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Space Seed – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Space Seed" is an episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. It is the 23rd episode of the first season and was first broadcast by NBC on February 16, 1967. "Space Seed" was written by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber and directed by Marc Daniels. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew aboard the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise. In this episode, the Enterprise crew encounter a sleeper ship holding selectively bred superpeople from Earth's past. Their leader, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbn), attempts to take control of Enterprise. The episode also guest stars Madlyn Rhue as Lt.Marla McGivers, who becomes romantically involved with Khan.

Wilber conceived the general plot for a different series, Captain Video and His Video Rangers, which featured humans from Ancient Greece who were preserved in cryogenic suspension and revived. The script changed numerous times during preproduction as producer Bob Justman felt that it would be too expensive to film. Eventually Gene L.Coon and series creator Gene Roddenberry also made alterations. These revisions include the marooning of the criminals at the end of the episode, and the change of the primary villain from a Nordic character to a Sikh. Roddenberry attempted to claim the primary writing credit for "Space Seed", a request turned down by the Writers Guild of America.

Montalbn was the casting director's first choice for Khan and described the role as "wonderful".[2] Despite being planned as an inexpensive bottle episode, the special sets and shots using starship miniatures caused the episode to go over budget. On first broadcast, the episode held second place in the ratings for the first half-hour with 13.12 million viewers, but during the second half it was pushed into third place. "Space Seed" has been named one of the best episodes of the series by Cinefantastique, IGN, and other publications. The 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan serves as a sequel to this episode. Plot elements of the episode and The Wrath of Khan were also used in the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness, and references to it appear in episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise.

On stardate 3141.9, the Federation starship USS Enterprise finds the derelict SS Botany Bay floating in space. Botany Bay was launched from Earth in the 1990s. A landing party comprising Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and historian Lieutenant Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue) beams over to the freighter. The landing party finds a cargo of 84 humans, 72 of whom are alive in suspended animation after nearly 200years. McGivers identifies the group's leader. The occupant begins to revive, but Kirk brings him to Enterprise for a medical examination when his chamber fails.

Kirk has Botany Bay taken in tow by a tractor beam, and Enterprise sets course for Starbase12. In sickbay, the group's leader awakens and attacks McCoy but, impressed by McCoy's bravery, releases the doctor and introduces himself as "Khan" (Ricardo Montalbn). Lt.McGivers marvels over Khan, a living relic from the 20th century, her field of interest. First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) discovers that their guest is Khan Noonien Singh who, along with his people, are products of 20th-century selective breeding designed to create perfect humans. The genetic superhumans instead became warlords and conquered more than a third of the planet, sparking the Eugenics Wars, Earth's last major global conflict. Between eighty and ninety of the superhumans were unaccounted for at the end of the war; Khan is listed as the most dangerous.

Khan is placed under guard in quarters. McGivers is sent to brief him on current events. Taking advantage of McGivers' attraction towards him, Khan tells her he means to rule mankind again and needs her help to take over Enterprise. Reluctantly, she agrees, beaming Khan to Botany Bay, where he revives the rest of his superpeople. They return to Enterprise and assume control of the ship. Khan throws Kirk into a decompression tank, and threatens to slowly suffocate him unless Kirk's command crew agree to follow Khan. Having a change of heart, McGivers frees Kirk from the chamber. Kirk and Spock vent anesthetic gas throughout the entire ship to disable Khan and his cohorts. Khan escapes the gas and heads to Engineering, where he attempts to destroy Enterprise, but Kirk confronts him and a brawl ensues. Though outmatched by Khan's superior strength, Kirk pulls an odd rod-like tool (never seen before or since, in this episode or the entire series) from a wall and uses it as a club to knock the superman unconscious.

Kirk holds a hearing to decide the fate of Khan and his followers. The captain decides that they should be exiled to Ceti AlphaV, a harsh world that Kirk believes would be a perfect place for Khan to start his kingdom. Khan claims he is up to the challenge of taming the world and accepts Kirk's offer. Instead of a court-martial for Lt.McGivers, Kirk allows her to go into exile with Khan. Spock notes that it would be interesting to see what Khan makes of Ceti AlphaV in 100years.

Carey Wilber was hired to write a script for an episode of Star Trek. His idea was based on an episode he wrote for the television series Captain Video and His Video Rangers (19491955). His work on that show featured Ancient-Greek-era humans transported in suspended animation through space, with the people of the future finding that they have mythological powers. For "Space Seed", Wilber replaced these mythological powers with abilities that were enhanced due to genetic engineering.[3] Wilber had briefly worked with Gene Roddenberry on the television series Harbormaster. His science fiction extended beyond Star Trek: he also wrote scripts for Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel around the same time.[2][4]

In Wilber's first proposal for the story that became "Space Seed", dated August 29, 1966shortly before the first episode of Star Trek aired[5]the villain was Harold Erickson, an ordinary criminal exiled into space. He sought to free his gang from Botany Bay, seize Enterprise, and become a pirate.[4] Parts of the story were inspired by the use of penal colonies in the 18th century, and characterizations were based on descriptions from the series' writer's bible. As a result, several elements of the draft proposal differed from how the characters behaved in the actual seriesfor example, the draft includes a scene where Spock defeats Kirk at chess by cheating.[5] Producer Gene L.Coon told Wilber that his work was the best outline he had seen during his time on Star Trek. Fellow producer Bob Justman was less enthusiastic; he compared it negatively to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, and felt the concept would be too expensive to film. There were also concerns that an unsolicited script submitted by science fiction author Philip Jos Farmer resembled the proposed plot which, as Roddenberry had corresponded with Farmer, might lead to litigation.[4]

NBC executives reviewed the plot for "Space Seed" and approved it, but Justman reassessed the outline, saying that it needed to be heavily revised.[6] In September, Wilber was given a list of suggested changes including asking him to remove any mention of the setting, as the producers did not want to say how far in the future Star Trek was set, and to remove the chess scene.[5] Wilber submitted a second draft, but Roddenberry still had problems with basic elements of the script. He did not believe common criminals would be fired into space as a solution and strongly disliked the notion of space pirates.[6][7] The second draft introduced the idea that Kirk marooned Erickson and his crew on a new planet; this remained in the final version.[8] Wilber was not asked for a third draft; Coon was tasked with the re-write;[9] he submitted it on December 7 and updated it twice over the following five days.[10] Wilber accepted Coon's re-writes, and left the staff after the submission of his second draft as his contractual obligations were complete.[2]

Coon proposed that Erickson should be a rival to Kirk, a genetic superman who had once ruled part of Earth.[11] Roddenberry and Justman were still unhappy with the script, and Roddenberry revised it once more a week before filming was due to begin, after Montalbn had been cast.[9][12] In this draft the blond Nordic character of Erickson became closer to the version seen on screen.[9] In Roddenberry and Coon's script, the character was renamed Sibahl Khan Noonien. The name Govin Bahadur Singh was suggested by the DeForest Research company, who checked scripts for potential errors on behalf of the production company; the Singh name was suggested in part because it was closer to actual Sikh names. Coon and Roddenberry settled on Khan Noonien Singh; Roddenberry had an old Chinese friend named Noonien Wang that he had lost touch with, and hoped that Wang would see the episode and contact him.[12] In the final draft, Roddenberry listed himself as the primary writer, Coon as co-writer and Wilber was absent, but the Writers Guild of America turned down Roddenberry's request to be credited; Coon received the main credit; Wilber was given co-writer and "story-by" credits.[9] Wilber did not often watch his own work, and nearly thirty years later had never seen "Space Seed".[2] Coon was later credited as Lee Cronin for his part in production of the script.[13]

Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbn was cast as the genetic superman Khan Noonian Singh, having been the first choice for the role.[2][14] He had been suggested by casting director Joseph D'Agosta, who was not looking to cast an actor of a particular ethnic background due to Roddenberry's vision for the series; Roddenberry wanted to show his perceived 23rd century values by not requiring any specific ethnicities when casting actors in guest roles.[8] Montalbn had previously appeared in a television movie created by Roddenberry, The Secret Weapon of 117 (also referred to as The Secret Defense of 117),[2][14] which was the writer's first attempt to create science fiction on television and aired more than ten years before Star Trek.[15] Montalbn called his role as Khan "wonderful",[2] saying that "it was well-written, it had an interesting concept and I was delighted it was offered to me".[2] The main cast were enthusiastic about working with Montalbn; DeForest Kelley later said "I enjoyed working with Ricardo the best. I was privileged. He is a marvelous actor."[16]

Madlyn Rhue, who portrayed Lt.Marla McGivers, had previously worked with Montalbn in an episode of Bonanza in 1960 as his on-screen wife; she later appeared with him in a 1982 episode of Fantasy Island.[8][14] Montalbn and Rhue also appeared in separate episodes of Roddenberry's previous NBC television series, The Lieutenant (19631964). Main cast member George Takei did not appear in "Space Seed"; the character of Hikaru Sulu was replaced by Blaisdell Makee as Lt.Spinelli. It was the first of two appearances in Star Trek for Makee, who would return in the episode "The Changeling" as Lt.Singh. John Winston appeared for the second time as Lt.Kyle, and would go on to make nine further episodic appearances in that role. Following positive feedback from the producers and the network regarding James Doohan, "Space Seed" was the first episode to feature a more prominent role for his character, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott.[14]

Filming of "Space Seed" began December 15, 1966, and concluded on December 22 after six days of shooting.[14] Roddenberry, Coon and Wilber's rewrites resulted in a shooting script of nearly 60pages and 120scenes.[17]Marc Daniels was hired to direct the episode; he had previously worked on The Lieutenant.[18] The first day's filming coincided with the airing of the episode "Balance of Terror", and Daniels allowed the cast and crew to go home early to watch it.[19] The other five days ran to schedule, to the extent that there was an early finish on the final day of filming, allowing cast and crew time to return home to watch a repeat of the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" which had replaced "Arena" on that evening's schedule.[20] A scene filmed but later cut from the episode depicted a discussion between McGivers and Angela Martine (Barbara Baldavin), intended to show that McGivers was looking for a forceful man.[19] Further scenes were trimmed after filming following input from NBC. For example, scenes shot on the Botany Bay were cut as executives felt the costumes worn by the newly awakened crew were too revealing.[19][20]

The character of Khan required five costumes, more than any other guest star in the entire series. This meant that the staff working on costumes had less time to devote to any one costume. Montalbn's athletic physique was such that when his measurements were passed to them, staff thought there had been a mistake. Costume designer William Ware Theiss found it challenging to produce the outfits in the time allotted, to make the materials seem suitably futuristic and to fit his own preferences in design. Two of Khan's outfits re-used previous costumes, while three were specifically created for Montalbn.[17] The production built two new sets for the episode: the decompression chamber in sickbay, and the set on board Botany Bay.[19] A doorframe from that set was later reused as an overhead unit in McCoy's research lab, which appeared later in the series.[21]

Post production on "Space Seed" began on December 23, 1966, and ran through February 5 the following year. The Westheimer Company produced the majority of effects in the episode, but the scenes of Enterprise and Botany Bay in space were produced by Film Effects of Hollywood who were not credited on screen for their work. Botany Bay utilized a design Matt Jefferies created prior to the USS Enterprise. It had been previously labeled "antique space freighter",[20] and was built by Film Effects of Hollywood.[18] The creation of the ship miniature caused the episode to go over budget by more than $12,000; "Space Seed" actually cost a total of $197,262 against a budget of $180,000. By this point, the series was nearly $80,000 over budget in total.[16] The Botany Bay model was later re-purposed as a freighter for the episode "The Ultimate Computer".[21]

The sound effects team borrowed effects and manipulated them in order to achieve the "painted sound" effect sought by Roddenberry.[16][20] Although a number of sources were used, they attempted to avoid most science fiction television series as they wanted an authentic sound. The sound archive of the United States Air Force was used, although the photon torpedo sound was created from the 1953 film The War of the Worlds.[16] "Space Seed" was awarded the Golden Reel for sound editing on television by the Motion Picture Sound Editors society.[16]

"Space Seed" was first broadcast in the United States on February 16, 1967, on NBC. A 12-city overnight Trendex report compiled by Nielsen ratings showed that during the first half-hour, it held second place in the ratings behind Bewitched on ABC with 13.12million viewers compared to Bewitched's 14.44million. The episode beat My Three Sons on CBS. During the second half-hour it was pushed into third place in the ratings by the start of the Thursday Night Movie on CBS, the Western film One-Eyed Jacks starring Marlon Brando, which received 35.5percent of the audience share compared to 28percent for "Space Seed".[16]

A High Definition remastering of "Space Seed", which introduced new special effects and starship exteriors as well as enhanced music and audio, was shown for the first time on November 18, 2006, in broadcast syndication. It was the eleventh remastered episode to be shown.[22] This meant that the episode was made available to over 200 local stations across the United States with the rights to broadcast Star Trek, and depending on the station it was broadcast either on November 18 or 19.[23]

In 1967, The Indiana Gazette described "Space Seed" as "a good piece of science fiction".[24] The Kokomo Tribune called it "imaginative", and also said that the episode was "particularly interesting" for "its commentary on the scientific know-how of the late 1990s".[25]

Later reviewers watched the episodes several decades after broadcast. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'A' rating, noting its strong characters and the interplay between Kirk and Spock that emphasizes their friendship.[26] Michelle Erica Green called the episode "legendary" in her review for TrekNation. She thought that Khan made the "perfect foil" for the trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy and said that the episode was not dulled by later episodes and films based on "Space Seed".[27] In Mark Pickavance's review at Den of Geek, he said that it remained an "obvious choice of great source material" to be followed up in a film.[28]

The review by Eugene Myers and Torrie Atkinson on Tor.com criticized the attraction between McGivers and Khan, saying that it was "really uncomfortable to watch her immediate attraction to him and her easy acceptance of his abusive and controlling behaviour".[29] However, both praised the episode, Myers giving it a five out of six, and Atkinson a six out of six rating.[29] Also at Tor.com, in Ryan Britt and Emily Asher-Perrin's list of the ten most under-appreciated elements of Star Trek, they placed "Space Seed" at number three saying that "As an introductory story to what old school Star Trek was all about, 'Space Seed' is perfect. It presents an original science fiction concept, grapples with notions of human technology and ingenuity creating a monster, and features Captain Kirk beating the crap out of someone with a piece of Styrofoam. What more could you want?"[30]

