I love this photo i took recently of a Baba in the mountains of Rishikesh. A group of us walked to the cave temple where this baba lives with his spiritual brothers. He is a Shiva devotee, and comes from a tradition of renunciation of the material world. He lives a pure spiritual life and has only the money the people donate to him.

We visited for a few hours, and enjoyed the energies of his Ashram in a very special cave very much. When we went to say hello to him we all sat down and they all chatted away about this and that in Hindi. These daily routines have been going on for a very long time, and it was interesting to watch how everyone related to him, and what reverence my group leaders gave to him. Kissing or touching his feet was matter-of-course, and the baba was quite used to giving his blessings to each and every person that would come by.

One thing that did seem a bit out of place though was the good ol mobile phone! They ALL had one, and this baba had two. They had all pulled them out within just a few minutes of speaking, and I found it quite amusing that even this old skool baba was using this technology so much.. as were all his devotees who lived with him. I couldn't really make up my mind if i though it was OK or not, but it did seem weird, and it seemed to take everyones attention. Even these enlightened souls had decided that they want to be a part of this worldly game! Amazing really..

Is Ubiquitous Bio-Integrated Technology Inevitable?

Is it time we all just embraced the inevitable technological revolution that is upon us, and wave goodby to our traditional ways of living? We are on the precipice of a giant leap in our technology, as we hurtle into unknown paradigm and reality. One day our digital world will be completely meshed and entwined with the real physical world, and we wont even see the devices that make it seamlessly possible because they will be implanted in our brains. Within 100 years we will have the option to have our minds linked to the internet, directly through chips in our brains. This will allow people access to information in a way never before imagined, and those that choose to have them will be at an incredible advantage. I wonder, what would you choose if you had the choice? Would you choose to follow the masses and become a superhuman, or would you reject it and become split from the mainstream herd. Would being able to speak any language in a heart beat be enough to tempt you? Would you opt for a memory upgrade to give you 100% photographic recall of everything you saw and did? DO you think it would it change your life for the better or worse?

Personally, I have no clue what I would do .. I cant really imagine going under the knife to do this, but what if they could do it when the child is just born? What if a parent could choose for their child when born to have this operation!? Do you think it is ethical to make this choice for a child? What if the operation could only be performed on a new born whilst their brain was still forming. Would it then be OK to make that choice for your child, if you felt it would give them a great advantage in life?

These are some of the questions that we will have to start asking and answering, and soon! I do hope a debate about these kinds of issues happens, and that corporations are not allowed to just plug us in to their networks with no ethical backbone. Can you imagine adverts planted in your dreams or even thoughts by some rouge company who makes brain implants! Oh man! If there is one thing that is clear, our socio-economic and political structures are going to have to radically change before technology can ever really advance in a safe manner.

Id love to hear your thoughts on this!

Have a beautiful day, Ill see you on the innernet ;-)