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The Duality Of Technology
It’s my belief that our education system; the construct of our society and indeed to an ever increasing degree the technology we use to learn and interact with each other, is altering our neural processes and gradually changing the definition of our humanity. This post is not a tirade against technology but simply a recognition that we need to become streetwise to it’s inherent duality. Indeed by birthing an idea (i.e the internet/technology) into existence it becomes held within the laws of duality, a law that we are each an expression of.
In terms of technology it's not so much the tech as the intent behind it. Our technology is currently driven by the need to generate an ever increasing income for the multi-national companies that are draining the lifeblood from our world. Indeed the majority are at the mercy of clever propaganda campaigns and complex algorithms that seek to create a technologically induced consumer addict. Sitting atop this system we have an interconnected power crazed cabal that are intent on using technology as a means of subjugation and manipulation. From this perspective the vast majority of the problems technology has brought to humanity arises from a nefarious intent.
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Decentralisation
On the flip side, there is now arising a new breed of technologically savvy individuals that are seeking to use open source code as a tool to decentralise economies and free humanity from the monetary and perceptual shackles that have been placed upon us. As dark as the world can sometimes seem; by understanding the law of duality, we can also understand that those that seek to use technology as a driver for their own dark agenda are actually driving our increased desire for decentralisation and emancipation.
So yes whilst technology does indeed have the power to enslave and disconnect us, that agenda is also feeding our hunger for freedom. I feel over the course of the next few years these two ideals are going to be involved in a race to the finish line and that's why I feel our choices as a consumer are going to profoundly affect the direction we take as a species. Freedom or technological enslavement, the choice is ours to make but in order to make the right choices we must first become both streetwise and aware of the inherent dangers we currently face. We need to utilise technology as an aid and a tool of decentralisation, not become it or indeed become controlled by it!
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Rewiring The Human Brain
The term “screen culture” encompasses a vast array of informational inputs and technological outputs. An oft neglected fact is that our brains are in a constant state of reformation and flux. From this perspective our ever increasing use of phones, computers, games etc etc are altering our neural pathways. Our brains are dynamically evolving to accommodate new methods of learning and conversing, even relaxation involves a barrage of externally created visual and informational inputs.
I wrote about how this process could be manipulated in a previous post where I stated the following lines. Based upon the information that enters the brain the neural pathways of the mind are in a perpetual state of reformation. These pathways become set according to daily patterns, habits and thought processes. Equally, new pathways can be set by both our intent to change and through subliminal manipulation. You can train your brain to accommodate different patterns of thought and behaviour and equally outside influences can enter the subconscious and redirect previously set neural pathways. Within the subconscious (external) reset of our pathways we begin to accommodate the views and perceive the world through the perception of outside influences. Indeed in this age of technology and social media there are an increasing number of people whom have never experienced an original thought or idea.
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Information Overload
We are hurtling into an age of information overload and as such it’s an age that carries much inherent danger. The overload is destroying our concentration spans, empathy and our ability to contemplate and engage in uninterrupted deep thought processes. As we scan through our computers, our eyes picking out relevant information and facts our thought processes begin to mimic the computers we’re using. Yes within certain areas of society I.Q’s and grades may be increasing, but the quest for information and the repetition of facts is a wholly different beast from knowledge and wisdom.
In using our digital umbilical cords we’re increasingly connected to a global hive mind that is altering the way we think, read, learn and remember. How many hours do we spend entangled in the web? Searching for curiosities that leave our minds as soon as they’ve entered them, does this make us happier? Does it make us more intelligent? Where are we going and who are we becoming?
Memory & Cognition
The pioneering research of Stanford universities professor Clifford Nass (rip) focused on how humans interact with technology; it showed that long term overuse not only impairs memory function, but equally exasperates our increasing inability to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information. Technology and it’s associated information overload also impairs our capacity for deeper thought processes. Indeed by being in a state of perpetual distraction it becomes increasingly difficult to retain sole focus on the task at hand.
Again I must highlight that an ability to relay facts is not the same as the knowledge required to understand them. In our never ending quest for information, I feel the younger generations are in increasing danger of missing the nuances and understandings that can be derived from placing unconnected facts into a larger framework and narrative. In danger of missing the value of deeper thought processes and indeed the wisdom that is derived from them. This is the age of repetition (yes education system I am looking at you) an age that will create increasingly robotic thought processes. For me, reflection, contemplation and empathy are the path to wisdom and as such are the nature of true intelligence, evolutionary intelligence.
