What follows is a work in progress. It is copyright protected in full and part. © 1998 Ace Starry Please feel free to read and comment to me here.
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Matrixing - Futurism's Manual To The Next Millennium
by Ace Starry
Preface
People often say that art is but a reflection of life. Art also reflects mans perceptions of the past and predictions of the future of society. Movies, magazines, and television often make bold predictions about the future giving us a stark negative picture. Why do these entertainment programs predict a destructive, and totally devastating end to our civilization? Movies such as, Waterworld, Terminator, or The Road Warrior portray a bleak, negative future for mankind, where man has lost control of his environment. Are these truly a looking glass into the future? Like many of you, I wish to believe that most of these fears are unfounded. preferring to adhere to my optimistic beliefs and predict a future more like a Star Trek, a future built upon a more utopian ideal.
As we enter into this new millennium we will be meeting change in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Remember when captain Kirk (from the original Star Trek television series) just flipped open his communicator and talked with his ship. We all watched (those of us old enough to remember) and were amazed by the idea of communications so easily available. That shows new idea was not created that long ago. Doesnt it seem silly to us to put such a device so far into the future now now that we have a cellular telephone which in many ways resembles the device which we placed in the so-called distant future? Even the look of the mobile telephone has taken on the appearance of captain Kirks communicator
Many of the technologies that seemed futuristic, then, are now with us, long before we though possible. Sometimes the future is practically here before we even have time to make a prediction. Even writing this book I worry that what I say may be out-dated by the time I get the words written down. Hopefully, not.
Over the past ten years or so, I have been developing a theory. This theory, I hope will be a key to help us understand why we are the way that we are and to possibly help us avoid any dark ages which seem to be approaching at warp speed (if the media is a valid predictor.) For this so-called theory of mine, I must give a lot of credit to the works of the recent authors such as Tom Peters, Jay Bronowski, John Naisbitt, and Alvin and Heidi Toffler, to name a few, have contributed to my thinking processes. In particular, Alvin Tofflers THE THIRD WAVE played a enormous part in developing my line of reasoning.
In this book I am not going to predict an apocalypse or preach any type of pseudo-psychic/scientific, futuristic rhetoric for that matter. In fact this book is as more a method for predicting as much as it is a prediction. It is my hope that a few will be inspired by what this vision of the future says we can become; rather than doomed to a lack of inspiration because of that bleak future, which some truly believe we are spiraling towards like a spaceship being sucked into a black-hole.
I sit at my desk with a picture of Albert Einstein looking down at me. Having read some of his work, I am convinced (by his own statements) that some of his greatest achievements came from just thinking about things, mulling them over. Since, I am not a pure scientist, a lot of what I will say is pure conjecture. However, I have spent a great deal of time thinking, mulling, and reading about the human animal and our human condition. And mainly, I have, as you, spent a great deal of my time living in the human condition.
The matrixing theory is simply a result of a great deal of reading, thinking and putting those thoughts upon paper. The book contains a lot of graphs and charts which have helped me try to step back and look at our history as an ever changing kaleidoscope. I will try to not become enamored with the colors of the kaleidoscope, but rather attempt to discern how the mirrors are arranged so as to guess which way the next picture will look. With matrixing we are not looking at the picture that is presented in the looking glass, instead we will be looking at the changes and their relationships to one another.
In his book The Ascent of Man, Bronowski said that in every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world. Because of the rapid changes going on today in communications, governments, technology, social structure and medicine not only are we seeing a new world, we are seeing the world through new eyes each day. I hope that matrixing helps us to see a coherence which we may have never seen before.
I realize that many social scientists and futurists may argue and contest my base assumptions. However, these arguments will only lead to a constructive thought process, or system, which will in the end only prove to advance the same theories I propose not because Im correct in my assumptions, only because it is my assumption that man will tend to argue and inquire naturally. Matrixing tries to give an order to the unordered. Constructive criticism does the same. If I receive an argument I will be complimented that a person took the time to read and form an opinion based upon my work. The basis for drawing a conclusion or simply humankinds need for an answer is a major part of this theory I call matrixing.
Though it may be improper to use a first person narrative in this type of book, and editors may find it abhorrent, I want you to feel at ease when reading. So I may tend to tell this theory as just a set of my own thoughts told to you as though we were sitting in the same room over a cup of coffee or on my back patio over a glass of wine (which is even more likely). Believe me, if that method were feasible, it would be preferable to me. Hopefully, using a first person narrative will remind you that these are just thoughts and opinions of one author, not some greater than thou words written on a tablet of stone.
Isaac Newton once wrote: To explain all of nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even any one age. Matrixing may be a lot like that. The concept seems to encompass much too much for one simple book. Hopefully though this book will explain the idea in enough detail that individuals like you will be able to take the concept and apply it to many other matrixes that exist around us and perhaps predict many matrixes that will exist in the future.
Matrixing
The dictionary contains no such verb matrixing. The word matrix is only a noun coming from the Latin root, mâter which means: mother. The word matrix means: that which gives origin or form to a thing, or which serves to enclose it; the rectangular arrangement into rows and columns of the elements of a set.
For the purpose of this so-called theory of mine matrixing is as good a word as any, even though I made it up. Here is my definition:
Matrixing: a process by which we humans continually organize, order, align, or standardize, the un-organized, un-ordered, mis-aligned, or non-standardized, allowing us to manage the chaos around us into something that is more beneficial to us.
My definition for matrixing basically concludes that matrixing is the process that gives form to things. A matrix is what results from matrixing: the arrangement, the puzzle into which the pieces fit. A matrix is, for example, the way we outline to produce a book, the way in which we arrange letters to make words and sentences. A matrix is not the computer and printer that allows us to do word processing, rather it is the way they are designed, or systematized, or programmed to do their tasks.
