REALITY THE GREAT ILLUSION

A Robotic Life©

Sonia Barrett

December 3, 2007

______________________________________________________________________________

More recently the idea of the integration of robots into human life on a more intimate level is now being thrown at us in a more direct manner. I recently read an article by Charles Q. Choi on the MSNBC Tech & Gadgets web page titled Sex & Marriage with Robots? It could happen. The contents of the article should come as no surprise although many will find this idea appalling. My intention is to bring to your attention the years of preparation through programming for this moment gradually unfolding. Like so many other transitions we fight against it but eventually the majority will succumb.

As humans especially in this current civilization we have become accustomed to loving our material possessions. I use the word “love” because for many the emotional attachment goes deep in attaching ourselves to these inanimate objects. It has caused us to confuse the meaning of “love” with “attachment and obsession”. Manufactures and corporations have capitalized off of this slant in our emotions by stimulating growth in building a society of consumers. Consumerism is an epidemic and the vehicle through which the “need concept” is fed to the consumer by convincing us to want more than we actually need. We then confuse need with want believing that all of the “crap” that we begin owning is a necessity in our lives. These corporations are selling us the idea of creating better lives by projecting the idea that our lives are always lacking. Hence we constantly strive to be good enough and to attain a “good enough” life if only we could just obtain the next thing and the next thing and so on. Now despite our awakening to the manipulation of big business this layers of robotic integration through technology must be examined as it has festered deep implications in all of our lives.

Materialism breeds convenience and with more people investing their energy in working to afford the programmed concept of a “good life” they will welcome an upgrade in technological conveniences, tools to lighten the load. I believe that as individuals we must now ask the question “just how robotic are we”. Although the truth of the matter maybe found to be disturbing it is necessary to review deeply should we desire to expand past what we have been or what we are becoming. We have been more android than organic beings. We have been operating with the traits of robots/computers/androids. Human beings depend on being trained, lead, instructed, given orders, guided, directed, given beliefs, guidelines, needs determined etc. There is a system of complete dependency in place, one that duplicates itself over and over again from one generation to the next as each generation becomes hardwired with certain non changing programs while upgrades are made as we go along. It is for this reason that “cultural codes” are in place in our countries, communities, church, education, work/corporations, family, friends etc. We often hear the word culture and we ourselves often refer to “our culture” but how clear are we on the meaning of culture. According to Heritage Dictionary culture is defined as NOUN: 1a. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. b. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population: The word “cult” is a derivative of the word “culture”. Cult also defines a structured set of beliefs, ideas and concepts held by an organization or system more commonly associated with religious models. Our entire life has been ran or experienced based on a combination of all of these various cultures. Your parents “trained” you or raised you based on bits and pieces of cultural codes of your country, those of your community and religion and when combined determines the cultural codes of the family. Family cultural codes are passed on and are altered according to the relocation of families from one county to another or from one community to another. It is for this reason that immigrants in the US as well as other countries, struggle to hold on to the cultures brought with them.

These are all programmed beliefs and concepts. Like an android or robot a set of rules and regulations are programmed into our memory banks in order to ensure a specific outcome of thought process and actions. In many cultures the abandonment of cultural codes can cost one their life. In many cultures marriage outside of the culture/race is forbidden and can cause one to be exiled from family. Many individuals fear this sort of exile, abandonment or shame stemming from the desertion of this programmed lifestyle. The determination necessary in upholding these codes are carried out by the members of that particular society or group. These cultural programs are so embedded that each member ensures that other members do not escape this programmed collection of beliefs. Why such strict requirements to ensure the longevity of these beliefs? The leaders of such cultures fear the freedom of true creativity and self discovery by the individual which would cause structural breakdown and control. Consumerism would cease to exist and people would become aware of their own power and their need for stimulation beyond the illusion of materialism. People would no longer be robots/androids. Cultural codes silently warn us not to question the programs. However there are those of us who have questioned all levels of cultural codes form birth. Despite those of us who have gone against the grain for most of our lives we have still been infected with some of these programs. There are perimeters within which we operate much of which when examined are silly and point less yet we have been trained in a set of concepts resulting in certain patterns of beliefs. We some times go to the extreme in opposing these teachings. We are trained every step of the way. We are trained/programmed by the educational system that creates perimeters of thought and creativity. By the time that we become employees in compliance with the base cultural programs we find that we adapt easily to the cultural codes of our work environment. Early on in our lives we learned to be accepting of programs with very little questioning or resistance despite our opposition to a few.  PART II