The Mother of all Conspiracy Theories
Photo @Michaela from Pixabay
One beautiful summer night I was attending a Beach Boys’ Solidarity Concert Festival in Barcelona and it was hosted by Caritas, an organization known to help refugees and impoverished people all over the world. Before the concert started, a PR representative from Caritas was telling the story of a Ukrainian family who were refugees in Spain and how extraordinarily difficult their journey was and their situation upon arrival. Incredibly at the same time, a dear Russian friend sent me a WhatsApp message asking for my help to contact a real estate agent in Spain to find a three-bedroom house close to the beach for at least four months for a Ukrainian family who were friends of hers. I looked at the text on my phone and looked up at the screen on the stage, right behind the Caritas PR rep. to see photos of the Ukrainian family…I couldn’t escape the obvious contrast.
Through that contrast, I was sensitized to what was going to follow. A Beach Boys’ video clip began to play, and the music and video references nostalgically reminded me of the late 50s early 60s era. I was overwhelmed by the remembrance of the naivete, and altruism of the time compared to today. But then again, back then “love and peace” clashed in contradiction to war, weapon scaling, racial tensions, and the cold war; all of it framed by the nostalgic sense that progress could save us. So much has happened since the 50s and the second decade of the 21st Century. The late 50s were an era of hope based on the post-war aspiration that technology and human invention would make a “better new world”, capable of solving social and economic obstacles. However, within just a decade, the young generation of the 60s was not closing ranks with the vision of elders from the end of WWII. The hippy generation clashed with the American Policy to oppose the expansion of the communist threat, the war was in direct dispute with the Peace and Love movement, and it made the whole generation come crumbling down socially. Only two decades later the world experienced its “first global crisis” of the modern age Black Wednesday; then in the 2000s the DOT-COM bubble, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and crowned by the Subprime mortgage crisis in 2007. Let’s not forget the European economic crisis of 2010 and the COVID crisis in 2020. There is no shortage of conspiracy theories that can frame all the 83 crises lived through in the 20th century and a list of more than 33 bank crises in the same period. Aside from the certainty that there is always a crisis at hand, I do believe that there may be influential and powerful families and groups that sail through and take advantage of these crises. Even worse, these people and politicians have realized the grand opportunity that lays in every crisis for economic gain and to tighten the grip on means and ends to have people controlled and distracted. Furthermore, I have no reason to disbelieve that crises are now being promoted purposely for specific and strategic gains. Wow, that is definitely the mother of all conspiracy theories!
Our present western culture can spin this and weave a very intricate pattern of endless conspiracies and causes that control our lives behind the scenes. These plots can capture our “historical” sense of injustice and resentment to a point of broil; but is there an alternative interpretation or point of view that will empower our lives instead of rendering them worthless at the whim of the powerful?
When I was watching the Beach Boys concert, I was amazed that hundreds of people were recording the stage with a phone. The friend I went with was also recording the stage with a pricey iPhone. I looked at the screen, it looked sharp and beautiful. However, when I looked at the stage with my own eyes, I could see a huge contrast; on the iPhone screen the details were amalgamated, diffused, and confused. CCD[1]?is an outstanding technology, developed since 1969 in Bell Labs by George Smith and the late Willard Boyle[2]. It has evolved incredibly over the last 50 years. However, with my eyes I was able to focus on one item and perceive innumerable details which I couldn’t do on the screen. I could see shades of colors and details that when I looked at the iPhone screen could not be appreciated. My eyes are overwhelmingly a much better instrument than the best phone technology available. No wonder, my eyes are a biological technology marvel developed over the last 3.5 billion years, it’s second only to a bird of prey’s vision. Our eyesight is capable of incredible focus and the discernment of what is important and relevant, between the main object and the background. The best technology we have developed has a very difficult time discerning because it’s only an instrument… our eyes are much more; they are an integral part of a whole seeking and capturing predator. Our eye muscles and photon-capture senses are guided by our intent. We are aiming creatures, capable of achieving whatever we set ourselves to reach. Why is that? Because it was innate to our survival and so it has evolved.
