Review of book - "As Man Becomes Machine"

                            AS MAN                       BECOMES
                            MACHINETitle and most of the contents
                            of this article are taken directly
                            from David Rorvik's book published by
                            Doubleday & Co., 1971. Other comments are
                            written by Al Pinto.In my last article,
                            CYBORG.UFO, I had said that the material
                            presented, is "watered down". That
                            article was meant as an introduction
                            to what you are about to read. In his
                            book, which by the way has nothing to do
                            with UFO's, Rorvik supports what I have
                            presented to you before. He supplies
                            us with valuable technical information
                            into a technology that seeks to make
                            man evolve into machine. Some of the
                            concepts have already been presented
                            to you in my last article. An overview
                            you might say. This article will go
                            more into detail on the subject of
                            ESB, or electronic stimulation of the
                            brain, and participant evolution. This
                            comes from Mr. Rorvik's book; Page
                            151:ELECTROPROSTHESIS   Somatic functions
                            have yielded even more dramatically
                            than the autonomic to ESB. These are
                            the motor functions, movements of the
                            body and it's extremities, which can be
                            controlled by stimulating various parts
                            of the cerebral cortex. In Dr. Delgado's
                            experiments animals were induced to
                            "move the legs, raise or lower the
                            body, open or close the mouth, walk or
                            lie still, or turn around." He found
                            that the animals took all of this very
                            much in stride, seemingly unaware of
                            outside interference. Cats stimulated
                            in such a way as they would suddenly
                            have to raise a hind leg would go right
                            on purring. Nor would they stumble or
                            fall. "However," Dr. Delgado observes,
                            "if we tried to prevent the evoked
                            effect by holding the hind leg with
                            our hands, the cat stopped purring,
                            struggled to get free, and shook it's
                            leg," indicating that the stimulatory
                            command is a powerful one.   A number of
                            researchers are working to put this sort
                            of motor control to practical effect.
                            ------------------------------------------------------------------So,
                            if ESB is effective on animals,
                            could it be just as effective on
                            Humans? Rorvik writes:   To understand
                            fully the impact ESB may have in the
                            very near future, it is important first
                            to understand something of the actual
                            technique of implanting electrodes in the
                            brain. Thousands of laboratory animals,
                            including rats, dogs, cats, dolphins,
                            bulls and even crickets, have been
                            wired, some with more than one hundred
                            electrodes. Dozens of humans, most of
                            them suffering from serious diseases or
                            mental disorders, have been similary
                            wired- some with scores of electrodes
                            and for periods in excess of a year.
                            ------------------------------------------------------------------What
                            is the history of this technology? How
                            far back does it date too? Is it
                            possible that this science could
                            explain at least that possibility, in
                            which the occupants of UFO's may not
                            be extraterrestrial? That it is indeed
                            possible that the abductees ARE under
                            a mass hallucination imposed on them by
                            their abductors? Rorvik again provides
                            us with more answers:      "Recent
                            rapid development in ESB technique
                            follows upon what was a rather slow
                            start. Direct electrical stimulation,
                            in fact, dates back nearly two centuries
                            to the experiments of Volta, Galvani, Du
                            Bois-Reymond and others , who discovered
                            that the brain was more suceptible to
                            electronics than to obscure chemical
                            forces ("animal spirits" they were
                            called) that were in vogue up to that
                            time."   That came from page 141-142. He
                            continues to tell us that electronic
                            stimulation of the brain was used in
                            1870 by battlefield brain surgeons. Then
                            he says:   "This medical 'technology'
                            lay mercifully dormant for decades
                            after the war-until Dr. Walter R. Hess,
                            a brilliant Swiss neurophysiologist,
                            devised the modern technique of electrode
                            implantation in 1932, demonstrating
                            in the process that nearly all of
                            man's functions and emotions can be
                            influenced by electrical stimulation
                            in specific cerebral areas." -page
                            142    Here we are again. Nearing WWII,
                            and humans have already learned about
                            and demonstrated this technology. You
                            will recall that we also had saucer
                            technology back then. What if Hitler and
                            his brilliant scientists got hold of this
                            technology? Rorvik doesn't say whether or
                            not this relates to that situation. He
                            does offer us some scary scenarios,
                            however. He writes:GOVERNMENT BY
