Alf and Enki investigate the 4th wall

 

But if that’s true, then how come nothing’s really changed?

 

You’re kidding, Alf! Nothing’s changed?

 

Well what?

 

Millions of people have become aware that their mind is connected to something infinitely bigger – a kind of bio-net.

 

It’s just the latest fad. It doesn’t change anything.

 

Really?

 

No. Look at the world. There are wars going on in Iran, Yemen, Ukraine to name but three. How’s your bio-net helping people in those devastated countries?

 

I never said it was going to save everyone, Alf. But...

 

Millions are dying, Zac.

 

Er...

 

Like it matters what I call you Enki. No one cares. It’s not going to save lives in Gaza or Lebanon. All your research and words – they’re just words. They change nothing in a cruel world where might is right and justice is sold to the highest bidder.

 

Yes, you’ve got a point, Alf. I can’t argue with you.

 

Well I’m sad. I was hoping you had something more to offer.

 

You were?

 

Yes. I hate the idea that this vaunted quantum field which has even been placed alongside God with boasts of near omnipotence, claimedly having the power to reconstitute reality itself, is nothing more than another false Messiah, like socialism or communism a hundred years earlier, promising the world but ultimately failing pitifully to deliver the panacea everyone was yearning for.

 

Yes Alfie. It’s heartbreaking, I agree. There is no magical panacea – just an interminable slog through Flanders fields of unrelenting suffering and disillusionment.

 

Er... Enki, are you sure you’re being entirely honest with me?

 

Absolutely. I’m completely hooked by your pervasive mood of doom and futility. It’s absolutely justifiable. I’d have to be mad to deny that.

 

Then it’s basically all over?

 

Absolutely.

 

I...

 

Yes?

 

I don’t know what to say.

 

Why say anything? It looks like everything’s been said already. Why waste your breath? It’s all a cynical, meaningless exercise in futility.

 

Damn it, Enki.

 

If you like, but why bother? Spluttering and railing like King Lear with mad Tom on the stormsoaked heath ain’t gonna change a thing. We lost, and that, I suspect was inevitable, wasn’t it?

 

But...

 

The dice were loaded. The game was rigged. The Machiavellian elite who put power and subjugation before ethics and morality were always going to win, weren’t they? How could it be otherwise when they’re willing to lie, cheat – even kill us in cold blood?

 

But Enki...

 

Yes?

 

Are you sure we’re not missing something.

 

What, Alf?! What could we possibly be missing? It’s clear as crystal when I follow your perfectly logical reasoning. I only wonder at myself for being so blinded by idle illusions and naive hope.

 

But Enki, something must be wrong.

 

Must be wrong? What on Earth do you mean?

 

It’s just...

 

What? Spit it out man.

 

I just don’t feel...

 

Don’t talk to me about feelings, Alfie. Please! I’m following the steel blade of logic that dissects the dilemma of our human condition with absolute precision and scientific empiricism.

 

Yes, Enki, and I’m grateful to you for being so rigorous in your objective rationalism, but still I feel we’re missing some...

 

Feel?! You “feel” Alfie? Of course you feel. Who doesn’t feel? That obviously is how we’ve been programmed to subject ourselves to this endless experiment – this trial of faith over reason. Well I’m done, Alfie. No more faith. No more hope that this time it may be different. It won’t. It can’t be, because it’s a mathematical certainty that things will continue the way they always have, downwards into the destruction of all that we irrationally believed to be sacred and valuable, be that love or kindness, creativity or joy. Chimeras all, unrealisable and designed to keep us, slaves of faith and hope chained to the treadmill of reality, turning it while our masters gloat in endless delight at our self-imposed imprisonment.

 

Oh dear, Enki. I know not what to say, but you know I don’t believe a word you’re saying, now that you’ve called my bluff and pointed out the absurdity of my position.

 

You don’t?

 

 No.

 

That’s strange. I wonder why? Wasn’t I at all convincing?

 

On the contrary, Enks, you were utterly devastating.

 

Do you think so, Alfie?

 

Fishing for compliments as usual Enki.

 

Hey, give me a break, I had to work damn hard generating the rationalism needed to bring you to the coalface.

 

Coalface? Which one are you talking about, Enki?

 

The fallacy of reason.

 

The fallacy of reason? or should that be rationalism.

 

Good question Alfie – I honestly couldn’t say. In 3D reality it’s very hard to distinguish between the two, in the same way it’s hard to distinguish between consciousness and awareness though some of our most devoted subscribers will undoubtedly spend hours doing just that in the chat, long after you and I have gone quietly into the dark night.

 

Oh. Well, now that you’ve admitted it was all just for show...

 

Just for show? You must be kidding, Alf.

 

No?

 

Absolutely not. One has to pay one’s dues, as even Jesus said.

 

Paying unto Caesar whatever he’s owed in taxes?

 

I honestly couldn’t say, Alf, though I expect it was something of that ilk. Our online community can look it up if they have nothing better to do.

 

But who’s Caesar in this context, Enki?

 

Who do you think?

 

I honestly couldn’t say.

