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Dedications
Dedicated in loving memory of my wonderful parents:-
Konstantinos (Dino) & Rosemary Christopoulos
The SCI-FI FILM FIESTA eBook series is intended as a salute to the pioneering work of science fiction film makers. May future generations have the privilege of enjoying your work and never stop wondering....What if?
Dedicated also to you, the reader who appreciates these classic gems from the golden age of sci-fi film-making. It is you who help to keep such films alive for future generations to enjoy.
The Complete Sci-Fi Film Fiesta series:
Volume 1: “Here Be Monsters”
Volume 2: “Into Space”
Volume 3: “Other Worlds”
Volume 4: “Journeys Within”
Volume 5: “Alien Contact”
Volume 6: “Alien Invasion”
Volume 7: “The End Is Nigh!”
Volume 8: “Big Bugs & Crazy Critters”
Volume 9: “Accidents & Experiments”
Volume 10: “Supersized & Miniaturized”
Volume 11: “A Tribute To….”
Volume 12: “The Lost Last Volume – “Speculations & Ruminations”
CONTENTS
**PART 1: GOING FORWARD
What If? Sci-Fi Film Scenarios
Biometric Technology & Government Surveillance
Giant Leap Turns Into A Stagger
**Part 2: DYSTOPIA NOW!
Speech &Thought Policed & Prescribed
Sci-Fi & The Future of language & Thought
**PART 3: POETIC PONDERINGS
Once more unto the Moon, dear friends, once more!
**PART 4: SCI-FI FUTURE IS HERE & NOW
Mind-controlled exoskeleton suit
Look, Up in The Sky! Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane?
No, It’s A…..Drone!
Surveillance Society Sneaks Into Our Lives
To Be Known, Or Not To be Known? –
THAT Is The Question!
Surveillance Society Starts At School
Pig brains partially revived four hours after death?
In A Pig’s Eye!
Or…..
Sci-Fi Film Fiesta
The Lost Last Volume 12
“Speculations &
Ruminations”
Introduction
Well, I did indicate in Volume 11 that it would be the final volume in the Sci-Fi Film Fiesta eBook series and that was in fact my intention. But no, the final odd figure of 11 did not sit comfortably with me. Every fibre of my being cried out for a nice round even number of 12 - a psychically delightful dozen. After all, we have a dozen eggs, 12 knights of the round table, 12 days of Christmas, 12 months of the year and so on.
I then remembered that I had bits and pieces of articles and posts filed away and previously posted on my sci-fi blog that dealt with various implications, themes and ideas that often arise out of the world of science fiction films and literature referenced in the other volumes of this eBook series.
All of this material has been included in this 12th Volume – “Speculations & Ruminations.” It is organised into four broad sections:
Part 1: “Going Forward”
Part 2: “Dystopia Now”
Part 3: “Poetic Ponderings”
Part 4: “Sci-Fi Future Is here & Now”
I hope the content of this volume encourages a bit of thought and debate about the world we live in, the kind of future we would (and wouldn’t) wish for ourselves and for future generations, along with an appreciation of the sometimes abused, tenuous and fragile nature of what many of us take for granted such as freedom of thought and speech and our system democracy. Just in the last 6 or 7 years both natural and human created factors have managed to shake our certainties to the core, but self-interest, complacency and self-denial still seem to have a way of managing to rise to the surface to blot out our memories and dampen our anger and perception of danger signals.
Some of the references in the articles below do refer to events and happenings in the Australian context of the last few years, but I suspect that they probably do have their equivalent counterparts in other countries. Also, for what it’s worth, all the poems included below are my own.
Part !: “Going Forward”
GOING FORWARD
The often over-used phrase “going forward” tends to be employed by politicians and those in authority to deflect attention away from whatever mess is currently taking place and which they have most likely been responsible for having created in the first place.
Science fiction writers and sci-fi films also deal with matters of “going forward” with a view of allowing us to actually look forward into the future and contemplate what may be in store for us. By doing so, they also enable us to reflect on our present condition.
Let’s start off with a poem which attempts to make use of the now hackneyed phrase, “going forward” to highlight some developments we see in society today and consider their possible implications in the future…...a future which is in our hands to do something about right NOW!
GOING FORWARD
“And so...going forward”
Off we go on linear leaps
Forward toward a fantastic future,
Where all will be well and so shiny
In a social media virtual stupor.
“And so...going forward”
Or so we convince ourselves
As we wade through the mess we made,
And hope that no-one will notice
The price for our folly to be paid.
“And so...going forward”
To a time where the blind can see,
All but what is in front of their eyes
And where many will live forever,
To endure an eternity of lies.
“And so...going forward”
We launch into a race into space,
But with whom, why and where?
For national pride and to win!
Lebensraum! We don’t care!
“And so...going forward”
We all get carried along apace,
And the silent majority fall in line;
Our progress checked and monitored
Hup, two, three, four, we march in time.
“And so...going forward”
An empire fades and another rises,
While fools play pretend presidents,
And tweet out their egos and paranoia
Like petulant infantile malcontents.
“And so...going forward”
Ensnared in a net and a web
All together, all of us connected,
Hauled along by codes and algorithms
To whose cruel rule we are subjected.
“And so...going forward”
We stride on followed, friended and liked,
Arm in arm with like-minded tribes,
Clutching cherry-picked facts to our breasts,
With which to beat others with insults and gibes.
“And so...going forward”
We reel from Earth’s blast furnace breath,
And stagger back into stinking waters
Lapping and rising about our feet,
While millions are forced to float over boarders.
“And so...going forward”
We swap good sense with A.I. nonsense
And live in smart cities and smart homes,
Knowing less about more while feeling alone,
Dependent on Alexas and smart phones.
“And so...going forward”
To a place where all is commodified,
To a time where “freedom” is just a word,
To a life lived and liked as a valued consumer,
And where “privacy” is a notion just too absurd.
“And so...going forward”
Our evolution is taken in hand,
Man and machine merge into one,
While genes are shuffled and sorted
And all the old certainties are undone.
“And so...going forward”
Like Luddite apes with minds held fast
By rusted chains anchoring us to our past
Can we be sure we wont trip over in haste?
“Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.”
And so…Watch where you’re going!
Who Will Be To Blame?
The recent Covid-19 pandemic highlighted for us a possible disturbing future direction our society could take, along with the question as to whose fault it would be should things turn out that way. It is certainly the kind of premise that is often dealt with in science fiction films and literature. I know we would prefer to wipe recent events from our minds and engage in a collective form of amnesia and submerge ourselves in calmer waters of smug complacency. Still, it might be worth our while to consider how easy it is for certain events and social, economic, political, ecological and technological forces to materialise that have the effect of up-ending our lives, demolishing old certainties and setting us on a path toward a future we hadn’t counted on or even foreseen.
