Never did I imagine that the question of why the real world matters would come up as a topic of conversation. I appreciate how much depth of thought comes through in your posts. I often find myself torn between despising the technology that I'm using now to respond to your blog post and feeling profoundly grateful that it offers thinkers and philosophers like you and others a platform to share such important ideas.
You only have to look at how empty, sad, and meaningless the lives of those who spend too much time in the virtual world are to know that the real world is better.
Very much like how empty, sad and meaningless the lives of drug addicts are. It's really the same thing.
Spontaneity, mystery, intimacy, achieving wisdom with age, hopefully, children, play, creativity, problem-solving, fun, love, healing, range of emotions, real food, depth, insight, learning, nature, discovery, friendship, evolving with challenges like we must do now
I worked with quite a few 20-30somethings during 2020. They all were profoundly confused at first, why I, a youngish 44yr old would object so vehemently against the concepts of great reset, tranhumanism, tyranny, socialist privacy etc. They were genuinly puzzled as to why these were not benign in my view, particularly when sold as saving humanity, stopping suffering and saving the environment.
They were confused right up until I discussed how these things, impact and limit the 2 things they prized most - choice and legacy.
They want to be able to do everything when they want to. They want to be remembered. When I explained they could be switched off with a flick of a button, and erased from history on a whim. Then they began thinking and mulling over the narratives. It's not black and white. Tech isn't bad, it's who and how it's used that dictates it's status.
Dec 27, 2021·edited Dec 27, 2021Liked by Toby Rogers
The real world and real life have the true experiences- the ones that have made us human for all of time. Literally allowed us to continue on as a species. From the primitive humans that cared for their injured group members as seen in archeological record to simply procreating…
I believe big tech/pharma/MSM want to remove our ability to see the humanity in others who do not ascribe to their dogma. To me that is their ultimate purpose with the propaganda. To make the unvaxed not worthy of friendships, hugs, relationships, love, sex. All of the things that make life worth living. My husband works on a college campus and there are signs up everywhere that say something to the effect of “before going on a date make sure you ask if they are vaxxed, it’s important and socially acceptable.” 🤯
By creating propaganda articles and news segments that ask if unvaxed should be allowed Hospital beds…or saying you have no sympathy for the unvaxed, it’s purpose is to right now make it so we are no longer seen as worthy of life, love, prosperity- the human experience. We must look these people in the eye (friends and family) and confront them with this question. Some can be saved and possibly snapped out of the matrix. Ask them if they still see you as worthy of life… did they exclude you from life for not taking a flu shot. Why is this different? I have had some productive conversations simply asking that- how am I any less human or worthy of love and life for not taking these pharma injections?
My education is in history and I have been an avid video game enthusiast since my childhood in the 8-bit era. Games and virtual experiences run the entire gamut of human expression and creativity, from base to sublime.
The digital world is part of the real world just like a novel or history is. That is not where the problem lies at all.
Anyone educated in history will likely be able to discuss this issue. When we read an historian's narration of purported past events, a great deal of the present, personal reality of the historian will intrude on their telling of the tale. Such subjective weakness in historical narration has been taken advantage of by the postmodernists to attack the genre of history writing as a whole, but, in my opinion, the problem is quite easy to solve.
We have to make a judgment about when the intent of the author is to approach truth as nearly as possible with facts and evidence or if their intent is to project a series of falsehoods by concealing facts and evidence in order to support some other objective. In short, truth-seeking intent and behavior is what is important. Not some esoteric divination of the real reality. Point to something that is not part of reality and then I will discuss it with you.
Accordingly, digital environments are not inherently evil, even when they offer a form of escape from mundane daily life-- they are still a product of human imagination and a part of our collective reality. What matters is the intent.
The unfortunate reality is that when you read a newspaper article, a history or a scientific study, you need to first question the purpose and intent of the article before you even attempt to evaluate any of the information in it. Just so for a digital creation or virtual world of any sort.
This is why some video game enthusiasts reacted with such vitriol when they started to detect the deliberate subversion of games for overt political agendas. In just such a way, everyone should be educated and aware of the agendas that they might encounter so they can detect and discard such abhorrent propaganda that masquerades as art, entertainment, news or science.
If we want to reduce the infiltration of ulterior agenda into every part of life, we have to seek ways to minimize the concentration of power in institutions of society: media, tech, corporate, government, higher education, finance, currency, etc. When there are less levers that move millions, there will be less effort to deceive others in order to gain access to them.
