Official Intelligent Beings: How Our Devices Became Us, And The World Consumed Itself

What People Aren’t Saying About

Official Intelligent Beings

I’ve never read a book like this before. The writer’s mind is so clear, it’s almost as if he’s never read a book in his entire life.

If these pages could talk, only the heavens would know what they were saying.

A disasterpiece! Pure in knowing, sentimental in sharing. It’s like being kicked in the face time and time again, not knowing where the kicking is com-ing from.

Why must I be a teenager falling in love all over again? I don’t know, but this book made me think about my troubles as a youth and how life has a way of catching up to itself within the confines of one’s own mind.

Precisely what I was trying to say but never found the method. It’s almost as if the author snuck into my dreams and ripped them ever so patiently from my mind.

Did you ever find yourself wondering whether you were asleep, whether this thing we call life was just a dream all along? Neither did I. This book helped me realize that.

That’s not the spoon or the shovel.

Official Intelligent Beings

by Josh A Greenfield

Copyright © 2015 by Josh A Greenfield.

All rights reserved.

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—- electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—- without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Published by Know Thyself Publishing, Brooklyn New York

International Standard Book Number :

978-1514869802

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Designed by

Andrea Orlic

This story is dedicated to seeking truth, finding love, and sharing my life with wonderful people who appreciate me for who I am, no matter how crazy and odd I can be at times. And my endless Beso.

Official Intelligent Beings

A work of living fiction by

Josh A Greenfield

Know Thyself Publishing

Brooklyn, New York

Introduction

In the not so distant future, life is simple. Everyone knows their place, they have their job that they do diligently, they have their devices that give them what they need, there are no more questions about right and wrong, no more fighting for one’s beliefs, no one is superior to another, intimate relationships are done away with, and hunger is a thing of the past
.
 

This has been made so thanks to the Official Intelligent Beings—a far more advanced super-human, birthed on Earth, with a complete and perfect knowledge of all the fields known to man.

They are the natural leaders of the planet, the ones that everyone looks to, listens to, follows, believes in, and trusts, without doubt. That is, of course, except for a small percentage of the population that just can’t seem to fit in
.
 

Chapter 1.

Today, simply put, was not a good day. I have plenty of good days. At least I would like to believe that I still do. But today was one of those days where everything has felt lost, hopeless, pointless. I can’t stop my mind from racing. Nothing seems to make sense. I have lost all control of being in control. I can’t really blame myself, though. Today I skipped on taking my pills. Those unmarked pills that they provide us every day to make things right and to put our minds at ease. I had the nerve to skip them. Had I taken them today, I wouldn’t be writing this to you.

Jagz pressed send and continued writing.

Of course, I didn’t have to take my #UrDg pills today. It isn’t mandatory. There is no one shoving them down my throat, forcing me to take them. But when you are sent a daily dose of a substance that helps put your life into perfect perspective, well… mandatory has a way of merging with desire
…
at least for most people it does. #followtheflow

He pressed send again.

I’m not really sure why they send us such medication, but I know why the majority of humans are grateful that they do and take #UrDg on a regular basis, #noquestionsasked .

It’s been proven to be safe, it makes the world around us make perfect sense, it’s free to take, and yet I fight my urge to take it. I could try to explain why but I would like to leave it at that for now. If you are reading this and you too struggle with taking your pills, please, comment in #shareyourthoughts #askaway.

Lying in bed, Jagz pressed send from the device built into his hand, releasing his thoughts to his nearly 100,000 followers on Quacker—the most popular unisocial media platform. Jagz’s thoughts, free from the effects of UrDg, were the best way for him to connect with his ever-growing audience of readers. With the peace he felt from being able to turn his mind’s world inside out, his eyes grew heavy as his head slowly fell onto his pillow.

Chapter 2.

As Jagz ran for his life, he heard massive bombs exploding all around him. He saw airplanes crashing into the ground and exploding into mill-ions of tiny bits. He felt the ground violently shaking as though being ripped apart. He desperately searched for the source of the terrifying screams he heard coming from every direction, but he saw no signs of life anywhere.

A war had broken out. The world before him was covered in a bright blue and red umbrella of fire. Smoke billowed above the distant hills, as though each were an active Volcano ready to erupt.

Jagz ran tirelessly, keeping his head down, dod-ging the debris that shot towards him, breathing heavily as he rushed for any sign of safety. He had no idea where he was running but he kept on moving as fast as he could, the sounds of war outside drowning out any chance for a rational thought, for a moment to process the situation at hand. Jagz was driven by adrenaline; all he could do was think about his survival.

