4 5
Machine is an organism, in the sense that the earth is an organism (like Lovelock's Gaia Theory).
So, I ask about The Machine™, but only now am I able to find the time to expand
upon my views of it.
Since I’m trying to come up with new metaphors for existence (or at least
synthesize some old ones into a new facet), I’m going to combine my ideas about
The Machine™ with what has been written about the Black Iron Prison. Please see
http://poee.co.uk/doc_files/bip-a4.pdf for details if unsure about the BIP metaphor;
however, I will do a bit of summing up.
So, from the ground up: As domesticated primates, we seem to have certain
“animalistic” behaviors built into us. Pack hierarchy, for example, as well as
territorialism, and aggression towards the “other”. We see this behavior as “natural”
in other species, but recoil, rationalize, or deny it when we see it in our own.
I suggest that our larger brains, once they became able to think on a Meta Level
(i.e. to “think about thinking”), thought out a possibility that precluded behaviors
such as have been mentioned; but the ability to think in such a manner doesn’t
mean that the more primitive parts of our brains and endocrine glands necessarily
followed suit. These almost-subconscious thoughts, actions, and central-nervous-
system tics could be considered one or more Bars in your personal Prison.
Further, we have suggested that our senses are intrinsically limited in the amount
of stimuli they can receive and/or process. From that minuscule amount of
information, our brains have to construct a layout of Reality that gives us our best
chance of survival. Since many of us don’t usually have to think in basic terms of
life and death, our Realities are shaped further by our societies, our teachers, and
our own thoughts. Since our societies, our teachers, and our own thoughts are built
upon each other like a teetering house of cards (and based upon incomplete
information, remember), the various Realities floating around out there are myriad,
and often conflicting. Each element of your Reality can also be considered a Bar in
your Prison.
So, now that we have established that, I will try to state my idea about The
Machine™ as simply as possible:
The Machine™ occurs when people forget to see the Bars of the Black Iron Prison.
That is to say, The Machine™ is a product of the more regrettable aspects of the
Human Condition: Primate social games of dominance and submission,
territorialism, and neophobia. When these aspects are ignored (i.e. denial that they
exist in the human condition) or rationalized (i.e. complex reasons justifying
primate behavior), it builds a system that when viewed from the inside (not thinking
about it) is “the way things just work”, but from the outside (Meta Think) as
completely monstrous.
In my opinion, we can never rid ourselves of the elements that create The
Machine™. As humans, we are slaves to the Prison; to biology. However, because
of our ability to Meta Think, we can recognize and identify our behaviors and
actions and aspects of our Realities that can lead to The Machine™.
Sadly, most humans don’t see a profit in it. Not to mention, it’s really hard work.
The complexity of life occurs on a lot of different levels. A very low level is for example a human cell (below
this level are possibly mitochondria, but never mind that). Go a level up and you encounter organs and the
human organism. Now these levels are (like nothing ever is) not discrete numerable levels, they are all
entangled and shit. That's what you get for biology. Anyway you go up more levels and you enter stuff like
family, tribe, society, country, corporation, nation, conspiracy, etc.
They are all made up of people.
Some of these are just loose groupings of people, but others are rather more complex and transcend the
notion of "group of people", just like a person or a brain transcends the notion of "group of cells".
Damn, did anyone here read Goedel Escher Bach??? In his preface to the 20th anniversary edition,
Hofstadter writes it down so clearly: Intelligence/Life/Consciousness is not in the medium but in the
patterns...
Douglas Hofstadter wrote:
Something very strange thus emerges from the Goedelian loop [the "strange loop" phenomenon Goedel
uses in his mathematical proof - 000]: the revelation of the causal power of meaning in a rule-bound but
meaning-free universe. And this is where my analogy to brains and selves comes back in, suggesting that
the twisted loop of selfhood trapped inside an inanimate bulb called a "brain" also has causal power - or, put
it another way, that a mere pattern called "I" can shove around inanimate particles in the brain no less than
inanimate particles in the brain can shove around patterns. In short, an "I" comes about - in my view, at least
- via a kind of vortex whereby patterns in a brain mirror the brain's mirroring of the world, and eventually
mirror themselves, whereupon the vortex of "I" becomes a real, causal entity.
(...)
When and only when such a loop arises in a brain or in any other substrate, is a person - a unique new "I" -
