placky boxes & smith and wesson vs. Merry unplugged

 

What?

 

It’s not an issue.

 

You can’t be serious Merry! They can do anything they like. You can’t possibly stop them.

 

Yawn.

 

Oh, so you’re just going to sit there yawning? But when they take control of the internet, or your computer, or the…

 

Zie – can you hear me?

 

Huh?

 

Can you hear me?

 

Uh – yes. How are you doing that?

 

Doing what?

 

Talking to me through my telephone.

 

Your phone?

 

My shoe? How are you talking to me through my bloody shoe? What the heck’s going on?

 

Or this?

 

No way!

 

Why not?

 

It’s my elbow – you can’t hack into my bloody body, man.

 

Can’t? Er… whatever you say.

 

Zie runs around the room – following Merry’s voice – now coming from the table, no – over there -the light switch – no, wait a minute – the plant by the window, hang on – it seems to be coming from a hotspot in the air by the toaster.

Funny, isn’t it.

 

Funny? It’s insane. Are you playing mind tricks on me?

 

Not really. It’s all perfectly rational and simple enough to explain.

 

How?

 

How what?

 

How do you do it?

 

How do you do it, yourself?

 

Give me a break – I can’t move my voice around. I’m attached to my body.

 

At the moment you are – but that’s just a preference – a setting, if you like. You can change that whenever you feel like it.

 

No I can’t. I’m not…

 

If you consider, for a moment, that your body ain’t really what you think it is – ain’t really there.

 

Give me a break, Merry – of course it’s there.

 

Well yes, it is until you allow yourself to see how you’re actually a techie master – running a consciousnet node which er…

 

Er what?

 

Just happens to be you.

 

Consciousnet?

 

Yep.

 

And it doesn’t have to be fixed in my body?

 

What body? From the consciousnet perspective your body is no more real than microsoft corporation.

 

Give me a break.

 

Watch this.

 

Merry’s body starts popping up around the room – first on the easy chair, then by the fireplace on the footrest, now the piano stool, now in the doorway – and then things start getting faster and weirder – Zie’s holding his head – failing to keep himself together – while Merry now seems to be wave forming through the entire room space – here, there, wherever to a greater or lesser extent.

 Zie not surprisingly shorts out.

 

There there – don’t take it too much to heart dear Zie. You’re doing very well, really.

 

No – Zie can’t speak right now. In fact – he’s puking up lunch.

 

Attaboy Zie – better out than in.

 

End of event.

 

 

 

A week later – Merry – I need to know what that was all about. It’s doing my head in. Is this all just a hologram? Are we locked in a computer simulation?

 

No. Why should we be?

 

Because what you were doing ain’t physically possible, is it?

 

No, of course not – if you follow the standard 3D model.

 

Then how did you do that? What does it mean? Who the hell are you?

 

Deep breath Zie – I don’t want any more projectile vomiting if we can help it – now that we’ve had the carpet dry-cleaned.

 

Oh, yeah, ok.

 

You know perfectly well, in fact, what’s going on.

 

So you tell me.

 

Do you really imagine those placky boxy things you call computers are more advanced than the original McCoy?

 

Er… Are you talking AI? Is that it?

 

AI?! Give me a break. What on Earth’s AI gotta do with it?

 

Then I’m stumped – I can’t figure it out.

 

Like you said – they’ve got their placky tech to the point where they can now take over the world – if they really want to, haven’t they? That’s what prompted the discussion, wasn’t it.

 

Yeah, that’s right. And there doesn’t seem to be any way of stopping them.

 

Yeah – how are you going to stop an army of snails.

Huh?

 

Their systems are primitive beyond belief.

 

What?

 

That’s right – they’re desperate to control things – forever minding things – aren’t they?

 

No idea what you’re on about.

 

They’re using computer code, internet, cloud storage, and clunky, primitive beyond belief computer code.

 

Stop diminishing their capabilities. They can literally shut down an airport, crash a plane, hell, they can even hack into a nuclear power station.

 

Can they?

 

Obviously. Didn’t you see the video I showed you?

 

Er…

 

I’m impressed by your telepathy and teleportation skills Merry – not trying to diminish them in any way, but you can’t run the entire internet for us, can you, and you can’t shield every sensitive device from the insiders who can easily take over the entire system, can you?!

 

Why on earth would I waste my time trying to battle sand flies.

 

What? Sand flies?

 

Well actually, sandflies can be rather a nuisance – unless you’ve got your consciousnet up and running.

 

Exactly. A big enough swarm can literally take you out.