As he pushed forward, his animal instincts kicked in and his need to do anything slipped away. He was simply free from his thoughts, like a wild beast. Running to save his own life, running for his survival, focused on nothing but the urge to protect his own being at any cost.

Jagz made his way as cautiously and quickly as possible through the once-green-fields and the woods now scattered with blood and destruction. He began to make out what appeared to be signs of human life. He drew nearer to the figure before him, and then panicked as he noticed it engulfed in flames.

Expecting to hear screams, Jagz rushed to help the mysterious figure. Approaching, he noticed that the figure, which resembled a man, yet was far more than a man, was not in any pain. In fact, he looked as though he was welcoming the fire, that he was one with the fire.

“That’s enough running Jagz,” said the figure.

“How do you know my name?”

“I know all that there is to know. I am a being of infinite light and knowledge. You do not have to fear me.”

“I know who you are. I’ve seen you all over the interweb. Everyone knows who you are. You are our leader of War. You are Eras. You bring us peace and protection through your understanding of all that is.”

Jagz went on to recite the daily mantra:

“We give trust to Eras for our infinite protection. We give light to Tideorpha for her continuous love. We thank Henata for sharing her boundless knowledge. We rejoice in Redemet for keeping our bodies fully nourished with hope. We bow to Reha for she brings us our ever-shining life. We praise Schoron for our perfect technology. We open our spirit to Lopola, for he connects us with our true artistic nature. And we give our lives to Shade for we know not of Death.”

“That is right. You are safe here with me. You can stop running. You have nothing more to be afraid of. You are a fighter by nature and you have fought long and hard to get to where you are. You have proven yourself and now the world comes to you with open arms. You are ready.”

“Ready for what?”

Chapter 3.

Just as Jagz began to consider and process what Eras was talking about, he awoke from his sleep. He used all of his brain power to remember what Eras said, desperately trying to hold onto his thought, to recall and consider his dream for just a moment. But out of an instinctive impulse, he looked into his device, and as the bright light hit his eyes, any memory of his dream was wiped out in a flash.

My dreams are getting more and more intense with each passing day. They are beginning to feel quite real. Why is it that every time I attempt to recall a dream I lose it the moment that my screen hits my eyes? It is almost as if my device sucks the dream right out of my head and places it in an unseen vault far, far away, giving me clues to its content throughout the day, clues which we commonly call Deja Vu.

He pressed send as he neared his single post character limit on Quacker.

I have a lurking suspicion that this so-called Deja Vu is not what we think it is. The common knowledge is that Deja Vu happens when the timing of information distributed throughout the brain is delayed or out of phase, causing present information to be compared with itself, as though it were from the past, giving the feeling that what one is experiencing is familiar or has happened before.

He pressed send again, releasing his Quack to his followers.

But I have a strong feeling that often what I dream comes true, or is true. I can’t really explain why I know this. It’s just a feeling that I get, but can’t shake. Sometimes I walk into a room and am instantly struck with this feeling that I have been there before, that I have lived this exact moment, just as it is. Have you ever felt something similar? #letmeknow #indreams

Jagz sent out his final Quack and spent the next few minutes searching for any responses that may have come in from his previous one. He had a constant need to check his web feed and find comfort in the fulfillment that came when his followers responded to his Quacks.

Dude, I always learn something new from your Quacks. I always wonder why #UrDg shows up at my door everyday and why I feel the need to take it. #truthspeak #fighttheurge

Wrote @687simpsonlife

I’ve always wondered what it would be like if I skipped my pills but then I take them and forget about it all together. But you make me wonder about everything. 

#imaddicted #pausethepills

              Wrote @Syra5hY20

Jagz noticed a few new followers engaging in his recent Quacks. He found a temporary feeling of connectedness to them and to all of his followers, as though he was understood, appreciated, respected, maybe even loved, all but for a brief moment, just before a new distracting thought came his way and disconnected him once again.              

The thought came in the form of a thirst for more engagement and support. He had read through all of his follower’s comments, had seen their engagement with his words, but he craved more. He swiped his right thumb twice in the air and was taken to a new screen. He scanned the home page of his living feed for some of the more popular Quacker accounts that he followed, all which had far more followers than him. He searched for any links to his most recent dream by inputting #Eras and scanned the results.

