I am a Cyborg and I have proof.

So the typical story goes like this. Engineers build a robot of incredible intelligence and power, and eventually, it turns against us and destroys our civilization. Or, a man with cybernetic implants has his mind and body overtaken by the computers and turns into a cunning killing machine. Or, a computer system becomes self aware and launches all the missiles in the world to annihilate human existence.

That's the science-fiction version. The stories are many, but the theme is the same: the machines that we build to improve our quality of life are the very devices of our own destruction.

Now here's how it's really happening, right now, everywhere you look.

I work with machines. It doesn't matter what sort, just imagine these machines as big boxes with lots of moving parts designed to make certain tasks easier. Lately, I've been working long hours with little time off, and thus little free time to get some sort of release from the job. And what I've found is that my level of happiness is tied directly to how well the machine I work on performs. When it jams up every five minutes and I can't find the problem, I get so stressed that all I want to do is go home, have a drink, and go to sleep. When it runs well, I'm the happiest sonuvaexpletive you'll ever find.

This forum is littered with threads on mind control, secret government projects to control how you live, etc. Maybe that stuff is real. Maybe. But this, this is real mind control. Our minds aren't being taken over by an intelligent force with a sinister plan to destroy us, but by rather mundane machines that were supposed to make our lives easier. Our moods are largely and sometimes completely dependent on how well the machines all around us are operating.

After work, I go to the grocery store. I don't use the "self check-out" because I feel like a little human interaction after a long day. I pay in cash and the change is automatically dispensed by the coin machine. The computer tells the cashier how many dollar bills to give me. No thinking is required whatsoever.

I come home and my computer isn't working. The Internet light on my modem is off and no amount of tech support fixes it. I feel alone, disconnected from the world, because I can't reach the world wide web. I feel out of touch. If only this machine in front of me were working, I could resume my normal life.

Every aspect of modern life is rife with similar examples. The Terminator movies had the right idea, only more sensationalized than the actual truth. It's not the liquid-metal, gun-wielding robots that are bringing us down, but the simple, stupid machines that were meant to make the world a better place.

reply to post by Wintermute


You too eh?

lol, I think you and I are so similar, it's scary.

My mood is also directly linked to the performance of the machine I'm working with. If I've built it correctly, and everything went smoothly from design, to prototyping, to testing... I'm happy for days on end! In and out of the work place.

But when the machine fails, I find a design flaw, or the prototyping process lets me know it's just not going to be feasible...
I'm absolutely miserable.


I'm going to tell you the way I view working in my field...

I view machines as almost like my children. I created them, and if they turn out badly, I feel like I've failed as a parent.

The maternal instinct of this goes deeper in my psyche than I realized until recently.
I noticed I felt loved, nurtured, when I am surrounded by machines... nothing makes me feel safer than being surrounded by moving mechanical parts and the hum of high voltage.

(Which is funny, cause I hate actually working on high voltage equipment. I've been electrocuted a few times... I think of it like being physically punished.)

Anyways, I began to think that there must be a reason for all my maternal instincts being linked to machinery... so I checked into my history a little further.

What I found struck me as kind of obvious... a "Well, why didn't I realize this before".

During the time I was supposed to be coming to terms with what my mother is... I was being kept alive by machines. I owe my life to machines... my lungs were too large to operate themselves, and without pressurization and an artificial respiration system, I would have died.

I suppose it was around that time, that I began to come to know the feeling of cold hard steel as if it were my mothers skin.
The sound of the hum of high voltage, the pneumatic hiss as the valves release, and the drone of the parts replaced my mothers voice.

Instead of admiring flowing curves, I admire cold hard corners on metallic objects. Smooth, sharp, hard steel is almost a turn on for me.


I'm not sure if this is the case for you... but I'm very willing to bet it has something to do with your upbringing. Ask your parents if you were around machines much when you were in your early stages of life... you might find out why you feel so strongly for the machines. As I do.


But no, I don't think it's intentional conditioning... just a natural response as a human to that which is yours, and that which you associate with.

[edit on 29-9-2008 by johnsky]

yea my internet went out the other day, and there was absolutely nothing tech support could do to fix it. so i went out for a while, all angry and upset, and then i came back, and it worked fine. however, the 2 hours it was down, i felt anxious and scattered. i didn't realize how much we relied on the internet until it was gone. when it came back up i felt complete again.

we all need to start meditating daily if we're ever gonna survive without electronics. if we thought these simple machines or the internet going down is rough, wait'll pole shift or an EMP attack occurs...