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The Regressive Progressive Thought Process
It’s sobering to note that 55% of communication is signalled via body language and so by increasingly utilising the internet as a tool of communication we’re also missing these imperative subtleties. Equally, by absorbing and relaying facts without an ability to understand the context and inherent nuances; we’re creating a generation of literal thinkers, a generation that’s increasingly ripe for manipulation. Without context and indeed out of context, offence is often taken from what would have previously been seen as innocuous comments, entire arguments and cyber meltdowns created out of thin air.
In many ways you can see this process playing out around us, manufactured hatred and self censorship appears to increasingly pervade our education systems and social media thought ghettos. Yes I understand the ideologies of the Frankfurt School and associated cultural Marxism have their part to play within this increasing perceptual schism; but as we begin to withdraw into ourselves are these first steps in a gathering momentum that is building towards something larger, something deeper?
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Repetition Destroys Creativity & Individuality
There is a drive to enrol children into the school system at an increasingly younger age, in France it’s now mandatory to attend from three years old. Once at school and alongside regular testing and homework, children’s main examinations occur at a six, eleven and then through secondary education. The prevalence of league tables and examinations are not only used to ascertain the success of a school, but equally the worth and value of the children attending them. Children that don’t fit the narrative are often left to fall through the cracks in an education system that is increasingly monetised. Within league tables, children are treated as a commodity and those that fail to realise the value of expectation are often deemed worthless and cast to one side.
As I’ve written about extensively and in a previous post, life is a play of balance and this balance is found within the construct our own minds. Unfortunately the dogmatic and league table driven nature of our school systems almost exclusively cater to the left as opposed to right hemispshere of children’s brains. The education programme favours repetition over creativity and conformity over individuality. Indeed it could be said that people with left brain dominance tend to be more clinical and cold in their judgments and problem solving abilities.
I fully accept that portions of society tend to be more left brain dominant and in terms of a cohesive and balanced civilisation that’s understandable. Unfortunately with a school system that seeks to stifle the right brain in favour of the left this is leading to a societal imbalance. With league tables and examinations adding stress and worry to younger and younger children the value of repetition has never been more exalted. I believe this is leading to thought processes that are becoming more cold and analytical.
Empathy & Social Media
The research carried out by Sarah H Konrath from Michigan university portrays a long term downtrend in students self reported empathy, with the last ten years highlighting an extremely steep decline. As empathy wanes narcissism rises and in many ways this is being fuelled by the construct of social media. In psychological terms social media entrains our brains to a risk/reward cycle of repetition, a cycle that rewards narcissism and draws us ever closer to the addictive mindset of the gambler. Even the former facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya has recently gone on record to state that “social media is ripping apart the social fabric of society” and “eroding the core foundations of how people behave”.
Once placed within electronic thoughts ghetto’s people are far easier to control; complex algorithms cushion reality to the point that when stepping outside of their echo chambers users can find they’ve been increasingly nudged towards the extremes of their ideologies, chasms of division grow ever wider. Debate and protest are replaced by likes and virtue signalling; giving the user the impression that their opinion counts and makes a difference, when in reality it simply disappears into a monetary driven algorithmic sea of information. I have written about this process extensively so I will leave it there, but I have attached some of my previous posts at the bottom of this article.
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A Long Time In The Planning
The Feudal technological control grid that's currently being assembled around us has been a long time in the planning, indeed in his 1969 book "Between two age's: America's role in the technotronic era" Brezinski states:
"More directly linked to the impact of technology, it involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled and directed society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite whose claim to political power would rest on allegedly superior scientific knowhow. Unhindered by the restraints of traditional liberal values, this elite would not hesitate to achieve its political ends by using the latest modern techniques for influencing public behavior and keeping society under close surveillance and control" (Between Two Ages, pp.252-253).
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Machine Brain Interface
Last year I wrote a huge post that focused on transhumanism and our push towards a synthetic evolution and connection to the internet; today I'm only going to briefly touch upon this subject as a way of showing where I believe this evolution is intended to head. If you stand back and follow the current evolution of technology and communication, our future connection to the web becomes an entirely logical conclusion. Yes to a degree this is arising from our own volition, but equally I also feel that we’re being manipulated and gradually prepared for it. I feel social engineers are profoundly aware that if we increasingly live our lives through the computer; our neural pathways begin to mimic the way it operates, as such it could be considered an engineered evolution as opposed to an organic growth.