Entertainment Weekly named the episode the second best of the series,[31] while IGN ranked "Space Seed" as the fourth best, praising the fist fight between Kirk and Khan.[32] It appeared in the top ten episodes listed by Cinefantastique and was also included in a list of ten "must see" episodes on The A.V. Club.[16][33] Reviewer Zack Handlen said that it "features a terrific performance from guest star Montalban, gives the franchise one of its greatest villains, and sets the stage for one of best science-fiction adventure movies ever made."[33]

The first adaptation of "Space Seed" was as a re-working into a short story by author James Blish as part of the novelization Star Trek 2. This book contained seven short stories, each based on an episode of The Original Series and was published in 1968. The adaptation of "Space Seed" appeared as the final story in the book.[34] The first home media release of "Space Seed" was on a single-episode VHS cassette in 1982 by Paramount Home Video.[35] It was one of the episodes of The Original Series published on Capacitance Electronic Disc, alongside "The Changeling", released on November 1, 1982.[36] A LaserDisc of the episode, alongside "Return of the Archons" was released in 1985.[37] Further releases of all episodes of the series were made on VHS and Betamax.[38][39] These releases reverted to a single episode tape as in the original 1982 version.[40]

The episode was released on DVD paired with "A Taste of Armageddon" as part of the general release of the series in 2000.[41] There were no additional extras added to that entire series of releases, except the DVD containing "Turnabout Intruder".[42][n 2] "Space Seed" was later released within a DVD box set of the first season in 2004;[43] all three seasons of The Original Series were released as full-season box sets that year.[42] The episode was included in the remastered season one release on DVD and Blu-ray in 2009. This release featured CGI remodels of Enterprise and other space scenes, including the Botany Bay.[44] The most recent release is as part of the Star Trek: Origins collection on Blu-ray, which was released in 2013.[45]

The events of "Space Seed" are followed up in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.[12]Harve Bennett was hired to produce a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture having never seen the television series; he therefore watched every episode in preparation and latched onto Khan from "Space Seed" as the compelling villain he considered to be lacking from the first film.[46][47] In resuming the role of Khan, Montalbn worried that fans would see him only as Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island but felt that he managed to recapture the character after re-watching "Space Seed".[48] The film set a record for the opening weekend gross of $14.3million, and went on to take $78.9 million domestically within the United States,[12][49] making it the sixth best-selling film of the year.[18]

The movie features errors in continuity when compared to "Space Seed". Because of re-casting, Khan's followers appear not to have aged from their appearance in the episode and Khan recognises Pavel Chekovthe character did not join Star Trek until season two, after this episode took place. This latter error was described in Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan's book Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text as the "gaff notorious throughout Star Trek fandom".[50] An explanation was presented in the novelization of The Wrath of Khan, which stated that Chekov was working on the night shift at the time.[50]

A non-canon novelization by Greg Cox was later released in 2005 to fill in the timeframe between "Space Seed" and the film, titled To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh. This book expanded on Khan's romance with McGivers, and the author wanted to "give her a spine" as he felt that she was not "the pride of Starfleet, and even less of a feminist role-model" in her appearance in "Space Seed".[51]

Events of both "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan were also directly referenced in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness, in which Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed Khan.[52] The film took $70.1 million on the opening weekend, and $467.3 million internationally throughout the cinematic release.[53] As part of their line of licensed Star Trek comic books, IDW Publishing launched a five part mini-series titled Star Trek: Khan which described the early part of Khan's life and how the events in Star Trek Into Darkness diverged from those seen in "Space Seed".[54][55] One of the writers of the film, Roberto Orci, was the story consultant on the comic series. This series also explained how Khan changed physically in order to be represented by Cumberbatch in the film.[56] A retro-style film poster for "Space Seed" was created by Juan Ortiz in 2013, released around the same as Star Trek Into Darkness.[57]

The television series Star Trek: Enterprise makes several further references to the events first described in "Space Seed". In "Twilight", the survivors of the Xindi attack on Earth eventually resettle on Ceti AlphaV.[58] The development of Khan and his followers were said to have been through selective breeding in "Space Seed". American sociologist William Sims Bainbridge said that this method would have been unable to create genetic supermen in such a short space of time and that today the less implausible method of genetic engineering (directly changing the DNA code) would be used.[59] In fact, subsequent references to the creation of Khan and the other supermen, such as in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", substituted genetic engineering.[60]

The Eugenics Wars, first mentioned in "Space Seed", are stated in the Star Trek Chronology by Michael and Denise Okuda as taking place between 1992 and 1996. They considered it fortunate that these events did not come to pass in the real world, and noted that the development of the Botany Bay in 1996 as an instance of where "Star Trek's technological predictions have missed by a significant margin."[61] The war itself has been referenced elsewhere in the Star Trek franchise. The first mention of the wars following "Space Seed" was in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Infinite Vulcan", in which a cloned version of Dr. Stavos Keniclius, a scientist from that era, clones Spock.[62] Later, during the production of "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?", writer Ren Echevarria, seeking a secret past for Doctor Julian Bashir, noted that coverage of the issue of eugenics in Star Trek had been limited to Khan and his followers. Fellow writer Ronald D. Moore decided to link the background of Bashir to genetic engineering.[60] However, "Encounter at Farpoint" and Star Trek First Contact confused matters by saying WWIII (aka The Eugenics Wars) had occurred in the 2050s.[63] Furthermore, when Echevarria wrote that the Eugenics Wars took place 200 years before the Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?", he took the time interval directly from The Wrath of Khan, failing to factor in the additional century between the events of the The Original Series (and its associated films).[64]

Novelist Gary Cox first mentioned the events of the Eugenics Wars in his non-canon novel Assignment: Eternity, which followed up on the events of the episode "Assignment: Earth" and included the characters of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln.[65] In it, he mentioned that Seven and Lincoln were involved in overthrowing Khan during the Eugenics Wars. He had not intended to explore this any further, but he was prompted to do so by his editor at Pocket Books. He wrote a story, split into two books, about the specific events of the Eugenics Wars, entitled Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh. As the Eugeneics Wars were already meant to have taken place, he decided to describe them as being a massive conspiracy that was not discovered until generations had passed.[66] He also felt that this approach would make the books consistent with the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Future's End" in which the crewmembers travel in time to the same period of Earth's history as the Eugenics Wars, but find no such wars taking place.[66] A further version of the Eugenics Wars was presented in the Star Trek: Khan comic book mini-series.[54]

The Enterprise season four episodes "Borderland", "Cold Station 12" and "The Augments" showed a further group of genetic superpeople produced from embryos produced in the same era as Khan and his crew.[27][67][68] This was a deliberate link by the producers of Enterprise to both "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan, and was one of several plots during the fourth season of the show to include elements of Star Trek: The Original Series in the hope that this would boost ratings.[67][69]

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DJ Steve Aoki on Staying Fit While Touring, Tips for Longevity – Men’s Health

IT ALWAYS fucking hurts, no matter how many times you do it, says Steve Aoki. Oh yeah, baby. Im telling my brain to relax through the pain, but its telling me to run. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Its 102 degrees midafternoon on a blue-sky day in early September in Henderson, Nevada, and Aoki, the superstar DJ known for popularizing electronic dance music (EDM) in America and a budding biohacker, is hard at it, optimizing his mind and body with a workout/ice plunge/sauna trifecta. Hes about 90 seconds into a five-minute ice-bath challenge.

Aoki flew into Las Vegas after back-to-back gigs in Waterloo, Ontario, and Fayetteville, Arkansas, arriving at 2:00 P.M. They were something like gigs number 197 and 198 he played this year, out of a projected 250. He has a career side quest to play in every state and is currently at 48, with just West Virginia and Mississippi to go. Aoki went straight from the airport to exercise at home with his training partner Glen Cordoza, a fitness-book author. His 16,779-square-foot, four-bedroom, 11-bathroom multilevel glass-and-concrete home

Prior to submerging, Aoki and Cordoza got Huberman Lablevel granular and discussed the differences between a 39 degree plunge and a 42 degree one, and a three-minute duration versus five minutes versus nine. Ice plunges are hot in the longevity-verse because of their benefits, which include a feel-good dopamine glow in the short term and a steelier grit and brighter outlook in the longer term. They may also strengthen your immune system and improve your circulation. In conversation, Aoki is self-deprecating, mostly filterless, thoughtful, and quick to drop profanity. Youd expect him to be shattered from the travel and workout, but hes psyched to do the five-minute challenge. He decided to Instagram Live it to his 11.6 million followers. By adding a virtual audience, hes amping up the pressure to perform, which puts him in his happy place.

Steve Aoki photographed for MH at his home near Las Vegas.

The thermometer read 39 degreesten bags of ice will do thatas Aoki slipped in and started breathing more deeply, inhaling through his nose, out through his mouth. He gives a running commentary. He closes his eyes and is motionless as the seconds tick by. Around four minutes in, he starts shivering. But hes past the pain, past questioning why, and is calmly accepting the moment. He dips underwater at six minutes and emerges screaming. Ahhh, it feels like ice went up my nose and into my brain. Whatever fatigue and jet lag Aoki was feeling are gone, and his eyes sparkle and dance. It feels so much better than a workout, so fucking good! he says. Thats why I do this shit. I feel so fucking alive.

Hes the ultimate road warrior with a fierce schedule, grinding out 250 shows per year, headlining the top festivals globally, and locking down a residency in Las Vegas, earning $40 million per year. He has been at the peak of a high-energy, youth-driven industry for almost 20 years, winning a spot on DJ Mags coveted Top 10 DJ list for the past decadehe is number eight this year. His eighth studio album, Hiroquest: Double Helix, dropped November 17, and earlier this year, he played the closing set of Tomorrowland, the Super Bowl of EDM. It sounds cringe, he says, but I was bawling my eyes out after and oozing love from every pore in my body. I felt emotionally saturated.

On the surface, the 45-year-old Aoki doesnt seem like the person to hang out with for insights into the promise and perils of longevity sciencehe has ILL SLEEP WHEN IM DEAD tattooed on the back of his neck. But earlier this year, Aoki took an epigenetic test popular with longevity bros to calculate his biological age, and it revealed that his pace of aging was among the best on the planet. Unlike chronological age, which progresses at the same pace for everyone, biological age, which is how fast our cells deteriorate, is individualized and somewhat malleable. Aoki ranked 22nd on the Rejuvenation Olympics scoreboard, which tracks everyone who has taken the test, alongside antiaging innovators like Ben Greenfield and tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who created the contest and is known for his extreme longevity Blueprint protocolthink vegan diet, 111-pill supplement regimen, and strict 8:30 P.M. bedtime.

Johnson tweeted out congratulations to Aoki, and an unlikely bromance blossomed. They spent time together talking longevity protocols and tactics. Johnson admitted he was surprised to see Aoki on the leaderboard, because of his nocturnal lifestyle, but thats the point of the Rejuvenation Olympics, to show that longevity is not one-size-fits-all. Were really in the earliest of days trying to figure out how to measure aging, how to slow it, and how to reverse it, Johnson says in a Zoom interview. There are lots of emerging patterns, and Aoki is another pattern. Of course, hes n of 1but thats exciting. We dont know yet with certitude what things work, and thats whats fun about this game. Aoki, of course, offers a more fun version of the gamea game that we all have a vested interest in. Heck, on the biohacker spectrum, if Bryan is a 10, Im more of a 2 to 4, says Aoki. Sometimes I spike to a 6 or 7. A hard-partying, sleep-deprived son of excess seems to be aging slower than most of us and upending what we think about healthy lifestyles and longevity science.

Aoki is fighting two seemingly contradictory battles, keeping his career at its peak while also optimizing his longevitywhich might require slowing down. I know Im very lucky, he says. There are not many DJs doing what I do for as long as Ive done it. The fans might want a newer face, a younger person. Many of the biggest DJs that I looked up to are gone. The culture is unforgiving. Time is unforgiving. Thats why Im still hustling, touring, in the studio making new music. Its like youre swimming upstream, but you have to swim a little faster to stay ahead and push the culture. He is dealing with a dilemma we all face: how to emphasize our good habits to compensate for the not-so-good. More existentially, can Steve Aoki live fast and die old?

ONE OF THE books in Aokis library is the bestseller Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity, by Peter Attia, M.D., a physician specializing in health span. In it, Dr. Attia posits that theres something more powerful than exercise and diet: The most important ingredient in the whole longevity equation is the why. Why do we want to live longer? For what? He continues by saying that a rule of thumb (he gleaned from a friend) for determining someones true age is to listen to them talk: If they talk about the past, about all the things that happened and that they did, theyve gotten old. If they talk about their dreams, their aspirations, what theyre still looking forward totheyre young.

Aoki talks incessantly about the future, his next gig, his next song, his next challenge. Dim Mak, the indie music label he founded after college at UC Santa Barbara, is going strong and has evolved into a lifestyle company with comics, television, metaverse, and clothing collaborations. Also a successful producer, hes collaborated with everyone from Sting to Linkin Park to Snoop Dogg to BTS to Maluma. Aoki has an optimistic approach toward aging, too, which by itself can help lengthen your life by seven and a half years, according to research by Becca Levy, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and epidemiology at Yale.

His outlook is partly informed by his Japanese heritage and culture, in which older people are revered for their wisdom. Its a beautiful thing to respect where you are, no matter your age, and to share what youve endured, he says. There are older iconic DJs he looks up to as well. He name-checks Tisto, 54; David Guetta, 55; and Carl Cox, 61. Theyre still headlining, rocking stages, and people just love the music. Its beyond generational, and that really inspires me. Im grateful to the DJs that are still doing it and are years and years ahead of me.

Aokis dad, Rockyhere circa 2000died from cancer in 2008.

Aokis desire to help his mom, Chizuru, live longer drives his interest in longevity.

