the cyborg manifesto
no "soma" for me. machines are tools. wake up!
what a great read. i chose opposition, though there is no real need to choose either way. it really would be the ultimate sell, to convince people that the 'alternate reality' were better than, better for their mental, emotional and physical health than what surrounds them everyday or what a little work, a little prudence, a little temperance, a little patience, a lot of knowledge can bring them in life..negotiating fear and letting it go for true freedom of mind and true peace of spirit.
aldous huxley's brave new world has been oft compared to our present society and though there are some parallels, there is still that troubling human spirit to deal with on a much grander scale(than what is present in the book). perhaps the matrix rings certain bells in our present time for what might be a shade of the future and even the here and now. for certain, the struggle of man against machine, the internal question of faith and knowledge and the choice between hard truth and soft wool are everpresent, cross-creed, culture and time.
there is still freedom of thought and the unique vision of artists wether it be film, canvas or paper -both actual and virtual - that help us to "see" where things might head, where we are in the present and where we've been in the past. i have faith in that; 1984, brave new world, the matrix and similar visions of where our flawed human nature can bring us won't ever truly present themselves as they are imagined because there are enough people who are listening, who are after the true nature of existence which is simply to be, to learn, to teach, to love.
in some ways, i view it as a war because everywhere i am besieged with mini bombs directed at my very core as a human being..i must be more, i must be thinner, i must have shinier hair, lighter skin, fuller lips, the right outlook, lack of depression, shiny happy clones of these unnatural values living in my home who i call son and daughter. i must support lies, governments who are not accountable to the people, the patriarchal right, the great strides in the sexual revolution which seem to make women and children more the slave than the equal after all. i am increasingly shown and told that i have no right to be ethical in what i consume; indeed, i am fear-mongered into consuming as much as i can..greed is good, though it be the traditional and proven root to all evil. why? because it is insatiable, this is it's very nature and once adopted into personal philosophy the downward spiral begins.
but my weapon is pursuit of truth, the need to know and to know why. these things, i treasure and guard safely. i will not be "soma"ed into blindness of mind and spirit, comatose to the plight and the fight. i am awake, sleeping awake.
no, i haven't seen the matrix reloaded yet, but stimulating conversation (many thanks, e)leads the mind down different paths.