Why “Meat-Space” and Experiencing Life Through the Senses Will Always Supersede Communications in the Digital Realm

As digital technologies exponentially accelerate and we are living in futuristic times, it pays to hold criticism of the newest “tools” and tech.

This picture of a computer screen against a backdrop of tropical scenery does a fantastic job of concisely contrasting the sterility of the screen with the lushness of nature. Though the natural backdrop is blurred, its magnetic, sensory pull remains undiminished. This image poignantly illustrates that while we have migrated on a large scale to relying on screens for professional, social, romantic, and even s*xual needs and connections, the 2D, digital nature of a screen pales in comparison to the lushness and vibrancy of nature.

“Meat space,” as IRL life has come to be called, offers a version of reality that engages all of our senses in a way that digital technologies try — but fail — to simulate. This is part of why digital technologies, and specifically social media apps, can be so addictive: they give you almost what you need, but not quite the real social interaction or validation, which leaves you coming back for more. Social interaction becomes essentially reduced to rewarding us with dopamine hits at this level.

As I wrote in my piece, “Why We Need Earth Technologies to Counteract Conventional Medicine and Digital Technologies,” “As we become increasingly addicted to our screens, as the space race continues, and as the rate of the development of digital technologies is accelerating exponentially, you, like me, might have some apprehension over whether what we are seeing unfolding entails “progress.” Yes, two things can both be true at the same time: namely that social media apps can cause very real harm, particularly to children with developing minds (i.e. screen addiction and shortened attention spans), and that they also offer us new ways to be connected and use such networking tools for such noble causes as social justice movements (for example). I’d be remiss if I didn’t also acknowledge the very real harms that digital technologies have promoted in spreading misinformation and radicalizing people in extremist and hate-fueled views.

So the onus is on both us as individuals, but also on the companies, to use digital technologies and medical technologies mindfully. And companies, as we know, are more concerned about profit than their users’ and customers’ well-being. So I strongly urge others to limit their social media use, to use screens and digital technologies with intention, with integrity, and to maintain the use of critical thinking and skepticism along the way.

A crisis of consciousness — which is what we are living in during this time of late-stage capitalism and multiple public health crises — can and must be tempered by working individually and collectively to become more conscious. And so this is why I am so emphatic that we continue to work to build cultural containers to hold space for ancestral ways of knowing.

We must continue to remember and revere ancient technologies, to live consciously. I read someone recently argue that what we are experiencing is not the psychedelic renaissance, but rather the “psychedelic revolution.” Time will tell, and we can only hope that this movement truly helps society to help foster our individual and collective healing in a way that is more durable than the counter-cultural movement of the 60s and 70s was.

As I concluded in “Why We Need Earth Technologies to Counteract Conventional Medicine and Digital Technologies,” “… As many systems in this late-stage capitalist system are breaking down and being disrupted, earth medicines offer the antidote and the symbiotic funhouse mirror to both conventional medicine and digital technologies. Many proponents of Web3 and the blockchain evangelize the promise of bringing back a decentralized and democratized internet. Earth medicines, such as cannabis and ps!l0cybin, similarly offer the potential to help people regain their power, consciousness, and their health; these medicines are the original technologies that both informed the development of digital technologies and supersede them.”

As someone who has personally worked with ancestral technologies and, with their assistance, learn to shift to a more conscious, worthy, authentic, way of living, I believe in the urgency of this movement and this message: we need tools that help us become more connected rather than disconnected: we need to remember how we are all extensions of a universal consciousness, that we hold divinity innately and it is our divine right to tap into our power.

Let us also remember that we function best in the community, with support and connection. While ancestral technologies may help us release traumas and show up as our highest selves, we ultimately cannot do such healing alone; we rely on the community to help us best rise in our power, to be served, and to serve others.

Ancestral technologies offer a revolutionary potential because they help us remember that we are part of nature, and not separate from it. These medicines help us live in our bodies and connect to our spirits, minds, and bodies in a deeper way; they offer the potential to quiet the default mode network (the mechanism responsible for ego or the sense of self) and to thereby remember how we are all fundamentally interconnected.

As I have written in, “Why Are Ancestral Technologies Re-emerging as Digital Technologies Accelerate?” “So in a time when we are being increasingly surveilled and controlled, when women have further lost autonomy on our own bodies and choices, when the medical-industrial complex and Big Tech continue to reign supreme in our lives, regaining a connection to yourself and learning how to live and communicate outside of these models is a tremendous act of rebellion.” Let us not forget how powerful we are.

Sources:

Grinspoon, Peter, M.D. (August 11, 2021). “The endocannabinoid system: Essential and mysterious.” Harvard Health Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-endocannabinoid-system-essential-and-mysterious-202108112569

Kirsch, I. (2010). The Emperor’s new drugs: Exploding the antidepressant myth. Basic Books.

Lake, Ricki & Epstein, Abby. (2018). Weed The People. https://www.weedthepeoplemovie.com/

Lattin, Don. (2017). Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy. Synergetic Press: Santa Fe and London.

Mader, Stewart. (2009). “Stewart Brand: Information wants to be free. It also wants to be expensive.” Retrieved from https://www.stewartmader.com/stewart-brand-information-wants-to-be-free-it-also-wants-to-be-expensive/

Markoff, John. (2006). What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry. Penguin Books.

Merry Jane. (2020). The CBD Solution: How Cannabis, CBD, and Other Plant Allies Can Change Your Everyday Life. Lauren Wilson, Ed. Chronicle Books.

Mushroom References. (October 19, 2022). A Curated List of References Relevant to Physicians, Scientists, and the Intellectually Curious. Retrieved from https://mushroomreferences.com/

Wiener, Anna. (2020). Uncanny Valley: A Memoir. Picador: New York.

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