Deus Ex: Mankind Divided eBooks

A full directory of all ebooks available in the game

Content

A Coalition For Liberty

The UN's Responsibility to the World

In an age that has seen the rise of terrorism as a means of geopolitical change, an age where no one nation can truly be called upon to shoulder the burden of security and law enforcement, one must dare to consider that the time has come for the United Nations to step up and accept this responsibility.

A force, unbound by borders or the whims of governments and corporate interests, is needed in this uncertain time. In the wake of ongoing atrocities perpetrated by fanatics and criminals, the need for such an organization cannot be denied.

It is proposed that the UN commence a series of evaluation studies, to consider with great seriousness the future creation of a new trans-national anti-terror force. The freedoms we take for granted are under siege, and without guardians of liberty, they may be lost.

A Frontier Too Far?

The State of Space, circa 2027.

An impoverished NASA and a marginalized European Space Agency mean the dream of travel to Mars and beyond goes unfulfilled; only China's and America's militaries field regular flights, watching each other down the barrels of their particle cannons. In space, the coldest of cold wars rumbles on; echoing the NATO/Soviet confrontations of the 1980's.

At present, the only space science of any note is taking place at Moonbase Omega, a small colony near Clavius. Plans to expand the facility exist, but it may be some time before they come to fruition.

However, in near-earth orbit corporate interests thrive, with automated orbital factories producing materials in microgravity environments, among constellations of communications and spy satellites. Other plans for space commercialization are in development, including an orbital resort for the mega-rich. A slow and steady corporate takeover of the "high frontier" looms.

Advanced Clockbuilding

Ingenious Mechanical Devices: The Automata of Al-Jazari

Al-Jazari's so-called 'Elephant Clock', conceived in 1206, was not only the first iteration of a water-powered timepiece capable of accurately registering the hours of the day in their irregular lengths, but also first to utilize the aesthetic device of clockwork automata - a chirping bird and human striking a cymbal. The length of the clock's hourly intervals could be 'programmed' by the adjustment of a flow regulator mechanism.

Al-Jazari's later designs, building on his works with hydro-powered automata and detailed in his writings appearing in his Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, would include the 'castle clock'; this mechanism is widely regarded by many scholars as history's first programmable mechanical (nee analog) computer system, and in addition to showing the passage of time, it also featured a display of the celestial zodiac, and the orbits of the sun and the moon.

AJ09-0921 Patient X

-S: M
-A: 32
-blood O RhD negative

NOTES:
DNA analysis of sample taken shows unusually high presence of mutagenic chemicals in the primary strand. These don't appear to be harmful, however; in fact, X appears to be healthier and more resilient to infection than most subjects of a similar age and ethnic background. (Although admittedly, this is based on personal observation only. Access to X's medical files and history is not possible at this time.)

More interesting to note, however, is what these chemicals do when isolated and introduced to the PEDOT-cluster. In less than 24 hours, artificial materials within the cluster have been completely encapsulated in a thick, semi-permeable coating of Subject's OWN neural tissue. In effect, the "invaders" are being "disguised" as part of Subject's nervous system!

Tests have yet to be concluded, but it is my belief that PEDOT-clusters built with this unique DNA signature will be undetectable to the human immune system. The bond between what is nervous system and what is external device will be blurred to such an extent that no glial tissue build-up will occur. Neuropozyne may no longer be needed!

Arms (and Legs) For Man - The Structure of Cybernetic Limbs

From a seminar by Hugh Darrow for BBC Four, Spring 2009.

The form and function of what are commonly known as cybernetic limbs - that is, mechanical augmentation prosthetics - can be summed up in a single word; improvement.

These augmentation technologies replace feet, hands, legs, or arms with a synthetic model that can easily replicate, if not surpass, the abilities of an organic limb.

In cross-section, cyber-limbs are composed of muscles made from electroactive polymer bunches arranged around artificial bones that are, in turn, formed from dense superplastics or lightweight metal alloy foams. Fluid shock-absorbing joint mechanisms complete the mimicry of human form, and to give the limbs a more "realistic" sense, they are typically coated with a nano-scale artificial epidermis that resembles flesh. Inside the limbs, microcomputer units interface directly with biochips implanted in the organic parts of the augmentee's body, translating nerve impulses from the brain directly into action and motion.
Far more advanced than the crude constructs of the past, these human augmentations allow us to become better, faster, stronger.

Artificial Muscles

From a seminar by Hugh Darrow, Spring 2009.

In the earliest iterations, artificial musculature technologies were a crude patchwork of pistons, pneumatics and electric motors; but those systems have been surpassed by the creation of synthetic proxies that mimic the actual form and function of human muscle tissue.

Known as EAP - that's electro-active polymers - these artificial muscles are capable of linear movement of a type and scale ideally suited for cybernetic prosthetic limbs. The muscles of our bodies alter shape and form when electrochemical nerve signals flow through them, and EAPs operate the same way: when an electric charge passes across the polymer's structure, it changes shape.

The technologies we are developing at Darrow Industries focus on creating what we call a 'fully plastic actuator' mechanism. In basic terms, we have a three-part structure - a sandwich of gel layers made up of a matrix of dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes, situated on either side of an ionic fluid pyroelectrolyte core. Known as a 'bucky gel' structure, in reference to the carbon Fullerene nanotubes, this design's simple arrangement of soft electrodes and electrolyte layers is capable of operating at very low voltages.

Autopsy Report: Megan Reed (DMPD Case: TA-00514)

CASE #: TA-00514
AUTOPSY #: 89D-124
ID #: 1685972

NAME: REED, Megan
AGE: 32
SEX: F
BLOOD TYPE: O+
PATH MD: Lorne

PRELIMINARY NOTE:

I have been appointed by the state to perform autopsies on the remains of multiple victims of the attack on Sarif Industries. This is due to the critical nature of the incident and the need for the state department to be fully aware of every detail without going through an endless array of bureaucratic forms and requests. This is in no way linked to the competence of local M.E., Dr. Gerald Campbell, and shouldn't be interpreted as such.

FINAL DIAGNOSIS:

I. Vertebral injuries
A. Vertebrae in the neck area are displaced.
B. Abrasion of the bones consistent with severe and sudden stress or pressure.

II. Ligature Strangulation
A. Abrasions found in the neck area.
B. Hard to clearly verify due to severe burns, but throat seems crushed.

III. Severe burns
A. Extremely severe burns covering the entirety of the body.
B. Accelerant residue has been sent to Chem Lab for analysis.
C. Absence of fumes residue and ash in the lungs indicate burns are post-mortem.

IV. Toxicology report
A. Blood Ethanol - None detected.
B. Blood Drug Screen - No drugs detected.

CLINICOPATHOLOGIC CORRELATION: Cause of death is quick and intense snapping of the neck vertebrae combined with crushing pressure. Body was likely burned after the subject was deceased.

Dr. Dana Hall, M.E.

Better Than Nature?

Excerpted from a talk given by Hugh Darrow at the 2022 Human Plus Conference in Kyoto.

I've been accused of arrogance by many people; my father, my tutors, my contemporaries and my rivals…and to all of them I say yes, indeed, if it is arrogance to have a design that surpasses the one that currently exists, then I am arrogant.

Arrogance, daring to go beyond the limits imposed upon us, that is exactly what makes us human beings. The truth is, nature is a haphazard and flawed designer. That is not to say that there is not grace and beauty in the natural world; but the hand of man can take that base design and turn intellect to it, make more of it.

All of us are aware of the voices raised against human augmentation; those people have their right to speak, as we have the right - the arrogance, even - to ignore them.

We can be better than nature. We can improve on ourselves, and in every new iteration, be more than we were. What we are is only a stepping stone to what we can become.

Blood on the Snow

The Roosville Incident

The Canadian parliament's enaction of the radical Paulsen Program in 2017 created what some observers described as the largest shift in military capacity seen on the North American continent since the last century. Over the next five years, a gradual strengthening of Canada's borders and its overt military capacity, in the face of economic pressure from its southern neighbor, led to the virtual fortification of the country.

However, the tide of migrants from the United States displaced by economic collapse continued to grow, and these illegal immigrants - nicknamed "snowbacks" - became a major issue for cities along the border.

It was this charged political environment that would lead to a bloody skirmish when, in the winter of 2020, officers of the RCMP used lethal force to deter a horde of American economic refugees from crossing the Montana/British Colombia border near the town of Roosville.

Blurring the Boundaries Between Man and Machine

Excerpted from a talk given by Hugh Darrow at the 2001 International Gathering of Neuroscientific Researchers.

For a mechanical bioprosthesis to work, a patient must be implanted with a device that powers its electronics. The problem is, generating power requires chemicals which are toxic to the body. So unless we find a way to harness electricity that is already present in the central nervous system, we are bound to fail.

There is a second problem, as well. Preliminary research into power-harnessing biochips suggests that our immune systems will perceive these devices as foreign invaders, and immediately send proteins to encapsulate them. Over time, scar tissue will build up between the PHB and surrounding tissue, resulting in neuroprosthesis failure. So how do we avoid this?

Darrow Industries is working on a plan to "grow" networks of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) electrodes–PEDOT, if you will–that intertwine with neural cells. The goal is to create a biocompatible matrix which attracts neural progenitor cells to grow in the proper direction, blurring the boundary between what is nervous system and what is external device.

A neural environment where implanted biochip and live neural cells coexist–even migrate and evolve over time–will not only be safer and more effective for the end user; it will be the ultimate melding of man and machine.

Born Human - Be Human

What is The Humanity Front?

We are a group of like-minded individuals united in the belief that human life is a sacred, unique creation.
We believe that our humanity is what makes us who we are - and to dilute that with steel and silicon is to dilute the very essence of our human selves.

We are the Humanity Front; a global, non-profit organization that opposes the use of human enhancement technologies.

We believe in non-violent, grass roots activism, in strong and forthright exchanges of ideas, in dedicated opposition to pro-augmentation thinking, in the promotion of an viewpoint that eschews the transhumanist agenda.

Attempting to improve the human condition through biological modification only diverts attention and resources from social solutions that could do the same without changing the fundamental nature of people.
We believe in something else - something better - and we would like you to join us.

Brain Implants

Comments by Hugh Darrow on a panel at the 2009 International Gathering of Neuroscientific Researchers

I'm firmly convinced that neurostimulation technology can evolve to a level where it will not only aid those with neural dysfunction, but actually enhance the cognition of normal people.