brought into being. Moreover, the more self-referentially rich such a loop is, the more conscious is the self to
which it gives rise. Yes, shocking though this might sound, consciousness is not an on/off phenomenon, but
admits of degrees, grades, shades.
Pfff I wish I could write my thoughts like that. Anyway, I hope I kind of have given here a good indication of
my reasons why I think Machine™ can be called an organism of some kind. (and I draw this conclusion not
only from GEB, it just happened that I read the above passage yesterday when I started re-reading the
book).
I also think it's incorrect to speak about one Machine™. I think it makes more sense to view them as multiple
Machines, nations, corporations and societies, all competing for their place in the economic/social ecosystem
that is humanity. Some are good some are bad; Some get destroyed by others, some get absorbed by
others, some work together in order to destroy a third, etc. All this just "happens" in a, "hey I just work here"
kind of way, from the perspective of humans. These organisms are not smart, in my opinion, just very
powerful in their ways, and battle for their own survival. They're made of humans, but they don't care about
humans, because it is not in their interest to do so; just like I could care less about the few cells in my body
that die every time I sit down on my arse.
Machine(s) are made of humans, and nothing else.
No, wait, it is even different. The pattern of life can occur in any medium. We don't mind the lifeform, what we
mind is the medium! It's not that these Machines™ are there, it's the fact that they are made of humans and
treat humans like expendable body-cells that pretty much pissed us off and made us concentrate on this.
I dunno, so far I can see a few ideas to remedy the situation:
- Destroy the machines. Discordian chaos/OM is a good attempt. Like how malfunctioning organs and
uninhibited mutated cells (cancer) kills a lifeform.
- Get ourselves a "good" machine, like Kai Wren said. It may be possible, but you have to make sure it is 1)
able to defeat the other machines and 2) is intrinsically concerned with the well-being of the humans it is
made of. Who knows, perhaps Discordianism can become such a machine some day.
- A bit far-fetched and esoteric, but since it is the medium on which these machines are operating that bugs
us, if we can just slowly transfer their patterns to another medium, nobody'd notice and we're rid of them.
Kind of like the machines did to the humans in the matrix, actually…
- Triple Zero
6 3
The following was stolen from a dead Frenchman's briefcase:
We don't know how reliable this is, or if it is, whether it actually means anything or
not. Neither, as far as we can tell, do YUO.
Soon, even weird shit that shouldn't make any sense at all will only reinforce the Machine™,
even if it isn't intended to sell Product.
I think everyone here has, if not a homogeneous opinion, at least a general consensus that
there IS the Machine™, and that its candy-coated teeth will (and very often, do) grind people
into paste.
Stop it? Can't. Destroy it? Not unless you build a bigger, badder Machine™. This is just basic
Eristic vs. Aneristic anyway, but the crunch for us is that the Machine is in a position to stamp
out the Eristic almost completely.
[begin crazy talk]
I'm probably a paranoid asshat, as always, but I think it's entirely likely that the Machine™, if
it is an organism like has been posited above, will eventually 'wake up,' or achieve
consciousness. If we are members of the Machine™, and we are aware of its existence, then is
that not already a kind of consciousness? If full consciousness happens in the Machine™, I'm
fairly certain that we're fucked, even though I'm not entirely sure what the hell I'm talking
about.
[end crazy talk]
-Vexaph0d
000: It's just my opinion that once something gets a certain level of complexity and starts
trying to protect its own existence, but in a self-referential way (that's important, otherwise a
sturdy safe would be an organism as well); you can judge it as an organism. Actually the
most important bit is that it protects itself in a self-referential (semi-conscious) way, no
matter what you call it.
LHX: I agree, but I say, if it relies upon (or is a part of) humans, an argument could be made
that it is the inverse of these things-- It benefits directly from our lack of being self-
referential; its 'semi-consciousness' is allowed by our 'semi-unconsciousness' or 'semi-
ignorance'. When two things are this closely tied together, it is hard to separate one from the
other and call it its own entity entirely.
000: Hmm… That’s an interesting view. It kind of works with the other analogy also. As
single-cellular organisms joined to create multi-cellular organisms, they lost part of their
consciousness/identity, just like humans do when they form large faceless corporations. Yet
another crazy feedback loop: I can already hear the white blood cells calling out, "hey, I just