Aoki wears his heart on his sleeveokay, his biceps. He even has a song called Music Means Love Forever that has almost 10 million streams on Spotify, and theres no questioning his passion, his why. Its 2:15 A.M., roughly ten hours after the ice plunge, and Aoki is shirtless again. Hes an hour into his set, bopping around, jumping, and waving his arms in the air onstage at Hakkasan at the MGM Grand. He told me he burns about 1,200 calories per two-hour gig, according to his Whoop fitness tracker, and its easy to see how. Hes a blur of constant movement, often climbing on a ledge to rev up the crowd with shouts of Put your hands up! and Everybody fucking scream! The 3,900-person club is jammed with a Las-Vegas-on-a-Saturday-night grab bag of bachelorette parties, birthday groups, guy-trip squads, and some EDM fans. The dance floor is a seething mass of bobbing heads and waving arms, while the big spenders dance on the sofas at the $6,000 bottle-service tables.

For the EDM uninitiated, Aoki specializes in what he calls bouncy music, or more formally, progressive house. The musical flow rises and falls in high-intensity intervals; Aoki plays the choruses of songs the audience will sing along to, then drops some foot-stomping, arm-pumping bass and everyone jams out. The mix of songs veers multicultural and multigenre, from K-pop to country to rock to grunge to pop to rap to reggaetonwhat Aoki jokingly refers to as entertainment dance music. During one sequence, he mixes a version of John Denvers Take Me Home, Country Roads into his own remix of BTSs Mic Drop and then into his own remix of Daddy Yankees Gasolina.

A few days later over Zoom, Aoki, nesting in his infrared-light bed, explains that he relishes his residency sets because theres more art to the free-form DJing. He can adapt his playlist based on how a song resonates with the crowd. At huge festivals, there are often guest vocalists, so he has to stick to a structured playlist. Yeah, 90 percent of the time, Ill change the song to follow the crowds emotional journey. If I need to get them engaged, Ill play what I planned for the 40th song 15th or play a familiar song or a surprising song. I make decisions seconds before Im gonna mix into the next song. I have like two songs queued up, and Im like, No, this is the journey I wanna take them on. Then I can go on a whole choose-your-own adventure. Part of a good DJ is being able to adaptand obviously that translates over into your life.

At Hakkasan, he elevated the crowds emotions by shouting out a tribute to the late Avicii, whose birthday it was that night and who died by suicide in 2018, playing the artists hit Levels. Later, sensing that he needed more feels, he played a dance version of Taylor Swifts Love Story, turning down the volume so you could hear the crowd singing, before a banging bass drop. I want to get people out of their skins, to rip their shirts off and have fun, says Aoki. He explains how he connects intimately with the crowd by scanning the dance floor and giving love via eye contact to the EDM diehards who know all the wordsan affair of the eyesand by throwing heart signs with his hands.

But the bigger challenges are the nondancersthe seventh guy in the bachelor party who got dragged to see Aoki and is just standing there. He says he often zones in on someone who looks bored and sees if he can get that person dancing. If I can infiltrate his mind with beats, with bars, with melodies, if I can get him to put his hands in the air, its a moment when you connect and someone falls in love with the music. That gives me a lift.

AFTER THE WHY, meaning your passion and purpose, Dr. Attia ranks daily exercise, both cardio and strength training, as the next most powerful factor in enhancing health span. The same relentless energy Aoki brings to the stage, he brings to the weight room, with a little less shimmying and arm-waving. Prior to the ice plunge, he did a strength workout with Cordoza, his training partner for the past three years. Aokis interest in fitness was his gateway into longevity, and it tracks back to high schoolwhere he played football and badmintonand to his dad, who was a competitive wrestler.

Rocky Aoki, who in 1964 founded Benihana of Tokyo, a wildly popular hibachi chain that was the first of its kind in America, died from liver cancer in 2008 at age 69. Aoki idolizes his dad, who was born in Japan, was an incredibly hard worker and partier, and was both cerebral (a world champion in backgammon) and an adrenaline fiend (a powerboat racer). A year later, Aokis friend and mentor Adam Goldstein, the turntable wizard better known as DJ AM, died from an accidental drug overdose. The loss of his dad and then his mentor spurred Aoki to become more interested in his own wellness. He started training and recovering like a competitive athlete.

Then in 2020, his manager and very close friend Michael Theanne died from a heart attack at age 45the age Aoki is nowmaking him even more health conscious. With more time at home because of the pandemic, Aoki leaned harder into longevity, gorging on content by researchers and biohackers like Dr. Attia, Gary Brecka, and David A. Sinclair, Ph.D., and interviewing futurists like Peter Diamandis, M.D., and Ray Kurzweil.

Aoki recently went to the tech-forward health start-up Fountain Life, whose motto is We Make 100 Years Old the New 60, to get a total body data upload that costs about $20,000. It included a full-body and brain MRI as well as other brain, heart, blood, genetic, and microbiome imaging and diagnostics, most of which are enhanced with AI to predict any potential problems. The team of doctors and other experts also recommended exercise, diet, and lifestyle goals. He uploads data from the tests annually to track changes and hopefully diagnose any issues with chronic diseases or cancer early.

He also added a hyperbaric chamber (so he can breathe pure oxygen and potentially improve his cognition, memory, and brain processing speed, as well as his sleep) and the previously mentioned infrared-light bed (believed to aid cellular repair, speed recovery from workouts, revitalize mitochondria, and maybe improve memory) to the Playhouse. Because he does all that dance cardio at night, Aokis home workouts emphasize strength training.

Aokis library houses lots of books, records, and a hyperreal, actual-size sculpture of him by My3DNA.

His gym is in the mid-level of the Playhouse through two soundproof doors. There are a couple weight racks, Rogue dumbbells from 15 to 100 pounds, and lots of medicine balls. Posters of Bruce Lee movies and photos of Lee line the walls. Linkin Park blasts through the speakers. Cordoza is a fitness nerd and coauthored the seminal fitness books Becoming a Supple Leopard and Glute Lab: The Art and Science of Strength and Physique Training. Their workout starts with an elaborate 15-minute warmup that is both gentle and intense. It involves foam-rolling, a mobility flow, some manual shoulder openers, a one-minute dead-hang, ultraslow pushups, goblet squats during which Aoki takes five seconds on the down (or eccentric) part of the exercise, and then rapid-fire jumping jacks and medicine-ball squat slams.

The meat of their workouts, which they do several times a week when Aoki is home, is usually six to eight exercises, prioritizing full-body moves (on this day chinups, Bulgarian split squats, and Romanian deadlifts) with targeted accessory work (biceps curls, bench presses, glute abduction). Usually they go for a PR on the first set of the first exercise, for a higher rep count with a lower load until perfect-form failure.

I record all his PR loads and reps for the main lifts, and we try to beat some of them every training session, says Cordoza. It doesnt always happen, but it gives us a goal. Were working for progressive overload to build strength, but theres also a competitive element. During this workout, Aoki grinds out 15 chinups, which is a new PR, celebrated with a fist bump. But the DJs lower back is stiff, so Cordoza modifies the session to include more mobility moves, which means more time to talk, and the conversation turns to motivation.

Aoki says hes not trying to get jacked but wants to look good, feel strong, and function at his best for as long as possible. Cordoza says Aoki enjoys pushing himself and never backs down from a challenge. Hes not kidding. Aoki launches into a story about how his two-month summer tours often include some kind of health challenge for the crew. One summer, he roped his squad into a 100-rep daily challenge (pushups, squats, or situps). If you didnt do the 100 reps by a set time, you had to pay each person $1,000roughly $14,000 a pop. Sometimes he had to stop the tour bus and do pushups at the side of the road or do reps in a restaurant to beat the deadline.

On another tour, it was a no-bread and no-fried-food challenge for two months. In 2020, during the pandemic, he did a $30,000 body-fat-percentage challenge with a friend, with the goal to get to single-digit body fat in two months. He dropped from 14.3 percent to 9.3 percent. Aoki seeks challenges that take him out of his comfort zone, things that are truly hard. Its not about the moneythe bets often go to charity, and one summer he doled out $40,000 in missed reps. Instead, he thrives on being held accountable and connecting with friends around a positive activity.

Cordoza says Aoki genuinely cares about other peoples health. Steve interviews and befriends the smartest minds in the field and is always sharing his strategies and results, he says. Health is not a destination but a processand hes always working to refine and improve that process. He has a series of YouTube video interviews with brain experts, started the Aoki Foundation in 2012, and has given $500,000 to help fund research on regenerative brain medicine and brain preservation. He did an ice-plunge workshop with Wim Hofs team, studied breath practice with Laird Hamilton, and recruited Blake Aldridge, a professional diver, to give him tips on cliff jumping (because he has a recurring side quest to do ten cliff jumps into the ocean). Yeah, its a wild mix of different wellness modalities that Aoki mashes up into his own lifestyle. He doesnt pretend to have all the answers, but hes science curious and into experimenting, figuring out what works for him, and especially collaborating.

Aoki admits that his Avengers-style health-advice group doesnt have a consensus on the best diet. Currently hes mostly vegetarian but eats poultry and fish, although he notes that hes anxious about mercury and microplastics. He tried Johnsons vegan diet for a dayand says it was surprisingly fillingbut found it too restrictive because he has to eat after 11:00 A.M. (You need energy to dance after midnight.) One takeaway from his playdate with Johnson was the idea of rewarding yourself in ways that are more in tune with your body and not self-destructive. When you finish a challenge, why celebrate by eating bad food or getting drunk, doing violent things to your brain and liver? Im trying to think about that more. What does a healthy celebration look like? I love my taste buds, he says. A perfectly seasoned piece of fish and some quality cheese.

The workout culminates in a 100-pushups-for-time finisher. It seems like a failure, since after a fast start banging out 40 pushups, Aoki slows way down. He grunts through single reps from 80 to 100 and completes the challenge in four minutes and 35 seconds. He misses his personal best by ten seconds, resulting in him shouting lots of fucks. Later, though, Cordoza tells me Aoki actually set a PR for continuous pushups, so there was a small win.

AOKI GOES STRAIGHT from the workout to the ice plungehe cajoles Cordoza and me into sharing in the wellness fun, too. Cordoza lasts five minutes, but its my first ice plunge and I tap out at four. Then its into his sauna. Its at 230 degrees Fahrenheitpast the red zone on the thermometer. Aoki has dripped some juniper oil onto the rocks and keeps spooning on water, giving the air a foresty scent, but its face-meltingly hot. Sauna bathing provides protection against dementia and may even reduce the risk of Alzheimers disease.

The talk turns to Aokis bugaboo: sleep. One thing almost all longevity experts do agree on is the power of sleepespecially deep sleep, which acts as a power cleanse for your brain, sweeping away metabolic waste, ensuring superior function, and potentially delaying the onset of memory loss and dementia. He says hes always been someone who doesnt need a lot of it, and he struggles to stay asleep. Early in his career, he often got by on four hours or less. Sometimes much less. He shares sleep war stories, not in a humblebrag way but with regret, because he knows how important sleep is to brain health. If he DJs three nights in a rowsay, Friday, Saturday, and Sundayhe might only get a total of six hours.

All his health advisors and biohacker friends kept telling him that he needed more sleep. So Aoki being Aoki, he sought out an expert and connected with Matthew Walker, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley and author of Why We Sleep. Walker works with select patients as a sleep concierge. When Aoki shared his sleep data from his Whoop, Apple Watch, and Oura ring, Walker was concerned, saying hed seen such low REM duration only in people with alcohol use disorder. To optimize Aokis sleep schedule when hes at home, Walker focused on the boring stuff: going to bed and waking up at the same time each day; setting an alarm for bedtime; making sure the bedroom is dark, gadget-free, and 68 degrees or lower; eliminating screen time an hour prior to bedtime; not having caffeine past the afternoon; and, in concert with Aokis physician, suggesting Trazadone, an antidepressant thats often prescribed to battle insomnia because it regulates the neurotransmitter serotonin and can help people stay asleep longer.

Its helping. Aoki says hes logging eight to ten hours when hes at home and recently slept the longest he has in a while, from his usual bedtime of 1:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M., but his REM numbers are still low. Walker says that stabilizing the duration of sleep is a key first step and that it shows Aokis brain is recovering, which is a good sign. Its important to point out to patients that youre not broken, says Walker. Your system is perfectly capable of generating sleep, and it can do it in voluminous amounts. He says that while working with Aoki, he uses the analogy of a producing deck in a music studio: Ive got all of these dials, and the first one I want to use is the one on the far left, which is the one that moves all of the other needles. Thats sleep duration. Then once Ive got you at a healthy amount, I go to the individual dials in the middle and I start playing with them to get a symphony of non-REM and REM. He investigates Aokis sleep datadoing pre-and postmortemsseeking patterns regarding better sleep on days Aoki exercises or goes in the hyperbaric chamber or the sauna, and then he adjusts his tactics.

Hot in here: Aoki cranks his home sauna to 230 degrees Fahrenheit.

But theres still the problem of Aokis touring schedule, when he often goes to bed at 5:00 A.M. and may cross several time zones, making establishing a sleep schedule difficult. Ultimately, Aoki needs to keep sleep top of mind when hes planning his frequency of gigs and travel. Steve takes sleep seriously now and understands sleeps integral importance to his health span, Walker says. In our culture, theres still a lot of sleep machismo, and Steve is helping break that down and destigmatize sleep.

Aoki is adapting: Now its more about the pre-party than the after-party. There are other tactics, too, like doing more residencies so theres less travel and more day parties so he can get to bed on time. His goals remain to optimize his sleep schedule while staying productive, whether its 100 or 250 shows a year.

Back in the sauna, my face burns red and rivers of sweat pour into my eyes. Aoki, ever the empath, notices and says, Hey, this is a no-hero zone. No shame if you need to get out. We finish the interview with the door open. Were still talking sleep, and he mentions a surprising benefit. Aoki is riffing about his creative process and how deep sleep is itself instrumental. Often Ill be dreaming and hear a new melody or a beat or a lyric, he says. When I wake up, I immediately hum it or dictate a snippet or idea into my phone. Sometimes its nothing, but sometimes its gold.

Steve Aoki's new album HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix dropped November 17. Listen to it here.

