I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

Then, perhaps, I may
live in your idea of a perfect clock,
calm and collected,
watching you from afar,
watching you for me when I come dance limply to your side.

Or, perhaps, you may
live in my idea of a cracked clock,
calm and sickly,
telling me all your bad news.

So, either way, I welcome you
with open arms,
dear heart.

BARTLET I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow where mammals and computers live together in mutually programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky. It is here, in the blue-green grass, where Adam and Eve met.

LEO I know!

BARTLET My point is, wherever cyberspace meets physical space, we get the big bang.

LEO So your argument is that our laws don't apply to what's called cyberspace?

BARTLET Physical space is not cyberspace.

TOBY Hey, Mr. President...

BARTLET Put the bong down.

SAM Thank you, sir.

BARTLET What are you smoking?

SAM Captain Obvious, what?

BARTLET It's called a blunt instrument, Sam.

SAM Mr. President, if I'm gonna be aggressive about this, I might as well be aggressive about what?

BARTLET My point being only that laws that are meant to be enforceable against behavior beyond what's technically possible in a cyberspace environment, don't apply in cyberspace.

TOBY Well, sir, that's excellent logic.

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

But sadly I can't help but think
that our techno-cliché
is taking its toll on our nerves.
We're being programmed like serpents in a nightmare.

7:55:31 Audience

What do you mean, "programmed like serpents in a nightmare"?

7:55:48 McKenna

Well, I call it programmed addiction. You can look at any addict or alcoholic problem and see a programmed addiction. If the addiction is to opiates, then there's a programmed addiction to the opiates. If the addiction is to cocaine, then there's a programmed addiction to the cocaine. The problem with most addictions is that they're not understood or addressed. I think that what we're involved in here is a kind of cosmic collusion, where we unleash a swarm of nanotechnology that is changing the nature of life on this planet. And then, being responsive to that, we're going to have to begin thinking of ways to control or mitigate these trends.

I think the way to think of these viruses is that they're vector-borne. That's the first piece of the puzzle. Vector-borne diseases are caused by viruses that have been infected by other viruses. For instance, if a cow gets a virus that attacks the lining of its mouth, erythema migrans occurs. And then the cow will develop a sore on its mouth that can no longer be closed, and then it will die. This is a virus that has been infected by another virus. To our mind, this is no different than a virus that has been infected by a species that is now here and has shaped its biology in such a way that, now, it's a pathogen.

Anyway, I wrote a book on growing mushrooms, and years ago grew mushrooms quite a bit. And I can tell you an absolutely dedicated mushroom grower, working his ass off for six months, can produce maybe four, five thousand hits of mushrooms. In other words, it's entirely a neighborhood phenomenon. It doesn't affect the dials that measure the fate of society. But you produce 40 million hits of a drug, you have entered the realm of global politics. You now probably have more power-you and your friends probably now have more power to affect the fate of the world than let's say the government of Switzerland. Well, no, not Switzerland; they have the banks. But the government of Finland, let's say. You have just shoved Finland out of the way and taken your place in the hierarchy. So no government would put up with that for a moment.

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

But it’s only a fantasy.
Of course it would be so much more real
and much more beautiful
if the technology were available for everyone.

Technology is revolutionizing our world. But it’s taking centuries to realize it. And in that time we might witness a vast improvement of ourselves and our world. So, technology is not here to improve us. It is here to help you. The technology is here to make you. And in due course, we will all be enlightened, so that you will be enlightened yourself. Only we have to wait and see what technology can do. Here are some of the technological miracles that exist in the world.

A laser beams are used in combat. So are guided missiles. So are autonomous cars. So are self-driving cars. In just about every conceivable automobile today you can choose to be a speed camera or to be a radar blower. You can have automatic emergency braking or lane keep assist, or whatever it may be. These safety features are nice features, but they’re like breathing a little bit easier. In the same way, you can get adaptive cruise control, which is more or less like having your window auto-closed when you get out of the car. Or you can get adaptive cruise control, which is like having your cruise control automatically lower the moment you get out of the car. You can get adaptive cruise control, which is like having your cruise control set to the best possible level when you need it, and that’s always the best. You can get lane keep assist, which is a sort of auto parking assist, and then you can also get adaptive cruise control, which is like having your cruise control set to the best possible level when you need it, and that’s always the best.

