I think; therefore, I am.

by Setsuko Adachi

A machine, a replicant, utters:

I think therefore I am.

“A semicolon between two closely knit independent clauses that are connected by conjunctive adverbs; then place a comma after conjunctive adverbs,” says the ultimate professional, my esteemed friend. ―I think; therefore, I am.

What was the replicant thinking, uttering the popular English phrasing of Descartesean existence: cogito ergo sum? How did René Descartes transcribe his thought in Latin, comma or without comma? He had beautiful handwriting, a photo of his letter in the digital sphere shows that but it was not of cogito ergo sum. ―Did it matter to him?

Je pense, donc je suis. ―Was it this? He was French.

I think, therefore I am.

When did this “thinking” by “I” become so important? That “I” do my own “thinking”?

… you think that your ideas, thoughts come from within, but many are amalgamations of cultural constructions that have been programmed into you, says Michael Kearney … it is a patterned custom, says Ruth Benedict…

… what you are thinking is given to you, Mike continues… you are not that different than a machine, an automaton, a drone, which is structured to serve the greedy thirsty Establishment …it enslaves you, deprives you and so cleverly implements you with its value system…

*

Think, the Establishment says with a smile. I am not forcing you to do what you do. It comes from you. You are doing it of your own accord.

The Establishment is extremely protectionist. A big portion of the masses have forgotten that they are capable of venturing outside of the premise(s).

but it doesn’t matter: they don’t like outside anymore. They want to hide behind the masks ― surgeon’s masks. At entrance exams, two thirds of the classroom have masks on. The eighteen year olds’ lethargic fear of the external world: viruses are ready to attack them to destroy their futures … Face-coverings were banned in France. The covered faces, or the covered mouths, do not bother Japanese proctors. The covered mouths are mouthless wannabes ― A great survival skill displayed by Hello Kitty, which is protected by intellectual property rights, a symbol full of biased intelligence ― profit making desires. Fingers pull masks away and the rubber bands from ears stretch at identity checking time for a few seconds and then they bounce back.

Establishment Executives, off the premises, are faithfully pursuing the greed-driven desire for themselves: profits come with export. “Expand the market!” “Operate the exchange rates!” “Invest wisely!” The protectionist Establishment is pushing hard to maximize the possession of the capital means of production ― taxpayers; the masses’ money movements are carefully surveilled with My Number.

Executives’ harvests are probably landing in tax havens. The Establishment’s income is not doing well. The bureaucratic plan–do–check–act cycle, an endless PDCA circle, which repeats again and again for continuous improvement, is employed. ―Take the pursuit for quality of life and humaneness out of the education, they are not profitable. The idea of quality of life wanes quickly, let alone the quality of life itself. …War might be good for economy… the vicious circle.

The public spending on education of the Establishment as a percentage of GDP has been the lowest among members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for a while.

*

A mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, visits a major bank of the Establishment, 001, with her daughter. She wants to wire the money abroad for her daughter who was accepted at one of the top universities in the world. The bank’s young female teller at the foreign remittance section checks the mother’s 001 bank account, sees enough money, and says they can wire the money to the university, but first they need to know the source of the funds for the tuition. “I saved it,” the mother told her. The young 001 teller demands with a soft smiling voice, “We need you to turn in a document that proves that. A copy of the passbook that records your bank activity will do.” “Excuse me, but why?” the mother asks politely, “I would like to pay my daughter’s tuition, that’s all. It is my money, not yours.” The ever-pleasant 001 teller says,with sugar-coated sweetness: “It is a security measure taken to ensure that the money is clean and it does not reach wrong foreign hands, you know, terrorists.”

I think; therefore, I am.

The mother couldn’t give into being treated as a potential criminal, and be okay with the idea that 001 had the right to control what is hers. She thanked the teller for her service and went to the 001 ATM in the same building; transferred her savings to an Establishment branch of a foreign bank then walked over to it. The friendly teller there congratulated her daughter for being accepted to the university, it was pleasant and quick, and what is more the fee for handling was even cheaper … but

not long after the mother made the transfer, the foreign bank’s individual customer service sector was integrated to the bank of Establishment 0300.

Another path intercepted, the mother thought.

Because most people stay within, most don’t experience this side of 001; thus, most don’t know.

Yet, depression prevails among the masked and non-masked inhabitants. Depression is signifying the unsaid thoughts of those trying to come to terms with the rules of the Establishment. That staying within is the only option, that the Establishment does get mouths fed even though working long hours for its maintenance means destructive stress and unhappiness. And this, they are doing it of their own accord; something that they don’t want to do.

The cause cannot be pegged on individuals alone, and of course, it is.

*

… Who knows what might be taking place in 0300 ― with the encounters among the individuals of the foreign bank and the Establishment’s happening. Empathetic bonding might bring energetic break through, generating new paths.

 Think with Muses; therefore, I am.

―Replicants, you, and me.

Images by vince42 and Sarah Laval.