Thoughts

What Do You Know?

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Information and knowledge. Never has there been a time when it seemed more important, and it always might have been that way in some format, to have accurate information, truthful accounts and records, and to receive things as they were intended. But given what have and are seeing around us at the moment, I am sure it was always that way. Either trying to make sure correct information got through, while simultaneously having other methods in play to keep the real information hidden. All adding to the Jigsaw of Life of course, but also meaning it takes an awful lot longer to actually learn what you might need to, which will be different for each person by their own definition. And we are told that we all need to go to school, to go through that formal establishment of education, where they tell you what you need to learn and you come out the other end, Institutionalised in some way ready for the game of society they have prepped and primed you for. But instead of it being for the industrious society we were told it was for, and was perhaps for the previous generation, now we have something more akin to The Beautiful Mice situation, where it has become some strange social experiment gone quite wrong.

Information has now been weaponised, distorted and is being repackaged as ‘data’ and is now the be all and end of everything, apparently. The internet doing a marvellous job of creating what we thought was going to be a treasure trove of facts and records, anything you could ever want to know, all in one handy place. Sounds so naive, doesn’t it? But I bought the lie, thinking it was great at first, how handy and convenient to have access to everything. Then you start to think about it, and realise it was a very foolish move to just believe ‘the internet’, and because it was in print it must be factual. Even genuine things are updated, and change as the years and decades go on, so a book you read from a hundred years ago, may not have the correct information, and later editions update this. But if you are reading a first or early edition, how would you know?

It seems though, it has always been easy to fabricate or eradicate anything that are no longer required or poses a potential problem in the updating of ‘facts’ and when a new set of rules or ideals is being implemented. Much has been overwritten, rewritten, destroyed or hidden over the centuries in the pursuit of whatever purpose it was for, with violence and fear and possible a few strategic fires here and there to keep it all ‘as it should be’. But someone always remembers, and people talk, luckily, so things would have still remained in the knowledge of some people, perhaps being handed down, told as stories eventually with threads of the original truth still there, making their way sometimes into myth and legend, as can happen with oral and verbal telling’s.

And from that, we clearly must understand that although we as people have a great capacity to remember, we also have a problem with lies and exaggeration. And wonderful as our imaginations might be, occasionally they stray and may not be the most reliable ‘source’. Yet, these days, we have extra obstacles to this with the Madela Effect mentioned in Hard Copy and Memory, and deliberate disinformation being used in media circles, there is much to work through. Needing to know what is relevant, what to assimilate or ignore, and protect your own psychological self from the ideas put there to distract or harm you. With plenty of Missing information to keep people guessing and keeping them limited in their capacity to know things. Perhaps it’s all been so messy and inaccurate for so long, some people do not care anymore If Truth Be Told, and what’s real or did or didn’t happen at any point. Limited in their ability to understand the bigger picture and don’t employ critical thinking skills, or are not one to look back or ‘dwell in the past’ as we call it with no retrospective thought applied. To mull over what you think you know, to wonder how you came to know it, and ask yourself, is it something that you really know at all…

(c) MKW Publishing

Gridlocked

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People have noticed and mentioned there is a similarity in ancient structures to modern technology. A formatted structure and layout, similar to our computer components of today, circuit boards notably. And even outside of cities, we are all on grids for our services. It’s only the more rural areas that might be considered ‘off grid’ as the terms goes.

Cities generally are also on massive grids and seem to pull energy towards them and generates huge amounts itself, being alluring and a draw for some, and completely repellent to others. Feeding from it as it feeds from us. By now I think we presume cities are necessary, and probably just formed ‘naturally’ as a consequence of industry and growth. But I do not think so anymore, more leaning towards a forced enterprise as with everything else. Where people were manoeuvred into those cities through various acts and laws after being kept in the countryside being manual labour for the Lord of the Manor, having a set contract, movement and pay restricted to make sure you stay in place. Kind of like the film The Truman Show, where Christoff is talking about him “he can leave at any time”, but every barrier will be in your way to that, and they will psychologically cripple you if you happen to start to see through the illusion of ‘freedom’.

And as we know, cathedrals and cities aren’t new, so this isn’t a new idea at all, and what made me think of it again was from a film, as usual, which isn’t a new one either. The only new component to the thought, is the regular talk and articles around data centres. A condensed version of a city, or not so condensed when you see how much area they cover. Taking away prime farmland, homes, wild areas, forests and so on. Nothing seems to be spared or sacred when it comes to their placing. And maybe that’s how it was before, when the first suspected components were installed, Cathedrals and Abbeys. Both usually having quite a footprint and foundations. And cities we have today, are vast and often keeps growing as the population does, expanding and innovating, modernising as I guess we call it. But before they were there, they weren’t. And were probably farmland, and houses, and forests as well as relics of the previous times and technologies of their day. Not to say it is right, but to point out this isn’t a new issue or problem we face as a collective.