A professor of mine once mockingly asked me what does illiberal even mean? It means the exercise of power. A liberal society is dominated by individual choice free of coercion. An illiberal society is one in which choice is constrained by endless coercion and power is concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer.
If fraudulent studies and gaslighting and cajoling and regulatory capture didn't lead to immense profit and power, why would anyone bother with the effort of all that lying?
We’ve swung so far towards the “unnatural” — unwrapping grass-fed beef from plastic wrap — that sometimes it feels tempting to go all the way and disengage from the natural world altogether. Except for the fact that our human organism needs to experience weather on our skin, feels better breathing the air of a moist forest after a rain, and needs to eat grass-fed beef or other foods that have absorbed sunlight and haven’t been produced in a stainless steel vat.
As you say, the goal is to create new customers. The chronically ill for Big Pharma and the brain addled for the metaverse. Give me a real world to fight for any day.
Dec 27, 2021·edited Dec 27, 2021Liked by Toby Rogers
Why is real better than illusion?
Because committed love is better than hook-ups.
Because a walk along the seashore or a visit to a world city is more satisfying than watching TV.
Because creating something beautiful or useful provides long-lived satisfaction that builds our identity while being given things only creates momentary or short-lived joy.
Because magic is an illusion for most of us. Magic is momentary entertainment for the audience that has real technology hidden from view which gives all the power to the magician who actually does the work in reality. Magic and matrix-perceptions are pretty lies.
Liars have contempt for those they deceive. Belief in lies creates two classes, those with the power to deceive and those who are being manipulated in order to profit someone else. It is usury - the deceived are paying a debt that will bankrupt them.
I watched the most recent Matrix movie and it's the last one I'm ever going to watch. It just felt like the creators were laughing at everyone. Laughing at the majority of people who took the blue pill (ie bought into the media/government lines regarding covid and other narratives), and laughing at the people who took the red pill for thinking that they have a chance at saving society who will just want to live in their pods and play in the Metaverse
Never did I imagine that the question of why the real world matters would come up as a topic of conversation. I appreciate how much depth of thought comes through in your posts. I often find myself torn between despising the technology that I'm using now to respond to your blog post and feeling profoundly grateful that it offers thinkers and philosophers like you and others a platform to share such important ideas.
You only have to look at how empty, sad, and meaningless the lives of those who spend too much time in the virtual world are to know that the real world is better.
Very much like how empty, sad and meaningless the lives of drug addicts are. It's really the same thing.
Spontaneity, mystery, intimacy, achieving wisdom with age, hopefully, children, play, creativity, problem-solving, fun, love, healing, range of emotions, real food, depth, insight, learning, nature, discovery, friendship, evolving with challenges like we must do now
My brother now refuses to text. Says people no longer talk to each other. He's right.
There is freedom in the real world, that we have to fight for. There is no freedom in the unreal world.
I worked with quite a few 20-30somethings during 2020. They all were profoundly confused at first, why I, a youngish 44yr old would object so vehemently against the concepts of great reset, tranhumanism, tyranny, socialist privacy etc. They were genuinly puzzled as to why these were not benign in my view, particularly when sold as saving humanity, stopping suffering and saving the environment.
They were confused right up until I discussed how these things, impact and limit the 2 things they prized most - choice and legacy.
They want to be able to do everything when they want to. They want to be remembered. When I explained they could be switched off with a flick of a button, and erased from history on a whim. Then they began thinking and mulling over the narratives. It's not black and white. Tech isn't bad, it's who and how it's used that dictates it's status.
The real world and real life have the true experiences- the ones that have made us human for all of time. Literally allowed us to continue on as a species. From the primitive humans that cared for their injured group members as seen in archeological record to simply procreating…
I believe big tech/pharma/MSM want to remove our ability to see the humanity in others who do not ascribe to their dogma. To me that is their ultimate purpose with the propaganda. To make the unvaxed not worthy of friendships, hugs, relationships, love, sex. All of the things that make life worth living. My husband works on a college campus and there are signs up everywhere that say something to the effect of “before going on a date make sure you ask if they are vaxxed, it’s important and socially acceptable.” 🤯
By creating propaganda articles and news segments that ask if unvaxed should be allowed Hospital beds…or saying you have no sympathy for the unvaxed, it’s purpose is to right now make it so we are no longer seen as worthy of life, love, prosperity- the human experience. We must look these people in the eye (friends and family) and confront them with this question. Some can be saved and possibly snapped out of the matrix. Ask them if they still see you as worthy of life… did they exclude you from life for not taking a flu shot. Why is this different? I have had some productive conversations simply asking that- how am I any less human or worthy of love and life for not taking these pharma injections?
