There is a fundamental element of social construction and adaptive behavior emerging here at the dawn of the 3rd millenium CE. The theory isn’t new, but the larger-than-life spectacle of the 2008 US election cycle and the attending catastrophic meltdown of global capital is reinforcing it’s pragmatic application. Amidst these crises the competitive mechanisms of control and persuasion are grabbing as much airtime as possible to capitalize on the power vacuum opened with the shattering of the old paradigm. Everyone is rushing in to assert their agenda and make one last valiant stand at defending their personal dogma.

The Cartesian universe established the illusion of truth and rationality. Rennaissance thinkers submitted that reason was the best path. Yet it’s clear that humans are highly emotional creatures often far less motivated by logic than biology. Even our physics has betrayed rationalism, now merely a thin veneer of structure over an inherently non-dual soup. Dualism is no longer an effective metaphor to represent the complexities of the world we witness. We are at once possessed of great convictions, yet whimsically dizzied by the myriad of possible realities before us. We are children waking to adulthood, both strong and vulnerable.

Biology compels us to adapt our behaviors. Or die trying. The energy and food crunch reminds us that, even after so many long and determined aeons of civilized life, we’re still essentially a balkanized mess of tribal apes competing for resources. All mechanisms of power basically roll up to this core mandate of the human operating system. The last 50 years or so have radically altered the stage of our evolution, establishing a massive abstraction layer spanning almost all human endeavor: the Noosphere of Teilhard de Jardin. The modern competitive environment, while rooted in the flesh, is increasingly a domain of the mind. Those who understand this and act to influence the construct have demonstrated a competitive advantage, though often more in the service of biological imperative than any noble commitment to the collective.

The ability to manage social narratives has become an adaptive differentiator in an increasingly mediated world. It is not just the recognition that a narrative exists around all things that occur on the public stage, but that this narrative must be deliberately crafted and managed in order to successfully compete and advance in the game of life. This is a defining element of the modern stage and one that has only become possible within the vast infrastructure of global communication heaved up across the planet over the last hundred years.

By nature of our participation in this shared abstraction, much of our lives now exist in a consensual representation. We’re all so connected that the apprehension, interface, and understanding of life itself is increasingly a collective experience. So much content of humanity is abstracted, uploaded, shared and discussed, buzzing in frenetic cycles that get shorter and shorter every day. We are a hive becoming aware of itself but the thing we behold is not a Platonic truth. It is a consensual creation.

What truth exists is the validity of the moment. The weight of the news cycle. Which prevailing current has the greatest mindshare? Who has the most eyes? As Heisenberg predicted, the truth lies in the observation and the collapsing of the eigenstate. It is only a momentary concrescence quickly enfolded back into a sea of possibility. The Simulacrum is moving so fast now and is so rich with compelling content flickering across the full polemic spectrum, that Truth has ceded to attention. Attention is the foundation of influence. What undergoes the formality of becoming is a matter of debate, not destiny. Indeed, the unfolding of history itself is becoming a product of the human marketplace of ideas. Memes with the most persuasion are writing the future. Our collective world is crafted in large part by those who seize the narrative. Karl Rove, Frank Luntz, and Roger Ailes are perhaps the greatest masters of this emerging social adaptation.

If reality tv has taught us anything, it’s that integrity and community will always be challenged by amoralistic, self-interested actors; and that some people will inevitably sacrifice humanity for success. We are being trained to look past any moral failings and honor the mechanical skill in effectively manipulating the game to one’s advantage. Whether by muscle or cleverness, victors arise on the backs of those they out-compete. Yet more and more the battleground lies in the minds of the people and that strange interstitial space of mediated discourse.

Now, amidst financial and constitutional meltdown the very machine of civilization is called into question, the minds of the masses are left awed and exposed, eyes wide in the headlights of seeming doom, mouth agape pleading silently for context and leadership, ready for the next distraction, misdirection, scapegoat or salvation, preserved only by mad poets, fevered musicians, relentless philosophers and the like more inclined to loving than fighting, though perhaps just as drunk on the powers of Life. Opportunists are racing to grab center stage and push the story in their preferred direction, hoping the narrative is stronger than the needs and expressions of the human social animal.

The battle is on and the territory has shifted - “the hearts and minds of America” are at stake. This is deeper than it appears on the surface. We are on the edge of a knife. Progressives, leftists, and peacenicks of all stripes must engage the social construct and actively manage the narrative. It’s not enough to offer the most logical solution. Indeed, the opposition will seize on this as another example of “liberal intellectualism”. The rules of the game have evolved and we must play it or perish. If Truth is dead and history is written by the victors, then the ideals of life, liberty, happiness, and peace need the best marketing team on Earth.

But dig: though the annals of Respect implore us to hate the Game not the Player, beware of such moral relativism and it’s erosive impact on integrity. Do not absolve the player of responsibility. Do not cast your votes merely on who plays the game most effectively. The rules themselves are a fluid property of narrative and we would all do well to keep in mind the social ideals of community and cooperation. Check yourself, lest you wreck yourself.

I really want to encourage people to keep an eye on the writing’s of John Robb, both over at his blog, Global Guerrillas, and in his ground-breaking and extremely relevant book, Brave New War. His writing focuses on the evolving dynamics of the global geo-political system with a keen eye towards 4th generation guerrilla warfare, it’s impact on the de-legitimizing of increasingly hollow states, and the need for communities to take control of their resources to establish independence and resiliency. His work is very much in line with my own sense of where things are heading, and his writings offer a coherent framework for understanding the great shift that is happening across our system of civilization.

