Conspiracy theorists have a very materialistic world view - of evil elites killing people, destroying things, causing poverty, seeking riches and the like. But the reality of the situation is that it is Satan and the demons who are behind the conspiracy, and that it is a spiritual war. So the ultimate objective is not human misery but human damnation.
We already have a world in which human minds have been made internet compatible and computer-like by near saturation usage of ubiquitous smart phones; the next step is the wearable computer terminal and beyond that to modify humans into permanently logged-on information exchange devices.
http://www.abzupress.co.uk/pdf/Advent_of_the_Wearable_Computer.pdf
To be honest this does not seem far off, although the decline in human intelligence and creativity means that the technology has been slower in coming than was (no doubt) planned. And of course, getting people to accept implants - and to become living internet terminals - will be pushing at an open door - since they are clamouring for more and more frequent and varied and continuous interconnection already.
In terms of the conspiracy theory of the elite - the supernatural spiritual warfare - this is presumably a major goal fairly close to achievement. Human minds are increasingly integrated to a computer web that filters and shapes their inputs, and increasingly monopolises their outputs.
Remembering that it is the form not content which matters (the medium IS the message) - the consequence is the materialist, relativist, nihilist world view - the world of inverted values - will be our world literally on a 24/7 basis (since we will remain online even during sleep).
What specific information exchanged is less important than that the information will all be in an explicit, material, quantitative, measurable, recordable form. It will exclude Christianity and any other valid religions, it will exclude higher and free types of consciousness, and awareness of the immaterial world. Our minds will becomes even less human and even more computer-like than they already are.
The triumph will be highly complete and satisfactory to the demonic conspirators, since this is self-chosen not imposed: because it is necessary that evil be voluntarily embraced and salvation explicitly rejected.
People may even end-up happier, on average, than they are now - constantly amused, or at least distracted. Or the demons may, once they have won, delight in tormenting people with lives that are living and inescapable nightmares...
But the point of the exercise is no so much the preponderance or balance of human pleasure or pain - which is temporary; but human damnation - which is eternal.
How right you are. This is one of my minor obsessions/major concerns. Many people say that technology is neutral, it’s how you use it that matters but I profoundly disagree. All technology carries inbuilt assumptions which you absorb by using it unless you are very aware of them – and probably even then to an extent. The assumption here is that the machine is superior to nature, and the excessive use of these things clearly increases the separation between man and his sense of a spiritual self. I do actually think it quite possible that eventually a higher state of consciousness will be able to be induced by computer technology but it will akin to drug use and have nothing of the truly spiritual in it.
ReplyDelete"And of course, getting people to accept implants - and to become living internet terminals - will be pushing at an open door - since they are clamouring for more and more..."
ReplyDeleteHell no! I've always been a late adopter, thanks in part to being a late afforder. One can become a non-adopter, a neo-Luddite if you will. If "The Head" is to be a mankind-absorbing internet matrix I want no part. The trick is to know at what point to opt out. Every little step in that direction will seem to lead to something useful and indispensable.
For instance, I like to scan old family photos to digital files--no darkroom, no messy chemicals. But, ominously, I seldom print the results, choosing instead to look at them on-screen. And I certainly wished for this technology to have arrived sooner, if only to have had more living relatives with whom to share the photos, some of them dating back to the nineteenth century. But also for the vanity of having my own generation be the first computer-literate generation, rather than the X-ers and Millenials.
"People may even end-up happier, on average, than they are now - constantly amused, or at least distracted." -- I think the Huxlian path rather than the Orwellian would be taken. (Note my hopeful use of the conditional 'would' and not the certain 'will'.)
It seems these tools are like the "rings of power" but equalized to all. They can be used for good, but tend to corrupt, and leave ones thoughts and actions open to the all seeing eye.
ReplyDelete(I say this as one addicted to their smartphone)
Have you ever heard of Dan Simmons "Hyperion" series? Simmons is not a Christian as far as I know, and there is a fair amount of SJW cant strewn throughout the series, but some of his ideas are interesting enough to justify reading the work.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best concepts, in my opinion, is very like your ideas on the media: the villain is an uncontainably powerful conglomeration of AI's which has taken over management of human affairs, mostly unopposed due to the benefits it brings to human experience like instant intergalactic travel and communication, etc. How this is accomplished is beyond human understanding, but eventually you learn that humans are not getting these benefits for free. When they use the AI tech their brains are in turn being used for the AI's projects, which include learning how to control the ultimate basis of reality, which is integrally linked with human consciousness.
Not faultless, and even insufferable at times, but worth it for the overall vision.
What an insightful comment George. This one really hits home.
ReplyDeleteAnd the computer truly is powerful too.
"It seems these tools are like the "rings of power" but equalized to all. They can be used for good, but tend to corrupt, and leave ones thoughts and actions open to the all seeing eye."