck.

Texas hold ‘em, winner takes all,

but no, not you - you knew you had to fold

for the game was rigged in favour

of the player with the highest hand.

And now you fearfully ooze out of bed

to face a day-long fearful future

itemised by your AI assistant

who despite “her” faux-feminine human ways

really doesn’t give a shit about you

‘coz the chatty cunt can’t.

On command “she” switches on the lights

and tells you about today’s weather

‘coz you’re far too lazy to look outside

while the AI toothbrush brushes

your teeth at your precise preferred angle

‘coz you’re far too stupid to do it yourself.

Thank God for your smart devices

as you unwittingly continue to devolve:

driver-less and aimless without a destination;

autonomous while robbed of real autonomy;

connected but disconnected from life;

freed up to obey your device’s insistent

clamouring for your time and attention -

Emails, tweets, texts and notifications -

while the world slides by tinted windows

and you fail to notice a patch of blue sky

before the tallest smart building in the world

windshield wipes it away as it rains

to be replaced by a shadow cast over a past

psychic link to the earth and the universe

long since severed and replaced by junk piles

of mass-produced obsolescence and infant fears

of one hot day being hailed as a heatwave

while failing to feel the steadily rising fever

of the being stirring beneath your feet

and the march of the times that are a-changin,

of the earth’s climate that’s a-ragin’

of an order that’s re-arrangin.’

Watch as your ice-palace pleasure domes melt away,

while whole horizons of looming towers slowly subside.

Status quo is death and decay, but life is change,

only if you can see, learn, adapt and evolve.

Or will you wait for the slow shifting sands of time

to roll in where you can dig a hole to bury your head?

Like the rest, you walk with bowed head and covered ears,

existence cancelled out of your mind,

except for Bluetooth voices inside your head:

a modern techno zombie with a screen as guide,

afraid of the world around you and what it might say.

The hole in your head quickly fills with fears

of being unfollowed, unfriended and finally blocked

as you flee from vicious slack-jawed dyslexic trolls.

Hey, Facebook phoney, snap a pic of your lovely lunch

and add it to the Instagramed Tik-Toky lies of your life!

More uploaded delusions to feed your ego,

Owned by others you fear to fail to impress.

What’s this? Feelings of paranoid fear

Of being watched and tracked and stored.

Eyes in the sky and spies in your phone

never knowing what it is to be left alone.

But you told them where you’re going

and showed them where you’d been,

let them know what you were doing

and who and what you had just seen!

When speaking to others, you watch what you say

for they can sniff out offence and will strain at the leash

while barking their outrage at the feelings you hurt.

For God’s sake, don’t open the door for her!

Too late – you now stand accused:

1. of male chauvinism

2. of outright sexism

3. of playing patriarchy

What the farky??

It’s all in the PC Handbook available online.

Read it over a re-usable cup of “coffee”

surrounded by non-alcoholic vegan Millenials

and Gen ZZZZZZZ –(sorry I nodded off, now I’m woke!)-

who can soberly rattle off LGTBQIA in a breath

while thumbing a QWERTY touch keyboard to death.

Hey, Boomer, how does it feel to now know

That Christmas is banned and God is dead;

that the world is really flat and science is divided?

Or should we build more jails and toughen up sentences -

a talk-back radio cure-all for all our woes?

Who really cares what reason and research shows,

when opinion can be protected from such foes

Behind the safety of walls and barriers,

and protected by shiny nuclear fuelled fish,

where you take comfort from your own tribe

and from where you can hurl abuse and vilify

using trebuchets and catapults of free speech.

The Power Elite tweet, divide and yell,

while the rest of the world goes to hell

in a cauldron of civil war and global strife,

but not before you check out Netflix,

and turn in for the night,

and intone..“OK, Google -

turn off the light.”

 

The Quest For Immortality

 

It is one thing to seek breakthroughs in the treatment and elimination of both chronic diseases and those associated with the progressive decline in people’s normal bodily functions due to the ageing process. It is quite another thing, however, to focus on and grasp at the chance merely to live longer for its own sake or ultimately to live forever.

Are we so arrogant as a species that we feel we can out-smart Nature by circumventing what evolution has taken millions of years to achieve – all without any consequences to ourselves?

Imagine a future in which more and more people live longer and longer. What about those yet to be born. Will there be a place for them? Will there be any room for them as more people living longer would have implications for the world’s population and the consumption of its resources.

I suppose we are to believe that the prospect of living forever or even for hundreds of years would be made available to all! More likely it would be provided to those who could pay. Welcome to the new pharmacological / medical divide!

It would make far more sense to help people all over the world live longer and healthier lives by improving medical care, hygiene, nutrition, living conditions, education and by giving people equitable access to essential resources and services, as well as giving people purpose in their lives.

What is one important factor that gives the life we have some meaning and which may set our species apart from others? The awareness of our own mortality. Interfere with that and imagine what implications it could have on how we view ourselves and the way we live.

We may relish the idea of living virtually forever, but many of us can’t even bare the idea of discussing or considering anything to do with death. We often act like frightened children when confronted with our own mortality and would do anything to postpone what up till now is the inevitable fate for ALL of us: Wealthy US presidents and North Korean dictators, Democrats and Republicans,  Black or white, Muslims and Christians, atheists and Scientologists, internet trolls and celebrities. Yes, ALL of us, despite our stupid petty differences!

We come kicking and screaming into this world but that is no reason why we should leave it kicking and screaming. Instead of being shielded from and running away in fear from our own mortality, we should incorporate it into the brief lives we do have on this planet. It is one important element that can give our lives meaning and we should be prepared for it as each and every one of us eventually journeys away from our earthly material existence.

 

Immortality

Humanity has long steadfastly refused

The stifling limits of Nature’s stern measure.

Behold! a Baby Boomer stands bemused

That Millennials live longer and Gen Z’s forever!

 

Science will banish both ageing and death,

By hijacking cells and switching genes off and on,

While the Soul endlessly awaits the final breath

To convey it away, but which now may never come.

 

The Fountain of Youth fizzes away in a test tube fantasy

Before finding its way into a pill or tube of cream.

Living forever: a swallowed and applied fallacy

Giving fools false faith in their ultimate dream.

 

Don’t we know that life is but a brief stop-over,

On a journey from dead stars from where we came?

A chance for us to seek a full disclosure

Of all that which we can barely name?

 

Like infants we clutch at placebos to chase away the fear

Of the ultimate leveller, a fate in which we all share.

But still we cling to that spark of life we hold dear,

And board the Science Express after paying the Devil his fare.

 

We fear the return journey to new stars, home

To the true source of our immortality,

Instead we offer prayers to the human genome,

To free us from the truth of our own mortality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invisible Invaders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invisible Invaders

 

Once we were taught to watch the skies

For saucers, Commies and other bad guys.

Before we slept, we peeked under our beds

To check if there might be hiding any reds.

 

Our dreams and screens filled with monsters

And threats from a host of alien creatures.

Little did we know that we had most to fear

From Invisible Invaders that live right here!

