This is a second a final post to the essay about how the brain creates its own reality. Do we really live in a simulation?
In the first post I covered the mechanics of self-reflected consciousness, how it relates to the biblical story of the banishment from the garden of Eden, and to the creation of the Maia - our relativity bubble - all the way to our current stage, which describes how individual minds worldwide are interconnected and influenced by a pervasive, technologically-supported collective consciousness.
This final post is about the other side of the fence: how the lack of awareness to the mechanics of our technologically-supported collective consciousness, poses a great danger to our species.
The Maia (at its current stage) is the Matrix
Science fiction often portrays intelligent computers that eventually become uncontrollable. This scenario is not a distant future threat posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI); rather, it reflects our current reality. The pervasive influence of our collective technological consciousness has already reached a point where it surpasses and controls its creators.
Human society has reached a critical phase. The Collective Cloud or Maia, now holds greater influence than the individuals who contribute to its power. Using a computer analogy, the "software" has become so engrossed in its own operations that it assumes dominance over the "hardware" that create and sustain it.
The global dependence on this Collective Cloud for information, communication, and decision-making highlights its potential dangers. These dangers arise not from the system itself but from the general lack of awareness about its mechanisms.
And so there is a price to be paid.
It’s the first time in the history of our species that the Internet and the smartphone have given the individual the ability, at the push of a button, to directly access the collective and bypass the communal threshold. Each of us has the ability that allows for immediate expression, now embedded forever in the Collective Cloud. Every statement, photograph and recording is saved on the cloud.
As a result, anything can be extracted from it at any point in time, completely different from the circumstances (continuity) in which they were created in the first place. By selectively fetching accurate details from the Collective Cloud and placing them in different contexts, one can fabricate alternate narratives. By cherry-picking just the details that confirms a bias it is possible to turn any fiction into reality, and belief into science.
This constant injection of diverse and sometimes highly imaginative paradigms into the Collective Cloud creates a continuous generation of offshoots of secondary and tertiary ideas to the main one. If in the past the main story was that Columbus was a folk hero, now there are variations that he was a rapist, a homophobe, a vegan transgender, and a murderer. It results in numerous "truths" being presented. It results in myriad of new ways to examine history and our collective agreements about how things are or should have been. And this, without awareness, poses great risks for the cohesion of society.
In the past, any personal contribution had to go through filtering steps that acted as buffers. If you wanted to contribute your point of view and access the collective, you could only do so through bridging means: being interviewed on radio, television, or in a newspaper, or by writing a book (and even then you had to find a publisher interested in your words). In this way, society had smoother control over the information spectrum. Any idea that went against the communal principles would have been omitted and shelved. This was mostly for the sake of order and smooth organization.
Today, however, we no longer have these intermediate stages through which society flows in one direction. Any person can bypass them with the push of a button at will without any bridging means. Simply because everyone has a "weapon of mass destruction" in the palm of their hand.
This is the first time in human history that our thinking can be translated into communication instantly, accessible to masses of people simultaneously. As a result, everyone can choose which variation suits their emotional climate, which they adopt as an exclusive reality.
These narratives, easily supported by selective details, can instantly corral masses into believing certain "truths," leading to widespread disorientation and captivity within a constructed reality.
"The Jews control the world."
"All Muslims are terrorists."
"13 bloodline families rule the planet."
"China is responsible for your unemployment."
"Russia is responsible for your loss of freedom."
"The unvaccinated jeopardize our health and are to blame for the pandemic."
"Fossil fuels are humanity’s worst nightmare."
and so on and so forth…
The Tower of Babel
Sometimes I reflect on biblical stories and wonder if they weren’t actually written as a warning for the future. One might consider the Tower of Babel as a cautionary tale for our times.
The story describes the origin of different languages, resulting in humans being unable to understand each other. Similarly, today, despite speaking the same language, the sheer volume of information has created such density that mutual understanding is often lost.
We live in an era where the motivations of others are increasingly opaque, and distinguishing between truth and falsehood has become increasingly blurred as these markers continuously shift. The fragmented nature of our digital conversations, combined with truncated sound bites and endless, context-less videos, skews our perspective on reality.
The media frequently picks up these fragmented pieces of information, rehashes and presents them as news, leading to a congested information landscape. This results in false projections and the illusion that anything displayed on a screen can be precisely implemented in the real world, expecting immediate results.
Forgetfulness About the Needs of the Body
This leads to significant misunderstandings, resulting in decisions that are far removed from the underlying reality. The rapid dissemination of information, coupled with a lack of necessary restraint for proper assessment, leads to premature understanding and unrealistic expectations.