Interestingly our education systems and many other aspects of our lives also appear to be gently nudging us in this direction. The apps themselves are gradually enslaving us to the clock, turning our days into a succession of allocated timeslots. In a world of a million shades of grey, the rise of Alexa slowly draws us ever closer to the age of black and white answers. So yes by all means lose yourself in a multiplicity of inane choices and 71 gender preferences; but as we move towards the hive mind and collectivisation of thought, matters of consequence will only have one answer.
Here is Google CEO Eric Schmidt saying the same thing
The Synthetic Evolution
I hear all these stories about how wonderful it’s going to be, how we can all live to a 1000 years old and banish disease to the dustbin of history. We may very well be able to cure some diseases, equally by connecting ourselves to the web how long will it be before computer viruses are either manipulated to or indeed evolve to jump between the cyber and physical realm? With a modicum of imagination the concept of untraceable downloaded assassinations becomes a frightening possibility. For every payoff there is a price to be paid because that is life, that’s the way it works! Certainly not all the people that are leading the transhumanist charge have a nefarious intent in mind; but whilst they are incredibly intelligent they are also compartmentalised, caught up in their own hubris and often lack the street wisdom to see both sides of the coin.
People can give me all the assurances and promises they like, but the thing is I’ve lived a long enough and a colourful enough life to have heard it all before. Equally it should never be forgotten that the funding for much of this new technology is coming from military contractors such as Darpa, do you trust these people? Do you trust them with dominion over your minds and bodies? Do you trust them with A.I? What is A.I? You see there is a big difference between freewill and intelligence and so intelligence without freewill is directed intelligence, but who is directing it?
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Conclusion
If you think I've missed anything I would point you to the bottom of this post as I've now accumulated a fairly comprehensive body of work that discussess and expands upon associated subjects from a multiple of perspectives.
Before the advent of mobile phones I could remember the phone numbers of scores of friends, now it’s less than a handful. An entire generation are now losing the ability to read a map .. what happens if the Sat Nav system goes down? In the future people may very well be using their brain chips to answer questions, to do their thinking for them. But will this aid or stunt the growth of their brains? Indeed, what happens if the chip is removed or corrupted? Will we have a populace that is unable to think coherantly without the use of their technological crutch? Even now where is the first place we go when we have a question? How many of us spend time using our brains trying to remember that illusive answer that is on the tip of our tongues?
It's my profound belief that we're being deliberately held back from realising our full potential and that with the correct dietary advice, education and indeed technological aids we're capable of acheiving far more than we ever thought possible. The agenda to connect ourselves and every facet of our lives to an increasingly intelligent internet is not about making us superhuman but subhuman, ushering a feudal technocracy from which there will be no escape. My message is simple and it's not a call to stop using technology, indeed embrace it's potential with both hands but also be aware of it's inherant dangers. Understand that for every advance there is a price to be paid and as such with each stride forward, it would be wise to pause and ponder if the price is worth it? Equally be aware of who is behind the fast approaching 4th industrial revolution .. in short tread carefully and keep your eyes wide open.
Thank you for reading, until next time I will leave you to ponder who has the perceptualflaws.
Associated Posts
1)https://steemit.com/politics/@perceptualflaws/the-divide-and-conquer-of-identity-politics-and-electronic-thought-ghettos
2)https://steemit.com/conspiracy/@perceptualflaws/political-correctness-and-groupthink-in-big-brothers-brave-newspeak-world-order
3)https://steemit.com/esoteric/@perceptualflaws/bloodlines-of-the-serpent-gods-part-1-b-frequencies-of-deception-into-the-darkness
4)https://steemit.com/philosophy/@perceptualflaws/it-s-alive-building-the-brain-of-the-internet-and-cyberspace-wars-for-the-soul-of-humanity
5)https://steemit.com/esoteric/@perceptualflaws/part-3-it-s-alive-gender-neutrality-transhumanism-and-the-synthetic-evolution
6)https://steemit.com/esoteric/@perceptualflaws/into-the-void-hermes-paradox-and-the-inversion-of-reality
References
1)https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/business/clifford-nass-researcher-on-multitasking-dies-at-55.html
2)https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/03/27/attention-french-parents-youll-need-send-your-3-year-olds-school-french-schools-become-obligatory-3/463552002/
3)https://genius.com/Dr-sara-h-konrath-why-is-empathy-decreasing-annotated
4)http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/7724-empathy-college-students-don-t-have-as-much-as-they-used-to
5)https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-former-executive-ripping-society-apart
6)http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html
Written by perceptualflaws
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