 

So perhaps I should compare these dangerous hackers to snowflakes – no – snowflakes can be lethal too in high enough numbers. I don’t know Zie – what I’m trying to say is how can these placky code warriors possibly concern you when you’re fully aware of the nature of…

 

Annoying pauses? Three dots? Your fabled isness of Be – that what you’re on about?

 

Well, you realise by now, don’t you – that consciousnet is the prime connection – the i-form platform at which i – whatever i may be – assumes whatever shape or form – human or otherwise.

 

And what? You still need computer systems, don’t you?

 

Ye… es – but we’re talking about the mother platform, the mother operating system – the basic building blocks with which your consciousness is directly integrated, aren’t we?

 

And what of it? You still need your computer systems, don’t you? You can’t spend the whole time in meditation policing the internet, can you?

 

Er…

 

You can’t pull the plug on the entire world of plastic machines – or stop the millions of crooks out there who are intent on imposing a new world order on humanity.

 

Oh – so that’s what you’re getting at. 

 

Ding. The penny droppeth.

 

Here Zie – take this gun. Merry hands Zie a rather attractive Smith and Wesson 627.

Wait a minute – where the hell did that come from?

 

Does it matter Zie? Just take it and decide whether it’s real or not. You can try firing a round or two – other there, if you don’t mind.

 

Zie aims at a rather nice porcelain vase full of deep, red amaryllis blooms. Bang.

 Try again – if you’re unconvinced.

 

No, it’s ok Merry – it seems to be real enough. Sorry about the vase.

 

Don’t worry about it Zie. Now shoot me.

 

?

 

Do it.  Merry uses the voice. There’s a first time for everything – fans of Frank Herbert’s “Dune”  will know all about the voice – the absolute control by an implacable command – Zie has no power whatsoever over the muscles in his body – as he aims and fires at Merry – to his absolute horror.

 

There – wasn’t so bad, was it?

 

Zie slumps to the ground – badly shaken by what he’s just done. The gun had fired. The bullet had exited the chamber, the nozzle, and then… nothing.

 

I…

 

Don’t get it? Welcome to consciousnet Zie. The bullet was only as real as the consciousness behind it – supporting it – sustaining it.

 

I could have killed you.

 

Absolutely – had I been operating as most do in the 3D segment of consciousnet.

 

But…

 

Where did it go?

 

Zie’s peering around looking for a bullet hole somewhere behind Merry.

 

Try again. Six more rounds in the chamber.

 

No – I…

 

Do it.

 

Once again – the voice in action – Zie fires off all six rounds in rapid succession. Ears ringing. Arm recoiling. Fire and smoke. For real. No question about it. Merry neither flinches, nor moves in the slightest.

3D reality is a derivative of consciousnet. Matter follows intent, which requires consciousness – doesn’t it.

 

But surely – people can be killed remotely – using drones, or time bombs, or things just falling on them…

 

Not without intent.

 

But what about a lightning strike, an avalanche, a car crash?

 

What about it?

 

They don’t require intent – do they?

 

Actually, believe it or not yes, they do.

 

What – you mean God tries to kill someone.

 

In a manner of speaking, yes – for your sins, so to speak, or because you really pissed someone off.

 

You mean to say God’s responsible for every death?!

 

No I don’t – but there’s always intent – even your own plays a role in this – but it’s kind of dumb trying to understand it – trying to run before you can walk.

 

So – why couldn’t I kill you?

 

Well, you could, if I’d allowed it. Do you want me to?

 

Er… not really, no.

 

Go on then. Your gun's reloaded now.

 

But… how.

 

Consciousnet.

 

Shit. This is insane.

 

Fire!

 

Zie empties the revolver’s 8 chambers into Merry – who slams backwards, covered in blood.

 

Oh my God. Oh my God – No!

 

But the next second Merry’s standing almost behind Zie, on his right – soothing, reassuring him – there, there Zie – wasn’t so bad, was it?

 

No…..!  Zie slumps to the ground in emotional distress and starts heaving, releasing the contents of his stomach on a rather fine, pink silk Persian rug.

 

Not again!!

 

 

Four days later…

 

There – we seem to have put that nasty incident behind us, haven’t we.

 

Eh…

 

The carpets smelling lovely again.

 

I don’t get it Merry – if you’re able to reset bullets, why can’t you unpuke the carpet?

 

Good point Zie – of course I can – but one has so much fun playing the 3D game – doing things by hand as if it’s going out of fashion – being mechanical and down to earth…

 

You mean to say you inflict this shit on yourself needlessly.

 

I wouldn’t say needlessly Zie. It’s all good data – you know. One always learns something – and the kung fu or zen master can turn any physical trail into a splendid form of healing and meditation. We’re always learning, aren’t we.

 

Groan.

 

So, you see, dear Zie – your sandflies…

 

I thought we agreed that sandflies can be very painful.