                            "ELECTROLIGARCHY"   The incredible power
                            that one can exert over an individual's
                            actions and emotions with ESB has
                            given rise to some alarm.What works for
                            lower animals in this realm can also be
                            made to work for man. Most scientists
                            assume, of course, that this technology,
                            will remain in (their) benign hands,
                            ushering in a new era of "electrical
                            nirvana." But if the technology should
                            fall into decidedly unscrupulous hands
                            (and this must certainly be considered a
                            possibility), then a strange and fearful
                            world could result.   An electrical
                            engineer named Curtis R. Schafer
                            alluded to this very possibility in a
                            paper he presented before the National
                            Electronics Conference in Chicago some
                            years ago. Half in jest, he proposed
                            computer-controlled electrodes be
                            implanted in the brains of babies,
                            a few months after birth, robotizing
                            them for life. "The once human being
                            thus controlled would be the cheapest
                            of machines to create and operate," he
                            pointed out. "The cost of building even
                            a simple robot, like the Westinghouse
                            mechanical man, is probably ten times
                            that of bearing and raising a child to
                            the age of sixteen." Other scientists
                            have admitted the possibility that
                            governments could try to control
                            citizen behavior by techniques of ESB.
                            The vision of a society controlled
                            by such a government is not pleasant
                            to contemplate-yet it is certainly
                            as "realistic" as that envisioned by
                            Aldous Huxley in his famous novel "Brave
                            new World", in which the masses were
                            bio-chemically stratified via the sort
                            of genetic engineering that is already
                            becoming possible in laboratories
                            around the world. An electronically
                            contrived Brave New World, however,
                            might actually be easy to achieve. The
                            stratification here, of course, would
                            be somewhat different, as the following
                            scenario would illustrate:     To begin
                            with, let us imagine a conspiracy
                            participated in by a small group of
                            powerful men who seek to "optimize"
                            society. Noting the fantastic potential
                            of ESB, they invision themselves at
                            the top of an electronically sustained
                            socio-structure that might be called
                            the Eletroheirarchy. The conspirators,
                            let us say, are leading figures in
                            the military-industrial complex who
                            want to run society in the same way
                            that they run their factories and
                            armies. But now, instead of having to
                            worry about personal incentive programs,
                            waste, time consumming inter-office
                            bickering, in house pilfering, and
                            philandering, insubordination, the
                            costly ritual of hiring and firing
                            and so on, they need only punch
                            buttons and transmit the appropriate
                            signals to achieve every general's,
                            manager's, president's, premiere's
                            dream of the efficient society.
                            -page 145-146Rorvik goes on to explain
                            details of how such a government might
                            operate by groups known as the masters,
                            who are only about 50 people spared from
                            electrode implants; The next rung down
                            would be the Electrons, who are somewhat
                            implanted, would be the poets, thinkers,
                            scientists, scholars, etc.; Next, The
                            Positrons would be more heavily implanted
                            and would be the positive thinkers, the
                            ones who put the plans into action. The
                            "white collar" workers; At the lowest
                            level might come the electrons or the
                            most heavily implanted, which would
                            be engaged in the repetitive, often
                            menial tasks. All would be cheaper and
                            more reliable than automatic equipment
                            and mechanical robots. They would be
                            robotized so that they could do their
                            tasks all day, and love every minute of
                            it.      I find it more than interesting
                            that this scenario fits in, almost too
                            well, with what the Nazi's were trying to
                            do. If they somehow had access to this
                            technology, which is entirely possible,
                            they would use it similarly as depicted
                            above.------------------------------------------------------------------GENETIC
                            ENGINEERING AND BIOLOGICAL MUTATIONThe
                            idea that the EBE could be a TBE, or
                            TERRESTRIAL biological entity, is also
                            possible. Rorvik writes:   Space, as much
                            as medicine, has fostered the cyborg
                            concept; in fact, it was in connection
                            with the space challenge that the word
                            itself was coined. Dr. Manfred Clynes and
                            Dr. Nathan Kline, both of Rockland State
                            Hospital in New York, first introduced
                            the word in a paper presented at the
                            Pschophysiological Aspects of Space
                            Flight Symposium in San Antonio several
