Tag: Wednesday Vignettes

VIN 7- Dig it?

~ S.M. Nolan ~ Leave a comment

We are, each of us, an avatar of something.

We are, each of us, the collective manifestation of our species’ knowledge on something. Or at the very least, one of them. We need only discern which of those somethings we’re good at or drawn to, then allow ourselves to fall into its motions.

If each of us is in our own place, each of us has our own place and is provided for by the system overall.

This is the issue with the current system; it does not have a place for everyone. That much is evidenced by the amount of turbulence, seen as waves of otherwise ill-effect (unemployment, homelessness, social negative attributes) without any seeming point of origin. This is the unfortunate effect of a stressed system; it is erratic, unpredictable, and chaotic.

The structure of a system and its mechanics is such that any one, minute deviation can ripple into extreme turbulence system-wide. As unfortunate as it may seem for a society, these are simple facts, realities:

For a system to have instability it must be unstable. In turn, instability grows exponentially in response to itself. Finally, for an unstable system to be rectified, it must eventually reset, shutdown for repair, or shut down entirely, or it will seize up.

Though inviolable, these truths are not unavoidable.

Until each of us finds our avatar-space, and our system can once again account for them all, it will not stabilize. Because ultimately, all things are cyclical revisions; concentric circles of events emanating minute changes and refinements forward, along the paths of progress and time.

When the whole becomes effected, the system will cycle.

In programming, this a call-check. In writing, a draft-revision. It is the measure twice, cut-once of society. The reboot after the update. The system’s health as a whole is registered in the extremity of its own aberrations, their types, and frequency.

Some, such as power failures; are to be avoided at all costs in a system. Why? Simply to avoid internal, infrastructure damage which can halt or destroy the system entirely– the utter antithesis to any system’s design.

In the case of society, power is a feeling of security made manifest. Confidence in oneself; their mastering of they or their surroundings; this is ultimately what humans seek. Not bigger and better things, but rather, through bigger and better things.

When a society is left insecure, powerless, or feeling as such, the result is much darker and deeper-rooted than Humans as a whole can risk ignoring. Neither as a group, nor individuals. Currently, Human society has an over-abundance of these deep-rooted mind-weed corruptions.

The only path forward then, is to accept that mind-weed corruption will always exist and prune what we needs must. Until then, the world will remain overgrown with corruption.

But it is the weed and we are the gardeners, dig it?

VIN 6- Societal Merit Equation

~ S.M. Nolan ~ Leave a comment

Imagine a broadcast where every person on Earth can choose to tune in, even if they do not.

Now, if it were compulsory to tune out rather than in, because the broadcast terminal’s always on standby, how many people could receive information? What types could they receive, through it? Art? Music? History? Language? Leisure? Anything? All therein, preferably. Or, enough so said components are easily accessible otherwise through said terminals.

All in the hopes that, never again might a Paragon of progress– a Newton, Einstein, Faraday, or Tesla, be restrained by inequality and lack of opportunity, bounded thought. The importance of that for a society; its achievements and future legacy, cannot be understated.

When billions are already exposed to this, it only smooths the transition. Every moment, those billions are within sensory range of digital mediums. Yet, they simply never connect properly. Take the pervasiveness of technology in a society, scale it to billions; consider how those transmissions, overall, are being used and their effects.

Judge then the merits of your society.

VIN 5- What The Clash Knew

~ S.M. Nolan ~ Leave a comment

The Clash knew in the 70s what we’re realizing now; that business would rule and we would be at war with it. They saw the landscape for what it was– not only what it could, but would become.

They were looking out from skidrow before poverty reached the masses, but while war’s remnants still made it felt. Conscious or not, they screamed out to history that corruption remained. While The Clash were the paragons of this shouting, they were hardly the only ones doing so.

All the same, it wasn’t time for that revolution. Not yet. Not then. The job was done. War was over. Victory was at-hand. It was time for prosperity, peace, and celebration.

But No-one was listening. No-one believing. Especially, when the world was in the black and looked to stay that way for a long time.

Problem was, the next decades became a series of golden-age false-starts. Why, no-one was yet certain. Technology however, proved the reason. It was a tidal-wave coming whether humanity survived, thrived, and rode it in, or drowned in its unforgiving relentlessness.

The viral infection of corporatism though, spread by decades of festered neglect, showed the Clash then what Humanity must face now; that greed, corruption, if present and no matter its size, can and will spread.

It has.

VIN 4- Tech Darkness

~ S.M. Nolan ~ 2 Comments

People aren’t simple.

Teaching this idea is one of society’s greatest mistakes. Failing to recognize it as the horrendous inaccuracy it is, reinforces the divide between individuals.

Consider two people, alike in every way as individuals, but separated by economic extremes. In essence, the Dickenzian love-story between aristocrat and peasant.

This sort of societal block stifles growth of the whole by limiting the potential for aberration or mutation. Not only in the gene pool, but ideologically as well. These processes, wholly interlinked with social evolution, act like a wrench in fine-tuned gear-work in face of these blocks.

This is an admittedly rare and misleading example, but it illustrates the sort of manipulation possible in certain societies– such as that found in Tale of Two Cities. In other words, Revolutionary-era France.

The difference now is the oversight of the peasant-turned iron-fisted leadership; it is total. Through the medium of technology. Technology is enlightening and fulfilling, satisfying on many levels depending on its use.

But at its core, it is a thing of indifference, not virtue. Therefore, its virtue is a product of its use.

What it is used for currently, is insidious. Advertising, social engineering, unrightful surveillance, unlawful collection of said evidence. All of it has invaded every facet of life, demanding conformity.

But ultimately, the technology is just a tool. Its abusers, their failure to recognize their very existence as fault, is the problem. The end-user, in other words.

Technology is a child we are slowly but surely grooming for darkness.

We have helped it create shadow-industries. Introduced it to opportunistic-profiteers. Used it to tie nooses and binds around necks and wrists. And in little more than a quarter century, we’ve multiplied its collective power to do so by twice our civilization’s otherwise-collective power put together.

Then, awed by or own creation, we allowed forces outside our collective sphere of morality to guide it.

Just remember that when you’re hearing someone complain about shitty internet speeds or the latest fuckabout by cumcras’t. More importantly, remind them too.