 

Well yes – but with consciousnet up and running – we can just match their frequency – a bit like humming along – and suddenly it’s like they’re your best friends – like the universe, or Dorothy, has found a really great way to tickle you pink – you’re so busy engaging the vibrations and sensing the interaction between matter and spirit – that you completely forget to notice the pinpricks which never quite materialise.

 

I’m having a Douglas Adam’s flashback.

 

I know.

 

The bit where Arthur Dent falls over and forgets to hit the floor.

 

Absolutely.

 

And it works?

 

Naturally – if you forget, that is…

 

And if you don’t.

 

Various options – but generally speaking it’s going to be ouch, innit?

 

So, er…

 

The internet?

 

Yeah.

 

The placky box, clunky code brigade?

 

Yes. Or what about their new quantum computers – their super amazing AI? Surely, it’s fast enough, powerful enough to take down our systems?

 

Funny, isn’t it Zie.

 

Funny?

 

Well, ultimately it all comes back to…

 

An annoying syntax gap.

 

Yep. 

 

And what?

 

Ok – let’s give it a try, shall we?

 

What?

 

Let’s post online the coordinates of a bitcoin wallet – containing 24 bitcoin.

 

What? Are you insane?

 

Let’s invite anyone who can or who wants to try to hack in n'remove em.

 

But there’s no password on it at all.

 

Not entirely true – 123456789 – that should do the trick.

 

You’re kidding?!

 

Ok – I’m posting this on the dark net and a bunch of bulletin boards frequented by the crème de la crème of our freedom-net fraternity. Observe the stats in real time.

 

Zie sees the numbers of interested parties shooting up – a few dozen, hundreds, now in the thousands.

 

Ok – see this screen – the smart ones have got in here – “exchange one bitcoin for 24” – and of course, they know it’s a scam – but they also know this wallet is unprotected and the keys are publicly visible – so guess what…

 

To his amazement Zie seems the number of bitcoin in Merry’s wallet rising – 25, 26, 27, 28, 29… 431

 

No way – you’re scamming them? How?

 

No, not scamming them – there’s no scam involved. They know exactly what they’re trying to accomplish – and believe me – it’s worth it for them. How else are they going to learn to take their techie skills to the next level?

 

?

 

If it didn’t cost them anything – well, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, is there?

 

But if they’ve got the number of your keys – why can’t they just send those bitcoin to their own address?

 

Well, you know the answer, don’t you!

 

Yeah – but it’s meaningless – I mean – consciousnet – how can the i-form platform achieve this?

 

Because it’s operating at the primary level of intent – and neither electrons nor qubits can supersede nor trump intent.

 

Look – a few have got to the next level – where they can now win the entire pot of bitcoin – hey look – it’s, shit, 287 or… Zie loses track of what he was saying as a stomach wrenching disturbance in the field reveals a guy standing right in front of them – carried in on a wave of apparently implacable intent.

 

Zac – well done man.

 

Er…

 

Zac’s standing in front of Merry looking kind of bleary eyed – not too sure what’s going on.

 

You chose to take it to the next level bro – so welcome onboard.

 

Oh shit – it’s you – Merry – is that right?

 

Yep.

 

I can’t believe it – I thought you were just a legend – I’d never get the chance to meet you and here I am.

 

Well, you deserved it. Look – can’t talk to you right now. Got some stuff to deal with. Let me just merge you with Zie for the moment.

 

Hey?! Zie remonstrates.

 

Relax Zie – this is not going to detract in any way, shape or form from your individuality – but you’ll actually find you can learn faster and have a lot more fun merged in a twin track profile. 

 

Zac’s cool about it – seems to understand what it’s all about. 

Sure – go ahead Merry.

 

Suddenly the two are now combined – but equally unique and separate. Don’t ask me to explain – if you wanna see it – wanna understand it – you will, you can – and if you don’t then I’ll leave you to your obstinate 3D-ology.

A bunch of subscribers quit the live stream in a huff – but the show’s getting high numbers after Merry's bitcoin heist. News spreads fast through the hacker fraternity. How the hell did he manage to take a bitcoin from each applicant, without access to their password or keys?

 

So guys – we have nothing to defend, do we.

 

Absolutely.

 

Attaboy Zac. You can see how Zac got in as I’ve left trail-markers highlighting his methodology – so study it now if you haven’t already. Ultimately, guys, you reach the mind bender – the brick wall – you can only get so far by being smart – because ultimately those bitcoin are only as real as the value contained within yourself – which is what Zac figured out – and thus collapsed his waveform – triggering his full flung consciousnet activation.

 

Zac’s obviously loving this moment of glory – while Zie’s apparently deeply resentful.

