Official Intelligent Beings: How Our Devices Became Us, And The World Consumed Itself

by Greenfield, Josh

  “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 d
ecided 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?

  Jagz pressed send. Just as soon as he heard the sound that confirmed his Quack, he heard another sound.

  Jagz checked his direct Quacks and saw one from Shera. All it said was:

  Find me in the tasteful place tomorrow, where magic happens, during the lightest hour #tastemyrainbow

  @NaWonStay (131 followers)

  Jagz, eager to pass the time in the hope of finding his way to Shera faster, got into bed, closed his eyes, and did his best to remember her technique of breathing and relaxing so as to fall asleep as fast as he could.

  As his mind stilled and his body calmed, Jagz began to float towards the clouds, but, this time, he was not floating upwards, he was floating forward, through space and time, into the future.

  His began to go faster and faster. Suddenly his pleasant dream wasn’t pleasant at all. He was moving so fast that he seemed to lose all control. He was flying at the speed of light. Stars, lights, colors all flashed before him. He was flying through what appeared to be some sort of wormhole, but he was going so fast he couldn’t be sure. He flew at such a rate, it was almost as if he was a bit of data shooting across the planet from one device to another, but he appeared to be flying to a far distant planet in the distant future.

  Just as he seemed to reach maximum speed, Jagz tried to scream, but nothing came out. He stopped still, motionless, floating in the sky, hovering above some unknown planet, somehow able to breath in the depths of space.

  After a few moments, Jagz, startled by a voice, looked to his left to find another Intelligent Being with bright blue eyes, silvery curled blond hair, wearing a long flowing gown, glowing amongst the stars. She had on a magnificent headpiece that shined like the sun. She was covered head to toe in crystals that made her seem as though she was part of the galaxy, as if she was Mother Galaxy.

  “Thank you for joining me. I am Henata, the Official Intelligent Being of Knowledge and I wanted to bring you here for a very special reason.”

  “And what might that be? You know I seem to be getting brought to places against my will a lot recently.”

  “Today you were shown something of grave importance—something that only a few others know about. I trust you are beginning to see why you were shown that something. But I am not here to help you understand your place in all of this. I am simply here to show you what plan has already been set in motion and why you may want to consider sharing the truth with those willing to listen.”

  “The truth?”

  “Come with me and I’ll show you.”

  Henata grabbed his hand and they began flying at a very fast, yet gentle, speed towards a planet below them.

  “As we get closer, you will begin to recognize the beings that inhabit this planet. Ani Rudh, the Alien you encountered today, lives amongst trillions of others on Foüan dañtæ. They are far more advanced than the humans on Earth, but they have managed to upset and diminish all of their resources and have been searching for a new planet to inhabit.”

  “Why Earth?”

  “Well it’s not just Earth that they are looking to inhabit. There are trillions on their planet and they sent scouts all over the galaxy hoping to find a planet big enough for everyone. They are prepared to inhabit multiple planets if that is the best that they can do. After all, smaller planets are more likely to be defeated and controlled and less likely to be as advanced, for a larger size often means rapid growth in all areas.”

  “So what you are saying is that the Earth is just one of many planets they are hoping to control, but there’s a chance they’ll find a planet large enough for them to all live on together?”

  “That is what they were hoping for. But after many years of searching they have given up the notion that such a planet exists within reach. So they have already begun their plan to attack Earth and claim it as their own. The Phrells do not care about your freedoms. They have studied your history and deem your world and your species useless, not unlike how humans once saw insects before wiping them out,”

  “Insects? I don’t understand. What are they?”

  “There was a time when such creatures existed and even did good in the world. But humans found them to be pestering, hence the term bug that they became known as, so they created tools to wipe out the bugs that they thought were unnecessary. Little did they know, that the methods they used to wipe out some bugs were not selective and killed all insects, for the creatures all existed as one greater whole. Over time, however, we helped humans with their problem and they grew to be okay with the outcome. They simply learned ways to survive without the bugs, as we created compounds to work as the bugs once did.”

  “And how was that possible?”

  “Anything is possible when you have the Beings guiding you. We have infinite knowledge and Redemet was able to develop a technique to emulate the bugs’ processes. It is this same perspective that the humans had towards bugs that the Phrells have towards humans. They might have been more sympathetic, but they studied humans and have seen what people are capable of. They see no difference between the humans wiping out a species and them wiping out the humans. They figure, wipe out the humans and then take control over us Beings, thinking we will share our infinite knowledge with them and help them restore balance in their world.”

  “So they know about you and they want you to lead them?”

  “In a way, yes. They know most of what there is to know about our race. It didn’t take much time to figure it all out, what with the whole world being so connected by an interweb. It didn’t take them but a few minutes to download the entire collective cyber-human consciousness.”

  “So what can we do about it? What can I do about it? Shouldn’t you be able to do something about it?”

  “Jagz, you must understand, we, as the Official Intelligent Beings, are not here to fight for your Earth. We are here to guide you. We are here to guide everyone in the ways of love, of creating life, of creating sustenance for your world. We are not here to choose a side—that is your choice. It is you that has to make a choice about what you want to do with all of this information.”

  Just like that, Jagz woke up. This time, he was not sweating. He was alert, awake, and ready for the day, for he knew today was going to be a special one. He would be meeting Shera in the park after work and hopefully sharing a special treat with her.

  He knew his dream held meaning. It held weight and power, but he didn’t know what to make of it and decided to let his dreaming mind sink in.

  Jagz decided to skip on his UrDg. He was onto something with his connection to Shera and he didn’t want to risk losing it.

  Looking at his device on the way to work, he noticed that his followers, since his last Quack, were growing, 120,000 followers to be exact. He typed out a new thought for anyone just joining him.

  “Do you ever question your place on this planet? Do you ever wonder what it is that makes us the dominant race in the universe? Is it really our place to dictate how the world should be? Sure we have the Beings who guide us, but who is to say there aren’t other Beings out there who are far more intelligent and have far more valuable information to share with us? What if we really weren’t alone in the universe, and what if there were others who felt that they should control us? Would you be afraid if this were true? #similarthoughts ?

  J
agz released another, though vague, Quack to the world and headed off to work.

  Chapter 9.

  During work, Jagz experienced something drastically different than he was used to. Normally, he had no problem focusing, completing his basic tasks in the same uniform order that he always did, checking the wiring of each system, making sure everything was clean, one by one, every night the same routine, but not tonight. Tonight he couldn’t keep his eyes off of his Quacker account. Was it the absence of UrDg? he wondered. Or was it something else?

  Every few minutes that passed, he seemed to gain more followers. His post about other being out there had more interactions than any other he had ever posted. He was gaining likes and replies by the second. It seemed as though people were catching on to his thoughts and he was getting more and more excited to see where it all might lead.

  What’s more is he had a lot more meaningful comments than usual. People wrote in and professed that they wondered the same thing, wondered if there was a greater, even more powerful life form out there, saying how they were too afraid to share this information with anyone until Jagz did. His followers expressed how his honest thoughts gave them the courage to share what came to them and that he helped them feel comfortable with what they previously did not know how to express. He gave them something to relate to. He couldn’t stop checking his device every few seconds, distracted from his work, but he didn’t care, it felt freeing, he felt alive with his world, and he wasn’t even taking his UrDg.