I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

[Jimr]

I heard Wayne Dyer tell that story many years ago. Moral of the story: Your experience is an outpicturing of the content of your consciousness. In other words, believing is seeing.

[rlown]

Did anyone point her to the discussion yet, because that would be fun to watch.. I'll make the popcorn.

[Hobbes]

Standing at the edge of McClure Meadow watching a double rainbow. PCT hiker powering down the trail and I tell him the rain will have raised the Evolution crossing such that he won't be able to cross until the next morning. "Damn" says he "a zero day at McClure."

Hasn't there always been a personality split similar to the one between your friend Randy and the SPS champ? My father likes sailboats; his (AF pilot) brother likes fast vehicles of all kinds: speed boats, motorcycles, sports cars. Guess which one I'm like - LOL?

As far as hikers bringing their problems to the trail, it seems to be part & parcel of social media in general. People who may not have otherwise had any interest in backpacking become exposed to (overly) romanticized versions. Then, they turn around & use the same media platform to voice their disappointment and displeasure when myth clashes with reality.

Unfortunately, this can serve to distort the overall impression of the PCT experience, while providing an excellent example of the Pareto principle. Also known as the 80/20 rule, in this case, 20% of the hikers are providing 80% of the blogging content. If there are just a few "squeaky wheels" dominating the conversation, then naturally this will tend to influence discussion.

Rather than deal with the specific subject matters at hand (in this particular case, hiking), my interest is actually on the entire media phenomenon. I happen to agree with some who are speculating there are brain alterations occurring from (virtual) dopamine addiction. This is an interesting field for study and further inquiry, one which may join other "rehab" programs.

[Hobbes]

Did anyone point her to the discussion yet, because that would be fun to watch.

Seems to be some developing push-back, with a few claiming comments are being deleted at the main site:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PacificCrestTr ... /?sort=new

Maybe it's because counter stories are now beginning to appear:

FYI, I was around this person on the trail. Every single story was overblown to make the other person look like an *******. Every one of these situations was insanely benign but she blew them out of proportion.

Every group I was with or around had women, minorities, and LBGT people and somehow we all made it further than her without these problems. The reason? She was the ******* who wouldn't tolerate any differing opinions or jokes that she didn't like. She acts like she's just a nice, sweet girl, but she was incredibly intolerable of anyone different than herself.

" 'I meet so many men who tell me, blissfully, that for the first time in their lives they finally feel completely understood.' "

And this is the topping on all of it. She complains about "toxic masculinity" but then downplays men who are actually sharing their emotions because she thinks her situation is special and no one else, especially cis, white males should share in that. Men not being able to share their emotions is a huge **** part of toxic masculinity in the first place. It's obvious she doesn't care to solve it, she just wants to use it as an excuse to feel persecuted and mistreated.

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From an anthropological POV, this is all very interesting. As the human-machine interface evolves, we will begin to see simulation engines that engage not just the eyes, but the other 4 senses as well. If anyone thinks social media is (addictively) engaging to a significant part of the population now, wait until hearing, smell, touch and taste become incorporated.

My question/interest is: who gets to be the controller?

[Harlen]

As the human-machine interface evolves, we will begin to see simulation engines that engage not just the eyes, but the other 4 senses as well. If anyone thinks social media is (addictively) engaging to a significant part of the population now, wait until hearing, smell, touch and taste become incorporated.

My question/interest is: who gets to be the controller?

Not to be too cynical Karl, but it'll be some version of Big Brother won't it?

[alpinemike]

Just had to weigh in here since I'm a young un' and some of you met me at the Meetup this year. The topic of this thread definitely evolved into something really interesting and different from the start.

You're darn right Harlen... it will likely be exactly like Big Brother. This is what scares me most of all for society. Not the energy crisis or the overpopulation, or really anything other than technology and how it will be yielded against all of humanity. I fear most of all for Artificial Intelligence and what nonsense that will bring.

As Rogue and I would say... And that's what we hike...

[Hobbes]

Mike, I was wondering if you would comment. Tahoe is a perfect example of policies put in place to control growth on both the California & Nevada side of the lake. Problem is, Carson/Eagle valley happened - and it's only getting started.

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Why does Big Brother have to be evil? Perhaps virtual reality could be a force of good, while helping solve many over-use issues. Consider the primary senses are hard-wired connections between nerve receptors and neural processing. What happens when wireless technologies are adapted to transmit this information flow indirectly - either to individuals and/or machines ie robotic controls?

What about human to human transmissions - either voluntary or hostile? Voluntary submission would be no different than current entertainment - including social media - products delivered via sight/sound. The exception being they could be transmitted directly, along with taste, touche & feeling, to provide a comprehensive virtual experience. Entertainers/explorers could charge subscriptions to couch potatoes, broadcasting their complete sensory experience to vast global audiences.

(Hostile of course is a MIC operation, something Flamingo & I discussed on our long trek back down Taboose last year. The mind just becomes another battlefield as adversaries try to control/over-ride allegiance, training, command and control of each opposing side. As usual, MIC applications pre-date civilian availability by generations; if this is beginning to be discussed, then we can assume research programs are already well under way.)

So, consider an environment where 80m people live in California, and 14b world-wide - in as little as 35 more years. The entire LA Basin looks like Manhattan, wheres the Bay Area is as densely populated as the SF SOMA district. How will people live? How will exercise and the soothing effects of being outdoors be provided? How will park & land use policies be effected?

My guess is Big Brother is going to be the answer. Just dial up the PCT, lay back and mentally be some person out hiking. If you were hungry, had a little dirt thrown on you, and electronically stimulated/exercised your muscles and got sweaty, how would it differ from the "real thing"? Can you envision how energy use could be curtailed by 90-95% by eliminating the need to actually transport people to particular places?

We all the know the benefits of hiking in the Sierra. What if virtual/passive emotional response/conditioning was encouraged & became part of coordinated national policies?

[Gazelle]

My guess is Mother Nature is going to step in pretty soon earth can only house so many humans sooner or later something is going to give! Kind of natures natural selection or maybe we all get nuked instead!

[Jimr]

I suppose we will eventually end up extinct one way or another. We will probably be the first species to leave through self-extinction.

[Jimr]

Karl, sort of like The Matrix?