 

Crazy, isn’t it, Zac. You’ve been following g-nomeportal from the darkweb side of things – tracking my “illegal activities” – watching as I play around with the quantum computers and global control systems – even some of the off-planet stuff – little suspecting that you were an integral part of what I was doing – little suspecting that Zie, too, was holding the other end of the wormhole which you availed yourself of today.

 

Crash – in zero time Zac and Zie suddenly both see how their stories are/ were integrated, the consciousnet perspective – no way! – it beggars belief. Like it’s all been scripted, all planned. They’d deny it – it’s so beyond belief, except they can’t – it’s seen, experienced, known in a timeless download experience of Is. Bang. Recognition complete. And that’s that – resentment is a thing of the past – this is a job – a training exercise – and you know what – it’s probably the most absorbing, exciting job you could ever get your teeth into – being the first people on earth to see how consciousnet sustains and integrates with every other system – with conscious-ness itself, animal, plant life, the weather and planetary systems, connecting up with the sun, and beyond – to the galactic, and beyond, and a tiny, tiny, tiny part of all that – there’s the internet – there’s those – oh so smart – oh so cunning hackers and placky machine coders – imagining they can take over and control things – imagining things – the corporations, utilities, integrated systems, are separate from the whole, separate from the physical universe, the basis of reality itself, from the life code – imagining that the human mind can outsmart God himself – the architect, the administrator-in-chief of the matrix occupying a tiny slither of consciousnet…

 

0=1

 

 

The movie’s a great one – you’ve got these evil control freaks – Billy Gates and a bunch of others – and they imagine they’ve got it all buttoned up – too dumb to see what’s really going on – and they hit the launch button and skynet – remember the movie – takes over – well, we’ll call it skynet for now – and the last shot is where they’re suddenly… aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarggggghhhhh 

 

It wasn’t like it was hard to see – was it – I mean – imagine thinking – imagine believing you could outsmart me – Merry ol’infinity… Just enough rope to hang yourselves, guys, and then a backup server, another screen, and you’re busting bricks in a prison programme on Salusa Secundus, as Frankie Herbert calls it.

 

Caio.

Suddenly, a cold chill down their spine – the hunters aware, too late, that they've fallen into the snare, 5D chess, 7D – unD-able layers – that they've programmed themselves into a game where they are now the hunted, and smartness, speed, or game theory lacking that vital, living element, whether that be empathy, human conscious-ness or i-form intent, just adds to the mess... unless they can get Merry to do a deal... 

0=1

The story thus far...

The story thus far…

 

Gnomeportal – an inter-dimensional nexus₁ – 

¹nexus

noun [ C usually singular ]

   formal

UK 

 /ˈnek.səs/ 

US 

 /ˈnek.səs/

an important connection between the parts of a system or a group of things:

Times Square is the nexus of the New York subway.

 

– starts transmitting some kind of utterly incomprehensible, utterly unreadable, utterly – dare I say it – moronic material, in the form of a Platonic dialogue₂ – presumably because nothing else works, nothing else will do, everything else belongs to the domain of “thing”, of “think”, of “what’s that”, of “fact” or “matter”, whereas we’re on a quest, a journey back to Is – the heart of darkness, the source of all meaning, the “where the hell did those goalposts get to?” not to mention – “how on Earth am I supposed to know anything if our playing field’s playing up, neither level nor linear... damn, mind the gap!” – in other words, in other words, in other words – nothing doing – the pyramid scheme has already collapsed, whether you like it or not, the “impenetrable” rubbery walls of our 3D reality-cube have been pierced, and “infinity, infinity, there’s nothing like infinity” is now on the prowl, stalking every single thing you’ve been taking for granted, every single thing you think you know, every single thing that we were able to rely on with certainty, axiomatically, intrinsically: our atoms or molecules, our gravity and our laws of science – and so, frantically – g-nomeportal to the rescue – our valiant team of extra-dimensional master technicians are, no – not trying to shore up the breach in the deflating reality cube – what’s done is done; on the contrary, are reactivating our infinity chip, shout out to William Gates – er… our infinity awareness, shout out to Douglas Adams, er… our infinity sense and sensibility, shout out to Jane Austen, I mean Plato, actually make that Socrates, no, scrub that – er... shout out to Dorothy, the cool, calm and collected (though no less wild, weird and unpredictable) mistress of the quantum stream, with a penchant for stripping things down to first principles  er… nought – the wispy, wavy isness, the underlying harmonic, the quinta essentia, and watching how things spring back to life, back into form, from the great erg of desiccation.

