A dreamer dreams many things. In this case, he was merely walking from his living room to the kitchen, and a thought struck him, and he went AWAY for a few seconds, and a dream laid itself out like a fresco…then folded up and disappeared. He shook his head and resumed walking to his kitchen to make coffee. Crazy, he thought. Where did THAT come from? He looked at his watch. Another day in lockdown.
THE DREAM:
On May 14, 2266, the New England Journal of Medicine and Psychology published a paper titled:
WHAT IS ‘A NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCE?’
A quote: “Brain research discovers common patterns of activity across a whole population. These patterns would be called ‘normal’. Exceptions would be classified as various categories of ‘disordered thought’. It’s assumed that only ‘harmonious and symmetrical’ brain patterns are positive and beneficial.”
A reader commented: “This assumption is grossly false. It’s a stunted version of aesthetics. Creative force always breaks out of these little geometries. So does every new idea. Increasingly, Earth culture is unable to understand this.”
—The reader receives a government notice and is summoned to a hearing. He’s interviewed by a virtual AI employee of the federal Department of Stat Research.
HOLOGRAPHIC i-FIGURE: “Are you all right during this epidemic lockdown? I see you live alone.”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“We want you to enjoy yourself. Are you watching learning programs?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like them.”
“Well, we have a report on you. It indicates an output difficult to measure or interpret. What can you tell us about this?
“I don’t know. I’m composing a symphony.”
“A symphony? What is that?”
“It’s a piece of music written for a large orchestra.”
“I find no extant orchestras in the country.”
“That’s true. Nevertheless, I’m composing.”
“Why?”
“For that day when an orchestra may come into being again.”
“Your thought-impulses entered ranges we were not able to summarize.”
“I suppose that means your instruments are limited.”
“Your last statement might be viewed as incendiary. It suggests we are imposing a restriction. As you well know, the science is settled on this point. We measure and interpret thought that contributes to an overall positive outcome, for the population at large.”
“I’m aware of that, yes. But the science rests on certain assumptions. I would call it greatest good as a lowest common denominator.”
“What do you mean?”
“You assume a certain mindset contributes to the consensus reality you favor. You legislate a range of thought that will produce the consensus.”
“That’s a gross oversimplification.”
“It doesn’t describe the algorithms you employ, but all in all I believe my summary is correct. You’re reality makers. You monitor thought-emissions, and when you find a departure from ‘combined averages,’ as you call them, you issue a citation.”
“What is this symphony you’re composing?”
“It’s impossible to explain. It’s music.”
“It has a specific message?”
“No. If it did, I would write out the message and leave it at that.”
“Why have we not heard of you before?”
“I was doing illustrations for the Happiness Holos.”
“We know. What happened?”
“I became bored. A machine could make those pictures. So I decided to compose music.”
“The Happiness Holos are an essential social program.”
“Perhaps. They encourage people to stay on the positive side of a construct called Positive&Negative, which as you know is a State-sponsored theme. But what is superficially indicated by those two opposing sets is, in fact, fuel for the fire.”
“Fuel for what fire?”
“The artist can use and transform any material.”
“Where did you hear such a thing?”
“Nowhere. I’ve experienced it many times.”
“Your views are highly eccentric. I will have to consult your childhood history to understand their roots.”
“I’m afraid that won’t do you any good.”
“Why not?”
“Because your version, the US Department of Psychology version of cause and effect, is propaganda for the masses.”
“This is your idea of a joke?”
“Not at all.”
“When you compose this…symphony, how do you think?”
“It’s not thinking in the way you use the term.”
“No? Then what do you do?”
“I invent sound.”
“Preposterous.”
“Large masses of sound.”
“Absurd. According to what underlying pattern?”
“None. Check the Library of Structures. I doubt you’ll find my activity in the catalogs.”
“Only known structures and patterns are contained in the files.”
“I don’t invent through pattern.”
“No? How then?”
“I improvise.”
“And this term refers to?”
“Something done spontaneously.”
“And you exceed prescribed ranges of thought in the process.”
“Perhaps. I would hope so. I don’t keep track.”
“You’re being flippant.”
“I assumed you’d eventually cite me. I’m just composing music during the lockdown.”
“There is no citation yet. You’re an anomaly. We investigate. We consider.”
“I’m afraid your and my idea of ‘consider’ are quite different.”
“Let me ask you this. When you are composing, do you ever believe you enter into a realm or area that could be called ‘non-material’? We’ve heard such claims before.”
“Not if you’re referring to some fairyland. But all thought is basically non-material. The brain registers it after the fact. Thought, the real thing, doesn’t take place in the brain.”
“You’re deluded. And disordered.”
“If I could simply confess to that and be on my way, I’d be a happy man.”
“You live in a society. To keep the peace and maintain the Positive, science has discovered that thought should occur within certain parameters.”
“If you insist.”
“We want to study you. It’s a great honor to be called. You could help extend the boundaries of research…we register variation from the norm in your present thinking.”
“What present thinking?”
“What you’re thinking right now.”
“That was quick.”
“The readouts are instantaneous…what are you doing?”
“I’m starting the fourth movement.”
“Wait. What you’re doing is disruptive.”
“It’s because of how you set your frequencies.”
All along the major esplanade, and in the lake area, and in the industrial parks and residential high rises, virtual structures shattered like glass.
The i-figure went dark.
A thousand holographic government buildings froze and vanished.
The composer said to no one, “I’m just composing. Well, apparently not just.”
—Back in his room at the edge of the city, he said, “I suppose that’s what they mean by a negative consequence.”
He sat down at his computer and turned it on. Before he went to the composing page, he had to click on a sunburst icon and read a government message for the day. It appeared:
“We want everyone to be happy during the lockdown. This is very important. Because much government function is being carried out by virtual assistants, we’ve encountered a disruption in service owing to a segment of Disorder entered into our Net. Please be patient. Repairs are underway. These are learning experiences for us. There is always a certain amount of disordered thought in the environment. Most of it is unintentional. We welcome the opportunity to study such examples. As a member of the educated class, we’re sure you can appreciate the research aspect of our work. Thank you for your patience. Food deliveries will be delayed by a factor of…two hours. Our latest figures indicate 2,147 new epidemic cases have been detected in your sector in the last 24 hours. Re-testing is underway. Please place your hand on the screen now…thank you. You may remove it. Just a moment…we’re unable to process your assay at this time. You’ll receive a message indicating your viral status as soon as the system is up and running again. End of message.”
The composer plugged a small module into the side of his computer. The screen went red. Black letters formed: DISEQUILIBRIUM. He pressed the send key.
The encrypted score of the first three movements of his symphony set out on a rapidly changing zig-zag journey to a series of caverns below cities in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, America.
A program consisting of the synthesized instruments of a full orchestra read the score and began to broadcast the music to small groups of people sitting in the caverns…
Reprinted with permission from Jon Rappoport’s blog.
