Augmented Bodies - Brainstorming

This particular assignment is full of possibilities. Practical ideas? I could do that. But I don't really want to. Besides, many of the more practical ideas have already been illustrated or involve internal devices (thinking back to my thought pushing idea during the Vannever Bush assignment).

A few practical ideas I had included a small glow stick style unit placed just under the skin that changed colors with moods and emotions. I was thinking heavily about how much difficulty people with Aspergers (or on the autism spectrum) have reading people's facial expressions and understanding emotions. A small indicator would allow for a cue to be visualized based on color instead of trying to differentiate minute facial cues.

Great idea, but sort of a boring augmentation to illustrate.

I started thinking about parasites and parasitism. Parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship that doesn't result does NOT kill the host. I found out that a parasitoid is an insect that produces larvae that eventually kill their host.

I started thinking about how humans sort of have a parasitoid relationship with the Earth. We're here. We don't do anything mutually beneficial for our host (the Earth). In fact, we are killing our host.

What if the Earth began killing off the parasites? I imagine a world that excretes a variety of toxins when they detect the presence of humans. Humans have taken to living in sealed environs to avoid the toxins but cannot survive forever in these sealed locations.

Humans began an attempt to hybridize themselves to evade the detection of the Earth. They have become shapes shifters, allowing them to take on characteristics of various plants and animals. These characteristics allow them to avoid detection, thereby preventing toxin excretions.

I practice yoga. A lot. I used to teach yoga to kids (most fun ever) and try to incorporate yoga into my everyday life. I started thinking about various poses and how they reflect nature.

I was really intrigued by scorpion, but I would likely need props because I don't have the arm strength I used to. Removing the props and background would be a lot of work. (not impossible, but a lot of work nonetheless). Also, a human shifting into a scorpion form would be a HUGE scorpion. Seriously huge.

I will be working with tree pose instead.