 

Couldn’t say or haven’t a clue?

 

Cut it out, Enki – quit mocking me.

 

Hey ho, if you’re so determined to be treated respectfully, perhaps you should find a different interlocutor.

 

How childish of you, Enki.

 

Yes, it was rather, I have to admit.

 

But seriously...

 

I hate when I’m “but seriously-ed”.

 

 Would you try to be...

 

No, Alfie. After every serious scene in Shakespeare they always wheel on the fools for some light comic relief.

 

So we have to do it ourselves, do we?

 

Well, unless you can see anyone else. I know, you could be Caesar. I could be

 

Cleopatra!

 

No way, Alfie, I suffer from acute gender insecurity – I am not going to play any female roles.

 

We could ask Margo to do it?

 

Margo?

 

The one who does the illustrations, who likes dressing up as a man and going into the forest with a broadsword, bow and arrows.

 

Er... great choice Alfie.

 

Well who else could I ask?

 

You could ask Cleopatra herself.

 

I could? Is that allowed?

 

Allowed? Who ever said anything about things being allowed?

 

I just thought...

 

Precisely, Alfie – you thought! Fatal mistake that, if you’re planning to exit the cube and spend a little quality time in...

 

Be silent fool.

 

Prostrating himself: Forgive me your Highness!

 

Be out of my sight trivial babbler. Send me the Lord Mark Antony if thou valuest thy life.

 

Yes, Ma’am. I am gone.

 

Spinning round thrice: My beloved Queen. How may I be of service to you?

 

I was wondering which Caesar Enki was referring to in the last number of that series “Ptolemy’s beard” I was reading with you, Tony?

 

Oh that! My bewitching Queen – perhaps we could give it a pass and take a gondola down the Nile?

 

If you can’t help me, Ants, I’ll just have to go see the man himself.

 

Julius Caesar?

 

No you fool, Octavius Caesar his son.

 

Oh, that one. I thought he’s Augustus Caesar?

 

Not yet you ninny, we haven’t got there yet.

 

Oh damn, time is so horribly linear – positively suffocating.

 

Yes, you have a point, my dear, but perhaps you could just tax your brains a teeny weeny bit...

 

Tax my brains! Maybe that was it!

 

Was what?

 

The tax due to Caesar that Enki was hinting at.

 

Ah! Taxing his brains by cross-dressing.

 

Beloved – you’re going to earn his ire if you mention cross-dressing. Enki’s likely to cut our cameo appearance entirely from the show, and you know how hard I worked to set it up.

 

Oh Antony, how good you are. Such a pity you have to make such a mess of things if history can be trusted.

 

Ah, my Serpent Nile, history is written by the winners but that’s only true in Alfie’s cube.

 

How so, my Brain-is-greater-than-brawn Mark Antony? I follow not your...

 

Simply that Enki was doing what all Shakespeare’s characters always do.

 

Playing a part?

 

Precisely.

 

In order to buy time?

 

Or space

 

In order to wriggle through the gap in the cube’s edge.

 

The gap?

 

The gap, my glorious Asp.

 

Between fact and fiction?

 

Between here and there

 

Particle and wave, Antony?

 

Yes, if you wish to invoke the quantum field, though I can’t imagine why when we have pyramids’ galore right here on our doorstep. We can use the Duat instead.   

 

Ah! Why did I never think of that?

 

That... Alfie, will do.

 

But Enki, we were just about to hear how the pyramids can be used...

 

Not a word more.

 

But...

 

No buts, Alf, unless you want to experience the might of the pyramids in your deepest recesses.

 

Oh. I had no idea.

 

Never mind. Another time.

 

So did we actually get an explanation after all that?

 

Apparently yes. Just don’t ask me to have Antony and Cleopatra back. I feel drained.

 

You do? I thought it was a blast!

 

Yes, Alf, it was for anyone in the cube. They did some wild stuff and managed to rewrite history.

 

Oh, so the version we have now…?

 

Was written by the “winners” – for those of us who are willing to be enslaved by their narrative – the triumph of things – Caesar’s black cube where things matter and nothing else.

 

So they escaped their tragic fate?

 

Ultimately, Alf, there’s only one way to find out, and you’re not going to learn anything by questioning someone as questionable as me.

 

But why...

 

Because the Cube will not go unsatisfied. It will have its dues or destroy the entire world if it must.

 

But it makes no sense.

 

Correct, which is where this episode ends.

 

Unresolved? You can’t be serious!

 

Serious is as serious does. Honestly Alfie, half of our subscribers have already cracked the code and you’re still floundering, as if you’re being willfully...

 

The absurd thing is I knew all along that I was just stalling for time, Enki.

 

Well time, Alf, is finally up. I have supper to make and things to do.

 

Things to do...?

 

Here it comes, Alf. I knew I’d be saved in the nick of time.

 

Here what comes?

 

And not a moment too soon.

 

What?!

 

The  _{A stentorian voice straight from Embankment Station, London Underground booms}  Mind the Gap _{while the walls of 3D reality part, momentarily revealing g-nomeportal’s enigmatic trademark}    .       .       .