Ben Court is the Executive Editor of Men's Health. He has a decade of experience writing and editing stories about peak performance, as it relates to health, nutrition, fitness, weight loss, and sex and relationships. He enjoys yoga, cycling, running, swimming, lifting, grilling, and napping.

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DJ Steve Aoki on Staying Fit While Touring, Tips for Longevity - Men's Health

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The Tao of Whit: O-line Life and the Injury Aftermath – Sports Illustrated

On the Monday after everything changed in an instant, Andrew Whitworth calls once more. This fall he started several of his work weeks the same way, dialing on his commute to the Rams temporary football headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The idea: to explain aspects of his long career, his secrets to longevity, his endless survival techniques and how all that pointed him toward this season, one he believed would be specialat least until a million-to-one collision on Sunday afternoon cast doubt on a million-to-one career.

On this Monday, he phones during his drive home, the contrast indicative and stark. He hasnt slept in more than 36 hours. He keeps replaying the freak accident against Seattle the previous day, in the second quarter, that marked the worst possible gridiron luck.

Los Angeles Rams/AP

First, context. Yes, Whitworth turns 39 in a few weeks. Indeed, hes far closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Sure, he had come to believe that 2020 mightfinally, actually, for real this timebe his final season. And yet, everyone from his coaches to the game-charting and analytics sites to the left tackle himself seem to unanimously agree that Whitworth was carving out his best season in his 15th campaign. Even against the Seahawks on Sunday, his steady play on Jared Goffs blind side helped boost L.A. to an early lead.

Then, it happened. The worst case. Whitworth was sliding to his left as he escorted a pass rusher beyond the pocket. Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright, blitzing from the other side of the formation, whiffed as Goff ducked under his attempted tackle, but on the other side ended up colliding with Whitworth. Neither player could see the other, which meant neither player slowed down or adjusted his body positioning. Instead, THWACK. The full force of Wrights momentum hit the outside of Whitworths left kneecap, causing the leg to collapse inward. Before the replay, TV viewers were warned that the injury was gruesome. If he hits me a little earlier, or a little higher, Whitworth said the next day, or just not at that exact moment, it would have probably been nothing but a bad bruise.

Longtime rivals like Russell Wilson ran across the field to wish Big Whit well, and an outpouring of respect spilled all over social media. At the moment it seemed possiblemaybe, heartbreakingly, likelythat this particular injury marked more than the end of just his season.

As the cart drove him off the field, Whitworth wondered two things. 1. Is my career over? And 2. How sweet will it be to take a snap at 40?

Meaning, even in that moment, he was thinking about a return for one more final season, if at all possible, any which way.

Story of his life.

* * *

The Tao of Whit I: While his teammates cemented an upset of the Seahawks, throwing the NFC West into a three-way tie atop the standings, Whitworth needed assistance to traverse the corridors at SoFi Stadium. Already, en route to the X-ray room, he had resolved how he would handle another setback in a life jammed full of them. To the hundreds who were reaching out, he tapped back the same response, even though his fate remained unsure. Im thankful for a new challenge and a new opportunity to prove Im all the things I say I am. I cant wait for all the work and all the pain ...

* * *

Over all the years and all the injuries, the job never changed, despite the years that spin by like finger snaps, the health toll exacted every fall and the familythe omnipresent wife, the four beautiful children, the most hilarious nanny in Californiawaiting for whats next, whenever a never-ending career finally, one of these years, ends. His peers from the 2006 draft class? Long ago retired. The legends he studied closely? Walked away by 35. Big Andrew Whitworth? Hes 38, his trading cards still read left tackle and he remains as respected as any lineman in the NFL.

John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated

One trainer joked the other day that Big Whit embodied the fiercely debated 10,000 Hour Rule popularized by Malcolm Gladwell. But Whitworth deflected this inaccurate info; last hed checked, his snap total had surpassed 16,000. He had played in 168 games for the Bengals, followed by 56 with the Rams. His 190 starts at left tackle did mark the second most in pro footballs last 25 years. He did star in 52 more games at LSU, setting a school record, missing only one practice to attend his graduation ceremony, tallying 3,500 snaps in college alone. And, yes, he also won a trio of state championships in high school, adding some 50 games to a staggering total that doesnt include thousands of hours of actual practice. The long and not-short of it, according to teammate David Edwards: When he was a rookie, I was in first grade.

That rule? Pffff. A mere prelude for a mountainous man who gets older but never grows old. So what gives? Whitworth is not the rare offensive lineman soaked in proximity glory. There are no commercials, no social media footprint, and his face, if familiar to anyone, would be recognizable to only deep-in-the-weeds Bengals and Rams fans. He has made enough money (almost $100 million in salary alone) to never work again. So why? How? I dont even know where to start, he says.

During the Monday phone calls that spanned his 15th NFL season, he assessed a career of longevity and survival to share routines that can seem like a TB12 antithesis, to talk storms and fires and global pandemics overcome. As the conversations meandered, they began to tie together, unexpectedly, with everything he did and everything he lived through pointing toward this season. His last. In theory.

Eventually, the big picture of Big Whit sharpens into focus. If age aint nothin but a number its an important onefor him especiallynonetheless. His tally of birthdays and snap counts speaks to something deeper than his four Pro Bowl nods, his well-stocked bank account or his grand standing in the NFL. Instead, the sum points to the soul of a man who long ago decided he wanted to do the same thing, over and over, for as long as he possibly could, for no reason other than perfecting a craft. And, yes, this particular craft consists largely of shuffling backward or plodding forward to impede the paths of other large men. But hey, niche is a niche.

* * *

The Tao of Whit II: The legend of Andrew Whitworth grew among teammates in Cincinnati, where from 2006 to 16 the hulking offensive tackle lost many a football game and won at pretty much everything else. Sometimes, coaches called him First Pick. Meaning he should be taken first for any athletic endeavor, be it golf (5-handicap), charity flag football (all-time quarterback, with an absolute hose) or pickup hoops (6' 7", somewhere between 315 and 350, so trim that veins popped from his calves; able, then and now, to dunk).

As backup quarterback Jordan Palmer witnessed an anonymous giant cull a small but fierce cult of celebrity, he remembers saying something, way back in 2008, that sounds prophetic now. Whit is going to play as long as he wants, Palmer told a teammate. Hes the guy who, at the end, theyll beg him to play one more year. And one more year. And one more year

* * *

On the last Monday morning in September, Big Whit calls on his way to work. He always takes the same route, steering his trusty Navigatora car he chose because I could fit all my kids in itfrom his home in Sherwood to the Rams facility. Down Westlake Boulevard, past the commuters spilling their morning lattes. Onto the 101. Up Route 23.

On this Monday, like most Mondays, Big Whit follows his unconventional routine. Despite engaging in hand-to-hand combat with other giants for more than 65 snaps the previous afternoon, there are no cold tubs here. No cryotherapy, either. No hyperbaric chambers, avocado ice cream or Theraguns. Whit realizes that NFL veterans in general are playing longer now. But none would seem to approach recovery quite like him, a throwback even among the old guys. When he moved to California in 2017, teammates laughed when he asked them to define treatment room. He didnt know what they meant. He hired a private trainer, Ryan Sorensen, himself a former left tackle, only around then, more than a decade into his career.

Big Whit instead believes in body adaptation, this idea, grounded in personal experience rather than science, that thousands of snaps forced his pain tolerance to keep pace with his pain suffered. He stopped taking any medication, even over-the-counter pain relievers, back around 2013. He didnt want to stand in Toradol lines.

Imagine that, in light of his medical form. The one he fills out every summer over his own protests, since hed rather not be reminded. He must compare past versions to remember every injury: just about every finger, on both hands, dislocated; torn elbow ligament (left); damaged AC joints; busted shoulder labrums; one shoulder surgery (left); numerous shoulder injections; torn hip labrums; bone-on-bone impingements in both hips, both of which can no longer rotate; bad lower back (very 38!); the patella surgery (left); damaged knee cartilage (right); ankle surgery (right)typical, he says, meaning typical to him. Even with the latest entry on that form, Whitworth describes the swelling in his knee post-Seahawks injury as positive, since that means the healing process has begun.

Big Whit discovered his own secrets. Like stay active. He isnt a huge sports fan, but he does participate in a huge number of sports. Im a big walker, he says. He plays tennisstyling himself, seriously, as a serve-and-volley attackerand can drain three-pointers, chuck footballs 65 yards and sling a fastball in the low-90s. Big Whit loves golf so much that he belongs to five separate country clubs in three different states and considers the perfect offseason day to be the Trifecta, where he eats three meals on a course. Flexibility, agility, rotational powerall earned by thousands of swings.

Well that, and forget-physics dance moves, according to his wife, Melissa, and nanny, Krista Howard, two women who Big Whit leans on so that defensive linemen can lean on him. Listen, dont let him lie, now, Howard says in her Cajun accent. Those hips dont rotate? You put the right song on and that man will get out on the dance floor and start twerking. I always tell him, Listen, big guy, you cant just drop down because your butt hits people in the chest.

This Monday, Big Whit rises early, makes coffee and listens to 90s-era R&Ba routine that all but screams Im almost 40! and twins nicely with statements he makes about the Twitters. For a tackle who once played guard, the thinking being he wasn't athletic enough to shift outside, Big Whit did allow for tweaks over time. So its squats. Bench. Grunts that echo across the weight room, like hes auditioning for Worlds Strongest Man. Sorensen recognized the meathead mentality but helped Whitworth augment the past few years, extending what had already been extended. Little stretching. Little yoga. A few mobility drills. Boom. I would argue Im, like, 10 times the athlete I was when I came into the NFL, Big Whit says.

Whitworths worst injury before last Sunday in those 200-plus starts stemmed from the jacked patella tendon (left), which he damaged further by ignoring severe pain and inflammation for all of 2012. He needed surgeryeventually, he couldnt do a single-leg extension on that kneeand missed all of the next camp and the opener. He played 14 games in 13, anyway. Having pushed past the most excruciating pain imaginable, he then told himself, Im going to shoot to play until Im 40. At that time, this prospect seemed as likely as a starring role on The Bachelor.

Such is Big Whits favorite topic to lament: the O-line life. Like, for instance, the membership he snagged from the Bel-Air Country Cluba courtesy deal, he quips, for his friendship with Jared Goff. The O-line life is not to be confused with the QB life, he insists, as the conversation winds down on that first Monday. The O-line life means that one mistake in 70 snaps could cost a really talented man his job, where if the rushers who stand across from him succeed just once every week, theyll waltz into the Hall of Fame. The QB life, he says, is being born tall, thin and blond (like Goff); having a golf hole carved into your backyard (same); being flown to private courses; and given more floor seats to NBA games than anyone can possibly attend. Whitworth, meanwhile, logs onto StubHub, like everybody else, looking for tickets cheap enough to not feel lavish but close enough to not seem embarrassing. Ah, the O-line life, which is what the nanny means when she says, His personality is equal to his size.

Whitworth is rolling now, as he pulls into the Rams parking lot, his team having won two of the seasons first three games. His bitching is lighthearted, his lineman-existence lamenting really just his way of saying that hes happy, content. Ill call next Monday, he says.

* * *

The Tao of Whit III: As the Rams VP of community affairs, Molly Higgins long ago realized that athletes could maximize their off-field impact by joining causes they believed in. Thats partly why she created a survey for incoming players, with columns of foundations that could be checked off, matching interests with volunteer opportunities. And yet, as Whitworth handed her back his survey at a table in the teams cafeteria, she figured he had misunderstood the instructions, or made a simple mistake. His form was an unending series of checkmarks. Higgins doesnt share this story to denigrate other players; its just that no one had ever indicated that every single cause appealed to them before. Im interested in them all, Whitworth responded.

* * *

As promised, Whitworth calls again the next Monday, to explain how he owes his career to far more than golf swings and body adaptation. He needed Melissa, his backbone, his family. They have all lived through some real s---, events that laid a protective layer of resolve over his skin that Whitworth would come to need in 2020. Like playing 11 seasons for the Bengals.

When Nick Saban signed the Monroe, La., native to stay home at LSU, he called Whitworth a pillar. He was both right and had no idea. Not until Hurricane Katrina ravaged the state just before Whitworths senior season. Big Whit remembers the lines at gas stations, something like 50 cars stacked on top of each other, as fuel started to run out. He recalls the flooding, the friends worried about relatives in peril, the housesand liveslost. The Pete Maravich Assembly Center was transformed into a triage ward, with victims being airlifted in.

Big Whit learned something that summer, as he helped teammates gather and disperse all their extra athletic gear. Something that stuck with him ever since. Thats burned in my mindto help, he says during commute No. 16,000. Give or take.

Whit spent his first 11 seasons starring as a guard and tackle in Cincinnati.

Damian Strohmeyer/Sports Illustrated

Two seasons into his Bengals tenure, Big Whit had already started a foundationand not the stamp-your-name-and-image-on-it kind. He already knew which causes: grants for adoptions, scholarships for high school students, seminars on leadership, toy drives. He didnt know then, but he was learning to maximize his impact on those around him. Even the Pro Bowl snubs and the six postseason losses in those frustrating Cincy years taught him to lead when it wasnt easy or convenient.

The Rams signed Whitworth in free agency in 17 in part because of the man hed grown into, which is a strange and true thing to say about a man his size. GM Les Snead saw Big Whit the same as Saban: as a pillar for his program, too. On the flight into LAX, Whitworth turned to his wife and told her they had to be realistic, that the Rams were young and inexperienced, that he would probably retire soon, meaning his dreams of winning a Super Bowl were effectively over. Im going to help rebuild the locker room and bring that veteran presence and help Jared grow up, he said.

His L.A. tenure would become so much moreand so much more personalthan that. Wildfires raged in November 2018, spreading near the teams facility, forcing dozens of families like the Whitworths to evacuate their homes. Uncertain and scared, Whitworth asked coach Sean McVay if he could address his teammates. He stood before the Rams and pointed out the mass shooting that had taken place at the bar down the street that week, followed by the fires. Hundreds had lost their lives. Thousands had lost their homes. He told the Rams how his own family had stuffed four kids, two dogs, one nanny, jewelry, passports and Melissas grandmothers cookbook recipes into the car and bolted to a hotel in the middle of the night, the smoke thick, the air steamy. In the frenzy, they forgot one child inside and had to run back in.

