Foreword
I considered self-censoring this story a little bit, because of what it might say about me, that maybe I'm self-serving or egotistical or just straight-up crazy. In the end, I decided to put it all out there, though people will see some of my thought processes, ideas that lead me to other ideas, the wrong, the right, the nutballed.
If you want to understand the greater context of this story, you can read the first two installments: A life-altering peyote trip, and Dimension Zero, and it will help you to see some of the curious foundations on which the ideas in this story are based.
A trip to Tapalpa
A few weeks ago, I decided to try to find a different place for breakfast. I knew there were a few cocinas economicas along Manuel Acuña or Juan Álvarez. I walked down, and found one on Álvarez, and it was indeed cheap. I ordered some enchiladas, a gordita, and a strawberry banana smoothie, and paid about $5 USD, even including a 30% tip.
On the wall of the restaurant, there was a painting of a very colourful, hilly village. I asked the waitress/chef which city it was. She said it was Taxco, Guerrero, but the fellow at the next table turned around and said that I could see a very similar village, much closer to Guadalajara, a few hours away in Tapalpa.
That day, I put a status on Facebook asking who wanted to come. About 4 people said they were in, but as expected, when it came closer to the date, everyone had somehow made other plans or didn't have money or whatever.
I sat there in my boxer shorts on Friday morning thinking, if I don't go, nobody will know. Nobody will say anything bad. Nobody will judge me. But then I thought, I have these three days free. Everybody has their idea of which place is perfect to go in Mexico, and I have a list as long as my arm, so I'm always saying that I need to go see more of Mexico. So why not go, take a risk, have an adventure. I might meet some interesting people, see some cool stuff, take some photos to post on Steemit.
I hesitated several times before I left the house, but eventually I ordered the Uber for the bus station, scribbled a note for my housemate, and hurried downstairs with my backpack and camera case.
Around 6pm, I arrived in Tapalpa, wandered around a little bit, and found a cheap-ish hotel to stay in for 550 pesos a night. I took a lot of photos, which I'll share in a later post.
Standing at the taco stall, I met some young people from Guadalajara, who were renting out a cabin just outside of town, and had come to Tapalpa in search of magic mushrooms. We chatted, shared some laughs and some hot chocolate. They went back to the cabin, and I stayed in the city. I went to the hotel, feeling more than a little disappointed that I hadn't found quite the adventure that I was looking for.
Contact
I turned off the lights. The only sources of light in the room were the very faint illumination shining through the curtain, rebounded off the walls from a streetlight, and the standby light on the television, fixed on the wall in the corner of the room. I looked at the standby light, and noticed something odd about it.
I found it very difficult to look at the light - not that it was bright, just that I couldn't really focus. Every time I looked, my eyes decided to change position, moving in small jumps, so that the light appeared to bounce around in my vision. Then, the jumps seemed to be indicative of some form of intelligence. Then began a telepathic communication.
Humans used to manipulate smoke to make smoke signals. Now we manipulate radio waves to make radio signals. These beings manipulate light to make light signals. For some reason, it can't be just any light... They can't adjust the light for your entire field of vision. It has to be a bright point of light, especially a small one from your perspective.
I didn't really expect to have this experience while almost completely sober. The only drugs I had consumed that day were some chocolate and a cap shot of mezcal. That really shouldn't be enough to induce telepathic communication with extraterrestrials, but there I was, the light jumping up and down, left and right in my vision, trying to converse with me. I wasn't entirely convinced that what I suspected was happening was actually happening, and so I didn't become alarmed at all.
Show us something, they thought. These are Meme Traders. Ideas are valuable to them. They know how to use them somehow, make them into simulations... Or something else, I didn't really know what, but that's what they come here for.
"Gee... what kind of thing do you want? Let me see..." I thought for a moment. "How about this, the theory of evolution, it's a story about - " I went nonverbal, tracing through the steps of the story from microbial organisms, natural selection and random mutation...
Oh no, not that old thing.
He doesn't seem quite as smart as last time we talked, thought another one.
