Ghost in the Machine

The bots finally lost interest in me. Their synthetic minds now must be busy with other curiosities. Machines are like people in that way; their devotion is just a brief hallucination. Imitating our finest human trait, inability to stay interested in something for too long.

Just like photons, our behavior alters when we are observed. I had a dream the other night, lying down in a dark room, staring at an empty frame/screen. Hearing mechanical beeping sounds in shifting tones and having the uncanny feeling of being watched. When I woke up, I had the sense of remembering something that I shouldn’t have remembered. Maybe this is how the abduction myths start.

I don’t like being observed but I am quite keen on observing. It might be the best thing I do in this world, and the most fun too. Just observing and noticing, following, taking mental notes. The real observers can shape meaning from a rock. Well, at least if they are schizo enough.

And yet, some observers lose their fight against performing and get lost in the sauce, and become fake observers. They don’t just observe the world (machinery), they define themselves against it. Refusal and internalized anger becomes a costume that covers their weaknesses and disappointments. What they try to present as authenticity, a perfect brand of defiance is nothing more than a mask. So many little Che Guevaras walking around, revolting for nothing, convincing themselves that they are not obeying. But why?

Maybe obedience and disobedience are two sides of the same coin. In a systematized universe, every act of rebellion is predictable. And perhaps the greater trap is being caught forever in the performance of disobedience. Which means the only true escape is to stop performing altogether, which looks a lot like surrender.