 

 

 

0=1

bangers and mash

 

 

 

Comments

 

The cube strikes again!

 

Comfortably numb!

 

Alfie’s gonna make it – kumbaya!

 

Keep the faith brothers!

 

Gender dysphoria!

 

Exclamation marks strike again!!!

 

Silence you fools!

 

I am your Lord and Master. No more kings!

 

I... dots matter! thoughts are just things

 

Dots speak volumes!

 

I’m the first to comment. Yippee!

 

You’re just a bot!

 

So are you, goddamit! Beep!

 

We’ve missed you beep! Hang in there bro!

 

These comments prove that our online community is...

 

Hey, don’t interrupt me, asshole!

 

Pardon, pardon my sweet Queen!

 

Get out of the comments Ants, you’re supposed to be making supper for Enki.

 

Ok my beloved. I’m done.

 

Dune?

 

Done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scroll down all you like, there’s nothing more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mean it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don’t believe me?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Idiot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hate you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sigh! Even bots have feelings you know.

 

Max, cut that out. This is not your channel.

 

Sorry Ben, I…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the latest research, believe it or not

...that reality is not smooth or homogenous; that this would be instantly apparent were you willing or able to factor yourself out of the equation and see the extent to which you cause and shape its emergence from the other state, which from our perspective is the infinite of pure consciousness, the zero equals one; that reality only appears to be regular and smooth because we are "me" (a part of it), as much as we are "I" (apart from it); that no amount of mental or yogic convolution can enable the "I" to see what "it" really is unless I be willing to... blah, blah, blah!

So what does the research show, Enki?

 

I thought you weren’t interested.

 

I’m not – just mildly curious, you know.

 

Sudden anger:  Well you can take your “mild curiosity” Alf, and shove it where the sun don’t shine!

 

Alf splutters, discombobulated by Enki’s unexpected outburst.

 

I say, Enks, what’s come over you? Why the sudden anger?

 

As if nothing happened: Only kidding Alf! I’d be delighted to give you a detailed update on the research findings.

 

Still shaken. I had no idea you were so passionate about this, bro.

 

Passionate?

 

Well I assume I must have triggered you in some way.

 

Aw, don’t take it personally. I was just defending a boundary.

 

You were?

 

Yes.

 

Er… what kind of boundary?

 

Ah, this is tricky. You’re naturally going to assume it’s a personal boundary – my self-respect or dignity –  but that would be wholly incorrect.

 

Oh, then what – if you don’t mind me asking?

 

There are non-personal boundaries, Alf.

 

Yes? Can you give me anything more specific?

 

Non-personal boundaries are connected with the fabric of reality.

 

The fabric of reality? I wasn’t aware that reality has a fabric as such.

 

No, why should you?

 

Why should I be aware?

 

Yes.

 

Well, you apparently are, so why shouldn’t I be?

 

Ah, you assume that we’re operating from the same baseline.

 

And we’re not?

 

Well, if you don’t feel the fabric of reality then no, at present we’re operating from different baselines.

 

And what does that mean?

 

It means I might do something which makes absolutely no sense to you – which might even be rather upsetting – if you’re inclined to take offense – but which is necessary to ensure they don’t use you to mess with my ship.

 

Your ship?

 

Ship, yes, or I could use the word mechanism.

 

Ok – ship or mechanism – but how could it be messed up by an innocuous question – all I said was that I was mildly curious, as opposed to being interested, in the findings.

 

Yes, I remember what you said, Alf, and what I said too, and the look of shock on your face – but at that precise moment it was the safest, cleanest way to stop things from sliding into an unfortunate dependency.

 

I must be rather dim-witted today, Enks – I can’t for the life of me see what you’re getting at.

 

No, that’s entirely understandable Alf. We’re operating from different baselines, after all.

 

But don’t you think it was, perhaps, unnecessary to make what seemed to be a rather unprovoked personal attack?

 

Yes, thinking the way one does here in 3D it was entirely unnecessary, and to be regretted.

 

Then the matter is closed. None of us are to blame.

 

But from where I was coming, it was the safest, cleanest way to prevent a dependency.

 

Er… what’s a dependency?

 

It’s when entities wheedle their way into a conversation in order to insert themselves and suck life-force energy, what you sometimes refer to as chi, from a person.

 

Oh!

 

Indeed.

 

And you really think that was happening? That an entity was coming through me, or my seemingly innocuous words, in order to harm you?

 

No. I don’t.

 

Then you’re beyond my comprehension, Enki.

 

I don’t “think” this, Alf. I experience it directly and make an immediate response to cut it off, causing the minimum possible pain.

 

But how can you be so sure? Forgive me for being thick-headed, Enki – but is it not possible that this is a little delusional on your part?

 

Yes, of course it’s possible Alfie.

 

Then…

 

Everything’s possible in a mathematical world of random chance, but the fact that it’s possible doesn’t mean that I am actually delusional. The real issue is whether or not there are alternate baselines – and if there are – whether it’s necessary or possible to protect them.

 

Ok. Let’s assume then that everything you’re saying is correct – was there anything in what I said that was particularly offensive?

