Question Time #2

[erikred]

ronebofh asked me five questions.


1. At what point did you stop playing basketball?

I was 14. I'd just finished the 8th grade, where I was practicing with the Frosh team (Kubasaki High School had 7-12th grades, so when the coach saw me walking around campus, he signed me up immediately). A cardiologist on base determined that I had some aortic dilation, so my mom took us kids back to the States to get it checked out. The doctor there told us that I had Marfan Syndrome, a congenital connective tissue disorder, and that I would have to immediately and forever stop playing basketball and any other sorts of physical exertion.

Funnily enough, this is also when I broke with the Catholic Church.

Recently, genetic testing has revealed that I do not, in fact, have Marfan Syndrome. I probably have some sort of connective tissue disorder, but it is nowhere near as severe as Marfan Syndrome.

I'm not bitter about not having been allowed to play basketball. I was never particularly good at it, and I'm really not a physically competitve person. I really never had hoop dreams, and I most certainly never had game.

And Marfan Syndrome gave me an excuse to never have to take gym class in High School.

2. In your own words, what is transhumanism?

Transhumanism is embracing the complete and utter ownership of our bodies. It's recognizing that our bodies are not temples, are not gifts, but instead are tools. We're good at using tools. We're good at making tools. It's crazy to neglect the one tool we carry around with us at all times (and, no, I'm not talking about that tool, you tool), to pretend that we're stuck with what we are. In its purest form, TH is about giving us the tools to reshape ourselves the way we want. (Is plastic surgery TH? Only superficially, and not really in terms of the true potential for TH, since plastic surgery is (generally) about reshaping your body to fit a societal definition rather than to explore your own creative potential.)

Transhumanism is, for me, a dream to remedy Alvin Toffler's Futureshock, the idea that the future, and the technology it brings, is going to sweep by us like a wave, drowning us in advances until we're too mind-numb to understand anything new. If Futureshock is a tsunami, transhumanism is a surfboard.

Hang ten, baby, hang ten.

3. How long have you been married?

8 delicious years this April 22, although we traditionally celebrate it on June 22. We were living in Japan at the time, and it seemed like a good idea (for visa purposes) to get the official marriage out of the way early. So we went down to a Municipal Hall in Osaka with a couple of our friends as witnesesses and hanko-ed our way to marriage.

This April also marks 10 years since we first met. Woohoo!

4. What is your favorite dessert?

It used to be baklava, but now that's just too darn sweet for my taste. I'm going to go with cheesecake this time, but I reserve the right to change this answer in the future.

5. When did you cut your long hair?

The first time: Spring, 1990. I'd just come back from a semester abroad in London, where I'd grown my hair long. I was trying out for a role in a student one-act at the local community college, and I decided I needed a fresh look. I kind of regret that now, but I think being clean-cut helped me get an RA gig at Cal the next year, and it definitely helped me get on the JET Program three years later, so that's all right.

The second time: Summer, 1995. I was working as a teacher in Kochi, and I'd made it to the Group Test phase of the Foreign Service Officer Exam. Since I was travelling all the way back to Washington, D.C. for the test, I thought I should get cleaned up. (No, I didn't pass. That, too, turned out to be all right.)

The third time: Summer 1999. I'd just come back from Japan and was gearing up to find a dotcom job in the Bay Area, having completely failed to do my research, I thought that cleaning up would improve my chances of getting a job. Silly me; they'd have hired children off the streets if they'd thought they could get away with it....

So now it's short-ish, and I'm happy with it. It's easier to maintain, and it doesn't get in my eyes. And Yoko likes it. What more is there to say, really?



Okay, the first two people who want them can have five fresh questions.

Comments

okay, I'll bite..

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

because the question/answer about transhumanism is so interesting. Are you thinking about cyber body-mods, nanotech, genetic manipulation/breeding, bio-interface, ? all of the above and more? and am curious, if plastic surgery is superficial TH, what you think of it when displayed as a media event ("Nip and Tuck", "Extreme Makeovers", etc. as well as what I jokingly call "The Home Surgery Network")?

oh, and please interview me. ;-)

Re: okay, I'll bite..

