Friend or Foe on the Net

When one civilization falls, and another rises to take its place, most people aren’t paying attention.
We could debate the terms and argue the definitions, but I still maintain we can best understand the Internet as the means for a new civilization rising over the current Western Civilization. This became one of my recurrent themes during the past year, and I have tried to warn people to think differently, to see the implications of this new Network Civilization.
One of the most fundamental elements of human existence is interacting with other humans. The presence of a global network changes more things than most people realize. Too many mindlessly absorb the methods without giving a single moment’s thought to major implications, letting things drift aimlessly, which makes it particularly easy for the savvy to control things for their own ends.
The computer geeks were the first to seize upon this, which transformed the world for them. They are now the new priesthood of world religion, though only a few of them are fully aware of the governing forces which control them, in turn. Try to remember religion is merely a word for the cultural construct of how people interact regarding the substance of life itself, not necessarily with any real connection to spiritual things. Regardless of ultimate truth and the moral fabric of the universe, religion as the cultural perception of such things reflects the combined guidance of the priesthood.
But the priesthood of geeks, witting or not, serve another grand force. This force has always been a mixture of multiple threads, a fabric which has a character derived from the fluctuating dominance of this or that thread over time and place. We can discuss the whole thing, or we can focus attention on one thread or another, but it takes a bit of thinking to see how they relate. We can’t afford to be simplistic about this. Thus, I often insist “the Illuminati” is a term which does not refer to some unified grand force, but is just as partisan and riven inside as any other human political organization. We can characterize the effects of their work at any given time, and we can trace out the individual threads of their internal politics (if we can get enough information), but by the time we can organize it for posting here and there, or write a book about it, the information is probably out of date. It takes a good bit of internal intellectual organization within our individual minds to keep track of it just for ourselves. That is, if we care. But that there is a global conspiracy of control is self-evident, and what matters here is they are making good use of the Internet.
I rather like the summary offered by The Daily Bell at Lew Rockwell’s site. The particular subject of the day is Facebook and their IPO plans. The Bell correctly notes this is not some happenstance of entrepreneurial genius. It may have begun as just a hobby that grew in popularity, but for it to ever go above hobby level required some serious money. That kind of money will always have some kind of purpose. A great many “useful idiots” are in the service of this global cabal, and Zuckerberg is just one more. Whether he knows it or not is for him to decide and reveal, but we can deduce quite a bit from watching this thing. That Facebook serves as a data source for government intelligence agencies is not in dispute; the only people denying it are those paid to do so.
This is no different in purpose from the heavy emphasis on getting as many people as possible onto the phone networks with smart phones as their primary means to access the Net. I’m hardly the only person who sees how tablet computers are being integrated into this, because some people just don’t like those tiny screens. Never mind how well they suit our common habits of use; few would want such a device were it not for the services available. Those services are not developed randomly, because the pattern of investment alone shows a conscious purpose. Along with turning the Net into a one-way service for consumption only, there is a powerful effort to get everyone on Facebook, Google, and every other data-mining operation out there.
We might not know just when Microsoft and Gates became complicit with government based spying, but it was surely a part of the lawsuit settlement when MS was charged with violations of monopoly laws. The way in which the business with the NSA Key in Windows 2000 was hushed up was a classical intelligence service squelch. People who know, and could get away with saying it, have long pointed out how Windows, from a commercial standpoint, was merely a mechanism for delivering the user to the advertisers. Would it be any less a delivery mechanism for users to government spying?
It’s much easier to overcome privacy objections without laws, simply by enticing the world to surrender their personal data voluntarily. Every point along the way, the trends of computer software, OSes and the Internet as whole, is best understood from this viewpoint. Not because of how it will all turn out; God alone controls that. Rather, what we can expect from the various providers is more easily predicted when we understand the only reason it hasn’t all been brought down already is because it’s too valuable as an intelligence source. Marketers are permitted to profit only when they play along with it. We should expect the likes of this brouhaha over Carrier IQ to arise again and again, even as the really serious breaches of privacy go unnoticed. What difference does Carrier IQ make when there’s Facebook?
Nor is it so wise to panic about every part of this. My point here is not fear, but awareness. There’s a certain amount of change necessary to move forward and accomplish those things we feel are our reasons for living. We have to keep up with the way civilization as a concept is morphing in itself, along with how it morphs from Western to Global Network. We have to understand the new ways of doing things at a fundamental level. For example, it’s one thing to have friends I’ve met in the flesh, with whom I’ve shared some experiences which serve to enable friendship. It’s another to make friends on the Net whom it is unlikely I’ll ever meet in the flesh. I still have to find a way to make them genuine friends, find a path to building that shared experience without the geographical sharing. What I must do with my remaining years of life requires that added dimension of reaching across the wires and creating that same sort of warmth in other souls. It’s a matter of knowing what it will cost me along the way so I can pay the full price willingly.
This intelligence gathering will happen regardless of the means, the venues where it takes place, etc. Be aware. I don’t participate in Facebook, Twitter, etc. I try to avoid letting Google have too much of my life, by using other services, including search engines (I use Startpage and get the same results without the tracking.) I try to avoid using Windows or Mac, because both of them are open to spying, as is Android. My choices won’t work for you, because they are mine. You need to consider your own life’s purpose and decide what fits.
More important than what you decide is that you decide consciously.