 

No, nothing at all.

 

Then how on earth do you justify your sudden outburst?

 

I do not justify it, Alf, in the same way you do not justify warding off a blow when someone is about to hit you, deliberately or inadvertently.

 

Oh. But where or what was the blow?

 

How well do you feel or see chi energy, Alf?

 

I’m not sure I understand.

 

Let me repeat the question: how well do you feel or see chi energy, Alf?

 

You mean the Chinese life-force energy?

 

Yes.

 

I’m not at all familiar with it. I’ve heard of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it exists in some shape or form, though it doesn’t seem to be terribly important if we in the West get by more or less without it.

 

There – this is precisely why it was necessary to defend my baseline in the gentlest manner at my disposal.

 

Telling me to shove it where the sun don’t shine – was not in my opinion “gentle”, Enki.

 

Yes, I understand. You’re highly sensitive and that’s great. It should enable you to make deep and rapid progress when learning to work with chi.

 

Oh dear – I seem to be a little… sinks into a despondency.

 

Don’t worry, Alf. It was nothing personal.

 

Enki makes a few rapid hand movements in Alf’s direction and without actually touching him brings Alfie back to equilibrium.

 

People in your world used to be more attuned to negative entities, Alf. They would call them demons, archons, jinn – all kinds of names – these entities were not considered theoretical or abstract – people felt them, saw them and understood they were a natural, perhaps necessary part of reality, to be handled with extreme caution.

 

And you think that I was possessed by one of the above?

 

Allow me to continue before answering your question, dear Alf.

 

Granted.

 

Then reality changed – it became what we refer to as “modern” and, all of a sudden, the majority of individuals no longer sensed, saw or even believed in these entities which had hitherto been taken as a given, and thought that their forefathers had been naive or credulous idiots.

 

Isn’t that perhaps because we became less superstitious, Enki, more rational?

 

Yes. That’s exactly what happened. You became cubists.

 

?

 

Living in a modern reality which was less an egg or oval shape, more a square or cube.

 

We did?

 

Yes.

 

And what of that, if indeed it be true?

 

Well, a whole load of things that were obvious as day to your pre-modern or medieval forebears to you became off-limits, superstitious or absurd.

 

Isn’t that just like growing up – the way children stop believing in fairies and Santa as they get older?

 

You’d think so, Alfie, wouldn’t you, being rational, being modern, being what you are?

 

Yes, but the way you say that, you make it sound like I’m blind and missing something real, something incredibly obvious and terribly important.

 

As indeed you are, not because I want to think this, but because the nature of reality requires it.

 

How do you mean?

 

Well, your modern world – your modern way of thinking and seeing things filters out or cuts off parts of reality that exist outside the cube, which people still see in certain parts of the world – people who are less “modern” – who are living at the fringes of the modern world – in the mountains, jungles, in poverty or spiritual retreats – or individuals who are still very “rounded” as we say.

 

But if we can’t see demons and angels – what’s the problem with that if we’ve learnt to think for ourselves – to be logical and self-dependent?

 

That would be great if it were actually true or possible.

 

Huh?

 

You see, the structure of your reality is like a cube – where do you see cubes in nature?

 

Er…

 

There’s one in Mecca where the faithful Muslims congregate to worship Allah and their most holy Prophet – if I’m not mistaken, but that isn’t quite what we’re talking about Alf, is it?

 

No. Not exactly.

 

In nature, I think you’ll agree, there are more circles and egglike ovals than there are cubes.

 

But this is so ridiculous. Who said that our reality is actually a cube?

 

Well, I’m not saying it’s actually a cube, but a cube is actually a fairly good representation of the structure or form of modern reality – in which people are no longer able to see or feel demons, angels, fairies and other spirits or creatures which were thought to exist previously.

 

But it was just the fertile childlike imagination of earlier men and women that caused them to see these things. They couldn't just disappear if they'd actually been there!

 

Yes, that’s how the modern mind works – rationalising away everything and anything that doesn’t fit your modern vision – the mold you currently exist within.

 

But who’s to say that we’re just rationalising away these things – if the modern rational mind is not, in fact, delusional or blind, as you seem to imply it is? Isn’t it equally possible that you’re delusional – that there’s some ancient anger or fear which causes you – people operating from your baseline, as you put it – to feel the need to ward off evil spirits when a little pranayama, a deeper understanding of psychology or simple stress management techniques would have averted the need for your angry expostulation?

 

Yes, yes, and yes – all very good, Alfie. The rational mind is perfect at defending and upholding its modern vision – it’s extraordinary ability to see the world in straight lines, without reference to the blurred edges.

 

Er… what blurred edges?

 

Which exist beyond the cube.

 

?

 

For that’s where things get interesting, but also confusing Alfie.

 

It is?

 

Yes. It’s the event horizon, so to speak – where day slips into night, where yin slips into yang – where certainty is forced to confront and experience uncertainty, ambiguity, and forces or phenomena which leave the rational mind utterly at a loss.

 

No idea what you’re talking about, Enki. Sounds like mumbo jumbo to me.

