a reply to:
schuyler
I think you are touching on what the core of the issue may be. Ill offer my own disclaimer and say that for most of this post, I'm going to operate on
the premise that "foreign entities" are a fact. Annoying that such things need to be stated, but surprisingly few are capable of legitimately
discussing concepts and notions outside of their own beliefs..
Mini-rant over, the implications of EDH
truly are staggering. As a race, we tend to think our imaginations define the limits of what is
possible, but our cultural story places those limits and they are highly malleable over time. Individually, most immediately ignore or dismiss
anything that doesn't fit into their "story," and when that happens collectively.. well, it strictly forms how we perceive and process the world
around us to an extent that is difficult, if not impossible to truly comprehend, due to its all-encompassing nature.
Something like an ED entity may not negate foundational cultural concepts like general relativity, etc. but it doesn't need to in order to truly imbue
uncertainty and even chaos into our collective story. I'm not sure any of us truly fathom just how that would play out. Hell, it seems many think
whatever revolutionary jump comes next in our story will either completely negate what has been written up til now, or that it will explicitly color
within the lines that have been laid down. It could very well be significantly more nuanced than that, but then the conversation tends to go towards
the philosophical rather than real world implications and consequences. Talking about "what is reality
really" may be entrancing, but cutting
all those grounding ties moves the conversation in a completely different direction (unintentionally or otherwise).
As per usual, I'm getting distracted! Few, if any, actually read these anyway, but still.. Im trying to work on it a bit, albeit altogether
unsuccessfully. In regards to ED, it seems that there are at least a handful of groups attempting to shape our collective perception in order to
assimilate such a reality. Things like Tengri may even work towards this end, though there are others that I feel are more directly associated, like
Forgotten Languages.
In that respect, this Sekret Machines project may be more accurately portrayed as steps towards disclosure rather than a blatant information dump.
While I may not feel its doing a particularly great job of that either, it would add a reasonable "why" component to this oddly repetitious act of
"disclosure" over the decades. In that sense, it wouldn't just be about "them" trying to shape the cultural story of us poor, ignorant commoners, but
would be about shaping
everyones, including their own. People like TDL wouldn't necessarily be in on it, but might be more of something like a
canary in the coalmine.
All that said, I have been looking at this project more as a new sci-fi franchise and haven't really been disappointed. Admittedly, I have low
standards, intentionally, and I haven't read the newest book, but the overall narrative in that context is relatively new and fresh. I can dig that
and look forward to further installments, but they could REALLY work on PR engagements. I would be baffled if anyone truly felt something like the AMA
here could be seen as anything other than a waste of time for everyone involved, and things like that can directly harm marketability and image.