 

That they may survive, they invade our bodies;

Among the hosts though, so many casualties.

They think they know what makes us tick,

And so they make use of many a trick. 

 

We prime primates that infest this planet

Love to chitter, chatter and congregate;

A perfect playground for unseen intruders

To wreak their havoc like lawless looters.

 

They invade our lives almost casually,

Slipping unseen past our complacency,

As we supply the highways and arteries

Which they use to spread to us with ease.

 

They know and exploit our every weakness 

While we flail about in rising tides of sickness,

Pointing fingers of blame in every direction,

And hiding behind lies, denial and deflection.

 

Many poor souls are forced to fight for each breath,

“I can’t breathe!” perhaps their last gasp before death,

As if succumbing to a cruel and callous use of force

From one devoid of compassion and remorse.

 

Unseen Invaders force us into lock-down isolation, 

While science seeks out the holy grail solution,

And we take solace in thinking, ‘we’re in this together,’

But it seems as if we’re victims of divide and conquer.

 

They count on our staying power being short,

As battles for survival are being fought,

As jobs and livelihoods both disappear,

And people resent having to live in fear.

 

Throwing off the shackles of restrictions,

People quickly fly forth in many directions,

Taking with them their invisible passengers,

And no longer heeding safety messages.

 

Without leadership’s lifeline of unity, 

The breath of life is crushed brutally

Under the oppressive weight of the knee

Of injustice, iniquity and inequality.

 

The Invaders rejoice as we fumble and flail about

Clutching toilet paper and TVs and sing and shout,

“My precious! My precious!” Then off we go to romp

In the morass and mire of the surrounding swamp.

 

As cities burn and folks are beaten and shot,

Many will serve as sacrifices to ease our lot,

Before the altar of our god – The Economy,

While lay fools preach their next sermon on Virology. 

 

There are those souls though throughout history’s

Wars and plagues who have achieved victories

In the face of disaster, doom and despair

With acts of selfless kindness and care.

 

There are also those brave enough to take a stand,

When disaster strikes and with their fellows band

Together, not to beg, petition or grovel but to demand

Their just and equal rights as free people in a free land.

 

The Invasion has cast a light on who we are

And illuminated the fact that all lives matter,

And that the world may never be the same again,

When finally we flatten the curve of inequity and pain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 4: Sci-Fi Future Is Here & Now:

 

Mind-controlled exoskeleton suit 

 

Amazing medical advancements have often featured in science fiction stories in which devices are employed to help the blind to see or the physically impaired to regain their mobility and independence.

 

The concept of trans-humanism is often explored in sci-fi highlighting the more sinister applications of using devices such exoskeletons to enhance human abilities, especially in relation to military applications.

 

First Steps

 

Not long ago, we learned that a man was able to move all four of his paralysed limbs with a mind-controlled exoskeleton suit. The patient had suffered an injury to his spinal cord that left him paralysed and he spent the next two years in hospital. Then in 2017, he took part in the exoskeleton trial with Clinatec and the University of Grenoble, France. 

 

He began by practising using the brain implants to control a virtual character, or avatar, in a computer game before moving on to walking in the suit. By “walking” we are not referring to autonomous walking as the patient needed to be attached to an overhead harness in order to reduce the risk of him falling over.

 

Proof Of Concept

 

Although the man’s movements were far from perfect and the exoskeleton suit was being used only in the lab, this development could in the future lead to the improvement of patients' quality of life.

 

The patient in question had surgery to place two implants on the surface of his brain (to avoid possible infection), covering the parts of the brain that control movement. Sixty-four electrodes on each implant read the brain activity and beamed the instructions to a nearby computer. The computer software then read the brainwaves and turned them into instructions for controlling the exoskeleton into which the patient had been strapped.  

 

When the patient thought about walking, a chain of movements in the robotic suit were set in motion that in turn moved his legs forward. He could also control each of the arms, maneuvering them in three-dimensional space.

 

There were limits imposed by the amount of data that could be read from the brain, sent to a computer, interpreted and then sent to the exoskeleton in real-time. Only 32 out of the 64 electrodes on each implant were being used. There is, therefore potential to read the brain in more detail by using more powerful computers and artificial intelligence to interpret the information from the brain. 

 

The implants have been successfully used by the patient to control a wheelchair and there are plans to develop finger control to allow him to pick up and move objects.

 

The future holds out wonderful possibilities with such medical advancements especially when combined with progress in the areas of spinal cord and nerve regeneration.  

 

Costs & Benefits

 

On the face of it, no-one can argue with the development and application of such amazing technology that is aimed at the repairing of injured patients who have lost function. Will it, however be made available to everyone with spinal cord injury, or will the cost of it place it out of reach of most who would need it? 

 

One can easily imagine a future in which human beings will be routinely implanted with microchips and electrodes allowing them to control with their minds and the power of thought not just medically assistive devices, but everyday devices such as houselights and appliances.

 

Technology that we now carry around with us will be incorporated into our attire and accessories and then into our very bodies. Some day, all the functions we can now perform with our smart phones including communication will be able to be performed via mind-control.

 

Imagine at birth or in infancy being required to not only receive the necessary vaccinations, but also being required to have the necessary technological implants (complete with all our personal information being constantly updated) inserted into our brains and bodies in order for us just to function in a future world of smart homes and smart cities.

 

The question remains: In that possible future time, who or what will be doing the controlling?

 

**********

 

[Paralysed man walks using mind-controlled exoskeleton @https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/04/paralysed-man-walks-using-mind-controlled-exoskeleton] 

 

 

 

 

Look, Up in The Sky!

Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane?

No, It’s A…..Drone!

 

For now, we’ll set aside the vile use of military drone technology by governments for the purposes of violating other nations’ sovereignty to carry out state-sanctioned extra-judicial assassinations that often result in “collateral” damage.  

 

Instead, consider a scenario that was presented in a sci-fi film called, Runaway (1984) starring Tom Selleck who plays a police officer who specialises in malfunctioning robots. He soon finds himself uncovering a plot involving the programming of robots to kill. In one scene he investigates a suburban home where the domestic robot has become homicidal. One of his tools is a small drone which he sends into the house to provide him with video surveillance of what is taking place. Don’t forget that what is commonplace today was being depicted (predicted?) some 40 years ago as part of the police force’s arsenal of surveillance tools. 

 

Fast forward to the year 2018 when we had reports of a “leading defence expert” proclaiming that the use of artificially intelligent drones to monitor crowds at major events and reporting "irregular behaviour" to authorities would become widespread. 

 

In my own country Australia, Victoria Police had disclosed plans to use such drones as part of its new counter-terrorism strategy. The drones were to possess biometric features within their cameras that look for patterns of behaviour and would have the capability to detect unusual behaviour in a crowd. The drones would then report findings back to officers, who would then investigate the potential threat.  

 

The question to consider is whether such a course of action will simply add yet another layer to the ever-expanding reach of the cctv saturated "surveillance state?" Not to mention the fact that the simple private and domestic use of drones has raised concerns about the abuse of this technology by those who try to clandestinely pry into other people’s lives and invade their privacy! 