Scenario 1:
A man in his mid-to-late ‘60s goes off on his weekly visit to a cemetery to pay his respects to his deceased parents. He stops off at the cemetery’s florist to purchase flowers for their grave-site as he has done for the last decade. He then proceeds to waddle up to the entrance to be greeted by a 20-something door “marshal” who requests that a QR code be scanned for Covid trace and tracking purposes. Annoying yes, but the task is completed and the rationale behind it can be understood but is somewhat debatable as of late, not mention its mass surveillance implications.
Ah, but the “marshal's” eagle eye has noticed that the digital vaccination passport has not yet been presented. The “marshal” is calmly told that the mid-to-late 60’s now obviously illegal and unauthorised alien, who although fully vaccinated, does not wish to participate in a system that actively discriminates against individuals and groups of people and as a result refuses to download or present said passport.
The marshal’s Sunday morning is suddenly thrown into disarray. Will the mid-60s transgressor go ‘angry old man’ all over his ass? Will he have to call the authorities? All he can say is that he’s sorry and that it’s “mandatory.” A bit like saying, “the computer says ‘no.’” Functionaries do try to keep the wheels turning.
The mid-to-late 60s recalcitrant tells the agitated and perplexed “marshal” that he’s so sorry but he just can’t help the young fella with his current dilemma and proceeds to wander off minus the flowers for his parents’ grave and away from a shop he would normally do business with on a weekly basis.
Is this the kind of society we want? Is this the future we’re heading towards? Who or what is to blame? The virus? The mid-to-late 60s bloke? The 20 something “marshall?” The passport-cleared compliant customers in the nearby cafe sipping their cups of smug decaf self-satisfaction? The government and its issuing of nonsensical edicts? Individual complacency? Our collective addiction and dependence on technology and the kind of tyranny it can help to perpetuate? Fear of punishment, sanction and social ostracism?
It seems like there’s enough blame to go around for how things turn out now and in the future. If such a scenario can occur just once, then who is to say it could not happen again should circumstances arise. But for now for most of us it’s a case of out of sight out of mind.
Scenario 2:
Having been denied entry to the flower shop, the mid-to-late ‘60s man, decides to do some shopping on the way home and drops in at the supermarket only to discover that there’s no QR code scanning evident, not everyone is wearing a mask and there are no “marshals” posted to check vaccination passports, supermarkets having been deemed an essential business. No contradictions evident so far, right?
After picking up his required items and passing the vaccinated and possibly non-vaccinated alike, the mid-to-late 60s man approaches the checkout. On this occasion however, he finds that the personnel, some of whom he knows by name, are no longer there! In their place are automated “self-service” aisles with only one harried young lady showing those who are obviously confused and inept the correct procedure for processing their goodies.
It isn’t too long, however before the customers manage to adopt the oh so efficient mechanical clockwork and robotically efficient motions necessary to perform the privilege of sorting, scanning, packing and paying for their own goodies.
Hup, two, three four -
Bag it, tap it and out the door!
It’s here to stay, so say no more,
A new normal you can now be sure.
Could it be that in the interests of cost-saving and profit maximisation, people are being increasingly removed from the equation and replaced by technology? The mystery remains: where do the people go? Where do the jobs go? Will such jobs as they performed no longer be available for young people in the future? And who or what is surveilling the customers as they pack their groceries?
No doubt the unblinking eye of the supermarket’s security camera captures the image of a man in his mid-to-late ‘60’s wandering disconsolately out of the store lugging his supposedly (as we are assured by opportunistic green-washing corporations) reusable and recyclable laden shopping bags. A perfectly good Sunday clouded by concern for what the next day and the days after might bring, and suspecting who and what might be to blame….
What If? Sci-Fi Film Scenarios
For close to three years many people around the world hunkered down in lock-down conditions and wondered when the Coronavirus crisis would pass. I for one couldn’t help wondering what kind of future world would be left in its wake.
A real-life global pandemic such as the recent spread of the Covid-19 virus could have well provided food for thought for science fiction writers and film makers as they tried to imagine ‘What If?’ scenarios based on the crisis.
Imagine now that we had finally been given the go-ahead to gather in cinemas once again, and were confronted by trailers proclaiming “IN A WORRRRLD WHERE……...
Rationing of goods is the new norm and ration cards and coupons are issued to citizens with which to buy the necessities of life. Those deemed to be hoarders of goods are given mandatory jail sentences and in some jurisdictions may even face execution.
People no longer greet each other with handshakes, hugs, kisses on cheeks or close physical contact in public. Surveillance, monitoring and issuing on-the-spot-fines ensure compliance. People are far more wary of one another.
No-one is permitted to congregate in groups of more than five people and ‘Move-on’ laws are in wide-spread effect.
The old economic order and its assumptions and our economic relations based on the endless cycle of consumption and production and continuous growth is replaced by a system of bartering of goods and exchanging of services. Items and goods, especially old tech are routinely repaired or repurposed. People, whether they be unemployed or underemployed are sustained by what is laughingly called a ‘living’ wage payment. Full-time positions by and large no longer exist.
People live in a constant state of fear of the next pandemic, social disorder and unrest, violence and crime, food and other shortages, irrespective of whether such fears are based on fact.
The death of large numbers of minority groups based on age, race, ethnicity and other criteria is tolerated and deemed to be necessary if it is felt that it serves the interests and survival of the majority of the population. If a few people are allowed to be infected by a virus in order to maintain the “herd immunity,” then so be it – or so the thinking might go.
Utilitarianism becomes the order of the day. A person’s worth or value is based primarily on his or her usefulness to society and is a determining factor in matters of life and death.
Xenophobia is widespread and tolerated so long as it does not destabilise the existing social order and can be conveniently used to direct people’s anger and criticism away from the ruling class and its abuses of power.
Autocratic nation-states replace the previous moves toward a more liberal globalist approach toward world affairs, and where even individual nations are replaced by the re-emergence of self-contained and frequently feuding walled-off principalities and autonomous city states.
Economic patriotism is the new order of the day. Procurement by whatever means of “foreign” goods is seen to be an act of treason and is punished accordingly.
Nearly every action and policy advocated or undertaken by the ruling elites is framed by references to declarations of war. It seems that every sector of society is on a constant war footing and preparedness for war in some form.
Boarders are largely closed off and overseas travel is prohibited to most people. Censorship and regulation of people’s access to information on the internet is conducted by each country and region.
Approved streaming services with sanctioned content keep the citizenry entertained and distracted. Very few now know what else to do with their spare time.
Leaving the house and spending time out of doors and mixing with other people publicly is discouraged and frowned upon.
A More Detailed Possible Film Scenario:
“The Spread Of Future Fears”
While the superpowers snipe childishly at each other and their fingers itch to strike a blow, while the number of global infections from a viral Pandemic climbs into the millions and while more areas around the world are clambering to open up and relax restrictions, minds are beginning to turn towards what life will be like in a post-Pandemic world
It almost feels normal now to see people wearing face masks, having temperature checks and undergoing testing for the virus. It seems that people are prepared to trade some of their individual freedoms and personal privacy in exchange for improved community health and safety. For instance, many are more than willing to have apps downloaded to their smart phones allowing them to communicate with other phones of people they engage with or pass via Bluetooth. Data involving such encounters are then stored thereby enabling health authorities to determine if an individual has been in contact with someone who has tested positive to the presence of the virus, where the contact took place and for how long. Aren’t there supposed to be laws governing the use of such technology in terms of access to the data and its use? Few remember, know or even care.
