The Crystal Library
by Michael Burnett
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Table of Contents parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
part 4
Item 5: On the Formation of the Asterian Knowledge Cults
Excerpt from The Epsilon Schism: ‘Information Hysteria’ and the rise of the Asterian Knowledge Cults (Gerard Arceneaux, independent journalist and social theorist)
01/04/2054
As a millennial, born in 2008, I grew up in times characterised by what Kapella calls ‘a destabilisation of individual social theoretics’ in his 2031 polemic A Crack in the Overton Window. Both information and misinformation were available to virtually everyone in previously unimaginable quantities; as a young man, I recall that everyone seemed to have an opinion about everything.
Regardless of any expertise or lack thereof, what people desired more than anything was the attainment of social reputation, often at the cost of reason, fairness, truth, and even common human decency. The method and content, meanwhile, were usually of only minimal importance. It was the world of social media and ‘fake news’; a world of radicalisation and endless debates on social issues at ever-increasing levels of triviality.
But, somewhat paradoxically, despite the infinity of personal opinions, the lines drawn were often startlingly clear: us and them; left and right; liberal or conservative; East or West. Any introduction of nuance into a debate, no matter how large or small, invited hostility.
In the ironic words of comedian Ralph Bedford, echoing those of Oscar Wilde generations earlier: “The truth is never simple, but the simple truth is that everyone wants it to be.” I would add to this that the less you understand, the simpler everything appears. ‘Information’ and ‘knowledge’ are not synonyms. Informational overload never made anyone wise.
In 2042, Sathvik Gautan provided an interesting analogy for the rise of this social phenomenon, now widely known as ‘information hysteria.’ An electrical engineer, Gautan is, of course, best known for his pivotal role in resolving the energy crisis of the early 21st century.
Gautan’s particular area of expertise was wind power and, rather eccentrically perhaps, likens the human mind to early prototype wind turbines. These turbines, crucial but deeply flawed precursors to current models installed all around the globe, were all fitted with a safety feature. This feature locked the turbines in place during high wind events to prevent mechanical damage. Such mechanisms are no longer necessary, but the point still stands.
Gautan’s Analogy holds that ‘information hysteria’ was a kind of safety feature, programmed into the human brain in order to prevent overload and consequent psychological meltdown. In his view, a human being, initially desiring nothing more sinister than to reduce their own ignorance, is overcome by a torrent of information and ‘locks up.’
From that point onward, any new information, particularly information presenting a contradiction to their protective worldview, is automatically rejected. And of course, given the importance of this informational stasis to the maintenance of sanity, such refutations were often surprisingly vicious.
Gautan’s analysis, made off-the-cuff and somewhat lightheartedly at the time, has since been investigated by several leading psychologists, and a weak scientific consensus has been reached in support of it. Interestingly, Cress inferred the possibility of a future human mind requiring no such safety feature in an article published in 2044. She was remarkably prescient given the date of her publication, four years prior to the discovery of the Obsidian Archive.
And so we come to the Knowledge Cults: groups of individuals who, whilst ostensibly human, may now neither want nor need a mental ‘safety lockout.’ Their capacity for absorbing information may well be limitless. But perhaps I have already made an error in my description. In the reputed words of the Vienna Collective’s Lukas Eder, ‘We have no need of information; we work with knowledge directly. Information is a redundant intermediary.’
I have made no attempt to hide my distaste of the Cultists to the press, or in any of my past publications.
Certainly, I am not alone in this. The Knowledge Cults do themselves no favours in terms of popular opinion. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say they are hated and despised by almost everyone. Each one is a recluse; disfigured by their studies, they avoid virtually all contact with members of ordinary society. To the cultists, ordinary people are beneath their notice and are disparagingly referred to as ‘proto-humans.’ They see us much as we see the troglodytes: simply earlier, redundant versions of themselves, pitiful and somewhat comical. They are protected by law for the time being; little else protects them.
To return to Eder’s claims, redundancy of symbolism was posited as the ultimate evolution of intelligence as early as the 18th century, according to a longstanding academic myth. Assuming the veracity of this for argument’s sake, it implies that a revolution in human consciousness brought about by casting off the limiting effects of symbolic representation was predicted hundreds of years ago. Is this what we are finally experiencing now?
I will cautiously allow myself to extend the Gautan Analogy, for the purpose of trying to understand recent global events. It is common knowledge that the early exploits of the so-called ‘archivists,’ though invariably described with an enthusiasm bordering on quite a different form of hysteria, yielded little in the way of tangible results. This runs in stark contrast to the Knowledge Cultists of today, who unanimously lay claim to knowledge transcending life and death itself and the precise structure of the multiverse.