The Rams, Whitworth bellowed, were no longer at remove. They were in it with their neighbors, like the youth baseball team he coached. They needed to use their platforms, raise money, help. Whitworth started by donating his next game check to first responders. He would donate every check for the rest of the season, each worth more than $60,000. Hes our poppa bear, McVay says. Just a great, consistent, authentic capacity for people.

Big Whit pauses on the phone two years later, the gravity and intensity flooding back. The Rams would host the Chiefs on Nov. 19, and the Whitworths would open their luxury suite to families of victims and first responders. L.A. would triumph that Monday night, a 5451 thriller, and Whitworth would take Goff to the suite after and everybody would cry their eyes out. Moments like that, Whitworth says, are why Im still playing.

That season, he finally won a playoff game. He also lost a Super Bowl. He had told friends and teammates he planned to retire after 18, same as hed said for most years since the patella scare. Younger lineman had begun to roll their eyes at him. Turns out, no one had to beg Big Whit for one more year. He always wanted to come back

As this season approached, his survivor story took a pandemic twist, then an injurious one. The Whitworth family came down with COVID-19, after their nanny was infected during lunch with a friend. Andrew and his wife experienced mild symptoms, like loss of smell and taste, headaches and runny noses. But Melissas fatherwho they had exposedwas hospitalized for five days. They worried they might lose him. Eventually, he recovered. Eventually, they all did.

When Goff wondered how much he should donate to various causes, he knew exactly who to ask, utilizing his blind-side protector like the oversize Siri that Big Whit has become. As the tackle pulls into the Rams HQ on another Monday, hes framing the pandemic scare as both a surmountable obstacle and a developer of the scar tissue necessary to carry teams, like this one, beyond reasonable expectations. Before this season, the Rams were thought to be declining, at least outside their building. Theyre 63 and tied for first in the NFC West now, in large part, Goff says, because weve got guys who have been through the mud.

None more than Big Whit, the consummate teammate who never saw himself that way, who keeps coming back as much to build as to win, meaning, he hopes, this season and next season. Im not sure he ever saw the leader he would become, his wife says.

* * *

The Tao of Whit IV: Way back at the 06 NFL scouting combine, a meeting took place inside a small room in Indianapolis. Three men sat at a table: Whitworth, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and Paul Alexander, the offensive line coach. Whitworth waxed about Katrina and Saban and his collection of championships from high school and college. When the meeting ended, Lewis turned to Alexander. S--, he said. If were lucky enough to draft him, I wont need you. Lewis had no idea then how long Whitworth would play, or even that Whitworth would play that long for him. Instead, he saw an everywhere-he-goes impact, the kind that would come to define a man and his long career.

* * *

Relationships matter, Big Whit says on another drive, on another Monday, after another victory, this one over the football team in Washington. The Rams are 41 now, in large part due to the bonds theyve forged, and no one connection is more dynamic, unexpected or suited to become the next breakthrough buddy show on Netflix than the antagonistic friendship between the old-man tackle and his wunderkind coach. Sean McVay references the movie Twins (which came out when he was 2). I guess Im Danny DeVito, and hes Arnold [Schwarzenegger].

The blocker who laughs at injuries and casts large shadows would seem to hold little in common with his boss, who in caricature, if not reality, is depicted as a heavy-on-hair-product boy genius who sips ros out by his pool. Big Whit is actually older by almost four years. Friends say the two men bicker constantly, to the great amusement of everyone around them, with Whitworth at once a subordinate and an older-brother type. And yet, McVay so respects his tackle that he will accompany him for golf rounds even though the coach doesnt play. (In true McVay fashion, he refuses to even swing a club, lest he not be perfect at something.) Sometimes, they finish each others sentences. Sometimes, they simultaneously send two versions of the same text. Its like watching the little gorilla go after the big gorilla, says Howard, the hilarious nanny. Their families have vacationed together, with the coach breaking out nerdy custom-made notecards for pop quizzeswhat comes first: vulnerability or trust?while their significant others slink away to roll their eyes.

Whit led the Rams against the Chiefs on an emotional Monday night victory in 2018.

Kohjiro Kinno/Sports Illustrated

The answer to the question the coach posed is vulnerability, by the way. McVay read that in the tome on team-building, The Culture Code, by Daniel Coyle. He will extend the example even further as it relates to his captain and this season. He says that he never met another person as empathetic as Big Whit, and, that for all his left tackles size and swag and Jordanslets just say hes a high-maintenance offensive lineman, McVay quipsWhitworth is as vulnerable as anyone in Thousand Oaks, even after the injury. Especially after. Thats exactly why his teammates trust him.

Hence the Rams start that surprised most, but not them. After McVay gave his blessing (trust), Big Whit hosted the Rams linemen for offseason pandemic workouts in the makeshift gym the tackle built in his three-car garage. Both wanted the younger linemanthe Rams started four with almost zero experience in 19to be tougher. They understood, as Big Whit points out, how the college game had spread so far out that the physicality in the pros can tend to jar the ever-more-nimble young brutes up front. Sorensen paced the group through workouts, focusing on upper body for two days, then lower body the next, with yoga mandatory after every session. They all adopted his grunt mentality, Sorensen says. Which was important, especially now. If Whitworth could imprint his ethos before a pared-down training camp, he could gift the Rams an advantage unavailable to other teams. To do that, he would need to share his ancient wisdom and hard-earned life experience (vulnerability).

Whitworth laughs. Relationships matter. Maybe even enough to vault the Rams back into the playoffs.

* * *

The Tao of Whit V: Even the supposedly mundane O-line life comes with perks, like advice from a hockey player once known as the Great One. Yes, Wayne Gretzky told Whitworth to make them rip that jersey off your back during one country club round. But with the way hes still playing, that might not be after this season. It might not even be after the next one. I have a feeling well be together for a long time in some capacity, McVay (DeVito) says.

* * *

Over 15 seasons, however this might end, the game of football evolved around Big Whit. He evolved over that time, too. More symmetry. Think of the run of tackles taken in every first round now. In 06? One went that high, DBrickashaw Ferguson, who played 10 seasonsand retired five years ago! He watches Big Whit from afar and gasps, I cant believe hes still playing!

In Whitworths early years, offenses dropped into shotgun formations on only third-and-long; now many do that more plays than not. As seasons passed, defensive linemen added new techniques. These guys are borderline MMA fighters, the way theyre rushing now, Big Whit says, growing animated on his drive. They all have these moves. Watch [teammate] Aaron Donalds arms and hands when hes rushing. Its like trying to block a windmill.

The twin evolutions, how they tie together, plus the Big Whit impact on the big picture of two franchises and the NFL, leads those close to him to suggestnay, demandthat Whitworth receive Hall of Fame consideration. For the longevity. For the pancake blocks. For the elder statesmanship. For the Pro Bowl nods. For surviving Cincinnati. For transforming the Rams upon the franchises move back to Los Angeles. For the family that supported him to be part of the ultimate accomplishment. For the nanny to crack more jokes, perhaps about his blazer and how it might or might not fit. For another comeback, if all goes well. For all of the above.

Goff, unprompted, kicks off the Big Whit 4 Hall campaign. If he doesnt get in, the quarterback says, who should? Lewis echoes that sentiment with a no doubt. Snead goes one step further. If Big Whits not considered, he says, I dont think Ill ever buy another ticket.

* * *

The Tao of Whit VI: Big Whit wasnt sure what to expect when he posted his desire to return on social media late Sunday. But rather than disappoint, the outburst of love overwhelmed him beyond anything imaginable. Troy Aikman, who had worked the broadcast of the game, called Whitwortha childhood Cowboys fan who was floored by the well wishes from one of his idols. Get better, Aikman told him. Get back. On various platforms, Whitworth also heard from dozens of parents, all strangers who sounded the same theme. His play, vibe, longevity, secretsWhitworth meant so much to so many. They need him to return. He needs to return for them.

* * *

John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated

On the Monday that everything changed, Whitworth knew the kind of season he was having. He knew that anyone who had considered him simply an elder statesman ignored important things like game film. I respect this craft too much to not be great at it, he says. In the season-opening victory against Dallas, he graded the highest of any Ram on Pro Football Focus (95.2) and snagged his highest mark in a decade. In a longer-term PFF analysis, the site found that Whitworth allowed the lowest pressure rate (3.7%) of any offensive tackle from his generation, ranking slightly better than the recently retired Joe Thomas (3.9%), a 10-time Pro Bowler with the Browns.

Then, this. The worst-case. Or maybe not. The very night that Big Whit suffered the injury, he received what amounted to good news for an injured football player. His prayers had been answered. He had torn only his MCL and a minor part of his PCL; the rest of the ligaments looked healthy, and there were no fractures. He didnt need surgery and could return in six to eight weeksas opposed to monthsif rehabilitation went as expected. Its a testament to what an alien you are, the team doctor told him after the MRI scan. The timing was not lost on either man. It meant that Big Whit could return just in time for a playoff push.

He called his wife before heading home, and they started, as always, to put a plan together. She would schedule a blood test for Tuesday, so that doctors could study what foods would best help his body regenerate. Their nutritionist would slap together a new diet plan. Sorensen, the trainer, would help Big Whit attack the rest of his 15th season the same way he attacked the beginning of it, through COVID-19. Whitworth even hired a driver, so as not to waste time or hurt the left knee while getting around. Not even 24 hours after that cart took him off that football field, he desired to come back. He wants to play, and would considerand weigha return in 21 if he cannot come back this season.

With a somber mood hanging over a team that just finished its biggest win of an already successful season, Whitworth went to work on Monday, after some typical R&B and coffee time to set his mind right. Same as always. He would give everything he had to rehab. He would lift his teammates spirits, rather than the other way around. Plus, swelling! Regenerate!, he implored his cells. He told the Rams that theyd lost games this season only when they didnt play to their potential, while emphasizing that they had already won without him and would continue to.

In some ways, despite the injury and the promise of the season that it halted, Whitworth saw the tumultuous events as an extension, a fitting addition, to his larger story. This was another setback to survive, and should the Rams continue to win and he returns for the playoffs, for the Super Bowl that has eluded both pillar and franchise, what better ending could Big Whit write than to fall, get up and win the whole damn thing?

Theres only one drawback. He laughs. Unfortunately, they dont make movies about linemen. Ah, the O-line life.

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Beware The Transhumanists: How ‘being Human’ Is Being Re-engineered By The Elite’s Covid-19 Coup – The Nigerian Voice

If you tell a lie, tell a big one.If you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth.

Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.

Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda, 1933 to 1945

Transhumanism is a set of beliefs based on the premise that human beings can be improved by genetic manipulation and/or implanting technologies into the brain and body to achieve enhanced capacities. Transhumanism has a long history as an idea but since 1990 it has attracted serious attention from an increasing number of technology-lovers and early advocates are readily identified. See What is Transhumanism?

As part of his research as an investigative reporter throughout his life, which included writing a comprehensive expos of how the AIDS hoax was perpetrated in the 1980s, in 2001 Jon Rappoport interviewed a Cold War-era propagandist-turned-anonymous-whistleblower who had spent decades working for the medical and other cartels to promote their agendas to gain increasing control over the human population. Here, in part, is what the propagandist told Rappoport:

Look at the medical cartel. Do they ever declare victory? From now until the end of time theyll be planting stories in the press about the latest medical advance that will make life better for every person in the world. Most of it is a lie, but that doesnt stop them. Until the planet is depopulated down to under a billion people and every one left is a robot, these cartels [elsewhere identified as energy, government, intelligence, media,medical, military,money] are not going to quit. And even then, with a lobotomized world, theyll still push their propaganda. This IS 1984, and people better realize it... The medical cartel. Theyre planning to take over the mind... after which PR wont really matter. [pp.61-62 & 87.]

Thecartels wereusing and creatingandbolstering the Cold War as ameans toanend.Makingwhatyoucouldcall the enemygame apart of the human psycheatsuchalevel that it would maintain itself as a living myththatcouldbe tapped intoatanytimewith any enemies inserted into the lineup.The enemiesgame is as old astimeitself. But this was the version of the moment.To installa rigid sense ofnational security as the overriding fact or that would damn well justifythe deflatingof individual freedom on many fronts. Makenationalsecuritythething youcouldntrefuse. [p.70.]

A: Onceyou fatiguepeopleenough with thestrategies of 1984, they are set up forthemedicalization of society. Which is the brain stuff. The altering of the humanbrainwithdrugs andother approaches. Genes, perhaps. A brainmachinelinkup.Creating a differentperception of reality. Externally appliedelectromagnetic fields.In whichpeoplewill feel happy eventhough they are slaves.Yousee, in 1984 its really all about hysteria. The people are beingdriveninto the wall withlies aboutwars and liesabout enemies and lies about political structure, andthe control overindividuals is very harsh, and the leadersarenotlooking to create real happiness,not the fluffy stuff.Redemption,yes. Forgiveness, perhaps. The people arebeingfed pain and big brother is commandingthem like a drill sergeantthrough their TVsets. Butafter that,after people sink intoanacceptance ofthe delusions thatarebeing foisted on them, then comes the science. Themakingof somekind of replicaofhappiness.The oldorder is1984. Youcan call that thePlan fromthe dawnoftimeto about 1945. After that is the transitionto Brave NewWorld.

Q: Andthats why the medical cartel is the prince of the cartels.

A: Theprince, the king.Q:1984A: Leaves people with no moralconviction. It runsoverthatlike a freighttrain.1984is dark. Brave New World issunny andlight and the control isappliedsothatthe interiorlife changes.

Q: Soyou worked on medical stories.A:Yes. Making the medical cartellookgood, lookhumane,look rational, looklikeexcellent science that works. Especially psychiatryandneurology.Andpharmacology.That became a major job for me. Becausetheyre experimentingonthe human race, and they wanttheir horrible mistakes whicharelegion,tolooklikeadvancesand goodscienceat every stepuntil theyget it right,until theyhave your

brain in their hands fromcradle to grave. [p.71.]