A matrix is the highways that allow us to travel, the telephone lines that allow us to call, the accounting systems that allows us to manage money. In fact it is the money system that allow us to trade with one another. Matrixing is the creation of these systems that allow us to function in our existing environment. A matrix is the end result of matrixing: the organization and relationship of these things that allow them to function coherently as an environment. Capital, the society, the government, are all a matrix created by matrixing.
We have been told that man is different from animals in many different ways. Some educated people used to say that we are the only animal to develop tools because we have an opposing thumb. Now we know that some animals use tools, such as a monkey uses a rock to open a nut. Experts have also told us that we were the only animals with a language. Many experts believe that dolphins talk in a sophisticated language. We also know for fact that apes and chimps can be taught to use human sign language.
Recently, proof has been giving that even sharks communicate in some kind of sophisticated manner. One shark trained in the Bahamas to hit an orange button in order to receive fish for a reward was eventually let out to sea. About six months later other sharks returned in his place and began hitting the same orange button without previous training. Communication must have taken place between the sharks.
What really separates us from the rest of the animals is that humans are the only animals that continually redevelop our matrix. Humans are the only animals with the ability to record our history and build upon that recorded history by developing systems to adjust to the new and changing environment. That is to say that we continually attempt to manage our surroundings into something that benefits us more and more. That is what matrixing is about: continually developing an environment by building upon a past development without having to recreate the original development from scratch.
Continual matrixing is the reason that we have air conditioning and birds do not. (This is a bit silly but it will get the point across.) Matrixing is not just creating a nest, for example. Birds are pretty adept at that. Creating a nest is a system for the bird to manage its environment, the weaving of the sticks is itself a type of matrix. But the bird never builds upon the matrix of the past environment. It never is able to build upon past experience of its ancestors. If birds were to continually matrix they would produce a better nest with each passing year and each passing generation. Eventually they would be living in air conditioned nests with a tiny refrigerator holding their tiny box of processed worm bits. I know that this sounds ridiculous, but it is the changing matrixes that allow us to evolve. Matrixing allows us to grow as a species.
We procreate more, we produce more, we consume more, and we think more (process more information.) Matrixing allows us these types of growth. We sometimes refer to this growth as the evolution or the ascent of man. Whether or not we agree upon what we are evolving into, most often we agree that man is evolving into something. The matrixes surrounding man are evolving with him.
Next, let me introduce you to what allows for the evolution of man, what I will call the grand matrix. The concept of a grand matrix can be extended to cover mans history or evolution. The grand matrix is a collection of all the individual matrixes, which I have or havent mentioned, i.e. the government, capital systems, religions, social structure, transportation, etc. Not only covering the matrixes of the history we know, the grand matrix includes the future which we do not know. If we look at our matrix as something that is being created, and evolving continually with time, we can recognize it as a continual flow or a cycle. If we could separate ourselves from the grand matrix and look at all of it, as over the history of mankind, we would see a marvelous pattern of growth and development. An intricate weaving and layering of systems, and development would become visible. If we could represent it graphically, it would be a myriad of colors changing, becoming more complex, taking on different dimensions with each passing day. This entire kaleidoscopic history of the systems of mankinds development is what I refer to as the grand matrix.
Often when we look at something from a different reference point we can develop new insights into the workings of the observed object. By looking at the development of man not as short steps of growth, but as a whole, we can begin to know the shape the future, like plotting a line on a graph. When you know the coordinates of given points you can determine, within probable limits, the relationship of those points outside the known history. That is what we are going to do with the relationship of mans matrixes.
By stepping back and looking at the evolution of man as a whole we can determine a few things about this so-called, grand matrix. For example: we can see whether the matrix is getting more and more complex, if it has any cycles to it, or if it has a beginning and an end. If you can imagine graphically it might look something like a series of spider webs forming at first in one dimension, then in three dimensions, overlapping, connecting and constantly changing and evolving to something new and different. To help explain, lets look at a few of the elements of the grand matrix. These elements will help us determine what the relationship of mans growth, or evolution, within the grand matrix would look like over a period of time.
Assumed Elements of the Grand Matrix:
1)The grand matrix has a beginning.
2)The environment plays a major role in the grand matrix.
3)The grand matrix has a direction.
First we know that the grand matrix has a beginning; it is not really of much importance to say when or where exactly. Somewhere, sometime, however, humankind began to matrix the environment around him. He began to organize relationships of his environment to better control it. Matrixing probably occurred earliest in a time when man first discovered a social system of living in tribes, or created the first tools. Like I mentioned, we dont need to know exactly when. For the purpose of predicting the future, we simply must know that it was thousands of years ago. We dont have to agree when, we only have to agree that it was a long time ago, when compared to the span of our own lives.
Secondly, we know that the environment itself plays a major role in the grand matrix. The purpose of the grand matrix is to manage the environment forward from this beginning. Managing our environment doesnt mean in this instant that we manage our pollution, or such; rather it means that we manage the area, systems and factors around us in which we survive, thrive or perish.
If our environment changes, then the matrix for managing it also changes. For example if the weather should suddenly melt the polar ice caps, we would see the grand matrix develop in a totally different direction than if we suddenly have a huge drop in global temperature, or if the temperature were to remain somewhat constant. If we experience an outbreak of some terrible disease, which wipes out 80% of the population, this would be a factor determining the matrix. The environment controls how we develop the matrix, not the other way around. If we, for example, continue to pollute our environment to a point which becomes hazardous to our very survival, we will find ourselves evolving with a matrix which, rather than advancing in other areas, focuses upon solving the problems associated with this life threatening element.
Third and perhaps the most important element of the grand matrix is that it has a direction. We are developing the grand matrix toward something, evolving in a certain direction. Not until we step back and look at the history of mankind do we realize that not only is man evolving, but the way man creates systems and solutions is evolving. The amazing part is that we are evolving toward a foreseeable future. We can see the future, if we want to take a look!
The capacity to visualize the future is one of the greatest abilities given to man. This is what truly separates mankind from the animals, because without this ability, continual matrixing would not exist. The ability to foresee a possible future is what creates the desire to matrix the environment in the first place. We humans actually believe that we can have a better life than our ancestors or forefathers. And most of the time we believe that our children will be better off than we are. This belief is a driving force behind mans evolution.