"It's just a little more difficult to communicate without the effects of the peyote."
Show us something.
"How about Steemit - it's a - "
We gave you that.
"And Bitcoin - it's - "
We gave you that.
These are statements which, if taken to be literally true, will probably cause confusion.
"Alright then. Last time, you seemed very interested in human anatomy. Why don't I show you a little about the structure of my brain."
Yes yes yes. They seemed pleased.
I lay back in the bed, and started guiding some energy up my brain stem, probing it through my skull, so at various times, various piece of the brain would be "illuminated", allowing them to make some copy of it for later analysis or trade, or whatever the fuck they do.
I was rather tired, and as they continued to examine, I rolled over and went to sleep.
The morning after
In the morning, I got up around 9, and found a café to sit in with my notepad. I ordered some enmoladas, with hot chocolate and orange juice on the side. I started to write some of the events of the night before, and as I continued, my thoughts started to take some unexpected turns. Of course, a Meme Trader always pays its debts. I had given my knowledge without any expectation or even a thought of a reward, but dutifully and methodically, they had left me another "token of their appreciation". As I sat there eating, staring out the window, and staring into the page, I unraveled the ball of yarn that they had left for me, inside my own brain.
Everything is valuable
Aldous Huxley can take LSD and write about how the creases in his jeans fold and wind in such splendour, put it in a book and profit, gain fame, even create a legacy.
Everything is valuable, you just have to be in the right frame of mind, to transmute your perception into the correct form, or discover the way to use it as it is.
Down to the specks of dust on the tablecloth, everything is valuable.
The right perspective
My note says: Looking at things in the right way. Valuable perspective understanding proximate consciousness
These are two separate steps. You have to see the value in something, the beauty of something, then you must communicate it effectively using an understanding of your fellow beings. One part of this formula on its own isn't sufficient to be rewarded, to receive value in return.
I started to write something about money, but I was interrupted. Let's not get caught up on money, the note says.
Meaning = Value
"That means something," is a phrase I've heard many times, and said to myself many times. "That means something," as in, "That means something to me, that is important, significant, I see the value in that. That evokes a powerful emotional response in me, because I recognise its significance."
For something to be valuable, it must be meaningful. For something to be meaningful, it must be valuable.
Everything has a 'rainbow' extending from it - a range of possible interpretations transcending space and time. When you say "That means something," congruently, your eyes will tear and your throat will choke up. For that particular concept, you are feeling that profound shade of meaning. You are opening up an aperture. You are beginning to see the full range of possible interpretations of that thing. You might say, you are beginning to actually see it.
Stay with the "That means something." Stay with the meaning.
It's not about the context; it's about the essence
I took a photo of my breakfast, with my notebook and the menu in shot.
I thought, That means something. I started to write: Breakfast in a small town in a country far from your ...
I was interrupted. Then I wrote: It's not about context. It's about essence. That is to say, the photo is meaningful and valuable of itself, not because of the surrounding story. Everything that it needs is right there in that moment, without prerequisite knowledge. It is what it is, and what an it it is.
For many years before I ever came to Latin America, or even really knew anything about Latin America, I would stare off into the distance whenever said some words like "Machu Picchu" or "Teotihuacán". I imagined a beautiful rocky mountain with a sheer grey cliff face, with foliage running down its back, and I felt... elation I suppose you could call it. If I'd never had that thought, I might never have come here, I probably wouldn't be living here. Just an idea has the power to change someone's life. Just the idea - not the context. It didn't matter what triggered my mind to have that idea, who was telling me or on which bench I was sitting. The idea was more than enough.
Your mission
Your mission is to show the transcendental in the mundane
The profound in the ordinary
The divine in the terrestrial.
Amen.
Changeworlds & createworlds
Just the mere entrance of a particular thought into a universe can change it indefinitely. Thoughts are things.
Sentimental value is more real than money, than any physical object. Sentimental value can knock down walls and make losers into champions. It can move worlds and send men beyond the stars. Yea, it can create universes.
Amen.