As noted earlier, the words above were penned in 2001. If you would like to read the full transcript of the interview, which offers a reasonably accurate explanation of what is happening around the world at the moment, you can do so in The Matrix Revealed Volume 1, Jon Rappoport Interviews Ellis Medavoy (Part 1 of 3).

And if you would like to read about the AIDS hoax (caused by the non-existent HIV) and how it was done, using much of the same formula being used to perpetrate the elites Covid-19 hoax (caused by the non-existent SARS-CoV-2), you can do so in AIDS Inc.: Scandal of the Century.

Unfortunately, the Covid-19 hoax is being played for stakes that are infinitely higher than they were during the AIDS hoax.

After 200,000 years of Homo Sapiens, the species is about to evolve rapidly and profoundly. But it wont be a natural evolution. And it wont be an improvement unless you dont like the many qualities that make humans human, biologically and socially.

If the transhumanists have their way, individual human identity will vanish along with human volition. Homo Sapiens will be superseded by Homo Cyborg.

If this all sounds like science fiction or just plain ridiculous, let me invite you to consider the evidence below.

As warned by scientist Andrew Herr in an article see This Scientist Wants Tomorrows Troops to Be Mutant-Powered published in 2012:

Greater strength and endurance. Enhanced thinking. Better teamwork. New classes of genetic weaponry, able to subvert DNA. Not long from now, the technology could exist to routinely enhance and undermine peoples minds and bodies using a wide range of chemical, neurological, genetic and behavioral techniques.

Its warfare waged at the evolutionary level. And its coming sooner than many people think.

Well, that time has arrived. The thin edge of the wedge, if we keep allowing it to happen, is the various restrictions and technologies being introduced under cover of Covid-19 which are supposedly being used to tackle the virus.

However, just as in the AIDS epidemic when no (HIV) virus was ever scientifically demonstrated to exist, there is zero science to prove the existence of the virus labeled SARS-CoV-2. Instead, this elite coup is designed and being conducted to achieve a profound transformation in the nature of the human individual and human society, including a substantial depopulation. Moreover, it is proceeding rapidly because it entails a complexity and depth that is not easy to comprehend but also because it seems so preposterous that few people are inclined to contemplate the possibility objectively. Joseph Goebbels knew why. For some of the detail of essential elements of this coup, see Covid-19 Does Not Exist: The Global Elites Campaign of Terror Against Humanity and Halting our Descent into Tyranny: Defeating the Global Elites Covid-19 Coup.

But for another recent comprehensive history and critique of the coup being conducted by the billionaires club, see Dr. Jacob Nordangrds insightful article Analysis: Globalists reboot of the world and their plans for us which opens with the following words:

The Corona crisis is the trigger for a global coup dtat of monumental dimensions. It is the beginning of a new era, with a new international economic order that risks completely destroying human freedoms. Tyrants have now taken over to forcibly steer us into a climate smart and healthy world through the World Economic Forums new techno-totalitarian roadmap The Great Reset.

In this article, however, I want to focus on the agenda of the transhumanists under cover of this coup and what this would mean for Homo Sapiens unless it is stopped.

TechnotyrannyIn one of his videos about the Covid-19 coup watch This Couldnt Possibly Happen. Could it? the transcript for which can be accessed by clicking the Health tab after entering his website the UKs Dr Vernon Coleman explains the sinister agenda of the technological control sought by the transhumanists:

If you were a mad doctor and you wanted to control an individual it would be a doddle.

Youd just tell them you were giving them an injection to protect them against the flu or something like that and in the syringe there would be a little receiver. And then youd stick a transmitter on the roof of the house across the road from where they lived.

And then you could send messages to make them do whatever you wanted them to do. You could make them sad or angry or happy or contented. You could make them run or fight or just spend all day in bed.

Remember, thats what Dr Delgado was doing over half a century ago. Its nothing new.

Of course, if you wanted to do the same thing for lots of people youd need a whole lot of people to help you.

And youd need something to inject into people. A medicine of some kind for example.

And then youd need someone good at software to help with all the transmitting and the receiving and youd need people with access to lots of tall poles or roofs where they could put the transmitter things.

But none of that would be any good unless you had a reason for injecting people. You cant just go around injecting millions of people for no reason.

Ideally, youd need them all to be frightened of something so that they were keen to let you inject them. And then you could put your tiny receivers into the stuff that was being injected. Or squirted up their noses or whatever.

Introducing her own careful explanation of the agenda of the transhumanists, in her video Dr. Carrie Madej opens with the following words:

So what do you think about going from human 1.0 to human 2.0?... Transhumanism is about taking humans, as we know ourselves, and melding with artificial intelligence. That might seem kinda cool to you, we might have some superhuman abilities thats the idea, thats what you see in sci-fi movies Thinking about this topic... I [had thought that it was] many years in the future.

However, this question, this idea is now right in this moment. We need to make a decision... because I investigated the proposed Covid-19 vaccine and this is my alarm call to the world. I looked at the pros and cons and it frightens me.

And I want you to know about this, you need to be very well informed because this new vaccine is not like your normal flu vaccine. This is something very different, this is something brand new, something completely experimental on the human race. And its not just about being a different vaccine. There are technologies that are being introduced with this vaccine that can change the way we live, who we are and what we are. And very quickly.

Some people... like Elon Musk, who is the founder of SpaceX and Tesla Automotive, as well as Ray Kurzweil, who is one of the bigwigs of Google, are self-proclaimed transhumanists. They believe that we should go to human 2.0 and they are very big proponents of this. Theres a lot of other people... involved with this. I think the easiest way to explain this to you is to go with one of the frontrunners for the vaccine and go into a little bit of the history and tell you how they want to make the vaccine and I think that will speak volumes. So, for instance, Moderna is one of the frontrunners for the Covid-19 vaccine. Watch Human 2.0 Transhumanist Vaccine A Wake Up Call to the World.

If you doubt the capacity of medicine to achieve this level of human transformation, in this video produced in August 2020, transhumanist Elon Musk explains how his Neuralink microchip will be surgically implanted into the human brain, as has already been done with animals. While he specifically mentions the chips capacity to monitor certain health parameters and to play you music, he does not mention its intended uses for digitization of your identity, recording of your personal data such as medical and bank records, any of its surveillance functions or its capacity for emotional, thought and behavioural control. Watch This Is How Elon Musks Neuralink Microchip Will Be Put In Your Brain.

As Raul Diego explains in his own article on this subject:

The most significant scientific discovery since gravity has been hiding in plain sight for nearly a decade and its destructive potential to humanity is so enormous that the biggest war machine on the planet immediately deployed its vast resources to possess and control it, financing its research and development through agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

The revolutionary breakthrough [involved devising] a way to reprogram the molecules that carry the genetic instructions for cell development in the human body, not to mention all biological lifeforms.

These molecules are called messenger ribonucleic acid or mRNA and the newfound ability to rewrite those instructions to produce any kind of cell within a biological organism has radically changed the course of Western medicine and science, even if no one has really noticed yet. As [inventor, Professor Derek] Rossi, himself, puts it: The real important discovery here was you could now use mRNA, and if you got it into the cells, then you could get the mRNA to express any protein in the cells, and this was the big thing. See A Transhumanist Dream: A DARPA-Funded Implantable Biochip to Detect COVID-19 Could Hit Markets by 2021.

Moreover, as Patrick Wood, who has intensively studied and reported the efforts of the transhumanists for decades, explains in a recent article The Siamese Twins of Technocracy and Transhumanism and discusses in a related video Humans 2.0: GMO Vaccinations and Transhumanism that draws out some of the more nuanced elements of their agenda:

Technocracy and Transhumanism have always been joined at the hip. Technocracy uses its science of social engineering to merge technology and society. Transhumanism uses its field of NBIC to merge technology directly into humans. To put it another way, Technocracy is to society what Transhumanism is to the humans that live in it.

NBIC stands for Nano (nano-technology), Bio (bio-technology), Info (information technology) and Cogno (cognitive sciences). These four scientific disciplines remained separate avenues of study in Universities around the world until the early 1970s. Today, NBIC has become an established discipline of its own in most major universities with personnel contributed from each separate department.

All together, NBIC offers a scientific cauldron to Transhumans in their quest to create Humans 2.0.

Its also no wonder that the upcoming vaccine for COVID-19 being produced by Moderna is also using NBIC science to accomplish a merging of the human body with advanced technology. The Trump Administration has contracted with Moderna see Trump Administration collaborates with Moderna to produce 100 million doses of COVID-19 investigational vaccine to deliver 100 million doses of its investigational vaccine, ostensibly to be kitted and transported to the nation by the U.S. Military.

[Technocracy and Transhumanism are both] extremely dangerous for all of humankind and must be rejected before it is too late to stop them.

And Whitney Webb provides further insight into the elite intention in this regard. In one of her meticulously-researched articles Coronavirus Gives a Dangerous Boost to DARPAs Darkest Agenda she outlines the hidden technological agenda behind the Covid-19 coup that might well be delivered as part of any vaccination program by the Pentagons Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). After carefully outlining the history and logic of what is taking place such as the development of cyborg super soldiers and injectable Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) with the capability to control ones thoughts she concludes with the chilling words:

Technology developed by the Pentagons controversial research branch is getting a huge boost amid the current coronavirus crisis, with little attention going to the agencys ulterior motives for developing said technologies, their potential for weaponization or their unintended consequences.

Those who are fearful and desperate will not care that the vaccine may include nanotechnology or have the potential to genetically modify and re-program their very being, as they will only want the current crisis that has upended the world to stop.

In this context, the current coronavirus crisis appears to be the perfect storm that will allow DARPAs dystopian vision to take hold and burst forth from the darkest recesses of the Pentagon into full public view. DARPAs transhumanist vision for the military and for humanity presents an unprecedented threat, not just to human freedom, but an existential threat to human existence and the building blocks of biology itself.

Of course, if you want to read how involved corporations, DARPA and other elite agencies explain it, you can do so. But unless you dig beneath the surface you will only get their sanitized accounts which, just like Elon Musk, focus on seemingly benign elements like digitized identity and health reporting while not mentioning the technologys capacities and intended uses for the invasion of your privacy, the recording of your personal data such as medical and bank records, any of its surveillance functions or its capacity for emotional, thought and behavioural control. See, for example, Modernas mRNA Technology, Profusa is pioneering tissue-integrating biosensors for continuous monitoring of body chemistries, A Military-Funded Biosensor Could Be the Future of Pandemic Detection (which discusses the role of hydrogel) and DARPAS Developing novel, safe and efficacious treatments for COVID-19 following its much earlier In Vivo Nanoplatforms (IVN). For two elite presentations of the importance of your digital identity, see The Need for Good Digital ID is Universal and ID2020 and partners launch program to provide digital ID with vaccines.

What is at Stake?As discussed above, the technology now available after decades of effort enables receiver nanochips to be sprayed, injected or otherwise implanted into human bodies. With the ongoing deployment of 5G (which includes extensive space and ground-based technologies: see Deadly Rainbow: Will 5G Precipitate the Extinction of All Life on Earth?), just one outcome of these combined technologies is that it will be possible to direct the individual behaviour of each person so implanted. Given that the control technology will be owned by corporate executives, here is a list of examples of how the elite might direct that it be used (more or less as a drone pilot sitting in the United States controls a drone flying in the Middle East that fires weapons on local people):

1. The official chain of command to launch nuclear weapons can be subverted by using remote control to direct the chosen individual in a particular chain of command to order (or execute) the launch of one or more nuclear weapons at the target(s) nominated at the time(s) specified. Subordinates can be directed to follow orders they might otherwise question.

2. Cyborg soldiers (either as mercenaries or as members of national military forces) in groups or as individuals can be deployed anywhere to fight as ordered by those in charge of their remote controls.

3. Cyborg workers can be directed to work in dangerous conditions for extended periods and simply be replaced as required. Someone else nearby will have been vaccinated too and can be directed to take their place.

4. Cyborg consumers can be directed to purchase a particular product, irrespective of its functionality, including health or otherwise, for the person so directed. That is assuming that money is not just taken directly from their bank account, given that it will no longer be under their exclusive control.

5. Cyborg activists on any issue can simply to be directed to refrain from further involvement in their campaign. Or to actively take the opposite position to the one they had previously.

What can we do to halt this transhumanist agenda and the elite coup itself?

Fortunately, we can do a great deal.For a detailed series of options on how to have strategic impact, see the end of the article Ye are Many, They are Few: Nonviolent Resistance to the Elites Covid-19 Coup.

Importantly, however, if you would like to be part of the campaign to defeat the elite coup and prevent implementation of the transhumanist agenda, see the list of strategic goals necessary to achieve these outcomes here: Coup Strategic Aims.

If you wish to nurture children to be far more able to critique society and elite propaganda, rather than be easily duped, see My Promise to Children.

If you wish to reduce your vulnerability to elite control, consider joining those who recognize the critical importance of reduced consumption and greater self-reliance by participating in The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth. In addition, you are welcome to consider signing the online pledge of The Peoples Charter to Create a Nonviolent World.

Finally, if you want a better fundamental understanding of how we reached this point, see Why Violence?, Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice and The Global Elite is Insane Revisited.

ConclusionIn the elegant words of South African liberation activist Steve Biko:

The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

When he uttered these words before being tortured to death in an Apartheid prison, Biko presumably did not realize the profound meaning they would acquire in 2020.

The transhuman mind will be owned and controlled by the oppressor.

If we are to avert this fate, we must struggle with clarity and purpose.

Biodata: Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of Why Violence? His email address is [emailprotected] and his website is here.

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Beware The Transhumanists: How 'being Human' Is Being Re-engineered By The Elite's Covid-19 Coup - The Nigerian Voice

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Cryonics, brain preservation and the weird science of cheating death – CNET

Linda Chamberlain works just down the hallway from her husband. She walks past him every day. Occasionally she'll stop by to check in on him and say hello.

The only problem is, Fred Chamberlain has been dead for eight years. Shortly after he was pronounced legally dead from prostate cancer, Fred was cryopreserved -- his body was filled with a medical-grade antifreeze, cooled to minus 196 degrees Celsius and carefully lowered into a giant vat of liquid nitrogen.

