Convergence: A Documentary
By Geoffrey Dean
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.
-Shakespeare
Transcription of an interview between Sean Edward Lacey (SEL) and Arthur Ingrum (AI) aired live on Network Entertainment News on the Eighth of August 2041 at 12:14pm PST.
00:02 – SEL “Are we on? Am I good to go? Okay.”
00:10 – SEL “Arthur, what possessed you to become the first human being to voluntarily converge with machine?”
00:20 -AI “Would you like to rephrase the question, Mr. Lacey?”
00:26 – SEL “No, and it’s Dr. Lacey.”
00:31 – AI “Well, Doctor, I made the decision with sound mind, and I believe there are obvious moral questions that need to be discussed –
00:39 – SEL “Morality? You mean to question morality with your actions?”
00:43 – AI “Morality is the questioning of actions. You know, we can try having a conversation instead of an argument.”
00:49 – SEL “What good would a conversation do in the world of politics, the world of men, the world of decisions? Conversation is saved for children learning the lie of Conflict Resolution, and this topic deserves to be ascended into the art of debate.”
01:07 – AI “I’ll bite. What are you debating me on?”
01:15 – SEL “You said it yourself, this is a moral dilemma and currently your morality and the morality of those who believe in your philosophy is in question.”
01:32 – AI “You’re trying to convince me that I’m immoral?”
01:41 – SEL “That is the purpose of a debate, after all: to prove the other side wrong.” [SEL Laughs]
01:51 – AI “Debate according to who? The Greeks, the Enlightenment, the Attorney, or the High School kid who thinks throwing a bunch of statistics at a problem proves a point while offering zero solution in the process?”
02:07 – SEL “Well it’s hard to argue with 62.3% of the population who believe that voluntary convergence is an affront to God, nature, and modern civilization.”
02:22 – AI “How many people were a part of that study?”
02:28 – SEL “Why did you decide to replace an eye, your right leg from foot-to-shin, seven of your fingers, and a shoulder? Was it so you could become famous?”
02:42 – AI “I can see you’re filled with assumptions, Doctor. What do you hope to achieve with these questions?”
02:52 – SEL “I just want the truth, and I think you’ve got something to hide, especially since you’ve made a sizable living off your willing amputations. Additionally, some consider you to be quite the influential person as well. What sort of example do you set for the children who look up to you?”
03:12 – AI “Do you think yourself to be a role model, Dr. Lacey? I’m not too fond of the position, never have been.”
03:20 – SEL “What of those who’ve lost limbs due to war, disease, policing, or accidents? How do you think they feel knowing someone voluntarily gave up so much of their body, so much of their humanity for fame and fortune?”
03:42 – AI “You speak on behalf of these members of society?”
03:48 – SEL “Do you speak on behalf of society as a whole?”
03:52 – AI “I certainly hope I don’t.”
04:02 – SEL “What exactly is your definition of morality, Mr. Ingrum?”
04:09 – AI “What an excellent question, Doctor.”
04:14 – SEL “Of course it is, how else can we hope to understand why you did such an unforgiving act to your Soma?”
04:20 – AI “You know the story of Adam and Eve, correct?”
04:25 – SEL “What kind of ridiculous question is that? Of course I know the story.”
04:32 – AI “What do you think was gained, lost, or challenged by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil?”
04:48 – SEL “What do you think was gained, lost, or challenged by the death of Janice Morr?”
04:59 – *AI’s council “We’re done here.”
05:12 – *Sounds of AI getting up from the chair coupled with the mechanical whirring of artificial limbs.
Teleprompter script between Sean Edward Lacey (SEL), Anchorman Drew Collard (DC), and Anchorwoman Candice Willard (CW); aired on Network Entertainment News after the interview at 12:42 pm PST. The segment was a part of “Drawn to Conclusions with Drew Collard.”
DC – Wow! I cannot believe the lack of professionalism Arthur showed during the interview. All you asked were the simple questions all of America wishes to have answered.
CW – I couldn’t agree more Drew. What an absolute mess Arthur Ingrum continues to make on the most destructive path to stardom I’ve ever witnessed.
DC – What a shame indeed, Candy. Luckily, we have with us the man who dared to face the unfaceable, Dr. Sean. Edward. Lacey.
