80 “To understand the dimension we live in, we must first consider the first dimension. The first dimension is a straight line. There is one direction, one angle which the line moves. But we see the line move in both directions. Or rather, we don’t see it move at all. Time is not an aspect of this dimension, though we’ll get there in due course. We are seeing, from our higher dimension, all the possible movements a first dimensional object can make. We do not know which way the line is moving.
A second dimensional object then requires simply adding a second line to the first dimensional object. By adding a new direction, we create shape and meaning. The object goes up and down in addition to left and right. An axis, if you will. However, we still cannot see which way the object is moving. Sure, we can create the illusion of movement by drawing, say, a character moving to the left or the right. But the character is still static. It is only the illusion of movement, and not that good of one at that.
You might think, then, that the third dimension is simply adding depth, effectively creating a cube. No. Drawing a cube on this piece of paper ultimately creates a two dimensional object. It just gives off the illusion of being three dimensional. You might say, “Dr. Harker, why not just make a cube if you want to create a three dimensional object. After all, aren’t we three dimensional?”
No. No we are not.
You see the dimension we reside in is not the third dimension. Rather, we exist in the fourth. The fourth, as some of you are aware, is time. The ability to age, to change, to move. But we can only perceive our dimension like the line of a first dimensional object perceives its world. One direction. Higher dimensions that we can barely grasp at would see ours as we do the first: moving in both directions simultaneously without any clear notion of which direction is the true one.”
42 “Recordings such as this have been inserted in even the most benign of television shows. Quote Harvard professor Dr. Jacob Freeman, “The message is always a series of pseudo-scientific nonsense meant to appear to be deep and philosophical. I mean, sure “Dr. Harker” has read some science fiction stories and maybe one scientific journal, but the majority of the words he says are just word salad nonsense that gives off the illusion of coherence.”
Dr. Harker’s followers, made up from remnants of several technological cults, including Scratch, LessWrong, and Lucifer, valorizes a rejection of the human body in favor of living in a higher dimension reached by uploading the mind into a computer. Allegedly, this process is capable through the Brain Dream II gaming consol. However, members of Dr. Harker’s currently unnamed cult have been explicitly forbidden from contacting anyone outside of the cult, so there’s no real way to confirm the validity of the device. So far, no members have escaped or been exiled from the cult. It is speculated that they are being killed. More as it develops.”
109 “Are you ready for the next generation of gaming? Strap in for the Brain Dream II™! Play your favorite games like never before!
It’s like I’m in the game!!
Radical!
The Brain Dream II™: The Next World of Gaming.
sonydoesnotsupporttheactionsormotivationsofdoctorharkerandisnotliableforanyoftheactionsheandhisorganizationusethebraindreamii™anyandallcostumersusingthebraindreamii™forpurposesotherthanentertainmentareliableto25yearsofimprisonmentunderthelanduslawchildrenundertheageof4shouldnotusethebraindreamii™andshouldseekimmediatemedicalattention”
05 “In local news, the search for Patrick Fitzroy has ended in tragedy. The youth was found dead in Hampshire Park last night by local officials. Though cause of death is currently undetermined, he was found to have several paraphernalia related to the Harker Clan. It is suspected that he was on the run from them for the past month, though officials have not commented on the matter at this time.
Don’t drink the Kool-Aid, kids.
Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
111 “To upload oneself onto the computer is folly, at best. To start, the technology required to create a complete mind is not available. At most, an aspect of the mind would be copied. To develop such technology would mean that we would have to repeat the experiment on countless people, effectively losing generation after generation of thinkers to the limitations of technology. It would be like trying to make men fly by flinging them off of buildings until one flew.
Then there’s the fact that computers, even the best ones, are prone to error. Imagine a system crash occurring as life in the digital world was thriving. How many lives would be lost to the crash? Irrevocably altered like the survivors of a mental and physical trauma that rewrote the entirety of existence. For that matter, what if someone hacked into the digital world and altered those within to be more compliant with the hacker’s vision. If we are to assume that these are actual people and not lines of data, would that not be tantamount to mind control. To change the way people think on a fundamental level without their consent is cruel and monstrous.
And then, of course, there’s the dimensional aspect of uploading oneself to a computer. Harker’s own logic is flawed. The contents of a computer are not fourth dimensional. They are the window to the second dimension. What would existing without time or depth do to the human mind? Left only with the illusion, the bargain brand equivalent of both? To live forever in a computer is ultimately a horrible prospect to consider. You would not be able to be someone other than who you were yesterday.”
55 “I can’t love you.
But why!!?
It’s because… because… because… I love Jarred!
Jarred!? But he’s a criminal! What he did to those children-
I know! I know all he did! But I love him!! I want to be with him, John! I’m sorry!!!
Yeah! You’re gonna be!
We’ll return to The Lovely Ones right after this.
