Psychicbabble(sm)
by Marcy J. Gordon
New Moon in Pisces 1999 Cycle
New Moon in Pisces 1:45 PM EST March 17, 1999
Techno-Fantasy
Introduction
Greetings USED KARMA readers - and those of you who access this column through John Derrickson's PsyPlan(tm) site (www.psyplan.com)! Lately it seems the business news is all about Internet companies and strategic mergers and acquisitions affecting anyone close to doing any sort of business remotely connected with the Internet. One is reminded of all the hype surrounding technology stocks just a few years ago, and the resultant crash that accompanied it when the hype moved onto something else. While others focus on gloom and doom surrounding the Y2K phenomenon, I prefer to gaze into my crystal CPU to see what the next millennium will look like.
Wearable Computers and Technological Convergence
Laurie Anderson fans are no doubt familiar with the idea of wearable computers. While Laurie's electronic accouterments of the 1980s did fun things with light and sound, their descendants will be fully multi-media capable and wireless (of course) so they can communicate in any number of media. Imagine having a jacket with a decent-sized LCD screen on the back of it. Imagine being able to put it in your lap while you sit at a bus stop and download your e-mail, surf the web, watch television, listen to the radio, read an electronic book, talk on the telephone, or just about anything else one can do with an electronic information processing and communications device - or any number of them!
Let's consider what this might mean in more detail. Suppose you have this device that lets you access a virtually infinite number of channels in a variety of different media. What, then, will it take to build a brand? Consider public access television producers able to roam around with their digital video cameras and broadcast live what they are experiencing in their neighborhoods and daily lives. Who will watch it? Who watches public access now - MANY PEOPLE!
Imagine neighborhood kids able to patrol the neighborhood and instantly report any police brutality in real time with full motion video. If Big Brother is going to spy on us, then we'll spy on Big Brother right back. It will be a new age version of the infamous Mad Magazine comic strip "Spy Versus Spy." If the Monica Lewinsky scandal proved anything, it is that the people are not interested in the things the media believes they have to sell in order to get the people's attention. The mainstream media are simply not in touch with their audiences. These media get attention because they dominate the advertising world and the major media outlets.
However, what if people had many alternatives to mainstream media? And what if those alternatives look as good as television does today? Do the major players really think they will continue to capture the market with their high definition television? Do they really believe most viewers are more interested in looks than in content? Already the major music labels are shaking in their shoes as the independent labels embrace digital distribution via the Internet using MP3 and other file formats.
So think about it. Here you are with this multimedia interactive bumper sticker on your back, walking around in your daily life. You can tune into various broadcast media, or you can be the broadcaster. The camera nestled in your hat or perched on top of your sunglasses provides the view. You are the director, the producer and the star of the show. But why would anyone pay attention to you?
People will form social networks in the use of this technology, just as they have and continue to form social networks on the Internet. Currently many people have different mailing lists they maintain for various reasons. These are social networks that can be adapted for broadcast technology. When you feel like broadcasting, you signal the people you think will be interested in you. If your content is good, others will forward your location information to their networks. Consider how certain jokes and stories have traveled all over the Internet in a matter of days. If you have a reputation of broadcasting consistently good content, people will tune in when you come online.
Of course, you will be able to custom program your computer with different sound clips to let you know when the "interesting people" are broadcasting - i.e., publicly online. Then you can tune into those people you want to interact with when they are available. Lurking will be permitted, and lurkers can de-lurk at any time. The bigger your fan base, the more likely people will walk around broadcasting your channel and/or will tune you in immediately when notified that you are broadcasting.
Great! But How Does It Make Money?
The way to make money with this technology is to use the educational game show approach and essentially establish oneself as a brand. Make your website not only an electronic brochure where people can learn about the goods and/or services you offer, but go one step further. Make your website a place where folks can seek your advice and solicit assistance - either from you or from people you refer them to. Put up text as well as multimedia content. Show folks your curriculum vitae, your writings, your photographs, your music, etc. Interact with people live on a randomized basis (the game show element).