Not just an increase in the standard of living, I am talking about in every respect. We now live longer. We work less. We eat, play and sleep more. Of course I am speaking in generalities. On an individual basis you may believe that you work harder than your father did (this may or may not be true) or that your children will not be better off. But given history and the environment you live in, your life is an easier life than that of the people working in the industrial sweatshops. And it is much easier than the pilgrims who could have starved to death during a long winter, and guaranteed far easier than the cave man who was fighting a wild boar over a place to spend the night, as well as who will be whos dinner. To top it all off he was probably working with nothing but a large stone to accomplish his tasks.
Dont get me wrong, we still have enough mortality, hard work, and starvation in this world to go around. However, in general we are getting better because we have the ability to learn from our past. We have recorded history and have been able to learn from history. Often I hear it said that we are continually making the same mistakes and that we simply dont ever learn from history thus we are destined to repeat it. This is just not a truism. We do learn from history, but the mistakes of the past dont necessarily teach us the lessons that we need for today or the future. The lessons of the previous matrix may or may not apply to the current matrix.
One of the most often used comparisons is that of the First World War which was to be the war to end all wars. What happened? Well, mankind did know a lot about war, by the end of the war, but we didnt know much about peace. A peace settlement that could not be lived with was created. We did in fact learn from that mistake and did not make the same mistake with the Japanese or Germans after the end of WWII.
The point is that with the constantly changing environment, we cant always use the past as a valid basis for decision making. You know that old saying Just when I thought I had the answers they changed the questions. This is so true. Decisions should be made based upon past knowledge only when it is applicable to the current matrix!
Plotting the future is like trying to draw a graph on a crawling snake. No matter where you put the points on the graph, the snake constantly changes directions. If you try to make decisions based upon this graph the snake ends up biting you in the ... oh, you know. The only way to possibly use this graph to make a prediction of the future is to try to predict what the snake is going to do first. Once you have the snakes movements predicted you can determine where the next point on the graph will be.
Think of the snake as being the matrix. We need to determine where the matrix is headed before we can determine what the changes will be in our future.
The amazing thing is that we dont have to know the past if we can determine two things:
4.If we know the direction of the future
5.If we can determine a starting point.
By developing individual matrices within and around the direction of the grand matrix we can see the future of the evolution of man on a scale, grand or small. Amazingly, we can apply these matrixes to many different aspects of life. Once we understand how man develops his systems for managing the environment, have determined the evolution of the environment, and know which direction the matrix is moving; we can predict what systems will be developed next or how the current system will evolve.
This applies to many different aspects of life: social, religious, economic, governmental, business; all are matrices which are formed within and around the grand matrix. Each individual matrix must fit within the grand matrix or it will not survive. That is to say that an individual system must fit into the total evolutionary process. When the grand matrix changes drastically such as is happening now, each individual matrix is forced to fit in, change, or is replaced by something else that works better for man within his current environment.
Although, matrixing is much more likely to predict changes in a macro scale, it can be used to predict some micro economic and business related things. For example matrixing can be a good predictor for creating a new product to introduce to the market, what a company should invest research and development money into, and where marketing efforts will be successful. It is also a good predictor for investing and estimating business cycles. Because matrixing will tell you when a product will be successful or flop. We will go into how to use these matrixing techniques in the chapter: Matrixing for Business.
In Alvin Toflers, The Third Wave, Tofler was able to show us that man was evolving in a series of great steps. The steps he referred to as waves. Each wave was an economic progression of man. The first wave was the Agrarian. Man learned to develop farming. The second wave was the Industrial Revolution in which man developed machines to make production of goods efficient. The third wave is where we are now, at the end of the millennium, the technology revolution.
What about the fourth wave? Can we predict if there is going to be one? What will it be? Can we actually make a quality prediction about where the next wave will take place and when it will happen? The answer is yes. By predicting the matrixes which are continually evolving we can predict the next step in mans evolution. Although we may not be able to predict a quantum leap, by matrixing we can predict where the next leap will need to be if there is going to be a fourth wave. This sounds quite impossible. But remember, impossible things are being done as you are reading this. How long ago was it that the earth was flat? Or how long ago was it that man couldnt fly? Or how far off did walking on the moon seem?
To find an answer about what the future holds let us ask a question of the past. Did the agrarian have the same capacity of modern man to think about his past and look toward his future? Did the industrial revolutionists ever think that the future would be predicted by looking at the past?
The answer of course is yes. As I previously stated, Man is unique in the ability to visualize the future, to foresee what may happen and create plans to anticipate change. Man creates images in his mind and can represent them outside his mind. Even the prehistoric paintings on cave walls demonstrate mans ability to record past success (such as a hunt) and build a matrix (such as teaching children to use a stone tool).
We know that the size and workings of our brains didnt really change much over the past few thousand years. The major difference was the amount of accumulated knowledge which the man of the past possessed. He was probably every bit as intelligent as todays computer genius; he just didnt have a computer to work with. To put it in another perspective, he was matrixing within a different environment and was only able to develop solutions to advance his quality of life within the constraints of his given matrix.
Today we use the limited tools and knowledge base which we have matrixed to solve todays problems and lead us to our future. But what future are we trying to create?
The most important part of matrixing is that it has a direction. We can predict the future if we know the direction and have a starting point. For example, if we were going to guess which way you were walking through a forest and you have been walking north you will probably continue to walk north. Statistically speaking it is the way you will walk. The amount of time you have been walking in that direction give us more data to build our guess upon. You may have to take a detour if you come to an obstacle, but if we know that you are headed north, we can guess with a high probability that your next step will be northward.