The world is such a lovely place. We are so fortunate to have the Intelligent Beings guiding the way for all of humankind. Knowing that we are always protected by #Eras is one perfect example of how incredibly lucky we are to be alive during this very present time.

#blessedtobealive #theluckiest

Wrote @JamiesTruQuack13 (560,459 followers)

I can’t even begin to express my gratitude for the way my life has panned out. To never have to live in fear, to always be protected by #Eras and the Official Intelligent Beings. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

#livingthedream #wordspeaklouderthantruth

Wrote @CatalogQuacker1

(1,320,551 followers)

“What a bunch of crap,” said Jagz out loud, shaking his head, as he tirelessly searched for one fellow Quacker out there who spoke any word of truth. “Downright stupid. All the same damn force-fed ‘love the world’ bullsociococky, not one damn thought with an ounce of character.”

Feeling infuriated and frustrated, Jagz desp-erately tried to send his mind elsewhere. He got out of bed and walked over to his Chook. The only way he knew to quiet his mind for a brief moment that didn’t involve taking a pill was to sit down and gorge himself on a delectable meal of his choosing. Lucky for him, he could have any dish that his heart desired. As he hooked himself up to the machine, he began scanning for something new, something different.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, came a knock at his front door
.

Jagz, caught off guard by a sound that he had not heard in many years, was almost certain that it was not a human knock. With everyone’s ability to know where everyone else was at any given moment, with the instant connectedness of the interweb, people always knew when someone was coming over. Your device alerted you of the current events happening in your life. There was little that came as a surprise in this day and age, almost everything was certain and predictable.

Jagz opened the door and was greeted by a large robot like structure that was clearly meant to resemble a human, at least to anyone pumped full of UrDg; with it’s round body, tube like arms, and a clear screen that was shaped like a head. 

He quickly pieced together what the machine was that stood before him—a Frendbod, the once common robotic messaging service. It was prev-iously used to send holiday greetings and more formal messages when someone wanted to do something a little more special than the interweb greeting. To Jagz’s knowledge, all of the Frendbods had long since been destroyed

“A Frendbod?” Jagz said outloud. “How odd, I haven’t seen one of these things in years. Perhaps it’s a malfunc…”

Just then the Frendbod’s screen turned on, showing the face of a woman looking at him with a higher than normal sense of excitement, as though some form of congratulations were in order. She had long curly brown hair, dimples on each cheek, thick round glasses covering squinty eyes, and freckles all over her face.

“Jagz, it is surely a pleasure to meet you. I am a big fan of yours! My name is Maura Lee and I’m the head of The Division of Unified Content Creators up at Unified WebWorks!” she said with an air of intelligence, as though this should impress him.

“I shared some of your content from your Quacker account with my boss, President Herd, our CYO, or Centrified You Organizer. He really took a liking to you and your words, and asked me to umm, uh ‘personally’ come and speak to you myself!”

“Ah, thanks, but no thanks,” said Jagz with a sort of unimpressed politeness. “Meetings of this sort aren’t exactly my thing, if you know what I mean. I’m just a guy sharing some of his feelings in between my day and night job.”

Maura, without skipping a beat, not even registering what he said, just smiled wider and continued.

“This is truly a one-of-a-kind opportunity.  There is something that we would like to share with you, no bytes attached, no hidden webs, we just want to share some exciting things going on in hyperspace right now. We can even offer you a free meal. Of real food!”

Real food—something once common, that had now but all been washed away. Jagz had heard tales of the few who had access to real food, but he believed them to be rumors. Most people nowadays got their food from their Chook, the machine that nourished them through a mix of sensory stimulating and virtual realality experiences, while the “eater
”
ingested a simple nutrient packed flavorless solution.

The average person simply watched, smelled, felt, and tasted their food. Whatever crazy comb-ination of flavors that their heart desired, while sucking down on a drink filled with everything that their body needed, with no taste whatsoever. In this day and age you could eat whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, while getting the perfect balanced meal.

Most people, unable to have original thoughts of their own, elected to share the same meal combinations of their favorite cewebrities who always uploaded their own particular choices. Jagz, being quite exploratory in the virtual kitchen and a natural born food lover, preferred his own unique combinations, but after hearing Maura’s offer, was intrigued by a chance to eat real food.

“Well, I haven’t really ever tried real food before… Alright, alright, what’s the harm, I was just about to head to work but I’ll have to call them and let them know I’ll be…”

“Already taken care of,” said Maura. “I’ve arranged for a unicyclo to take you to webquarters in five minutes time. We look forward to seeing you! Goodbye.”

