Kevin Warwick - Real Life Cyborg

Many people talk about Transhumanism (that's giving people superpowers for those who haven't been paying attention (sort of)) as though it's something speculative that may or may not happen. Here at the Biomatrix we treat it as a lifestyle choice, pointing all the ways in which you can already improve yourself through advanced training or technology (nootropic drugs, bodybuilding, martial arts, jumpsoles, a hat with a pencil stuck to it...). Kevin Warwick however takes this one step further, becoming the first real-life cyborg. Seriously.

So what, you're thinking, he's got like a GPS tracker? Well yes actually he does have something like that, but he's also got much more too - he can control robot arms across continents with his mind, navigate blinfolded and even communicate telepathicaly with his wife who is also part cyborg. And how can he do all this? Through an electrode array of 100 electrodes (25 of which can be accessed at any one time) implanted to interface with his nervous system. This was complicated enough to allow him to control the arm and combined with ultrasonic sensors attached to a baseball cap he achieved extra-sensory vision. His wife had a simpler array which allowed them to send basic signals to each other over an internet connection and as if all that wasn't enough an additional an RFID transmitter implanted earlier allows him to set music and lighting automatically when he enters rooms. I know I go on about this... but he's soooo Tony Stark!

Like so many superhero origin stories, Kevin performed his experiments on himself to avoid putting others at risk, but I suspect he also probably kind of liked the idea of opening doors with his noggin. The purpose for these experiments are mainly to help the blind, or the limbless, but the Transhumanist applications are obvious; an Iron Man suit utilising a neural interface, 360 degree vision, sonar, telepathy ('techlepathy' as some are calling it)... the possibilities are endless and are no longer a thing of science fiction. They are happening now - and the Biomatrix.net will stay at the cutting edge to bring you all the news from the frontline. Stay tuned!

Transhumanism Study Abstract

ABSTRACT
Transhumanism is a school of thought that promotes the use of new technologies to enhance the human condition mentally and physically. While many papers have been written outlining precisely the arguments for and against transhuman ideals, nothing has been done to establish what the layman’s perception of them might be. This study then used focus group interviews of students to explore their views on such a potentially life-altering concept. Students were chosen as the sample due to their eligibility for transhuman procedures and for practical reason. The focus groups were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis revealing five major themes relating to prior knowledge, emotional reactions, individual concerns, socioeconomic concerns and moral concerns. Generally participants were found to be against the movement, though some saw it as permissible to certain degrees and under certain circumstances. It is suggested that further work needs to be done to raise awareness of the issue, discover exactly under what circumstances it would be considered permissible and to clarify some of the more cloudy definitions within the subject.

The full study or at least the results section will be available through the site in one form or another shortly so stayed tuned.

(FYI: This picture is from the new Iron Man (Iron Man 2 as some are calling it...) and by the looks of it that's a NEW SUIT!!)

Willies are very funny

It's been a while since I wrote anything training related or overly useful on this blog - the last post was about a weird hat and my facial hair (though I did link to the Biomatrix TV which is very useful and training related to be fair). Now exams are over however... you're going to have to wait a bit longer.

I'm just writing today because I did something funny and childish on behalf of the Biomatrix; I drew a picture of a dick and got it posted on a big and successful blog. The reason for this? This well-known steroid promoting guy called Anthony Roberts was using an image of mine that I was hosting on his site thus putting a strain on my server. Weird baring in mind he makes a living from what he does and I make 1cent an hour. I told him he could continue to use the image however so long as he linked back to the Biomatrix. He said he was doing it in a week. Predictably it turned out he was lying and so being a mature editor I responded with this:

Loads of people will see that! Awesomeness. In my defence he promotes steroids so he is technically a bad guy. He's like Megatron and I'm like Optimus Prime (I merely look into transhumanism and supplements but advocate natural training mostly see). He also completely doesn't need to be using my webspace which costs me around £70 a year (that's right - so get buying stuff!). Most importantly though, it is very, very funny.