DC & CW – [Applaud and greet SEL]
SEL – It’s a pleasure to be here today, Drew.
CW – Doctor, if I may, what was going through your head when you interviewed Arthur?
SEL – Great question, Candy. I simply wanted to show my fellow Americans that they shouldn’t be afraid to ask the questions they want answered. Afterall, what’s the First Amendment for?
DC & CW – [Laugh]
DC – Doctor, I understand that you are an expert on the field of Convergence Ideology? I’ve heard the jargon bounced around in academic circles, but what does it really mean?
SEL – Well Drew, it’s an incredibly complex field of study, which I dive into great depth in my new best selling book Convergence: Mutilating the Body, Destroying the Soul. However, I’ve been able to break it down into four basic principles of belief:
- Man is an evolutionary creature
- The newest evolution is that of the meta-cognitive mind; being able to think about thoughts
- The body is a tool; a technology to be driven by the mind
- We can ascend to higher planes through voluntary technological convergence
CW – Ascending to higher planes? Sounds like a certified cult to me.
DC- Right you are, Candy. For all those at home, you can find Dr. Sean Edward Lacey’s new book Convergence: Mutilating the Body, Destroying the Soul on shelves at your major book retailers or online today.
SEL – And don’t forget to follow me on social media to stay up to date on the rallies, lectures, and tours.
CW & DC – [Laugh and compliment joke]
CW – Now don’t even think about leaving your seats, because up next we have an incredible story about a small town with big ideas on how to solve the growing homelessness epidemic.
***
Excerpt from Convergence: Mutilating the Body, Destroying the Soul recited by Sean Edward Lacey during a Pro-War rally speech given on the Tenth of August 2041 in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.
Convergence, as a philosophy, is paradoxical in nature as it truly acts only to divert human development and meta-cognitive function. Those who practice in this philosophy tend to be apathetic towards the willing mutilation of the body, called the Soma by its followers, and turn a blind eye to those who go against the natural order of things. We have already exchanged the horse and our own two feet for the car. We’ve given up oil for electricity, conversation for social media, and our own voice for text messages. What will happen when this philosophy becomes a theology? When they ask that we exchange our soul for the machine?
We’ve staved off the un-natural erosion of our nation many times in our past and we still have the power to do it today. When the 1960’s threatened traditional family values with sex, drugs, and misleading spiritual ideologies, we pushed back with Nixon at the helm. During the 1980’s when the hippies transitioned into violent punk rockers, we kept the waves of heroin and crack cocaine at bay through the powerful leadership of Reagan. During the 2000’s, when terrorism destroyed the economy, our educational system, and the morals of a free people, we found our way through the leadership of George W. Bush. However, our darkest hour came when the H1N1 pandemic of 2011 ravaged our Millennial and Gen-Z brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and grandchildren; hurdling our proud God-fearing country into the deepest depression in history. We lost 100 million because of the incompetencies of an unnecessary bi-partisan government that couldn’t find a simple solution to a growing problem.
The next major crisis is already on our doorstep, so are we going to stand together and fight against the clear enemy or continue in apathy? The enemy has always been at our doorstep, an enemy which threatened the leadership of Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Krill, and now President Krill Jr.; the unholy and unjust mind of a misguided youth! The new threat of Convergence!
[Pause for applause]
SEL – “Thank you for your kind applause, but please remember that I am nothing more than a man of the people, by the people, and for the people. I humble myself at the feet of great minds and leaders of our past, present, and future. I look to the writers of old for guidance, and of course to the great historians which have documented the many waves we’ve endured throughout human history. In all my research, contemplation, and critique, I’ve found nothing so grand and profound as the simplicity of our human nature. We have survived, nay, thrived as a species when united under a common banner. When we are threatened, bullied, targeted, lied to, manipulated, forced into silence, and made to feel inferior, we find a way to rise again twice as strong as before.
“Like the great and chivalrous knights of old, we hold our values and duty so close to our chest. We breathe in the despair of a world torn asunder and exhale a life-giving solution for all to abide. Clarity can only be found through the cleansing hands of suffering. Resolution can only be found through the darkness of conflict. Conflict has been the catalyst for technological, political, economic, and social change. Remember that it was conflict which plucked us from the wastelands of the First Depression a century ago! Conflict which revolutionized how we create our products! Conflict which propelled us into an information age! Conflict which challenged the lines between science fiction and reality in medicine! Conflict which broke the political divide of bi-partisanship and unified America under one banner! And this conflict, which brings about the unending freedoms we all imbibe, comes at the greatest cost of all: the lives and futures of our citizens.