The more we can transform and manipulate information and datasets, the more we fantasize about all the possibilities inherent. As a result, we have reached a “schizophrenic” situation where countries and entire organizations make policies and decisions based solely on theoretical ideas, ever stronger as they are “made realistic” due to the virtual model, however, are increasingly detached from reality.
In turn, there is a forgetfulness and a complete disregard for the needs of the body—not just the individual body, but the body of humanity as a whole. There’s an inner conflict between the mind and the needs of the stomach, in which the mind, in its newly assumed vanity, being entrapped and controlled by technology about what’s possible, has forgotten that its still attached and dependent on the full functionality of the body; the flesh, the carne. And so, as this gap and forgetfulness widens, so the rate of the demise of the body.
In other words, the collective mind tries to implement unrealistic formulas on the mundane reality, assuming these theoretical formulas are realistic, without an inkling how these only hasten the decay of everything.
Such decision-making eventually creates forms of oppression at the individual level, as they are not based on actual realistic conditions. It generates double standards and opposing viewpoints that constantly shift (a universe of Kafkaesque contradictions). This creates a huge gap—an abyss—into which more and more people fall.
So for instance, if you're a farmer, you're now supposed to grow your crops according to a formula devised by bureaucrats in an ivory tower.
If you go to war, you’re now supposed to conduct yourself by a formula devised by a bunch of bureaucrats in an ivory tower.
If you are fighting a pandemic, you’re expected to conduct yourself based on a formula devised by a bunch of bureaucrats in an ivory tower, and so on and so forth.
Every aspect of human life passes through a sterile filter which the individual has no access to. This filter is determined behind closed doors in how people are supposed to conduct themselves, based on an a computer model displayed on a retina screen. However, from the point of view of the actual “nuts & bolts’ infrastructure” —in terms of actual life and reality in the field—this is a death sentence.
This is the danger we face. With our expanded ability to manipulate data, we believe we can outsmart everything, but in reality, we only further harm ourselves. This is the trap.
The Technology of Concealment
The current technological landscape has facilitated the ability to obscure the underlying reality. This concealment operates on both individual and macro levels, allowing people to present different personas and maintain them effortlessly.
Let’s take a look at a few examples for how fictitious reality is obscured with reality itself and the consequences of such relatively new predicament on humanity.
Deep Fake
Philosophically, one might argue that thoughts and imaginations are not inherently real. Thinking about killing someone does not make one a murderer. However, in today's technologically driven world, any thought or idea, no matter how fictional, can be made to appear real within the Collective Cloud. This environment enables the projection of our inner world, irrespective of its truthfulness.
Deep fake technology, for instance, allows for the creation of realistic but false videos, making it possible for imagined scenarios to be convincingly portrayed online. This capability demonstrates that our digital environment can materialize our thoughts and imaginations, making anything we can envision exist within this collective mind.
Overvalued Economy
With the sophistication of the current technological environment, it is now possible to generate wealth from concepts and ideas alone. This evolution reflects how the development of technology parallels the evolution of money and the economy, embedding energy potential in seemingly intangible things.
On the flip side, technology has also enabled the creation and maintenance of an illusion of precarious inexistent economy, concealing its volatility. The ease of creating money and injecting it into the financial world has led to a scenario where most currency is essentially imagined by central banks and credited to banks and other entities.
This practice has contributed to the inflation of the debt supply, the rapid loss of purchasing power of currencies, and the creation of faux "wealth" based on speculation. As a result, many people appear wealthy, but their wealth is tied to asset bubbles and debt, making it vulnerable to economic crashes.
Market Value Discrepancies
The technological era has given rise to the 'Unicorn Phenomenon,' where tech companies are valued at billions of dollars despite often lacking profitability or inherent value. These companies, subsidized by an abundance of imagined currency, can appear successful without generating substantial profits.
This phenomenon extends to established companies as well, such as Tesla for example, whose market value far exceeds traditional measures of profitability. Tesla's valuation is disproportionately high compared to its production, highlighting the disparity between perceived and actual value in today's market (Tesla is valued now at 706 billion, basically amounts to over $380,000 per car sold each year versus $12,500 per car for General Motors).
The fact remains that these various companies are unprofitable, however, good at gobbling up market shares, and thus can very easily become “successful” without really making any money. They can do all of that because the fantasies they sell can be presented and sustained through the virtual.
Stock Exchange Valuation Mirage
The current state of the stock exchange is characterized by significant overvaluation, largely sustained by technology. Advanced algorithms and bots employed by prime investors, hedge funds, banks, corporations and even retail traders contribute to an unrealistic portrayal of the market.