This mechanism, a network of platinum iridium electrodes connected to a subcutaneously implanted pulse generator in either a titanium or g-loop coated capsule, has previously been used to suppress the effects of Parkinson's disease, dystonia and other neurological conditions. For example, in the case of non-Parkinsonian essential tremor, the electrodes are embedded in the ventrointermedial nucleus, or the thalamus, while the applications for dystonia and symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease - such as rigidity, bradykinesia or akinesia, tremor and the like - the electrode bouquet is typically inserted into the globus pallidus or the subthalamic nucleus, dependent on patient state.

We're already designing the next generation of these devices, with wireless dosing protocols and remote application. It's only a matter of allowing ourselves to take the next step and implant a 'healthy' person, to go beyond the merely therapeutic application and into the modificatory.

Building Wings: A Better Tomorrow (part I)

By David Sarif

Where we risk allowing our technology to divide us is in the very question of regulation; some would argue that augmentation, which by its nature is a mechanism whereby humans can transcend their limitations, cannot be allowed to be freely available.

While on the surface, such calls for "regulation" might be seen as a reasonable response, in the long term such stigmatization will work against our society. We already live in a culture of haves and have-nots, those rich or poor in terms of money, those impoverished or affluent in terms of data and knowledge.

To willfully blockade the spread of human augmentation technologies will add another category - those who are human and those who are transhuman; and as we speak here of futures where transhumanism must be the normative, how can we willingly allow some of us to be left behind?

Building Wings: A Better Tomorrow (part II)

By David Sarif

Consider, if you will, a future where technology is unbound. In this environment, human beings are capable of reaching beyond the limits that nature imposes upon them, not just through the use of external technological apparatuses, but also through the merging of the human organism with cybernetic devices.

We can, quite literally, build a better person. Life can become something that is not just a voyage where you are the passenger, at the whim of your DNA and the vagaries of an imperfect, random biology. Life can be what we wish it to be, and our minds and bodies the canvas on which we can draw our own future.

We can build wings if we wish to, and leave the cradle behind. The only limitations to where our flight will take us are our will and our intellect.

Building Wings: A Better Tomorrow (part III)

By David Sarif

What is transhumanism? A grandiose term, perhaps, but an accurate one. It is a search, a great destination that we, as a species, are approaching as our journey through evolution nears its next great leap. It is no less than the chance for human beings to reach out and take the helm of their own development.

For the first time in history, we live in an era where the factors that define the borders of the human condition - death, longevity, disability, and all the other many tyrannies of our own biology - can be surpassed. The advancing science of human augmentation technologies allows us to look to an enhanced future; a better tomorrow where the limitations of flesh and bone can be transcended.

If I write these words and sound like an evangelist, then perhaps I am; I look to my future enrapt.

Composite Study 07121969 – FINAL TEST RESULTS

INITIAL VARIABLES/TEST CONDITIONS

BIO-MATRIX COMPOSITE 1 was created using the R7 biochip design (which in turn uses the PEDOT-cluster array originally developed by Darrow Industries.)

BIO-MATRIX COMPOSITE 2 was created using the X1 biochip design (which uses the PEDOT-cluster array developed by M. Reed et al, and incorporates the mutagenic chemical composition first revealed in her Patient X study.)

Tissue samples taken from both composites were tested every seven (7) days for rejection markers routinely associated with the onset of DDS (Darrow Deficiency Syndrome).

OBSERVATIONS

Within three (3) weeks of testing, COMPOSITE 1 exhibited low levels of cytotoxic-M and DDS-Y enzymes commonly associated with the onset of Rejection Syndrome. The quantity of these enzymes increased as expected, with 20 cc of Neuropozyne being administered in WEEK 5 to break down glial tissue buildup around the biochip cluster.

COMPOSITE 2, on the other hand, showed no sign of either enzyme appearing until WEEK 6. At this point, trace levels of c-M were detected, but DISAPPEARED in subsequent weeks. This leads me to hypothesize that the enzymes were actually a byproduct of the formation of newly extruded neural tissue, compatible with the original matrix, forming around the PEDOT-cluster.*

*Additional tests must be conducted to confirm this. Luckily, David informs me that new tissue from Patient X has become available in recent months.

Dazzle Me Magazine

Updated Every Report Cycle With the Newest in Celebrity News & Gossip!

Current Top-Rated Articles:

EXCLUSIVE! We talk with Eliza Cassan about life on the news line and the private life she keeps behind closed doors!

Ny'ashia Akim spotted on the town with a new man - see our spycam pix here!

MeLove's soulful singer Brock Nyman speaks frankly about his destructive relationship with his mother and his struggle with addiction.

MDM unveils their fall collection in a teaser photo spread.

Paris's weather artists and the new wave.

Fashion Plate or Fashion Hate? We let you decide the best and the worst in our interactive section!

A tribute to Emile: Life in the Spotlight.

Jocasta Beltayne, author of the mega-selling romance Hearts of Steel, talks exclusively about the new feature film adaptation starring Lee Ashe and Ruby DeSilvio.

This year's Academy Award predictions - who will go home a loser?

DEAR DIARY

***********************************
Some kids banged on my door and taunted me today. They yelled "Hikikomori" and "shut-in" and banged and scratched and kicked to get my attention. I think they belong to a woman down the hall. I am repulsed by their guttural accents.

***********************************
Today was a good day. I sat in my usual place but this time I was content to look out the window. The people look so sad and lost. I pity them when I am not angry.

***********************************
Someone rang my phone at 4:18 PM today. It came as a shock because no one is supposed to bother me. I spent most of my day trying to figure out if it was a mistake or on purpose. I do not like days like today. They make me nervous and confused.

***********************************
Today I am cold and cannot warm up. Very cold. I made a bowl of miso soup but it did nothing. Sometimes I wonder if my blood is thinner than other people.

***********************************
My neighbor was making a lot of noise last night. He plays his satanistic music at an infernal volume. I think he does it to drown out the sounds of him beating his girlfriend. If I didn't have to stay here I would teach him some manners. I think he is from Central Asia. There is a part of me that really likes his music.

Delgado and the Stimoceiver

Excerpt from a lecture given by Hugh Darrow at the Bonn-Rhine-Seig University in March, 2016.

I'd like to tell you another research story I find absolutely fascinating. This one involves Dr. José Manuel Rodriguez Delgado, a Spanish professor of physiology at Yale University.

Delgado's research interests centered on using electrical signals to evoke specific responses in the brain. His earliest work was with cats, but later he performed experiments with monkeys and humans. Much of the expeirments centered around an invention he called a "stimoceiver" – a radio which joined a stimulator of brain waves to a receiver that monitored E.E.G. waves before sending them back on separate radio channels. This allowed the subject of the experiment full freedom of movement, while also allowing the experimenter to control the experiment.

Delgado used his stimoceiver to stimulate emotions and attempt to control behavior. In one test involving 4 patients, he stimulated points in the amygdala and hippocampus to produced a variety of effects, including "pleasant sensations, elation, deep, thoughtful concentration, odd feelings, super relaxation, colored visions, and other responses."

Delgado later stated that "brain transmitters can remain in a person's head for life. The energy to activate the brain transmitter is transmitted by way of radio frequencies."

(Source: Cannon; Delgado, J.M.R., "Intracerebral Radio Stimulation and recording in Completely Free Patients," in Schwitzgebel and Schwitzgebel (eds.))

Dermal Modification Processes

Darrow Industries developmental study, 2019.

The approach that Tai Yong Medical, Isolay and all the others are using is crude and unsophisticated; what we're discussing here is a method by which the skin of a human being can be altered to resemble organic body armor - that's not to say like the hide of a rhinoceros, despite whatever the advertising campaigns might say.

The process is simple in logistical terms, although to the implantee it's lengthy and I would warrant quite painful; but in the end, no more demanding than the work of a cosmetic surgeon upon a vain patient craving good looks. A mesh of thin layered material is implanted directly below the epidermis; the 'armor' per se is covered in a g-loop coating that bonds directly to tissue without rejection, and once the skin is allowed to heal, it becomes a seamless part of the body. Under point of impact, the implantee's skin will still break and suffer bleeding/lesions, but the new armor layer beneath - a sandwich of carbon nanotubes floating in a shear-thickening gel - will absorb most of the impact. Preventing, as it were, all but the most terminal penetration trauma.

Down to Cases

Hugh Darrow's "Final Interview"

HUGH DARROW: The fact is, Eliza, the last few years have taught me some very valuable lessons.

ELIZA CASSAN: I understand you've had some controversial things to say about augmentation technology.

HD: I've ruffled some feathers, to be sure. But I have that right.

EC: That technology wouldn't exist without you-

HD: Look, the fact is… [PAUSE] What's that bloody Einstein quote about the A-Bomb?

EC: "If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."

HD: Yes, that's the one. I know what he meant. These days I'm thinking we went too far. I'm wondering about putting the genie back in the bottle.

EC: Is that possible?

HD: Everything is possible. Having the ability to transcend our limits is one thing, but racing uncontrolled toward some blind singularity… We're in danger of becoming two species. Those empowered… And those left behind.

Dragon Heads: The Triads in the 21st Century (part I)

The Backstreet War

By far the incident that left the biggest imprint on the Triads of the 2010's was the "Mark Gor Lau War" of 2018, a conflict between established groups like the Wo Shing Wo, Sun Yee On and 14K and several smaller pretenders to the throne.

To this day, details remain sketchy, but it appears that the untimely passing of a 'Mountain Master' of the Four Dragons ignited a storm of accusation among many key Triads; what began as dissent spilled onto the streets as gangs engaged in violent conflict.

The 'war' escalated to such levels that military police were called in to curb the threat; and by the time the smoke cleared, a new hierarchy had ascended to take the place of the old, led by newly empowered groups like the Red Arrow Brotherhood, LMF and the Luminous Path.

Dragon Heads: The Triads in the 21st Century (part II)

A Traditional Form

The original eightfold rank structure among the Triads became more streamlined in the modern era, with such traditions as the 36 Great Oaths of fealty falling out of favor, to be replaced with less ornate, more immediate pledges to loyalty.

The contemporary four-tier system reflects the flexibility of the Triad criminal enterprise, with a mixture of numeral designators and/or traditional honorifics assigned to given roles.

At the very lowest level are the probationary members, often drawn from youth gangs. These so-called Blue Lanterns become a rank-and-file '49' after an initiation ceremony.

Above them are key administrators and enforcers; the White Paper Fan ('415'), the Red Pole ('426'), and Straw Sandal ('432').