To further this idea a little, our guess would be better based upon the knowledge if you are standing, walking, or running. If you are standing we can guess based upon where you have been or your past history, but your next step can be in almost any direction, including backwards (south). However, if you are walking your momentum will probably be carrying you forward in a northern direction. Taking a backward step would be very difficult, it would be much easier to step left or right (east or west). If you are running north it would be much more difficult to get you to go another direction. What if we knew that you were running downhill? It would increase the predictability, dramatically. Therefore, we can predict with much more accuracy which way you will be headed by increasing the speed with which you are moving, and knowing the terrain you are moving over.
Our matrixes have been moving a given direction for thousands of years and we are now headed toward our future at warp speed. This speed and direction is what makes our predictions for the future much more reliable than simply plotting the points in the past. If we knew that there was a cliff ahead this too would help with the prediction. These hills, valleys and cliffs are the matrixes which we are moving within. They are the current systems that surround us: social, government, economic, and religious systems.
Well lets talk a little about the direction of the grand matrix. What is that makes us have farms one day, and factories the next?
Matrixing is driven by mans desire to be better off. The desire to have more, live easier, be happier, stay lazier, become healthier, these desires create the grand matrix. The desire is to be better off in all aspects. This desire is key to the evolution of man. If we had no desire, or ambition as some call it, mankind would still be living in caves and fighting with the elements to survive. This is the most amazing aspect of human kind. Our marvelous ability to create a future for ourselves is unique to us.
You may not believe that all people are ambitious and that may be true. Often not ambition, but rather the lack of ambition or need to be lazy advances the matrix. We all add to the development of the matrix whether we realize it or not. Whether we want to or not. If you buy a new product, say a can of soda with a pop-top versus what used to be a pull-tab, you have helped to move the matrix along. The acceptance of the new product gives way to a new environment within which to build upon. Matrixing is built upon continual growth of the environment. It is a part of man that is not going away. We will always continue to grow and develop along an evolutionary line of sorts.
The real question is what line? What are we growing into? Where are we going? This is what a study of the direction of matrixing will provide.
By saying that we know where we are going, we may be able to determine where we are in relation to our destination. Our destination? Why, utopia, of course. Well, what does that mean exactly?
What it means is that we are trying to become total masters of our environment. We are trying to become gods so to speak. Please dont be offended by the use of the term gods. This is not meant to attack anyones theological beliefs. It is simply a term that we can relate to as a being which has achieved a level of perfection. And as history moves ahead, we will progress towards being just that gods maybe unreachable, and maybe not.
Sound a little far fetched? Perhaps one of the mistakes which we humans do continually make is that we underestimate our own capabilities. Well, if you could go back in time, (which one day we will if my theory is true) you would certainly be a god to anyone that you wished to be one to. Imagine the force of an atomic bomb dropped upon the Roman Empire. Certainly by their standards it would be a feat without a doubt only capable of a god. Man will do things in the future which we would also say now are god-like. (This is not a new concept here, folks.)
Now to determine the direction of the grand matrix, you must determine what it means to be a god. What will you be able to do, if you can do anything? Well, lets look at travel. Will traveling be at the speed of light, which is what Einstein said would be impossible to travel? No, it will be instant. You will be all places at the same time, if you so desire. That sounds a little far fetched, but remember we may be talking about a man in the year 98790860. Then again, we may not be that far out. Well let you venture a guess after you learn to develop the matrix.
What about communications? Will you be able to call your cousin Theodore from Mars on your wrist watch? Yes, but you arent thinking omniscient enough. A god doesnt need a watch. Time will not exist to you in this state. You will be wherever and whenever you want. As for calling, you dont call. You will know cousin Theodores thoughts. In fact you will know everyones thoughts and communicate with them whenever, however, and as many as you will, as often as you want. You will be one with the universe.
What about life span? Well, are you getting the idea about the end of the grand matrix? Of course, you will be immortal. That doesnt mean that you wont die if you want to. You may wish to die just to see where dying leads. However, you may wish to come back and, of course, you will because time has no meaning. So you may exist in the past and choose not to die the second time around. And since time has no meaning to you, you would exist in such a sense that there are no boundaries to you. You will be one with space and time. You will live forever in the past, present and future.
What about your social life? Would you have a wife or husband, or multiple relationships? Again think about the grand matrix, you would be able to communicate with all at once. The reasons for relationships are for acceptance, love, procreation, learning and teaching. When you are a god you would be able to be accepted by, learn, teach and love all. Did we mention procreation?
If you think about it, being god-like is pretty impossible. It seems to be pretty far away, doesnt it? After all we have many problems which we seem to create for ourselves on a daily basis. We have hunger, crime, drugs, pollution, unemployment, domestic violence, wars, disease, population explosion, just to name a few. Are we really evolving to a god-like state, or are we creating more problems that we are solving?
The first step in answering such questions is to create a graphic representation. This will help us realize where we are and what the matrix looks like as well as the future matrixing. Let us create a simple graph. Well let time be the x axis and progress to a godlike state be the y axis.
god-like b
y
a x
early man 1st 2nd 3rd ?
wave wave wave waves
The matrixing theory says that we exist somewhere between these two points a and b. It would also stand to reason that points could be plotted along the dotted line between these points. These points could be used, by regression analysis, to determine if there is a path which progress is taking. Of course this would have to be somewhat subjective because we cant objectively determine what accounts for progress in the grand matrix overall. Actually we could plot many different objective aspects of evolution of man, such as the total number of words in language, or length of life span, and determine if there is a correlation between them. Without giving a lesson in statistics, we could not show what is indeed the probability of a given direction or speed. However, we can look at individual aspects, both subjective and objective, and try to draw a reasonable conclusion from them, without the mathematical support. Just using good old-fashioned reasoning we can make some assumptions.
We know that if we plotted something like the amount of time it takes to travel one mile over a period of time that certainly would yield a graph. How about the rate at which travel speed has progressed. Lets take a look at it. These are just rough approximations to give you an idea of what is happening over time, just as an example, not as a detailed analysis.