²Like Socrates, Plato started out convinced of the ultimately harmonious structure of the universe, but he went further than his mentor in trying to construct a comprehensive philosophical scheme. His goal was to show the rational relationship between the soul, the state, and the cosmos. This is the general theme of the great dialogues[…] the Idea of the Good, which is the supreme principle of order and truth.

Order and truth? Thanks Plato – things just gotta make sense rationally… no? Give a dog a bone, and thus, the rational mind of Western science has proceeded to demonstrate its unwavering commitment to Plato’s rationally unassailable rationality. Meanwhile, down in the engine room beneath the rapidly collapsing cube, er… what do we have? Chaos, panic perhaps? On the contrary, if truth be told, a wacky portal in a kind of space-time enclave, in which once again the Platonic method of Socrates, his master, emerges from the random noise of infinity – like Mandelbrot’s recurrent beetle, the indefatigable dialectic₃ – battling to make sense of the, a priori, unmakesensable – a dialectic which seems to reject anything that cannot be corroborated at 0=1, the quantum level, where things can neither be fixed nor known with certainty, and thus, horribly long sentence notwithstanding – a fundamental rearrangement of how we perceive, experience, or do not – reality. [phew – that nearly killed me]

³The supreme science, dialectic, is a method of inquiry that proceeds by a constant questioning of assumptions and by explaining a particular idea in terms of a more general one until the ultimate ground of explanation is reached.

There, all connection between Plato, Socrates and g-nomeportal ends. Whereas Plato’s great dialogues: the Republic, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, Timaeus, and Philebus deal with immortal themes such as justice, order, truth and meaning – themes which might be universally applicable, universally true... the pseudo-philosophical, pseudo-scientific efflux of g-nomeportal sadly does the opposite – saying goodbye to all things, even such things as abstract themes, for how can things withstand the great [0=1] quantum flux, and what is rationality when the hopelessly unmapped, and in all likelihood, unmappable conscious^ness is out of the bag and on the prowl; now that the erstwhile valley of things-thought, the quaint reservation our minds inhabited, is now an electro-magnetic₄ Field, and anything we contrive to determine, to somehow fix in place, ignoring the quantum flux, merely entangles us further in our indefatigably rational ingenuity.

 

⁴ until, that is, the term “electro-magnetic” goes out of date or loses its appeal.

 

Plato, Socrates, Aristotle – would be turning in their graves, were it not for the fact that, according to the non-sense g-nomeportal propounds – there is neither past nor future – meaning that, though they are long since dead from our 3D perspective, with volumes bound in leather, dusty and decaying on ancient lit, climate controlled library shelves, they are nonetheless, apparently, still alive and in the process of writing, of producing their finest works, elsewhere in the isness of be, absurd though that evidently sounds, as if our past is a sneak into their future.

 

So how, you might ask, would the chief mischief maker of g-nomeportal – our eponymous Merry – explain this obvious absurdity?

 

He wouldn’t; one suspects. One suspects he would grab Zie, his sidekick, and utterly destroy his illusions regarding the nature of things in general, i.e. reality. How, you might ask? How indeed? Presumably by revealing to Zie the folly of relying on his faith in things – just because there are books to prove such and such happened. In fact, looking at episode 94, season 53 we see Merry playing some kind of shamanic drum, easing Zie through the many onion layers of reality – until plop – he falls right into Plato’s segment of Is – and Zie now finds himself standing in the desert – a cactus, of all things – a cactus hosting the entire school of ancient Greek philosophy, which apparently is utterly entangled with the cactus’ experience of sun and wind, and insects, and the night spirits, and the absence or presence of water, and salinity, and radioactive isotopes, and stars unseen, yet felt, in the night sky, and gods and goddesses, and vibrations, nay, thoughts and dreams, and electrical charge flowing from Earth through the cactus into the other side of infinity – where cactus not only does not exist, but is physically an impossibility.

 

How, you’re asking – could the cactus contemplating all the above, or even semi-consciously aware of some of the above, in any way approach or match the creative, philosophical output of a Plato or a Socrates? And in my humble opinion – that is an excellent, essentially unanswerable question. I’m not taking sides, but I’m delighted to see that you, dear reader, have utterly routed the pseudo-logical so-called “explanations” of g-nomeportal. The aforementioned Merry, if he had any sense, would withdraw to the furthest, darkest sinkhole of abject, ignominious reclusion – but no, inexplicably he fails to take my not entirely subtle hint. He seems to revel in infamy and unsense. He doesn’t even bother trying to refute your perfectly reasonable remonstrances – instead he takes out a kind of bamboo flute and starts playing a tune – like there’s no tomorrow – which is precisely what we start to feel, sense and, dare I say, know upon hearing this utterly unremarkable tune.