work here," as they kill off yet another innocent bacterium... The thing is, as conscious (and
even the semi-conscious/ignorant) humans, we are in a pretty unique position to say, "I don't
want to be part of this," while (for example) the white blood cells aren't.
LHX: We are in a unique position to say it, but some might argue that we are not in a
position to actually do it.
2 7
The Machine™ loves to polarize situations in their favour (us/them...good/evil etc) but
immediately reverts to obfuscation & smoke screens the moment someone notices.
People are a fundamental component of the Machine™. The degree to which they are
a component is variable, but essentially being alive and part of a society inducts one
into Machineship™.
Governments are collections of people, regardless of whatever means they were
assembled (democracy, military dictatorship etc etc). so as long as people are
involved, then there must be a potential for Machinist™ features to arise.
When have governments NOT done the things that you isolated as being too specific?
I think an underlying problem is that within the Machine™ are the desires for power
& control for their own sake and the attending problem of holding on to that power
for as long as possible. The points I listed maybe specific manifestations but their
motivation are, I believe, very much part of the greater apparatus that we think is 'the
Machine™'.
-Pope T. Mangrove xvii
The Machine™ is connections.
Anything resulting from the idea of connections is the Machine™. Examples:
law, government, infrastructure, unions, marriage, love, and language.
At risk of being very, very cliché, it is the Aneristic principle. I agree with that
section of the Principia wholeheartedly. I really have nothing to add on that
matter.
When it comes to somehow fighting certain elements of it, I, in my present
condition of being cynical and tired, could not give a shit. The world is in a
continual state of decay and movement towards a crystalline and austere
hellscape. I go to school to be forced into a police state for 7 hours of my day,
with the rest of my day devoted to preparing for more abuse the next day by
resting and finishing work, with a weekend of frantic recreation in preparation
for the coming week. The Machine™ has bought the counterculture and stolen
its symbols and mutilated their ideals into 3 minute sound bites called rock
music and advertising ploys. The closest a kid of my generation is ever going to
get to truly rebelling is finding ways to avoid the system, while looking away
and falling asleep when people talk about fighting it.
The Machine™ will most likely assimilate me at some point. I hope to only end
up being used as a negative example for kids in the process of indoctrination,
so they can all point and say, "You can't be that guy, and everything he says is
wrong." If I'm lucky I'll be assassinated.
-The Littlest Ubermensch
IS THE MACHINE A CONSPIRACY?
The ILLUMINATI. Oh Shit! They might already know what you're going to think
when you put this down and decide it's not worth your time. If they do, go ahead and
do that. Just don't toss it, the staples aren't cheap and They're going to start charging
for e-mail soon. Leave it somewhere else, where somebody more interesting than you
will find it.
Okay, are the Cabbages gone now? Good. Hide this behind a copy of TIME magazine,
and keep reading. They're smart but they don't pay attention to people who read
TIME. Just keep reading.
Humanity is watching. It's not watching much, other than Must-See-TeeVee and ECF
and FOXNEWS, but it's watching with those with such glaring intensity that at any
moment, its eyeballs could burst open and bleed all over its face. Are YUO watching?
They're oblivious to the way they're oblivious, and apathetic to a fault. This is
something natural for Humanity. It's something they're good at, something some of
them (you know who) are even PROUD of. And that's fine, except for THE
MACHINE.
It's there, breathing and waking, and it's getting stronger every time somebody new
tunes in and tunes out. What is it? It's the collection of everything Humanity refuses
to do for itself, and requires Something Else to do FOR them. It's been governing
them for quite a while already. Now it's telling them who they are. It assumes they're
listening. It assumes YOU are listening.
WHERE'S THE CONSPIRACY? Somebody's got to be in control.
NOBODY is in control. But somebody's still in power. You think they're all puppets?
Of course, you know a thing or two about a thing or two. They're puppets alright, but
who's pulling the strings?
NOBODY is pulling the strings. But somebody's still pulling the wool over your eyes.
They're protecting the Machine, maybe they don't even know it. MAYBE they're just
trying to make a buck. Maybe there are too many maybes for you to make an
informed decision. But who can act on this?
NOBODY can act against the Machine™. But you can ESCAPE, if you really want to.
For security purposes, I can't tell you where the rabbit hole is, except to say it's three
blocks West, one block North, and under the nearest waste basket.
8 1