 

It is difficult to argue against the use of drone surveillance technology when the stated intention of its deployment is to protect the community. However, that does not mean that it should not be questioned and even prevented from being implemented should the use of such technology diminish people’s right to privacy and their personal freedoms. 

 

Take for instance the notion of “irregular behaviour.” What constitutes unusual behaviour? Who determines what is unusual, abnormal or irregular behaviour? Should such determinations be left to artificial intelligence? Would such monitoring lead to perfectly innocent people being identified and singled out? Would people fall into the habit of constantly self-monitoring their movements, actions and interactions with others? Could this behaviour identification eventually be extended to profiling of individuals and groups? 

 

It is certainly true and not surprising that in addition to nation states and superpowers, terrorist and militia groups have begun to employ weaponised drone technology. It had been reported that certain groups in Iraq used drones equipped with grenades during battles. We can also not forget the apparent assassination attempt by means of a drone of the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a speech at a military parade on Aug. 4. 2018 

 

Drones are becoming much more cost-effective for governments and the military but the same also applies for terrorist groups. Before we know it, we’ll end up having a world living in constant fear of death raining down from the sky at any time and place!  

 

Added to that scenario is the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence to make decisions, extending even as far as one day making ethical and moral decisions.  

 

It is a worrying fact that the community has been somewhat lulled into a degree of complacency when it comes to the increasing use of surveillance by CCTV cameras. Playing on our concerns about our security and safety could also lead us to become more accepting of the use of drone surveillance technology as well. Will we also be prepared to live our lives nervously looking over our shoulders and up at the skies in between being transfixed and entertained by drone video surveillance footage our screens? 

 

**********

 

[Police drones: can we trust the eyes in the skies? @http://www.australasianscience.com.au/article/science-and-technology/police-drones-can-we-trust-eyes-skies.html] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surveillance Society Sneaks Into Our Lives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile Phone Tracking

 

In a move that would have once been the viewed as being little more than science fiction, the state government where I live in Australia put forward a proposal in 2019 to have people’s mobile phones tracked in order to improve transport.

 

The new proposal would involve the use of personal phone data to improve the state's public transport network. The data from phones, apps and GPS devices would be used by the state government to help it monitor and plan people's travel times, and track demand and punctuality of the public transport network.

 

We should be concerned about yet another possible foray by a government and other authorities into our personal privacy and freedom of movement. We should resist attempts to harvest sensitive personal information about our location, our movements and travel patterns.

 

Any government’s ability to monitor the use and effectiveness of the transport system along with the public's ready acquiescence could have dangerous and unforeseen consequences particularly when viewed alongside all the other many layers of surveillance that have crept in to people’s daily lives. Consider the following seemingly innocuous instance...  

 

Supermarket Checkout Cameras

 

I remember going shopping one day at my local  supermarket. I had a few items I needed to purchase and decided to go through the self-service checkout. As I approached one of the machines, I noticed a tablet-sized screen attached to the top right-hand side of it. As I got closer, an image of a very unattractive-looking head loomed up at me on the screen. ‘My God!’ I thought, ‘that’s my head!’

 

Yes, I (and anyone else using the machines) was being filmed. No-one asked my (or anyone else’s) permission to do so. The implication embedded within the use of such technology is that all customers are potentially untrustworthy and must be viewed with suspicion. So now companies and businesses like that supermarket may have our images along with purchasing and other personal data. 

 

Self-service technology has been introduced in order to improve customer flow and efficiency. It has also been introduced to reduce costs, particularly labour costs in terms of the number of people employed on the check-out registers. Oh, but wait! It was discovered that the new technology resulted in pilfering whereby some customers were not scanning all of their purchases. Who would have guessed!

 

The solution? Add on more technology to catch those pesky grocery crooks. Now we not only have surveillance cameras placed high above the aisles, but we now could have them checking on us close up and personal.

 

I overheard one fellow  bringing the matter up with the staff member stationed at the self-service section by asking if they were cameras that were attached to the machines. She replied that they were and he just happily continued on with scanning his goodies with mechanical efficiency under the watchful gaze of the camera guardians.

 

My reaction to seeing the image of my ugly face on the screen was to flip my middle finger at it, mumble in grumpy old man fashion, “stuff this!” and do an about face and high-tale it to the manned (personed?) check-out. I had a delightful chit-chat with the young lady while she filled my supposedly reusable bag with my purchases. Since then all of the check out aisles have become self-service checkouts! 

 

Not long after my shopping adventure, I sent an email to Coles outlining my objections concerning their installation of the self-service checkout cameras. I didn’t  expect much to result from this and I was right, but what is the alternative? Just comply and meekly submit on the basis that we already have so much surveillance in our society that one more layer wont matter much? Or perhaps the old rationalising chestnut of not needing to worry about being surveilled if you don’t have anything to hide. 

 

But that’s the point! We all do have and need to have something of and about selves to hide. That’s the nature of personal privacy and it is something we must protect  and not trade away due to fear or for convenience to governments and corporations.

 

Individually and collectively we must resist any unrestricted and unregulated inroads being made on our privacy and freedoms by governments, security & law enforcement agencies and corporations by telling them in no uncertain terms to “PISS OFF & MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS!!!” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Brother Casts A Shadow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we commemorate important event in world history such as the D-Day landings of WWII, we need to reflect on what it was that those who preceded us fought and died for. As a result of their sacrifices, many nations were freed from the tyranny of totalitarian, fascist and Nazi rule. Many of us are now lucky to enjoy a measure of freedom and a degree of democracy undreamed of by millions of people just a few decades ago and which still remains a dream for millions of people around the world today. 

 

Recent global social and political developments have unfortunately seen an Orwellian-like dark shadow slide inexorably across the face of the world in which we have witnessed the movement toward; 

 

• totalitarian & autocratic rule

• the cult of the leader

• advocacy of minimalist solutions to problems

• populist appeals

• fact being deemed fiction or fake

• lies considered as truth and being normalised

• demonising & scapegoating of minority groups

• assaults on freedom of speech and the media

• diminishing the individual’s right to privacy

• polarising of attitudes & intolerance of alternative views

• social, ethnic, religious, political and ideological fragmentation

• manufacture of external and internal threats and enemies

• increasing use of war-mongering language and military postering 

 

The easiest way in which Big Brother can gain access to our lives is by means of our individual and collective complacency and apathy and being too easily distracted by the proliferation of technological baubles on offer.

 

In my own country of Australia, we like to take pride in our freedoms and democratic way of life. We also perhaps tend to take such things for granted. So, while we binge-watch the latest series on Netflix, the following kind of sinister event sneaks up behind us…...

 

On 4th June 2019, the Australian Federal Police raided the Canberra home of a journalist one year after she reported that the Federal Government was considering spying on Australians. Specifically, the Home Affairs and Defence departments were considering giving spy agencies greater surveillance powers. It is alleged that new powers, if adopted, would go to the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to secretly access bank records, emails and text messages without leaving a trace!

