Biological Channel Surfing: Exploring the Body Chemical Radio Tuner and the Implications for Digital Web Applications Creating Virtual Consciousness
by Dani E. Day
March 9, 2007
Critical Approaches to Digital Media
University of Denver
Digital Media Studies Graduate Program
Biological Channel Surfing: Exploring the Body Chemical Radio Tuner and the Implications for Digital Web Applications Creating Virtual Consciousness.
What if you could change your consciousness by logging on to a website and downloading a new biological transponder? Have you ever walked past someone on the street and felt a “vibe” of good or bad? Could it be you were on the same channel and picked up their radio frequency output? Could adjusting the channel or Radio Frequency (RF) a person is tuned to help them lose weight or get rid of headaches and chronic fatigue or could it create mass hysteria? Maybe a politician could use the technology to change they way people vote or the government could control mass thoughts using sonic bursts or pulses at sub-audible levels as a way to digitally manipulate brain waves when people open a web mail application. Is it possible to change religious beliefs by tapping into and reconfiguring a person’s theta and beta waves via RF signals manipulated through a website?
The idea of hard-wiring a person to change or enhance the consciousness is not a new concept and has been researched for years by various individuals and organizations like Cyberkinetics and the BrainGateTM Neural Interface System, a device being designed to help motor-impaired people control objects like computers, telephones and other machines in their environment. The wired consciousness is also the subject of many science fiction works like William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer and the science fiction thriller The Matrix by Larry and Andy Wachowski. It even finds its way into lyrics and song titles like The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological And Electro-Magnetic Manipulation Of Human Consciousness by Jedi Mind Tricks.
Biological Channel Surfing is an information re-mix or contemplation and chronicle of current thoughts, ideas and technology and does not propose to set a scientific standard for investigation, but merely acts as a gathering of observations of information in an age of information and technological expansion and poses the question of un-plugging the wires and using RF as a means of information transfer and human thought manipulation.
Natural Born Cyborgs by Andy Clark explores the idea of humans being naturally inclined to augment themselves as a tool to advance intellectually as well as physically. He examines the connectedness of humans with technology as a natural progression through time and as an inherent tendency and psychosocial need.
“My body is an electronic virgin. I incorporate no silicon chips, no retinal or cochlear implants, no pacemaker. I don't even wear glasses (though I do wear clothes). But I am slowly becoming more and more a Cyborg. So are you. Pretty soon, and still without the need for wires, surgery or bodily alterations, we shall be kin to the Terminator, to Eve 8, to Cable...just fill in your favorite fictional Cyborg. Perhaps we already are. For we shall be Cyborgs not in the merely superficial sense of combining flesh and wires, but in the more profound sense of being human-technology symbionts: thinking and reasoning systems whose minds and selves are spread across biological brain and non-biological circuitry” (Clark 2003:3).
But, does this idea of manipulating the bio-transponder and the invasion of the electromagnetic spectrum by external force without circuitry imbedded voluntarily in the individual constitute Cyborg semblance or ecology of digital administration? Clark’s view here may be looking more at the interaction between people and machines in the sense of tool use as with cell phones and keyboards, but I think he may have touched on something more profound than the obvious. We are becoming more inclined to use machines and technology to augment our being, but as we do this, we become more subject to manipulation by others. It’s kind of like how kids are using cell phones more, so they go more places because mom and dad can get in touch with them easily to know where they are. The flip side of this is now the cell phone is such an important part of the link between parent and child, it cannot be taken away as a means of punishment for skipping school or other forms of teenage indiscretion because then the parents really won’t know where their kids are. We are not only becoming more dependant on the machines in our lives, we are becoming intrinsically more connected to them than just using them for sharing information. Our technologies are becoming more like weapons than tools. Metaphorically speaking, it’s as if the local high school drug dealers were hijacking the bandwidth of the cell phone companies and inserting a new message for both the parents and the kids.
The idea of pirating bandwidth and subjecting listeners to an alternative message is what Mathew Fuller (2005) addresses in Media Ecologies as he looks at London-based pirate radio and the complex understanding of media systems. Fuller extracts ideas from Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze as well as Marshall McLuhan, Donna Haraway, Friedrich Nietzsche and others to form an outline of relationships between media interactions and their natural “will to power.”(Fuller 2005: 62)
Hijacking bandwidth is common practice with many video and music files in such forums as Myspace and Yahoo music and videos. In these instances a person can copy and paste code for the location of a video into their own website for viewers to watch but the site does not actually host the videos. (Tama 2005) This concept combined with the latest technologies in satellite communications that could allow any given entity the opportunity to hijack a radio wave and ride on the lip of it all the way to the bank or a person’s personal email is concerning to say the least.