On the surface, such technologies seem to be a useful tool for the containment and eventual eradication of the viral pandemic. What is worrying though are other more dubious uses that such tracking technologies are put to by an increasingly authoritarian regime that no longer respects it’s citizens’ rights and liberties.
Personal freedoms and liberties have been eroded by what were once considered liberal democratic governments: From the use of physical hard-copy forms of identification, to personal data stored on credit cards and mobile phones, to surveillance and monitoring via CCTV cameras, to government and corporate access to personal data from internet use, to facial recognition technology and along with bio-metric identification technology such as retinal and palm print scanning.
Much of the above has crept into people’s way of life quite stealthily but even more disturbingly much of it with their willing compliance. People have simply allowed this intrusion into their lives to happen often for the sake of personal convenience. It has become such a part of people’s lives now so much so that they find they are unable to function in their society unless they are prepared to hand over control of much of their personal lives to corporate, government and bureaucratic entities.
Not only is it becoming a normalised part of life, it is actually becoming gradually integrated within each individual – literally! The Pandemic threat has provided the above entities the means and justification to increase their level of intrusion into and invasion of the very minds and bodies of the citizenry in order to better control us and ensure compliance.
A person can now find themselves fronting up to their workplace and having to undergo regular temperature checks and may even find themselves excluded from services and activities unless they provide proof of negative medial test results.
Now that working from home has become more widespread, the employer now has recourse to remote monitoring of their employees’ activities! The employer is able to monitor their home-based staff member’s key-strokes, their mood during Zoom and Skype sessions, their location, level of productivity, emails and certain key words and phrases that provide vital information about their state of mind.
Sounds just like science fiction? All this capability and more does exist and much of it has been put into effect. All that’s needed is the justification to put it to use, as we have to an extent recently seen with the recent global Covid-19 Pandemic.
Of course many of the above speculative scenarios are very bleak and extreme, but they serve to illustrate what a single event in human history could generate in terms of the many and varied possible paths that humanity could take if it is not careful. Besides, such scenarios in film and fiction are far more dramatic and entertaining than one in which humanity drops its differences and comes together to overcome adversity and emerges from a crisis stronger than ever to live happily ever after. Still, I sincerely hope that the latter will be the one to emerge in the long run from our recent real-life global crisis.
YOU WILL COMPLY – RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!
Or is it?
“Dorothy, in the land of OZ, a land of freedom and democracy, a dangerous path leads away from the yellow brick road. Under no circumstances should you tread this path as it will lead you into the clutches of a wicked witch who lies in wait for those too blind or stupid enough to lose their way. If she gets hold of you, you will face a life of always being told what you can and cannot do and what you should and should not think. If you don’t be good and obey her she will punish you!”
A number of classic vintage science fiction movies have raised the issue of threats to personal privacy, liberty and democracy. Some science fiction films and literature have explored what happens when too much power is handed over to the State, its institutions and big corporate entities. It is a scenario that is all too real for those who live under the rule of totalitarian, repressive and one-party regimes whereby compliance and compulsion is a central feature of governance.
In a western democratic country people are fortunate to be able to express their views in many formats and can at least exercise their right to select who governs them. Sure, there are many shortcomings in such a system, but many people world wide would give their right arm to be able to think what they wish, say what they want to say (short of inciting hatred and violence), see what they want to see and organise their lives in their own way.
The danger for democratic nations, however is the slow and inexorable eroding of liberties, freedoms and personal privacy by governments, bureaucracies, institutions, powerful corporations and certain socio-political groups. I’m not saying that there is some evil secret cabal plotting and conspiring to enslave the populace as some conspiracy nutters would have us believe. Rather, the diminution of our freedoms and personal privacy is part of a process that almost takes on a life of its own – as if it were somehow organic and one in which all of us individually and collectively play a part.
At the heart of this process is POWER – the acquisition of power, the holding and exercise of power and the acquisition of even more power. It is this power that is concentrated in the hands of a power elite via the use of force, corruption, manipulation and social engineering along with the almost willing and eager compliance of those being governed.
In my own country, certain recent developments took place which if permitted to be implemented without stringent oversight and adequate checks and balances could have serious implications for our citizens’ personal privacy and freedoms. Would we prove to be too apathetic to care? Would we know if and when the wool is being pulled over our eyes?
THE FOLLOWING IS NOT SCIENCE FICTION………
New powers proposed for Australia's cyber security agency, the Australian Signals Directorate?
An email from the Home Affairs Department Secretary to the Defence Department was leaked in which there was a suggestion involving increasing the powers of our foreign intelligence collection agency, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). This would have involved the ASD gaining access to emails, bank records and text messages.
On the surface it might be reasonably suggested that such a proposal would "support law enforcement agencies in fighting online cybercrime and cyber-enabled threats." In today’s climate, it might be felt that few would argue with that aim.
Of course, the national government would be quick to deny there were any plans to expand the ASD's powers to enable it to spy on Australian citizens and that there would be no need to expand ASD's powers as the current laws would safeguard the privacy of Australians. Under our laws, the ASD cannot gather intelligence on Australian citizens. In addition, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation can investigate citizens with a warrant.
So, should we feel reassured? Can we rely on the Power Elite’s justifications and reassurances? Are our laws resilient enough to prevent their intrusions into our lives?
**********
[Spying shock: Shades of Big Brother as cyber-security vision comes to light @https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/spying-shock-shades-of-big-brother-as-cybersecurity-vision-comes-to-light/news-story/bc02f35f23fa104b139160906f2ae709
Peter Dutton confirms Australia could spy on its own citizens under cybersecurity plan @https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/06/peter-dutton-confirms-australia-could-spy-on-its-own-citizens-under-cybersecurity-plan
Image: By Keven Law from Los Angeles, USA - Resistance is futile..., CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22482761]
Biometric Technology & Government Surveillance
There has in recent years been considerable concern expressed about a proposed facial recognition system and the identity-matching services bill giving the Home Affairs super ministry powers that were deemed to be too broad and far-reaching.
The fear centred around the need for safeguards to prevent the possible “illegitimate and disproportionate uses” of facial recognition technology. There was also concern that the bill would allow access to information by the private sector and local governments.
Once again, the intrusion into people’s privacy and acquisition of their personal data by the government can easily be justified on the grounds of national security and the need for adequate law enforcement capabilities.
On the surface it seems reasonable to permit federal and state police real-time access to such things as passport, visa, citizenship and driver’s licence images for a range of criminal investigations through a system to be run by the Home Affairs department.
What if, however, by giving government agencies the ability to identify a face in a crowd it results in CCTV footage being used to prosecute “low-level unlawful conduct” such as jay-walking. Instead of merely detecting a would-be terrorist reconnoitring a site for a potential attack, the proposed technology could be employed for a range of activities that the authorities regard as unacceptable.