Looking at mundane things in a divine way might well be a way to allow a thought to enter this universe. That's why it's so important to find a way to show people how to find the profound in the ordinary. If I can do that, they become conduits for novel ideas, conduits for God. Allowing the new ideas to enter, they expose the universe to the possibility of transformation.
Napoleon is quoted as saying that men will risk life and limb for a few pieces of ribbon. Someone once pointed out to me that actually, they're risking their lives for the ideas that the ribbon represents - prestige, honour, courage, love of king and country. They will do things for ideas that they would never do for money. Sentimental value can change the world; it's no mere plaything, no child's toy, no joke to be dismissed. Ask yourself if anything in your life would be anywhere near as good as it is, if you or someone else hadn't made decisions based on things that inspired you or them. People infected by an idea can build something which stands for thousands of years, even things such that the world will never be the same. Where money cannot buy a way, inspiration can find a way.
"Just the mere entrance of a particular thought into a universe can change it indefinitely." So, when the idea of Bitcoin entered this universe, the universe had to adapt to accomodate it. Those who were ready to receive the idea, started to implement it. This is also related to why some great discoveries have two or more names against them. The idea enters, they get to work.
Transmutation
The reason Steemit is so powerful is that it grants the ability to transmute sentimental value into monetary value - the primitive currency of Earth.
After a week or so of being on Steemit, I sent a link to my friend Juan, showing him that my friend Itzel had made some money with her 'introduceyourself' post. He said that there was definitely something odd about it, and he didn't know of any other market in the world where some pictures of cute girl and a short bio was worth $1,000.
Consider this. What can you buy with $1,000? I could probably buy a 1981 Volkswagen Beetle in good condition for that money. Which is more likely to change the world - an old VW, or an essay on the Internet? It's an easy bet once you think it through. So what is the value of ideas really? Many ideas on Steemit are probably overvalued, however, many ideas on Steemit that receive $1,000 are worth more, much more - orders of magnitude more, because of their transformative qualities.
We pay for ideas
Think about your home. Maybe you have a sofa made of recycled wood, a big lounge room, art from local artists on the walls, and big fluffy towels in the bathroom.
When you paid for those items, you thought you were paying for the labour and the material, the skill of the artisan, his time, or for the final product. You weren't. You were paying for the experience - the sensory experience, or the ego experience for when people see the art and say "You have such good taste!" or the experience of self-expression.
People don't pay for things. They pay for experiences. Experiences are nothing more than impressions, and impressions are nothing more than concepts.
They could buy cheap bathtowels and imagine that they're nice big fluffy hotel towels, getting a glimpse of what that would feel like, but they prefer to have a more consistent, persistent impression.
The evolution of money
Memory-based barter
It's likely that barter was never really used as the basis of an economy, as the 'dual coincidence of wants' makes it too cumbersome. What is more likely, is that people kept a running tally in their heads of what they owed to whom, and who owed what to them. They maintained these ideas in their head, though their memories be imperfect, and it was probably common for someone to feel like they got the short end of the bargain.
Commodity money
Later came commodity money, using shells, beads, or precious metals to trade. Precious metals are easier to measure than ideas about who has given, or is going to give, what to whom, and that makes them a superior form of money compared to memory alone.
Fiat currency
Fiat currency is money by declaration, normally made currency by the declaration of a violent authority. The authority demands taxes in that currency, and so people find ways to get it, and because of that, it circulates.
Some people believe that the reason commodity money is superior to fiat currency, is that you can take precious metals and make something out of them, but that's not exactly the reason. Memory-based barter, commodity money and fiat currency, are all only using ideas. The value of all three is only based on the perception of those who accept it or pay with it. However, commodity money is generally a decentralised system, and that makes it more resistant to abuse.
Many economists, especially from the Austrian school, see fiat currency as a step backwards from commodity money for this reason. However, fiat currency is a necessary step in the evolution of money, and it is in one sense more advanced than commodity money, for this reason: pieces of silver are, ostensibly, tangible, physical objects; so numbers in a bank account, being little more than an idea, are, in a sense, closer to the idea that the currency represents.