When I worked at Writers' News I constantly had to ass-kiss with people who were being nobs, I partly started the Biomatrix so I could decide the editorial principles and kick ass when necesary. It's bad business but it's fun. Bottom line - don't mess with the Biomatrix.Net! Next week Nathan and I catch out the food theif by putting laxatives in our tea...

Biomatrix TV and The Learning Hat 5000

Sorry it's been a while chaps, I've been revising for my finals and am taking them this week. 'You've got exams all week and you're updating the site?' I hear you cry. 'How is this possible??'. My answer is simple, behold the Transhumanist solution to revision I created:

See, you can revise while still having your hands free to write! Amazingness on a stick. I'm wearing my 'Learning Hat 5000' tm now. Are you? (I'm patenting this technology by the way). In other news, while wearing the hat, I have been creating something very special indeed: The Biomatrix TV! Here's a more impressive way of saying it:

Here you can expect to find all sorts of videos uploaded by the Biomatrix on getting stronger, transhumanism, training, inpsiration, martial arts, the mind... you name it. So check it out. To come is a very interesting interview with Arnie I found (on politics!), a documentary about pushing human strength to its limits, and several amazing feats of strength and acrobatics. Currently there's two videos: an instructional training video from Stallone and the trailer for the new Iron Man cartoon (download the theme tune HERE). Where he has no moustache! And just after I grew mine to look more like Tony Stark...

This bombshell lead me to experiment with some looks... Transmoustachism! The first up: Magnum PI:

Then one based on another of my heroes...

I of course mean Chaplin... ahem. So anyway... guess it's back to the old baby-faced look. Anyway that's enough procrastination for today - check out The Biomatrix TV!

Working Out Biomatrix Style!

Help the Biomatrix!

When it comes to the Biomatrix I'm like a proud, over-protective parent. Nothing brings me more joy than getting feedback on articles or seeing people discuss the site on forums etc (I can see you when you do btw... I'm always watching...). Also like a parent I'm always quick to defend the site if I find someone slating it; it's young and vulnerable and easily influenced... Sure I know it's not always spelled correctly but hey who is?

But anyway, with this in mind it's brought me great joy lately to see the website gaining popularity and to find people posting links all around the shop (it's very amusing seeing the phrases people search in Google to get here). They grow up so fast... Only the other day somebody (currently one of my favourite people whoever they are) posted a link to my ambidexterity article on Redit which resulted in an explosion of popularity - we had about 25,000 hits within two days. A very nice surprise indeed and a fairly profitable one at that. More exciting than the money though was seeing people discuss the article on the site and then finding it spread to Wired Magazine and appear on someone elses site as 'Interesting Article of the Week'. I had to choke back a tear...

It's died down a bit now and I'm back to my usual $1 a day (although someone bought Project Superman today too). Yesterday we had just over 300 visitors which is fairly standard. Still though, the last couple of days taught me the potential this site has and helped get the word out there a little bit more. I'm currently coming to the end of my degree and starting to look for a job and a flat. Nothing would please me more than to work on this site full time. Or at least to be able to go semi-professional. And in return I could really focus my energies on the site too and bring more frequent (better spelled) articles to the site. In the future I'd like to give the design a complete overhaul and start bringing in some Web 2.0 features. I'd also like to switch from Lulu to another POD publisher and set up NQR as a legitimate publishing company... More free content and more professional output would be the result of getting more visitors, that and a happier me (very important).

So what I'm basically doing here is begging. It's a new and unprecedented marketing strategy but I'm optimistic it'll work. What we're asking you to do is you to do is to post links to the site on forums, in digg, in redit, in delicious, on Facebook, on your own websites, spread the word among your friends... just generally share the content with as many people as you can. It's cheaky to ask, but if you've enjoyed the content on the site then please do help us out. We'll owe you one! (To make this easier there are now 'Share This' buttons on most articles, press those and select the networking service to get the article to more people with zero effort!)

