Chasing Status: Digital Society of Punishment & Reward

This post will show you that today’s society is an artificial machine that doesn’t care about you. All it wants to know is whether you are contributing to the system or not. If you do not obey the system, the system will punish you.

Have you ever suspected that there is something wrong with the world? Have you ever felt like something strange is going on but you do not know what it is?

Some people tell you that it has something to do with the government and power. Other people tell you that it has something to do with the economy and industrialization. And you might think that it has something to do with tech companies like Facebook and digital surveillance. But you never found a definite answer.

The system, aka. the society is a machine. The machine is shaped like a pyramid – those at the top have higher status, more power and more wealth. Every individual, corporation, institution, family, village and city on earth is participating in this system.

This system teaches us that previously in world history we had terrible dictatorships like Nazi Germany, that we had terrible wars and people starved to death. There was also a period of terrible propaganda and corruption during communism but the system also tells us that now everything is okay and you shouldn’t worry.

Why? Because, as the system says, now we live in a free world because we “have been liberated”. In reality, by doing this the system teaches us not to think for ourselves.

What else does it tell you? That now we are saved because we have democracy, the economy is growing strong and the worst dictatorships are long gone. It looks good on the surface so yes, generally people do accept this.

Only wait. Are people now really happier than before? Probably not. Has something been overlooked? Probably. So, what is under the surface? What has been missed?

If you look deep enough, you will realize that the dictatorships and oppression have migrated into the digital realm of IT.

While we might think that dictatorships, violence and abuse of power is gone, in reality most of it has simply moved to where you cannot see it, taste or touch it…. and where you cannot understand it.

So, what does the current machine of society work like?

Imagine the biggest computer game on the planet that everybody is playing. Where you must collect points to get to the next level. If you do “good” things, you will gain points, if you lose points you will fall behind and lose “status” and money.

That is what the structure of our society is. It is a machine to which everybody is contributing and everybody is playing the game without knowing it. The game is designed to be just as addictive like TV, Facebook, Youtube, twitter and all those social media sites that trigger emotional responses within you. The game gives you rewards for “good behavior” and punishes you for “bad behavior”.

Does it sound familiar?

YES! it is very similar to Skinner’s rats.

Just when you thought that humans are species so different from other mammals and that we are “more intelligent” you find, that exactly the same reward and punishment systems work on us. What is worse is that the machine of society is using these tricks to keep us playing the game. And we follow without thought.

The Game

The machine is shaped like a pyramid. Your goal is to start at the bottom of society and grow your “status”. Everybody starts when they are young kids as near equals. Then the race starts and all the kids and younglings are brainwashed, pressured and manipulated into collecting points (aka. “good grades”).

When you move up the pyramid of “status”, you get more responsibilities and you become a “respected” person. Your influence and power rise and you get more money. The more you rise the the top, the more the system gives you “rewards” and the less it punishes you. Whether the rewards are worth anything to you is up to you.

So, who defines what low or high status is?The definition of status is not defined by individuals but by the system. The society. aka system is a judgmental machine that sets standards for how individuals should behave and defines what high and low status look like.

To have “high status” you must:

1. Monetary: Have a respectable job, high income and be wealthy.
2. Appearance: Look like movie and music stars. ( If you don’t, guess what? We have plastic surgery and beauty products that will help you)
3. Visible wealth: Have an expensive looking car and house that the bottom 90% cannot afford. (If you don’t our banks can help you with acquiring the debt necessary to make it work).
4. Fame: Have “friends” who are famous and popular.
5. Power: Be in a position to enslave other people. One way is through fame (music stars etc.), the other is monetary through becoming a leader/manager in a government institution or corporation.
6. Compliance: Obey the laws created by the system and feed the system. Do not question authority.

So, you see, these ideals are decided by this collective machine not you or your friends. Now, if you follow it, you will get rewarded and move up the pyramid. If you do not follow the system, you will get punished and will move down the ranks. The worst punishment is risk of being completely dropped out of the system (imprisonment, depression,  poverty, or starvation).

The system manipulates you as if you’re a puppet, it judges you like the eye of Sauron. It is always watching you.

There are secret agents from the NSA constantly monitoring your activities, using artificial intelligence (machines) to make sure you are following the system.

So, the system sets the rules/standards/laws etc. and is trying to make sure that you follow them. It is shaped like a pyramid and the people at the pyramid top have more power to influence the system and their opinion is weighted more than that of people of lower status (who have less power).

The system wants you to dress and look like X. So, the system has agents acting on behalf of it, trying to make sure that you want to look like X. This is where marketing comes in. The big corporations are marketing to trigger emotional responses to their commercials inside of you. And even if you know that they are doing this, you cannot help it because you are like a rat in skinner’s box who just can’t help but respond. And since the power of this “propaganda” is strong, and there are advertisements everywhere, you get influenced whether you like it or not. So, in this case, what is the goal you might ask?

Why is the system, shaped like a pyramid, doing this?

The system wants to produce more economic growth. It wants to use you as a building block to produce more growth.

“But, economic growth is good. Isn’t it?” you might ask.

Well, the system wants economic growth because the goal of the machine is to reinforce itself and grow like a parasite. The machine wants to tighten its control over you. And the more economic growth you produce, the more the system can grow and impose it’s might over you.

The system has many participants. The more up the “status” pyramid you are the more desperately you will try to protect the system. Because the higher in status you are, the more rewards you will get.

However, there is one common theme in the system that keeps playing in the background: The elephant in the room is that nobody is happy.  You would think that the higher your status gets, the more happy you will get. But generally the status doesn’t matter because the system isn’t designed to grow your happiness.

The system is designed to:

1) Produce economic growth

2) With the objective of growing at the cost of you

3) So that it can increase its power and get stronger

4) With the objective of keeping it’s growth like a parasite

5) While doing it with the means of reward and punishment.

You see, the reason I call the system a parasite is because it generally takes away your happiness and gives back less of it in return.

Why did this happen?

Information technology has always evolved faster than governments could adapt to it. But now governments are catching up and using IT increasingly. Much of this is yet to be understood. The last thing that will happen though, is the abuse of power disappearing.

Essentially, the inner workings of the machine are based on all kinds of mechanics. Corruption and incentives play a role. Essntially, the players in higher ranks of power are designing functions that benefit themselves at the cost of screwing over the majority. So, it is basically like if I made a secret deal with one person, to screw over the other 10 people and eat their lunches. This is very egoistic and inhumane. It shows that you do not care about other people.

Solution

Libertarians/privacy advocates are recently saying;  “we must do X fast, because later it will be too late”. But they are misunderstanding this. The governments have already won. The machine and totalitarian regimes have already won. Freedom has been long lost. Millenniums ago our freedom was limited by the natural forces, resources on the planet, knowledge etc. Now, our freedoms are restricted by the system.

The only possible solutions at this point have nothing to do with shutting the system down. The system is so strong that it’s almost impossible to shut it down. Changing the system is also very hard because of the might of the system. The system is so strong that it’s hard for any single actor to change it. In my opinion, the best scenario is people uniting to build a better system and it has to be done via I.T.