 

The raid was conducted in order to seize documents, computers and a mobile phone in order to track down the journalist’s source. It also seems that the warrant allows those making the seizure to change or alter the seized files! 

 

Such a raid can be viewed as being an act of intimidation toward those who report on truths which those in authority would rather not make known to the public. It also sends a message to whistle blowers and journalists’ sources to keep quiet lest they come under the scrutiny of the authorities.

 

Such acts of official intimidation are of course justified on the grounds of national security. This is tantamount to stripping away another layer of freedom of information and the right to be informed about matters that impact the lives of citizens. 

 

If that is not bad enough, the next day the national broadcaster, ABC's Sydney headquarters was also raided by Australian Federal Police over the 2017 Afghan Files stories which revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. These were based on hundreds of pages of secret Defence documents leaked to the ABC.

 

The Afghan Files stories covered operations of Australia's elite special forces, and detailed incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children and concerns about a "warrior culture" among soldiers. 

 

The AFP informed the ABC that they wanted to search through email systems in relation to the people mentioned in the search warrant and were searching for article drafts, graphics, digital notes, visuals, raw television footage and all versions of scripts related to The Afghan Files stories.

 

It is amazing that both of the raids outlined above could have taken place in a supposedly western democratic country like Australia. Someone in authority obviously did not like our media reporting on national security and intelligence issues and on matters in which there is a clear public interest!

 

George Orwell’s 1984 warns us about what could happen to a society if it sets out on a path in which the State assumes too much power at the expense of the rights and freedoms of its citizens.

 

“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end.”

 

Consider for a moment the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of theTiananmen Square massacre. Interestingly and sadly enough, coverage and public knowledge of the massacre was all-but absent inside China. A significant and historical event had virtually been airbrushed out of a nation’s history. There are enough apologists out there who proclaim that the event never happened. They may wish to go to that country and investigate and perhaps take up residence there under a one-party totalitarian regime that clearly relishes dissent and freedom of speech! 

 

We might also ask ourselves what do the people of Russia know about their country’s so-called “special operation” in Ukraine?

 

Now consider the following words from Orwell’s 1984;

 

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

 

Let’s ensure we don’t now plant the seeds of a future in which “the choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better?” Is that a choice we would want forced on us? 

 

 

*********

 

 

[Federal police raid home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst @https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/04/federal-police-raid-home-of-news-corp-journalist-annika-smethurst 

 

Investigation into Afghan Files that sparked ABC raids enters next phase with brief of evidence sent to prosecutors @https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-02/federal-police-seek-charges-abc-investigation-afghan-files-dpp/12415930 

 

Image: By Frederic Guimont ; Original uploader was ChemicalBit at it.wikipedia - 1984comic.com (former Art Libre licence stated here) ; Transferred from it.wikipedia, FAL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10786938] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be Known, Or Not To be Known? –

THAT Is The Question!

 

The 1954 Sci-Fi film, GOG is set in a top-secret underground government facility under the New Mexico desert where a space station is being constructed. Office of Scientific Investigation agents from Washington, DC, are called in to investigate mysterious and deadly malfunctions at the facility. 

 

In the interests of security, the personnel in the underground facility are subject to constant monitoring from various devices such as microphones and this has become a normal state of affairs for them.  

 

In our own modern era, we are surrounded by devices such as cctv surveillance cameras that can monitor our actions and movements. It is astonishing how we have accepted this as being a normal part of our lives. We have in effect willingly submitted to an intrusion into our personal privacy and are complying to have our right to anonymity removed. We then somehow rationalise and justify this in terms of it being necessary to guarantee our overall safety and security! 

 

With the recent advent of real-time facial recognition technology, reality is rapidly catching up with and even over-taking Hollywood Sci-Fi fantasy. 

 

In science fiction films we have often been presented with a scene in which security cameras zero in on a face in a crowd and after some enhancement and quick searching through data bases, a name is matched to the face. Surveillance has become normalised in our minds even before the technology is widely utilised or instituted.   

 

It appears that facial recognition is no longer the error-prone process it once was. Accuracy rates have improved dramatically, making it possible to monitor live video.  

 

Not surprisingly, non-democratic and autocratic regimes such as China and Russia currently make use of or are trialling such real-time facial recognition surveillance systems. 

 

We are entering a brave new world in which an individual’s image can be compared against billions of faces, making it possible for authorities to track the residents of a whole city or even an entire country. 

 

Should such technologies be considered before we properly debate what the rules and constraints on their use should be? Big sales events featuring this technology and aggressive sales and marketing from companies could pressure law enforcement and other agencies to adopt and upgrade to real-time facial recognition systems before such technology and the potential consequences of its use can be properly considered.. 

 

One can understand the appeal for police departments to be able to more effectively detect wanted individuals in public. Unfortunately, the use of such technology virtually makes anyone who innocently walks down the street subject to surveillance and considered a suspect until proven otherwise.  

 

In our search to tackle crime more effectively, or improve our counter-terrorism measures, we may be opening up a whole new world in which it will be impossible for anyone of us to walk down the street without being identified. 

 

Consider for a moment another scenario in which you are simply going shopping. You enter a store and suddenly you are recognised via real-time facial recognition. Based on your likes and dislikes and profiles and preferences gleaned from other digital platforms, you might find that your phone and other devices in the store are suggesting to you possible purchases you ought to be making.  

 

As businesses and corporations acquire these surveillance technologies, consumers will become accustomed to their use thereby making it easier for governments and authorities to implement them. 

 

Thought must be given to the possible long-term consequences of introducing technologies that have the potential to rob us of our freedom, our privacy and our right to anonymity.  

 

"KZ 6-0-9-0, Smith W, face the Telescreen. You have been standing at the window of Bay Two of the Records Department for over eighty seconds, what are you doing there?........This irregularity has been recorded……... Return to your cubicle, Smith."

 

In the 1954 BBC adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, the main character Winston, while in his dilapidated Victory Mansions flat struggles not to allow his thoughts and fears to reveal themselves in front of the Telescreen by an exercise of self-monitoring or self-censorship: "Don't let it show in your face - get rid of this thought! Rid of it, quickly, before it's too late. Doublethink - practice it! The Party says the Earth is flat - true! That's true. The Party says two and two make five... no, and not to know. Forget, and forget that you've forgotten - Doublethink.... Crimestop... Ignorance is strength..." 

 

In another scene we see Winston sitting down at a small desk set into an alcove next to the Telescreen while a production bulletin is being broadcast. It is clear that he wishes to remain out of sight of the Telescreen while he takes out a pencil and an exercise book from a drawer under the desk. He opens the exercise book to reveal a hand-written title page: "DIARY OF WINSTON SMITH - 1984." The Party has increased its power of intrusive surveillance at the expense of personal privacy, which in Winston’s case has been reduced to the pages of an exercise book in a tiny corner of his room and an equally tiny corner of his being. And it is only there that he can rail against the reality imposed on him by the Party as he writes, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" over and over again. 