Put some sort of bell or attention-getting graphic on your site as an alarm to let surfers know when you are going live interactive. Record your live sessions and make those broadcasts (public sessions) available on your website, archived and indexed. Show people what you have done and what you are doing. If your work is good, your own visitors will promote it to others, just the way the web works now. (Some of the most visited sites became that way due to vigorous promotion by users, not the commercial media.) You can also send a message to your mailing lists letting them know you're online. The message will automatically give the time it was sent, so people may be able to tune in and find you still broadcasting. Wouldn't it be cool to have your own proprietary sound byte that would signal you're online?
So where does the money come from? You can host advertising on your site. Or you can collect royalties for putting people together - buyers and sellers, employers and employees, etc. You can profit by building up goodwill in your site. If people trust you, and know that your recommendations are good or that the people you work with are honest, you can build yourself as a brand and make money.
Imagine when music is promoted this way - and art and movies and theater and books and just about anything else you can think of. Imagine sitting behind someone on a bus and tapping them on the shoulder to find out how they came across that magnificent music they are playing, or that incredible animation they are showing on their backs or in their hats or wherever it is clothing manufacturers decide to put their wearable electronics. Or asking them if you can borrow their computer to interact with the person who just came online. Imagine groups of people roaming around together with their jackets all tuned to the same channel. Imagine consulting with a personal psychic in a public park, sitting on a blanket in the grass or receiving sound healing from a shaman in the Amazon while you're lying on the beach. The possibilities are infinite - human imagination is the only limit!
Implosion in Iraq?
On February 22nd I was watching a BBC news broadcast about violence associated with the murder of a high-level Iraqi cleric. The incident set off tensions between the Iraqi government and the Shiite minority. While listening to the news report I received the following message in a loud voice: IRAQ WILL IMPLODE. The message repeated itself, insisting that I believe it. I decided to mediate upon this message and this is what I received.
If Iraq's Shiite's are being stirred up by outside forces (other Shiite groups, the U.S. shadow government, the New World Order - take your pick) and if they are being funded by those outside forces, they could foment a civil war in Iraq. If this takes place, the people could lose confidence in Sadaam Hussein and he could be deposed. If a radical Islamic government takes over in Iraq there could be unimaginable bloodshed. One questions how much more the Iraqi people can take. They are already physically, mentally and emotionally starved by U.S. sanctions and U.S. and British bombings. Many parts of the country lack basic services such as water, sewer and electricity. The schools are without books and equipment. There is very little in the way of movies and entertainment. The very ground they grow their food in has been poisoned by U.S. depleted uranium and chemical weapons, causing many young people to die of cancer and live with horrible physical and mental deformities.
Despite all they have been through, the Iraqi people have a will to fight and to survive. Many Iraqis are well-aware of the greed, sadism and barbarism of Sadaam Hussein and his family. The people pretend to support him, as many Russians pretended to support Stalin. Bullies may not be liked, but the meanest and most dangerous of them are generally obeyed out of fear. If Shiite rage swells, those frustrated with Sadaam's rule may join them out of a classic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" psychology.
My intuitive sense is that while the unrest in Iraq may have been facilitated by outside forces, there is enough internal momentum to keep it going - especially with outside money for weapons and supplies. Watch for this situation to intensify over the next few months with several planets hovering in fixed signs. If level heads do not prevail, Iraq may destroy itself before the new millennium.
Copyright 1999 Marcy J. Gordon. All rights reserved. The author wants you to know you are free to copy and distribute this article for noncommercial purposes, provided you reproduce it in its entirety and credit the author. For quotation permission, please contact the author at mgordon@pipeline.com.
This article represents the author's personal views and in no way shape or form reflects upon the author's employer, although the author's employer is very cool. See http://www.ericmarder.com.
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