The Evil One
We haven’t been giving enough attention to this guy, and he has metamorphized and become much more powerful. Instead of an evil being (something easy to recognize) he has become an evil force – one we have not recognized.
This is part of an overall trend towards networks, as I said in People Have Become a Network - one of my better postings. We have paid a lot attention to networks like the Internet, but no attention to how we have become networked ourselves. Even though nearly everyone is on Facebook, has a smartphone, and loves them. We just assumed they were a good thing, and enjoyed their advantages.
But the bad guys have been enjoying their advantages even more. And the bad guys, as the Good Book says, are with us always. At one time, in our Gilded Age, they were very visible. But in our Networked Age they have become invisible – part of the corporate air that we breath.
Let me say that again – our very air has become poisonous. And I don’t think this is just my paranoia speaking.
The reason for this is perfectly simple – we have become externalized, or extended, into a network consisting of both humans and non-humans (our many clever technologies). Now the question becomes “Why is this toxic?”
I think it is because our new extended (highly improved) selves have turned against our original selves – which under the surface we still are. We have turned against ourselves.
To put this another way – we have become evil ourselves – and we rather like our new role, and take it seriously. But we do not want anyone to call it what it is.
But I live a charmed life, and can blabber away on the Cloud (the perfect all-purpose network) as much as I please. This does little good – but it makes me feel good – which seems to me like a good thing.
a charmed life indeed!