Wait till your power goes out for four days. Like with the NE blackout in 2005?

I kept going thru and hitting light switches without thinking. I had extra candles. And made coffee on the gas grill.

I had the fortune of being on holiday that August. I bought eight bags of ice and didn't lose any perishables.

It was hot. It was in the mid eighties at midnight. And cleveland water had no backup generators. So, no water. They spent 10 mill (lol, we, the taxpayers). If such an event happens again.

Millions of gallons of waste flowed into Lake Erie without tx. That evening I had tickets to Garrison Keelors show downtown. With no operable stoplights I thought better of it.

Go to tiger direct, and by a refurb puter for backup.

But it was the best stargazing event in my 45 yrs in Cleveland. My telescope kept me very busy.

[edit on 9/29/2008 by jpm1602]

[edit on 9/29/2008 by jpm1602]

Originally posted by NGC2736But our slavery began with clocks.

I can relate to that, time rules us. Time makes my life feel like it's always rushing forward, racing forward never pausing for me to catch my breath. We are better off without the illusion of time, yet if you live in modern society you have to abide by it's grasp on us. Time makes life far too linear.

(I am a Cyborg and I have proof.)


to that I say:

~~Well I am a lumberjack and I don't care~~



( I can just imagine what ThePluckyOne was saying up there )

[edit on 29-9-2008 by theRiverGoddess]

The problem these days is that we have become too dependant on computers and machines to run our lives so when they dont work correctly we become impatient and therefore stressed, i dont think its mind control its just us becoming ever more dependant on machines to run our lives for us i mean without machines we would have to do the hard work no wonder people get stressed when they dont work...

Thank you for that River Goddess. A bit of Monty Python was just what the Dr ordered.
The fact is, if we catch a nice emp from a sunflare, we are all going to be drooling idiots till we get our ats back.
However, to that end, it might be the best thing that ever happened to us.
Have mercy, reading real books, with pages again. Spending more time with our families. I could see worse.
reply to post by theRiverGoddess




[edit on 9/29/2008 by jpm1602]

[edit on 9/29/2008 by jpm1602]

Yes, your thread title is rather bold to say the least.

Unless you implant one of those machines in your body it only serves as a focus for your natural feelings of success and failure.

If you worked in a fruit factory and inspected lots of good or bad fruit the results could be similar, but people don't think they're turning into fruit because science-fiction usually deals with hi-tech stuff like "cyborgs" and not "bananaborgs".

Maybe you should try harder at focusing on those machines as organic entities thus closing the gap that way?

Or work in a banana factory.

Good luck NDR450025/C ....stuck in the human condition.

Wait,so if all those things make you a cyborg...then that makes me one also!

I am a cyborg (repeats to self 100 times over)

....wait...can i put that on my resume,God knows the thing needs a bit of spicing up.

You had me going for a second there. Here I thought you were going to reveal you were the prototype for our future:

Google Video Link

This whole video, while promising a fun and exciting future, has us interfaced with machines, even our houses could turn into prisons. And the prediction is these machines will be sentient and more intelligent by far than we, we will lose to them unless we become cyborgs.
Theres a bit eye candy in here, but it really left me concerned. Todays world is not as tech as they're promoting.

reply to post by johnsky

Instead of admiring flowing curves, I admire cold hard corners on metallic objects. Smooth, sharp, hard steel is almost a turn on for me.


I'm not sure if this is the case for you... but I'm very willing to bet it has something to do with your upbringing. Ask your parents if you were around machines much when you were in your early stages of life... you might find out why you feel so strongly for the machines. As I do.

I don't think it's anything machine-related in my past that makes me the way I am. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, and machines are supposed to be designed so that if everything is set right, they can run perfectly. I think that's probably where the stress and the close relationship of my moods to the machine's condition come in.

And for those who seem to think I was being literal about the title of this thread: I was only implying that the machines around me largely affect how I feel and what I do at any given moment, not that I have super-implants or glowing LEDs for eyes. Also, it's likely to get more views with that title, rather than "So What's The Deal With Machines?"

reply to post by mystiq

I get no sound from this link....

i thought you said you where a robot?