Official Intelligent Beings: How Our Devices Became Us, And The World Consumed Itself (4 page)

Everyone had their sensory food experiences and their sensory sexual experiences—far better than the real thing, why else would it be all but obsolete?

Then it hit him. Why did that orange taste so good? Why did such a simple thing satisfy him more than the best and most complicated meals byte bills could buy? He thought for a moment, shrugged, and then went in for another bite.

“I want you to lay in the grass,” Shera said. “There is something I want to try with you.”

Jagz, ready for anything after that taste of perfection, quickly laid flat on his back, unaware of how strange it might look from the outside. Not that anyone was ever looking, anyhow.

“Okay, good. Now I want you to close your eyes again. But this time you won’t be experiencing food, you will be experiencing your breath.”

Shera scrolled through her device, located her music sharelist, wirelessly linked her device into Jagz’s, and put on calming classical music. It began to play instantly in both of their ears. She then got on her back, closed her eyes, and began silently praying, her lips just barely moving.

“I want you to imagine you are floating in the clouds. I want you to slowly breathe. Deep breathes, in and out, in and out, as slow as you can. Be sure to fill your entire body on the inhale and release it all on the exhale. Keep doing that over and over and over.”

Jagz, so accustomed to sleep, fell into a deep trance as Shera’s voice moved from an outside source to an internal peace.

Jagz became slowly aware that he was floating. Floating in the clouds, flying gently towards a beautiful sun over the horizon, drawing him closer and closer. As he floated, he felt at peace, gently heading towards the bright yellow light. Just then, he started to notice that the clouds were taking shape. As they developed, he began to see distinct body parts. These were body parts that he had never seen up close, they were unusually majestic, tight, smooth, and in perfect balance.

He saw a cloud take the shape of a beautiful pair of breasts, he saw a woman’s body begin to form from another cloud and, before he knew it, he was floating through a sea of clouds of naked woman, all with faces that were constantly shifting into different forms, all of their bodies perfectly smooth, round, and fit.

Then, in a flash of light, the figures around him were gone and he was faced with an even more beautiful figure, a figure of such beauty that he could not register the full breadth of her perfection. She appeared to him as more of a wave of endless possibilities than a finite being, even still, Jagz felt a sense of familiarity to her form and began to suspect who she was.

“Yes,” she said, as if reading his mind. “I am Tideorpha, your Official Intelligent Being of Love. I am the one who helped the world’s people to find true love in their lives, to find a sense of love within themselves, within all of those around them. For there is no love but the love of all and when one is able to see that, one can truly be at peace with oneself.”

“But what does it mean to love one person more than anyone else? I have always known of the knowledge that you gifted us but I am beginning to see a new possibility.”

“The idea of having one true love is a thing of the past. A mistake made by your ancestors before we came to show you the way. Having only one true love creates the idea of separation within oneself; it causes a rift in the subconscious. It is this repressed issue that has led your ancestors to struggle for so many years, searching for, fighting for, and even killing to have one that they can call their own.”

“Killing? But how can that be?”

“It was a paradox. Trying to love someone more than one’s self was a trap. Trying to love one above all else only created chaos within the spirit. It is not natural and gives a false sense of hope that only lasts a short while, always ending in a broken heart, at best. That is why we have shed the light on you. To remind you that your sexual desires, that your love for one, that your love for lust will only haunt you. It may find you some temporary enjoyment but you will only become more and more disconnected to those around you and it will leave you feeling disjointed and more alone than you could ever imagine.

“But what does it really mean to have feelings for one more than anyone else? My whole life I have had the same feelings towards everyone, but I sense that that is changing. How do I know true love?”

“There are two forms of love. There is the false love, which is a trap that baits us in and separates us from all that is right, and there is the real love, which comes to us with open arms and brings us together, forming one loving and unified whole amongst all living beings.”

“But how do I know which love to trust? How do I distinguish between the two?”

“You must fight your urge to seek a singular lover. You must recognize that any impulses to find shelter and comfort in the arms of another are only the fear within you trying to gain control and get out. The more you feed into your fears, the stronger they get. You give them the power to overtake you, but you also have the power to conquer them, to send them back to where they came. You must fight the false love. You must destroy it. Only then can you find true love within yourself—a love for all, all that is one.”

“But can’t some good come from finding love from one person?”

“Temporarily, yes. There will always be a good feeling at the beginning, like you are floating in the clouds, and that is why I brought you here to share that feeling with you. It’s a peaceful feeling, when we are in it there is nothing else. It is all that matters. But slowly, over time, it begins to change. Slowly you will begin to realize that there is nothing there for you, that the love you once felt will disappear and leave you empty, leave you wanting more. That love is a drug. It is a curse. Why wait around for that to happen when you already have infinite love within you? You have infinite love from the entire universe in the palm of your hand. This love you seek may seem to be beyond all of the love you have ever had, but that is only for a brief moment, for love is not about obtaining the highest highs. They only bring the lowest lows. No, it is about finding balance within oneself, within your entire world. That is what we have gifted you in this very day. You must fight the urge to question the truth that your world has come to know.”

Just as she said this, Jagz woke up, a little sweaty, in the presence of Shera. For once, he didn’t feel the urge to check his device. He simply stared up at the clouds where he had been floating and replayed his dream, holding on to it just long enough to make sense of it.