To put things in perspective, nowadays AI is being used to segment and categorize the extraordinary volume of Metadata flowing every microsecond online. There are thousands of bits of information from each IP Address that interchanges information online, creating trillions of bits of data worldwide every second. An overwhelming amount of information that needs a high capacity of “intelligence” to be able to process it. After it is processed, researchers can ascertain what is relevant and what can be used for economic gain. I don’t remember where I heard that technology is nothing more than an extension and amplification of our senses. The extraordinary advances we have made in perception theory are at the crux of this issue[3]. Each one of us is overwhelmed by millions of bits of information picked up by our five senses. Our sanity requires the downsizing of that high-resolution information to a manageable low-resolution focus. But most importantly, it is our intent, modeled by our personality and who we think we are, that frames and puts into perspective what we see. So, our brain categorizes it, but it is Our Intelligence that does much more, it defines what is relevant and amplifies it to a higher resolution for our aiming and subsequent acquiring. It’s like we are immersed in an infinite reality that is potentially everything, and from intent we focus on what we are aiming for, singling out everything else and getting a picture that we call real. The rub is that our beliefs and who we tell ourselves we are considerably affect what we consider to be relevant and expedient. So, we must realize we have a very narrow crack through which everything is filtered, and it is being affected by who I am. If we want to expand that resolution, we need to expand ourselves, realize where our beliefs come from, what story am I telling myself of who I am. By the same measure if you shed light on yourself, you cannot stay fixed, you must expand and grow, because where you focus, attention expands. If you want to see what more is there, you need to grow and realize how you are judging it, so it stays at a low resolution.
So, when I look at conspiracies or get trapped by the sense of injustice or focus on politics and the economy as a way of blaming what is going on in the world, I have as low resolution as an iPhone. It may seem sharp and impactful, but I am missing the details, the subtleties, the real reason why everything is happening, because?the devil is in the details.
Then the relevant question must be asked, what is behind the conspiracy for my attention?
Since the late 19th century, most peoples′ livelihoods had risen out of thousands of years of crippling and demoralizing conditions that kept them working 12 hours seven days a week and living their lives on the verge of starving to death. Before the Industrial Revolution slavery and indentured servitude were the reality of a gross section of society. After a century, in the post-WWII era, the weapons industry and talent that scaled for the war needed to redirect their objectives, they began to focus on producing goods. As a consequence, the rights of workers advanced concretely, and in the mid-20th Century; for the first time in history, a good percentage of people in the west began to have leisure time. Consumerism became a culture pushed by advertising, and the novelty of gadgets that made “life easier”. Before we knew it, collectively we were sold we could live the lives of latter princes and kings… to have all we could, clothes, cars, travel, toys, experiences… something we yearned for thousands of years. All throughout the Centuries since the Middle Ages, when princes passed by our towns in their carriages and with their escorts and soldiers, showing their opulence and magnificence we were dazzled by their splendor. With the leisure of the 20th Century, we were driven to emulate them. It’s understandable, the human spirit aspires to emulate what dazzles their eyes. So today we are trying our best to live the lives of kings and princes as best we can, even if it cripples our livelihood with lifelong debt and mortgages… because we are aiming and reaching creatures. But who’s aiming and what for?