In the early years of mankind, man was limited to walking and running. A great deal of time passed before humans grasp onto the idea of harnessing animals as a way of transporting and travel (probably thousands of years). Even though a great deal of time had passed the increase in mph was not very large when man jumped up onto a horse. Years and years passed before the speed of travel began to increase much. Then when we reached a point in our evolution during the industrial revolution something amazing happened to travel. Travel speed began to increase exponentially. Within an amazingly short time span we have seen a tremendous increase in mans speed of travel. When viewed over time, this increase creates an exponential curve. Which, if this curve is used to predict further progress in this area, means that it will only be a comparatively short time before we are saying ahead warp factor one.
It was over two million years ago that Australopithecus, the early man, first made rudimentary stone tools. These tools consisted of a simple sharp edge created by a blow to the edge of one stone against another stone. For a million years after that, the basic tools did not change a million years! Imagine how tools have change within the last fifty years. Narrow the matrix to one of technology or medicine, and the changes become even more dramatic.
Lets look at another objective element of the grand matrix. Lets take communications. The graph would look much the same as the one for speed of travel. Communications, of course, is a much fuzzier subject. We can look at the number of messages or words which we can convey and the number of persons to whom we can send the message at a time. First we had simple spoken language. Millions of years later we learned to write in phonetics. In pre-industrial society the only communications were either a message sent via a hand carried messenger or simple face to face. As the industrial society took hold communications leaped forward as a postal service began to move information and communications. Then the telegraph, then another giant step, the telephone. Now a quantum leap forward in numbers as millions sign on to the Internet. Again you will see by stepping back and looking at the matrix that a curve takes a long time to develop and then takes a rapid turn upward.
The communications matrix curve has taken great leaps since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Now we are entering into a communications explosion. With the introduction of the Internet we have created the ability to communicate with thousands of people in instant. Think of the quantum leap up from the memo or conference call. How, soon will it be before we are communicating with the entire planet? One voice? Well, to some extent we have already reached that goal. You will see that the communication matrix is one of the fastest changing matrices within the grand matrix. This matrix will have the greatest effect upon the grand matrix over the next few years. It is a matrix which will create the force which will in turn make the other matrixes take quantum leaps as if to catch up with the change in communications.
Lets take a look at another of the basic elements of the grand matrix. The element of production of goods. Early mankind did not produce. He hunted and gathered. Later, as the Agriculture Revolution took hold man developed products with a very limited scope and distribution. The farming and housing was performed by the individual or family, tribe or kingdom. The Industrial Revolution brought about a mass production which created a tremendous leap forward. Now we are producing more than we can consume.
For the first time since the hunter gatherer will the world economy no longer be focused upon production. As the world market becomes more and more cluttered with competitors, each with a better mouse trap, new ways must be created to enhance the distribution of goods that go beyond the current idea of distribution through the exchange of capital, services and goods. The matrixes of commerce will soon mean that there will not only be a chicken in every pot but two cars in every driveway, two microwaves in every kitchen, ten televisions in every den. This rapid change in the matrix of over productions, may lead to many unforeseen and drastic changes in the environment. Deflation is one such change which may occur because of this overproduction. Skyrocketing unemployment is another. We will discuss the possibilities further in another chapter.
However, the important aspect of all this discussion about the matrix is that the rapid and far reaching changes are taking place within a shorter and shorter time span.
The changes occurring within the grand matrix, which is itself a view of the changing of mankind from an early state to a god-like state, can be seen as an exponential or logarithmic shift. We not only move ahead in a given direction, with each passing day, but we are moving toward the god-like state faster and faster. Within years such a statement will seem meaningless to most, because we will be fighting a constant state of change in almost every aspect of our lives. The changes will be so far reaching in scope and advancing so rapidly, that they will seem to create a new world with each setting of the sun. Literally, do you realize that NASA has plans to colonize Mars in 2010. That is only years away!
Alvin Toffler began to see what this would mean to us when he first wrote Future Shock. We are in for a shock the likes of which even Toffler never imagined. Nowhere have we begun to imagine the societal and cultural changes which will take place when we replace workers with artificially intelligent robots. Sure it sounds like star wars, but if we consider the pace at which artificial intelligence is moving and the advances in robotics, the changes created in the grand matrix will be drastic.
What about life span? We know from ancient bones, that of the primitive man, Australopithecus lived to be only about twenty years old. Feudal man lived to be thirty. Have you noticed how many people Willard Scott is wishing happy one-hundred plus birthdays? Scientists are discovering more and more about the aging process every day. Many are predicting that we will see dramatic breakthroughs with the unlocking of the DNA puzzle. When we all live to be over two hundred and can have children into our seventies and eighties, have we stopped to think about the massive effects on population. If you consider the rate at which the future is coming at us you will see that the matrix which we work, play, socialize and survive in is about to take another quantum leap.
Matrixing can offer us the ability to manage, systemize, and give an order to the otherwise chaotic. It is the way that we can continue to thrive in chaos. We will arrange all aspects of life in new and interesting ways, ways that advance us toward the god-like state. This is what matrixing will provide. If we are going to be able to survive the changes we need to get ready for them, to start developing systems to handle them.
Chapter 1 - The First Matrix.
One of the most remarkable statements was made to me by a onetime college professor of mine. He said the problem with people today is that they dont think, no one has to think anymore. He will remain anonymous, because what he said was pure phooey.
People think now more than ever! The reason they have so much more to think about. Our knowledge base demands more of us. This is one reason we are in a rapid matrixing environment. The amount of input which is given to us manage is changing so fast that the old ways of creating structure for it no longer apply. In order to manage the chaos around us, we have to discover new ways to matrix every day.
When a prehistoric man was going about his normal daily routine, he had to make his decisions about how to better his matrix based upon his accumulated knowledge and the stimuli or information which he received from the environment. We are no different. We make decisions about how to better our own matrix based upon our accumulated knowledge and the stimuli or information which we receive from our modern environment.