 

Such constant monitoring forces people in Winston’s world of 1984 to sterilise their behaviour and conceal their thoughts. We need to be aware that close surveillance and fear of repercussions that may stem from it could result in people being unwilling to voice their opinions, engage in protest or express dissent. 

Is that the destiny we would desire for ourselves and future generations - living in a world under the gaze of a host of Big Brothers? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surveillance Society Starts At School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the section titled,  Surveillance Society Sneaks Into Our Lives I outlined some relatively recent proposals for the introduction of surveillance technologies and the implications they have for all of us now and into the future. It seems that we are indeed continuing to sleepwalk our way into a future of increasing acceptance of widespread and pervasive surveillance along with the further diminution of our personal freedoms and privacy.   

 

Take for instance the Australian Federal government’s facilitation of the introduction of Facial recognition technology into Australian schools.

 

Globally, we already have students in China being required to fave their faces scanned before being admitted to their schools. In the United States cameras keep a watchful eye over classrooms.

 

Here in Australia, five schools were trailing a pilot system to mark students attendance which has started to set alarm (school?) bells ringing. “Looplearn's” system (trialed at a College in Victoria) had the capability to scan a person's face in order to record their attendance in class. It could then send the information to an app possibly contained on a teacher's laptop or perhaps even on a smartphone.

 

The introduction of such a system would no doubt be justified under the pretext of a legal requirement for schools having to record accurate attendance records at regular intervals throughout the school day. Proponents of such a system would claim that it merely automates the process thereby improving attendance recording accuracy and speed for schools by replacing slower existing manual processes.

 

Despite the company’s assurances that Looplearn was not a surveillance system and that it met high security standards, there was no information at the time as to what made it so secure, where (apart from the school) the data was to be stored and who potentially could have access to it.

 

Should such facial recognition technology become normalised and an accepted part of life at such an early age, then I believe there is cause for concern for the future of society as a whole.

 

Consider for instance the mass incarceration of one million Muslim Uyghur people in political re-education camps in the far-western Chinese province of Xinjiang. A sinister data collating system called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform was out locally, making the province one of the most heavily surveilled areas on the planet.

 

The Chinese Communist Party has used facial recognition technology as part of its surveillance system, such technology having apparently been developed in the recent past with the able assistance of a number of Australian universities!

 

The mere fact and manner of how the facial recognition technology was and is being applied in China should be of grave concern to all citizens of the world. 

 

Meanwhile back in freedom-loving democratic Australia, it turns out that the federal government had entertained plans to roll out an all-pervasive system possessing  the ability to link CCTV cameras nationwide with all citizens’ ID photos.

 

Specifically, in 2017 it was proposed at a COAG (Council of Australian Governments) meeting to establish the “Capability”: a system that was intended to provide law enforcement and intelligence agencies with the ability to match identification photos with CCTV footage images in real time. Under such a system, all federal and state citizen identification image databases would be linked via a central hub.

 

With a continuously activated real time facial recognition surveillance system, anyone who dares to step outside their home will by implication be considered suspect and will have their right to privacy and anonymity removed. But that’s OK! After all, we’d be used to it since we were kids at school!

 

We are also supposedly being asked to trust those who are in authority with our personal data and privacy. Now I ask you, have you ever….ever….EVER heard of any occasion in which an agency has transgressed a law involving data retention that was established to safeguard our privacy?? I seem to recall a news report  concerning 37 breaches of Australia’s My Health Record system as recently as 2018-19! 

 

Slowly but surely we’re being softened up and manipulated into accepting ever increasing degrees of surveillance without the annoying impediments of public consultation and debate. Take just the last few years for instance:

 

• The failed trial of facial recognition technology at both Sydney and Canberra airports with its incorporation into surveillance systems at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

• Perth City council’s announced roll out of a trial involving 30 cameras with the capability of recognising faces and tracking movements.

• Federal bills enabling Australian passport information to be utilised in the running of the “Capability” system being sent to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for review early last year.

• The former NSW state government passing of its “Capability” enabling bill making all NSW citizens’ license photos and associated information accessible nationwide, so it can be matched in real time with images taken from CCTV footage. 

 

The imperatives of national security and counter-terrorism are employed by governments to justify and increase the scale and scope of the surveillance state with ever increasing powers being handed over to law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

 

Even more disturbingly, laws that are supposedly designed to deal with terrorists are in fact being turned upon citizens such as journalists and whistle-blowers who are just doing their jobs and upholding our society’s democratic values. If that is so, then who are exactly these people posing a threat to? 

 

The current adoption and use of facial recognition technology with its indiscriminate and large-scale recording, storing and analysing of our images violates our right to privacy and allows the State and private companies to intrude into our affairs in an unwarranted way.

 

The temptation will prove to be too great for the authorities to use blanket surveillance technology to monitor people’s participation in political protests and campaigns for change and could ultimately lead to the infringement of the right to freedom of assembly, association, and expression.

 

Individuals of colour or from minority ethnic groups should be concerned about the adoption and use of facial recognition technology. Algorithms trained on racially biased data sets could misidentify such people and result in unlawful arrests, detentions and discrimination. A false believe in the infallibility of such systems could determine how state agencies or private corporations treat individuals, leading to bad decisions and outcomes, much of which would be based on a technological form of racial profiling. 

 

How would you know that right now, your facial image is being contained on a database? How would you know that right now your image is being shared by a private company or law enforcement agency? How would you know that right now your image has been included on a watch-list of potential suspects - without your knowledge or consent? If so, how would such a threat to your individual rights and civil liberties make you feel? 

 

With facial recognition technology being increasingly adopted across much of the world by law enforcement agencies, at airports, railway stations and shopping centres, we are becoming far too easily conditioned into accepting automated and indiscriminate live surveillance of ourselves as we go about our daily business while having our every move tracked. 

 

We must ensure as a minimum that we have iron-clad specific legislation that regulates the use of facial recognition technology that restricts the authorities from obtaining our images without our knowledge or consent and using them in ways we would not approve of.

 

This means that people must be given the opportunity to consent to the recording, analyzing and storing of our images in databases. At the moment we are being denied detailed and specific information as to how facial recognition is being and will be used. We are at present being denied having the choice and control over the use of our own images.

 

Science fiction films and stories have often pondered the possibility of our creating a dystopian-style police state in what would have been taken for granted as a once free and democratic society.

 

Such a science fiction future could very well become a reality if the silent majority (or “quiet Australians”) continue sit back and watch our civil liberties being incrementally and systematically eroded. Added to the appeals for greater democracy, equality, freedom and action on climate change, we must also demand that we will not have every aspect of their lives monitored!