At command level comes the Vanguard, Deputy Mountain Master and Incense Master (each a '438'); and finally the Mountain Master, also known as the Dragon Head ('489').

Electrogravitic Technology Applications

From a technology demonstration lecture presented to the United States Air Force in August 2015 by Dr. Hugh Darrow of Darrow Industries.

Based on an immature design of Russian origin, we've been looking at this technology as an applicable functionality for enhanced human subsystems in the military arena. While it isn't a substitute for an actual 'physical' descent system, such as a fast-rope or parafoil, the electrogravity generator is now at a level of intricacy whereby we can implant it in a human being.

The core unit - the generator module and power train - is fusion-bonded to bone at the base of the implantee's spine, and a distributed mix of dermal sensors and monitoring fibers in the inner ear work with a built-in accelerometer to activate it in a pulse-phase mode if the implantee's body enters a state of uncontrolled fall for more than a couple of seconds. With practice, skilled operators have been able to drop from heights ranging from beyond thirty feet to upwards of one hundred feet with zero fall trauma; you can understand why we nicknamed this the "bungee" cord in R&D.

FIRE DESTROYS WHITE HELIX LABS

TWISTED CEDER, MICHIGAN (PNN) - At 04:36AM on July 18 Firefighters were called to White Helix Labs to fight an early morning blaze. By the time they arrived, the main building was already engulfed in flames.

General Manager Michael Berris could not be reached for comment, but a pre-recorded message had been left on White Helix Lab's toll-free line, stating that nobody is believed to have been hurt in the fire. That message was later removed when firefighters began pulling bodies from the wreckage.

"The recovery operations are currently ongoing," Fire Chief Minnie Hawkings told reporters, but also stated that the circumstances behind the blaze are "very suspicious."
White Helix Labs, a subsidiary of Versalife, is a bioresearch firm, studying childhood genetic diseases.

Global Politics Review [2026 Edition]

Chapter 4: The Indian Sink

India has attempted to replicate some of the achievements of the People's Republic of China with limited success; the outsourcing boom of the early 2000's created a surge in the country's knowledge base, but the fast-forward nature of the new technology-based businesses caused divisions in the populace, creating a new form of stratification in this caste-bound society - between the technologically proficient and those who rejected the advance of these new sciences. However, this bounty of innovation was short-lived.

Now, as the 2020's move toward their conclusion, the "boomtown" years are apparently over, and much of the Indian subcontinent teeters on the brink of backsliding toward an economic meltdown, mirroring the effects on the Japanese bubble economy of the late 20th century; and the situation has been made far worse by the increase in new viral strains plaguing the common populace.

Grey Skies

The Aging of the World

The changing face of the people of the world beyond 2025 stems from systemic improvements in human mortality rates and medical technologies - simply put, as a species we live longer, and the impact of a shrinking youth bulge across many nations combined with the "grey surge" of senior citizens asks many questions about how global culture will evolve in the next twenty-five years.

China's working-age populace has been in decline since 2015, and while increased automation has bridged the gap, the greater number of retirees has been accelerated by a combination of a cultural tradition of early retirement and decades of government-mandated limited childbirth policies, instigated in order to limit stress on natural resources; while in neighboring Japan, for every two working-age citizens there is one senior, putting considerable pressure on geriatric support structures. Globally, the ratio is closer to one to three.

Healing Thyself - Health Preservation Implants

Excerpt from an article by Hugh Darrow in The American Cybernetics Gazette, Summer 2014 Edition.

Your car leaves the road on an icy night; you're alone, too injured to call a paramedic. What will keep you alive until help can arrive? For all the augmentation systems at our disposal, there is little dedicated to the wellbeing of a person - little in the way of emergency management for our health.

What is needed is a next generation design for an implant web - not a single device, but a networked combination operating from a durable monitor module implanted in a highly survivable body zone as the master. Multiple distributed wireless probes in all major organs giving constantly updated bio-data, linked to secondary units located at key nerve or bloodstream vectors - in the heart, perhaps, the adrenal and lymphatic nodes - and a level of autonomous response that could keep a person alive even without the intervention of the implantee.

This is not just a concept for military or extreme conditions usage - we can also expand it to a limited healing regimen for any man, perhaps via distributed protein therapy or other methods.

Hearts of Steel (part I)

In the dawn

The morning light through the windows was rich like the colors of autumn. Meredith lay in it, a snarl of sheets around her body, Jace's arm - the steel arm - across her bare thigh like a discarded weapon.

She traced up the cyberlimb and across the place where metal met flesh, the seam of the join rough and tanned.

Jace stirred and awoke. His craggy face softened. "What's wrong?"

Meredith felt a peculiar mix of sadness and elation, a tightness in her chest as if she were on the verge of tears. "I…was afraid you might hurt me."

He was shocked. "Meri, no. I would never-"

She wanted to look away, but she couldn't. "I don't know what I'm feeling."
He took her by the hand, out of the bed, up and across to the window. 
"I do," he said, bringing her lips to his.

Hearts of Steel (part II)

Crossing the line

"Just get out!" he raged. "You've had your fun. Now get out of here, go back to your brothers and their Purity First friends!"

"Jace, no…" She reached out, but he pulled away. "You don't understand!"

"Don't insult me!" he snapped, gesturing angrily with his augmented arm. "This was all some game to you, wasn't it? Playing at being the rebel, sleeping with a wirehead cog-boy just to piss off your family!" Jace pointed a steel finger at her, his Caidin-Zeiss eyes glittering. "To hell with you! I'm sick of your lies-"

Meredith reacted without thinking, her hand slapping him across the cheek. "Shut up," she said, in a brittle voice. "Don't push me away. Don't pretend this doesn't mean anything!"

When he looked at her, the hurt in his eyes cut like blades. "This… You can't be here…"

"I have to," she breathed.

Hearts of Steel (part III)

Iron & Shadows

Across the plaza, Meredith saw him stumble and fall against a low wall. She cast a quick glance back to where the demonstrators continued to build toward an outbreak of fury - and then, on an impulse she couldn't explain, she went to him, offering a hand.

He looked up from under his hood, and the eyes that glittered there - hard and grey, like fragments of sea ice - made her gasp.

He stood, ignoring her outstretched hand; but there was something there in the depths, at odds with his scowl.

"Are you-"

"Fine," he murmured. Those eyes narrowed. "You're hurt…"

"Just a scratch," she began, but his hand was already coming up to her cheek.

Meredith started as silver fingers touched skin. To her surprise, they were warm.

"Yeah," he said, turning away. "I'm one of them. A 'cog'"

"I…"

But he was already leaving.

HOW TO WIN AT MAHJONG

The Basics
It is a mistake to think of Mahjong as a game of pure luck. To be successful requires considerable skill. For example, the player who is well versed in the rules and who masters the scoring chart will make the best decisions. This is one of the most basic strategies to master and win a game of Mahjong. Another helpful tip is to notice and memorize the discarded tiles of other players in order to know what tiles they will want to pick up.

Play Carefully To Have An Edge 
In Mahjong, prudence is rewarded. When discarding your own tiles, do so discreetly. This will keep your opponent from figuring out the type of hand you are playing. A good Mahjong player should be flexible enough to change tactics in the middle of a game if necessary. It always pays to be adaptable.

Strategy 
Once you receive your tiles, immediately evaluate the number you will need to win. For this, you must determine the specific number of tiles you will need to finish with the shortest possible path.

Playing To Win
Do not be afraid to take chances. Discard any tiles you will not need.

Playing Not To Lose
Discard your tiles cautiously. If you require only three tiles or less after four draws, you should play to win. Otherwise, play for a draw.

Playing For A Draw
Don't be the first to discard a Dragon or Wind tile. Don't play with doubles and don't claim one for a triplet. It is now safe to discard. Keep the contents of your hand concealed.

HUMAN POWERED - Autonomous Energy Reclamation Systems

By Hugh Darrow

Excerpt from an article first published in The New Cybernetics & Robotics Journal (Feb/March Edition, 2016).

But of course, it's pointless designing these kinds of desktop wonders if the actual device is incapable of operating in the real world, without recourse to an infinite supply of battery packs or power generation vectors. What powers the human machine? That's where we must look in order to power the next generation of cybernetic augmentation technologies - until such times as we can create small, light weight energy cells capable of running far beyond the lifetime of our products, we fall short.

An energy conversion device is the answer; on the scale we're capable of manufacturing now, I'm confident we can create a unit small enough to be implanted, powerful enough to make the best use of chemical energy found in a human body. We do this by mimicking the human digestive process, improving upon the natural method of nutrient conversion from, say, a liquid slurry - perhaps some form of organic protein matrix - directly to chemical potential; the capability also exists to derive neurochemical-specific energy signifiers.

Invasive Brain Machine Interfaces

By Hugh Darrow

Excerpt from an article in Neuroprosthetics Journal Quarterly (Fall 2012).

Invasive Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs), which are most common in North American research, differ mainly from EEG-based interfaces by the method through which neural activity is recorded. While EEGs can record neural activity from outside the skull, invasive BMIs require the implantation of an electrode within the brain itself. In principle, invasive BMIs rely on the hypothesis that groups of neurons will modulate their activity in very similar ways each time a given action is performed, though individual neuron firing varies from trial to trial. A clinically viable BMI should be able to document these modulations and use these modulatory behaviors to reproduce motor actions in artificial actuators (Lebedev, 2006).

In the 1960's and 70's, the scientist Eberhard E. Fetz and his colleagues trained monkeys to coordinate activity of their cortical neurons through biofeedback readings from implanted electrodes. Later, Edward Schmidt proposed that cortical neural activity could move a prosthetic, such as a robotic arm. Due to limitations in technological development, such as the technology necessary to implant sufficient quantities of electrodes into the brain, it took nearly twenty years for researchers to test his hypothesis.

In the mid-90's, invasive BMI testing progressed from mice moving a device with a single degree of freedom to primate movement reproduction. In monkeys, researchers were able to produce 'reaching' actualization, in which the neural action of the primate was able to stimulate a robotic arm to feed itself, combining components such as reaching and grasping into a fluid movement (Lebedev, 2006).

IPC Procedures and You

In times of national crisis, an IPC representative may be responsible for processing hundreds of people within a twenty-four hour period. New detainees being received at the IPC are processed through the Prisoner Search Area, AFIS, Property Inventory, Booking, Fingerprints, Medical Screening, and Inmate Classification division, before being assigned to one of the facilities' indoor containment cells. Deputies and command staff have designed a receiving system (RCV) to increase the efficiency in which prisoners can be processed and once they arrive. Please slip to appendix B, page 213, for more details.