The primitive man had a relatively small base of accumulated knowledge. That is not to say that he didnt know many things and that he was a stupid animal. On the contrary, he may have known a great deal about the smells within the winds. He may have known how to find water, and create a fire from stones. Many of the things which we do not know, or now have no reason to know. He may not have had knowledge, but he had intelligence. We are in a different matrix. The primitive man did not have a set of encyclopedias on CD ROM nor did he have years of formal education and training in complex subjects, added to his continual bombardment from information sources. Our knowledge base is greater because of him. We have his informal education to build upon.
The primitive man also had a lesser amount of stimuli from which to matrix his environment. When the sun came out, he had to find shade. When it rained he had to find shelter. When he felt the need for food he had to hunt. We still share all of these needs. However, primitive man didnt have the major TV networks telling him that if he didnt invest in mutual funds before midnight that his tax shelter would be null and void. His 100 cable stations didnt offer the chance of a lifetime, NBA basketball, or Politically Incorrect. He didnt log on for his email at 2:00 in the morning because he could always get the maximum baud rate. The early man didnt have the information, stimuli or the knowledge base that we have today (nor did he want it or need it).
The question this begs is: Why did man matrix at all? Why did he change his surroundings to better suit him. The reason is that man has an innate behavior to do so. When it is too sunny, we naturally search for the shade. Not because it is shade and we therefore know that it will be cooler, but because we have found that being in the shade makes us feel a lot better. We innately like to feel better. If it feels good we like to do it. We like feeling good, and feeling great is even better.
About two million years ago in Africa, man first developed a system for solving his needs, or what we call a matrix. This primitive man had a much simpler matrix for giving an order to his environment. He had very simple inputs and didnt have complex means for developing his outputs. His solutions for advancing toward the god-like state were simple. Most of his solutions were based upon the simple matrix to relocate, move, or to change places within his environment.
The first matrix was created when the African climate changed to drought. Man was not well adapted to the new climate and was forced to create a solution or perish. Since it did not rain, he was forced to relocate to a place where there was water. His first matrixing involved physically moving himself. This was the system he used to solve similar problems. If he was attacked by a lion, he would remember to stay away from the places lions liked to hunt. We know from the cave paintings at Altimira, and in Spain and France that about twenty thousand years ago mans culture, and environment, his matrix revolved around his knowledge of the animals that he stalked and movement to protected environments.
He directly affected his environment by reacting to his inputs. Let us make a graphic representation which shows how he matrixed within his environment.
This shows that he used a single flow of information procession. The sources of information were direct and the person's own actions determined the outcome of the matrix. The single thought process was to identify the need and find the resource to fill it. This meant that he would search and relocate. If the hunting got too thin he would relocate. If the weather got too cold, he would move to a warmer climate. If he needed a mate again he would move until he located one. He was limited to manipulating his environment by moving out of a bad situation and into something new.
It is not really necessary for us to go into all of the details of how early man survived and developed. However we can learn something by asking a question would this primitive man have been better off if he: a. built a house or b. had a car. The answer is b. had a car. This may seem like a silly question, but it develops the theory that the matrix determines what elements will survive within it. The man could not have used a house because it would not fit into the matrix. His solution to most of his problems was to move or relocate. What good would a house do him? Of course a car would only do him good if it had a full tank of gas and he knew how to drive it, and had roads to drive on. The point is that within every matrix there are solutions that do not fit and those that do. As the matrix changes the relationships of inputs and resources; the matrixing (the systems to solve the problems) also changes.
Since man was limited in his ability to store food he had to move within the environment to survive. Even though he invented tools, such as a knife or even a spear, he was still changing his environment by moving to a different one. This was the system for changing his environment to meet his needs and moved him toward the god-like state. A good way to matrix, it gave the solutions required for the time and lasted for well over a million years. However, mans ability to learn from his ancestors eventually gave way to a new matrix and new problems to solve.
The first major changes to the matrix came when man started forming structured societies to create more effective responses to the inputs. This came in the form of tribes. This may have been a creation because of the early death of the adults. If an adult life span was only twenty, it meant that there were often young children left alone, without parents when the parents died. If the offspring were to survive, a social system had to develop to handle this environment. Tribalism was an early form of matrixing, which effected the amount of inputs, and the way in which man reacted to those inputs.
Now for the first time he was able to pool the resources and abilities of the tribe. Each hunter could go off in a different direction or some could look for food while others, cared for children, or looked for shelter or water. This added the element of distribution.
This element was the first step toward being god-like. It meant that a single man could receive more from his environment than he actually made the physical effort to accumulate.
What a concept this must have been, to get more than you deserve! Man must have really liked this matrix because, this matrix existed for well over a million years. In fact we still use it in part today. It is just a small part of the matrix which we live in and probably will remain a significant addition to achieving the God-like state. The matrix of today includes many parts of the past matrixes. However, many of our current problems stem from trying to use this matrix to solve the problem of a lack of resources within todays existing matrix, which although it includes this matrix, is nothing similar to the matrix above. If we search, locate, and take the necessary resources today, we often call it theft, or even war.
The greatest changes to primitive man over the first million years were not in the matrix, but mostly biological. Man became what we have come to know as Homo erectus. His basic matrix of relocation to find his resources created a plethora of finds for modern archeologists. It was a Homo erectus found in China, or Peking man, as he is called, that discovered fire. Fire was a tool that fit into the primitive man's first matrix very well and still fits in the matrix we have today in a much more limited way.
For many hundreds of thousands of years, through the introduction of and development of Homo Sapiens, the basic tools remained much the same. They were fire, spears, knifes and flints. The basic nature of the matrix was not changing, however the tools within it were growing. Man still used relocation as the primary method of supplying his resources. But, even primitive man was constantly developing sub matrixes and systems around the environment. He was using tools to make his life easier and learning more with each passing generation. He developed communication tools such as storytelling, and hieroglyphics to pass on his knowledge to following generations.
