Category: Technology

“It is difficult for anyone born and raised in human infrastructure to truly internalize the fact that your view of the world is backward. Even if you fully know that you live in a natural world that existed before you and will continue long after, even if you know that the wilderness is the default state of things, and that nature is not something that only happens in carefully curated enclaves between towns, something that pops up in empty spaces if you ignore them for a while, even if you spend your whole life believing yourself to be deeply in touch with the ebb and flow, the cycle, the ecosystem as it actually is, you will still have trouble picturing an untouched world. You will still struggle to understand that human constructs are carved out and overlaid, that these are the places that are the in-between, not the other way around.”

~ from “A Psalm for the Wild-Built: A Monk and Robot Book” by Becky Chambers

“Dex took note of Mosscap’s phrasing. ‘So, it is correct, then? You wouldn’t prefer they or—’

‘Oh, no, no, no. Those sorts of words are for people. Robots are not people. We’re machines, and machines are objects. Objects are its.’

‘I’d say you’re more than just an object,’ Dex said.

The robot looked a touch offended. ‘I would never call you just an animal, Sibling Dex.’ It turned its gaze to the road, head held high. ‘We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.’

Dex had never thought about it like that. ‘You’re right,’ they said. ‘I’m sorry.’”

~ from “A Psalm for the Wild-Built: A Monk and Robot Book” by Becky Chambers

Neurotechnology is the use of light (such as infrared or photobiomodulation), sound (as in neurofeedback or binaural beats), vibration or ultrasound, electricity or magnetism (as in EEG, tDCS, or TMS), and plant compounds (including psychedelics), sometimes combined with feedback or digital control systems, to measure or modulate activity in the brain, nervous system, and body. It is used in meditation and medicine to treat conditions such as depression or Parkinson’s disease, and to enhance learning, attention, and states of consciousness.