If Nothing Is New...

I saw a person post the phrase "there's no mystery in history" the other day. I don't know why the person posted the phrase. Instead, I wondered why the person doesn't plumb the riches that history provides, teaching us about what humans have already discovered so we can seek new experiences or at least new combinations of former human experiences.

When we see modern history taking shape before our eyes, I believe we would understand the near-term consequences of historic changes in our lifetime if we had stronger memories of similar historic changes from the distant past. Why only live in the moment if we can take advantage of human accomplishments from the past to add value to the moment and the future close at hand?

As we connect ourselves together using today's technologies like computers and cellphones so we can communicate using text, voice and video, as well as tomorrow's technologies like brain wave scanners and pheromone detectors/emitters so we can communicate in more human bodily terms, we'll give each other access to not only immediate experiences but also the collective memories of all of us, including everyday events like waking, eating and sleeping, revelations that lead to new breakthroughs and reading/memorization of historic facts.

There may be no mystery in history but without memorizing the history embedded in language, our world would not be the same (I certainly wouldn't be here).

In the next few years, as we find ways to incorporate new communication devices in our daily lives that'll bypass or supplement the keyboard interface, let's also figure out a way to advance the study of history so we can keep our discoveries in perspective, using the search engines and wikipedias of today to enhance our quest to reveal the truly exciting mysteries of tomorrow.

Imagine finding a way to train the brain to forego the final filter effect of using our bodies to communicate (ten-finger typing, for instance) and communicating on a whole new level that'll require retraining our thought process for channels of thoughts associated with interpreting not only the five senses but direct synapse-to-synapse connections with other humans (and perhaps other animals, as well). If a wired monkey can operate a robot arm and a brainwave scanner allows a human to operate a wheelchair, then the next step is connecting two living beings together to communicate directly and see what happens. Will they synchronize their brainwave patterns and thus become one virtual brain? If we wired a primate who knows sign language to another primate who does not know sign language, could the first primate teach the second primate through thought training only, using visual clues at first until they both understood that the direct empathic thought process does the same trick, just like the rubber hand illusion makes a person sense a fake arm as real?

Life as we know it is an illusion created by the bodies we are. Nothing new there. However, we humans are creating new life for ourselves and our sense of the universe around us. Today, we deceive ourselves into believing we must wear face/body makeup and underarm deodorant/antiperspirant to mask our real existence as ordinary primates. Tomorrow, we may bypass the whole primate existence by becoming virtual extensions of sensors not yet invented or even ones in use today (infrared, X-ray, gamma ray, UV/solar energy, high-frequency sound/vibration, etc.).

What if you could look out upon a crop of plants using your network of webcams, "see" stress in the plants in the infrared range, search your extended memory for causes of stress, realize your automated computer monitoring system has encountered an usual set of soil conditions, correct the conditions and return the plants to maximum growth while at the same time coming up with a method to post-harvest process the plants' chemical composition to increase the nutritional value for human use that also added to the recyclable value of the plant parts not eaten, including their use in constructing play areas for children in drought-ridden zones around the world, all while spending a relaxing fun time with your family on a picnic?

The future is here, stress-free and exciting. Nothing may be new under the sun and there may be no mystery in history but that doesn't stop me from finding new ways to enjoy the repeat of history: humans being humans in ways unimaginable!