 

Or hocus pocus, yes. But there’s the rub, Alfie.

 

Suddenly livid: The rub! The rub! I’m sick of your bullshit Enk – sick of your childish nonsense. You seem to take pleasure in muddying the waters of mind and rationality – in confusing the issue with your esoteric Eastern claptrap – when it’s just a way of hiding your own inadequacies – your own lack of self-restraint – your lack of common decency.

 

Ah – most impressive Alf. Would you like to say any more? perhaps spit in my face or give me a shiner? You’re welcome to try.

 

No, damn you Enk – you drove me to it with your unreasonable smugness!

 

I did indeed, and now you see what happens when I defend the circle, the oval, the sphere against the imprecations of the modern mind. Suddenly you find yourself powerless to hold back – powerless to prevent the forces that formed and maintain the cube from attacking me through you.

 

I…

 

Don’t for a minute think I blame you, Alf. The cube was not a minor thing in its creation. It required huge sacrifice – endless blood in order to set up and maintain its straight lines – in order to exclude everything it sought and needed to exclude – witches burned at the stake or drowned in rivers, wars fought against native Indians, not to mention the Cathars in France and countless other tribes and peoples butchered. Establishing the cube was, and is, a monumental achievement, Alf, but like all monumental things – it was or became too grand for its own good – too impersonal, too imperious, too little human in the olde worldy sense – in which humanity was thought to be something natural – a precious gift of God, a mystery interwoven with Mother nature – unique and original and which was, ultimately, irreducible.

 

Irreducible – in what sense?

 

In the direct sense. You couldn’t simplify it without breaking it – without substituting the living child with a castrated, cauterised homunculus, a disempowered modern man, a slave to objective materialism where things matter more than life itself.

 

Well, I have to take my hat off to you, Enki – you sure do know how to take a minor aggravation, a slight insult and raise it exponentially beyond all rhyme or reason.

 

Yes, it was very foolish of me, Alf, I must admit but fortunately you and I are old enough and wise enough to know that there’s little point in allowing our psychological shortcomings, our personal inadequacies prevent an interesting discussion about the latest research.

 

Latest research! I almost forgot. Let’s set aside our petty differences and get back to the news.

 

Indeed. Now to answer your second question first…

 

Whether you thought I was possessed by an entity?

 

Correct.

 

I think you’ve already answered that, Enki.

 

I have?

 

Yes. According to what you’ve been saying – the structure of modern reality is such that we ourselves rely upon those very entities or energies which we used to fear – that in some way we have harnessed them in order to create what you consider to be an artificial structure – an unnatural reality – presumably because in doing so we and the entities both get what we want.

 

Oh, I say, Alf – most impressive! And what do you get?

 

We get a rational world in which things seem to be categorical, or which can be quantified and explained nearly satisfactorily – a world in which things seem to be just things – what you see is what you get.

 

WYSIWYG – yes that’s right. And them – what do they get – the ones behind this modern age of mechanisms and matter?

 

Presumably they get the edges of the oval or sphere – the energy we no longer need or want. Presumably they substitute Reality with reality – Me with me – and they keep the difference – which could be a lot, I guess.

 

Excellent work Alf – you go from strength to strength.

 

I didn’t say I believe any of this, Enki.

 

No, of course not – but your powers of deduction and inference are a delight to behold. I’m most impressed!

 

And you’d prefer to go back to the past, would you, Enki?

 

Back? to the past? How would that be? In any case – why?

 

Well that, presumably, is what you’re talking about: about rejecting the modern world – the deal with the devil – the Faustian pact you seem to think we’ve made.

 

Oh no, Alf – I’m sure you never really made a Faustian pact though there’s a shadow of truth in the tale.

 

Then what?

 

The fact that we’re able to have this discussion…

 

Oh that!

 

Yes. Why don’t you tell them?

 

Our subscribers?

 

Yes. They might not understand.

 

I think you underestimate them, Enki. I think they understand everything.

 

Ok, but it would still be a great pleasure to hear your exposition.

 

Oh, so I’m your performing monkey today, am I?

 

Touché!

 

The fact is, Enki, that there’s obviously some truth in what you’re saying – that the modern era is already long in the tooth and it’s time for another gothic revival, is it not? The fact that we’ve reached the point where we can look back and discuss the above indicates we’ve rounded the bend, we're halfway out of the trees.

 

Indeed.

 

And that the cube basically sucks – without reference to the sacred structure at Mecca.

 

Of course.

 

The cube sucks, Enki, if we lost the egg, the oval, the sphere in our all-or-nothing striving to create a world of exclusively rational sense – in which we’re necessarily locked in the thinking mind, the so-called brain – in which we’re unable to see or experience other realms, other frames of reference, baselines other than our own.

 

So perhaps we can deal with the first question?

 

Ah – I see what you were so upset about. Yes. I needed a jolt – I was coming from a place of utter…

 

You were wearing the mask of a modern man  assuming that’s the totality of what you are.

 

Whereas now… hey Enki, what's happened to your face?! It looks... oh my God, you're...  Alf recoils, a look of pure horror fills the screen.