The infamous Lukas Eder — often compared to Aleister Crowley by a largely hostile press — has described the Crystal Archive as containing ‘all knowledge, freed from the medium of language, existing in pure form within the crystal structure itself.’ This claim sounds preposterous to me, but then, how should I know? Crystal knowledge was only ever available to a select few, and access has become more and more restricted as time passes, in response to threats both perceived and real.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t take much imagination to see that the archivists of 2048, peering into those newly found alien artefacts, experienced a sudden and extreme application of the ‘mental lock-out mechanism,’ which is why they could not understand what they were looking at. The physiological and neurological changes since experienced by the Knowledge Cultists might well be the necessary adaptations of body and brain to the point where a lock-out mechanism is no longer required. Only then can the mind fully comprehend the contents of the Crystal Library without suffering enduring psychological damage.
But unfortunately for the Cultists (still pretentiously insisting on being called ‘Archivists’) — and perhaps for all of us — all theory must eventually come face to face with stark reality. The fabric of society is undoubtedly threatened by these changes, and Knowledge is the cause. Once again, after only the briefest of interludes, human society finds itself locked in an ideological war. Only time will tell if we might weather this storm.
Transcribed Fragment III: The Augur
Series: 73, Group: 9
Individual Designation: 804,616, Facet: 343
Linear av. range: 00.000mm to 09.099mm
Rotational av. range: 180.000° to 187.310°
Translator: Adept Greco, Kilian
Affiliation: Eastern Seaboard 4th Delta Collective
Latest translation date: 22/01/2055
I: Maintaining the Interdimensional Event Web
We found that, on a mathematical level, the requirements of managing an event web spanning two dimensions were greatly beyond the scope our ordinary methods of control. Our probability clusters now encompass the total event field of our own Universe: we dictate all that occurs within it; all that has occurred; all that will occur. But, when faced with the true scale of multiversal forces, we are but children.
Given the weight of our ignorance, it is possible only to corral these vast energies, blocking the larger part of the multiversal event field and manipulating but a small corner. For this task, we have designed the Augur. The Augur’s purpose is to channel the event webs of two dimensions — our own universe, and that of our chosen counter-race — within an artificially simplified probability cluster; a safe harbour in a storm. It is both Field Inhibitor and Fulcrum between worlds.
The Augur itself was built in the image of our own kind. Its brain — such that it is — is capable of patterns of thought and speech of a type similar to our own within certain predetermined parameters. As a sentient creature, the Augur is alone in the multiverse in that it possesses no Fractal Key of its own. Although it resembles life, its energy is more closely aligned to inanimate matter, directly subject to the primal forces of any Universe within which it may find itself. This characteristic is inseparable from its basic purpose: a fulcrum between opposing momental forces. This tool cannot fulfil its purpose whilst containing any active energy. No energetic distortions, no matter how small, are permitted in an operation of this sensitivity.
The Augur, through its particular nature, funnels event chains from two dimensions through a single point — itself — reducing the size of the probability cluster to more manageable proportions. The creature is hollow: catalyst rather than actuator; as passive as stone and sky. Thus, we control events passing through this point, avoiding the crushing weight of infinite probability that pitches itself against us.
II: Formation and Deployment
The Augur, bound up inextricably with the purpose of artificial manipulation of the Fractal Key, is anathema to reality itself. But our foreknowledge of the consequences of its construction was no hindrance to our purpose. Creating the physical body was as child’s play when compared with the insertion of its artificial energy signature within the existential lattice; the superstructure resisted us at every step. We have sacrificed much to achieve it.
Our own Keys bear deep scars; our Universe has now begun to crumble away, distorted beyond repair. The costs of failure would be all the greater for it, but we will not fail. Those costs will be borne by others as the Multiverse corrects itself of our transgression.
Our Keys are prepared. The Augur now holds its place at the counterpoint between our own event web and the singularity of pure potential, awaiting the other side of the funnel to blossom into existence. It might lie in wait for decades, centuries, aeons. It is no matter; all times exist concurrently, as do we. The final event is assured.
Nevertheless, our sight does not extend to the horizon of all probability. We have gone to great pains to ensure that a vast gulf of ignorance lies between our race and full knowledge of the necessary process between inception and completion. But we do know this much: in time, the event chains we have stretched to breaking point will begin to withdraw, dragging with them — willingly — the counter-race.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael Burnett