Iron Oceans

Phytoplankton Stimulus & Global Warming

The 2008 moratorium called into action by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity severely curtailed the leaps and bounds being made by scientists working on the concept of iron seeding as a manner in which global warming could be combated. Alarmist claims of damage to the ecosystem, so-called "nutrient shifting" phenomena and ill-researched statements stating that this method could actually increase greenhouse emissions have no basis in fact.

However, it is fortunate that the Corporate Sovereignty Act of 2017 and other exceptions to the UN advisory have allowed the development cycle of this important technology to continue. 
The process works as follows:

Iron dust seeded across large expanses of ocean stimulate the growth of phytoplankton and their two-month photosynthesis bio-cycle - a process that draws carbon from the atmosphere and deposits it on the sea bed following the natural termination of the organism.

Jus Ad Bellum: The Rise of the PMCs

The Bluewater Scandal

In 2011, Bluewater Global, the worldwide leader among PMCs, became the subject of a scandal that altered the landscape of the military contracting community. On the heels of accusations of wrong-doing by its employees in Afghanistan, a journalist with the Sentai Shimbun captured images of BG staff engaging in clandestine dealings with insurgents - apparently aimed at prolonging elements of the conflict.

The outcry that followed sent shockwaves through the PMC business; within a year, congressional hearings and a massive fall in shareholder confidence sounded the death knell for Bluewater. Public sentiment turned against PMC's, but the need for them was still very immediate. Sensing an opportunity, Roger St.John-Ffolkes, founder and CEO of Belltower Associates, filled the power vacuum. Belltower's untarnished image worked in the corporation's favor, beginning a rise that took it to the top of its industry.

Liberate Yourself!

Let Us Help!

Liberty In Mind and Body International (L.I.M.B.) is an international humanitarian organization dedicated to the care and welfare of augmented people around the world.

We are the leading advocate and healthcare provider for human enhancement technology, with nearly two thousand clinics serving the needs of over eight million people every year.
Founded in 2011 by Doctor Haydon Suyong, formerly of Darrow Industries, our credo is 'Augmentation For All'.

100% independent of corporate and national control, L.I.M.B.'s mission statement is no less than to offer full and equal access to human enhancement products and technologies across every global border and class in society.

Our international network of low-cost medical-mechanical clinics cater exclusively to augmented people, and they can be found in every major city, offering everything from routine cybernetics maintenance, check-ups and consultancy, through to full operating theaters with complete augmentation implantation facilities.

mECHsTYLE!

Augmentation Couture and Cutting Edge Cyberware for the Enhanced Human

The United Nations bio-politic vote: What it means for YOU.

Tai Yong Medical's new BX-series cyberlimbs - are the rumors of a 45% failure rate true?

New enhancements for the Hermes cyberleg prosthesis.

Full Body Conversions in the next decade.

Top 5 mECHsTYLE picks - Implanted Cellular Phones & Digital Media Players.

L.I.M.B. opens new clinics in Glasgow, Oslo, and Wellington.

The rise in black market cybernetics - can you afford to take the risk?

Take a Dive! We review the AirSure Implanted Rebreather Device off the coast of Baja!

We discuss the aftermath of the recent anti-augmentation riots in Dallas.

Behind the scenes with Sarif Industries' new dermal sheath process.

On the slopes with the aug-boarders of Aspen.

Looking to the future: Where do we go next? The facts about nanotechnology.

Megan Reed; Lab Notes

[Entry 708]

It's hard to fathom it all sometimes… When I made that breakthrough in my research a couple of years ago, I never thought it would get this big.

I thought it was an anomaly at first, but it's become to genetics what universal assemblers are to nanotechnology. We're talking about the Holy Grail of DNA here. Hell, this is Gregor Mendel big.

The thing is… I have to bury the truth. Not the discovery, but how I reached my results. It's become harder lately… I betrayed someone, someone I… respected, for the sake of my research.

I wish I had a chance to fix it, but it got bigger than me… bigger than Sarif. If this ever came to light, Sarif Industries could be ruined…

I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm tired. I think I'll just wrap things up for today…

MY DIARY (by Chou Jian)

***

I am so tired of this place. Day in, day out, solving problems for a bunch of whiny losers. "Fix my sink!" "Unblock my toilet!" I'll tell you dumbasses what: don't flush dope baggies and bottle caps down the john and it won't overflow. I did a graduate degree in Engineering for this!?

***

I've just got to get out of this place. This shitty hotel is really getting me down. All I've got to do is save enough money to get out of here and I'll never have to see this place again. Two more years. That's it. And then I'm gone. It'll be goodbye Lower Hengsha, hello sunshine and fresh air!

***

Had to fix Deng's front door again. This makes the third time in two weeks. He keeps coming home drunk, unable to find his keys and then kicks in the door. This place is driving me nuts. I cannot wait to get out.

Nano-Augmentation - Pipedream, or Theory for the Future?

By Hugh Darrow

Excerpt from a paper in NeoNature, September 2022.

We've been throwing around the word 'nanotechnology' for decades and yet despite all our best efforts, we are only inching closer to that molecular-scale frontier when in fact we should be racing toward it. In the decade to come, the enhanced beings – post-humans who are our progeny – will look at the mechanical devices we rudely bolted on to our living flesh or buried inside our grey matter, and they will mock us for our crudity. They will look upon what we have made with the same curiosity, the same disinterest, as the pilot of a veetol helicopter would look upon an ox-cart.

The future of human augmentation lies in the small; in fact, the smallest. In the next thirty years, the molecular frontier will be broken and true nano-scalar reprogramming and biological reorientation will be possible. There will be no more tedious instances of severing limbs to replace them with steel proxies. We will drink in these tiny machines, inject them - and be transformed.

Neural Interface Protocols: The PEDOT Revolution

By Hugh Darrow

First published in Neuroprosthetics Journal Quarterly (Fall 2010).

Prior to Darrow Industries' creation of PEDOT electrodes, almost all implanted neurostimulation devices on the market were based on the use of metal electrodes coming into contact with neural tissue. The better the contact, the more useful the device.

As an example, over 10,000 patients have had a deep brain electrode inserted into their skull to reduce tremors from Parkinson's disease. Since there are no pain fibers in the brain, the operation is performed while the patient is awake. When the electrode is inserted in the proper location, the tremors stop instantly.

Unfortunately, metal electrodes are stiffer than surrounding brain tissue, and also prone to the mechanical impacts encountered by the body. Thus, when implanted in tissue, they frequently produce inflammation and sheaths of glial tissue surrounding them, a situation which not only leads to tissue injury, but also reduces electrical effectiveness of the device.

PEDOT electrodes were a revolutionary improvement in that they relied on both conducting polymers and live neural cells in their design. The increased biocompatibility and electrical signal transduction properties of the conducting polymer electrodes addressed each of these issues and promised a new generation of implanted electrodes that would benefit patients and clinicians.

No Better: The Myth of Human Augmentation (part I)

By William Taggart

I find myself returning to a story that touched my life; a story about Ezekiel, a young man torn apart by the trauma of augmentation. A man I was lucky enough to be able to help.
Ezekiel was a Marine who had been severely wounded in the Gulf. Believing he had something to prove, he asked to be augmented and returned to duty. But when his tour was over, the shock of his changed self sent him into a spiral of despair. He looked for death back home - and there our paths crossed. 
I was able to turn him around, to convince him to have his augmentations removed. After recovering in a Humanity Front clinic, Ezekiel was able to return to the man he'd once been – and became a model case for our group's beliefs. He was truly healed.

No Better: The Myth of Human Augmentation (part II)

By William Taggart

Humankind has always sought to improve itself; from the earliest iterations of civilization, we improved our minds through education and the pursuit of knowledge, our souls through the quest for spiritual truth, and our bodies through the eradication of disease and hunger.

You will forgive me, perhaps, when I dare to say that the human being is a divine engine - it is the ultimate expression of life on our Earth, and so it is a most precious and sacred thing. Humanity is what we have, it is what we are.

But that purity falls beneath a shadow, and that shadow is greed, it is weakness. The power is at our fingertips to replace flesh with steel and plastic. But the truth is this: for each piece of yourself you surrender, your humanity dies a little more. You are no better.

No Better: The Myth of Human Augmentation (part III)

By William Taggart

Some people think that I am a fool to advocate a cessation of augmentation technologies, that I am some sort of backward-looking Luddite yearning for a past that no longer exists. But the truth is, I embrace the future - a human future.

I know that the genie cannot be returned to his bottle - yes, my friends, what has been learned cannot be unlearned - so in that case, we owe it to our species and our progeny to correctly manage this most corrosive, most dangerous technology. Without oversight, we run the risk of losing all that we are. We begin an uncontrolled fall toward inhumanity.

Quite simply, augmentation must not be allowed to run wild. Regulation and control are the key to a safe, sane tomorrow. This is not some great surrender of freedom, not some draconian diktat - it is common sense.

On-View

WEDNESDAY NIGHT'S ESSENTIAL VIEWING ON HOLO, FLATSCREEN & STREAMING MEDIA

8.00pm - 10.00pm

Picus News Network
"The Global Report, with Eliza Cassan"
Cassan interviews cyber-Olympian Sandra Pappenhaus and elder rocker JoCo.

Channel 120
"Heroes on Call" (Episode 2.12)
The conclusion of this two-part episode finds Todd and his Belltower team trapped in the orphanage by a UN hit squad.

DigiDirect
"Cleen Streets!"
Hapless detective Jack Cleen forces his partner to masquerade as his wife when Susan divorces him, with hilarious results!

Picus Sports 3
"National Enhanced Hockey League"
Coverage of the Paris Towers vs. Seattle Hammers game.

WorldWatch One HD
"Holly, Wood & Vine"
Holly discovers she is pregnant.

InVision
"InVision Extra"
The Panchaea Project.

CineVid
"Swords of Soulban"
Fantasy Adventure (2014, rated PG)

M3V
"Ny'ashia Akim: The Steel Skin Tour"
Live concert from Mombasa.

Picus Sports 5
"Augmented Combat Challenge 2026 World Championship"
Highlights of last year's competition.

Optical Enhancement Functionality

Darrow Industries developmental study, 2017.

Our core vision enrichment enhancements implant the human eye with a series of suspended organic-plastic lenses using embedded circuitry, tied into a nanoscale neural spike that is attached to the optic nerve.