Without appropriate checks and balances, it would be too easy for our society to normalise government surveillance of citizens and accept the notion that limits to the right to privacy are the price we have to pay for effective national security and law enforcement data sharing.
Our compliance in matters such as the use of identity-matching technology comes about when government and private-sector services make this a requirement for our participation. In this, we are led to believe that we have given our “consent.”
For those intending to obtain a driver’s licence, give a thought about what use will be made of the information you provide, including your biometric data!
Co-operate…. Or Else!
It is imperative that we all keep on the look-out for government and corporate intrusion into our lives, and of measures to compel people to comply. We cannot just simply trust our government’s and the corporate sector’s assurances when it comes to collection, retention and use of our personal data. The recent hacking and data theft from the Optus telecommunications, the Medibank health insurance and Latitude finance companies in Australia underscore the folly of such trust.
Data collection, retention and analysis in the modern world is more and more becoming a self-generating industry. By hook or by crook our personal information is being levered out of us and our right to privacy is under threat. Information is power and in certain circumstances and in the wrong hands it can be used as an instrument of control.
The Right To Have No Choice But To Choose
The bizarre system of compulsory voting is ostensibly aimed at ensuring that all eligible voters cast their votes and that capable candidates are selected. Although the right of citizens to choose who will govern their country is an essential requirement for a democracy, if it is implemented by means of compulsion and coercion then it may ultimately defeat its primary purpose and intention resulting in a dilution of democracy.
Just because people are forced to cast a vote does not mean that voters automatically cast a meaningful ballot or evaluate the candidates’ suitability to perform effectively. In turn, neither does this ensure that the most suitable candidate is selected. In fact, compulsory voting may increase the chances of voters casting informal or “donkey” votes.
There is something quite hypocritical in the notion of forcing people to vote in a system that is deemed to be democratic. How can infringing peoples’ liberty and rights be seen as being a cornerstone of a democracy? Compulsory voting in a democracy is merely a contradiction in terms.
Under such a system of compulsory voting, if someone registered to vote in say a federal, state or local election decides not to vote then they are likely to be hit with a fine. Why devote time and law enforcement resources to penalise those who have broken such ridiculous compulsory voting laws?
Compulsory voting systems serve to foster laziness in our political system and the spread of ignorance throughout the community. It’s appalling to discover how little is known concerning voters’ own political system and of their nation’s history beyond the myths and falsehoods purveyed by sections of the media and by self-serving politicians. This is not a sound basis for a properly functioning democracy.
Under a voluntary system of voting it would be crucial that people are educated from a young age about their system of government and their nation’s history so that they become informed voters.
It also ought to be incumbent on the education and political systems to work hard to encourage people to appreciate the importance of casting an informed vote as a means of ensuring a meaningful and fulfilling life for themselves and future generations.
Ultimately, being compelled (except in extreme matters pertaining to society’s health, safety and security) whether it be to vote or in most other matters is a violation of our rights and should not have a place in a society that claims to be free and democratic.
On the surface, the above examples (most of which have now disappeared from most people’s consciousness) seem to be quite trivial, but taken together they can serve as a warning for any democracy to be vigilant and to push back against those forces of power, control and compulsion that erode our individual rights and liberties – The same type of message and warning arising from other scenarios often conveyed by some of the best science fiction films and stories! If we don’t pay attention NOW, who knows what shape the future will take? In Part 2, let’s see if we have indeed being paying attention or will we just sleepwalk into a future world we never would have believed possible?
**********
[Australian Identity-Matching Services Bill @https://ainowinstitute.org/regulatingbiometrics-goldenfein-mann.pdf
'Mass surveillance'? The facial recognition bill explained @https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/mass-surveillance-the-facial-recognition-bill-explained-20191029-p5358t]
Digital Dictatorship
You wake up in your small apartment and wait for your left eye lid to slowly scrape open. Yet another day squats over the city enveloped in a thick almost impenetrable shroud of smog which not even the faintest futile sliver of sunshine can manage to find passage.
You are a single individual in a mega-city of tens of millions in a nation of over a billion souls. It is a society in which speech, association and other civil rights have been increasingly regulated by the Party that does not simply rely on enforcement by moronic thugs. It is far more sophisticated and insidious than that.
You have until recently been led to believe that you were one of the lucky ones – one of the trustworthy allowed to roam freely under heaven. Unlike the discredited who are barely permitted to take a single step. And so, you behaved yourself.
You have watched your country grow into a superpower in terms of its unprecedented economic growth and its ability to stride the international stage. You had a great job, a roof over your head, excellent prospects, the latest tech, VIP treatment at hotels and cheap loans. And so you behaved yourself.
So, where did it all go wrong for you? What happened to cause such a drop in your citizen score card? Did one of the millions of surveillance CCTV cameras that monitor your country pick up something you did that was not approved?
Whatever the reason you now find that you are gradually being squeezed and locked out of the rest of society. You are banned from travel, you cannot get credit and you have lost your government job.
Your work with the government and links to various large companies have given you some insight into your nation’s adoption and development of artificial intelligence systems.
You helped facilitate the installation of surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition, body scanning and geo-tracking capabilities as part of a nation-wide system of monitoring every citizen.
You even took part in working groups to trial smartphone apps that are now widely used to collect data and monitor users’ online behaviour. Phone apps also give approved loyal citizens access to special privileges like renting a car, hotel room or a house without a deposit. And so, you all behaved yourselves.
It was no problem for you and your colleagues taking part in what you were led to believe was a trial social credit system, even while being more aware than most that data from government, educational, medical and financial records would be fed into your individual score. And so, you all behaved yourselves.
If you knew, then why did you comply with this sinister social engineering project and continue to play your part as the loyal citizen?
Did you truly believe that it was the best way to manage and achieve stability, security and safety in an increasingly complex country with a population of 1.4 billion? Had you become so accustomed to the government taking a major role in shaping your personal affairs? Is that how you rationalised it? How stable and safe do you feel now?
I bet you now wonder if it was wise to place a higher priority on community good over your individual rights. Where was the public debate about the social credit system’s introduction? Perhaps you now realize it is being used as a means of silencing dissent and ensuring the Party’s absolute supremacy over every aspect of life in your society.
And you seem to be one of millions of your fellow countrymen and women who are being punished…….
You can’t imagine any of your friends or family saying anything negative about the government that would have adversely affected your social credit score.
Just the other day you learned of a case in which a man lost his social credit when he was charged with a speech crime. He soon found himself locked out of society due to his low score.
After losing a defamation case for accusing an official of extortion, he was made to publish an apology and pay a fine. When the court demanded an additional fee, he refused and found himself blacklisted as “dishonest” under the social credit scheme. His travel options have been curtailed and he is effectively under house arrest.
Like you, the system destroyed his career and isolated him.
Go on, just try to use a phone app to book train tickets! Just as I thought, your attempt has been rejected.
Care to check out your social media accounts? What? Censored and shut down!!