                            years ago. They noted that "in the past,
                            the altering of bodily functions to suit
                            different environments was accomplished
                            through evolution. From now on, at least
                            in some degree, this can be achieved
                            without alteration of heredity by
                            suitable bio-chemical, physiological,
                            and electronic modification of man's
                            modus vivendi.   The value of this sort
                            of "participant evolution" they pointed
                            out, could be immense, particularly in
                            the space-effort, where a self regulating
                            man-machine system could function
                            so much better than a conventional
                            astronaut.Rorvik also goes on to state
                            what this "cybernaut" would look like. He
                            says:   "The astronautic cyborg they
                            envisioned would be considerably more
                            agile and certainly far more effective
                            than our present day moon men. For one
                            thing, the cyborg's space suit would
                            be lightweight and skin tight. It
                            would require no pressurization since
                            the cyborg's lungs will be partially
                            collapsed and the blood in them
                            artificially cooled. Mouth and nose
                            would be superfluous and hence sealed
                            and totally non-functioning. Respiration
                            and most other bodily processes would
                            be effected cybernetically through the
                            utilization of artificial organ's and
                            sensors, some of which would be attached
                            to the exterior of the suit while others
                            would be surgically implanted within
                            the cyborg's body."     page 107-108
                            One Doctor, J.B.S. Haldane, had some
                            interesting thoughts. He said it might
                            be best to breed legless astronauts for
                            the first space flight to the stars,
                            "thus reducing not only their weight but
                            their food and oxygen requirements. A
                            regressive mutation to the condition of
                            our ancestors in the mid-Pliocene, with
                            prehensile feet, that can grasp things,
                            no appreciable heels and an ape-like
                            pelvis, would be still better."Scientists
                            already know how to put genes together in
                            test tubes and how to synthesize their
                            elemental components. Microsurgical
                            techniques provide one means of altering
                            the natural material. Experiments
                            with certain viruses will do the same
                            thing. It seems that special viruses,
                            adept at insinuating their way into
                            certain cells, can be made to freight in
                            with them, specially prepared genetic
                            instructions (in the form of carefully
                            prepared DNA nucleotide sequences), thus
                            altering the course of development in
                            the desired direction.On the subject of
                            Bio-cybernetics, Rorvik offers:   "The
                            suggestion, for example, that man be
                            linked directly to computers to enhance
                            mental efficiency provides "participant
                            evolution" with a new demension. Indeed,
                            some insist that bio-cybernetics offers
                            a far greater degree of participation
                            than genetics; the coupling of man and
                            machine can provide instantaneous and,
                            as Dr. Clynes points out, possibly
                            reversible, modification of the
                            genotype, wheras controlled biological
                            change would take a good deal longer
                            and to prove permanent, at least in
                            individual cases."  -page 112Well now;
                            let's see. Rorvik states that at the
                            time of the writing of this book, which
                            is 1970, we were about two decades away
                            from controlled biological change, if
                            not sooner. Dr. Clynes points out that,
                            if we used bio-cybernetics, that time
                            period is cut down by a good deal. Couple
                            these facts in with the possibility of
                            this technology in the hands of evil
                            intelligence and we have the makings
                            of truly a great nightmare. One that
                            fits in perfectly with what is going
                            on in the UFO phenomenon. One that
                            could even explain why the "aliens"
                            look the way they do.       You should
                            also recall the Nazi's obsession with
                            genocide during WWII. How advanced
                            would a scientist become in human
                            genetic engineering, if he had virtually
                            unlimited human specimens to work with
                            and, did not have to worry about moral
                            and ethical laws stopping him? How
                            advanced would he become in any field
                            of endeavor, for that matter?This is
                            very detailed information. You amy
                            want to read it a couple of times to
                            let your mind absorb all of it. You
                            may find, as I do, that you may have
                            missed something or didn't pick up on
                            a point that is very important, that
                            may help clarify this theory better.
                            I look forward to any feedback you
                            may have on this material. See
                            you on the Echo! Thanks.
                            Al
                            Pinto-----------------------------------------------------------------
                            


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