There is a book called "The Revolt of the Masses" by a Spanish philosopher named Ortega y Gasset. Here is a link to a .pdf copy of the book: http://www.pinkmonkey.com...
Here is quotation from the book:
"The rebellion of the masses may, in fact, be the transition to some new, unexampled organisation of humanity, but it may also be a catastrophe of human destiny."
Are we not precisely at this juncture in history? I would be willing to bet dollars to cents that these devices that surround us hold the keys to our unmaking and the keys to the creation of the world that we all wish to see realized. The unity of form is simple to comprehend: a dual recognition of same-ness and other-ness. i.e. we are all 99.9% genetically identical and we are all individuals simultaneously. This is a robust metaphysical lens through which to interpret our fellow earthlings as economic, political and social actors.
We have a bifurcated path and there is a troll on the bridge. The troll is technology and he will exact a fierce toll if we are not careful, the toll being the sacrifice of our shared Humanity.
Have you ever noticed that technology, in all its manifestations and beautiful chaos of creation, has two generalizable and constant trends? As time passes, technology at once grows physically smaller and physically closer to the user.
The next logical iteration of this trajectory is for humans to merge with the machine. We already have pacemakers for people who have faulty hearts. What will be the remedy for people with faulty souls? A mini-microchip installed at the brain stem that stimulates synapses, axon endings and dendrites to produce love? Talk about a world where romance and chivalry are dead.....
In the 1990s movie "With Honors", Brendan Frasier transforms his thesis on government at the behest of the lovely young woman he lives with. "Interactive television is going to save the world," he proclaims after trashing the pessimistic junk that would not make a difference for anyone... much to the chagrin of his famous professor and he wins the love of the girl.
Well, Youtube, (interactive television) which did not exist at the time the film was made or the Ortega y Gasset's book was penned, may very well save the world. It may unite the right people in the right place at the right time who create the next technological, economic, or political miracle that inspires the masses to "their better angels".
But not before it injects a cold sliver of fear across the globe first. The devil rears his ugly head before the redeemer shows his.
A great many of the user comments on youtube, especially around videos relating to international incidents or anything tinged with politics or religion is simply filled with hate speech. That speech does not disappear into the vacuum of anonymity, as the click of the mouse suggests. That speech goes somewhere... into the eyes and neural nets of the people all over the world who read it and ingest it.
We are witness to what one could term the "death of Political Correctness." The steam has been bottled up for so many decades that it makes quite a lot of sense that all the hate has to filter out first. You cannot force groups of people who would rather have little do to with one another to coexist peacefully. Just ask the Spaniards and the Aztecs. They tried and Cortes unslung his sword and destroyed their civilization.
We are approaching a threshold in which we can hardly stand to occupy the same space and place with one another and we are accelerating the process.
So, what do we do?
There are two places to speak and act from: abundance and prosperity, which equals possibility, life and creation or scarcity and hate, which equals anger, violence, and destruction.
Eros and Thanatos (the literary forces of love and death) have been, are, and will continue to be at play as the key actors in the human drama.
Freedom in this world is tantamount to the ability to intelligently and fully choose Eros over Thanatos as much as humanly possible.
The question then becomes, who will YOU be on the great stage of the world and what will you create? Which role do you play in the great human drama? You are constantly becoming something and you always have a choice in the matter. To say otherwise is to ultimately surrender your humanity, your dignity, your liberty.
"Most often times it happens, we live our lives in chains and we never even knew we had the key." (Already Gone by "The Eagles")
We can avoid the "catastrophe of human destiny" over which poor, old uncle Ortega y Gasset fretted so vehemently. And there is enough hope left to believe that America will be the first empire to stop its own decline dead in its tracks. As Winston Churchill once said: "The Americans always do the the right thing.... after they have done all the wrong things first."
Be who you already are: a CREATOR. Create something and do not stop creating until your creation is complete.
-A Teacher
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