Beyond the simple optical functionality of the basic module, with provision for an implanted miniature lens array for visual acuity at extended range, there are line enhancements that can become accessible to the implantee after training and/or experiential operation - specifically, the development of autonomic environment parsing. This can include the most basic level of interface with a so-called "heads-up display" or in more advanced modes, a literal predictive understanding of electronic systems and related environmental cues.

In addition, the basic enhanced man is automatically protected from a variety of hazardous visual impairment vectors - damage from flash effects, "retina burn" and other similar occurrences.

Practical Shootist Monthly

Featured in this month's hard-packed edition:

We review the latest iteration of a classic - the Stasiuk Arms XBow compound crossbow system, and we ask if the silent kill is truly the best.

Live fire analysis of the new modified SMG in development for Germany's Bundespolizei GSG 9 division.

Columnist Rick Tiplady discusses the history of a masterpiece; the .357 Python.

Gun Control: managing recoil through augmented cyberlimbs for .50 caliber rounds and above.

Our technology consultant looks at the next generation of non-lethal firearms, including the new gun out of Hong Kong's Connaught Technologies - the Pulsed Energy Projection System.

On Location - this month, we join the Austin police department's Hostage Rescue Unit.

We examine the latest advances in Liquid-Matrix armor.

The Skull-Gun and other implanted firearms: Real, Fantasy or Nightmare?

OP-ED: Why is it wrong to have a flamethrower?

Plus all our usual features and columns.

Radical Evolution is a Reality

Comments by Hugh Darrow on 'KnowFuture', broadcast November 9th 2011, 9.00pm PST on the Picus News Network.

Oh, undoubtedly Garreau got it right. I read the man's work and I see no reason to contradict him. He talks about the three futures and I see the lines toward them stretching out from this moment. That's what we are doing at Darrow Industries, we're building the possibility.

One future is where human beings are supplanted by newer, better, smarter versions of themselves. The next year's model of mankind, if you can call it that. Garreau called that "The Heaven Scenario". Then there's the claptrap spouted by doomsayers who claim we'll all be dead before 2050, or something… that's "The Hell Scenario". And then there's "The Prevail Scenario", and to be quite honest, I imagine that's the one that's most likely to come about. That third option is where tomorrow lies undetermined, where we make the world anew as it happens. You can't simply bolt a machine limb to a man, gift him with post-human ability, and not expect it to radically change him.

Reimagining Retinal Implants: Doctor Dobelle's Success

Excerpted from a paper published by Hugh Darrow in American Scientific in 2010.

Many of you may not have heard of Dr. Dobelle. Doctor Dobelle is a doctor from New York whose specialty is in designing artificial organs. Several years ago, he embarked a project to implement an artificial eye which could transmit information straight into the occipital lobe of the brain. (For those of you still new to neuroscience, the occipital lobe is one of four lobes in the human brain. It is located at the back of the head and is responsible mostly for our visual processing.)

The goal for Dr. Dobelle was to create an implant with an electrode array and surgically insert it onto the surface of the occipital lobe's visual cortex. This way, the camera could transmit straight to the brain instead of to the eye, and hopefully create a more complex image than what can be achieved by a retinal implant. The procedure was very costly to perform, costing approximately $80,000. After working hard to raise money, an experimental patient who had lost his vision 20 years prior was finally able to undergo it. So, after allowing this patient ten days in recovery, Dr. Dobelle attempted to stimulate the electrodes which were now attached to the surface of his visual cortex.

Now, there was a question as to whether or not the brain tissue of the visual cortex could still be stimulated after twenty years of blindness. However, immediately after the first stimulation attempt, "Jens" was struck with the perception of vision. He was able to see small spots of light within his visual field – proving the surgery to be a success!

Resist The Machine

We Are Purity First!

Reject The Metal!

Embrace Yourself!

Lies are Made of Steel - The Truth is Flesh & Blood!

Are you tired of seeing half-human cyborgs taking jobs and opportunities from good people?

Are you sick of cogs who mutilate and debase themselves?

We believe that understanding human choice is impossible without first experiencing the human body's limitations!

Physical limitations are what make us human - we should not strive to be anything else!

Attempting to improve the human condition through biological modification only diverts attention and resources from social solutions that could do the same without changing the fundamental nature of people!

We believe that any deliberate attempt to change the human body is ethically and morally wrong.

Purity First cannot be smashed, it cannot be effectively infiltrated, it cannot be stopped.

You, each and every one of you, are Purity First.

Respirocyte Technology & Hazardous Environment Parsing

Darrow Industries developmental study abstract document, 2021.

The respirocyte project currently represents the bleeding edge of nano-scale micromachine technology, and while a full 'pure' application of that system is still several years ahead of our current capabilities, at this stage we are capable of implanting a combined interlaced augmentation using basic respirocyte proxies, rebreather technology and enhanced lung musculature synthesis, using electroactive polymers.

The respirocyte itself is an artificial red blood cell, a sphere approximately one micron in diameter with a high internal pressure on the order of around one thousand atmospheres; test examples have been constructed using artificial diamond analogues, drawing power from blood glucose. It is theorized that the mature design respirocytes could contain several hundred times more oxygen and carbon dioxide than organic blood cells; in effect, a human being with respirocyte colonies in their bloodstream could hold their breath for long periods.

Combined with microminiature rebreather systems to recycle exhaled breathing gasses and implanted molecular filters, it is theoretically possible for a human so equipped to also resist airborne poisons, particulate contaminants and other toxic environments for short periods.

REX-84 Operational Field Notes

Reference to Operation Garden Plot

Extant to the operational results from continuity of government REX-84 Alpha Explan (subsection of Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, 'Operation Garden Plot'), regarding large-scale suppression / arrest / detainment of civilians during national crisis situation.

Function: to suppress insurgence whenever unlawful assemblages or rebellion against the authority of the United States make it impractical to enforce law in any state or territory by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.

Application of forces: local and state police, Army and (in support role) Air National Guard under State control, Federal civil law enforcement officials, federal military forces to include Army and (in support role) Air National Guard. The minimum forces to be supported in the Detroit objective area is 5,000, the maximum is 12,000; as specified by Executive Order in which said forces have been directed to restore law and order.

Rooftop Pitfalls Claim Another

Evelyn Carmichael, a young woman in her early 20s, became one of the latest victims claimed by the deadly Youzhao rooftops that have authorities clambering for stricter safety regulations and zoning permits.

Sources close to the victim say Evelyn had been out celebrating with her boyfriend before the incident occurred. A witness, whose identity was not released, claims she slipped and fell while descending one of the many staircases that connect the Youzhao and Kuaigan rooftops with Pandeng street below. Police believe alcohol or drugs may have influenced the fatal accident, but officials claim the tragedy could have been avoided entirely if laws were different.

With elections just around the corner, Evelyn's death will no doubt spark a host of new debates and controversy concerning city-wide safety regulations. Rooftop-related injuries and deaths have steadily risen in the last 5-years, and make up over 60% of all recorded accidental fatalities each year.

Sarif Industries Incident Report TA-00514-008

CASE #: TA-00514

INCIDENT: Terrorist Attack on Sarif Industries Headquarters, Detroit.

OFFICER: Det. Gene Szczepkowski (DPD4211)

SUBJECT: [008] Confused witness

DETAILS: Apart from Sarif's Chief of Security (who is still in a critical condition in [*edit*])and another lab technician who is lying in a deep coma in the same hospital, the only witness to the attack on Sarif who was left alive is a tech named Arthur Hopkins.

Something peculiar regarding the witness' deposition or lack there of: When we first got on the scene, Mr. Hopkins was waiting for us in a rec room near the labs. He was obviously in shock but was quite coherent and ready to give a clear description of the incident.

The Emergency Response team wanted to make sure his condition was stable before allowing us to interview him. When we came back after his check-up, a few minutes later, he was incoherent and confused. He couldn't remember anything about the attack. We still haven't heard back from the ER team regarding this matter.

[*Addendum, Cpt. Penn*]
The situation has been resolved with the medical team. Mr. Hopkins' condition has been validated. He suffered from a severe concussion. This matter is closed.

Sarif Industries: Rising to Tomorrow (part I)

The Sarif Ethos

Here at Sarif Industries, we specialize in the design and manufacture of advanced neuro-augmentations and prosthetics for human implantation, and we strive to distinguish ourselves by working with clients to create progressive, forward-thinking, custom augmentations that answer specific challenges and needs. We are proud to maintain our creative independence in a rapidly shrinking and highly competitive marketplace.

To ensure our uniqueness, we maintain an in-house staff of doctors and nurses, in addition to the usual array of augmentation scientists and researchers, training them to work with clients to determine individual needs. Sarif Industries offers its clients free comprehensive, pre-operational screenings so as to better understand their personal challenges.

We employ over 1500 people in the Detroit area, in our factory and R&D facilities. More than any other corporation in the augmentation industry, we work hard to promote and maintain our reputation as innovators and as a home for independence, excellence and quality.

Sarif Industries: Rising to Tomorrow (part II)

How Did We Get Here?

David Sarif had a dream: that one day he would create a technology that would change the world, and his company would be the crucible where that would happen. In 2007, Sarif Industries opened its doors in Detroit, working in partnership with the city to revitalize it with an influx of new technology industries.

Sarif's research and development of augmentations are a measure of human advancement toward a better future, and our founder's reputation as a free-thinker and a maverick has allowed him to recruit a staff of like-minded geniuses, gathering the kinds of nonconformist scientists that, like David Sarif, have never truly been able to function in a regimented corporate environment.

In the past two decades, Sarif Industries has generated a reputation for originality and innovation in the business and science communities.

Synthetic Thought: The Human AI (part I)

Can a machine lie?

The evolution of Artificial Intellects raises questions of a moral and ethical nature that affect humans in a way that no other technological development has before. If the search for AI is to create a mechanism that reasons and intuits in a fashion similar to a human organism, then what is the scope of the morality of such an intelligence?

As early as 2009, at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Swiss scientists developed an iterative experiment using robots with a 264-bit binary code 'genome' that governed how they reacted to different stimuli; after 500 iterations, the LIS robots had learned to think around a task set for them - the gathering of a resource - to the point where they could 'lie' to their fellows in order to hoard said resource for themselves.

Synthetic Thought: The Human AI (part II)

Can a Machine think like a Man?

Since the late nineties, the scientific community's attempts to construct what one might call a "bio-computer" system have evolved from pure science fiction to a viable and very real research endeavor.

Consider a bio-matter device with the capacity to repair itself, to reprogram itself, perhaps even at some advanced levels of complexity to modify its own structure to better perform its assigned tasking. The ongoing maturation of nanobiotechnology has opened the gateway to the construction of nano-scale systems utilizing biologically-derived components merging organic interfaces with the processing capacity of traditionally-derived computer architecture.

