Self-Augmentation

With all this talk about augmenting our bodies and selves through technology, let's not forget to use the resources that our brains and bodies already have built in, as features, which we can expand upon through discipline and practice.

Our muscles can become stronger and more versatile through intelligent use (I can provide details of some of the work I'm doing with my muscles later.

All of our senses can become several times stronger simply through paying more focused attention to sensory information. I also like to turn my music and the television way down to the level where I can still hear it well enough to enjoy it, and as I listen to it on that level for a few minutes, it starts seeming very loud indeed, so I turn it down a little until it is not so loud, and I keep doing this until the signal is very faint, but I'm still picking it up loud and clear.

I also like to improve my senses by walking or running around outside, wandering around the park and hiking in the mountains. I have disciplined myself to maintain a sharp awareness of my environment, and I am becoming more able to consciously process a tremendous amount of sensory information and link it to my memories and knowledge. When I get really intense, a minute can seem like several hours and I can learn a year's worth of material in a day.

All of this with just my biological body and mind. The systems we already have can do far more than we've realized yet. Good martial artists and yogis have known this for thousands of years.

My advice is to use *everything* you have available to you, including the resources of your bodymind and the technological creations of other bodyminds, including the plants and animals in life -- evolution has come up with some pretty ingenious solutions to difficult problems (look at the elaborate and technologically advanced termite Civilizations). We can learn from all the world around us and extract lessons to apply to our lives.

Find usefulness in everything.

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