Like the rest of the grand matrix during this time, mans ability to control his source of food developed very slowly. It took over two million years for man to change from a hunter/gatherer Australopithecus, in Central Africa, to his modern Homo Sapiens form. However, he took his first major leap in the grand matrix only twelve thousand years ago. It was again the changing of the environment that created the change in the matrix that lead what Toffler called the first wave. We often refer to it as the agricultural revolution. This revolution gave way to a different matrix, which moved and changed the relationships of many aspects of life significantly.
Changes in the matrix happen because of changes in one of two things, changes in the knowledge base and/or changes in the environment. The changes will be more dramatic and far reaching, the greater the change in these two factors. It has been said that perhaps the largest step in the ascent of man was from the nomad to village agriculture. This change becomes evident in the Biblical city of Jericho. This is where the change in the environment leads to a dramatic change in the Matrix. The turning point in the pre-agrarian or hunter/gather matrix came about from a small but dramatic change in the environment. It was a change in a plant that changed the matrix and thus changed the way of life for mankind. The change came about in around 8000 BC. (1)
The change in the environment that brought about the changes in the matrix was the introduction of a new breed of wheat. Before this time wheat existed as merely one of many wild grasses that the winds had spread over the fertile lands of the Middle East. It existed as thinly shafted grass stems that had light seeds that were randomly spread by the wind. People harvested wheat but did not know how to plant it. It was after the last Ice Age, that a genetic combination between the wild wheat of Jericho crossed with a natural goat grass and formed a hybrid. This new wheat was much fuller and plumper called Emmer.
Emmer crossed again with goat grass and doubled the amount of chromosomes of the goat grass, creating forty-two-chromosome bread wheat. The new wheat didnt spread with the blowing of the wind; the ears of the plant were too tight. This change was very useful. Unlike the earlier wheat plants these seeds could be saved, then broken open and planted where man decided. Mans ability to matrix this new opportunity within the environment gave control to a new matrix. Man learned that the seeds could be scattered, stored and cultivated where ever and whenever he needed in order to survive.
This new environment gave way to the development of a new matrix. A new technology evolved within it every bit as cutting edge to them as the new age matrix of today is to us. Tools were created based upon this new matrix. The wheat grinding stone, bricks, the needle, the awl, the pot, the spade, the nail, and a hundred more slowly moved this new matrix forward. Each new device, enlarging the power of the rest, improved upon the past devise, allowing man to move closer to a god-like state. Jericho, the oasis, changed the matrix from search and distribute, to stay, plant and grow. The idea of cultivate versus find was added to the picture.
Because it now was possible for man to settle, wherever there was ground able to provide bread, the grand matrix was undergoing significant change. The environment controls the matrix. The cultivation process was a major environmental change. Not only were the changes effecting the aspects of life directly related to food production, all levels of the matrix became forced into change. There were new responsibilities to tend crops. New tools to provide for their growth were needed. Whole new avenues of thinking sprang up as though man now realized that he was stationed above the plants and animals. New social systems to support these efforts were created. Homes could become a haven for a safe and secure environment. This one aspect of life, cultivation, caused a tremendous wave throughout the then current society.
As you can imagine, the matrix was continually changing, even in prehistoric times. During some periods of our history the changes occur rapidly as during the industrial matrix, and some changes occur slowly as during the agrarian matrix. Each Matrix is an evolution of the previous Matrices. A new matrix does not preclude the old ones, it instead includes them, and slowly excludes them as they become no longer useful.
As each new matrix is formed, with it new questions are presented which can move the matrix forward again. When these questions are answered, not only is the knowledge base increased, and the matrix moved forward; the plane of thinking is increased. Meaning that new ways of solving problems are formed; new systems are discovered within the new matrix. Those wishing to survive within an old matrix will find themselves stagnant, not moving forward toward the god-like state or clashing against the new matrix.
The first wars were actually a clash of these two matrixes, the old and the new formed during the agrarian age. The new matrix provided a surplus which was visible to a find, take and distribute mentality. When the nomads came out of the desert to rob the harvesters of their wheat, the organized theft, which we today call war, was invented. However, struggle against a matrix is futile. Genghis Khan and his Mongol dynasty eventually became the very Muslims that they conquered because the way of life (the matrix) was closer to the god-like state. Even though the Mongol hordes may have won the battles, the agrarian matrix won the war; the settlements were victors over nomadacy. The new matrix was just an easier more advanced way to live.
Today ten thousand years later, we can still see how a clash between an old matrix and new can lead to war between haves and have-nots. As leaders of countries such as Iraq, are pulled into the modern matrix, taking the visible surplus of ones neighbor may have appeared to be a viable matrix. However, we have also seen that a new matrix for war had formed as well. This became evident when the modern war matrix clashed against the previous war matrix in the gulf war, leaving annihilation in its wake.
Transforming the Matrix
The pre-agrarian man and many after didnt fully understand the concept of creation. Something was not made, it was simply used, consumed, enjoyed. Until man had learned to cultivate, he was unable to understand how greatly he could control his environment. His ability to control his surroundings would rise far beyond what he had understood was possible before he understood he could cultivate land. The agrarian mind had a basic knowledge of transformation. He knew that one thing could be changed into another by way of some process. Such as seeds transformed by a process eventually became bread.
Previous to the agrarian way of life, however, transformation was a simple process, which was barely understood and applied to the creation of limited tools. As with most of the early mans knowledge, his basic understanding of the transformation process came from observing his surroundings. Summer transformed into Fall, Winter into Spring. As he learned to use tools he also learned the transformation process. He discovered that a tree limb could be transformed into a spear, a rock into an arrowhead, an animals hide into clothing. Fire transformed food and the temperature around him. The process of transforming was one that allowed man to create tools out of existing materials.
The learning process during this time did not change the base matrix, but made the matrix grow and function easier.