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is informational money, and nobody is even under the illusion that it is backed by any commodity. It is purely virtual. However, it is still information that is representative of an idea - the idea of work completed, the idea of owing something to somebody, or someone owing something to you, of wanting to accept it. It is an idea, that represents another, more profound and more substantial idea.
Idea money
In a progression similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs (also similar in its imperfections), societies develop in the kinds of things that they find most valuable. In a primitive society, hunting and gathering is valued. Later, building and making things through manual labour is valued. Then the ability to design efficient factories. Then, empathetic and deep healing work such as psychology and shamanism. Finally, innovation is valued. That is, ideas.
I once heard someone say the words "Ideas are the currency of the 21st century," but that doesn't go far enough. Ideas are the currency of gods, beings (currently) far beyond human understanding. That's why the Meme Traders do what they do.
Can you imagine trying to carry gold across dimensions? The luggage fees would be astronomical, for lack of a better word. Better to use something portable, that's accepted everywhere. That's why the Meme Traders deal in ideas. That's why they trade in changeworlds and createworlds.
An analogy of words
- A lot of words to capture a single concept
- This is analogous to memory-based barter.
- A single word to refer to the same concept
- This is analogous to commodity money, fiat currency, and cryptocurrency.
- The concept itself
- This is the shit. This is what's really valuable.
Thank you
Sitting in the café, sipping a hot chocolate, I thought thank you, I'm so grateful that you gave these ideas to me.
Of course you're grateful. We chose them precisely for you.
A bonus idea - freedom from fear in the face of decentralisation
People seeking full knowledge of a system normally do it for purer motivations - natural curiosity, fascination, wonder. People with baser instincts tend to look for exploits. They don't care about the integrity of the system, the totality. They care about buttons they can push. They are looking for gratification, not fulfillment.
Universities have entrance exams for skill and knowledge, but I've never heard of a university testing for character. Isn't that strange? They are willing to let anybody enter and gain the knowledge of the human race, without first confirming that the entrant's intentions are pure. They just allow the information to be free, without worrying that someone may abuse it. They give, and give. Yet, it's relatively rare to hear of the abuses of such power. The idea of a university is predicated on the idea of good will among men.
Open-source software exists in a transparent system, allowing anyone to alter information, theoretically allowing exploiters to put their backdoors into a system, but also allowing people of good will and skill to correct them. The information is available to anyone, and the people who work on it don't try to hide their work from the world, or even to take credit from it. They give, and give.
In the morning, after having given the information about the human brain to the Meme Traders, I thought with fear, what if I have done something wrong? What if I have given this valuable information to someone malicious? In many ways it echoed other fears I have. What if she doesn't love me back? What if I never find more money?
Give everything. You don't need to be afraid. Love relentlessly. Love to the marrow. You're never going to run out. You are drinking from a spring which will never run dry.
Epilogue
I walked around the town, venturing a couple of kilometres away from the plaza in the city centre. For some reason, a thought about a friend of mine, an old colleague with whom I'd had many discussions about politics over Facebook. He was always curious about my perspective, willing to listen and consider, so one day I made a point of sending him a message. I said that he had a remarkable quality, that even though sometimes I would phrase something in a way which wasn't very polite, he would overlook it and address the substance of what I had said. In his grace, I wrote, it was as if I had never written anything which could be interpreted badly. That's what I respected about him, I wrote.
He wrote back saying, I suppose I'll take that for what it is - one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.
I walked along the cobblestone street, and the words of economist Thomas Sowell resounded in my head in a smooth baritone: "What we incentivize, we will have more of." So, if we encourage the godlike qualities of men, men will slowly become gods.
I walked past a temple and took a photo. Everyone who walked or motorcycled past the temple gave themselves a little blessing, making crosses on their chests. Perhaps at one point in my life, I would have dismissed it as a superstition, maybe even a sign of a weak mind. Yet, if it reminds people to be good, to take care of others, why not? I thought. Why not.
Check out my other stuff
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