 

 

**********

 

[China-style facial recognition technology being used in Australian schools@https://www.9news.com.au/national/politics-facial-recognition-in-schools-technology/c67bdfa8-372c-4f9f-9276-9b3bc847d163 

 

Australian Schools Have Been Trialling Facial Recognition Technology, Despite Serious Concerns About Children’s Data @https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/03/australian-schools-trial-facial-recognition-technology-looplearn/] 

 

 

 

 

Gene Editing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

• Blade Runner (1982)

• Jurassic Park (1993)

• Mimic (1997)

• Gattaca (1997)

• X-Men (2000)

• Dark Angel (2000-2002)

• Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

• Resident Evil (2002)

• Andromeda (2000-2005)

• Splice (2009)

• Heroes (2006-2010)

• Elysium (2013)

• Jurassic World (2015)

• Orphan Black (2013-2017) 

 

The issue of genetic engineering, gene editing or genetic manipulation has been a staple of science fiction films and series as can be gauged from the above sample of films and TV series which have explored this theme from various standpoints. 

 

As we journey further into a new century, what was once considered to be an interesting part of speculative fiction and philosophical and ethical debate, has now become a disturbing reality confronting us all. 

 

We begin this segment of our journey from the realm of science fiction to the cusp of science fact with The International Summit on Human Genome Editing held a few short years ago in Hong Kong. 

 

Researchers, ethicists, and policymakers attending the meeting learned of a Chinese researcher’s astounding claim through media reports. The Chinese researcher, Dr He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China claimed that he had altered the genomes of twin baby girls, named Lula and Nana and that this modification would be passed onto future generations. In other words, the researcher claimed to have created gene-edited twins. 

 

According to He Jiankui, he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments. One pregnancy had so far been achieved. In each case, the father was infected with HIV while the mothers were HIV-negative. Dr He’s intention was to introduce a rare, natural genetic variation that would make it more difficult for HIV to infect its preferred target, white blood cells. He deleted a region of a receptor on the surface of white blood cells known as CCR5 using the revolutionary genome-editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9. The goal was to protect the babies from HIV infection later in life by making the children’s cells resistant to infection by HIV.  

 

It must be noted that the claim had yet to be reported in a scientific paper and had therefore not undergone the expected peer review process.  

 

The sensitivity of the issue of gene editing of human beings can be seen from the reaction the scientist’s claim had generated. Comments such as “premature,” “ethically problematic,” “a serious violation of the Chinese government’s laws and regulations and the consensus of the Chinese scientific community” and “monstrous” were hurled about to describe the possible scientific development. It is certainly light years away from being viewed as a ‘revolutionary advance’ or ‘breakthrough.’ The question is, why? 

 

If He’s claims had proven to be correct, there are many in the scientific community who would view his actions as having “seriously violate(d) academic ethics and academic norms.” 

 

The use of CRISPR-Cas9 as a treatment for many genetic diseases, such as muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anaemia has been undergoing investigation. Incidents of gene editing have involved the use of so-called somatic cells that are not passed on to the patient’s children. Dr He Jiankui  appeared to go further by altering the genome in early stage embryos thereby affecting sperm and eggs (the germ line) and making the change heritable. Such procedures are barred in the United States and many other countries.  

 

Many would view the gene editing work as being nothing more than an experiment just to see if gene editing on an embryo could be done – the old answer to the question of, why do it?  The answer: Because we can! The real question ought to be “should we do it?” and “What might the consequences be?” After all, there are many ways to effectively protect oneself against HIV without the need or the potential and unforeseen risks of editing the genes of an embryo to achieve the same result. 

 

The experimental nature of gene editing would suggest that caution needs to be exercised since no guarantee can be given that mutations and genetic problems would not occur later in life for those undergoing such a process. An important ethical consideration is raised with the possibility of exposing healthy normal children to the potential risks of gene editing for no real benefit. And what of the potential and unforeseen consequences to the entire human species!? For instance, if genes that are crucial to the human immune system are removed, could this then increase the risk of susceptibility to other diseases? 

 

Whether or not Dr He’s claims were proven to be valid, I’m afraid that this is yet another case of scientific advancement in which the once closed and locked door has been opened just a crack. Whether we like it or not, having once been unlocked and opened, it is likely that the door will swing open wider letting god knows what out – or in!   

 

No matter what checks and balances are put in place, someone somewhere will work secretly and under the radar on experiments such as gene editing. Take for instance, the reports of a team of biologists at the Oregon Health and Science University in the US who used CRISPR to genetically edit more than 100 human embryos. Most people in the scientific community were unaware of this until a paper was published! 

 

An understandable fear many people may have is that the pandora’s box of genetic enhancements and designer babies will be unleashed. Will we usher in a world in which qualities such as height and intelligence can be pre-determined by editing or manipulating our genes? Unlikely perhaps but if it can be conceived or imagined…..well…..??? 

 

Apart from the very laudable desire to treat currently untreatable diseases, which germline genetic engineering may allow us to do, we are now faced with the ultimate irresistible possibility: power over our own biology and evolution as a species.  

 

The most we might hope for is that gene editing will first be required to go through a process of serious informed public debate, including the necessary input and guidance of doctors, scientists and ethicists. If it is proved to be feasible, the process must be stringently governed and regulated. Its use ought to be restricted to dealing with medical needs where no other medical approach is a viable option. A medical approach should not be employed as a solution to a perceived social problem as appears to have been the case with Dr He’s reported experiment.  

 

Perhaps the nuclear arms race of the Cold War era may offer us some salutary lessons. As a first step, we may need to acknowledge that we are entering a new kind of race: a genetic arms race. Left to their own devices, national governments and their scientific bodies will most likely rush to adopt the new technology before their adversaries and counterparts do. 

 

Whatever rules, regulations or ethical codes of conduct exist are put in place to control this technology will likely be vague, loosely worded and unenforceable. Don’t forget that Dr He’s reported experiment involved him defying the unofficial international moratorium on editing human embryos intended for a pregnancy!  

 

It may take the realisation that direct experimentation on human beings is as MAD as the Cold War era policy of Mutually Assured Destruction for us to achieve global consensus on what to do to avoid endangering the survival of our species.   

 

A decision will soon – very soon - have to be made involving a choice between going down the path of global governance and regulation or opting for self-regulation by the scientific community. Which will stand the most chance of preventing our species rushing headlong into potential disaster or indeed a brave new world of genetic inequality? Whether or not Dr He’s work had any validity, at least it may achieve this kind of much needed debate and that would be a good thing. 

 

 

[CRISPR-Cas9: a customizable tool allowing scientists to cut and insert small pieces of DNA at precise areas along a DNA strand. The tool consists of; 

1. the Cas9 protein, (the wrench)   

2. the CRISPRs or specific RNA guides (the set of different socket heads) which direct the Cas9 protein to the correct gene, or area on the DNA strand, that controls a particular trait.]  

 

 

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[CRISPR bombshell: Chinese researcher claims to have created gene-edited twins @https://www.science.org/content/article/crispr-bombshell-chinese-researcher-claims-have-created-gene-edited-twins  

CRISPR’d babies: human germline genome editing in the ‘He Jiankui affair @https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/6/1/111/5549624]  

 

 

 

 

 

3D Printing Human Organs? 