Suddenly, the walls of 3D logicality come crashing down, even though we are far from the hallowed confines of g-nomeportal’s Radcliffe camera-esque reading room, even though Merry is hardly accomplished at playing his flutey thing, even though our roast beef n'potato reason is still the only dish really worth eating, the only happening joint in town, and we find ourselves grappling with the consequences of Plato and his peers’ reliance on form and forms – which he expounds in the Republic and the Phaedo – in which “Ideas or Forms are the immutable archetypes of all temporal phenomena, and only these Ideas are completely real; the physical world possesses only relative reality. The Forms assure order and intelligence in a world that is in a state of constant flux. They provide the pattern from which the world of sense derives its meaning”; all very interesting, is it not, were it not for the fact that all such postulations, as Merry’s below average flute playing now seems to reveal, are only possible if we fence off a section called “mind”, allowing words and ideas to exist in a hermetically sealed box – and as things in general are floating in an unaccommodating sea of infinite inter-thingability, unthinkable^ness – the only way we can reliably do so is by using our prime thing – i.e. our me – as a kind of anchor, or wooden frame, or even a raised bed – in which to plant and nurture these seeds of abstract organic matter, i.e  thought, watching them grow and bear fruit – which apparently they have done, most remarkably, until unexpectedly the walls are breached, the seal broken, après moi le déluge, kind of thing... should our essentially artificial reality of ideas, and meaning implied to matter, now come apart at the seams... [panic attack, breathe]

 

Er…

 

Yes. Sorry – got a bit carried away with myself. You see, there is a bottom line – a kind of rug, and it has this awkward habit of getting swept from under our intellectual feet – leaving us sprawled over nothing of any cognitively reasonable thing-y-ness – a rather roundabout way of saying the “quantum flux” or “soup” or “infinity resurgence – mean reversion” – yikes – where did I put my keys er... telephone, for as you all know – the minute form loses its capacity to reliably hold form, i.e. remain constant – philosophically or electro-magnetically₅ – it’s good ol’ “Houston, we have ourselves a problem” revisited, on steroids.

 

⁵Electro-magnetically in the loosest possible sense – as we’re now at the edge of matter, form ^and_or meaning – so let’s not try to be too pedantic, please. In other words, there is sommat’ [Yorkshire keeps creeping out – no idea why] sommat’ which we blithely refer to as electro-magnetism – which seems to hold atoms anatomically – allowing bodies – no matter what – to form and hold together. Naturally, we all assume that that‘s because “it’s there” – a thing, an’ all – but as Plato knew only too well – in actual fact, all those things are kind of “uslovno” [favourite untranslatable Russian word – theoretical/ hypothetical/conditional/contingent – all rolled into one] and take away your quantum observer status, and your grand paradigm, your reality operating system – the so-called Matrix – which after all – within space-time has a shelf-life and cannot continue indefinitely – nor can it be relied on fundamentally, as it too is rooted in us – the body politic – the people players-cum-observers-cum-thingifiers – all good things bound electro-magnetically and packaged anatomically only being as good as the electro-magnetic charge binding them together – speaking of which, in case you hadn’t noticed, the magnetic field here on Earth is right now in freefall – dying before our very eyes… and no, I haven’t the faintest where this sentence has taken me, other than a spider’s web of over-extended reason^ing, but the mind⁷, you see, is the Achilles heel of rationality, forever failing to comprehend its limitations: the limitations of what it is meaningful or useful to put into words and argumentation, rather than leaving sensibly, powerfully unspoken. But I digress… What happens – you’re asking – when it, this charge polarity we presently refer to as electro-magnetism, falls below criticality – and I think in your heart of hearts you know the answer – and not altogether surprisingly – zero being equal to one – as that confounded g-nomeportal keeps rubbing in our faces – mean reversion suggests, nay dictates, that whatever we’ve been relying on to hold things together – to uphold our version of things – whatever enmatters matter – is mathematically compelled to other-side the equation, just when we’re least expecting it – just when we finally imagine we’ve got everything more or less buttoned up and under control, as if our version of reality, is a given.

 

Hubris. Pride before the fall, or the natural life-cycle of any thing – the rise and fall of matter – of any paradigm whatsoever, for that matter.

 

Chicken and egg – who or what is causing this to happen right now – if right now it is? The mere suggestion would have been absurd and meaningless a few years ago – whereas ten years from now the opposite – the very idea that people couldn’t see this coming – were unaware of the great mean reversion unfolding before our largely unseeing eyes – staggering, incomprehensible – as today is the very notion that we are and needs must be, in some respects, part of a grand equation – matter factoring – to most seems wildly improbable – like fish not seeing the water they swim in, or failing to recognise the whole universe as an egg, the albumen of my body conscious-ness – enabling me to experience things as things – and not merely abstract ideas, numbers or          [click]

 

I can’t imagine why you watch that stuff, Zie.