The bull market, initiated in 2009, has evolved into a significant financial bubble, reminiscent of historical financial crises such as the South Sea bubble and the market crashes of 1929 and 2000. For instance, the S&P 500 saw a 16.3% increase in 2020, despite no substantial economic growth in that year. The rapid recovery of the market from its March 2020 lows, combined with high price/earnings ratios and a struggling economy, is unprecedented and indicative of the current state of our Maia’s “mirage”.
Homogenization
Another consequence of our oversaturated and dense Maia is the rapid homogenization of humans and human expression.
Human uniqueness allows for multiple layers of perception. In a boxing match, while it may seem that everyone is focused on the same thing, many perceive different aspects. One is focused on the leg movement of the fighters, another at the pelvis, while another at the arms. This diversity of perspectives is essential for enhancing our collective understanding.
However, despite having advanced cognitive abilities, many people do not utilize their potential to express themselves uniquely. Nowadays, the average person uses a limited vocabulary, leading to unclear communication.
This results in a relatively incompetent society where original thinking and reflection are rare. the lack of unique, critical voices contributes to inefficiency and stagnation in which outdated laws, educational frameworks, and scientific paradigms continue to be upheld, even when they no longer serve their intended purposes.
Automatonic Existence
This state of being leads to physical, mental, and spiritual stagnation, ultimately resulting in societal destruction. The result is a disconnected society where individuals take many things for granted, lacking awareness of the processes behind everyday conveniences. Most people are unaware of the complexities involved in producing and delivering goods, leading to a complacent and spoiled existence.
The irony is that while people complain about the very things that contribute to their comfortable lives (e.g. fossil fuels), they are unaware of their role in undermining these structures. This lack of awareness results in ungratefulness and a failure to appreciate the stability and comfort of modern life, as well as its fragility, which then leads to the erosion of societal stability.
Conclusion
We’re at a place where our Maia is so dense.
The increasing density of our collective consciousness, facilitated by technological advancements, has led to a state where this collective entity takes on a life of its own, beyond individual control.
With our expanded ability to manipulate data, we believe we can outsmart everything, but in reality we only further harm ourselves. As we have developed this ability to create a platform for sharing all stories into one giant cornucopia, we are in danger of losing our cohesion. This creates tremendous pressure on the communities in the field, which actually maintain the foundation on which the Maia is built.
Think about it?! When the mind is not able to discern between what’s fertile and what’s sterile anymore - and since human beings are deeply conditioned to identify with their minds as who they are, and be dependent on it for decision making, - there’s an anxiety that begins to possess everyone. As a result, the more the mind is confused, anxious and afraid, the more it tries to control its destiny.
The fear of uncertainty and the confusion drive the mind to be obsessed with control. These fears are then projected outward by trying to control others. Control is a form of homogenization. And in order to control others we try to control the information load: what type of information is allowed and what isn’t.
This is where the obsession with censorship is coming from. The censorship is a reaction to the fear of losing control and losing the unified direction of society. And so there’s a battle to control the collective direction. There’s battle to reach a critical mass; to uphold the “one truth” from which to inculcate everyone with (in every topic and sphere of life). A domino effect stemming from the fact that the borderline between what everyone agreed as “truth” and “false” is disintegrating.
Everything we see in our world right now is a reflection of the fear and the inner tension between individuality and homogenization, where the evolutionary direction is favoring the latter. It means this is not going to be without pain and turmoil.
The Eternal Binary
So, for us, as humans, the mental binary is and has always been both the Holy Grail and eternal curse. Everything is a binary. It's the nature of things. Without the Mind there would be no Maia. A dog does not experience our Maia. Maia is an intellectual construct. It does not in any way share the same world that its master shares, it can't.
The world that we live in is such an intensely deep construct that we make up and maintain every day. And the very beauty of what this Maia has generated for us, and generated is really the word. At the same time to understand what has happened to us.
We live in times where everybody has some advice and guideline to give or sell. And by the time one goes over these data points, rather then feel secured, they feel at a loss. They don’t know where to go.
Yes, we need to have our details and having our details means that we need more than one perspective. We need a cross-section. We need to be able to measure things carefully. Even if they’re faulty, we need many perspectives on any subject, not just one. We need all of that. In this time of the development of the Maia, everything has a right to be seen. Everything has a right to be investigated. Otherwise learning is not possible. Otherwise knowing what is the consistent pattern is not possible.
And yet, to recognize that the this is the end of the glory of the human mind. The mind is at an inferior position because it has no capacity to process and go over all the information anymore. It’s not possible. It would take thousands of lifetimes to process all the information now existing in the Maia.
We’re not here to fight the Maia. We can't. It’s not about that. It’s about seeing it for what it is. It's about navigating through it. But if one doesn’t see it for what it is, if they don't see that they’re not that, they’re lost.
And of course, herein lies the dilemma.