Strategic Insanity ReserveThey're crazy so you don't have to be!Since there is no evidence of this trend slowing down nor any foreseeable reason to expect it to ever abate, the fate of humanity would seem to be the realization of the dream that has existed since the mythical Tower of Babel: the total unification of all human language, ideas, and culture. In a frighteningly short amount of time, it will be impossible to discuss anything without being overwhelmed by the tide of global mass opinion. Ideas which once took decades to evolve and impress themselves upon public consciousness will soon receive world-wide attention in their infancy and flourish or perish, not on their own merits, but on their currency of trendiness. Not only will the death of locality deprive humanity of the diversity of sub-cultures, but we will also lose the ability to discriminate between ideas. Though this fate is sufficiently horrifying on a spiritual level, it has implications that go straight to species survival. In the not-unreasonable event of species catastrophe (asteroid collision, alien invasion, OS monopoly), we will have lost our capacity for individual judgement and motivation. Furthermore, we will have lost our reverence for tradition and wisdom, and so any hope of preserving culture during the next Dark Age will not exist. If all that civilization has done is to create a planetary biomass yammering to surrender its autonomy to a collective will, then what good is it? Fortunately, there is hope. An ever-growing number of species-minded men and women have volunteered to abstain from normal human society and affiliation in order to preserve their independent uniqueness. Members of this group, the Strategic Insanity Reserve, realize that their memetic diversity is a species resource and have dedicated their lives to preserving and cultivating deviancy. Traditionally, foresightful individuals have made their contribution to human destiny by procreating. The SIR is founded on the principle that the greatest contribution one can make to the future is not genetic but memetic. Of genetic diversity we have plenty. Adapting to bio-ecological change is a snap. It's intellectual diversity that matters now, and we are quickly eroding it. From this standpoint, sanity is stagnation, and insanity is adaptability. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Strategic Insanity Reserve, contact Dagon, a self-proclaimed "genetic cul-de-sac."
Stay Crazy!Copyright © 1995 by Eric Scharf.  All rights reserved. |
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