The United States government seems to think this is a viable application and intends to use the “Information Operations Roadmap” created by the Pentagon in 2003 and signed by the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum" as a way to secure not only the nation, but also the world. The Information Operations Roadmap “ Recommends that a global website be established that supports America's strategic objectives. But no American diplomats here, thank you. The website would use content from ‘third parties with greater credibility to foreign audiences than US officials’. It also recommends that Psyops personnel should consider a range of technologies to disseminate propaganda in enemy territory: unmanned aerial vehicles, ‘miniaturized, scatterable public address systems’, wireless devices, cellular phones and the internet” (Brookes 2006).
Imagine if you will, putting this into consideration with the use of cerebral data via electroencephalography (EEG) and un-plugging technologies of Bluetooth. The video game Mind Balance harnesses these technologies and puts it in a headset worn like a shower cap. Using the parts of the brain that process light and hallucination, they create different frequencies to “evoke different responses in the visual cortex” (Twist 2004).
Like a recipe for destruction, lets add a touch of Hemi-Sync® technology to the mix. The Monroe Institute is a non-profit research organization using sound to create altered states of consciousness for what they determine to be altruistic endeavors to help humanity. Using separate sounds to create a unifying frequency, they hope to contribute to the wellness of their consumers.
“The sensation of auditory binaural beats occurs when two coherent sounds of nearly similar frequencies are presented one to each ear with stereo headphones or speakers. The brain integrates the two signals, producing a sensation of a third sound called the binaural beat. Binaural beats originate in the brainstem's superior olivary nucleus, the site of contralateral integration of auditory input. The binaural beat is neurologically conveyed to the reticular formation which uses neurotransmitters to initiate changes in brain-wave activity” (Monroe Institute).
Sound has been used for years as a tool in manipulating consciousness. Research suggests sounds between 200 and 800 cycles per second mixed with tones around 15 to 20 decibels higher than other noises in the environment can help “restore drivers’ alertness” (Baron 2001).
This all seems like a good idea on the surface and if you consider all parties involved to be genuinely concerned with the betterment of humanity it could be a wonderful implementation for greater ability to communicate and mobilize information. But if you look at the natural human tendency of power and control, the implications take a major turn into a world of potential abuse.
“NTT, the Japanese communications giant, has recently developed a technology called RedTacton, which it claims can send data over the surface of human skin at speeds of up to 2Mbps -- the equivalent of a fast broadband data connection. To work, a transmitter is attached to a portable device, such as an MP3 player, which then uses the human electrical skin field to send data to another receiving device. The transmission is achieved by minutely modulating the electrical body field in the same way that a radio station wave is modulated to carry broadcast data... The developers behind this project are strongly convinced that this new technology will be ‘highly disruptive’. In their views, it could easily and rapidly undermine existing wireless products and services” (Good 2005).
Another area of study considering the bio-transponder is Neurotherapy also known as neurofeedback. This form of biofeedback teaches people how to change brain waves that get “stuck in abnormal patterns.”
“Most neurotherapy involves training patients to control their brain waves, but some practitioners change brain waves by introducing an electromagnetic pulse smaller than the amount of energy emanating from a wristwatch. This method is mostly used for people with brain injuries or strokes who may not have the strength to learn to control their brain waves” (Domrose 2000).
So far, we are looking at the possibilities of restructuring the electromagnetic spectrum to create a different world. The technology is not in the future, but a current phenomenon. The use of plugged and un-plugged technology is increasing our ability to change our environments and our ways of thinking. It is collectively changing our consciousness on a metaphorical level as well as on a literal plain. The advent of new processes is enabling us to reach greater levels of control over the human body and mind and is giving us an opportunity to advance as a civilization or condense us into a pot of political subservience. More technological advances come in the form of The BrainGate™ Neural Interface System. It is a pilot clinical trial researching ways to restore function in severely motor-impaired people. It uses a computer as a gateway to help people do things they couldn’t ordinarily do on their own.