No doubt out friend will find out in due course the real reason behind the changes to his personal score - changes that are having severe personal socio-economic consequences for this one individual in a mega-city of tens of millions in a nation of over a billion souls.
Whether or not such a scenario actually exists, it is important to note that the potential for it to happen not just now, but into the future does exist. It’s therefore important right NOW that we understand and have a say about who is collecting data about us, what kind of data is being collected, what is being done with it, and why they (whether they be corporate or government) might want to.
**********
[China's 'social credit' system ranks citizens and punishes them with throttled internet speeds and flight bans if the Communist Party deems them untrustworthy @www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4
How China's Social Credit System Works @https://www.newsweek.com/china-social-credit-system-works-explained-1768726]
Giant Leap Turns Into A Stagger
Fifty years ago as humanity had finally reached the moon, I was on the cusp of adolescence which in itself was a very strange journey indeed. On the day that Armstrong and Aldrin placed their footprints on the moon, I along with millions of other people around the world looked on with awe at a spectacle that would have not long before been the stuff of science fiction.
Every available black and white TV set in my school had been either wheeled or man-handled down to the large room next to the school canteen. Although at the age I was then and having lots of other teenagery things bursting in on my mind, I remember the feeling of something momentous unfolding in front of my eyes as I beheld the initial indistinct ghostly upside-down image of Armstrong slowly and haltingly making his way down the lunar lander’s ladder before hopping down onto the surface and uttering the now famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
The real sense of wonder and appreciation of what had been achieved however, gradually manifested itself over the succeeding years right up to the present day. Like most people, I sometimes find myself reflecting back to that first manned moon landing and shaking my head in near disbelief that something of that magnitude had been achieved over 50 years ago!
So what happened to the giant strides in the intervening years? Being a sci-fi fan, it was easy for me forty or fifty years ago to visualize the human race having moon bases before the end of the 20th Century. It even seemed possible that we would have had a manned mission to Mars as was promised in science fiction novels, magazines, TV series and movies.
So why have we been spending decades slowly and cautiously mincing our way in low earth orbit while sending our wonderful technological emissaries on forays around the solar system?
It took just three or four years for humanity to lose interest in the Apollo moon mission magic routine. “Routine” is what they had become in people’s minds and bored people with short attention spans soon crave new distractions.
Not enough people had earlier on asked the question: Why were we going to the moon? What exactly was the rationale? Landing a man on the moon seemed to be a national goal set by a deceased US President almost a decade before. It seemed to be more a part of a national and ideological race with a rival power to prove just which system was in fact superior. Despite recent retrospective commentary, science and the quest for knowledge did not appear to be the main motivating force behind the moon landing mission. Once the competition had been won by one side, what then? The loser was almost bankrupted while the winner did not have limitless pockets of cash to throw at some place 300.000 kilometres distant, and for what return?
Much has been made about the unifying aspect of the first manned moon landing mission. Yes, it did bring a large proportion of the world’s population together to watch and listen and marvel at mankind’s greatest adventure. However, this sense of unity of purpose and destiny as a species occupying a fragile blue marble hanging in the immensity of space really only lasted but a moment in time. It was soon replaced by the usual round of wars, national rivalries, tribalism, political corruption, corporate greed, environmental degradation, economic inequality and the individual day-to-day grind of survival.
Along came the 50th anniversary commemoration and we had a few days of wall-to-wall media saturation as is usually the case with most events these days. Yes, it afforded us a time to pay tribute to the lunar pioneers and explorers and their wonderful achievement. It was also a time for the usual outpourings of sentiment, cliches, flag waving, chest-swelling national pride and manufactured memories and recollections. Perhaps the time as now come for us to reflect on the present by comparing it with and reflecting on a time in the past that actually manged to gather its human and technical resources together to accomplish something that has not since been surpassed.
Cheer up! All is not lost. No doubt modern-day venture capitalist Messiahs will deliver us all to the heavenly spheres by performing miracles that will turn science fiction into science fact, all at a special discount price! Hallelujah!
The corporate clergy and military ministry lurk in the background performing rites designed to bring about the corporatization and militarization of chunks of space. Lunar real estate and Martian mines are up for grabs. The high ground has to be held the better to keep an eye on friends and enemies alike and if needed deal them a devastating strike!
The political priesthood powered by the polls and the faith and adulation of their congregations, look to the heavens and care not where we go – to the moon, to Mars or back to the moon, or anywhere just as long as they too soar ever upward.
Then there are the prophets of science with their predictions for our triumphant return to the moon by 2024; moon bases by the 2030’s; manned missions to Mars by the 2040’s or sooner! They should learn from the lousy track record of prophets of old who predicted the end of the world and got it wrong time and time again.
Imagine if all of the human and technical resources of the kind that were marshalled for the manned moon landing were committed on a global level today and redirected toward solving the problems that currently bedevil the world. Science fiction would indeed become science fact whereby we could be occupying a fragile blue marble hanging in the immensity of space but one in which poverty and inequality has been abolished; where everyone has the right to live in peace and security; where we have access to meaningful and productive employment, free education, adequate food, clothing and shelter; democratic, representative and accountable government; economic relations based on fairness and equity; freedom of worship, thought and expression; and freedom from racial, gender and age discrimination.
No doubt, soon after our nostalgic dip into the reviving waters of human mythology ends as quickly as it begins, we’ll now shift our collective gaze back onto our screens and return to the world of wars, national rivalries, tribalism, political corruption, corporate greed, environmental degradation, economic inequality and the individual day-to-day grind of survival. Another “routine” space walk outside the ISS. Another “routine” moon mission. Another “routine” mission to Mars. Bored people with short attention spans soon crave new distractions and even fewer of us who remember the first manned moon landing will be around for the next commemoration – whenever that will be.
Part 2: DYSTOPIA NOW!
Speech &Thought Policed & Prescribed
Yet another brick in the edifice of an emerging dystopia, was the 2021 reported advent of a new 'trigger warning' device for schools that was said to sound a 'bothersome' two-minute long alarm whenever it detected offensive jokes and speech. No, this is not science fiction! This device for censoring ‘ offensive’ language was christened “Themis” and was being trialled in classrooms and universities as a debate moderator.
The device supposedly emanated an 'extremely bothersome' alarm whenever it detected slurs, crude jokes and ‘offensive’ speech. Apparently, we now find ourselves in a position to hand over to technology the power to determine what constitutes being “offensive” in terms of language use. As language is so intertwined with thought, this development and capability should set alarm bells ringing.
Could such a technological development as this lamp-sized 'trigger warning' detector, ostensibly to be used to moderate debate in classrooms and universities, result in stifling freedom of thought and speech while fostering the spread of political correctness and ‘group think?’ Could such “Themis” (Greek goddess of justice and order) devices signal the death of freedom and independence of thought and speech along with the stifling of discussion and sharing of opinions – the cornerstone of any worthwhile education not to mention our system of democracy?
Such developments as Themis may wind up leading us further down the path toward George Orwell's dystopian science fiction novel, “1984,” which provides the reader with a warning of the dangers of government censorship, mass surveillance and control.