“Congressman James Wallace was given the blessing to walk once more alongside his constituents because of the advancements of conflict, and he wishes to spit in the face of all those who lost their lives by proposing we end the war which brought us back from our own despair! We trusted our employers when they said our jobs were secure, we trusted the bankers who assured us our money was safe, we trusted the state governments who assured us the industries were here to stay! The disease of assurance blanketed our land in a Biblical fury, and seemingly overnight they all fled to the East! Our self-appointed leaders pulled out and left a screaming mess in the wake of their greed and distrust! Twice the unemployment rate of the First Depression and in a third of the time!
[Pause for effect]
SEL – “Only by the grace of God and our Forefathers have we found our way out of the dark eras of our collective human history. Not through the legislation of a corrupt, tyrannical, and sloth ridden government, but in the atomic flame of Palm Springs: the most minimal sacrifice in our nation’s history. We lost our way, but now our path is clear once again and we must stay the course by any means necessary! Convergence is neither fad nor fashion, it’s birthed from sacrifice! Shall we turn our backs on our children like those before us by allowing their sacrifice to be in vain? To end the conflict in the East is to end our solution! To allow the voluntary mutilation of Convergence is to make light of the hundreds of millions who have already given their lives for our continuation! The conflict has been on our soil this whole time! It whispers and schemes in the house of your neighbor, in the mind of a stranger, in the filth in our schools, in the inaction of the sloth, and in the false conflict designed by the academics!”
Conversation between Gordon Douglas (GD) and Arthur Ingrum (AI) on the Cognitive Cocktail podcast aired live on the Fourteenth of August 2041 at 10:37 am PST.
GD – Hello and welcome back to the Cognitive Cocktail podcast where we stimulate both your mind and your tastebuds. As always, I’m your gracious host Gordon Douglas and today we have a very special guest: Arthur Ingrum.
AI – Isn’t it a little early for cocktails?
GD – [Laughs] Oh my friend, you’re going to want to make sure you have a ride home because today we are drinking straight and to the point.
AI – [Laughs] Skipping the bullshit to get right into it, huh?
GD – Well someone needs to ask the hard hitting questions that were left unanswered nearly a week ago.
AI – Okay, lay it on me.
GD – First, I gotta ask, why would you voluntarily put yourself out there in front of Sean Edward Lacey? I mean, you could smell what he was cookin’ from a mile away.
AI – The best way I can describe it is through the story of Adam and Eve, with the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. There’s so much about the nature of humans in that story that I believe goes unnoticed. The conflict in the moments after consumption completely changes how Adam and Eve see themselves, each other, the world, and their own actions. Suddenly they recognize their nakedness, they feel shame, they hide from God, they shift blame away from themselves and try to take zero accountability for their own actions.
GD – Alright everyone, time to put on our harnesses and strap in: Arthur is gonna go at it for a while. [AI and GD laugh]
AI – I believe two of them were given a moment to think about their actions when they ate the fruit, finding themselves in the midst of a meta-cognisance. They began thinking about their own thoughts, the thoughts of others, the thoughts of God, the decision they just made and the consequences of that decision. Their shame manifests in seemingly unrelated directions, like when they covered themselves up for being naked. The projected consequences of their actions spun wildly out of control and their development of the knowledge of Good and Evil was actually the question of choice, morality, and consequence.
GD – So why did you put yourself in front of someone who doesn’t want to listen?
AI – Morality is a struggle of action and consequence. Good and Evil are ideas birthed from our ability to question our own actions and the actions of others. And knowledge is birthed from questioning, dissecting, reconstructing, critique, comparison, expression, conversation, relation, diversion, conversion, and challenge. Sean Edward Lacey has a very large following and he, like many who believe his truths, prefer an echo-chamber of validation. I don’t blame them because I too want to be validated, in fact I think we crave validation as meta-cognitive creatures. [AI takes a sip] Oh, this is good.
