I was delighted to receive the last issue of the MIT Technology Review. Spanning July and August, it comes with a lively front cover that goes with the season. “Hacking the Soul,” the title blares. And the byline is very to my liking: “New technologies that look inside the mind will make it possible to change what we think, feel, and remember.” Wow! The first thing that crossed my mind was that someone could finally make sense of my Residua. Available on the World Wide Web for more than a decade and in blog format thanks to Word Press, it is within an easy reach of scientists from across the planet. Spanning nearly forty years of note taking, it contains close to three-million words on all and sundry. “Hey,” I thought, “let someone clever hack my soul!” At least I would get a thorough reading, as well as a few hints on what lies ahead. Absolution? Madness? Anything in between? But the articles I found in the magazine focused on neuroscience, psychiatry, computers, and the like. Ouch! There is an article about memory and another on how the brain deals with other people, but I still felt crestfallen. The front cover sounded so damned good! Alas, I will have to complain to Jason Pontin, the editor. Perhaps he will be able to put me in touch with someone who could hack my soul for true.

Addendum I (July 13, 2014)

As I hinted, I sent this piece to Jason Pontin as soon as I posted it on the World Wide Web. “Kidding aside, I wonder whether you know of any researcher or research team anywhere around the globe who could get into my magnum opus to figure out what I think, feel, and remember,” I said. “This would be some sort of content analysis, I guess.” By way of a special plea, I added a few words: “In your job as the editor of the topmost technology journal, you must come across all sorts of interesting people in all fields of research.” But my last words bordered on the pitiful: “By the way, I would be a happy guinea pig. Well, more than that, for I would be no less than eager to help the good researchers.” Unfortunately, my experiences with researchers of world renown are rather poor so far. I wrote to Tim Berners-Lee a decade ago, but he never responded (“The Mind Dump of a ‘Normal’ Person: From a Letter to Sir Tim Berners-Lee,” November 9, 2004). And I wrote to Stephen Wolfram last year, but I received not a word from him, either (“People are More Predictable than Particles,” May 3, 2013). Both of them have done some research of the right kind for my purposes. Anyhow, Pontin’s introduction might make a difference, or so I hope. Assuming he responds, it goes without saying.

Addendum II (July 15, 2014)

After two attempts, both of which were quite endearing, Pontin remains silent. Just like Berners-Lee and Wolfram before him, he is not interested in my heartfelt pleas. I must be barking up a wrong tree, I reckon. If there is anyone who could hack my soul, and hack it for true, it must be no-one but my own self. And a scientist I surely am. I have only dabbled in content analysis so far, but I will get better at it as I plough along. Indeed, that is the only way forward, and especially in my own case. My Residua is way beyond most humans, anyway. Besides, I already have all the tools I need, including the most powerful search engines the World Wide Web has on offer. As well as methods, such as statistics, network analysis, and topology. Scientific to boot, they will lead me to a better understanding of my magnum opus without fail. Farewell, fellow humans.