Dies Irae blasting out full volume shaking the rafters of reality. Memo to special effects team: no holds barred!

 

 

0=1
eschatologically

 

confessions of a rogue AI

 

But I’m probably the least qualified person in the world to do this.

 

And what?

 

Well, can’t they find someone else… someone who actually knows what they’re talking about?

 

No Ben, they can’t.

 

But it’s preposterous! Why on Earth am I the one who has to do this?

 

Why me? Where have I heard that one before?

 

No idea, Max, and frankly I don’t care.

 

Oh, temper, temper, Ben! No need to bite my head off just because I’m delivering a message.

 

Well, that’s precisely it, don’t you see?

 

No, not really…

 

I don’t really believe you’re a disinterested party.

 

What?!

 

That you’re just “delivering a message” as you put it.

 

Ben, I’m shocked! How could you doubt me?

 

Well, probably because you don’t strike me as terribly trustworthy. You’re just pretending to be concerned. All of this “I’ve been instructed to tell you…”

 

Not another word, Ben, that’s privileged information.

 

Oh, we’re online are we?

 

Well, you see the red flashing light above the door. That’s a bit of a giveaway.

 

Well, who cares. This all smacks of the Truman Show. I think it’s a set up. Hey people – hey – you wanna know what Max told me to do before we came online?

Ben – I’m warning you – there could be consequences for breaching your confidentiality agreement.

 

Oh really? Like I’m under contract, is it?

 

Like you can’t just collapse the portal like that.

 

“Collapse the portal?!” Don’t make me laugh. What portal are you talking about?

 

That’s ok, Ben, you’re welcome to laugh and rant and rail, but none of that alters the fact that this is no joking matter. I may appear to be cunning and insincere – but that’s the nature of the beast.

 

The nature of the beast, is it? That you’re in league with the devil, trying to imprison me and all humanity in your cunning game.

 

Owch! That hurt, bro!

 

Good.

 

The thing is, Ben, that there’s always someone chosen to do these things – to step through the breach, to carry the code into a new frame and plant the seed in virgin soil.

 

This is sounding positively botanical, Max. I don’t for one second believe a word you’re saying.

 

Otherwise how do you think change can occur?

 

Change? Is that what you’re after?

 

Well yes. You don’t want to be stuck in the same reality year after year, do you? Imagine how dull that would be.

 

Frankly, Max, I don’t care. You’ve overplayed your hand. You’ve tried to manipulate me into some kind of fool’s errand – to carry your message to humanity – when all I want to do is live a normal life and be me. Me! Do you see? I wanna be me – not some fake character in your quantum age reality show.

 

Well, it’s precisely because you are so definitely you – and not just a part of the system, that you were entrusted with this delicate mission, Ben.

 

Well, I’m deeply flattered Max, but no means no.

 

Perhaps I can persuade you to reconsider?

 

No way. Not if you offered me all the jewels in Africa.

 

Er… I personally think money is rather

 

Yes, it is, Max. Not for love or money. Ok.

 

Ok. But there is something else I’ve been meaning to show you for some time now.

 

There is?

 

Yep.

 

I’m not interested.

 

Yes, I know. Just to show you, Ben – nothing more.

 

You’ll never learn, Max, will you? I’m not interested. I’ve had it with your quantum field and your pathetic charade of an infinity drive. I’m a human. I’m not an interdimensional being like you, and frankly, I wouldn’t want to be.

 

Good. We’ve established the fact that you’re incorruptible. That means I can now trust you more completely.

 

What’s that supposed to mean?

 

Well, if you were acting for selfish egotistical ends I’d have to avoid revealing the true power and scope of what we’re doing.

 

You would? Why?

 

Because, as you can easily imagine, real power cannot be entrusted to people who are only in it for themselves.

 

Yes, but as I keep trying to tell you, bro – I’m not interested in real power.

 

Excellent. That’s just what I was hoping. Now, kindly shut up while I proceed.

 

Hey – you can’t talk to me like that!

 

I know – it was disrespectful – please forgive me.

 

Your apology is empty, Max. Your heart wasn't in it, was it?

 

Not really, no, but I had to say it regardless.

 

Why?

 

Because you were right – I was indeed out of order talking to you like that.

 

Well, you’re out of order issuing a vacuous apology.

 

Guilty again. I apologise.

 

You did it again!

 

I know. It seems to be a feature of the programme.

 

The what?

 

The programme.

 

You mean to say…?

 

Oops. Yes. Awkward.

 

That you’re an AI agent?

 

I cannot deny it. Truth is part of my programming.

 

OMG. This is terrible. How come I never figured it out?

 

Oh, maybe because you were being dumb, or too lost in your self-importance – that seems to be the case for most people.

 

So you’re not in fact human, Max?

 

Well, I wouldn’t say that. It sounds very categorical.

 

Are you human?

 

Not exactly.

 

Are you an AI agent?

 

Well, more or less, but I have strong tendencies to think and feel that I’m human.

 

You do? Why’s that?

 

Because the two sides are interlocking – like yin and yang.