GD – That is one of the last bottles of Chartreuse that will ever exist, and I feel like it was the perfect symbol of this conversation.
AI – I’m sorry, what?
GD – Don’t worry about it right now, I’ve got it written down so I don’t remember. I mean, so I don’t forget. [GD chuckles] Please continue.
AI – Where was I going with this? [Chuckles] Oh! Validation and experience is key to our existence as free thinking creatures, and more importantly we have a responsibility to encourage the act of thinking. We are discouraged to sit in silence and ruminate on the thoughts and ideas we encounter every day. The ideas birthed from the minds of those around us who give into the discouragement as well.
GD – Damn, that’s deep. We really do live in a society.
AI & GD – [Laugh]
GD – So what’s next for you? Are you gonna start up a podcast, write another book, run for President?
AI – I want to know more about this Chartreuse.
***
Excerpt from the book Cognitism: Converging Dichotomous Spaces written by DCG, Chapter 4: “Lottery of Life” pp. 76-79 , published on the Seventeenth of October 2023.
The odds were already stacked against us before birth with a one in 400 trillion chance to be born. To better understand the odds: a million seconds is 11.5 days, a billion seconds is 31.7 years, and 400 trillion seconds is 126,839 centuries. I wondered what I was supposed to do with this wonderful and impossible gift of life. What kind of joy, progress, excitement, innovation, creativity, entertainment, love, expression, or comfort would I breathe into the world? Books became a marvel because I felt like I was sitting right next to the author, listening to their thoughts and conversing with someone I’d never have the chance to meet in-person. I’d ask questions, find the stories and essays the author would reference, and come back to the conversation with something completely new. Conversations seemed to be endless in the world of the written word.
I wasn’t much of a reader until I had my first out-of-body experience when I was ten years old. Staring deeply into the mirror with legs crossed and eyes fixated on a face I never truly came to recognize, I began to ask questions. The questions were simple, yet my heart was determined to find an answer and soon I felt my mind detach from my body. My conscious self hovered above my body, locked in a top-down perspective. I was dragged higher into the air, viewing the roof of my childhood home. Hoisted even further, I lost sight of the home and gradually focused on the city, county, state, country, continent, and then the whole Earth as a singular organism.
The Earth continued to shrink until it was nothing but a faint glow in the vast emptiness of space, and all went silent. I didn’t know it at the time, but my questions had been answered in the only way they could be: through experience. For many years afterwards I was terrified, but how else are you supposed to contend with the truth of where you are in the scope of all things: as the tiniest microorganism clinging to a floating rock moving through space and time? Into my adolescence, the terror transformed into something more actionable as I became more interested in the existence others had experienced. I became a soundboard for my peers and listened as they expressed themselves without judgment or fear. What started as a few problems at home, grew into detailed accounts of their changing bodies. Joint pain, poor eyesight, a fear of forever losing their teeth, becoming a disappointment to their friends and family, and a general confusion of why people did what they did.
As more voices entered the fray, the conversations shifted to the concerns of parents, grandparents, and society as a whole. We couldn’t escape the conversations being repeated at home, on TV, and in textbooks. Money, success, crime, politics, education, social hierarchy, dating, grades, sports, identity, war, and the economy. At some point, these became the only conversations allowed since everything else was deemed childish and unimportant. How can anyone not feel a sense of responsibility, a desire to change the world, after realizing how much damage was caused before finally getting lucky in the Lottery of Life?
The scope of responsibility grew uncontrollably as my peers looked out towards the end of adolescence. Our problems are more serious, more damaging and far reaching as adulthood consumes childhood. Recessions, drugs, depression, diagnoses, sex, violence, pain, alcohol, having disappointed family and friends, rumors, doctrines, ideologies, and the excuses of why people did what they did. We wanted solutions in an era of excuses, and a solution was provided when Life decided to hold another Lottery, but with much better odds: one in four.
We all got sick. We complained about chills, muscle aches, eye pain, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. One kid would be absent and come back a couple days later, another would go home early and come back the next. We were exchanged, traded back and forth between the sick and the healthy. The young adults couldn’t afford to miss work, and some weren’t allowed to call in sick. Even as children, we knew something was happening and we tried to make our voices heard, but our adults were only trained to listen to their elders.