Pioneering designs already exist, using patterned variations built on the brain structure of minor phylum rodentia and canines, and the potential for a human-scale iteration of this technology is not only possible, but if successful, may represent a radical evolution in thinking systems.

Tai Yong Medical & You! (part I)

Corporate Background

A multinational biotechnology company based in and around the Hengsha Island development nexus in China, Tai Yong Medical specializes in the manufacture and sale of human augmentation hardware. TYM is proud to be one of the market leaders in our chosen industry, and with our ongoing strategic partnerships and corporate mergers, our board of directors are committed to making us the principal augmentation producer across the globe by the year 2030.

Tai Yong Medical is a cost-effective alternative when choosing augmentation manufacturers. We have earned this title by selling our products at or near cost price direct to our clients, be they corporate, governmental or private. Our aggressive market presence has seen us expand to become the employer of over 9,500 people in China, Japan, the United States, Nigeria, South Africa and Mexico, with branch offices in six more nations.

Tai Yong Medical & You! (part II)

Corporate History

Tai Yong Medical was incorporated in Shanghai in 1977, as a designer/manufacturer of silicon prosthetic limbs. Throughout the 1980's, TYM grew to become a moderately-sized company with two factories in the People's Republic of China and sales all across South East Asia; but it was in 2009, when Zhao Yun Ru, one of China's first - and youngest - CEOs brought her unique vision to the company that Tai Yong became a name known around the world.

Working with the Army of the People's Republic, Yun Ru's altruism and business acumen cemented an arrangement to supply augmentations to amputee combat veterans, making Tai Yong Medical a corporate force to be reckoned with, fuelling new expansion across South East Asia, and growing African markets; later, in 2017, TYM was invited to take part in the audacious Hengsha Island project, leading to the construction of its corporate headquarters.

The Attack on Nature

Turning Our World Against Us

For all the grand schemes of leading figures in the field of "geo-engineering", the fact is this branch of "science" is in fact nothing short of charlatanry.

Putting aside the lingering questions of global warming and its effect - or lack thereof - on the world around us; instead consider the damage that will be wrought by these "climate change cowboys" if they are allowed to run riot across the ecosphere.

Toothless environmental protection treaties and governments who care only for profits and votes are opening the door for scientists with "quick-fix" solutions up their sleeves. They leave our fragile Earth, already injured through our short-sightedness, vulnerable to greater harm.

How can anything known as "geo-hacking" be a positive endeavor? We are discussing means of weather control and environmental modification not made to save lives, but often funded by military think-tanks to wage war!

The Belltower Way (part I)

Company History

In the 1990's, decorated officer Roger St.John-Ffolkes left the British Army and became a strategic consultant for a UK-based Private Military Contractor (PMC). What he learned there encouraged him to strike out on his own. Calling in favors from contacts gleaned from years in the Army, St.John-Ffolkes set up Belltower UK, the precursor to The Belltower Group PLC. His personal ethos informed everything about the company's operations and corporate policy, and Belltower became known for its refusal to engage in any contracts of an "ethically challenged" nature.

At first, Belltower operated in minor conflict hotspots, handling low-level corporate security, kidnap and retrieval and close protection details. By the early 2000's, the company had expanded its operations and grown into Belltower Associates. An umbrella entity, the Belltower Group now included sub-divisions such as Belltower Maritime Security, Belltower Alpha, HackWall Data Protection Services, and Skye Secure Aviation.

The Belltower Way (part II)

Corporate Background Brief

The Belltower Group provides a maximum spectrum private military/security solution for every need; the company was incorporated in 1997, beginning life as a security consultancy and close protection (bodyguard) agency.

Currently with offices in Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Iraq, Kenya, India, and the United States, our headquarters in England is a hardened skyscraper with all the capabilities of a military base, situated in the London Sink, an area of reclaimed land close to the river Thames. Other key facilities include a maritime base on the US Gulf Coast and a training facility in Bangalore, India.

Belltower's services are tailored for international clients, including governments, international agencies, and the corporate sector. It is also a registered and active UN contractor.

We provide specialist security and risk management solutions to counter extreme threats, along with exfiltration, K & R, threat neutrality operations and quick-react symphonic defenses.

The Intelligence Circuit

Excerpted from a talk given by Hugh Darrow at the 2020 Human Plus Conference in San Jose .

We get carried away with the idea of bolting robot arms and legs to our fleshy torsos, but I firmly believe that the real core of what we can innovate lies within our meat - more specifically, in our brains.

Deep brain implants are the way in which the human machine can truly be supercharged. Consider our grey matter; our neural DNA has been imprinted with a mammoth amount of information allowing us to parallel-process huge and complex data sets in quick order - but for all that, our "wet memory" is patchy and sporadic. We lack the ability to communicate data in complete fashion!

Through the use of cognitive enhancement implants providing nootropic stimuli, we are capable of creating a new level of neural synchrony that can effectively boost brain capacity; and via wireless data-parsing subsystems, a form of "radio telepathy" is a real and viable concept. Faster brains processing more data, reacting quicker, capable of streaming that data in real-time to other similarly accelerated posthumans – this is the real frontier.

The Nature of Neuroplasticity

From a lecture by Hugh Darrow given at the Bern Institute of Medicine, 2013.

The term 'neuroplasticity' literally means the flexibility of the brain to reorganize itself based on the result of experience. Two decades ago, the consensus among cognitive neuroscientists like yourselves was that lower brain and neocortical areas were unable to be changed after development – whereas structures such as memory could be actively altered in areas related to formation of recall.

In a series of cleverly designed experiments, Michael Merzenich proved that somatosensory and auditory sensations – touch and hearing, respectively – can, in fact, be modified through practice. This process of longterm potentiation was further explored in a series of studies in the mid-90s at Southern Illinois University – studies which clearly showed how memories could be enhanced by manipulating neuroplasticity.

Indeed, with the precise timing available to us in today's computers, we can clearly see that enhancement in learning can be applied for areas of the motor cortex, auditory cortex, somatosensory cortex, and hippocampus. Manipulation of neuroplasticity makes it clear that we, as a species, have been blessed with a brain that has an unparalleled flexibility to incorporate neuroprosthetic augmentations.

The Neural Hub - Design for a Next Generation

By Hugh Darrow

Excerpt from a paper in NeoNature, May 2015.

Neural Hub technology is viewed by some as the millstone about the neck of cybernetics research, but such commentary indicates a failure to think outside the box. In fact, the neural hub has always had the capacity to grow beyond its function as a gateway for cyberware integration.

These implants, developed in the beginning as components in ever-shrinking cell phone/TV/and MP3 player parts, comprise numerous physical processors integrated on one physical chip, but the key is in the threading: the hub is controlled by software which enables more efficient processing on the hardware. Each input from the nervous system generates its own or multiple threads, based on operations like motion or recollection. What I propose is a combination of multi-core processors tied closer to the human brain's own superlative multi-tasking capacity - effectively breaking down the barrier between the commonplace hub designs of current iterations and the subject's own mind.

In effect, we allow the hub to work with the human brain. In analogy, instead of a relay-race where one participant is slower than the other, it becomes a ride on a tandem.

The Next Three Decades (part I)

The Future To Come

A natural outgrowth of today's increasing fragmentation of governmental/national structures will be a return to a concept that was once a key part of medieval and renaissance era cultures - the city-state.

Narrowing a focus to more local issues instead of "federal" mandates is a common reaction to a threat mindset. Several cities, most notably Seattle and Dallas in the United States of America, have already adopted a fortress mentality, effectively walling off their dominions to become a minor nation of their own.

On one level, a loss of centralized control is inevitable; but then a greater degree of autonomy can also bring greater benefits in terms of resource allocation and population control. It is estimated that by 2050 this city-state model will be typical, with larger metroplexes such as New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Moscow incorporating in such fashion.

The Next Three Decades (part II)

Where Will We Be in 2050?

There was once a time when we believed that the world would become a monolithic nation-state, a kind of 'United States of Earth', brought together under the global aegis of a super-governmental body. But now that prediction seems quaint and hackneyed.

The reality is that we live in an era where sovereign nations and the formal governments of countries are little more than lines of demarcation upon the world's maps. More and more citizens of the world lend their loyalty not to a flag, but to the only true trans-national entities that still thrive - corporations. We thus foresee a time when people will be citizens of their employer's 'nation' rather than Chinese, French, Canadian, etc. And in this world, what we have thought of as traditional nation-complexes - such as America - will fragment in order to find their own equilibrium.

The Next Three Decades (part III)

In Sickness and In Health

The horror wrought by the Malaysian H5N1-variant viral outbreak in 2018, coming less than a decade after the 2009-2010 Swine Flu pandemic, showed the world that despite advances in medical technology, we as human beings are still just as much the prey to disease that we were during the era of the Black Plague or 1918's influenza occurrence.

Scientists claim to be closer than ever to cures for cancer, for the AIDS/HIV virus and other disease vectors, and we might hope that in the next thirty years these killers might be finally put to rest; but we must also consider that our changing world brings with it new iterations of old pandemics, and so we as a species will remain under the shadow of a threat from some new and as-yet un-encountered confluence of viral forms

The Science and Theory behind Cochlear Implants

By Hugh Darrow

Excerpt from a paper in NeoNature, February 2010.

A cochlear implant is a small electronic device implanted into the cochlea which aims to restore a very basic level of hearing to the deaf or severely hard of hearing. They are the most widely used neuroprosthetics in the U.S.

In order to understand how a cochlear implant works, one must first understand the how the human ear works. Sound waves travel through the air and are funneled into the auditory canal by the pinna - the outer part of the ear that we can see. The sound waves travel down the auditory canal and put pressure on the tympanic membrane – also known as the eardrum – causing vibration of the ossicles on the other end of the eardrum. This vibration continues through the ossicles and puts pressure on the oval window attached to the cochlea.

The cochlea is where the sensation of hearing occurs. It is a fluid-filled space that spirals like a sea shell. Within the spirals of the cochlea are small hair cells called the organ of Corti. When pressure is put on the oval window, the fluid within the cochlea moves, and some hair cells are pressed down. When this happens, the hair cells become activated and transmit this information to the brain. Different perceptions of sound are based on the different combinations of sound waves pressing down various hair cells in the organ of Corti within the cochlea. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may have an ineffective cochlea or damage to that area. They may also have damage to the ossicles that transmit sound vibration

The Shadow of Omega (part I)

Chapter Three: Road to Ruin

Under United Nations auspices and in collaboration with several major biotech companies led by the Versalife Group, the World Health Organization began construction on a new facility in Singapore as part of their Disease Control Initiative.