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman said, in a Wired piece on Future Tech, that he wanted to see fish swimming in eyeballs.

Me, I'd settle for biluminescent tattoos. Well, the fish in the eyeballs would be pretty sweet, too.

I think we need to be very careful when we start letting people muck about with their inheritable genetics, but that's not to say that we shouldn't pursue it. (See my previous piece on embracing complexity.) Now, when people want to make adjustments to themselves, I tend to err on the side of personal responsibility, volunteers for cannibals aside. If mandible-implanted phones ever take off, I'll certainly get one; mind you, I'm not a first-adapter for this sort of thing, so I'll wait to see how those brave souls fare first....

As for the current TV phenom, I think it's largely a Cinderella thing: A commoner, like all of us, gets whisked away to a better body and a beautiful life and lives happily ever after. Ring any bells? Try Diff'rent Strokes and Silver Spoons. We're in a jobless recovery right now, the dollar's not doing great, and oil prices keep going up. America needs the fantasy. Queer Eye, Extreme Makeovers, While You Were Out-- it's all Cinderella. The only makeover show on TV that makes sense is Trading Spaces, and that's only because they have less than a grand to spend on each family, and the contestants do all the work.

Now, your questions:

1. Of all of your myriad good characteristics, which one has served you best so far?

2. Which eating establishment do you miss most from Bloomington?

3. American Idol: A real vehicle for Rags to Riches or America's Most Embrassing Home Videos?

4. How has the Bay Area changed since you moved away and came back?

5. Have you considered going back to school? What would you do?

Enjoy!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Ah, sure, i'll turn the gun back at you.

Re: Questions. Answers. Incept dates.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

1. I understand that you're bilingual. Do you remember when you first dreamed in your non-native language, and was it unsettling for you?

2. Like you brother, you have an affinity for Japanese weirdness. Have you ever been, and would you like to go?

3. Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchhill were both, from all accounts, bitingly witty. Do you practice your own witticisms, or do you usually respond extemporaneously?

4. Your own lj name contains the acronym for "Bastard Operator from Hell." What's the most infuriating luser experience you've had to deal with?

5. What are the key elements of a successful t.b post?

Re: Questions. Answers. Incept dates.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

1. Oh, good, i was afraid i'd have to explain it. I don't recall when i started dreaming in Spanish. I would expect it would have happened soon after moving to Ecuador, and i would think that it would've seemed normal.

2. My affinity for Japanese weirdness is but a fracion of Paul's. I wouldn't mind going to Japan, but my crowd-o-phobia puts me off slightly, as well as the expense.

3. Yes.

4. I think i've repressed most of my luser stories. The ones i remember are the ones that happened to coworkers. Once there was a guy who couldn't find his = key. All the infuriating stuff comes from management: at first i wasn't hired to do tech support at Best Internte because i knew too much UNIX and not enough Windows; the first tech support guy to get promoted into systems administration was a buddy of the manager's whose previous work experience was as a Fry's sales drone....

5. You're Not Cleared To Know That. All you need to know is that followups are bad, strange is good, and keep an eye out for the wily trilobite agents, for they are benthic AND vagile.

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Ten years in April since you met, huh? This June will be ten for Paul and me, too. We waited until 1997 to get married, though.

[tinymammoth.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you don't have Marfan Syndrome!

Re: Yay

[erikred.livejournal.com]

You and me both! It's one thing to have an undetermined and fairly anonymous connective tissue disorder, and it's another to have a fully named monster like Marfan Syndrome.

Re: Yay

[lara7.livejournal.com]

and it's one less thing you have in common with Osama Bin Laden, so that's good as well!

Re: Yay

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was crowding out my utter loathing of the Bush regime! ;-)