I'm Sooper-Quad! What's that, one may ask? Well I'm Differently Abled, a term I coined by the way. I am paralyzed from the shoulders down and cannot feel anything from upper chest down. That is called Quadriplegia.... hence the term Quad for short.
So why am I "Sooper-Quad!"? Because I was hurt in 1979 and yet I am still alive after all these years despite a great number of personal hardships from health problems to financial poverty. I died once (by clinical/legal definition) because of accidental cardiac arrest. Medical pros had managed to instantly empty my lungs of all oxygen causing immedidate unconsciousness and heart failure. I never would have known about it if not told about it later. I remember going out but no stupid Near Death Exprience [NDE] tunnel stuff. I have seen that tunnel though, by pulling too many G's in an aerobatic maneuver, same thing as NDE slow O2 loss. That's all really that NDE's are, the brain slowly losing consciousness and communication with all of its sensory inputs so it fills in the gaps with predictable artifacts and cultural perceptions of individuals based upon their societal upbringing.
This wasn't the only time death has come close to me in my life but I guess I'm too mean or wicked to die young, hehe. I do not fear death, it just really pisses me off, it is just such a waste. Just when we get comfortable in our skin in this world it's time to check out. Well, I'm going to live forever, so far so good, eh? ;)
I am still alive despite suffering many illnesses because I long ago took control of my healthcare and learned all about my condition. I even went to Pre Med school in college. In fact I'm a little bit inventive and I've even invented a new use for a common heart disease aiding medical device that has helped save my life by reducing urinary tract infections. That and a cybernetic device implanted within me for control of muscle cramps makes me a cyborg!
Firstly, I am a novice Futurist. I write about what marvelous developments we can expect to see in the future and what we should do to help make the best things come true. I'm a volunteer writer for both and contributing editor to one of two of the following Transhumanist magazines:
The Immortalist Magazine
Physical Immortality Magazine
I'm also an artist. See the button section below to find the link to "Interests" that contains some images of my paintings, drawings and mechanical art pieces. And you may have noticed the graphic up top, just something I threw together one afternoon from bits and bobs found on the net.
Wow! Too many to list them all... but here's a few.
Transhumanism, Physical Immortalism, Cryonics, Art, Science, Literature, Cosmology, Women, Futurist Speculation, Medical Technology, Nanotechnology, Science Fiction, Women, Physics, Evolution and Evolutionary Psychology, Art, Computer Science [I taught myself how to use a PC and build my own from off the shelf parts]... did I mention women? ;)
Wow again...! I like so many things and so many people, especially people. I'm a real people person as the term goes. Did I mention that I love women? Oh yeah a few times, huh? ;)
I like dreaming and speculating about what the future can be and helping my friends teach people about the possibilities for human beings to transcend our evolutionary limits. Evolution, now that we have the human genome mapped, is now in our own hands and with that map we can improve on nature's often flawed design. We are not perfect the way we are now despite what some believe, just consult someone with a congenital defect... nature is cruel, we can do better. I don't mean to promote perfectionism. Perfection is a goal that should be pursued for always but never met.
Short sighted conservative types that fear the future and the ever increasing rapid development of technology, bio luddites and fundamentalist religious crazies, death mongers and deathists that say our humanity is defined by life's finitude.
On the top of my list for people that I dislike would be George W. Bush, Francis Fukyama, Leon Kass, Jeremy Rifkin and the founders of the ETC Group in Canada. These are the main bio-nano-conservative luddites of our age. They want you and I to die whereas if we just keep trying we really can and will cure all disease and the greatest threat of all aging itself!
Sometimes I like to imagine an extraterestrial species maybe a *hundred thousand years* more advanced than we are. Would anyone not expect they had conquered the problems of degenerative diseases, aging and even death itself given that much time? Of course such an advanced species would do that. The kicker is because of the rapid advance of our own tech right here on good ole Earth, we are but a blink of an eye from doing it ourselves... if only we try and not drop the ball because lesser minds just can't fathom the concept.
I support Stem cell Research and Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. [Note: NUCLEAR is pronounced NOOK-LEE-UR] SCNT is also known a Therapeutic Cloning. Oh ooh! I said the CLONE word! But please note that SCNT is NOT Reproductive Cloning.
However, regardless the distinction I defy anyone to make a cogent rational argument against reproductive cloning without invoking the nebulous and intangible indefinable "Yuck Factor" or "It's against Gawd".
Simply put, a clone is no different than a twin, a clone is a twin displaced in time.
We have the ability today to freeze embryos, it's done all the time to save the extras from in-vitro fertilization. Suppose a woman has had fertility drugs and has broke the record for possible multiple birth a whopping 8 embryos! But it is deemed she could not carry all to term safely for her or them. Well one answer would be that we could freeze some and let her carry to term the remaining then later insert some more and then later some more, each time allowing for the births and an adequate rest period in-between.
By the time of the last birth her children though octuplets and identical would be several years apart in age.
This is the same as a clone displaced in time from the its twin original.
Ok ok, what's all this tongue and cheek business with an interest in women? Well I just love women. I love the way they look, the way they laugh and smell and think and care. They're simply magical, the closest I'll ever get to believing in magic, that's for sure. Someday I'll find the right one or a dozen that can stick it out with me and dare to dream really really big! ;)
To see my Links Page find the button below.
Send me an email and maybe I'll give you my phone number or mailing address if appropriate.
Which Fund Has the Problem ?!
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Social Security
Trust Fund
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U.S. General Fund
(aka The Gross National Debt )