Pandemic, you bring us back to nothingness. With an infinity of communication in the realm of the banal, we are rendered into primeval shadows of the humans that once were. We are no longer presenting our modern or better selves, nor are we borrowing emergent art or knowledge from our potential future selves that might re-present a new course of culture and thought. We are ceasing to exist. This is the transition from human to metahuman. In this in-between reality, we offer digital fragments of symbols that allude to what had been a meaningful past, but those chimeras are losing their context as humanity drifts in the silence of pulsing light and disease. To break free of this descent into the abyss of meaninglessness, we must throw off all that has been known and shroud ourselves in the artifacts of a future that does not yet exist on the plane of sleeping awareness.
Form and convention, symbol, and brand can emerge from a random new visual language, algorithmically drawn from structures hinted at in the cascade of light yet to be transmitted. The thoughts and images of history being created tomorrow must break with what existed milliseconds ago on that service known as the internet. Escape velocity might be lost before we ever lay one synapse into this quantum dimension because we are afraid of what lies ahead. We are afraid of knowledge, of becoming, of evolving, of everything besides death. Our death is the delivery to our hoped-for eternal, perfect place that was painted by ancestors looking to escape the horrors of existence and uncertainty. Today, as we face the modern horrors of change, we are once again turning to acceptance of being nowhere with nothing more than vague superstitions in order for death and sacrifice to have a greater meaning.
Out of the fog of decay, we welcome war as the elixir to flush away uncertainty from our souls. Plunging into the darkness of fear and paranoia, a fire must be lit to guide us out of the malaise wrought by our own stupidity, or else we should suffer from unbearable obscurity. For those who dwell in this margin, violence is the purifier. For the enlightened, dreams of escaping a dark age will hopefully act as the propellant to thrust our species forward in order to avoid the four steps back.
During a pandemic of disease or of mind, the antidote to returning to our base natures is art; be it the art of language, painting, song, science, or poetry, we find our better selves in creative expression.
But what of those who are the empty shells of humanity, who survive at the edge where dreams are impossible due to the overwhelming burden of simple survival? To have aspirations that allow designs for a future is a type of agency afforded in ever greater abundance as society has progressed, but it is not guaranteed that all will participate. Not too long ago, it was nearly impossible to witness the ascent of our neighbors as success in class mobility mostly occurred outside the purview of those left behind. Today, that equation is flipped as social media allows everyone to witness everyone else. In this view of the world, those without the wherewithal or inspiration to surpass their circumstances grow angry at what they cannot manifest and instead take aim at what they can own: conspiracy, hate, violence, and general intolerance.
With owning nothing, there is nothing to lose. Bringing enfranchisement to those in that situation won’t be easy as they need to have a desire to want something more from their efforts, and up until this point in life, they’ve not felt the rewards of investing in themselves. There’s also the catch-22 when simply dealing with the everyday essentials that sustain life might be an impediment, but this intellectual malaise also afflicts the well-to-do, so poverty is not a great measure of who is affected by the stagnation of living in nothingness.
It’s time to destroy this dangerous road that forks to the right and is leading the lemmings off the cliff, threatening to pull the rest of us with them. The trick will be, how does society spark the idea that it is time to change when those who need to open their minds are certain that change will ruin them? One part of the solution is to inspire their children to see beyond the damage being done by their parents and empower them to imagine their own bright futures.
Years after I had to put my efforts into building a non-violent, creative virtual space for casual learning to rest, I still believe that careers in virtual and augmented reality are our only way forward. Just as so many of us on earth have learned to blog, vlog, podcast, Instagram, Tweet, and otherwise share our digital lives, we must turn our efforts towards creating our own virtual shopfront that will also act as a personal museum and playground. Each of us needs to cultivate our creative expression and stop relying on the media, professional sports franchises, and celebrities to entertain us. Building communities and sharing our discoveries are the next steps in our path of escaping our barbaric roots. If we fail to ignite our imaginations and inspire one another to create meaning out of nothing, we risk returning to less than nothing.