So when Linda visits Fred, she talks to him through the insulated, stainless-steel wall of a 10-foot-tall preservation chamber. And he's not alone in there. Eight people reside in that massive cylinder along with him, and more than 170 are preserved in similar chambers in the same room. All of them elected to have their bodies stored in subzero temperatures, to await a future when they could be brought back to life. Cryonically preserved in the middle of the Arizona desert.

This story is part of Hacking the Apocalypse, CNET's documentary series on the tech saving us from the end of the world.

Linda Chamberlain is cheerful as she shows me her husband's perhaps-not-final resting place. She places her hand on the cool steel and gives it a loving pat. Being in a room with 170 dead people isn't morbid to her.

"It makes me feel happy," she says. "Because I know that they have the potential to be restored to life and health. And I have the potential of being with them again."

Alcor proclaims itself a world leader in cryonics, offering customers the chance to preserve their bodies indefinitely, until they can be restored to full health and function through medical discoveries that have yet to be made. For the low price of $220,000, Alcor is selling the chance to live a second life.

It's a slim chance.

Critics say cryonics is a pipe dream, no different from age-old chimeras like the fountain of youth. Scientists say there's no way to adequately preserve a human body or brain, and that the promise of bringing a dead brain back to life is thousands of years away.

But Alcor is still selling that chance. And ever since Linda and Fred Chamberlain founded the Alcor Life Extension Foundation back in 1972, Linda has watched Alcor's membership swell with more people wanting to take that chance. More than 1,300 people have now signed up to have their bodies sent to Alcor instead of the graveyard.

And when her time is up, Linda Chamberlain plans to join them.

Hacking the Apocalypseis CNET's new documentary series digging into the science and technology that could save us from the end of the world. You can check out our episodes onPandemic,Nuclear Winter,Global Drought,Tsunamis,CryonicsandEscaping the Planetand see the full series onYouTube.

Photographs of "patients" line the walls of Alcor's offices.

From the outside, Alcor's facilities don't look like the kind of place you'd come to live forever.

When I arrived at the company's headquarters, a nondescript office block in Scottsdale, Arizona, a short drive out of Phoenix, I expected something grander. After all, this is a place that's attempting to answer the question at the heart of human existence: Can we cheat death?

I've come here to find out why someone would choose cryonics. What drives someone to reject the natural order of life and death, and embrace an end that's seen by many, scientists and lay people alike, as the stuff of science fiction?

But after a short time at Alcor, I realize the true believers here don't see cryonics as a way to cheat death. They don't even see death as the end.

"Legal death only really means that your heart and your lungs have stopped functioning without intervention," Linda Chamberlain tells me. "It doesn't mean your cells are dead, it doesn't mean even your organs are dead."

Alcor refers to the people preserved in its facilities as "patients" for that very reason -- it doesn't consider them to be dead.

In Chamberlain's view, the idea of death as an "on-off switch" is outdated. People that died 100 years ago could well have been saved by modern medical interventions that we take for granted in the 21st century. So what about 100 years from now? Alcor hopes that by pressing pause on life, its patients might be revived when medical technology has improved.

"Our best estimates are that within 50 to 100 years, we will have the medical technologies needed to restore our patients to health and function," says Chamberlain.

We're killing people who could potentially be preserved. We're just throwing them in the ground so they can be eaten by worms and bacteria.

Alcor CEO Max More

Alcor CEO Max More agrees. In his view, cryonics is about giving people who die today a second chance. And he says our current views about death and burial are robbing people of a potential future.

"We're killing people who could potentially be preserved," More says. "We're just throwing them in the ground so they can be eaten by worms and bacteria, or we're burning them up. And to me, that's kind of crazy when we could give them a chance if they want it.

"If you think about life insurance, it's actually death insurance -- it pays out on death. This really is life insurance. It's a backup plan."

An early copy of Cryonics magazine sits in Alcor's offices, showing the inside of one of its preservation chambers.

Alcor hasn't exactly mapped out how its patients will be brought back to full function and health, or what revival technologies the future will bring. Its website speaks about the possibility of molecular nanotechnology -- that is, using microscopic nano-robots to "replace old damaged chromosomes with new ones in every cell."

But that level of cellular regeneration isn't something Alcor is working on. The company is in the business of selling preservation, but it's not developing the technologies for restoration. In fact, no one currently working at Alcor is likely to be responsible for reviving patients. That responsibility will be handed on to the next generation (and potentially many more generations after that) -- scientists of some undetermined time in the future, who will have developed the technology necessary to reverse the work that Alcor is doing now. It seems like a convenient gap for cryonics: Sell the promise in the present without the burden of proving the end result.

Our goal is to have reversible suspended animation, just like in the movies. We want it to be that perfect.

Alcor founder Linda Chamberlain

Chamberlain herself admits the future is ultimately unclear and that they "don't know how powerful the revival technologies are going to be." But she does know the end result Alcor is aiming for.

"Our goal is to have reversible suspended animation, just like in the movies," she says. "We want it to be that perfect. We're not there yet, but we're always working on improving our techniques."

The science behind cryonics is unproven. The procedures are highly experimental. No human -- specifically, no human brain -- has been brought back from death or from a state of postmortem preservation. Alcor points to research in worms and the organs of small mammals that it says indicates the potential for cryonics. There are famous names associated with the movement (Alcor admits famed baseballer Ted Williams is a patient), but there aren't exactly any human success stories who've awoken from cryonic preservation to hit the motivational speaking circuit.

James Bedford, the first man to enter cryonic suspension, according to Alcor. Bedford was preserved in a "cryocapsule" in 1967 (five years before Alcor was founded), before being transferred into Alcor's facilities in 1991.

Even More isn't making any promises. He acknowledges that the company may not even exist when it comes time for its patients to wake up.

"There are no guarantees," he says. "We're not promising to bring you back on May 27th, 2082, or whatever. We don't know officially this will work. We don't know for sure that the organization [Alcor] will survive... We don't know if an asteroid will land on us. There's no guarantees. But it's a shot. It's an opportunity. And it just seems to be better than the alternative."

The way the Alcor team sees it, you have a better chance of waking up from here than you do if you're sent to the crematorium.

One of the central questions of cryonics is how you preserve a dead body if you hope to revive it.

Even if they don't know exactly when or how patients will be brought back, the team at Alcor knows one thing is vital: They need to preserve as much of the brain and body as perfectly as possible.

While they may be clinically dead when they arrive in the operating room, Alcor's "patients" are intubated and kept on ice while a mechanical thumper (shown here on a dummy) keeps blood flowing around the body, all in a bid to preserve the body as thoroughly as possible.

That life-saving mortuary practice takes place inside Alcor's operating room -- a sort of hospital-meets-morgue where the organization prepares bodies for "long-term care."

When patients come through the doors at Alcor, they've already been pronounced legally dead. Ideally, they haven't had to travel far to get here and they've had their body put on ice as soon as possible after clinical death. According to Chamberlain, that hypothermia is vital for "slowing down the dying process." I didn't think I'd hear someone say that about a dead person.

During the first stages of cryonic preservation, bodies are "perfused" with a medical-grade antifreeze, all in a bid to prevent ice crystals forming. From here, the body vitrifies, rather than freezing.

(I also didn't expect to see a dead person in the operating room. At least, that's what I thought when I saw a human dummy waiting in the ice bath by the door. One of Alcor's employees picked up the dummy's hand to wave at me and I genuinely think that moment shortened my life span by two years.)

The ice bath is the first step in the preservation process, and it's here where the patient is placed in a kind of post-death life support. Drugs are administered to slow down metabolic processes, the body is intubated to maintain oxygen levels, and a mechanical thumper pumps the heart to ensure blood keeps flowing around the body.

The team then prepares the body to be cooled down to its permanent storage temperature. The blood is replaced with cryoprotectant (think of it like medical-grade antifreeze), which is pumped through the veins, all in a bid to (surprisingly) prevent the body freezing.

Freezing might sound like the natural end goal of cryopreservation, but it's actually incredibly damaging. Our bodies are made up of about 50 to 60% water, and when this water starts to freeze, it forms ice crystals which damage the body's organs and veins.

But if that water is replaced with cryoprotectant, Alcor says it can slowly reduce temperatures so the body vitrifies -- turning into a kind of glass-like state, rather than freezing. From here, the body is placed in a giant stainless steel chamber, known as a dewar. And Alcor says a cryopreserved body can be stored in this "long-term care" for decades.

I missed something when I first walked into the operating room. At the back, behind the ice bath and medical instruments (including surgical scissors and, chillingly, unexplained saws), there's a clear box, about the size of a milk crate, with a circular metal ring clamped inside.

It's a box for human heads.

This is designed for patients who've elected to preserve their head only, removed from the body from the collarbone up. These preserved heads are referred to as "neuro patients."

This small perspex box in the Alcor operating room is used to clamp human heads in place for cryopreservation.

If putting my whole body on ice was a bridge too far, then cutting off and preserving my head is beyond anything I can fathom. But it's a choice some of Alcor's patients make. The neuro patients are stored in small, barrel-sized vats while they wait for long-term care. The moment I lifted the lid on one of these vats -- nitrogen gas billowing out, human head obscured just inches below -- will stay with me forever.

Each preservation chamber can hold four bodies (positioned with the head at the bottom, to keep the brain as cool as possible) and five "neuro patients" stacked down the center.

It's cheaper if you elect to preserve just your head. Alcor charges only $80,000 for the head, compared with $220,000 for the full body. But there are also pragmatic reasons for choosing this more selective form of cryonic preservation.

When Alcor cryopreserves a body, the main priority is to preserve the brain and cause as little damage as possible. After all, the brain is not only the center of cognitive function, but also long-term memory. Essentially everything that makes you who you are.

You might be attached to your body now (both figuratively and literally), but many people at Alcor believe that, by the time medical science has advanced enough to bring a person back to life, their full body won't be needed. Whether you're regenerating a human body from DNA found in the head or uploading a person's consciousness to a new physical body, if we reach a point where cryonic preservation can be reversed, potentially hundreds of years in the future, your 20th or 21st century body will be outdated hardware.

That's certainly a view Linda Chamberlain takes. When she goes, only her head will stay.

"There's a lot of DNA in all that tissue and material," she says of the human head. "A new body can be grown for you from your own DNA. It's just a new, beautiful body that hasn't aged and hasn't had damage from disease."

In fact, when Chamberlain thinks of her future body, she doesn't want to limit herself to the kind of human form she has now.

"I hope that I won't have a biological body, but I'll have a body made out of nanobots," she tells me. "I can be as beautiful as I want to be. I won't be old anymore."

I hope that I won't have a biological body, but I'll have a body made out of nanobots.

Alcor founder Linda Chamberlain

I tell her she's already beautiful. She laughs.

"But if you have a nanobot swarm, it can reconfigure itself any way you want!" she replies, completely serious. "If I want to go swimming in the ocean, I have to worry about sharks. But after I have my nanobots body, if I want to go swimming in the ocean, I can just reconfigure myself to be like an orca, a killer whale. And then the sharks have to look out for me."

Waking up 100 years from now as a fully reconfigurable, shark-hunting nanobot orca sounds like fun.

But this kind of future is possible only if the process of going into cryonic preservation doesn't damage your brain. The brain is a staggeringly complex organ, and storing it at subzero temperatures for decades at a time has the potential to cause serious cellular damage.

And according to some scientists, that's the main issue with cryonics. Before you even get to the issue of reanimation, they say, cryonics doesn't come close to delivering on the promise of preservation.

Surgical instruments in Alcor's operating room.

Neuroscientist Ken Hayworth is one expert who's highly skeptical. Hayworth isn't opposed to preservation -- he was a member of Alcor before he left to found the Brain Preservation Foundation with the goal of building dialogue between cryonicists and the broader scientific community. He wants brain preservation to be a respected field of scientific study. And in 2010, he laid down a challenge to help build that credibility.

"[We] put out a very concrete challenge that said, 'Hey, cryonics community, prove to us that you can at least preserve those structures of the brain that neuroscience knows are critical to long-term memory, meaning the synaptic connectivity of the brain," he says.

"The cryonics community, unfortunately, has not met the bare minimum requirements of that prize."

Hayworth says he's seen examples of animal brains preserved using techniques very similar to what cryonics companies say they use, but the samples showed a significant number of dead cells.

"I take that to mean that there was probably a lot of damage to those structures that encode memory," he says. "It was like, 'We're looking at something that doesn't look right at all.'"

We're looking at something that doesn't look right at all.

Ken Hayworth

However, Hayworth has seen a technique that successfully preserved a brain so well that it was awarded the Brain Preservation Prizeby his foundation. This prize recognized a team of researchers for preserving synapses across the whole brain of a pig. But the technique, known as "aldehyde stabilized cryopreservation," has two limitations that differ from the promise of cryonics. Firstly, it requires the brain to be filled with gluteraldehyde, a kind of embalming fluid, which means the brain can never be revived. And secondly? It's a lethal process that needs to be conducted while a mammal is living.

"It almost instantly glues together all the proteins in the brain," says Hayworth. "Now you're as dead as a rock at that point. You ain't coming back. But the advantage of that is it glues all of them in position, it doesn't destroy information."

Retaining that information is vital because, according to Hayworth, it could allow you to re-create a person's mind in the future. Forget transplanting your head onto a new body. Hayworth says the information from a preserved brain could potentially be scanned and uploaded into another space, such as a computer, allowing you to live on as a simulation.

You might not be a walking, talking human like you once were. But, in Hayworth's view, that's not the only way to live again.

"I think there's plenty of reason to suspect that future technologies will be able to bring somebody back -- future technologies like brain scanning, and mind uploading and brain simulation."

Being preserved long enough (and well enough) that you can live on as a simulation may be one of the end goals that cryonicists hope to achieve.

But there are plenty of critics who say we won't reach that point anytime soon. They say there's no way to know whether cryonics adequately preserves the brain, because we don't fully understand how the mind works, let alone how to physically preserve its complexity.

Ken Miller is a professor of neuroscience and co-director of the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University in New York. He's spent his life trying to understand the complexity of the human brain.

"Some people say [the brain] is the most complicated thing in the universe," says Miller.

"The most basic answer to how the brain works is, we don't know. We know how a lot of pieces work ... but we're very far from understanding the system."