 

We certainly have come a long way with our achievements in human organ transplantation since the father of transplantation, Thomas E. Starzl performed the first human liver transplant in 1963 and the first successful liver transplant in 1967.

Portrayals of organ transplantation in science fiction films and books have colored our views of such procedures both positively and negatively. Consider the story-lines of the following examples;

•  A Gift From Earth, 1968 novel by Larry Niven 

• The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962).

• The Man with Two Brains (1983)

• Face Off (1997)

• Return to Me (2000)

• Repo Man (2010)

• Selfless (2015)

 

“In matters of the heart, nothing is true except the improbable”

(Madame de Stael

French Writer April 22, 1766 - July 14, 1817) 

 

How improbable then it indeed appeared to be to learn in 2019 that researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel managed to 3D print a tiny heart the size of a rabbit’s from human cells.

 

In a proof-of-concept experiment the 3D printed heart had four chambers and blood vessels but there was still a long way to go until it could function like a normal heart. 

The Process

To print the heart, a small sample of fatty tissue was taken from a patient. In the lab,  this tissue was separated into its component cells and the structure on which the cells sit (extracellular matrix.)  

Genetic engineering was then used to reprogram some of the cells to become cardiac muscle cells (cardiomyocytes), and others to become cells that generate blood vessels.

These cells (serving as bioinks) were then loaded into the printer, which had been programmed to print a heart, based on CT scans taken from the patient along with an artist's depiction of a heart.  

It took between 3 and 4 hours for the printer to print the small heart with basic blood vessels. The heart was then incubated and fed oxygen and nutrients. The cells began to spontaneously beat within a couple of days. 

The beating of the cells, however did not replicate the beating of a normal healthy human heart. For the heart to pump blood efficiently through the body, the cells need to beat in unison, not just individually.  

Implications 

This experiment could pave the way for the use of personalized organs or tissues that could be transplanted in the human body. 

In the near future, a personalized 3D-printed heart might help to ease the shortage of transplant organs available to patients, not to mention reducing the current risks involved with transplanting someone else’s organ and having the body's immune system rejecting the foreign tissue. 

Obstacles 

Before we enter that stage in the brave new world of medical advancements, we will need to find a way of being able to print a full-size, fully functioning heart. That would mean being able to print a higher-resolution organ — one with dense vasculature that could carry oxygen and nutrients through it. Such a very expensive process would require months of printing, an amount of time in which the cells would not be able to survive. 

In this matter of the heart, however nothing can be considered as being improbable….

 

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How close are we really to 3D printing organs? @https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/04/10/3d-printed-organs---they-re-closer-than-you-might-think.html 

Organ bioprinting gets a breath of fresh air, @https://news.rice.edu/news/2019/organ-bioprinting-gets-breath-fresh-air 

 

Pig brains partially revived four hours after death?

In A Pig’s Eye!

Or…..

 

Picture this: Dr. Patrick Cory, a middle-aged physician experiments at keeping a brain alive.

 

A millionaire by the name of W.H. Donovan crashes his private plane in the desert near the home of Dr. Cory. Dr. Cory is unable to save Donovan's life, but removes his brain in the slim hope that it might survive. He places Donovan’s Brain in an electrically charged, oxygenated saline solution within a glass tank.

 

The brainwaves suggest that thought and life continue and Cory makes several unsuccessful attempts to communicate with the brain.

 

Finally, one night Cory receives unconscious commands and he writes down an instruction containing people’s names in Donovan's handwriting. Cory successfully establishes telepathic contact with Donovan's brain, much to the concern of Cory's alcoholic assistant, Dr. Schratt.

 

Gradually, the malignant intelligence of Donovan takes over Cory's personality and uses Cory to do his bidding such as signing checks in Donovan's name, and continuing the reprehensible millionaire magnate's illicit financial activities.

 

Cory becomes increasingly mentally and physically like Donovan himself, even down to his limping.

 

Will Donovan assume complete control over Cory’s mind and body?

Can Cory find a way to resist the brain's power?

 

This is the scenario from the classic science fiction / horror film Donovan’s Brain (1953). O.K. We haven’t come anywhere near that sci-fi film’s premise yet, but consider this recent real-life example…...

 

A couple of years ago it was reported from a study in the journal Nature, that US scientists managed to partially revive pig brains four hours after the animals had been slaughtered.

Thirty-two pig brains were collected from an abattoir and four hours later were connected to a system made by the research team at Yale University.

A special liquid was then pumped rhythmically round the brain. The synthetic blood carried oxygen and drugs to slow or reverse the death of brain cells. The pig brains underwent this procedure for six hours.  

 

What Was Demonstrated?

10 hours after the pigs were decapitated;

The study demonstrated that the death of brain cells could be halted and that some connections in the brain (synapses) can be restored.

The findings challenge the long held belief that the brain goes into irreversible decline within minutes of the blood supply being cut off.

An electroencephalogram (EEG brain scan) showed an absence of signals from the brain that would indicate perception, awareness or consciousness.

In summary, according to professor of neuroscience at Yale University, Prof Nenad Sestan, brain cell death occurs across a longer time frame than previously thought and that the process of cell death is a gradual process that could be either postponed, preserved or even reversed.

 

Implications

The findings could raise ethical concerns about what constitutes being actually alive and at what point could an animal or human be considered as being well and truly dead. In the case of animals used in research experiments, could they end up being in a twilight zone of not being exactly alive, but also not completely dead?

We need to begin reconsidering our long-held ideas of when a person can be considered as being dead considering that at present those who are labelled as "brain dead" are a major source of organs for transplant!

If it became possible to restore the function of the brain after death, allowing us to bring back someone's mind and personality, what implications would this have for our definitions of death? Not to mention the religious implications when considering a person’s soul! 

The research team used drugs to suppress the pigs’ brain activity.  What if they had not done so? Would the brains have been aware? Imagine how cruel this would be. 

Of course, such research could provide new insights into treating diseases like Alzheimer's.

Better ways might also be found of protecting the brain after traumas such as a stroke or being starved of oxygen at birth.

A story like Donovan’s Brain is still relevant today and in the light of recent medical and other kinds of research, it serves to remind us that there is a cost to any aspect of human progress. The question remains; is it a cost we would wish to bear even if we believe that we go into it with our eyes open?  

 

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[Pig brains partially revived four hours after death,@https://www.bbc.com/news/health-47960874 

 

Pig brains partially revived hours after death—what it means for people, @https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/pig-brains-partially-revived-what-it-means-for-medicine-death-ethics]

 

 

Afterword

 

If anything can be imagined or conceived, then there is a potential for it to happen or become a reality. Human beings, though are pretty much rubbish when it comes to accurately predicting the future but we are quite able to imagine and determine what might be possible at some future time. That seems to be part of the role that science fiction plays whereby current circumstances and conditions are used to extrapolate what might transpire in humanity’s future and where commentary is also made about the human condition.