And in return if you have any questions just drop us a line and we'll answer them right away. We'll print your articles (if they're good) and generate publicity for you and your causes. Just e-mail: editor@the-biomatrix.net

This is your site too and we want you to feel a part of it. Hopefully we can make this thing a hit! In the mean time here's a list of the articles on the site that have proven most popular for whatever reason. Enjoy! And remember, I love you.

Teach Yourself to Become Ambidextrous

Do Digital Drugs Work?

Get Ripped Like Bruce Lee

Sylvester Stallone Training: The Body and Mind of Sylvester Stallone

Who Are the Real Life Superheroes?

Fight Like Batman: The Keysi Fighting method

Vertical Limit: Jump Higher

Characters in the Gym: Which One Are You?

Review: Springbak Speedsoles


Check 'em out! And if you like them, share them... please!!!

Iron Palm - Hurts

Iron Palm is the technique shaolin monks use to break boards etc. It involves conditioning a part of your body (not necessarily the palm) in order to make it nigh-on invulnerable. This can be applied to any part of the body from the hands, to the fists, to the shins, to the head and yes... even to the dick (in a book I recently read there was a monk referred to as 'Monk Dong' who could take kicks to the groin and hang breeze blocks from his Mr Happy...).

Basically by repeatedly bashing up the desired part of your body it begins to grow back tougher until it's pretty rock solid. Over years you end up with clubs on the end of yours arms. I'll hand you over to this delightful Chinese man who'll explain further:

What is the Iron Palm in Kung Fu? -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Wasn't he lovely? Lovely, but also DEADLY!
Anyway, me being me I decided what my life was lacking was IRON HANDS! Although I chose my knuckles over my palms as a) I have a bad wrist and hitting things with my palm hurts and b) because I need to keep my palms soft for sensual massage. So I began my iron fist training. I'm going to write a full article on it soon but here's how it's going so far:



So not that well... but fear not! For the next stage, after pummelling your hands each day (I'm using a tough leather punching bag with no gloves) is to apply 'Dit Da Jow'. A strange herbal remedy from the East that will sooth and heal them each day. The ingredients for this should you wish to follow in my stead are:

1 bottle of strong vodka, gin or Chinese rice wine
Artemesia (Liu ji nu) - 5g
Borneol (Bingpian) - 1g
Carthamus (Honghua) - 5g
Catechu (Ercha) - 8g
Cinnabar (Zhusha) - 5g
Cirsium (DaJi) - 1g
Dragon's Blood (Xuejie) - 30g
Mastic (Ruxiang) - 5g
Musk (Shexiang) - 1g
Myrrh (Moyao) - 5g
Pinellia (ShengBanXia) - 5g

Sadly I have less Dragon's Blood hanging around the place than I'd hoped... and so after further research I learned I can use Tiger Balm - which I can also make myself woo! Instructions:


'Take a small jar of Vaseline, a small jar of Vicks, cayenne red pepper (it's somewhere in the kitchen on your spice rack) and either dried red chilli peppers (most gourmet stores have them) or red chilli peppers that have already been bottled.
Put the Vaseline in a pot and melt it on the stove at low heat.
Add two or three tablespoons of Vicks--depending on how smelly and mentholly you want it--until that also is melted.
Grind up the red pepper until it's a powder, mix it with the cayenne pepper and add to the melted Vaseline.
While in its liquid state, repour it back into a jar and let cool.'

(Thanks to Kenponet.com for this)

I'm staying at my Mum's this week - she won't be happy when she gets home to find me melting vaseline (she already suspects I'm insane)... ah well.

So basically if you want to BECOME IRON just pick a body part and beat it against a punching bag, tree, bag of sand etc for a few hours each day and apply the Dit Da Jow or Tiger Balm after each session. Who knows how long this is supposed to take... I'll get back to you with the full article shortly. Good luck!