Links:
1 of 12
2 of 12
4 of 12
5 of 12
6 of 12
7 of 12
8 of 12
9 of 12
10 of 12
11 of 12
12 of 12
On Connection and Disconnection.
One of my motivations for the walk was to leave the world of my screen and re-enter the world. I took my phone and used it as a camera and a map and turned off the cell service. But still, I stared at the magic screen to know and document where I was. It was only after my phone broke that I finally became disconnected. It was only after I became disconnected that I connected again.
On Reality vs Delusion
Everyone is entitled to their own delusions just not their own facts. I had gone from knowing where I was and where I was going to thinking I knew where I was and where I was going. The difference between reality and delusion.
Early humans knew where they were even when where they were was always changing.
When we lived in the world knowing there was water 3 miles past the large rock (large rock to mean any landmark in the landscape) the difference between reality and delusion, between knowing where you are and thinking you know where you are could be the difference between between life and death.
Civilization is facing the largest mass addiction in history. Where do we go when we stare into our screens? What difference does it make as unlike early humans, there are no consequences for leaving reality.
On Reality
In 2005 David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon college. The speech begins with Wallace describing two young fish who are swimming along. An older fish passes them swimming the other way and nods at them and says “Morning boys how’s the water?” The young fish swim on for a bit and eventually one says to the other “What the hell is water?”. The point of the story is that “the most obvious and important realties are often the hardest to see”. Where was I. Where will I refuse to go?
On the Metaverse
I am not going into the metaverse. I will never go into the metaverse. At its core, the Metaverse that is being imagined and manifested in the company formerly known as Facebook headquartered in Menlo Park Ca. is trying to make a new reality for billions of humans to enter. Let that sink in, like really sink in. Mark Zuckerberg the creater the app “hot or not” and is responsible for so much damage to society, wants to create a new reality for humanity, a place for human social connections and the development (read as destruction) of culture.
Take a look around you at the world we live in. Planet earth, home sweet home. The oceans, the land the mountains, the trees, the shrubs, the chaparral, the flowers, the grasses, the soil, the fungi, the lichen, the plankton, the protista, the eubacteria, the archebacteria. The plants of all varieties that erupt in bloom and explode with colors that make the air we breathe and the food we eat. The sky, the, atmosphere, the sun, the stars that come out at night and reveal the universe and our place in it. The power of place. The power of real place.
To imagine an artificial reality for humanity to enter to be built for the sake of making a profit that is devoid of flora and fauna, I challenge you to imagine a dystopian hell worse than what is being imagined and manifested up in Menlo Park. We gave up our privacy for free email. What we will give up human culture and our connection to the world for?
Because we come from biology what we think (culture) also comes from and is connected to biology what happens to the biosphere also happens to our culture.
We have been misled about climate change. Trying to save the planet is jingoism. Learning how to live connected with nature when the planet forces civilization to change is a necessary idea.
Climate change is a side show to the main show, the real emergency in front of us is species extinction. History will forgive humans for every crime except this one.
The loss of biodiversity and extinction is reflected back into human culture. A simple way understand this, is animals that have not been identified (because they are extinct) remain missing from language as they have never been named; they are missing from research as they have never been studied and thus are missing from culture which includes knowledge of animals in the physical world.
If you have thought to yourself why does it seem that things are so bad environmentally and politically this is why. The physical planet is connected to culture. Holism becomes hollowism. Archeology has become a study of extinction of human culture instead of a celebration of it.
The metaverse like humans leaving earth is unwise for humanity. Imagining a world without plants, animals or oceans waves is a form of torture. At least hell has fire.
Repeat after me:
All of the interesting things aren’t about money.
All of the interesting ideas aren’t about money.
All of the interesting relationships aren’t about money.
Everything that matters truly matters in life is not about money.
A new reality designed to make money off human interaction will be dangerous for humanity.
A new reality must not, can not be patterned on our current system that makes the world, society and individuals sick and destroys the fabric of life from which we come and are a part of. Any new reality for humans to exist individually and socially needs to be based addressing human biological and emotional needs. It needs to not just come from our biology (our minds) but be connected to it as well. The two are not the same.
Without this at its core the fake reality built to exploit humans for profit where relationships and connections between humans are not real--where nothing is real-- will effect us as a species in unimaginable dark ways.
The ocean wasn’t created so that it could profit from you. The ocean was created to give birth to you.