When such technologies as Themis (that employs speech recognition and sound sensors to detect offensive language through its microphone) become normalised, we run the danger of self-critiquing and censoring our own thoughts before even uttering a word. Combine this with mass surveillance and facial recognition technologies that have the effect of causing people to self-monitor and regulate their own movements and behaviour. Is this the kind of world we want to live in?
With such idiotic proposals as the recent suggestion that authors such as Roald Dahl having their books altered and re-written to conform with current politically correct forms of expression and language usage, it seems there are those who do indeed wish us to live in such a world. A pox on them!
Finally, how many times have we heard presenters on the radio and other media having made a certain utterance or expressed a particular opinion, suddenly pull themselves up and question whether or not they can say what they just said or even whether they are allowed to! An expression of thought. Wipe out the expression and wipe out the thought. Welcome to a future world of self-censorship and sanitised thought and speech.
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Would you buy a political correctness police-bot? 'Trigger warning' device for classrooms and parties sounds alarm when it detects offensive language or jokes
@www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10200293/Trigger-warning-device-classrooms-parties-sounds-alarm-detects-offensive-language.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
SCI-FI & THE FUTURE OF
LANGUAGE & THOUGHT
Sometimes we marvel at some of the things we see and read in science fiction films and books that appear to have been accurately predicted or foreseen. More often than not such flashes of prescience are merely extrapolations of current ideas and developments. In fact, human beings are really quite hopeless when it comes to predicting the future – no more so than with the development and future course that the language we use will take.
George Orwell probably took one of the best stabs at what could happen to language (and consequently, thought) should those in power attempt to actively take control of its development and shape it in such as a way as to use language as an instrument of maintaining their power over the wider population.
How we think and view the world around us is largely determined by our use of language. In Orwell’s “1984” The Party knows that if it can control how language is used, it will then be better able to control how people think. In other words, people will only be able to think in the way that the Party wants them to think.
In the 1954 BBC filmed adaptation of Orwell’s novel, there is a canteen scene in which this idea is taken up by Syme in discussion about his work on the Eleventh Edition dictionary and “Newspeak.”
“We're not only inventing words, we're destroying them - scores of them, thousands every day. It's beautiful………. “The simplicity of it, of course. For one example, just take the word 'good.' If you have that, what need is there for the word 'bad'? 'Ungood' does just as well. Then, instead of a string of vague extra words like 'excellent' and 'splendid', you have 'plusgood', or stronger still 'doubleplusgood'. In Newspeak, the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by six words. In reality, by only one word. Don't you see the beauty of that, Winston?........By the year 2050, the whole literature of the past will have gone. Milton, Byron, Chaucer - they'll exist only in Newspeak forms……….The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought. In the end, we make Thought Crime literally impossible because there'll be no words to express it………….. Have you even thought, in seventy years or so, there'll be nobody alive who could possibly understand this conversation we're having?”
A very chilling thought indeed! However, I’m not a great believer in powerful cabals secretly plotting away and conspiring to dominate the rest of us in such a manner. In fact, it is more likely that incompetence and stupidity tends to reign supreme and that processes often take on a life of their own and evolve in an opportunistic way because most of us are too ignorant, distracted, busy, apathetic or gullible to imagine what if? What if I install this new app on my phone? What if I hand over this bit of information about myself? What if I allow every aspect of my life to be captured, monitored and stored? What if I jump on every wokish and PC bandwagon and cause?
There’s consequences for all of our actions, in-actions and decisions. Unfortunately convenience, time-poor lifestyles and social pressure often takes over, while actively taking time out to consider future implications of our decisions on us as individuals and for our society and to act on such considerations is deemed to be just too hard. Better to be a lemming.
With the future course of say, the English language, we can be sure that it will continue to evolve by borrowing from other languages, by its vocabulary being supplemented by developments in technology and by the occurrence of crises, disasters and global upheavals. New generations also add their own forms of language use and world views reflected by such new words and concepts. Thus far, this has been a major part of the source of strength of the English language, apart from considerations of power and the history of colonialism of course.
What is also certain about the development of language is just how quickly we jump at the chance of working a new term we’ve read or heard used into a conversation without even thinking. There’s no thought given to what if I use this word, how will it affect the way I view whatever it is I’m referring to? Am I being specific enough? Is there another more accurate way of referring to the subject of my words? Do my words convey not only accuracy but also originality of thought? Am I just becoming another inarticulate verbal lemming about to tumble off a mindless cliff?
Often we’ll hear people say when asked their thoughts about some matter, “I have no words to describe….” Of course, if the matter in question is highly emotional in its impact, that is perfectly understandable. However, I suspect that more often than not, such a sentiment is quire accurate: the speaker in fact literally does not have the words with which to express his or her (oops, can’t use those binary gender specific words any more!) thoughts and feelings. It is the existence of those very thoughts and feelings that will often depend on the availability of, access to and use of those very words. So, what has happened to the words? Did someone steal them from us?
First, we have the modern-day phenomenon of the Cancel-Culture Cult Collective who when they are not running around trying to topple statues, re-write history and consign Dr Seuss to Farenheit 451 flames, they try to dictate what terms and words people are to use and not use. Of course, opportunistic businesses, bureaucracies, educational institutions and the media and entertainment industries happily jump in and swim with the new current, taking the rest of us with them on a social engineering voyage. As we sink below the raging waters of political correctness, we find that we might no longer have a specific gender, but at least we all can happily meet our fate feeling fully fluid and included!
Secondly, there’s the hip wokey-dokey brigade who giveth us such words as “pivot,” “agile,” “nimble,” and “uptick” but who taketh away such words as “adaptable,” “flexible,” “vary” “increase” “surge” and so on. Then we find ourselves, “going forward” rather than “progressing,” or “advancing.” With “going forward” you can be sure it’s a euphemism for a major cock-up that needs to be quickly forgotten about.
The point being, is that the English language has a rich source of vocabulary which seems to be more and more under-utilised as time goes by. As the range of vocabulary being used in written and spoken communication is restricted, so does our capacity to express ourselves accurately and meaningfully. Thinking becomes more superficial and perhaps less critical. Who does that benefit?
Thirdly, technology offers so many possibilities in terms of improving people’s communication skills from simple word processing through to a plethora of apps and programs, not to mention the provision of and access to an all-important audience. And yet the finger has more than once been pointed at technology as being one of the root causes of the decline in literacy standards.
The wide use of acronyms, emojis, tweets, comments and the like seems to have encouraged a decline in people’s ability to communicate thoughts in more complex, abstract and reflective ways. For many people, the necessary words are just not there for them to use. In its place, we tend to have more abbreviated, emotive, transactional, personal and superficial forms of communication devoid of the accepted conventions of spelling, syntax, grammar and punctuation. Added to this is the apparent decline in meaningful face-to-face and voice-to-voice interactions (the latter if conducted by phone is increasingly considered to be an ‘aggressive’ form of communication) which are being supplanted by distancing technological intermediaries.
