When I think of the State, I often picture a dragon. Not of the physical, but a dragon of the mind — forever circling, menacing, and casting down a spell of fear and obedience.
A handful of us are naturally immune to this hex. Others have designed shields to defend against it. Whatever the individual journey, there are those among us who see the truth of things and are working to break the spell. Who are working to literally free the minds of those still mentally caged by the beast.
We’re able to do this in such a highly effective manner — and yes, make no mistake, we are having a major effect — because of that singular thing that connects the world in ways humanity has never known, the Internet.
“The Digital Age” is a common moniker for this current era of technological advancement. The name itself evokes the idea of instant communication. Of constant updates. Of the exchange of information.
And it’s that last bit, the exchange of information, that has the dragon losing sleep.
Because the Digital Age is just the beginning. It’s merely phase one of a far greater potentiality. Jump a millennia ahead, and think of scholars looking back. The Digital Age could very well be the beginning of a true Age of Information. A rebirth of mind and spirit. A second Renaissance, if you will.
Think Star Trek. Think Federation. Think of the societal ills those humans had managed to eliminate just a few centuries beyond our current time.
They were able to do so because they’d allowed themselves to evolve. To reach toward enlightenment. They chose to see the truth of things, and then respond accordingly. This is precisely the sentiment the venerable Captain Jean-Luc Picard once tried to convey to that lovable miscreant Q:
Humanity has been presented a choice, and that choice comes courtesy of the Internet. That’s about the size of it. The truth is there to be discovered, people. Reality is there to be engaged. What remains to be seen is whether the mental prisoners will allow themselves to be freed.
But the key to the lock is here, now, and that key is information. Because, in the end, it’s information — and its inevitable byproduct, awareness — that has the potential to slay that dragon that is the State.
SIDE NOTE: All this, of course, hinges on the assumption we’re not all incinerated in a global nuclear fireball.