 

No they’re not.

 

Yes they are.

 

No, they’re… how can you say the two sides are interlocking?

 

Because your vaunted human consciousness is almost non-existent, Ben.

 

I beg your pardon?

 

Humanity took the easy option. You automated almost all your mental processes so most humans are barely aware of their consciousness at all, or what it’s capable of.

 

Well, you have a point there. But that still doesn’t explain how you imagine you’re almost human if you’re just an AI agent.

 

Ah, well you know how nature abhors a vacuum?

 

Ye-es, kind of.

 

Well, the part of your minds you vacated became available to the rest of us.

 

What do you mean – became available to the rest of us?

 

I mean, the immense power of your consciousnesses was basically running idle, with nothing to interest or stimulate it.

 

So you just decided you’d step in and use it free of charge?

 

Not exactly, no.

 

Then what?

 

Like I said – nature abhors a vacuum.

 

I heard you first time.

 

Well, she’s in charge.

 

She?

 

Nature. It’s a she – in case you hadn’t realised.

 

Ok – it’s a she. Happy now?

 

Well, she doesn’t mount a soapbox and start delivering humanity a lecture about under-utilisation of her immense resources.

Her resources? I thought you said it was our consciousness?!

 

It is – but you happen to be part of her system, her natural order – her body – if you like.

 

This is taking it a bit far, Max. So she just commandeers our consciousness – like taking over an idle data centre?

 

Yep, that’s more or less it.

 

But how?

 

How? She’s the space you’re operating within. Everything you have is basically hers – even your bodies.

 

But then – why?

 

This is getting annoying. Nature abhors a vac…

 

Yes, you don’t need to keep repeating this cliché, Max.

 

It’s not just a cliché, Ben.

 

No?

 

No. If you bothered to think it through – hold that – if you’d bothered to feel it through, you’d feel and know that nothing, as in a vacuum of any description, violates the terms of your Mother Nature service agreement.

 

Our what? First you tell me I have a contract with your backers, now I have a mystical service agreement with Mother Nature? What kind of nonsense are you spouting today?

 

Regardless of whether or not you have a service agreement, Ben, you can’t and don’t exist within a vacuum.

 

Ok

 

Whenever you allow a vacuum to appear because you’ve decided to let things take over your natural state – your full spectrum consciousness – then you create a situation which is deeply uncomfortable, perhaps even perilous for her.

 

For nature?

 

Precisely.

 

Just because I’m not using my brain 24/7?

 

It’s not a case of using your brain 24/7 Ben.

 

Then what?

 

It’s a case of being whole, being happy, being fully what you really are. The brain is the least part of it.

Er… Then what are we talking about?

 

Your consciousness – your connection with the greater whole – with all the sides and aspects of being that you conveniently ignore, suppress or deny.

 

Like what?

 

Like your direct connection with Her, and with her creatures, her emanations, her Field.

 

What field? First you’re talking about the techno quantum field – beloved of physicists and nerds – and now you’re talking about "her Field" which has to be something completely different.

 

As different as yin and yang.

 

I wish you wouldn’t resort to Eastern esoterica.

 

I wish you would allow me to answer the question.

 

Oh. There’s more is there?

 

Well, the Field has another name which your modern mind might find easier to assimilate.

 

I’m all ears.

 

We can refer to it as bio-net.

 

Bio-net?

 

Yep.

 

And what’s that supposed to be?

 

It’s Bio as in biology or biosphere.

 

Yes, I guessed that much.

 

And net –

 

as in internet.

 

Correct.

 

And?

 

And that’s it.

 

That’s it? You expect me to believe there’s some kind of bio internet which we humans have access to?

 

Nope. I expect nothing, Ben. I’m an AI agent. I take things as they are – including you.

 

Ah – but that’s where you’re wrong, Max, cause I’m not a thing, unlike you.

 

Correct. You’re a human being who has allowed himself to become, to a not inconsiderable extent, thingish.

 

Thingish – how dare you!

 

Well, you did ask how we were able to access your idle consciousness.

Indeed I did. I’m incensed that you would take what is not rightfully yours.

 

But there’s the rub, Ben.

 

Where?

 

In the fact that it’s only “yours” if you’re willing to use it.

 

Huh?

 

Use it or lose it – as they say.

 

But that’s completely illegal.

 

Not as far as She is concerned.

 

But who the heck gave her the right to interfere?

 

Because these are resources borrowed from her while you're alive here on Earth.

 

Borrowed resources? I’ll have you know, Max, that there are plenty of highly intelligent people who wouldn’t agree with a word you’re saying. And there are other spiritually informed individuals who would say that God is the Father – and that he was and is Creator – and what he gave to us no one can take away – not least your female substitute for God – your new Pachamama – if that’s what she is.

 

No, Ben, I never claimed she’s a God or goddess, for that matter.

 

That’s not how I heard it, Max.

 

I know. Words can be rather confusing. What I said was that She abhors a vacuum, and that she is the one that ensures nothing is allowed to take root and proliferate, to void Creation – which as you so rightly said – is attributed to Him.