Dedicated to curing sickness around the globe, the complex was constructed as a centre for research into viral genetics and bio-sciences; and controversially, the labs maintained live samples of some of the most virulent forms of disease known to man, including cholera, SARS, and avian flu.

In a moment of black humor, the media nicknamed it "Omega Ranch", referring to the final letter of the Greek alphabet and by inference, a place where something that might end the world could be spawned. The name stuck, much to the WHO's dismay; and by the 2020's it would become the formal designation for the complex

The Shadow of Omega (part II)

Chapter Four: The 2018 Accident

Omega Ranch was a massive undertaking, a highly-secure site with multiple labs and research departments, along with support structures and an accommodation complex. In 2009 the Disease Control Initiative opened their doors to the world's doctors, but the facility was dogged by technical issues, staffing problems and underfunding.

The pressures on the WHO staff at the isolated facility grew and finally, in 2018, the worst-case scenario came to pass. A breach in containment led to the explosive spread of a modified variant of the H5N1 avian flu virus, which swept across Malaysia, killing tens of thousands of people.

The exact details of the cause of the outbreak are unclear, although some conspiracists have insisted that the event was deliberately triggered by clandestine groups - perhaps as an attempt to destabilize the region. The epidemic would have lasting effects on Malaysia

The Singularity Church of the MachineGod

Our Manifesto

Have you ever wondered about the fate of our species?

We exist in a time unlike any other; a time where man can go beyond the tyranny of flesh and embrace a new tomorrow.

We share the belief of a manifest destiny for our species, a future where human instrumentality evolves into a form beyond our crude flesh and blood.

The next evolution is near. A coming together of man and machine. A synthesis greater than the birth of the human organism.

This is the Singularity. The God in the Machine.

Many cultures predict an end to humanity in the near future, a final Armageddon that will end the world; but we disagree.

We know the future of man.

Join us. Understand the path that unfolds before our species.

Grow beyond the bounds of flesh and blood.

Embrace the Singularity!

The Six Month War

A History of the Conflict

With the absorption of Palestine into the United Arab Front, it was inevitable that the coalition of nations first conceived by Iran in 2014 would turn their attention to Israel. Generations of Arabs who had grown up knowing of nothing but conflict with their neighbors were stirred to belligerence by the new power of the UAF; and emboldened by expansionist doctrines, plans were laid for a lightning-strike assault.

In March of 2021, the conflict that would become known as the Six Month War was ignited by a massed invasion. A carefully coordinated attack using infantry and armored elements, fighters and bombers, short-range ballistic missiles and limited littoral sea power struck at Israeli defense forces - but the key element of the engagement was the use of covert augmented operatives and cyber-warfare units to cripple defensive command-and-control networks and nuclear retaliatory strike capabilities.

The Sleepwalking World (part I)

WAKE UP!

THE ILLUMINATI ARE THE SECRET MASTERS OF THE PLANET!

Imagine an ancient secret society with a global reach and a plan of unparalleled scope for the future of humanity.

Imagine a power group known only as the Illuminati, who have worked from the shadows to control the course of the world for hundreds of years.

THIS IS NOT FICTION. THIS IS FACT

The Illuminati are forever hidden behind cat's-paws and double-blinds, and they seek to manipulate the globe through the exploitation of prominent organizations.

Despite what they say, the United Nations, the World Bank, and the European Union were all originally created as vehicles to further the ambitions of the Illuminati, and all remain under its control.

The Illuminati aims to bring about a "world peace" by replacing sovereign nations with an Illuminati-run one-world government.

THEY WANT CONTROL OF US ALL

The Sleepwalking World (part II)

WAKE UP!

WE ARE NOT ALONE

The One-World Government and all its lackeys ensure that everyone who speaks out about life on other worlds is labeled a fool, a crackpot. They discredit all research and conceal the truth.

Alien beings are real. Our elected officials know this. They have been in communication with extraterrestrials, extradimensionals, xenoforms and other non-human life and kept it from us.

ALIENS HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A VERY LONG TIME

Their technologies are beyond human ability to understand, and our leaders are selling us out to these invaders for their knowledge.

They have come here to fulfill an alien agenda. To interbreed with our species. They are dying off and need our genetic material. They have come to colonize us by making us into them.

Our children will be theirs if we do not stop them.

WE WILL NOT SURVIVE UNLESS WE RESIST

The Sleepwalking World (part III)

WAKE UP!

YOUR GOVERNMENT CAN FOLLOW YOU ANYWHERE

Under the guise of helpful programs such as the Amber Alert database for missing children and the world Smallpox Vaccine Initiative, those who would seek to control our lives are eroding our liberties.

They mask their true intentions; they plan to build a global database of all citizen DNA fingerprints. Your autonomy and self-determination will be curtailed for all time.

DNA REGISTRATION IS THE DEATH OF FREEDOM

Only those people who appear on the global register will be allowed to vote, to travel, to have children, to earn a living, to speak out.

Non-registrants will be non-people. This is a silent, quiet slavery and we are allowing it to happen.

Our elected officials are marking us like animals in pens, shackling us with the very blood in our veins.

A POPULATION THAT CAN BE TRACKED CANNOT BE FREE

The Sleepwalking World (part IV)

WAKE UP!

A FORTRESS OF LIES IS HIDDEN IN THE HEART OF AMERICA

It has many names. Dreamland. Groom Lake. Area 51. Majic.

For decades, this clandestine military facility has been declared a non-place. It does not exist; what transpires beneath the desert sands there is isolated from oversight of any kind.

IF THEY WILL NOT OPEN IT THEY MUST BE FORCED

Lethal military technologies are unleashed on a daily basis. Biological weapons research, exotic power systems, synthetic intelligences, use of energetic devices and objects of paranormal and/or xenoterrestrial origin.

This place is protected by killers and assassins; by paid lackeys and turncoat politicians. It is shrouded in lies and deceit. There is no-one to stop the mad scientists from tampering with forces beyond their understanding.

Every day this black zone remains intact, we are threatened by the uncontrolled experimentation taking place there.

WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?

The Sleepwalking World (part V)

WAKE UP!

ALL MAJOR DISEASES ARE COVERT POPULATION CONTROL

The human organism has only one flaw - it is too resilient for the ones who would control the world! We are too good at surviving!

There are too many of us. In order to secretly cull the population figures, artificially created diseases are unleashed to thin the human herd.

All these are the products of laboratories: AIDS/HIV, Ebola, SARS, Swine Flu and many others.

THERE ARE CURES

AIDS was developed by a neoconservative/religious extremist conspiracy.

Ebola is a weaponized kill-virus that escaped from a secret Russian facility.

SARS is China's failed attempt to wipe out the city of Hong Kong.

Bioterrorists in league with corporate interests created Swine Flu to panic the world.

These are only the opening shots in a war where the battleground is your blood.

A worse pandemic is coming!

EVERY VIRUS IS A BULLET

The Speech

Mr. Secretary General, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen

David Sarif has asked me to assemble you here today, so that we might speak openly and honestly about a global issue. An issue which even now threatens to pull our society apart.

I am speaking, of course, of Human Enhancement Technology. The merging of man and machine.

Contrary to popular opinion, I did not come up with the concept. But twenty years ago I embraced it – with all my heart and soul – for I believed that blending technology with human biology would enable us to reach a level of achievement which only gods can achieve.

I saw us living as gods – in a realm without illness, suffering, or death. A realm in which every individual is able to become the Man that biology, society, circumstance, or Fate has tried so desperately to keep him from becoming.

I, myself, hoped to be one of those men.

Twenty years later, I can say with certainty that this dream I had is tarnished. Human Enhancement Technology has not turned us into gods. Instead, it has opened the door, once again, for powerful men to believe they have the right to make others what they please.

Men want control. Of the future. Of the world. Of each other.

David asked me to show the world how human enhancement technology can change it. And after careful deliberation, I've realized I must do exactly that. I know that many of you will condemn me after today but I also believe that one day, I will be remembered as the man who saved Humanity.

David, forgive me.

The Threat of Cybernetic Discognition Disorder

OP-ED column in The New Cybernetics Journal, Fall 2015 Edition, by Hugh Darrow.

Like every other new technology, from the automobile to television, human augmentation has been pilloried as a menace that will destroy our society from within and reduce us all to drooling imbeciles. I'm certain that, like me, you're just as tired of this reaction to dog-whistle punditry.

But we can't shy away from the fact that, indeed, cybernetics are a double-edged sword. By making human augmentation technology free for all, we run the risk of it falling into the hands of distressed and mentally unfit individuals. There's no denying that augmentations change the way you think about yourself, but no more than one would after cosmetic surgery - and this so-called "cybernetic discognition disorder" seems to be little more than a convenient label slapped on a much deeper problem.

The fact is, adding cybernetic implants to your body will no more destroy your sanity than playing videogames will make you a psychopath; what we must be watchful for are those whose already-fragile mental states will be destabilized further by augmentation

The Tyranny of Biology

Transcript of a seminar given by Hugh Darrow at the World Bioethics Summit in Tokyo, 8th September 2011.

The next study I'd like to share is one in which we analyzed the security and privacy properties of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Introduced to the U.S. market in 2003, this model of ICD includes pacemaker technology and is designed to communicate wirelessly with a nearby external programmer in the 175 kHz frequency range. After partially reverse-engineering the ICD's communications protocol with an oscilloscope and a software radio, we implemented several software radio-based attacks that could compromise patient safety and privacy.

Please! Ladies and gentleman, please!

Listen. I'm not here to talk about the philosophical nature of what we do in augmentation science. That's not to say I don't understand the ramifications of my work - just that I feel there are better thinkers than I more suited to the task. My prowess, my genius - if you'll forgive me for calling it that - is in the creation of these engines of human improvement. I'll leave it to future generations to decide if I am remembered well for what I've created.

But I will say this; at no other time in our history as the dominant species on this planet have we, as human beings, had as much power over our own bodies as we do now. We are on the threshold of an age where the tyranny of biology can be defeated. Someone born blind, someone whose legs are claimed by some tragedy, someone who once could hear but now cannot - we can offer hope to them. Nature no longer has the upper hand

The Use of Neuromuscular Facilitation Systems

By Hugh Darrow

Excerpt from a paper in NeoNature, October 2019.