The Machine™ is what makes people send other people to die for abstractions.

The Machine™ is what drives people to spend 40 hours a week doing tasks they dislike.

The Machine™ is what encourages people to want things they don't need, and makes them
feel guilty for not having.

The Machine™ wants you to be in debt to a corporation.

The Machine™ is a punishing father figure.

This Exercise in Machine Evasion has been Brought to You By:
The Machine™ beats you up for your lunch money.
The 1960's fnord
The Letter X P.O.E.E. The Machine™ knows what is RIGHT, and what is WRONG.

www.principiadiscordia.com The FB1 What is The Machine™ for you?

The Foundation for a Better Tamara Bill O'Reilly's Pance -- LMNO
The Immortal Agents of Doom Peter, but not the Wolf.

IF YOU USE THIS PAMPHLET AS PART OF A THEATRICAL PRODUCTION, RELIGIOUS PRESENTATION, OR OTHER
WORK OF THE MACHINE, PLEASE TO BE AWARE THAT YOUR PLANS WILL ULTIMATELY BACKFIRE, RENDERING
YOU AND THE ENTIRE CAST OF YOUR SHIN-DIG POWERLESS TO STOP THE CHAOTIC HORDES OF OBLIVION.

FURTHERMORE, ANY ATTEMPT BY A GOVERNMENT AGENCY TO PROSECUTE REAL OR IMAGINARY PRODUCERS

The Machine™
OF THIS WORK OF ART SHALL BE CONSIDERED BY HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY AN AFFRONT TO ALL THINGS DECENT conceptualizing the mindless hyperconspiracy
AND THEREFORE SUBJECT TO A FULL INVESTIGATION BY HIS ELITE ORBITAL BOMBER SQUADRON.

IF YOU HAVE FOUND THIS DOCUMENT TO CONTAIN ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OF A NATURE SUITABLY
NOTICEABLE TO BE WORTH THE TROUBLE, PLEASE LET US KNOW. IF YOU CAN FIND US.
The Machine™ wants us to be fat, stupid and quiet, (Unless you want to rebel, in which case
LASTLY, IF, HAVING READ THOROUGHLY, OR AT LEAST SKIMMED PARTS OF THIS PUBLICATION, AND HAVE
The Machine™ wants you to purchase and consume their 'off the peg' rebellion.)
BECOME ENLIGHTENED, PLEASE PRINT OUT AND CARRY THE FOLLOWING OFFICIAL IDENTIFICATION CARD:
The Machine™ makes people yearn for 'Golden Ages' which didn't exist.

The Machine™ is often about convenience.

The Machine™ can invent solutions to problems we never had.

The Machine™ uses 'traditions', 'values' and 'morals' to validate their prejudices,
discrimination and general laziness.

The Machine™ believes that if the general public knew anything of import, there would be
'mass panic/hysteria'.

The Machine™ does not appear to recognize that plenty of people already know things of
import.

-- Pope T. Mangrove xvii

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until you picked it up. Now it's yours.