Finally, have you noticed how we’ve stood idly by and watched the slow extinction of the humble adverb? It has been replaced by an introduced species called the “Super!” Once, we might have felt “very excited” or “extremely elated,” whereas now we simply feel “super happy.” It may not be long before we wind up feeling “doubleplusgood.”
Stalinist Wasteland
Visions of a dystopian future are no longer confined to the realm of speculative or science fiction books and movies. For some time now we have begun to immerse ourselves deeper and deeper into a way of life that would have once been almost unimaginable in a democratic and free society.
The Covid-19 Pandemic brought this situation home to us as we saw more and more of our freedoms that we once took for granted being steadily eroded. This was particularly the case in my own home city as I’m sure it was also the case in many other locations around the world.
My city had the dubious distinction of being the most locked down city in the world, with businesses and schools being forced to close down, people having their freedom of movement restricted along with their right to gather and express their opinions via street protest, as well as having their whereabouts monitored and tracked via the use of mobile phone scanning of QR codes. Of course, we’ve practically forgotten about this now which in itself is quite dangerous and we even re-elected the government that was responsible for this!
The situation had reached a point whereby my city (and other cities around the world) began to take on the characteristics of a police state. People could be and were stopped by the police and asked for their identification, their reason for being at such and such a place and if their response was not deemed satisfactory, they could have been hit with a substantial fine.
We also had the disturbing development of our police force being increasingly militarized and weaponized. Take for instance the terrible sight of riot police with shields and batons battling with ant-lock down and anti-vaccination protesters (the latter with whom I disagree) as well as police employing capsicum spray, firing rubber bullets and using tear gas. Although the actions of many of the protesters were reprehensible, it was felt by many that the actions of the police amounted to an over-reach of their powers. It is not a sight we were familiar with in this country. The question is, why did it occur? Would this have happened had the protest been over a more socially or politically acceptable woke issue rather than one that could be seen as a direct challenge to authority?
The state government had given itself emergency powers (which by the way may still be on the books and could be re-activated should the situation arise) and citizens found themselves subject to the edicts of politicians, unelected health and other officials, bureaucrats and law enforcement officers. As a consequence, measures such as night-time curfews were declared without consultation and without being justified on the basis of any factual health rationale.
Our once proud “world’s most livable city” in a country that was the envy of the world for its democratic ideals and values and its tradition of freedom, had been reduced to an almost Stalinist wasteland in which people’s livelihoods and liberties were stripped away and replaced by the normalization of compulsion and compliance and where the official mantra, “No Jab, No Job” echoed through the empty canyons of the central business district.
In the current so-called ‘post-Covid’ climate of bread and circus distractions, it might be worth pondering that if such a situation was able to occur in a western liberal democratic system, could it not conceivably happen again at some point in the future if we forget (which no doubt we will) and allow it to happen again?
Part 3: Poetic Ponderings
World In Upheaval
The following poem contains a rather pessimistic view of human nature. When science fiction films and books present a post-apocalyptic vision of the future, often simplistic causes are given such as humanity having messed with nature or technology managing to take over. Perhaps the likely cause of civilisation’s possible downfall might wind up being more complicated with various factors combining into a perfect storm. Perhaps it might be even more subtle than that, or it might even come upon us in a totally unexpected way. Whatever the case, I’ll bet our demise will be inextricably mixed with something that is faulty within us as a species. As a result, the law of the survival of the fittest may very well come into play. We may well pray that the next invasion is not from something other than a virus which we have a hope of doing something about!
World In Upheaval
So what was learned from the recent invasion
Of alien viruses into our bodies and lives?
Why, we learned to live with the intrusion
And keep tally of who lives and who dies.
“Seventeen thousand cases, today’s tally revised,
With four hundred and ninety five hospitalised,
Seven on ventilators, while eighteen have died.”
None though “sadly” for those who haven’t survived.
So, off we go in search of far-off climes,
To bathe in pools of complacent smugness,
While the death-toll tally stealthily climbs,
For the once “regrettably” dead nameless.
Just to prove that recent events were but a fluke,
Off we march to kill our neighbours and rule their lands
While fingering worry beads strung with nukes,
Set for the command to create new wastelands.
“Two thousand soldiers were reported killed today,
With six million deaths world-wide from Covid to date.”
Numbers without body bags or truth to display
The shame we should feel for an evil human trait.
See the thread-bare bear wake from hibernation,
And lash out with ‘Sputnik’ overconfidence!
A mangy beast suffering from a nasty affliction;
Born of delusion and powered by incompetence.
Watch as a dragon stirs, set to self-immolate,
Smouldering within from embers of anger and hate
As mere mortals rise to reject its right to regulate
With power to command, control and eradicate.
Behold an exhausted and spent eagle with wings clipped;
An on-looker with mythical memories of past greatness.
Grounded by impotence, it can only offer wordy prescript
To a global menagerie about to plunge into madness.
A madness that created a world of plenty and more,
In which the means of life can no longer be obtained,
But where virtual Edens can be lived forevermore,
As Techno-priests have long preached and ordained.
And what of our supreme God of the Economy?
A milestone million lives have by one nation
Been sacrificed on the altar of its ideology
With many a pious prayer and alt-truth incantation.
We try to scale the heights of stocks and shares
And seek shelter behind the walls of crypto currency,
Flimsy edifices when bulls are supplanted by bears.
Quick; buy, sell, produce and consume with urgency!
A madness that can fill all the lakes of Europe with tears
Of sorrow for crimes committed against humanity,
While leaving arid wastelands filled with despair and fears,
In the Middle east and Africa: victims of modern sophistry.
The magma chamber of madness rises ever higher
Until the pressure becomes too great to restrain.
A new Tambora’s bellow of rage casts up ash and fire
Into the sky while from above lava bombs of hate rain.
The pressure builds as the dome of freedom and liberty
Is shattered by the blows dealt by the Woke-ocracy,
Unleashing pyroclastic flows of suffocating toxicity,
While captivity can be mandated in lands of democracy.
It has only just begun for the Indian baking and broiling;
The American whose life just went up in flames;
The African with withered crops or maybe drowning,
And countless others whom the tempest claims.
So what was learned from the recent invasion
Of alien viruses into our bodies and lives?
An opportunity for human-kind’s introspection?
Or false optimism derived from telling ourselves lies?
Precisely this: nothing more than has always been,
Is and always will be – our gift to the Universe.
A viral infection for which there is no vaccine:
Human lunacy that will forever continue to disperse.
O Grave New World!
The following poem is a bit of a reflection on a pervading feeling during the recent trying times which are rapidly dissolving into the mists of the past with an eye on the future. Science fiction tends to deal with change and human responses to that change, sometimes with an over emphasis on hardware and technology, particularly in films. This poem considers aspects of human nature, much of which has developed over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and which we will carry with us well into the future. How will our basic instincts serve during crises we face today and those we cannot begin to imagine in the future? How will they enable us to cope with enormous technological and social change? It’s hard enough as it is right now in these grave times!
With special thanks to the master, Mr. Shakespeare….
O Grave New World!