“The BrainGate™ System is based on Cyberkinetics' platform technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. The System consists of a sensor that is implanted on the motor cortex of the brain and a device that analyzes brain signals. The principle of operation behind the BrainGate™ System is that with intact brain function, brain signals are generated even though they are not sent to the arms, hands and legs. The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements, offering the user an alternate ‘BrainGate™ pathway’ to control a computer with thought, just as individuals who have the ability to move their hands use a mouse”(Cyberkinetics 2005)
Real world applications taking place today in China include experiments on rats and pigeons. These experiments involve implanting electrodes to control movement of the animals by scientists via remote control. “ Scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center at Shandong University of Science and Technology in eastern China used the micro electrodes to command the bird to fly right or left, and up or down.
The implants stimulated different areas of the pigeon's brain according to electronic signals sent by the scientists via computer, mirroring natural signals generated by the brain” (Associated Press 2007).
These same scientist conducted similar tests on mice in 2002 with the hopes of using the technology to help people trapped under rubble in collapsed buildings. (Associated Press 2002) This technology placed in an un-plugged apparatus could greatly affect the prospects of not only search and rescue, but could potentially integrate into warfare and subsequent control of entire populations.
To get an idea of how long this sort of robot-like control has been investigated lets take this concept back in time a few more years. We introduce Acoustic Kitty, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) project of the 1960’s using cats in spy missions. They implanted devices like cameras and microphones in cats in hopes of sending them in to eavesdrop on conversations between Soviets. This practice was soon abandoned as the cat wouldn’t follow orders and was hit by a taxi. (NSAEBB 2001)
So where does the RF factor really come into play? The technology being researched by Satellite communications companies around the world is getting more robust and is looking at changing the way information is transferred from satellites to consumers. The technology used for transferring satellite payloads can be Intermediate Frequency (IF) or RF determined by bandwidth.
“Radio Burst Switching has potential applications for future Internet satellite routers. Based a new patented concept, the separation of the forwarding and the control paths, Radio Burst Switching can offer an effective means of on-board packet switching by satellite using new advances in control system technology.”(Bnet 2002)
These new ways of transferring information could potentially be modified to work with audio and visual elements to directly affect human machine interactions. We’ve already looked at some of the uses of light and sound to stimulate brain activity as well as neurofeedback as a way to change a person’s consciousness. These various studies also look at the power of suggestion and how that affects our behavior.
People are subject to the power of suggestion particularly when they are tired or relaxed. The brain changes frequencies from low frequency beta waves to higher frequency alpha waves when a person starts to slow down and unwind. Cults and terrorists, to gain access to information and supporters have used this altered state of consciousness as well as television and radio stations have used it to sell products. The ability to influence thought by mere suggestion leaves a great deal of implication for the possibilities at hand with an apparatus to physically change the structure and frequency of the mind.
“The 1980s and 1990s were focused on building up the physical body. The 21st century will see a focus on building the mind and optimising mental performance. The idea of merging the new technologies into education is interesting and also calls into question who will decide what is to be learned. In the interim, the possibilities are incredible for those interested in such pursuits. The control of our mental function is no different than the control of the muscles in our bodies. Learning to control or coordinate the activity of our minds will propel our bodies through a much more productive and fuller life. The new tools may offer just such opportunities. On the other side of the issue is the potential for misuse and exploitation of the science. Military planners, law enforcement officials and others are now seeking the covert use of these technologies for controlling the ultimate "information processor"—the Human Being”(Begich 2006).
The potential for transmitting information via RF from satellite to human directly without implanting various devices is not something I was able to find any direct information on. Through reading multiple scientific bits of information and reviewing some of the current research in both biological and technological sources, I have determined by way of my limited understanding of said topics that the human body consists of a number of chemical compounds that are highly conductive of radio frequencies and that some concept of consciousness alteration is possible through non-invasive measures through light and sound, both of which are in the electromagnetic spectrum along with the brain waves beta, alpha, theta and delta. This may be apophenia or there could be potential for further research into the possibilities of connecting people to the Internet using only RF transmissions without implanting mechanical devices. This will hopefully for the good of man rather than the demise.
With the research on neurotechnology the human body could become a radio transponder. Scientists are actively pursuing the possibilities of creating non-mechanical neurological interfaces that bridge the gap between biological and artificial communications.