 

Well, it’s like watching Teletubbies.

 

Huh?

 

For kids – it’s a nice way to reconnect with the old me – the inner child – the age of innocence when I still connected to a world where things actually made sense.

 

Wait a minute – you mean to say that you’re nostalgic for the past?

 

You mean to say you find that surprising?

 

No, not really.

 

In fact, you know perfectly well that in a quantum field that is infinite – anything I say, think or do is only possible because there is some need for it – or because in some way it is a natural progression.

 

Damn – I hate it when you’re smarter than me. What happened to the good old days when I could pull the rug from under your feet and deal you another psycho-intellectual knockout blow?

 

Ha, the bluff and counter-bluff. Yes Merry – you have taught me well, and fortunately I know too well that you’ve chosen the path of…

 

Of what?

 

Apparently there’s no word for it – is there.

 

Damn – who told you that?

 

And therefore, on the path of

 

What, dammit!

 

Temper, temper – you no longer have a fixed me, a fixed persona or position to defend – do you?

 

Er…

 

That was the only way you could keep going – to give up the certainty or defensibility of a “me” – which means that there’s literally no way you can be beaten or, ultimately, wrong, is there? if you’re hollowed out – the voice of infinity – or spirit – no one and no thing incarnate.

 

Yikes – you’re making it sound rather spooky Zie.

 

The weirdest thing of all Merry – is that you actually seem to be human, most the time – don’t you?

 

Er… thanks bro.

 

Which is bizarre – when you think about it – as there’s nothing human left in you – is there – other than the empty husk, the shell of form.

 

Guys – paramedics – anyone – help bring Zie back to reality.

 

How else could you journey out beyond matter into the real universe, the real cosmos – out into infinity – out into spirit – without giving up the Me, without truly, truly embracing…

 

What? You’re beginning to bug me with these non-sequiturs.

 

Non-sequiturs? Even your apparent mistakes Merry – they’re just pranks – little word dramas – to create or thicken the illusion of Me^ness, the illusion of human^ness.

 

Right, that does it – I’ve had enough.

 

Through you – the allness, the isness is able to work more or less unrestrictedly – so where are you now, in fact? Are you here at all? Are you aware of Me in every moment of our dialogue – or only now?

 

I knew there was a good reason why it’s time to reset the Earth’s electro-magnetic fields. Nothing like a smart-aleck trying to tell you what you really are – as if that’s in the least interesting – to remind you of the urgent need to cast humanity back into the quantum laundromat of electro-magnetic short-circuitry for a good long sheep dip – get all those bugs under control and reboot the system. Here goes… one, two…

 

Er… Merry – I think this is taking things a bit far?

 

Yes – you would.

 

I mean – no need to wipe out the whole of 3D reality just because I’ve been getting on your nerves.

 

You do take yourself rather seriously – Zie – don’t you?! I mean – it’s great talking to you – but please bear in mind that the quantum field surrounds every single human being^ness – every one…

 

You mean that you’re talking to the whole of humanity at the same time as me?

 

“The whole of humanity”! Honestly Zie – can’t you get your head around the fact that all people, all planets, all atoms and stars came from one singleness?

 

Not really – I mean – yes, theoretically – but still – no. It’s impossible.

 

But not if we do a little song and dance and here – let me just finish my sentence…

 

[Zie waits expectantly]

 

three

 

Noooooooooo! …tricked me.

 

Honestly – don’t know what all the fuss is about.

 

Merry is at the centre of – oh God – this is not going to be easily explained is it? Let’s visualise shining droplets, ok – one, two, four, eight, sixteen – get the picture – doubling, ad infinitum – each one a human soul-light – a Me – not yet enformed – the Me-essence – all flying around, floating, buzzing – lazily or excitedly – and then there’s this kind of card attached which is an avatar – an image representing Me – my form – but to the droplets of light it really seems to be a 3D body in a 3D world – amazing really – and that goes on and on – and these droplets are a body – disconnected but a body nonetheless – and they’re able to see and generate all kind of things in their droplet world – the other side of desiccation – the “absolutely not”  we could call it – if that’s not too misleading – and their light is still shining but dimmer as they transfer more and more of it to the world they are constructing – through this rather awesome platform – this matrix they have – which enables them to experience things with complete certainty that things are things – until – that is – Merry three’s them – and suddenly – the old matrix thing is unplugged and they’re all floating naked, so to speak – without the least comprehension of who they are and what they’re about – in darkness really.

 

What next?