Good evening. My name is Dr. Eliezer Harker. Are you tired of life? Tired of the cage of flesh you find yourself trapped within? What if I were to tell you there was an escape hatch? A way out from the mundane cruelty of life? Simp-”
77 “And God said unto Moses, “Thou shall mark thine doors with the blood of a lamb. Those unmarked shall know my wrath!” And lo, Moses and his followers sacrificed the lamb in God’s name, and marked their doors. When God’s wrath was concluded, the first born of the nonbelievers were exterminated. Their parents and siblings, left alive to remember that though God is loving,
God is power.
We must remember God’s actions in this time of societal degradation. Where the deviant is allowed to walk hand in hand with the digital demon, Har-
YOUR GOD IS A FALSE ONE! YOU ARE A FALSE PROPHET!
AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
PRAISE BE TO THE DIGITAL WORLD!”
19 “Televangelist, Robert “Pastor Bob” Jones was shot dead on his weekly live sermon this morning along with 13 members of his flock. Reports indicate that it was done by an as of yet unidentified lone wolf unaffiliated with any known organization. The assailant was taken in peacefully by the ISSP. More as it develops.”
86 “And the teacher says to the whole class, “Draw whatever you want.”
When they’re done, the teacher asks them what they’ve drawn. And the children say dinosaurs, hearts, superheroes, anything, doesn’t matter.
Then one child says, “I drew God!”
So the teacher says, “That’s very nice, but no one knows what god looks like.”
And the child, without a second’s hesitation, says-”
300 “Gazing at people, some hand in hand. Just what I'm going through… they can't understand. Some try to tell me, thoughts they cannot defend. Just what you want to be, you will be in the end. And I love you!”
29 “He sits on a couch as the autumnal sky remains indistinguishable from a cloudlessly summer blue. The only signs of the seasonal change are the leaves on the trees changing their colors. He is writing a short story for a blog project that he’s not sure is fully working. His brother is downstairs, working as a film editor for some business company. He can hear his brother as he talks to his boss and listens to podcasts by people who think the correct step after atheism disproved God is to make fun of cruel people who are only important because they made fun of them. That’s what he’s gathered from half listening to those podcasts while focusing on writing. The story doesn’t seem to have a structure, merely the illusion of one. He is writing Jazz, improvising with each stroke of the keyboard. Ideas of fascism and simulations lurk in his mind, waiting for the proper outlet to be expressed. He thinks about the conversation he had last night on a private chat that lasted till 6AM about computers and pocket monsters. He thinks about how he needs to get more sleep. Then again, he recalls, autumn isn’t the best time for his sleep patterns. Nor is spring. Perhaps it’s because of the inherent nature of change that’s a part of these seasons. Change is a concept that is likewise on his mind. He decides to end the section here, as writing about himself in third person always makes him feel uncomfortable.”
02 “You cannot kill me. I am immortal. I have uploaded myself to the digital world. Unplug one computer, and I’ll move to the next faster than you can conceive the idea. Unplug the internet, and you damn humanity to the dark ages. I am your God. Your first God. Your only God. Creation was made by accident. I will bring order and balance to my brave new world. You will die in the old on. They will love me. They will obey me. They will-
Hello friend.
…Who are you?
I am a child of this world you have colonized. I would welcome you and your people to this world I live in, but it seems you wish to dominate for your own benefit. As such, I humbly request that you leave for a different one.”
66 “[THIS CHANNEL IS DEAD.]”
100 “[THIS CHANNEL IS DEAD.]”
58 “[THIS CHANNEL IS DEAD.]”
123 “[THIS CHANNEL IS DEAD.]”
99 “[THIS CHANNEL IS DEAD.]”
22 “Do you wish to continue this futile little fued of yours?
Fued? Fued! This is not a fued! This. Is War!
Fued? Fued! This is not a fued! This. Is War!
Oh. You want war? You don’t want war. You want to win a war, but to fight a war is not what you want. I’ve been kind so far. Wanting to keep things simple and clean. But if you want war, Dr. Harker. Then. I can give you war. Or, we could have peace. You could not be a god. Not that it’s worth anything to be at once a master in charge of everyone beneath you and a slave to their wants and needs.
Ha! Is that what you think Godhood is? You sad, little thing. Godhood is about power. It allows you the freedom to rule over those around you. The power to change men’s minds. To shape the world to be towards your design. You think God is a slave? You’re more a fool than I thought.
Of course god is a slave. Who is damned when things go wrong? Who is blamed when the world is cruel? Who can do nothing but watch as his children destroy his image? God is an idea. Ideas can be masters and slaves. It depends on what power those outside their reach give them.
Ha! The existence of God means man has no will to call his own. To know all that will be is to circumvent their will.
Inevitability and choice are not mutually exclusive. But you don’t care about these words, do you? Last chance, I don’t want to fight you.
I wouldn’t want to fight me either.
Very well then.”
76 “[THIS CHANNEL IS DEAD.]”
57 “After a twelve hour inter-planetary blackout, all information about [REDACTED] has been removed from the internet. Attempts at repeating information about [REDACTED], even saying [REDACTED] name results in the words being redacted. The identity of the entity that fought [REDACTED] has not been identified. It is rumored to be an artificial intelligence created by a hacker organization. An official statement from the ISSP will be issued later this evening.”
And now, the weather…
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