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Cyberia 13

SUPERSTITION

The Story

I love computers. I love what they can do for me, how they enhance the way I communicate, gather information, and obtain services and products. Am I its slave? Hardly. It has certain parameters and limitations (speed, bandwidth, resolution, etc) but I work around them. How I do it is up to me, I choose how to deal with it - as, when, where, and if. Am I dependent on it? Yes and no, and even then no more than a baker is dependent on his oven or a carpenter on his saw or a painter on his brush. You see, once we start assuming that the device - the tool - has intelligence, we allow ourselves to become enslaved by it, assuming it to be superior to us in many ways, and that's the fear that writers/film makers and politicians feed upon.

The painter's brush is not an intelligent device. It can do nothing without the one who guides it. It's a tool. The same goes for the baker's oven or the carpenter's saw. Those are tools as crude as the first stone that uncle Cro-Magnon used in the days when buffalo roamed widely. The same can be said for any device, however "intelligent" sales people would tout it as being - from your typewriter, to your cell phone, PDA, computer, car, or industrial robot - they're only as intelligent as we humans design them to be. They cannot think for themselves or outside the parameters (read: restrictions) that we as designers impose upon them, they all follow what can be basically said are Asimov's three laws of robotics. Sure, we think it's pretty neat if Clippy shows up, unannounced and almost out of the blue to offer to help you muck up the document you're busy writing. But guess what? I can turn him off. I can change him into another character; I can do all sorts of things. He exists because I (or Microsoft, for that matter) have chosen to put him on my screen. Robocop had his three (or more!) prime directives, and erased them because the human part of him felt restricted. A machine, however intelligent, would have simply worked within those parameters because it cannot grasp the concept that there may be more outside of the boundaries; it still thinks inside of the titanium/Kevlar box it's in.

Are we enslaved by machines? If you'd like to think so, then we have been right since the industrial evolution... since then we've simply become more efficient human beings. Bigger, better, faster, sooner, cheaper, smaller... take your pick, machines are tools that allow us to do things better than without them. Yes, this is evolution. Yes, we need to learn how to deal with the byproducts (waste, excess, toxins, etc) that exist as a result of it. If it weren't for machines (read: tools), we'd still be like the ilk of Khoisan X - running from leopards and eating nuts and berries or, like chimps, fish for termites.

On another level, one can almost liken the internet to the Matrix.
Are we enslaved by it? Maybe. Are we connected through it? Most certainly. Can the internet think? Oh, please!

It is collective conscience of people. Not machines, people! Power to the people, a form of democracy, if you will - it brings people together from all walks of life, irrespective of [the usual list]... almost going back to our very own and not distant tribal past, simply because we are social creatures and herd animals.

However, things will get kinda tricky when machines become sentient beings and can think for themselves. Admittedly, AI is a great concept but: Do we actually NEED it? What's wrong with us that we need to replace our own thoughts and ideas with those that a machine may have, something it would only do within our own parameters and limitations? No, machines will become the monsters we fear when they "reproduce", as it were. Once we reach a point where software can write other software that, in turn, can write more software, then the fecal matter is going to hit the air circulator.

On the other hand - why fear? Why do we always assume that machines, however intelligent and efficient they may become, have some sort of hidden and nasty agenda? Why is it that we fear that we will become slaves to them (let alone batteries)? That would mean that we rather naturally, and dare I say "candidly", assume that devices have a tendency and desire to usurp humankind and rule the roost.

Why? Simple: This form of behaviour is a very human trait. It is (with the exception of a species of Brazilian slave driver ants) a purely human desire to rule, decide and determine the fate and future of the environment (including fellow humans and co-habitants of the planet) - making this perhaps the single most defining difference between man and animal!

Once the world was flat, and the sun and planets rotated around it.

Then we learnt (or shall I say "dared") to look beyond our horizons and discovered more. Why would we want machines to ever do that? Why would there be a need for them to do that? Sure, they have sensors and other tools that can detect frequencies far beyond our own range, but how would they evaluate the data? How could a machine learn to use this information for its own devious purposes?

The point is: Does Agent Smith 1.0 know there is no spoon?

The Music

Whatever came. Whatever was found. Whatever was available. Whatever worked.

A labour of love. A habit of hatred. No specific concept. No theme, except Lola's. Welcome to the hole in my head. This is my killer point of view. On weekends, I like the way stupid girls flashdance.


0001    Introduction...  01:35
0002 (Welcome to my) Head (Cyberian Barry Harris reconstruct) - Thunderpuss And Barnes (2002) 07:13
0003 Lola's Theme (Calderone Vocal mix) - Shapeshifters (2004) 04:11
0004 Weak become heroes (Ashley Beedle's Love Bug vocal) - The Streets (2002) 06:25
0005 Point of view (Milk & Sugar Vocal Remix) - DB Boulevard (2002) 06:30
0006 Flashdance (Skylark remix) - Deep Dish (2004) 07:49
0007 The Weekend (Original 12" mix) - Michael Gray (2004) 07:08
0008 I like the way you move it (DJ Matt Hite Bootleg mix) - Bodyrockers vs. Reel 2 Real (2005) 05:18
0009 This is the world we live in (Almighty mix) - Alcazar (2004) 05:58
0010 Hole in the head (Gravitas mix) - Sugababes (2003) 06:14
0011 Killer 2005 (Peter Rauhofer Remix Part 1) - Seal (2004) 06:33
0012 Stupid Girl (Twisted Dee Club mix) - Garbage (2004) 06:13


The Artwork

The existing layout was perfect. Nothing needed to be changed, just adapted.

The Data

Total Running Time: 71:05

Compiled: November 28th to December 17th, 2005

Released: December 18th, 2005

Recordable Media: Sony

Salutation: "Gratitude and salutations are extended to the usual unnamed DJ, the loving missus, our absent fans, followers, and listeners, and www.discogs.com. This 13th chapter in the continuing adventures in the complex matrix of Cyberia was conceived and committed to compact disc for future generations during the month of December in the year 2005 and made available for official release on December 18th, 2005. More to follow…"

Disclaimer: Cyberia 13 © 2005 8007L36 R3C0RD5. The copyright of this compilation and artwork is owned by 8007L36 R3C0RD5. Individual tracks may or may not be owned - partially or in full - by their respective copyright holders. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance, broadcasting, or resale of this work is strictly prohibited by the recording industry. Enjoyment in any form by private individuals is, on the other hand, highly encouraged by 8007L36 R3C0RD5. Although all reasonable efforts were made to reduce vinyl scratches, phase shifts, transmission errors and other noise prevalent on the source music media, some may remain audible at times. Constructive criticism is welcome. Snide remarks are frowned upon. Music Piracy remains illegal. Made on Planet Earth


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