Thanks for another thought provoking post.
My education is in history and I have been an avid video game enthusiast since my childhood in the 8-bit era. Games and virtual experiences run the entire gamut of human expression and creativity, from base to sublime.
The digital world is part of the real world just like a novel or history is. That is not where the problem lies at all.
Anyone educated in history will likely be able to discuss this issue. When we read an historian's narration of purported past events, a great deal of the present, personal reality of the historian will intrude on their telling of the tale. Such subjective weakness in historical narration has been taken advantage of by the postmodernists to attack the genre of history writing as a whole, but, in my opinion, the problem is quite easy to solve.
We have to make a judgment about when the intent of the author is to approach truth as nearly as possible with facts and evidence or if their intent is to project a series of falsehoods by concealing facts and evidence in order to support some other objective. In short, truth-seeking intent and behavior is what is important. Not some esoteric divination of the real reality. Point to something that is not part of reality and then I will discuss it with you.
Accordingly, digital environments are not inherently evil, even when they offer a form of escape from mundane daily life-- they are still a product of human imagination and a part of our collective reality. What matters is the intent.
The unfortunate reality is that when you read a newspaper article, a history or a scientific study, you need to first question the purpose and intent of the article before you even attempt to evaluate any of the information in it. Just so for a digital creation or virtual world of any sort.
This is why some video game enthusiasts reacted with such vitriol when they started to detect the deliberate subversion of games for overt political agendas. In just such a way, everyone should be educated and aware of the agendas that they might encounter so they can detect and discard such abhorrent propaganda that masquerades as art, entertainment, news or science.
If we want to reduce the infiltration of ulterior agenda into every part of life, we have to seek ways to minimize the concentration of power in institutions of society: media, tech, corporate, government, higher education, finance, currency, etc. When there are less levers that move millions, there will be less effort to deceive others in order to gain access to them.
A professor of mine once mockingly asked me what does illiberal even mean? It means the exercise of power. A liberal society is dominated by individual choice free of coercion. An illiberal society is one in which choice is constrained by endless coercion and power is concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer.
If fraudulent studies and gaslighting and cajoling and regulatory capture didn't lead to immense profit and power, why would anyone bother with the effort of all that lying?
The metaverse achieves much for the cabal: 1. It isolates and prevents future families;
2. empowers technocrats;
3. weakens democracies, etc.
Whereas living in reality forces one to be responsible for their health, sustainability and to be a member of an awakened community.
Reality is an important part of what we are as humans. Having at least some of us not lose grip on it is essential for our survival as a group.
The good news is that the new Matrix movie is a big disappointment. The bad news is that we're living in the Director's Cut.
We’ve swung so far towards the “unnatural” — unwrapping grass-fed beef from plastic wrap — that sometimes it feels tempting to go all the way and disengage from the natural world altogether. Except for the fact that our human organism needs to experience weather on our skin, feels better breathing the air of a moist forest after a rain, and needs to eat grass-fed beef or other foods that have absorbed sunlight and haven’t been produced in a stainless steel vat.
As you say, the goal is to create new customers. The chronically ill for Big Pharma and the brain addled for the metaverse. Give me a real world to fight for any day.
Why is real better than illusion?
Because committed love is better than hook-ups.
Because a walk along the seashore or a visit to a world city is more satisfying than watching TV.
Because creating something beautiful or useful provides long-lived satisfaction that builds our identity while being given things only creates momentary or short-lived joy.
Because magic is an illusion for most of us. Magic is momentary entertainment for the audience that has real technology hidden from view which gives all the power to the magician who actually does the work in reality. Magic and matrix-perceptions are pretty lies.
Liars have contempt for those they deceive. Belief in lies creates two classes, those with the power to deceive and those who are being manipulated in order to profit someone else. It is usury - the deceived are paying a debt that will bankrupt them.
One four-letter word: life. Tragic beyond measure that some of us have apparently actually forgotten what the word means.
I watched the most recent Matrix movie and it's the last one I'm ever going to watch. It just felt like the creators were laughing at everyone. Laughing at the majority of people who took the blue pill (ie bought into the media/government lines regarding covid and other narratives), and laughing at the people who took the red pill for thinking that they have a chance at saving society who will just want to live in their pods and play in the Metaverse