TechnoDejection

A few weeks ago, I listened to Episode 53 of the C-realm podcast. During the episode, the host, KMO, spoke these words:

“I'm growing increasingly skeptical of the ability of technology to solve the problems that have arisen from our unconscious and unthinking use of technology. I think what is required is not new, better, faster more impressive technology, what I think is required for us to really make the most of what we have here, is a more intelligent and conscious use of technology.”

These words resonate so well with how I have been thinking about such things recently. I was inspired to send KMO an email, thanking him for sharing his thoughts. The following are some excerpts from my email: (granted, some of this is dated already, but then again, change is occurring more rapidly these days... indeed, time seems to be speeding up....)

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I am not sure that anyone has put just how I've been thinking about such things more eloquently, yet so plainly. I work in tech support for a small school district in a rather rural (yet well on its way through its metamorphosis into cancerous, suburban commerce-driven sprawl) part of south central Pennsylvania. I see an example with what you are talking about written out as plain as could be on a daily basis. I try to convey that very point to people in a non-nonchalant sort of way, hoping to possibly plant a seed of thought in a way that they might not have considered before. But there is this almost unconscious adversity to technology that many people have. There is this “willful ignorance” to it, despite the very apparent potential that now lies within our fingertips. But, because of the “willful ignorance,” that potential has been exploited and bastardized. Technology has not allowed ourselves to “take it easy” more, as was so promised to us it would, back in the early 80's, when I was a kid. (I was born in '75...) When I grew up, computers were going to allow us a work week that was half of what it was for my parents then, yet we would get twice as much work accomplished, with quality that would be improved tenfold. We would have so much more time to learn, create, spend with friends and families, work on self-discovery. The potential of what could be a human paradise lay before me in my adult years.

But... those forces who sit atop the pyramid of the economic and social schemes that craft our culture, those who pull all the strings, knew that this could possibly happen, and long ago came up with a plan. They knew it would be simple to twist it around so it worked out for their greed-and-profit-driven motives. So, crafty as they are, they slowly conditioned people into a sense of this “willful ignorance.” A state-of-being in which change is inherently bad, and should be feared.

At the same time, we have been “WOW!ed” and “AWESOME!ed” by the sleek, science fiction nature of our iPhones and iPods and our light-as-a-paper-notebook notebook computers, completely missing the potential. In essence, we have been distracted by the lure of fashion and social status-and-expectations.... And now, instead of using that extra time to work on self-revelation and creating art and spreading light, most people use it to work harder with longer hours (despite if it's at home or from the beach or from a train, it's still working), and with far far far more waste. All of us have been ultimately and thoroughly hoodwinked. (Of course there is far more to it than just this alone, but they are other discussions for other days).

But the potential is there, and some of us have been less hoodwinked than others. These podcasts and its host, for example. when I was listening to podcast #53, it hit me. Here I was, listening to you speak as if we were good friends, sharing your ideas, many of which resonate strongly with me, through this almost-ubiquitous, collective knowledge of hundreds-of-millions of people. 25 years ago, people used to hijack the radio waves in order to try and spread a message and share ideas. It was not only illegal, but I can't imagine it ever reached too many people. Just enough for them to market the concept, and make a few pop-movies about it. Now, podcasting is not only legal (well, for now, but once again- that's a different discussion), not very expensive (relatively speaking of course), but it reaches so many more people, and has the potential to reach so many more.

In a sense, you and Lorenzo and so many others out there are shamans of this time. However, perhaps you are more evolved shamans, since you not only do the work to bring us these talks and interviews and information, you encourage all of us listeners to go become shamans ourselves- to not allow ourselves to be dis-empowered, not to just take your word for it, or the word of those who give the talks and interviews you provide. As Terence McKenna put it, you encourage us to “Maximize Our Humanness.” Because only if we maximize our humanness as a human race will we be able to realize our human potential and overcome the problems-whose-solutions-seem-so-simple, to then ascend and truly join the greater civilization (or consciousness if you will) of the Galaxy, the Noosphere, the Universe... whatever name you want to give it.

By the way.... KMO read my email during episode 56... the whole thing, which I found to be rather flattering. Anyway, check out this podcast. Download a few episodes and at least listen to KMO's introductions (the majority of the episodes consist of interviews with some very cool guests). Heh.... KMO said it was good to know that there are some people out there who are paying attention. I guess I could say the same thing in turn.