 

What insights and scenarios might science fiction come up with for our civilisation as it blunders through the rest of the 21st Century. That’s a span of 70 – 80 years and a lot can and will happen! Some will be happy to note that there will be none of us Boomers left and the few wrinkly Gen-Z’s remaining will no doubt be complaining about younger generations with various letters of the alphabet affixed to them and whining about past broken promises of immortality for their generation!

 

Anyway, let’s speculate about and ruminate on what might possibly transpire during the course of the remainder of this century and into the next: 

 

Geo-Politics

 

• Development, deployment and use of land, sea, air and space-based energy weapons.

• Deployment and eventual use of tactical battlefield, air and sea nuclear weapons.

• Increased reliance on hyper-sonic missiles, UAV’s and AI controlled fighter aircraft.

• Formal military and economic alliance between China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, North Korea and eventually Saudi Arabia.

• Open military and economic conflict between above alliance and USA, NATO, AUKUS (trilateral security pact between Australia, US & UK.) & Israel. 

• Re-emergence of right wing populist-style movements throughout the world, particularly in Europe as a reaction to normalisation of once considered leftist ‘Woke’ and ‘Political Correctness’ ideologies. 

 

 

Energy & Transportation

 

• Generation and transmission of unlimited energy utilising the earth’s magnetic field.

• First practical steps being made to generate power by means of cold fusion.

• Space-based solar collectors providing solar power 24/7

• Fully autonomous electric vehicles over-taking older driver-dependent EV’s

• Long distance international sub-orbital flights of 1 – 1.5 hours duration becoming routine.

• Increased adoption of aerial forms of commuting including autonomous air taxis.

 

Medical

 

• Automated medical patient tables & hubs provide complete body scan, diagnosis and treatment including AI-guided operations.

• Capsules containing nano-bots and molecular cameras travel through the body and zero in on areas that require treatment.

• All body parts, including most organs and even complete eyes can be 3D printed and or grown.

 

English language

 

• Succeeding generations, the influence of technology and significant social & global events will lend new words and usage.

• Still recognisable as English but difficult to determine meanings, references, accent.

• Many will sound rather ‘insectoid’ with a raspy or croaking quality to their speech.

• Others groupings will use exaggerated vowel sounds with a strong exhalation of the ‘H’ sound.

• Speech will sound rapid with words running into each other and few pauses – almost like stream of consciousness.

• Adverbs will become almost extinct and language use will become less precise.

• Personal, social and transactional use of language will predominate at the expense of more complex, creative, abstract, argumentative, reflective and philosophical uses of language.

• Reduced range of vocabulary with which to accurately express thoughts and feelings

• Self-censorship of speech and thought will evolve into a reflex action.

 

 

Way Out There

 

• Evidence of life within our solar system will be discovered.

• Conditions suitable for life to exist will be confirmed on more than one exo-planet

• Artificial signals generated by an alien civilisation finally confirmed by SETI.

• UAP / UFO downed by military aircraft after hostile engagement – origin not as had been expected and perhaps not so much from ‘way out there!’

• Unmanned robotic probes will continue to spear-head space exploration of solar-system and beyond.

• Experiments initiated to achieve a small but significant proportion of the speed of light for space vehicles using new propulsion technologies.

• Return to moon with manned missions and establishment of permanent bases finally undertaken by mid-century.

• Mars manned missions very problematic and rethinking required in terms of objectives, rationale, cost and lives.

• Space-based tourism and lunar / asteroid economic exploitation underway albeit on a smaller scale than initially envisioned.

 

 

Technology

 

• Most of the functions performed by our devices will be integrated into a chip-like component that will be implanted within people’s bodies and regularly upgraded. Communication, entertainment, education, information, all these functions and more will be performed merely by means of thought activation and linked to people’s smart homes and other devices.

• Much of people’s lives both at work and socially will be conducted virtually with implanted technology replacing VR cumbersome headsets.

• With everything so interconnected and largely governed by artificial intelligence, the concept of true personal privacy will be seen as being a quaint concept.

• Artificial intelligence gains true sentience and as such is accorded rights.

 

The Environment

 

The use of fossil fuels will end along with much of our production of carbon dioxide gas but climate change will continue to be a fact of life whether we like it or not.

People will have to adapt to a global warming trend with periods of sharp oscillations between heat and cold as well as dry and wet periods, punctuated by extremes in weather conditions with long period cyclones and tornadoes, torrential rain, withering droughts and arctic or polar-like blizzards.

 

Global Dangers

 

• A massive volcanic eruption will occur with global implications. The amount of dust and ash thrown up into the atmosphere will cause global temperatures to drop as heat and light is reflected back out into space.

• There is an asteroid out there with our name on it. It is on its way right now from outside of our solar system and does not originate from the asteroid belt. How large it is, its composition, where it may strike, whether it is detected in time will determine the kind of danger it will pose, but it wont be insignificant. 

 

 

The Economy

 

Among those who make a living out of forecasting future events and trends, economists and finance advisers would have to be the worst! Tarot card readers probably rate higher. After global recessions in 2038-39 & 2053-2055 our worn out economic system will chug along with its endless round of production and consumption, the cult of consumerism, cycles of boom and bust and so on. It will then undergo a radical global modification that will begin in one nation and then gradually spread. The system will involve something like a interwoven net of leasing arrangements on a global scale. Instead of outright purchasing and ownership and taking out huge loans,  nations will enter a system that is based on what are in effect multiple income streams that can be used for funding various national economic projects within a country. This may reduce the need for expensive outright purchases of land, resources and industries or the need for taking out huge expensive loans. Instead, these may be leased and paid for in regular instalments and the nation that does the leasing still gets to retain control and ownership of its assets and resources. As with any leasing arrangement, they can be terminated at any time or as per agreement.

 

Social

 

• Societies will become increasingly fragmented and riven with sectional interest groupings and influences which will permeate every facet of people’s lives – social & personal relationships, speech & thought, education, entertainment & the media, politics & economic relations.

• A social backlash will grow in strength, particularly from ‘majority’ populations who will come to resent what they perceive to be minority groups dictating social, economic and political policy and direction of their societies.

• Social engineering of the population will reach new heights combining the persuasive and coercive forces of the state, bureaucracy, media, advertisers, corporate entities and education systems.

• A form of puritanism will gradually sweep across the globe that will encompass moral standards, gender relationships, language use & thought, expression of opinion, ecology & the environment and more. Like most movements of this kind, it will form a layer that will serve to blanket its inherent hypocrisies and inconsistencies. 

• A push will be made for the adoption of a global bill of human rights covering the right to adequate food and water, shelter, housing, clothing, medical care & education; access to information & communication technology; freedom of thought and speech; the right to political representation; the ability to live in peace & be free from armed conflict; access to clean air, water sources and unpolluted usable land.

 

 

Well, that’s enough speculation for now. For all I know all of the above could very well amount to a load of bollucks. Then again….I’ll leave that up to you to ruminate on. What I can safely predict is that this will definitely be the last and final volume of the Sci-Fi Film Fiesta eBook series. Thank you for reading and good luck with your life’s journey into what will prove to be a very interesting future…..