It's at least thousands of years before we would know and really understand how the brain works.

Ken Miller

According to Miller, while we know a lot about parts of the brain -- how the neurons function, how electrical signals travel to the brain -- the complete picture is still a mystery.

"In my opinion, it's at least thousands of years before we would know and really understand how the brain works to the point where you could take all the pieces ... and put it back together and make a mind out of it," says Miller.

"It's just the complexity. Levels and levels and levels and levels -- it's beyond the imagination."

And what if we reach that point? What if, a thousand years from now, science was capable of restoring my cryonically preserved brain and uploading it to some kind of simulator -- would I still be me?

Sitting in his office, I put the question to Miller. And in the kind of meta way that I've realized is normal when speaking to a professor of theoretical neuroscience, I see the cogs of his mind working. His brain, thinking about another brain, living on as a simulated brain. My brain is melting.

"I think so, but it's a funny question," he says. "Because of course, if it was all information that you got up into a computer... making something feel like Claire, we could have a million of them on a million different machines. And each of them would feel like Claire.

"But immediately, just like twins -- immediately, identical twins start having divergent experiences and becoming different people. And so all the different Claires would immediately start having different experiences and becoming different Claires."

Back in Arizona, with the vision of a million computerized versions of myself enslaving the human race far from my mind, the promise of cryonics still feels like a dream.

I'm walking through the long-term care room as waterfalls of fog cascade from the cryonic chambers. These dewars need to be regularly refilled with liquid nitrogen to make sure patients stay at the perfect temperature, and today's the day they're getting topped up.

As I slowly step through the fog, stainless steel chambers loom large around me. Visibility drops, so I can barely see my outstretched hand in front of my face. For just the tiniest moment, as my feet disappear beneath me and I'm surrounded by reflections on reflections of white vapor, I lose my bearings. I feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience.

Walking through Alcor's long-term preservation room is a surreal experience.

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Transhumanism: The Anti-Human Singularity Agenda

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Uri Dowbenko, Conscious ReporterWaking Times

At a TED-like techno-geek symposium in the 2014 film Transcendence, Artificial Intelligence guru Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is asked by an audience member, So you want to create your own god? And he answers, Isnt that what man has always done?

This smarmy remark is indicative of the hubris and arrogance of scientism, the belief that science can solve all the problems on this planet, while scientists can have fun playing god at the same time.

It could also have been the answer of Real-Life Techno-Wizard Ray Kurzweil, Googles Director of Engineering, whose book The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (2005), is ever so popular with scientific materialists who neither have the capacity nor the desire for spiritual evolution, but have a fervent belief that the shotgun marriage of man and machine is not only normal but something to be ardently pursued.

Simply put Kurzweils sociopathic quest for digital immortality is based on his fear of death. He claims to take 150 pills a day in order to still be half-alive when voodoo science will have succeeded in uploading his sorry-state mind into a digital facsimile of his former self into cyber-space.

No soul? No problem

Since materialist scientists dont understand multi-dimensional or spiritual realities, they are unconcerned about the details which they cant even fathom.

And what exactly is the Singularity supposed to be? Its a future mythological moment when machine (artificial) intelligence becomes more intelligent than human intelligence.Kurzweils thesis and fervent hope is that it will occur by 2045. He writes that it is a future period during which the pace of technological advance will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed The Singularity will represent the culmination of the merger of our biological thinking and existence with our technology, resulting in a world that is still human but transcends our biological roots. There will be no distinction, post-Singularity, between human and machine or between physical and virtual.

Does that sound like science or a religious Belief System (B***)?

Despite a lackluster script, Transcendence is worth seeing because it is another example of Illuminati predictive programming in popular sci-fi movies. After all todays Hollywood Illuminati make the best movies, which are also the best propaganda for preparing humanity to accept One World Global Techno-Feudalism.

Eliminating humanity altogether also appears to be one of their goals as they seem to believe that the Humanity Experiment for all intents and purposes is finished. And, if they realize their twisted vision, humanity will in actuality become completely superfluous on Terra.

A Charlie Sheen movie called The Arrival comes to mind, in which an alien race is terra-forming Planet Earth to fit their requirements which are far different from that of humanity. They need a darker and more humid climate like the one in which dinosaurs roamed the earth. Obviously geo-engineering spraying chemtrails around the world and other forms of weather manipulation using HAARP technology, etc. are used in this so-called climate change scenario. Of course humans are always blamed for using the petro-chemical technology with which they have enslaved humanity in this age.

Now the plan to get rid of those pesky humans appears to have accelerated as the movie Transcendence introduces the concept of transhumanism to the hand-held electronics-addled masses.

Transhumanism itself was coined by Aldous Huxleys brother, biologist Julian Huxley, in 1957, when he wrote The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself not just sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in another way, but in its entirety, as humanity. We need a name for this new belief. Perhaps transhumanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature. (Religion Without Revelation, p.27)

Even Illuminati Gofer Julian Huxley called it a belief, since he knew that immortality was the Illuminati goal in life. After all, transhumanism has been aptly named the Rapture of the Geeks.

Reviewers of the movie have failed to put the film in context with real-life science, wherein techno-mischief makers like Google have plenty of cash to make their dream of transhumanism a reality. It should be noted that Google has been buying up companies like Boston Robotics, which makes killer robots, Deep Mind Technologies, an artificial intelligence company, NEST Labs, which plans to monitor your life through interactive appliances called the Network of Things and Project Calico, a genetic engineering project to defeat death itself, as their hype goes.

Scooping up human DNA into a gigantic database also seems to be one of Googles goals. A Google-wannabe subsidiary called 23andMe, founded by the wife of a Google founder, has as its stated goal creating the worlds largest secure, private database of genotypic and phenotypic information that can be used for comparison analysis and research. Of course Google has included a disclaimer in the Terms of Use which states Genetic information you share with others could be used against your interests. And this wonderful Monopoly Capitalism zinger as well By providing any sample, you acquire no rights in any research or commercial products that may be developed by 23andMe or its collaborating partners.

According to a New York Magazine article called The Google of Spit, by the end of 2013, 23andMe had extracted and analyzed DNA from 650,000 people, making it one of the biggest genetic banks in the world. Like any other Google scam, you sign away your rights but this time its your genetic program its your DNA.

Will Google be able harvest your soul in the future?

As New York Magazine put it In September, just a month after Wojcicki [wife of Google founder Sergey Brin] and Brin announced their separation, Google announced the launch of a new venture called Calico. Though its exact mission and purpose remain unclear, the general idea is for Calico to solve death, as Time magazine put it, in an uncanny echo of Wojcickis [founder of 23andMe] promise to solve health.

Solve health? Solve death? Theres no so-called problem these Arrogant Techno-Creeps cant handle

And then theres DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency), the Pentagons black-magic voodoo-science department that wants to create among other things replicant super-soldiers as portrayed by Rutger Hauer in the movie Blade Runner or Kurt Russel in Soldier for the Illuminatis future wars which will then inevitably morph into autonomous killing robots as seen in the RoboCop and Terminator films.

Coincidentally in a book by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange called When Wikileaks Met Google (2014), we discover Surprise! Google was actually partially funded by the sinister DARPA, the Pentagon Devils Workshop. Heres a footnote from the book

Acknowledgments, in The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine, Sergey Brin, Lawrence Page (Computer Science Department, Stanford University, 1998): The research described here was conducted as part of the Stanford Integrated Digital Library Project, supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement IRI-9411306. Funding for this cooperative agreement is also provided by DARPA and NASA, and by Interval Research, and the industrial partners of the Stanford Digital Libraries Project, archive.today/tb5VL.

In an excellent documentary called Google and the World Brain, WIRED magazine writer Kevin Kelly asked Google founder Larry Page back in the olden days, Why would anyone want a new search engine when we have Alta Vista?

And Page replied, Its not to make a search engine. Its to make an A.I.

The documentary also quotes Ray Kurzweil before he was hired as Googles Director of Engineering saying We talked to Google about their quest to digitize all knowledge and then create an A.I.

Googles corporate goal appears to be not only to steal all words, books, images, video, music, etc. through its search engine and other subsidiaries like Google Books, You Tube, etc. but then to monetize this wholesale theft on a worldwide scale.

This global library of information can then be transformed into a super-cyber-godlike Artificial Intelligence, which literally may become tantamount to SkyNet of Terminator movie fame.

In Transcendence, the Johnny Depp character turns into an uploaded cyberspace version of his former human self. Disguised as a cautionary tale, the movie is presented as a fait accompli, since the mad scientists of Google and DARPA are undoubtedly working day and night to initiate the so-called Singularity a confluence of the so-called GRIN technologies Genetic, Robotic, Information processing, and Neuro-technological processing.

By merging Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology, and Synthetic Biology, augmented by geo-engineering and Genetically Modified (GM or weaponized) food crops, these voodoo priests and rabbis of transhumanism are attempting to create a consensual virtual reality in which humans have become irrelevant because they are not augmented like those who have A.I. enhanced techno-gadgets, granting them super-powers, super-knowledge or super-intelligence. These synthetic or artificial siddhis (spiritual powers), they believe, will make them much more than mere mortal humans.

Like SkyNet, the all-powerful Artificial Intelligence in Jim Camerons Terminator movies, which sees humans as the enemy because it has no use for humans, Johnny Depps uploaded super-mind in Transcendence becomes a kind of cyber-god which craves more energy and power, not only to survive, but to expand itself and control everything on Earth.

Or as the Depp character tells his TED fanboys at the symposium Imagine a machine with the full range of human emotion. Its analytical power will be greater than the collective intelligence of every person in the history of the world. Some scientists refer to this as the singularity. I call it transcendence.

The problem with Singularity is that these materialistic scientists dont even understand what consciousness is, yet believe that uploading a human brain into a computer environment is somehow akin to transcending humanity even if its just a synthetic copy of a persons memories, etc.

They call it H+ which implies a superior human (Homo Superior) as opposed to Homo Sapiens.

The reality may be a little different, since the Illuminati plan for humanity is genetically engineering Homo Sapiens into Homo Deus.

Or is it Homo Insanus?

After all. No soul? No problem

Even Nobel Prize winner Stephen Hawking has written about his foreboding regarding transhumanism and the movie Transcendence in a UK Independent op-ed piece.

Of course Hawking doesnt say that Google is equivalent to Skynet, but he appears to be concerned about the dangers of an A.I. arms race, since mega-corporations like the sinister Google and Apple, as well as the sinister DARPA, are using their formidable resources of money and high-tech labor to try to produce an A.I. as soon as possible. Hawkins writes its tempting to dismiss the notion of highly intelligent machines as mere science fiction. But this would be a mistake, and potentially our worst mistake in history.

And why does Hawking sound a warning about the dangers of A.I.? Because he knows that as a cripp(term used by the handicapped as short for cripple), he would have been terminated as a useless eater.

The movies premise that Artificial Super Intelligence, a/k/a The Uploaded Johnny Depp 2.0 is a threat to humanity is of serious concern to Hawking and that dismissing the film as just science fiction could be the worst mistake in history, implies that film director Jim Camerons scenario in Terminator 2, wherein the A.I. based SkyNet overpowers the humans is not simply an idle threat but a very real problem since morality-and-ethics-free robots who are soul-less beings are an existential threat to humanity itself.

Hawking argues that developments in so-called digital personal assistants like Apples Siri and Google Now show a current I.T. Information Technology arms race which pales against what the coming decades will bring.

Success in creating A.I. would be the biggest event in human history, writes Hawking Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.

Another opponent of the Singularity agenda is Bill Joy, who wrote an article for WIRED Magazine called Why the future doesnt need us: Our most powerful 21st-century technologies robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech are threatening to make humans an endangered species.

Joy quotes from Kurzweils book The Age of Spiritual Machines, wherein he finds himself most troubled by this passage

The New Luddite Challenge

On the other hand it is possible that human control over the machines may be retained. In that case the average man may have control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car or his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will be in the hands of a tiny elite just as it is today, but with two differences.

Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite.

In the book, you dont discover until you turn the page that the author of this passage is Theodore Kaczynski the Unabomber.

By the way Luddite is a derogatory term for anyone who is opposed to technological so-called advances for any reason whatsoever.

And of course what the alleged Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, who was a mind control experimentation victim at Harvard, meant in his screed was that propaganda is actually so-called news, psychological techniques is the Malthusian belief system that there are too many humans on earth, and biological techniques means genetically modified foods and vaccines to cull the herd. In other words, he is predicting the Illuminati vision for the future a future bereft of what Illuminati Kingpin Henry Kissinger called useless eaters.

Then Bill Joy, cofounder and Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems, gets positively metaphysical, writing I think it is no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of the further perfection of extreme evil, an evil whose possibility spreads well beyond that which weapons of mass destruction bequeathed to the nation-states, on to a surprising and terrible empowerment.

Perfection of extreme evil now thats a mouthful.

Even Elon Musk, of Tesla Car and SpaceX Rocket Fame, is allegedly wary of A.I. According to CNN, he told an audience at MIT that we should be very careful about Artificial Intelligence, warning it may be our biggest existential threat, adding that with Artificial Intelligence, we are summoning the demon.

When so-called High Profile Illuminati Gofer Scientist-Entrepreneurs refer to Artificial Intelligence as Perfection of Extreme Evil and Summoning the Demons b******! You Better Pay Attention!

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URI DOWBENKO is the author of Homegrown Holography, Bushwhacked: Inside Stories of True Conspiracy and Hoodwinked: Watching Movies with Eyes Wide Open. He is also the founder and publisher of http://www.ConspiracyPlanet.com, http://www.ConspiracyDigest.com, http://www.AlMartinRaw.com, and http://www.InsiderIntelligence.com, as well as the publisher of The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider by Al Martin. Uris latest project is called New Improved Memoirs, Its your life story Without the hassle of writing it. (http://www.NewImprovedMemoirs.com) a professional service for people who want to leave behind a customized autobiography, in other words a published book, as a legacy for their friends, family, and posterity. You can visit Uri at http://www.UriDowb

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Transhumanism: The Anti-Human Singularity Agenda was last modified: June 18th, 2016 by WakingTimes

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