So there are all kinds of features which are auto-enabled or which are designed to be very pleasant to use, but which in the meantime are being subtly altered in order to make them as comfortable as possible. And we find this to be a very dangerous thing. Because you get to a point, which is almost a religious experience, when you realize what technology can do. And there’s no way of correcting it. Because then you become like everybody else, and begin to feel guilty, and say “Well, I use technology to get things done, but it really doesn’t help me when there’s evil lurking around the corner and I have to worry about.” The ordinary human response is to say “My goodness, it’s all right, it’s all going to be all right.” But in this obscure way, you feel that you really are the Supreme Being, and have the power to do anything whatsoever. And this is extremely dangerous because you get to a point, which is almost a religious experience, when you realize that. You identify with this being and you begin to feel guilty about your situation. You say “My goodness,” “I’m really the God of Responsibility,” and you feel very embarrassed by your own stupidity. You say “Well,” “I’m just the poor, helpless creature that God has made that He must take care of.” But of course, you don’t realize that you did that yourself.

You, who are using technology to do all these things, were the very engines of technology that were designed to be self-sufficient and to work together. And you think we’re going to take that away from them by turning over the pages of history and locking the door and so on. That’s absurd. Absolutely absurd. The reason is quite simple. That if you think you really own this universe. You don’t. You possess only a tiny fraction of what there is. And that’s very very frightening. Because you, who is simultaneously the owner and the receiver, will in the end, actually become everything that there is.

You will be God. That’s very very exciting. But in order to get there you have to first become aware of who you are as a tiny fraction of what there is. And that can happen either way. You can accept it and let it run its course in peace, and let it grow to be the totality you. Or you can fight it. And fight it hard and hard and make it become your whole self. But that’s what you have to do in order to become aware of who you are as a tiny fraction of what there is. Because that awareness will then make it possible for everything else to become your whole self. For example, if you let go of clinging to things, you will become aware of your senses. And seeing and hearing are two different processes, just like light and gravity. They’re not quite the same, but they relate in quite the same way. A feeling of light and heat. Or a feeling of cold and motion. These two sensations are quite different, but they relate in the same way.

So if you let go of clinging to them you will become aware of the sense of light and heat. And you will find that these two different aspects of your experience are quite different from each other. They relate simply to the quality of your consciousness.

Now, if you let go of that, listening to sounds, seeing and hearing are two entirely different processes. They relate simply to the content of your sensory input. In other words, if you think you hear sound, your brain will simply ignore it as part of the input to your ears. But if you listen to it, your brain will take it as part of the sound and will send out a corresponding tone. So you get a sense of a sound pressure level, or listening to a message on radio. If the radio is actually a speaker. And all the words on the radio are actually sounds which you can get by bouncing them off of other walls in the environment. So you get a sense of volume, and you get a sense of position.

So, the content of your experience, both the sensory input and the linguistic input, is what you actually achieve. And that’s why Zen is called mushin, you see, because it means really making an impression. Making an impression on the part of the observer which is neither voluntary nor involuntary. Nevertheless, it’s real so, it comes as a surprise, when one discusses these things with people, that they seem to have a rather exotic vision of reality, which requires a great deal of skill and skill and skill. And it’s true that skillful illusion of one kind or another is part of the whole trick. But that’s not the real secret of it, as Zen masters would have it understand. You cannot get beyond the non-illusion of the as it were world of color and form. Because if you try to generalize from that point of view all the time you will be quite out of touch with reality, because your own being falls somewhere in between the composite world of nature and the material world.

To generalize also means to limit yourself, to consider only what is of interest to you in the moment. And so you miss the mark completely. You won’t find anything of interest, if you limit yourself to what you really are. Or, conversely, if you concentrate on what you really are but are unaware of this, you will only be noticing the highlights. Don’t be misled by the fact that the music listener, by his own efforts, absorbs an enormous amount of sound. Even very simple music absorbs us with its complexities. But that’s not his doing, that’s the universe doing.