Nowadays media technology is in a war to attract your attention and modelling your opinion has developed with such exquisite precision that most people are in the dark as to what’s really happening. Big data coupled with AI, inbound marketing, and social media have been able to create a reality that, for the right price, can get a specific candidate elected to the White House, destroy the reputation of a competitor, or waive an opinion towards an issue. You are the bounty and the war for your attention is fearless. It’s not a matter of whether someone can do it, the real crux of the problem is that it has been done, hundreds of millions of people’s opinions have been modeled and beguiled to think it was their choice to believe what they believe and act upon it. Can you in all honesty think that given the complex reality of any of the crucial issues in today’s world like gender egalitarianism or race discrimination or social inequality, you formed an opinion on what’s truly going on and what you believe on this or that certain topic? Were your emotions not swayed to uphold a stand analog to your temperament and opinions? And let’s not dare to suggest that someone is not conscious of what they are really thinking or that their frame-of-beliefs are, or that they are just wrong; whoever dares to suggest it will be viciously attacked. We are so bombarded with news of what is going on, channeled by trends that preset our predisposition on a point of view (conservative, liberal, pro-choice, etc.) that we seldom know what we think on a given matter. We are being fed food that has already been chewed up for us.??
The whole process has deteriorated into tribes and vicious confrontations between fractions. If people have been beguiled into belonging to a tribe, what is the purpose behind it? Are we destined for a debacle, a social confrontation that will level all accomplishments we have achieved in the last thousand years if not more? Yes, we are, and you better prepare for the following crisis. And when everything is crumbling down into social chaos, it will be the masses who will ask for a firm hand to put things back in order.
First, you must know in your bones that you can contribute to making things worse for yourself and all around you. And if you feel it is impossible you can do that; you are most likely on the path of already doing it. Second, if you and your family or close ones want a better livelihood, you need to grow out of this limited point of view and must do the work before taking a stand. Listen to dissenting voices. Reflect on what would you need to believe in order to defend the opposite of what you uphold. Do the legwork to take a stand and do not defend a position you have not deepened your understanding on.
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In the end, the mother of all conspiracies lives in you, what is behind and fuels the conspiracy that keeps you pinned down on issues is your attention. It springs from the Low-Resolution you choose to see and act upon because of the overwhelming requirements to amplify yourself into what you can be. When you think of yourself as better than others or entitled to have or receive some benefit you haven’t worked for, most likely you have been played using your weaknesses to hook you in. Remember?you are the product, don’t fall prey to them and be part of their statistics. You do deserve respect; you deserve the possibility to acquire and aspire to greatness. No one is stopping you. Your ascent in social status is not blocked because of your race or because you have an unconventional orientation or don’t have the right connections or education. We live in the Era of Opportunity and Information, you can listen to Harvard Business Classes for free on YouTube, you can find all you need to educate yourself for free and acquire the knowledge and resources you need to launch your dream. The only person stopping you is yourself. There have been thousands of individuals that have harnessed themselves and set their objectives to achieve their dreams and got there because of their objectives, determination, and actions. They have amplified themselves to See More and act, becoming more. You are no less. Some are well known, Stephen Hawking was quadriplegic and could not even talk, Beethoven was dumb, Franklin D. Roosevelt had polio, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years, Thomas Edison at six was kicked out of school because he was too slow and he is the person who historically registered more patents in the world; others certainly are less known. But there are probably tens of thousands throughout history that have used their impediments to push themselves beyond their limits. They are the extreme examples, but there are millions of silent examples like you, like me.
Recognize that if you see a fragmented world that is in conflict it is true, if it affects your livelihood, you are probably focusing on the wrong point and leaving the most important in your blind spot. You have been fed a vision of what is relevant and important, again you have been fed food that has already been chewed. Know yourself, create your world, and don’t let others tell you what to think or believe. Be courageous and find out who you are. Don’t allow others to play on your differences with others or on your weaknesses to achieve your goals. From science we know that we are made from the stuff of stars, we are the most awesome creatures the Cosmos has created. Don’t sell yourself short because, before you know it, you will be food for worms… and between now and then you can be more dashing than a star… a god in your own right.
[1]?Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) is a light-sensitive integrated circuit that captures images by converting photons to electrons. A CCD sensor breaks the image elements into pixels. Each pixel is converted into an electrical charge the intensity of which is related to the intensity of light captured by that pixel.
https://www.techtarget.com/
[3]??Solving the Problem of Perception: Jordan Peterson at Cambridge. It is
layman’s terms exposure of where the theory of perception has taken us nowadays.