What is The Machine™

[BADGE OF HONOR]

I maintain the machine is necessary, right down to the most fundamental level's, it is everything. What the machine needs to be is not destroyed but to be pimped, tweaked, bugfixed, virused, hacked, reverse engineered. As cain put it - open sourced and all that that glorious software vision promised us back in the early days.

This is what I was trying to say earlier.  Destroying The Machine is impossible--there would be pure anarchy for about two minutes, then The Machine would rebuild instantly.  It may come back in smaller, even more flawed copies, or finally arrive at that utopia everyone longs for.  My money isn't on the latter, that's for sure.

The problem with The Machine, as I see it, is it fosters a callous uncaring of other humans.  There are some ways to get around that (Christianity is good for at least attempting to look after the well-being of everyone) but inevitably our perceptions of the world devolve into Us and Them.  As it is now, it seems impossible for everyone to become Us (i.e. worth our concern) simply because there are too many of us.  

Upon rereading, I guess I'm calling for Global Love and Companionship.  It seems stupid, especially to anyone as cynical as me, but maybe it's the only way people will stop killing each other.  And I don't mean just physically.  There's an anecdote in Dune about finding drowned sailors with bootmarks on their heads and soldiers.  Metaphorical killing.  Still, it is simply not economically feasible to live completely peacefully.  Not to mention we all experience an atavistic joy when spreading the misery around.  I know I feel pretty gleeful when trolling, though I pretend it's a brand of tough love.  

Upon more rereading, I feel like I woke up this morning a dirty, dirty hippy.  I guess that's what a good night's sleep does you.

[AFK]

It's impossible for us to destroy.  But, not impossible for the cosmos to destroy.  That is the day The Machine dies, when the Sun reclaims that which she belched out. 

[LHX]

somewhere in between how we intend to act and how we act, we forget to respect the tools we are using and the people we are affecting

something gets lost in the transition

love and companionship is the general motivation behind everybody
but somehow it dont translate when people make their choices

that seems to be where The Machine makes its residence


a couple threads now it came up how destroying it isnt possible

maybe there just need to be some agreement on wtf it is and wtf it is doing (and how)



or maybe dirty hippy syndrome is spreading

[Thurnez Isa]

Still, it is simply not economically feasible to live completely peacefully.

not only economically feasible, but socially
the main structure of a country, a state, or community is defence. It is to maintain and professionalize war
"Wartime brings the ideal of the State out into very clear relief, and reveals attitudes and tendencies that were hidden. In times of peace the sense of the State flags in a republic that is not militarized. For war is essentially the health of the State." Randolph Bourne
the economy is structured around defence
weapons employ millions

Upon more rereading, I feel like I woke up this morning a dirty, dirty hippy.  I guess that's what a good night's sleep does you

expecially when you work night shift

im glad your feeling better

[Starship, take me]

Anyone raging against The Machine^TM should critically study Anthropology.  Radically different cultures reveal that "human nature" is pretty malleable.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Still, it is simply not economically feasible to live completely peacefully.

not only economically feasible, but socially
the main structure of a country, a state, or community is defence. It is to maintain and professionalize war
"Wartime brings the ideal of the State out into very clear relief, and reveals attitudes and tendencies that were hidden. In times of peace the sense of the State flags in a republic that is not militarized. For war is essentially the health of the State." Randolph Bourne
the economy is structured around defence
weapons employ millions

That's true right now. But the fact that it's true is merely an indication of how retarded the human race is overall. With mass enlightenment will come the perspective to trancend petty squabbling over territorial, secular or any other issue you might care to blow someone apart over. By letting go of or transcending these things the beast is freed and tamed at the same time.

[Triple Zero]

There was an MW immigrant that was cool but left for some reason, who was doing some sort of program that would gauge the elemental forces of the internet for things like sentience, benevolence, wisdom, stupididty, etc.  A cool project, suffice to say, and I never heard back about it.

cooool

i always wanted to try and do such a thing

d'ya have any links or references for that?

[Jasper]

Just hearsay.  I've since lost his contact info, but you might find it in some thread diving at EBG.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I considered the use of "Machine,Ñ¢" (coined in PD06 use by TGRR, btw) to be more Kafka-esque, as in an inexorably grinding juggernought that will grind you up & spit you out.



Neurongot, please to be doing more than complaining... please to be giving us a more useful term.

I'm just saying.

If you're writing for a more general audience, you might as well cut all the baggage that's firmly attached to "The Machine," by coming up with your own terms.  The Machine as used in popular culture is a trendy way of complaining about society without having to supply a personal critique.  What the fuck is this fetish with "The Machine"?  Why fight the association with bullshit? 

I thought the whole purpose of writing the PD'06 was so we wouldn't have to do that.

[Triple Zero]

Just hearsay.  I've since lost his contact info, but you might find it in some thread diving at EBG.

ok i might just do that, tentasticle was his name you say? got a rough timeframe?

i haven't logged on to eb&g since .. well basically since matters seemed to come back to life here. seem to be having some trouble getting back in, but otoh it's wayy too early here to do anything anyway

[Cain]

He gave me his AIM...but it was deleted with the change of software.... .  I suggest you ask Mayhem/Bethra how to best get in contact with him.

[Benaclypse]

I considered the use of "Machine,Ñ¢" (coined in PD06 use by TGRR, btw) to be more Kafka-esque, as in an inexorably grinding juggernought that will grind you up & spit you out.



Neurongot, please to be doing more than complaining... please to be giving us a more useful term.

I'm just saying.

If you're writing for a more general audience, you might as well cut all the baggage that's firmly attached to "The Machine," by coming up with your own terms.  The Machine as used in popular culture is a trendy way of complaining about society without having to supply a personal critique.  What the fuck is this fetish with "The Machine"?  Why fight the association with bullshit? 

I thought the whole purpose of writing the PD'06 was so we wouldn't have to do that.

The Virus^tm.  What is the Virus^tm?

[Cain]

Interesting word.  Viruses aren't alive, but they replicate in a highly mechanical manner by infecting living host organisms.  Almost all do some form of damage to the body, but only the most ill-adapted actually bring it close to death.

[P3nT4gR4m]

then there were Memes  :-D

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Interesting word.  Viruses aren't alive, but they replicate in a highly mechanical manner by infecting living host organisms.  Almost all do some form of damage to the body, but only the most ill-adapted actually bring it close to death.

Actually, that's not true.  Sometimes extreme virulence is the best adaptation.  For example, in the US HIV tends to be dormant for long periods of time and can take decades to completely overwhelm a person's immune system.  This is because our economy and political situation is relatively stable, the vast majority of the population sticks to monogamy, and have fewer children per couple.  In this sort of situation it's better for the virus to keep a low profile and extend its host's lifetime, to allow more chances for it to spread.
In contrast, certain strains in West Africa are extremely virulent and can kill people in a few years after infection, simply because all of the social unrest and poverty.  Men go from the country to the city to make money, sleep with prostitutes, get HIV, bring it home to their wives.  Or women come from the country to provide services to the militias and private armies, then go home when they get sick.  Everyone is having a lot of sex, mostly without condoms (especially since having children is so important since most of them won't survive to adulthood).  So the virus, having more opportunities to spread, replicates more extensively inside its hosts, which kills them sooner.  Virulence, in this case, is quite a good adaptation.

This of course fits in directly with my previous postulation, that The Machine is a mass adaptation of the human subconscious to population pressure.  I'll have to elaborate it more in light of the viral metaphor.