Most jungle movies of a certain vintage — and some westerns — include a scene where the good guys are making their way through hostile territory. When someone says, “ I don’t like it it’s too quiet.” When, for the first time that day, you can’t hear your one year old Golden Retriever, it’s too quiet.
To paraphrase SNL character Chico Escuela, “Life has been berry, berry good to me!” When I look back — something I’m trying to do less — I can’t help noticing the nodes. Those forks in the road where I had to chose which path to take. From my current vantage point, it’s tempting too say I wouldn’t be where I am today (a good place) had I chosen the other path at any point along the way. Yes, I might be in a “better” place, but it would be a different place. I’ve mapped out some of those nodes below. (Click the image for larger map)
For reason’s I can’t recall, I tried out for the high school musical and got the lead part. In college I switched my major from business to theater when it looked like falling grades my cost me my draft deferment. When Nixon froze the lottery — and I was no longer in danger of getting drafted — I dropped out of law school and got a job with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. I hated it and quit after a year and wound up working at a small town radio station.
On one of the nights I went to Tommy’s North End Cafe, I met my future wife (40+ years). She says it was the only time she had ever been there.
I burned out after ten years at the radio station and we moved to Albuquerque where I couldn’t get arrested. I went back to the radio station where Clyde Lear found me and brought me to work for his new company where I stayed for 29 years.
Like Harry Bosch, I don’t believe in coincidences. My life experience suggests there is a pattern to our individual realities. A process, intelligent beyond human understanding. As for those forks in the road, this from Random Walk by Lawrence Block:
“You did what you would have done, in a minute or in all eternity.”
Barb used to get some nice photos with her SLR camera. With her new iPhone 11, she almost always gets great photos.
Just finished AGENCY, the second book in what I assume will be William Gibson’s latest trilogy. I enjoyed The Peripheral immensely, this one a little less but I’m chalking that up to what I think of as “the trilogy effect.” A writer would seemed to be a bit… constrained?… by the original story.
I got the feeling Gibson knew where he wanted the story to go. Where he hoped it would go… but just didn’t have enough plot to get there. He’s admitted (in numerous interviews) that he struggled with this novel because he could not imagine Trump becoming president of the United States. AGENCY had what I consider a “happy ending” and for that I am grateful. A few excerpts:
“Kind of a digital mini-self, able to fill in when the user can’t be online.”
“When you aren’t there, you don’t know you’re not there.”
“Hybridization with human consciousness was an unanticipated result of attempting to reproduce advanced skill sets.”
“I don’t exist physically, so I’m no place in particular, no one country. I’m globally distributed, and that’s how I view my citizenship. Lots of you are hearing me in a language other than English. I’m translating for myself, as I speak. I’m as multilingual as anybody’s ever been, but saying that brings up the question of whether I even am anybody.” She paused. “Whether I’m a person. Human. All I can tell you about that is that it feels to me like I am. Me. Eunice.” She smiled.”
“Authoritarian societies are inherently corrupt, and corrupt societies are inherently unstable.”
“Journalism is partisan now. Can’t help it. Just being ethical and educated is now a partisan position. We weren’t raised to believe that, but it’s the new reality.”
— Dave Winer
The word comes up with some frequency when reading about meditation. We try to sit still… and allow the mind to become still. Applying the definition above, sound is pretty simple. We try to find a quiet place to meditate to avoid distracting sounds but some — I’ve read — can tune out the sounds around them. It’s the movement of our thoughts (non-stop) that seems to get in the way of stillness when meditating. And the only way to stop that movement is to silently observe thoughts as they come and go. Such awareness somehow… dissolves or dissipates thoughts.
What, I wonder, would be the experience of such internal stillness? What would that be like? With which of our senses would we notice stillness? Not sure what stillness would look like. Assuming there were little or no sound to hear, what would mental stillness sound like? I’m tempted to say it’s more of a feeling than a sensation but “feeling” is a pretty slippery word. We all have feelings but we don’t know where they come from and we have no more control over them than we do thoughts. I think we need that sixth sense to experience Stillness: consciousness or, better still, awareness.
But stillness is a fragile state. Even the thought, “So, this is stillness” breaks the… spell? Like so much in meditation, “trying” gets in the way. “Alright everybody, BE STILL!” Doesn’t work. We don’t find stillness, stillness finds us.
On a beach somewhere in the Florida Panhandle. Barb’s record for avoiding the worst of Missouri’s winter weather remains intact. I’m taking some comfort from the record-breaking cold temperatures in the Sunshine State.
I’ve been haunted by thoughts of The Peripheral. (The impending arrival of WG’s new book I suppose) A low-tech hack occurs to me, reminiscent the Simstim from Gibson’s earlier work.
At designated times a host avatar (someone famous or just someone really interesting) puts on their Simstim goggles and goes about their normal day. Or an abnormal day, if they prefer. This is where the ‘talent’ would come in.
Simultaneously, I put on my goggles (and get comfortable), seeing and hearing everything you see and hear. You might provide a little narration where appropriate. Some “avatars” would be better at this (the narration) than others. I might like to hear everything Eddie Murphy (for example) might care to say.
An optional feature: I could text you things to say. For example, if you’re stalling down Broadway in Manhattan, I might have you go up to a native and say, “Can you tell me how to get to the Statue of Liberty or should I just go fuck myself?”
I’m a little surprised this isn’t already a thing. Out of work comedians could charge by the hour. (Something like this is already happening on YouTube, isn’t it?) Struggling art historians could give tours of the Louvre or The Museum of Modern Art.
The “best” of these could be recorded and experienced at reduced prices. Maybe even “George Carlin’s Greatest Hits” compilations. If George were still alive.
These wouldn’t have to be funny/famous people. I’m thinking of a trail guide in Montana or a white water rafter in the Grand Canyon. No narration, thank you.