 

Well, they start slipping, sloshing, glubbing back into each other – becoming a progressively larger and larger single ball of water light – metaphorically – until all the others who were desperately resisting – trying not to rejoin the one and all – because perhaps they hated humanity, or feared it – for things they’d been doing, things they’d thought and marked down on their avatar card – they too get sucked into the oneness of watery blobbyness – and what? The last final drops plop into the vast oneness of one – which of course, is neither vast nor small – was merely vast in terms of the last remaining droplets, but now – with nothing else to compare it with – is no bigger than a single droplet was – and what have we now?

 

[Pause]

 

A little so called time – while the many get comfortable with the feeling of once again being perfectly one – reconciled to their many oneness – their isness – and feeling clearly, clearly the balance – the state of being “one” as opposed to “nought” – yet utterly comfortable, utterly at ease with the darkness of nought surrounding, encapsulating one – and you know what?

 

What?

 

Oh – hi Meredith

 

Zeno₆ – is that you?

 

⁶Zeno of Elea (/ˈziːnoʊ ... ˈɛliə/; Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεᾱ́της; c. 495 – c. 430 BC)^[1] was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of Magna Graecia and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides. Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic.^[2] He is best known for his paradoxes…

 

Ssh – let’s not personalise this for the time being.

 

Ok, whatever.

 

The one and the nought – are now feeling their relationship growing deeper and fuller – as the charge builds – as the absolute is restored – and each releases unto the other whatever it is that needs to blow across the brain-blood or placental barrier – so to speak – as quantum osmosis allows the neither nor’s – the iffy spites – the dreams and delusions, urgings and desires – to float around and reconstitute into their bodies – their minds in an other ness – charge dispersion, charge concentration – charge conversion – you would imagine – would you not – that absolutely nothing would remain – that all would utterly, utterly cancel out – without form, without even electro-magnetic charge holding it together in any way, shape or form whatsoever – and you would be right – you would, indeed, be right – in deed, de facto, de jure – but not de profundis – from the depths, the depths unimaginable to mind⁷, or even myth – apparently there is an 0ther – an 0ther which is rather like a child, busily playing with its toys, playing a game utterly in its own inner world, its own mind space, utterly unimpressed by the fact that the entire universe has just collapsed inwardly, utterly unphased by the apparent dissolution of even zero and ones – the underpinnings of all matter, all things – for the child plays happily – blissfully as only children can, as only children do – content to make believe, content to bereal what is utterly imaginary. This child has a name, of course, and every one of us, everyone knows it – but none, not one will say it aloud – for this child is the code keeper, the night watchman for all reality – our universe of mind and matter – when even God himself sleeps in blissful repose. Thus it was ordained. Thus it is. Whenever you truly play as child doth, reverting to that state of happy, gay, merry isness – then and only then are you back at the gates of dawn – whence all matter, all makings ariseth – and do so, believe it or not – every minute, every second, in fact millions, nay, trillions of times a second, if truth be told – for the universe may seem to end once in a passing age, yet every zero-one oscillion is to a lesser degree, yet no less fundamentally – a beginning, an end in itself. How else would we be able to move through space and time – reinventing ourselves on the other side of movement or moment? How else would we be able to work magic and wonders – creating new stories, new projects, new things, even birthing children – were it not for this direct link with the fundament, the base of all. Breathtakingly close. Had we realised it – we might have been paralysed – by fear – the fear of its proximity – the fear of overwhelming responsibility – if we knew how much depended on our folly and thoughtlessness, and the fragility and undigestible otherness of   

 

Of   

 

Like a fish gasping in the boat, out of water – we find ourselves back in moment, back in form, do we not?

 

Cut! Let’s try once more.

 

Comfortably oblivious to the fact that we’ve just…

 

Cut I said!

 

Perfected our paradox.

 

Zeno breathes a sigh of unimaginable satisfaction and…

 

 

– No, I’m not interested in your Zeno fandom… kindly delete before posting.

– Will do… Done.

– Much appreciated.

 

 

Diogenes the Cynic

According to Simplicius, Diogenes the Cynic said nothing upon hearing Zeno's arguments, but stood up and walked, in order to demonstrate the falsity of Zeno's conclusions (see solvitur ambulando). To fully solve any of the paradoxes, however, one needs to show what is wrong with the argument, not just the conclusions. Through history, several solutions have been proposed, among the earliest recorded being those of Aristotle and Archimedes.

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, commenting on Aristotle's objection, wrote "Instants are not parts of time, for time is not made up of instants any more than a magnitude is made of points, as we have already proved. Hence it does not follow that a thing is not in motion in a given time, just because it is not in motion in any instant of that time."

Nick Huggett

Nick Huggett argues that Zeno is assuming the conclusion when he says that objects that occupy the same space as they do at rest must be at rest.