I was just eating lunch, and thinking, and started to wonder about a possible future world in which everyone, or nearly everyone, is Jacked In to the massive computer network that serves as their main memory recall, no need to actually remember anything when it's all out there in the cloud, instantly available upon request. And by Jacked In I mean direct brain to cloud connection, no delay, no waiting, instant access to everything and everyone on the planet. Now, what if the System is how people relate to each other, even in physical proximity, they are only Aware of each other's physical presence, and reality, via the System. In other words, no one asks for anyone's name, or vital information, it's instantly available when you meet someone. A cursory greeting is almost an antiquated behavior, that really isn't necessary. So, I was thinking, what if there were people, a few nuts, crazies, who choose, for some insane reason, NOT to be Jacked In.

Would everyone else even be aware of their existence? What if the only way anyone even knows they are alive is because the System tells them so? What if the only way anyone is even aware of your physical presence in the same room, or proximity, is if the System says you are there? Would people who are Not Jacked In even register in anyone else's awareness? Or would awareness be mainly virtual? Could someone who is not really registering as being really there be considered a Ghost by those who can't see them?

Could such a Ghost, being a Ghost only because the System is unaware of them, be called a Techno Ghost? And if so, what if one such Techno Ghost learned how to hack the System and get what they want from it, without anyone even knowing about it, since the System has no Administrators, being fully autonomous and automated? I would imagine such a person would consider himself somewhat of a Ghost in the Machine, a Machine that is all around him, it's individual parts and functions being the Jacked In populace of the world.

Strange series of thoughts, I know, but things tumble around in my mind, and sometimes something really interesting spews out. Well, interesting for me anyway. Think of it what you will, I don't mind if you think there is no value in any of this. I just needed to spew it out of my head somewhere.

What is reality? I mean, it seems to me that people generally defend, with great effort, the majority opinion of what is real, and what is not. Anyone deviating from that is ostracized, criticized, even brutalized. But what if the Majority are entirely fooled into believing something that Is Not So? What if most people's awareness is flawed, limited, in such a way that a person with better perception is mocked, and ridiculed? Imagine a society of blind people, and a baby boy is born who can see. Imagine now that the boy, as he grows up to learn how to speak, is becoming aware of things that others are not aware of, asking questions that others find utterly ridiculous. Like, "What are those things above us?" with an answer like "Stop making things up, the only things above us are things we've put there ourselves, now get back to work, you freak!".

If reality is way beyond anything we can actually perceive or even imagine, and we are only aware of the barest FRACTION of what Reality actually is, then how can we presume to judge whether someone is perceiving something we can't, or is making it up? In my imaginings about Techno Ghosts, what if someone who is Jacked In somehow experiences a glitch in the System allowing them to become Aware of the Ghosts all around them, but no one else will believe them?

What kinds of things might I become aware of, that no one else would believe? I think maybe having an open mind to the unknown, and unknowable, is far preferable to wearing blinders.

v.