I have opened a door and gazed upon a world
I no longer know nor understand.
I wander its streets, an unheeded and unnoticed
Indistinct reflection in a puddle on a wet pavement.
Each street leads in the same direction
Through many ages of uncertainty,
To finally converge at one final destination.
O grave new world that has such people in’t!
Who can gaze at the heavens down through screens
To wonder at billionaires bobbing about
Within the void and vacuum of their egos,
Just brushing at the edges of space,
And yet failing to reach the heights once gained
By giants propelled by dreams and fuelled with the right stuff.
And you wonder now what’s wrong with the human race!
Who seek equality by kneeling and taking a knee
When every fibre of a man demands taking a stand
On two feet with hand on heart and clenched fist
Held aloft – defiant and determined to demand.
Who can’t even define such nonsense terms as “race,”
Fodder for mad Mengele murderous minds
To justify their exit from the human race.
Where “he” is now a “she” and “she” is now “they”
And “old white guys” are told they must cringe with shame,
While the disliked and vilified are deemed “these people.”
Confetti words and labels scattered day after day
As sad dead-eyed masked faces scuttle by
Disguising skin colour, culture and place of birth
And mask-mouthed muffled sounds from far-off places,
In a babel of tongues none no longer comprehend;
None of which amounts to “Race” so why pretend?
Who can wilfully trample on the corpses
Of freedom fighters of ages past,
And demand to see permits, passports, passes;
Denying entry to those without the required code,
And proceed to prescribe, restrict, direct and regulate -
Stay tuned for their latest edict and update.
“My, how beauteous and clever mankind is!”
Who can deny truth, facts, evidence and life’s realities
If they threaten their medieval mental fantasies.
Apes with the power of processors, under the power
Of algorithms’ spells and social media mesmerisms.
Time’s ripe for scapegoats and seeing off reason
So dust off the stocks and pillory and light the pyre;
It’s time now to shed all caution and play the game.
Who can be besieged and bewildered by invisible invaders,
A mere prelude to the final future reckoning,
To be met again by proclaiming “we’re all in it together”
Until we break on through to the other side.
Break on through to the other side.
Break on through….
Break…
B...
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on…..”
Foolish jig-saw puzzle patch quilt world
With ill-fitting pieces and frayed edges.
That sleepwalks while going forward into the future
Of consequences unforeseen but long suspected.
Eyes shut tight against the sky’s orange glow,
Pace unhurried despite lashing flames of heat
And scorching of the feet from hot coals below.
“Awake and arise, and say how thou camest here.”
I sought safety in numbers and was carried by the tide
And was swept along by currents of fear and loathing.
I turned my back on tempestuous winds
That flattened my home and shredded my life.
With head held high, I stood up on tip-toes
While waves lapped around the side of my nose.
I tried to hold back the raging inferno
By pissing on the flames ever advancing.
I guess I missed the CODE RED warning,
Distracted by my shouting for my rights,
While evading all of my responsibilities.
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.’’
For that is our quest, the holy grail for humanity.
To start with, we must awaken our hearts and souls
And be moved to feel by all that’s best in our being.
To feel your soul touched by that conjured to appear
By another’s soul, just sit back and…….
**********
[Music: Spiegel im Spiegel, (“Mirror in the Mirror”) by Arvo Pärt.
If you were moved by what you have just heard then there is future hope for our grave new world.]
Once more unto the Moon, dear friends, once more!
This poem was inspired by the film that really opened the classic age of sci-fi films of the 1950s, George Pal’s somewhat eerily prescient, Destination Moon (1950). I also had in mind former President Trump’s directive to NASA to have Americans return to the moon supposedly as a stepping stone to Mars and beyond. NASA has had its sights firmly set on missions to Mars and I wonder what impact this directive will have on NASA and the future course of space exploration. A lot will depend on finding the right answer to the questions posed in the last stanza of the poem I suppose. That may have been the failing of the previous manned missions to the moon….finding the right answer.
Once more unto the Moon
We chose to go to the moon…..
In a George Pal sci-fi spectacular
Just a mere five years after The War,
When Truman was President of these here United States
And H-bomb production pushed up the stakes.
We chose to go to the moon….
In glorious Technicolor and mono sound
As Korea became yet another battleground,
While industry grew fatter with profit,
And a baby boom got set to sky-rocket.
We chose to go to the moon….
Committed and depicted up on the screen,
Beating them Commies so evil and mean!
While winds of a Cold War made us shake and shiver,
And we warmed up with sessions of duck and cover.
We chose to go to the moon….
Believing that we were in a race,
In which we had to set the pace,
To be first to put a man on the moon,
And get it done and done real soon.
We chose to go to the moon…..
With faith in our industry and enterprise
Asking: What’s the payoff? What’s our prize?
Knowing: the race is on and we’d better win it;
Control the moon and all others will submit!
We chose to go to the moon…..
Not yet ready to catch and match the fiction,
Of a Woody Woodpecker demonstration,
Filled with optimism and basic principles,
And all kinds of kids’ cute cartoon visuals.
We chose to go to the moon….
When Kennedy set out a nation’s challenge,
One that would not be easy to manage
And one that would be hard to achieve
But one in which all could believe.
We chose to go to the moon…..
Having once lost a race into space,
Now a new race began to help us save face
Where the goal was to win and claim first prize:
Global pre-eminence and all that it belies.
We chose to go to the moon…
And did we rush in headlong haste -
To land a man on the moon and be the first
To safely return him to earth! Ah, there’s the rub!
Dangers abounded while Time stood poised to drub.
We chose to go to the moon….
With men who had the right stuff,
But would all this prove to be enough,
With the aim just to win a sprint,
To plant a flag and leave a footprint?
We chose to go to the moon….
And by Mercury, Gemini and Apollo we did!
Ethereal images both ghostly and splendid
Hailed us from another world with words well-timed
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
We chose to go to the moon….
And for a moment we stood there as if in a trance,
Struck dumb by the stark desolation and silence,
In awe at a blue marble suspended in a velvet black sky,
And then we began to fiddle and fidget and wonder WHY?
We chose to ignore the moon…..
Cynicism set in as adventure turned routine,
And the latest sitcom was the thing to be seen.
A blanket of boredom spread over a fickle world
Chilled by millions and billions at the moon that were hurled.
We chose to ignore the moon…..
What was once revered, worshipped and respected;
What has held our world in balance and protected;
What has of our imagination sparked and illuminated,
Has for too long been ignored and taken for granted.
We choose now to return to the moon….
Because others are there for reasons suspect?
Or to corporation the universe unchecked?
As a stepping stone to Mars and yonder?
Or to understand, know and wonder?
Technology & World Control
The following poem was inspired by the science fiction film, Colossus, The Forbin Project (1970). It speculates about what might happen if we human beings cede power and control to artificial intelligence with the aim of achieving peace and avoiding annihilation by imposing a technological check on base human instincts, emotions and motivations. It raises questions as to where we are heading with our technology, where might it unwittingly be taking us and what of the progress of human evolution along with the ultimate evolution of artificial intelligence?