“To achieve selective electrical interfacing to the neural system it is necessary to approach neuronal elements on a scale of micrometers. This necessitates microtechnology fabrication and introduces the interdisciplinary field of neurotechnology, lying at the juncture of neuroscience with microtechnology. The neuroelectronic interface occurs where the membrane of a cell soma or axon meets a metal microelectrode surface. The seal between these may be narrow or may be leaky. In the latter case the surrounding volume conductor becomes part of the interface. Electrode design for successful interfacing, either for stimulation or recording, requires good understanding of membrane phenomena, natural and evoked action potential generation, volume conduction, and electrode behavior. Penetrating multimicroelectrodes have been produced as one-, two-, and three-dimensional arrays, mainly in silicon, glass, and metal microtechnology. Cuff electrodes circumvent a nerve; their selectivity aims at fascicles more than at nerve fibers. Other types of electrodes are regenerating sieves and cone-ingrowth electrodes. The latter may play a role in brain-computer interfaces. Planar substrate-embedded electrode arrays with cultured neural cells on top are used to study the activity and plasticity of developing neural networks. They also serve as substrates for future so-called cultured probes”(Rutten 2002).
When you consider along with all the other information on brainwaves and radio transponders the chemical composition of the human body being mostly water and salt there seems to be an inherent receptive quality already in place. The connection between RF and water/salt content has been determined by HAM radio operators and sailing enthusiasts alike. Studies done on antennae reception for marine radios found that grounding in the seawater not only increased reception but it significantly reduced interference and made outbound signals more clear.(West “N.d.”) What could eating a bag of potato chips and drinking a beer do to change your reception?
The only thing we really need at this point to get people to log on to the “right” website to start this process of mass manipulation is fear of something or a chain letter. Scare tactics are great ways to get people to motivate to do something. Tell people they will die if they smoke and a lot of people will quit smoking. Tell people we are facing the end of the world as determined by Revelations and people start going to church. Veterinary clinics have even gotten in on the race with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tags that are a MUST because, as you know, the threat of losing your furry loved one is pretty great in this day and age of mass transit, mass media and mass hysteria. You MUST get your dog implanted with an RFID so you can get him back if he is ever lost or stolen. And, don’t forget that you MUST send this essay to at least fifteen of your closest friends and a minimum of three enemies for your luck to change for the better by tomorrow morning!
“The Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies ("Safety") Act of 2002 authorizes the Homeland Security Department to name as "qualified antiterrorism technologies" any devices designed to thwart or mitigate the effects of terrorism. Users of approved devices will enjoy blanket protections from liability lawsuits arising from a terrorist attack. According to one technology industry lobbyist, the Safety Act was a ‘backroom deal’ brokered by defense contractors, tort reform lawyers and congressional leaders. But the Safety Act has recently caught the attention of the food industry, which is now funding the development of RFID biosensors and pushing for their coverage under the Safety Act. Auburn University's Detection and Food Safety Center, which is partly funded by food companies, is leading much of the research into RFID biosensors. AU scientists are coating microscopic structures -- one a cantilever less than 100 microns long -- with bacteriophages, viruses that bind with anthrax and other biological and chemical agents. When an agent binds with the phage coating, the cantilever produces a signal for transmission to a handheld RFID receiver” (Baard 2003).
This isn’t necessarily about RFID practices, but rather about the implications and the possibilities of using some of the same technology or versions of the technology to track those considered to be subversive and to change their belief systems and consciousness on a mass scale. The human and machine interaction in the bio-transponder concept does not change awareness by simple exposure to information via the Internet. It considers actually changing the brainwave patterns via digital electronic signals transmitted by a computer over the Internet. It may seem like mass illusion or hypnosis, but, the RF factor may be the way to get the masses to “get it” for better or for worse.
Case Scenario: You wake up at five in the morning, scratch your head and make a pot of coffee. Sipping your morning java, you sit down at your desktop computer to surf through some JavaScript. A few minutes in to checking the hundred plus emails waiting for your perusal, you stumble upon a forwarded message from your mom with a cute animation and a catchy tune. The background beats and the images flash…the next thing you know, you’re questioning your religious beliefs and looking forward to joining the nearest cult’s sacrificial meeting. You don’t know why you’ve had a change of heart, but the feeling is overwhelming. Later that day, you head down to your favorite Internet Café for some more java with your Java and before you have a chance to close that pesky pop-up, you decide to give up your possessions to live in poverty under tyrannical rule.
Were you merely influenced by the blinking ad at the top of the screen telling you to repent? Or, were you subjected to a mind-altering binaural beat that hijacked your original transponder and replaced it with an alternate frequency?
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