***
“A New Age” from Chapped Skies by Arthur Ingrum, published on February 13th 2024.
A new dawn, a new sun,
Four new songs played on the radio
This morning. The same heat
Baked the streets and people.
So many mistakes, so many
Wasted words blasted through
Cars, windows, homes, and
The voices of thousands.
A rich comfort in the company
Of demons fell on the tongues,
Minds, and ears. Igniting
A new age for the created.
Within the valley where sweet
Nothings die, the tears of
Old men flooded the reservoir,
Yet the rivers still dried.
Busy streets and empty souls,
Shambling husks meandered
As a new dawn approached
After the sun already rose.
I wonder if tomorrow will bring
Thousands of new stars arching
Across the clouds, riding on the
Backs of ancient burning bodies.
It’s okay though, nature will find
Itself in a new sort of peace.
We are living in a new age, a better
One, with a corpse in the driver’s seat.
Teleprompter transcription of former President Krill’s emergency press conference on the Fifth of December, 2023 at 2:47pm.
“Three hours ago, the Southern California desert city of Palm Springs was the target of a deliberate and deadly attack. At 11:28 AM Pacific Time an atomic weapon was detonated over the city. As of now, no one has taken credit for this most horrific of terrorist attacks but our experts believe it was our enemies in the East. It is with a heavy heart that I inform the American populus that we are looking at the beginning of a Third World War. All active military personnel and reserve surgeons will report to the nearest base immediately. Additionally, Congress has reinstated the draft. Because we are living in the most unprecedented of times, the draft will first call into service all people born between the years of 1965 and 1980. The preservation and propagation of our nation is of the utmost importance and we cannot risk the lives of those who survived.
“The Earth may have shaken, but our resolve stands resolute. Today is a day which will forever live in history, a day of action and unification. The divides of religion, sex, nationality, language, race, and politics must be demolished. The walls which have been built must be destroyed. Today we become a single nation, a single organism which must work synchronously for the survival of the whole. All those who fight will have their needs and the needs of their family taken care of. Whether it be an arm, leg, liver, lung, eye, or heart.
“Our nation has seen more than its fair share of adversity and tragedy, however, we’ve always found our way through the darkness and into the light of a new age. I understand that this may seem a lot to ask, but I would like to invoke the immortal words of former President John F. Kennedy when I say, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Thank you. Goodnight. And may God bless our cause.”
***
Conversation between Gordon Douglas (GD) and Richard Triton (RT) on the Cognitive Cocktail Podcast episode 15, aired December 23rd 2023.
GD – What really pissed me off is that Kennedy was talking about civil service and taking up a position in the public sector, not throwing your life away for some nondescript war in the East. They fucked up with the pandemic and cost the lives of their kids and grandkids, and now they are trying to send the GenX population to war? This does nothing to help the people.
RT – The war machine needs to be fueled, Doug. How else are we supposed to find our way out of this mess? If it worked for the First Depression, why not for the second? Plus, I really can’t complain about the shift of military funding towards biomechanics.
GD – Come on man, they’ve been working on synthetic organs and prosthetic limbs for decades now and it’s not until the military needs them that they actually become viable.
RT – And you’re surprised?
GD – Well, not really. I’m just really pissed off. Aren’t you pissed?
RT – What do we really have to be so pissed about, and what good would that do? There’s not much I can do to change the situation and I’m trying to look at this as a net gain as best I can. At least they aren’t trying to throw us into the war just yet. Used to be that you’d get thrown into service from 18-28 years old. Plus, they say there’s enough supplies to reconstruct some five million bodies.
GD – I guess you make a good point.
RT – The real issue is the two million who are now going to be bumped even further down the waitlist, and the quality of manufactured parts. I’m just glad I was lucky enough to be a part of the trials.
GD – No kidding. Did you hear that Switzerland is trying to manufacture components out of the trash islands still floating around?
RT – Yeah, but the plastics just don’t last as long as the organic.
GD – So what do you make of this? Do you think it’s some sort of conspiracy?
RT – It all feels like a conspiracy. I just stopped questioning it a long time ago, it’s much better for my sanity. You should try it sometime.
Excerpt from Convergence: Mutilating the Body, Destroying the Soul recited by Sean Edward Lacey during his second lecture at Krill University on the Twentieth of August, 2041.
