To get a proper reading of human nature and reality, I think we’d have to first account for the sheer level of distortion created by both modern and ancient forms of propaganda, narrative control, and a perverse oligarchical system overseeing the whole thing. Whether the priests of Babylon or modern social engineers, both ancient and mod…
To get a proper reading of human nature and reality, I think we’d have to first account for the sheer level of distortion created by both modern and ancient forms of propaganda, narrative control, and a perverse oligarchical system overseeing the whole thing. Whether the priests of Babylon or modern social engineers, both ancient and modern myths/narratives have the effect of influencing one’s own self image, and consequently how we think and operate, and view others in turn.
Unless a person is willing to take a beat, zoom out and see how that machine actually works, why wouldn’t they simply get sucked into playing out what the constant feedback loops are churning out?
I’d say much of humankind’s story is a battle between oligarchical systems and those more Promethean-minded folks who recognize how much work goes into suppressing the natural creative spark in people.
It’s there in every child, so no one can say they don’t see it. But the question is what happens as they’re exposed to very unnatural conditions? The modern Cybernetic feedback loops have a very real effect, as this article brilliantly demonstrates with the case of pop culture.
As a Aristotle once said, "show me the child and I'll show you the man."
Only a few Prometheans tend to escape the programming. But that’s not really new. However, we’re seeing quite a lot of people breaking out of narrative control right now, arguably more than in any other period in recent history, in my opinion.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln: “you can fool most of the people most of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”
To get a proper reading of human nature and reality, I think we’d have to first account for the sheer level of distortion created by both modern and ancient forms of propaganda, narrative control, and a perverse oligarchical system overseeing the whole thing. Whether the priests of Babylon or modern social engineers, both ancient and modern myths/narratives have the effect of influencing one’s own self image, and consequently how we think and operate, and view others in turn.
Unless a person is willing to take a beat, zoom out and see how that machine actually works, why wouldn’t they simply get sucked into playing out what the constant feedback loops are churning out?
I’d say much of humankind’s story is a battle between oligarchical systems and those more Promethean-minded folks who recognize how much work goes into suppressing the natural creative spark in people.
It’s there in every child, so no one can say they don’t see it. But the question is what happens as they’re exposed to very unnatural conditions? The modern Cybernetic feedback loops have a very real effect, as this article brilliantly demonstrates with the case of pop culture.
As a Aristotle once said, "show me the child and I'll show you the man."
Only a few Prometheans tend to escape the programming. But that’s not really new. However, we’re seeing quite a lot of people breaking out of narrative control right now, arguably more than in any other period in recent history, in my opinion.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln: “you can fool most of the people most of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”