The front door slammed in his face and he took a moment to collect his thoughts.

Confused, excited and a little nervous, Jagz grabbed his coat, walked out his front door, and stepped into the elevator, making his way down 70 floors of the towering building he lived in with so many others. When he got off on the ground level, a unicyclo was waiting for him. The unicyclo was the standard method of transportation for anyone who wanted to get around.

Every unicyclo looked the same. White, sleek, two doors, with one large sphere on the bottom that could maneuver any which way necessary, with a cozy enough interior to keep just one person comfortable and allow them to work as the machine drove itself wherever the user asked.

The door opened as Jagz approached, he gently climbed in, sat down, and, just as he was beginning to wonder if he had made the right decision, the screen before him came to life.

“Unified WebWorks,” said the woman on the screen. “Giving you the ultimate experience in 360º unified content creation, where your thoughts become someone else’s life. Thanks to Unified WebWorks, or U.W.W as we like to call it, you can not only interact with your following directly, but they can live their life as if it were your own, following all of your personal choices in music, food, pleasure, and activities.”

“Oh Being, here we go.” said Jagz.

“Unified WebWorks first came to life when our founder and beloved President Herd saw the potential to hook up influencers with those who wanted to find true fulfillment in their own thoughts. President Herd saw the link and noticed that no one was grabbing at the chance to unite creative do-thinkers with the millions who strove for fulfillment in their everyday lives. Since then, Unified WebWorks has gone on and partnered with some of the largest and most influential minds in the unisocial media stratosphere and is thrilled to hold the title for most successful Unisocial Webwork for ten years standing.”

Just as the presentation ended, raindrops began to pierce the top of the vehicle and the unicyclo came to a stop. Jagz let out a sigh of relief, feeling as though he would have slammed his head into the wall had he been forced to listen to another second of that jargon. He was prompted to exit the vehicle into the rainy streets without any cover.

A numbrella—a contraption that shielded one from any unwanted weather and created the illusion that the sky was crystal clear—popped out from the side of the unicyclo as he exited, prompting him to take it .

Jagz, never having been one to seek shelter from the storm, waved the contraption off and walked through the pouring rain. He never seemed to mind a good soaking from time to time, it made him feel alive, the drops on his skin were gentle reminders of his slowly fading ability to feel something real.

As he walked peacefully in the rain towards the front doors of Unified WebWorks, he looked up to the sky noting that the building before him, with it’s towering stature, was simply too high for one to see the top, at least not with such massive gray clouds overhead.

Jagz entered the towering building and noticed a long hallway before him with screens lining both sides of the walls. He was welcomed by an unseen voice that seemed to be coming from everywhere, “Welcome Jagz, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Jagz, feeling a bit out of place, continued to walk down the hall, noticing that the screens on either side of him seemed to be showing dialogue from some of his recent Quacks. Assuming this wasn’t a random coincidence, he tried his best to fight back a smile which would have revealed some semblance of excitement and anticipation, some-thing he desperately wanted to conceal, consid-ering he didn’t quite trust what was to come.

Just then, a middle aged man, short, round, with cheery eyes, who reminded him of someone whom he couldn’t put his finger on, popped up on the screen and seemed to follow him as he walked.

“Hello!” said the man. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Jagz! I was just reading your latest post. How interesting it was indeed. Man, who would have thought that there were people out there that still had something left to say? So cool. Indeed, so cool, yes, what fun, and your honesty, I just love that people can live their life through yours. After all, you know what they say, ‘If you can’t live with your thoughts, become someone else’s.’
”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks,” said Jagz with a sort of sincere bemusement. “I’m here for…”

“You are here to meet President Herd. Why yes, aren’t you a lucky man! You know President Herd has done such an incredible job at Unified Webworks. He has been on a mission to find the best of the best. It is quite an honor to speak with him. You must be so excited!”

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s all really quite new and I’m not really sure what…”

“I can’t imagine your excitement to meet someone who is truly the pioneer of everything we have today. I haven’t even seen him in person myself. You would think that I would, considering I am the receptionist. Everyone has to go through me, but President Herd has a way of coming in without the slightest bit of detection. I guess that’s a big part of his success. But oh my, look at me, blabbering away, you must be eager for your appointment. Let me just buzz his secretary to let him know you have arrived.”