My own personal recommendations: assume that the state will be increasingly unable to provide the fundamental services we have come to take for granted. Energy, water, food, health care, protection. The state will continue to spread out in extended foreign military engagements; American cities will move towards increasing chaos and conflict; local communities will seize the reigns of innovation, and assume responsibility for basic services and maintenance.

I don’t expect apocalypse - and in many ways things will likely stay the same - but increasing strain will be put on state and federal budgets ($700B Failout?) and the state will grow more and more pre-occupied with defending its own demise (and continuing is conversion to a loosely fascist merger of industry and governance).

The State is dead. Long live the State!

hunched, spinal crook, throbbing at moments, docile at others. typing challenge when the very atoms show increased laziness to maintain consciousness, let alone manage logical transactions and transcriptions. hard smooth granite props up the weight of my sagging uppers, arms and shoulders putting heat to the spine so it keeps my skull from sliding down onto the plastic keyboard, a dull smack with alphanumeric dents left in my cheek and forehead. all i hear are tribal drums, the steel hammering of subway trains over worn shiny metal tracks, a voice echoes, a woman with a foreign tongue, reflected through the terminal, cold aquatic robotic, even. recorded line controller. directing the steel eels running the tracks through the hive of concrete, steel warrens a thousand feet high seared with the hypersaw buzzing of monstrous cicadas, giant beetles and fell craven insects, a messy web of streets and lines hastily gathered over burnt wood and broken feudalism, through great fire and the greatest of all fires, an earthly sun that made the windows shine like heaven before shatterring, before god fell to earth clutching a gun. then a second of shiva’s world destroyers dropped and revealed itself to the city before the sun itself finally fell in shock, tears running from its old weary eyes. you cannot hide in sunlight. a feral sense like getting slapped with an eel two days past your last meal, even chocolate bees can’t turn me on because the world is round, love is red love is blue, she is water, he is fire, prophets of armagideon, manipulators, persuaders, war pigs for profit, energy barons grabbing lands, wall st gambling sucks up profits, we eat the losses. it’s all too much and caribou barbie will take us away and install her racist cadre of warrior hockey dads dressed in bad flannels and moose furs. pause. breathe. blue sky above alaska round midnight, wolves release high yelps along the hillside across from the icy river running down to sea. the hunt is on. there’s oil in that ice deep down coring to the earth to draw out the deepest blood, the thickest plasmids. love is all love is you. the wind is high setting the trees dancing. that refinery flash from the venting tower at night caught in the thermals thrown off by the combustions below. up rise the demons. marching off to war. this hive will buzz tonight. we will fight the icy river, those oily fires. can’t you see? demons standing tall and dark, hands and faces smeared in crude, black and smoky balrogs stalking the deserts of antiquity, walking through the cradle, spewing fire and ash across history itself. the tigris, euphrates, mesopotamia. oh you rivers oh you waters run. come bear witness to the Whore of Babylon! if i had my way i’d tear the building down. demon days i say. the hive is buzzing. a message is coming. keep your ear down to the ground. we’re sending probes to the sun, inspecting the heliosphere, talking to sunspots, bathing in that sweet sweet solar wind. dig. thats how we roll. our kind goes to the source. we speak with the stars. we break up through the gravity well with giant explosives strapped to our backs, sneering at the world below, rocket to the moon, got my glock and ipod for the jagged trip up through strato and out to geosynch with L5. they been expecting us and we are ready. got a big-ass knife and a dripping spliff. razors down my forearms and silica gel lifting my floats. zero g muthafucker. its just a myriad of stars. Which one will it be? just a myriad of fucking stars. like little glowing amber orbs, summer lightbugs alit in the heavens, floating buzzing gathering a thousand chocolate bees pouring so slow and ambered in constellatory arcs trailing dusted pollen across the very firmament. cover me. in my sleep. darling please.

Well I lagged on getting my Radiohead remix up in time for the first contest. So I’ve cheated and uploaded it to the new contest for Reckoner. I’ll eventually do a remix of the new one too but who knows if it’ll be in time for the current contest.

Just a quick note (and props, kudos, & cheers) that Douglas Rushkoff is guestblogging at Boing Boing for the next week or so. From his intro:

The current culture wars, as I understand them, are between people who look at our circumstances as pre-existing conditions, and those who see them as largely of our own making. Those in the former camp prefer to see reality as confined by the operating system of a Creator, and the human role confined to behaving within the rule sets established by Him. Those in the latter camp recognize the function of evolution, and the opportunity (if not obligation) for human beings to participate in the ongoing construction of our world and its operating systems.

“Sure, your guilt might force you to vote Democrat, but secretly deep down inside you long for the Republicans to lower your taxes, ignore the poor, brutalize prisoners, dictate what goes on in your bedrooms and rule you with an iron fist.”
-Sideshow Bob

I’m really stoked about this mix. It took me a long time (I did _a lot_ of chopping and re-timed the entire piece) but it’s finally done and has gotten some very heartwarming feedback.

Nude (Dressed Up Mix) - Radiohead

(I need to find a fancy embed music player…)

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

Via Gadget Lab:

The budget needed for an at-home surveillance system has just been slashed to a couple of Jeffersons. The eyeCam Micro Wireless camera, a plug-and-play with a wireless transmission range of 450 ft., is now down to $40, making it one of the most affordable spy video gadgets out there.

Click-through for sample video - spy cam attached to Dragonfly remote heli, ie personal neighborhood surveillance drone. Federal laws may apply.

Nova (audio by Helios) from flight404 on Vimeo.