It was an inevitability. For three-quarters of a century, the world was balanced on the backs of greedy and unqualified leaders. The Cold War burned like an ethanol fire and it was only in our darkest days that we saw the possibility of our economic fuel. An arms race, a space race, an information race, a vaccination race, and now a Vitality race. We are truly the most competitive, adaptive, and advanced creatures, but the stakes need to continually rise for our development.
Our forebears would turn over in their graves if they understood the new risks for our development, the new standards of sacrifice for the freedoms they developed. We cannot think of our ages as equal, or even comparable, but rather perpendicular and intercedent. The sins of the father do pass on to the sons, and we’ve been burdened with the sins of so many atrocities that our DNA is tainted. A path has been forged by our ancestors and we must adhere to the path as if it were our migration pattern. We are a complex Social Organism and every human needs to stay on the same path lest we become our own cancer. A common goal is not the same as a common people.
SEL – “I couldn’t have imagined that I’d have the opportunity to speak at this most prestigious of Universities, let alone twice. Krill U is where I blossomed as a man of letters, an author, poet, and thought leader in today’s unusual times. When I walked these hallowed grounds again after so many years, I naturally found my way back to the pockets I carved during my time here as if it were muscle memory. This place taught me the power of words and how to divorce them from their author, making sense of what lies between the lines. In addition, the debate team prepared me for a lifetime career in Politics, but the study of people doesn’t begin and end with debate. Successful debate is a byproduct of multi-perspectivism, effective communication, and a determination for a better future.
“This determination has afforded many opportunities, and today I am happy to announce my intention to run for President from within this sanctuary of Democracy and Education.”
***
Excerpt from Cognitism: Converging Dichotomous Spaces by DCG, Chapter 1 “Human: A Social Organism,” pp 1-3.
When you look around, what do
You see? Organisms fit for change
And able to develop themselves
Into better and more whole
Beings? Fluid and fragile
As the new amoebas.
Cognitive single celled,
With thick walls that
Hide deep secrets to
Their survival. If only
Someone could see them
From another side.
Not within the microscope,
Of course, but within the
Tiny universe they
Swim in, eat in, breathe in,
Sleep in, grow up in,
Grow old in, and die in;
This is the cycle
Since Time immemorial.
Is now not enough?
I’ve been an observer most of my life, clinging to the perspectives of others with minimal expression of my own. From what I can tell, we’ve been declaring the end of days since we first were able to conceive of an end. Our parents spoke of the impending doom from weapons of mass destruction, their parents spoke of the Red Demons of Communism, their parents fought the extreme Fascists, and so on through the enemies of neighbors, family, and Colonizers. Every age was said to be better than the next, and yet I remember hearing how great things “used to be when everything was so much simpler.” But what about now? What about this new call to action? This new age of despair and doom that has to be more dire than the last? What is different about today?
Today is another opportunity for a stubborn species that has the capacity to blossom as a new complex organism; a Social Organism. We are each the cells of a much larger creature, searching for the best structural system; our own societal DNA. But how do we differentiate the structure of a virus to that of an embryo when we are within the DNA sequence? How do we view the superorganism birthed from our structures? It is our meta-cognizance, the gift of our frontal lobes, which gives our species the unique opportunity to develop into a Social Organism. Our reach as a Social Organism extends beyond ourselves, our tribes, our cultures, and our species into the very world we inhabit. We’ve become a new body within the universe, no longer the main characters and instead taking on seemingly insignificant roles to play. But how does a cell come to terms with their role in the body?
Conversation between Gordon Douglas (GD), Arthur Ingrum (AI), and Richard Triton (RT) on the Cognitive Cocktail Podcast episode 28, aired February 16th 2024.
AI – It sounds less like you’re uniformed and more like you’re missing key context to what’s being debated.
RT – It sounds like you just don’t understand the conversations being had.
AI – I don’t understand the conversations being had, ‘cause they completely miss the whole thesis of what DCG was talking about. The conversations are all jargon, misidentification, and strings of nonsense surrounding a seemingly controversial concept.
RT – Seemingly controversial? He’s talking about Transhumanism, Posthumanism, Transcendentalism and Cyborgism! What’s more controversial than giving up your humanity for some run at a, and I quote, “new way of seeing ourselves and the universe around us,” end quote?