But I guess the two films that sort of simultaneously tie this idea together for me are Hackers, and Ghostbusters. For Hackers, it is the scene once they have ‘hacked the Gibson’, and are cruising around looking for the garbage file, flying through a simulated ‘data city’ of skyscrapers, looking at the grid from ground view rather than from above as we do with the comparisons. This one just being from below, and you see a Tron like version of a ‘city’. Full of data. And for Ghostbusters, the first one back in the day, where it turned out the whole building was designed specifically to open portals, with the materials being of importance as well as the overall architecture. But scale that whole idea up and merge the two, that the entire planning and layout of the whole city is important, as well as what it is made of it seems. And what it holds, is data, us. Previous cities that might have gone off plan or formed on their own, having potentially suffered one of those ‘great fires’ we hear much about in the past, thereby clearing the way for a new one keeping in line with the others.

And perhaps those buildings and cities have been harvesting us already for centuries, our data, emotions, energy, time and money. And what do we get told we are getting in return? The future. Where countryside and rural hold us back, only sweeping technologies and surveillance can save us now, apparently. From what, I don’t actually know, because it appears to be the technology and surveillance that is the most looming threat being touted. And just as data and computers once filled an entire room, and now is a tiny chip, maybe data centres are an evolution like that. Unfortunately meaning we have already been ‘harvested’ for quite an age, all the while busy working to harvest for ourselves and others. Kind of like as mentioned in It’s A Bug’s Life Being An Ant, or the idea in Terraforming, likening the situation to the film Oblivion, where the TET is allowed to freely drain all the fresh water because the ‘survivors’ have been told it’s being taken to a new home. The illusion to keep the project going in a fictional fight for resources, but that’s just the movies, isn’t it? On a screen with a well-crafted script and actors playing their part, nothing like real life at all we are told, but we also appear to receive our information about our ‘real’ illusion from a screen only now, with a not so well-crafted script, and ‘actors’ also playing their role. Where the pieces just get reshuffled now and again, and a new attention grabber is wheeled out to enthral and engage the masses online. But just as many people ask and speculate, one can’t help but ask the questions, what do ‘they’ actually want from us? And where does this all go…

(c) MKW Publishing

In Two Minds

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A person cannot be in two places at once, they say. Which sounds reasonable when you think of a place as a physical location. Like in Here and There, where we think of time and locations as fixed, but does that mean they are? We all do it, though, thinking of Then and Now sometimes as if they have no direct connection or bearing to each other than our own perception of them. A person being a link or bridge to the past and future, but without us being the connector, one does not know of the other.

However, it seems that is quite possibly not the case. That if you do not restrict your thought process or understanding of matter, then it is possible to project your being somewhere else or to what we would refer to as a different time. Perhaps the multiple versions and universes theory should be applied here as well, as that would mean there are many ‘locations’ for your own personal being.

But I suspect we know about these splits, convergences, and other anomalies which we try to allocate words to, phrases, and things that end up having extra meaning and are not ‘just a saying’ after all.

In two minds – when you are unsure or indecisive, knowing there are two options or choices and you explore the idea from both angles.

Knowing your own mind – when you are of a singular thought and will not be swayed.

Out of Your Mind – when your mind is full of rage or despair, taking refuge from reality by stepping outside of itself, often not with the most positive consequences.

Be Mindful of the Labyrinth – the mental landscape of our thoughts and minds likened to a labyrinth. Real ones and the film.

Stuck in Mind – a loop that can develop, where it seems a form of procrastination takes hold, where thinking about things can keep you thinking about things. A thought loop, where action is required to interrupt it or change it. Unless remains in that loop is your purpose, of course.

A wandering mind – when it occasionally might take a leave of absence, for good and bad. Entertaining perhaps that which might seem like fantasy, yet not fully appreciating the power of thought and imagination. Creating a reality somewhere, and if followed by action, can bring that into the physical realm. They say it all starts with an idea and be careful what you wish for. A wandering mind can indeed lead you astray.

These days, though, on the internet, media and entertainment feels like a battlefield for wanting to be in your thoughts. All competing for your attention, time, emotions, desires, and thoughts. Against each other and against you. Making it even more important to Choose Your Thoughts Wisely…

Artwork by Cameron Gray

(c) MKW Publishing