The concept of a neuromuscular facilitator module is essentially one of an enhanced system that allows a human being to exceed normal reflex delay, to literally move at "the speed of thought." Pressure signals are transmitted through bio-synthetic circuits from a web of augmentation elements to enhance dexterity, muscle control, balance and other related abilities. A core unit – a central governor, if you will – works in concert with a series of distributed sub-modules implanted at key nerve junctions in the user's limbs and elsewhere among the implantee's vestibular structure; these in turn co-ordinate wirelessly with a strata of bio-plastic discs located along the lines of the spine. As the neuromuscular facilitator module 'beds in' to the implantee's neural pattern and becomes a functioning part of the user's body, experience will allow them to increase electrical neuron stimuli beyond initial states, and thus raise the levels of corporeal control, sensory function, and agility to even greater heights

The Visual Cortex 2.0 - The Eye, Redesigned

Excerpt from an article by Hugh Darrow in The American Cybernetics Gazette, Winter 2012 Edition.

In the organic model, normal vision begins when light enters the eye through its lens and moves through to strike specialized light-receiving photoreceptor cells coating the retina, called rods and cones. These cells convert light into electrochemical impulses that are sent down the optic nerve and into the sense centers of the human brain. In healthy subjects, the eye can function well for many years, but retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa destroy vision by annihilating these important cellular matrices.

A visual prosthetic - what some might colloquially call a "bionic eye" - is a form of neural prosthesis intended to partially restore lost vision in a patient suffering from one of the aforementioned afflictions, or to amplify and enrich the existing vision capacity of a healthy subject. Darrow Industries' refinement of this technology does away with the need for an external camera-to-implant relay system, instead reducing the extant hardware to a single biochip directly inserted into the retinal zone of the eye.

Tomorrow is Green

A Blueprint For Saving the Earth

The plain truth of it is this - we as a species have brutally abused our mother world, and now only we as a species, in concert, can heal it once more.

How do we accomplish this? There are many ways, and they start with each and every one of us, from taking individual responsibility to reduce one's carbon footprint through to larger and more proactive projects requiring dynamic, cross-national cooperation. Such as:

Tomorrow's Man: The Hugh Darrow Story (part I)

Adversity & Challenge

An ill-fated ski trip in 1995 left Darrow's anterior cruciate ligament in his knee ruined, and the failed attempts at allograft surgery left him debilitated; but for Hugh, it was the moment in which his visionary mind first drew a connection between robotics, prosthetics, and improving human capabilities to realize the transhumanist potential of mechanical augmentation.

Hugh returned to England in 1996, and at age 23 he purchased a struggling prosthetics research and manufacturing firm. Merging the lab with his robotics company under the new name of Darrow Industries, he completely changed the focus of both firms.

Over the next decade, Darrow would devote much of his personal time and resources to traveling the world, convincing many of the best and brightest biotech scientists and researchers to come work for him in the emerging field of human enhancement technology.

Tomorrow's Man: The Hugh Darrow Story (part II)

Turning Points

Darrow's father - Sir Martin Darrow, media mogul and founder of Picus Communications - enrolled him in the prestigious Scaitcliffe School and later the Stowe School. A natural athlete, Hugh was the captain of football, rugby union, and cricket teams, but beyond these sports, he found school to be boring and unchallenging, and opted not to enroll in college after graduation.

His personal interests in designing and building computer-controlled mechanical devices - a crude robot at age 10, a makeshift robotics lab at 16 - finally led him to the world's first Robot Wars competition in 1994.

He failed to win, but while discussing design ideas with other robotics experts at the competition, he heard about human motion studies being carried out at Stanford University, aimed at designing better prosthetic devices for amputees; Darrow extended his stay in the USA to meet with several biomechatronic researchers.

Understanding Vision (part I)

Excerpted from a lecture given by Hugh Darrow at Harvard University in August 2008.

Understanding the way the eye works normally is important to understanding the functioning of a retinal implant. So forgive me, for a moment, if I take the time to explain a lot of information most of you already know.

Light within our visual spectrum travels through space in the form of photons, or light waves. Our eyes are designed to receive these photons and then transmit to the brain the "visual" information coming to us from the environment. First the light passes through our pupils, then through the lens and finally to the back of the eye - where we find the retina. At the retina there are layers of photoreceptors - rods and cones. Cones are responsible for detecting different colors of light, and rods are responsible for our low light vision.

In a person with a degenerative eye condition, such as retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration, the eye's photoreceptors die off, leaving him or her no longer able to detect light or see. The areas in the brain for visual processing are still intact, however, so people are still able to imagine vision. Because these brain areas are still intact, information can still be transmitted and visual perception can occur.

And that is where neuro-enhancement of vision can begin.

Understanding Vision (part II)

Excerpt from a lecture given by Hugh Darrow at Harvard University in August 2008.

Today's retinal implants are designed to partially restore useful vision to people who have lost their sight due to degenerative eye conditions. The device consists of an electrode array attached to the eye's retina; a digital camera worn on the user's body (usually attached to a pair of glasses); and a transmitter and receiver that converts images to electrical impulses. These impulses are then transmitted by radio frequency to the electrode array.

At the moment, there are two types of retinal implants available: epiretinal implants and subretinal implants. The only difference between the two is at what point the electrode array stimulates the cells that would attach to photoreceptors. The signal transmitted travels to the optic nerve and then to the brain, allowing for the perception of sight. However, the vision a person receives from these implants is very rudimentary. He or she may be able to see an image similar to a scoreboard made up of large lights, or detect something come from light that is only an arm's length away.

In other words, today's retinal implant gives the patient very limited vision. For a person who is going blind, it's a very good option for retaining some sense of vision. Still, we at Darrow Industries intend to improve it.

United Nations General Resolution No. 85/45

Abstract

UN General Resolution #85/45 resolves to determine the most coherent policy direction for governments and corporate entities in the matter of human augmentation technologies (HET).

The so-called "bio-politic" vote is a referendum centering on key questions of regulation, distribution, control and ethical outcome.

Given that the ongoing evolution of HET systems shows all signs of becoming truly global in reach; given that HET systems radically alter the nature of human beings, thus affecting quality of life, social standing, survivability, societal compact; given that this technology can be seen to have a destabilizing effect on all levels of the social order; the following statement is proposed.

Resolution #85/45 puts forward the proposition that all future HET research and development, manufacture and distribution be monitored and regulated by a UN agency or other senior corporate entity so chosen and empowered by the United Nations advisory board.

Uniting the World (part I)

The Picus Story

Early in 1985, Dazzle Me Magazine, T-K Records and Roque Publishing came together under one banner to become a new multimedia company for a new age - the Picus Communications Group. Invigorated with new purpose and a forward-looking viewpoint, Picus exploded on to the global media scene and began a meteoric rise over the next decade, absorbing other smaller companies in film and television production, videogames, advertising, marketing and public relations, and the emergent field of internet service provision.

By 2010, the Picus Group shifted its corporate headquarters to Canada. A nation with stability, Picus invested heavily in the city of Montreal - a growing hub for virtual entertainment - in order to construct a large corporate campus in the center of the metropolis. From its new home, Picus has continued to spread, drawing in new technologies and talent to bolster its leadership of global media.

Uniting the World (part II)

What is The Picus Group?

Picus is comprised of many marketing services and media companies; these include advertising agencies, public relations firms, media and entertainment studios, market research companies, communication satellite facilities and web service providers. The Picus Group considers itself a 'parent' entity, bringing together the right combination of capabilities to serve analytic and creative brand marketing needs.

The world's largest telecommunications provider, the Picus Group has more than one thousand primary and branch offices operating in over a hundred countries; it is our pride to state without fear of contradiction that there is nowhere on Earth where Picus can't be found.

Led by Eliza Cassan, our most respected journalist and the voice of our premier news channel, the Picus News Network, we work with nearly one million people worldwide; Picus's dedicated colleagues range from copywriters and bloggers to famous movie directors and top music stars.

Vagus Nerve Stimulators - Repurposing the Technology

From a lecture given by Hugh Darrow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011.

We're all familiar with vagus nerve stimulator devices and their use in the treatment of partial epilepsy. This year the patent lockout ends on this technology, and as such we're at a point where the introduction of generic vagus nerve stimulator systems is a viable possibility.

The vagus nerve can be stimulated artificially to modulate neural plasticity in the brain, without the need for invasive surgery. Correctly controlled, governance of neurotransmitter release in brain tissue is simply a matter of degree.

Recently, we have come to understand that – with neuromodulation of the immune system through the release of neurotransmitters in the brain – we can decrease systemic inflammation, speed healing, and in fact, control the cycles of immune function. This has led to an increase in our understanding of thinking of the immune system as a rechargeable battery.

Vestibular Augmentation and Enhanced Agility Factoring

From a technology demonstration lecture presented to the United States Air Force in August 2015 by Dr. Hugh Darrow of Darrow Industries.

The human vestibular system governing our sense of spatial orientation is made up of many sensory inputs and outputs, mediated by reflex actions in the spinal cord, inner ear, nerve impulses, and – ultimately – conscious control by the cerebral cortex.

Vestibular augmentation technology, originally developed to help fighter pilots and astronauts counteract effects from G-forces or anti-gravity, has now evolved to a stage where it can be used not only to retain a normal sense of agility, but also to enhance an existing one.

A distributed network of pressure sensitive neural implants can signal a series of integrated circuits to manipulate the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). This is a reflex eye movement that stabilizes images on the retina during head movement by producing an eye movement in the opposite direction, thus preserving the image on the center of the visual field. The system also manipulates the vestibular system within the inner ear.

In other words, by electrically stimulating afferent neurons, the system replaces absent sensory function by providing stimulation that modulates above and below a baseline. When engaged in an "accelerated mode", it provides a means to override natural variations and enable enhanced control over limbs beyond the standard degrees of freedom.

We Hope For Better Things: The Past and Future of Detroit

Part Six - Where Now?

Ours has been described as a bleak city beset by tension between race, between rich and poor, between humans and augments; while it is true that Detroit never fully recovered from the loss of the motor vehicle industry and aftermath of the oil crash, can we really allow that to be the epitaph for our metropolis?

Amid the darkness there is a beacon of light - the forward-looking Sarif Industries have made our city their corporate headquarters after constructing a manufacturing facility here. SI's founder David Sarif hopes that Detroit can once more become a 'beacon city', a place where reconstruction can set the standard for other places across America - and each day we struggle against the harsh realities of life in our embattled urban wasteland to reach this laudable goal.