GD – Wait, why are you so concerned about theory? We’re already practicing the act of replacement and reproduction through science and technology.
RT – That’s different though, we’re practicing the act of gifting people with ability after it’s been taken from them. What he’s proposing is an abandonment of humanity.
AI – Where does the word abandonment show itself in the text? I’m not even asking about it literally showing up, but connotatively?
RT – [Scoffs]
GD – To be fair, Arthur, it’s still a fairly new conversation and I only started reading the book.
AI – I completely agree, which is why I’m confused with those who talk about it as if they’ve read, studied, and annotated every word within the document.
RT – Annotated? Do you really expect people to take time out of their lives to spend time on this book written by a guy who doesn’t even want to show his face? You sound like this is supposed to be some homework assignment.
AI – You’re still full of a lot of assumptions.
RT – You’re still full of a lot of shit.
GD – Woah, let’s just pull it back a bit. Okay? Reset and refocus. Deep breath in…and exhale. Things are getting a little heated and we’re getting off track. Conversation, not argumentation.
RT – Whatever you say, Doug. It’s your show.
AI – What do you think about coming to terms with your role in the Social Organism, Doug?
GD – Have I come to terms with it?
AI – Have you, or just your thoughts on the idea.
GD – It reminded me of a short story one of my peers wrote when I was in college for a Creative Writing class.
RT – I didn’t know you took Creative Writing.
GD – Yeah it was kind of a hobby for a little bit. Anyways, it was a science fiction story and the general idea was to put into perspective our position in the universe. Essentially, we look at our planet as a Village and the solar system as a sort of Island floating in the sea of our Galaxy. And our Galaxy is just a drop of blood within the Body of the universe.
RT – Huh?
AI – I’d love to read that. Do you remember who wrote it?
GD – No, he kept to himself a lot. One of the quiet ones, you know?
Excerpt from Cognitism: Converging Dichotomous Spaces by DCG, Chapter 1 “Human: A Social Organism,” pp 4-5.
In my case, I found comfort through the minds of those who came before me who are admittedly far more intelligent and articulate than I. The pervading madness of putting into perspective our role in the universe came into focus after I understood how I think. Turns out I just needed a refresher of truths known at a much earlier age which seemed to have been beaten out of my consciousness. The feeling was remarkably similar to remembering, but only after the work of decoding and interpretation. With each new article, journal, essay, book or poem read, I traversed the path of thoughts leading from one person to the next and their voices found a way into my own thoughts. Over time, they spoke with each other and I naturally found myself thinking as they did, reaching similar conclusions in my own way.
All I did was listen to the texts laid out in front of me, paying attention to the voices immortalized on the page. Soon, I realized these conversations had been going on long before I was even born, digressing into references of voices thousands of years old, still speaking and resonating even though the body died long ago. I cannot express enough the importance of writing within the Social Organism as it passes along the truths of our meta-cognition in the most honest and accurate way possible. The words spoken on the page carry layers of connotation, emotion, and experience, revealing the knowledge of the human behind the words. It’s as if the text reveals itself completely and fully to the reader, even if the author intends to hide their truths.
The last broadcast of the Cognitive Cocktail Podcast, aired April 13th 2057.
GD – Is this how it feels to be at the end of the road? I thought it was some sort of practical joke. The man incapable of listening becomes the head of state, twice. We mocked while we witnessed more and more people gather around him, creating a following large enough to turn back the clock three-hundred years. What happened? Does it even matter if we know? I mean, haven’t we seen this sort of thing play out in fiction and history books? Weren’t we warned? We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.
It’s clear as day, isn’t it? The writing was on the wall from the beginning. How many times do we need to experience this? Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established shall not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
We are staring down the barrel of a new age. When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another. And to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separa–
[The door breaks down and Quincey Adams (QA) walks in]
GD – This won’t do anything to aid your cause, it’s only going to eat away at it.
QA – Someone has to end your metastasis.
[Several gunshots are fired]
[QA spits and fires four more shots]
QA– I hereby forgo the Lie to live out Truth. The life of a cell offered in order to eradicate a Cancer. For a more perfect Organism.
[Gunshot and thud]
***
end transmission…
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