“How do you feel?” said Shera. “Where did you go?”

“Feel?” said Jagz. “That was much more than what I usually feel. I was floating in the clouds, surrounded by beautiful women and I began,” Jagz started to trail off, caught himself, and tried to change the course of his words.
“
Oh, wow, I really let time slip by, I really must get going about my day. Thank you, this has been wonderful. Thank you for sharing your food with me.”

“Will I see you again? asked Shera.

“Yes, certainly. How do I reach you?”

“Write to me on Quacker and let me know when and where.”

Jagz headed home, aware that the day—and what a crazy day—was all but over and that the night shift was about to start. When Jagz arrived, he attempted to collect his thoughts and turned to the only way that he knew how.

I’m buzzing. My heart is pounding. I can't remember the last time that I ever felt like this, I’ve gone through such an immense range of emotions today and I’m beginning to think that life is not all that we think it to be. Perhaps there is more to it then our devices let on, more than they can even possibly comprehend. What is real anyhow? What if someone showed you some-thing that completely shook up your World in the most crazy and unimaginable way possible? #WhatWouldYouDo? What if everything that you knew was up for grabs, had no solid place in reality?

Jagz pressed send and continued writing the outpouring of thoughts flowing from the great divine within.

What we are experiencing now through sensory computed experiences, though it feels real, is it the “real” thing? How would we even distinguish what is real when we are so shut off from allowing our senses to experience true emotion? Do you ever wonder if real food tastes better than what we now see as eating? Have you ever had any real food? #shareyourthoughts

Jagz sent out his Quack. Just then, he realized that his hand was a little more jittery than usual. It began to shake more and more, as he slowly lost control it, as though it had a mind of it’s own. A bead of sweat rolled across his brow and dripped down his face into his mouth. He tasted the salt of it and it transported him back to his moment with Shera. Another new sensation emerged. It reminded him of salt, but it was of a greater intensity. His tongue felt as though it was momen-tarily taking a trip to another dimension. It was a complete sensory overload.

As his taste dulled again, he began to feel a darkness creep over him, as though he was coming down from a trip he didn’t even know he was on. All of his excitement was drawn out of him. His body closed in on itself and his vision revealed spots of black, as he reached into his drawer for a pill.

The pill dissolved onto his tongue and he relaxed immediately. His fears and worries dissi-pated and his life made sense again. All of the craziness, all of the confusion, all of the fear, all went away, and he was left at peace, he was one with the world again.

Noticing the time, he grabbed his things and headed to work his night shift at MainFrame MindWorks, where he oversaw High Data Mainframe Processing Devices or HDMPD.

“Hello, Jagz.”

“Oh, hi Donyold”

“Hey, I checked out your Quack earlier. Is everything okay?”

“No. Everything is not okay,” he replied. How could anything be okay? At a time like this, okay couldn’t be further from the way things are.”

“That is certainly true and always comforting to hear,” replied Donyold.

“I’m glad that we are on the same web, things can never be okay, no, because they are perfect, always have been and always will be.”

“Always have been and always will be,” replied Donyold.

“Yes and a perfect workday to you!”

Jagz, without thinking, knew one thing for sure—UrDg was working just as it should.

Chapter 8.

Jagz arrived back at his apartment after work and looked at his device, only to realize that he had done something he had never done before. He managed to go an entire shift without checking his device. He even managed to ignore the usually constant alerts in his ear by muting his device. His head was in a different place. It was in the clouds with Shera, and even though he was on a normal dose of UrDg, it seemed different this time.

For a moment, Jagz felt confidence rush over him and he wondered why he ever even bothered not taking UrDg. How silly of him. Why wouldn’t he always want to feel this way?
What would it be like if he took UrDg with Shera and ate some more fruit?
he wondered.

When he finally looked at his device, he noticed something odd. The number of his Quacker followers had jumped. Nothing too crazy to warrant anything unexpected, but enough to make him think that his account was catching on.

5,000 new followers since I went to work today?
Jagz thought.
That’s a lot more than I have ever gotten.

Jagz settled into his home and wondered what could have caused such a spike in followers. It’s not like he mentioned what had really happened to him that day.
What would happen if he did?
he wondered.

His mind jumped back to his time in the park with Shera.
Fresh food! Real food! I need to see her again
, he thought.
I need to figure out how she got her hands on some real food and how I can get us some more!

He was obsessed with eating more real food. He couldn’t wait to meet up with her, not just for the food, but for reasons beyond his cravings. He just couldn’t understand them quite yet and thinking of sharing another bite with her was as good as any to reach out.

Jagz went on Quacker and, upon finding Shera’s account, sent her a private message for all to read.

              May we meet again in the place where I shared my first taste?

He pressed send and decided to share a bit more of his thoughts on Quacker.

Do you ever wonder what it might have been like to have a family? Just being born, simply coming to life in the way that we do, I can’t help but wonder if there is more to the creation of a human than simply coming to life. To think there was a time when a family raised you, a mother birthed you…

He pressed send.

Have our devices really allowed us to connect more with those around us, or is it all an illusion? They say we are far more connected to the world than we ever were. But are we just so blinded by our separateness that we spend every waking hour convincing ourselves, through expressing our thoughts and reading others, that we share something in common?