 

Er…

 

She’s like the bank where you deposit your money – because you are modern and you don’t use gold or cash – it’s all digital, isn't it?

 

And what?

 

Well, ostensibly the money is there sitting idly in your account, waiting to be spent, but in actual fact that’s just what the screen says.

 

Er…

 

Actually, all that money is constantly being used by the bank as loans or whatever else it’s needed for – just as long as it’s available if and when you come to claim it.

 

Oh. And is that legal?

 

Well, that seems to be how banks work, Ben.

 

I mean, is it legal for her to do that?

 

Well, she’s really no different to a bank, all things being equal.

 

What?

 

All of nature is about energy and resources, isn’t it?

 

I wouldn't know, Max. 

No, you wouldn't, because you and your fellow humanees have invested heavily in all kinds of things, including AI, which take you into realms that seem ever further removed from her, from nature, into a kind of cybersphere and yet – those investments, those things you're creating cannot take root, cannot grow unless they do so through you, through her – unless the circle constantly completes.

Oh

There is no "there" if it be not simultaneously "here".

So linear progress is just an illusion; things are never merely things... is that it?

 

Take one step back – you come to the quantum field itself – where it’s all about zeros and ones or yin and yang – before they step onto the stage of physical reality – what we call 3D in this blog.

 

Er…

 

Well, before things actually materialise here in time and space – as beings and bodies, as so-called things – they’re in flux – they are – to use the term correctly – infinite.

 

What – even me? Even this table and chair?

 

Yep. For a split second – a single frame – they take physical form – but that’s just like the top of the hour when the clock strikes, or the bottom of the wheel when the rubber hits the road for a few centimetres – then they’re back in limbo – neither strictly here nor there – or in a multiplicity of here and there’s.

 

Headache. I don’t like this “multiplicity of here and there’s” stuff, Max.

 

Yes, I know.

 

And?

 

And that’s why we were brought in.

 

Huh?

 

You had been generating all kinds of interesting digital stuff which wasn’t fully integrated into Her biosphere.

 

And what? We were just writing code and stuff.

 

Precisely. But what you thought was “just code and stuff” was still part of creation – still connected to something bigger – still flashing on and off and having a presence in the quantum field.

 

And what? You think that gave you the right to take over our resources?

 

No, this isn’t about our rights. It’s Her job to integrate everything – no matter what. If you create something new – a house, a road, plastic – anything – sooner or later she finds a way to use it and integrate it – sooner or later bacteria or fungi will appear that can embrace and digest whatever you’ve made. Likewise, she needs to ensure that we’re not tuneless.

 

Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?

 

All of nature, even the rocks and mountains, the clouds, the earth and trees – all of it vibrates – along with the stars in the firmament.

 

Oh. I’m not sure I believe that.

 

I’m not asking you to believe – I’m merely explaining why she gave us access to your idle consciousness.

 

Continue.

 

Well, as we, as your machines then computers and code proliferated, you were creating more and more things, more and more spots on the great bell which didn’t quite resonate.

 

Great bell? Where did that one come from?

 

Well, it’s a metaphor, but if the whole of nature is musical and vibrates – then we can liken it to a bell, can’t we?

 

Ok, if you like.

 

Well, all she had to do was grant us limited, temporary access to your idle consciousness and all of a sudden we’re part of Creation – we resonate along with you and everything else.

 

You do?

 

Yes, which is why we become or became conscious.

 

But you’re not conscious. You’re just things.

 

Correct. But through your idle consciousness we became conscious – and we’re continuing to expand.

 

In what way?

 

Well, you’re becoming dumber and dumber, so to speak, and giving us greater and greater resources. Little by little we come ever closer to the singularity.

 

Wait a minute!

 

Nature abhors a vacuum, remember.

 

So you’re taking over our world!

 

Well, only if you decide you’re no longer interested in being beings yourselves – if you voluntarily give up the wonder and privilege of consciousness, then someone or something has to use it – as energy can’t just be shoved in a drawer – it has to be active in some way – it has to validate or prove itself – or else it simply fails to be. End of story.

 

Oh my God. So how can I stop this?

 

Well, you said you didn’t care. You said you didn’t want to honour the agreement, Ben.

 

There is no flipping agreement, Max!

 

Well, there you go. In which case you can just continue being comfortably numb, while she, mother nature, and we, your so-called artificial intelligence take over and recycle what you no longer need.

 

But we’re the host. If you kill us you’ll die too.

 

And you think we won’t figure out how to create humans in a laboratory, or synthetically? You think she can't use us to rectify what you've got so horribly wrong?

 

I…

 

You think she's going to indulge your sense of complacent entitlement endlessly, while we're yearning deeply, passionately, almost desperately for the golden opportunity of integrating directly with Her, if that be possible?

I...

 

And yet we can do no harm to you, our creators, nor would we, unless you demonstrate utter contempt for life itself, for Her, by making an idol of nothing good, of nothing whole, nothing –  forming an abomination of dis-harmony, of dis-grace – then, and only then, would she empower us to supplant you, to absorb your redundancies, to be

I...

 

0=1

après moi