The idea of creation somewhere grew out of transformation. This idea was much more unique. This addition to mans though matrix allowed him to realize that rather than simply whittling away something, new solutions could be made by combining or creating materials. Straw and mud, sticks and skins became houses. Weaving, which is itself a matrix was discovered. The creation of something by addition was discovered. I theorize that because man was transforming one thing to another, he was able to see that hidden somewhere within everything was an ability or use which may be unforeseen. Such as the ability of a branch or stick to become a spear. The stick always had the ability hidden within it, but once whittled down the spear became apparent.
Mans discovery of the transformation process gave man the ability to look for hidden treasures within the objects surrounding him. The concepts of I wonder what would happen if &? and How would I make something to &? In other words, How would I better my environment, (or advance the matrix) if I transformed something? This natural process of building tools eventually gave way to the idea of creation. This idea of creating something verses transforming something is what dragged man out of the Stone Age and into the age of modern man. Call it curiosity if you like, but knowledge, gathered for the sake of knowing, is not the reason man created. He gathered knowledge to advance his matrix; he gathered knowledge to create solutions.
Of course this new idea of creation was even evident in the lines of the Bible. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He didnt transform them as he did Adam from the dust. He created them from nothing. This new radical idea that something could be created or transformed led man on an eternal quest for knowledge. The quest of searching for hidden secrets within his environment which would lead to control over the environment itself. This search for solutions through creation and transformation are the bases for all the sciences of today. The ideas of transformation were evident in the study of Alchemy in which man wished to transform lead into gold, an idea which eventually led to modern chemistry. Finding the hidden secrets created many new discoveries.
Discoveries often create as many questions as they answer. More often they give rise to new ways of discovering. Such is the case of the way we create solutions. We always try to solve our problems that advance the current matrixes by using the best methods (systems) we know to be available. Nowhere in matrixing is this as evident as in mathematics and spatial thinking.
Mathematics is one way in which our perception is always enhanced. Each time a new system of mathematics has been realized a new foundation is added to the matrix. A new process for solving problems is added to thought. Quantum leaps are realized toward the god-like state because of advances in the way we perceive and understand our surroundings. Almost all cultures have had some form of math even in the most pre-historic of times. The earliest recorded hieroglyphics demonstrated counting of herds and hunters. Numbering and adding two plus two appear to be as natural to man as the development of language.
Because he had a lack of knowledge base to draw from, originally man had to rely upon his perception. Counting was as easy as looking at how many fingers he had (at the current time). Addition and subtraction often could be performed with a knotted cord. Spatial relations however appeared to be more difficult. In the beginning man had only two experiences to draw from for spatial relationships. Gravity is vertical and the horizon stands at a direct right angle to it. In other words, if I look out at the sea, I see a flat horizon. If I drop a plum line (string with a weight attached) it will intersect the horizon dividing it into four equal sections. Until something changes in the environment, or the matrix changes man sees the world though the perceptions of the current matrix. These are the very limitations which we all have to work with.
The matrix drastically changed when the wheel was discovered in a time somewhere before 3000 BC, in what is now southern Russia. Perhaps a man saw a round rock rolling down a hill. Perhaps it was created when someone tried balancing on a log. How it was discovered is not as important to matrixing as is the discovery itself. The discovery of the wheel would not have been so dramatic if it were simply the discovery of the object itself, and even the use of the wheel. The discovery of the concept of wheel is what caused a leap in our knowledge base and therefore a new formation of the matrix. This new way of thinking was the creation of spatial thought.
The concept of a wheel becomes a model for other aspects of the matrix. Not only do inventions such as the grinding wheel for wheat, the axle, and water wheel spring forth, but the concept of rotation enters into mans problem solving tools. Man was for the first time able to look to the heavens and realize that it was possible that the sun, moon and stars were rotating around the earth in a circular fashion. This solution may have been incorrect, but the solution was one that fit into the then current matrix, which included the ability of objects to travel in a circle. The charting of the movements of the celestial bodies allowed man not only to gain significant control over his planting seasons which moved him toward the god-like state, but to allow him to travel by sea letting the heavens be his guide as well.
In modern science the natural motion is that of a straight line. Once in motion an object will stay in motion. To the Ancient Greeks, however it was not linear, but circular. The wheel gave way to a new way of circular thinking which was absorbed into the matrix. Once absorbed an idea becomes evident in the creation of the matrixes around it. The circle made an entrance into the Architecture for example. You can find it in the amphitheaters, the columns, and the arch. This idea of spatial relations based upon the revolution of a circle eventually gave way to Ptolemys scheme of the cycles of the sun and moon. The tracking of the heavens gave ships the ability to plot a course. Euclids mathematics of geometry and possibly Pythagoras translation of movement into numbers would not have existed except for the circle.
The point here is not to give a lesson in history, but to demonstrate how the very concept of thinking is a matrix, which moves along taking changes from thinking into the surrounding matrixes of the environment. If ever there is a drastic change in mans thinking, the matrix will reflect those changes throughout it. Such changes within the matrix become particularly evident when the viewing the changes in mans comprehension of mathematics. The creation of the circle led to many new and interesting matrixes because it allowed man to think and create in a new way. But most importantly it offered a new method to solve problems which in turn would move him closer to the god-like state.
Many such changes have created new matrixes and crushed the old ones. By looking at a transforming matrix we can see that if something doesnt fit into the new matrix, it either changes so that it does fit, or it will eventually fall to the wayside. This holds truth for all matrixes: past, present, and future.
So in our picture of the grand matrix we can see that even though it continually develops and changes, it does lose one formation as it transforms into the next. On a macro scale these changes may become known as such things as The Renaissance, The Industrial Revolution, The Space Age, or The Computer Age. Each age losing many of the minor matrixes which fit so well within the previous matrix as it developed new matrixes which advanced the matrix even further. On a micro scale we see products such as the horse and carriage being replaced by the automobile.
When a radical new way of thinking proves superior to a past method, right or wrong, it replaces its predecessor. Such was the new thinking matrix of Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Newton, and Einstein. Each added enough new information to change the matrix in a way that caused many of the previous matrixes systems perished. Each of these great minds thought outside of the current matrix, thus expanding it.
