William Gibson: The author of Neuromancer, et cetera is pertinent

The terrific Sci-Fi writer William Gibson is profiled by Joshua Rothman in the December 16, 2019 New Yorker [Page 50 ff.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson

Responsible for many of my observations on The Matrix and Singularity, his views add perspective to my rambling(s) in the "What have I done" posting below this one.

"The ... online world ... [is] changing the physical one. In the past, going online had felt like visiting somewhere else. Now being online [is] the default ..." [Page 57]

"The Web ... [has] allowed everyone, everywhere to develop the same otaku obsessions .... such knowledge lay[s] like a scrim over the world." [ibid]

RR

"What have I done?"

Copyright 2019, InterAmerica, Inc.

The title above represents Alec Guinness’ (as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson) final words in David Lean’s magnificent movie Bridge on the River Kwai.

What has this to do with UFOs or the UFO community?

The words, I surmise, will be those spoken by some UFOers on their death-beds when they realize how they misspent their time not pursuing the UFO phenomenon, which was, supposedly, the be-all and end-all of their time on Earth.

You see, many UFO fanatics are sitting at their computers or are attached to their smart phones adhering to the call of Facebook, which has mesmerized them and captured their time, attention, and souls.

Not just a few people are so absorbed with the “Likes” and attention they get at Mark Zuckerberg’s Manchurian Candidate-like social media site they have forgotten what one important purpose was for their living: an understanding (or explanation) of the UFO enigma.

I keep harping on this as I’m seeing more and more UFO people addicted to the site.

(Yes, I have a Facebook page, two actually, but I don’t use it as a baby-sitter for my mind. I only visit when I get a notification that something needs my attention. And I eschew the beast, which is the focal point of my critical evaluation of local news media, but that's it.)

When the time comes for UFO people to meet up with their maker, I think many, if not all, will reflect upon how they spent (wasted) their time online at Facebook.

Zuckerberg, like Mephistopheles, has wooed them away from their once-upon-a-time goal of solving the UFO riddle, replacing that one-time point for their being, with the whim of communal camaraderie that is, at heart, superficial in the extreme and evanescent when it comes to real camaraderie or friendship, aspects of life that are meaningful but not in the Facebook way.

One pretty smart guy I know is at the beck and call of Facebook so much (all day, every day) that to say he is addicted is an under- statement, He is a goner, altogether and will rue the days (and time) he’s spent online at FB…not now but when he’s at the edge of perdition.

I feel sorry for him, as I felt sorry for Lt. Colonel Nicholson in the Lean film.

RR