On the Road to Dystopia
(Social Engineering Through Operant Conditioning)

February 12, 2015

The greatest trap that one encounters while traveling on the road to
freedom is the distractions that one encounters along the way.
 

Operant conditioning is the science of manipulating human and animal behavior patterns through the process of positive and negative reinforcement. Operant conditioning is the underlying mechanism by which almost all behavior patterns are formed in our modern human society (in families, culture, school, work, social circles, church, state, etc).

Hidden In Plain Sight

The basic idea behind operant conditioning is that an activity that induces pleasure is more likely to be pursued and accepted than an activity that produces physical and/or psychological discomfort.

A few examples of operant conditioning include:

• Training rats to behave in a certain manner by rewarding them with cheese for the right behavior, and punishing them with an electric shock for the wrong behavior
• Training a dog to behave in a certain manner by rewarding them with a treat and/or affection for the right behavior, and withholding a treat and/or affection for the wrong behavior
• Training humans to behave in a certain manner by rewarding them with a treat or acceptance for the right behavior, and withholding a treat and/or incurring punishment for the wrong behavior

Some examples of human operant conditioning in society include:

• If you support the machine (matrix) with ongoing "consumption" and debt accumulation (nice clothes, new technology, nice car, nice house, lots of material possessions, etc), then you are likely to be rewarded with social acceptance and popularity. On the other hand, if you choose to wear out-of-fashion clothes, use old technology and not own a car (i.e. consume less and have no debt), then you are likely to be punished with less social acceptance and less popularity
• If you have a high paying job and a nice car, then you are likely to be rewarded with more attention from the opposite sex. On the other hand, if you work at a fast food restaurant and drive an old beat-up car, then you are likely to be punished with less attention from the opposite sex
• If you choose a socially acceptable career path, then you are more likely to be rewarded by your family and friends with acceptance and approval. On the other hand, if you choose a non-acceptable "career" path (perhaps trying to increase social awareness by discussing uncomfortable subject matter) then you are likely to be punished by family and friends with disapproval, disaffection and shunning from the group
• If you belong to the "right religion", then you are likely to be rewarded (saved) by the god of that religion. However, if you do not belong to the "right religion", then you will likely be punished by the god of that religion
• The more people that you kill in violent war-themed video games, the more that you will be rewarded with higher scores, better weapons and more levels to explore. On the other hand, the less people that you kill in violent war-themed video games, the more that you will be punished with a lower score, fewer weapons and fewer levels to explore
• And so on

From the time that we are born until the day that we move on (or come back here again), our behaviors are constantly being programmed and manipulated through operant conditioning. It happens to us as a child, and then it is carried forward and repeated with the next generation.

Updated Mechanisms of Control

The traditional institutions of society (school in particular) have historically been a very effective training areas for the modification of human behavior. Likewise, the traditional "ministries of propaganda" such as TV, radio and newspapers, have historically been quite efficient at modifying behavior on local and national levels.

However, in order to effectively sway public opinion on a global scale, the rulers realized that they needed a new mechanism of control that was highly scalable, easily deployable and very flexible. They found that mechanism with the introduction of the digital age and with the creation of the internet.

The internet began as the military-inspired ARPANET in the late 1960s (ARPA was the precursor to DARPA). The ARPANET was actually operated by the military up until about 1990. After 1990, the ARPANET began to evolve into what we know today as the world wide web. There is some debate as to how much involvement that the military had in the evolution of the internet (post ARPANET). However, there is little doubt as to what their involvement is in it today.

There are essentially two methods by which new technology usually comes into existence. It can be consciously directed by an individual or a group, or it can be unconsciously (or esoterically) "inspired" by outside influences. After closely studying the development and evolution of digital technology (for many years), I would suggest that there was some significant outside "inspiration" involved in the creation of the internet. How could an individual or a group have such a well thought-out plan (agenda) and such a keen long-term insight? That is a question I'll address in the next segment.

As the internet began to evolve, it became clear to many people that there was a definite agenda to try and steer it in a particular direction. However, ultimately, it grew too large too fast to be effectively controlled by one central authority. It essentially ended up becoming a laboratory for many different agencies and organizations that were interested in behavioral science and social engineering experiments (much like LSD was used by the CIA in the 1960s).

What emerged from those experiments was the birth and evolution of what we now know today as social media. Social media took what was unmanageable about the internet and made it more manageable by "corralling" people into concentrated areas (free concentration camps) which could then be more easily monitored and controlled on a global basis. 

How did social media accomplish its objective of social engineering? 

• It offered a free service that appeared to have great "benefit" to a large segment of the population
• It encouraged people to voluntarily share their personal information with various "think tank" databases that were setup on the internet (social media sites)

• It directly targeted core psychological needs such as social interaction, social acceptance and the ego
• It got people so addicted to it that they now think that they can't live without it
• It incorporated the basic model of operant conditioning within its structure in order to effectively manipulate individual and group behavior:
• Rewards:   Increase "likes", page views, virtual friends, shares, pins, positive comments, etc. (i.e. encourage group acceptance, popularity, pleasure and psychological safety)
• Punishments: Decrease "likes", page views, virtual friends, shares, pins, positive comments, etc. (i.e. encourage the manufactured perception of social rejection, ridicule, shunning by the majority, loneliness, the threat of an account being banned or suspended for unpopular viewpoints, etc)
• It incrementally removed privacy protections, while incrementally increasing data gathering, surveillance and control capabilities
   

Many people will say that they are not being affected or manipulated by social media. However, then they will turn around and complain that they are getting less "likes" or pins or views than some other person. Or they will say that they had to modify their posting behavior because of an account suspension or a ban (for violating what appears to be ever-increasing restrictions regarding acceptable topics of discussion). Or they will express how joyful one comment made them feel, and how depressed another comment made them feel. Or they will say how drained an online argument made them feel (yet they will continue to get drawn into the same types of arguments over and over again).

I am not suggesting that the examples above are invalid reactions or emotions. Rather, what I am saying is that people most definitely are being affected (both consciously and unconsciously) by social media trends and tribulations.

There is a reason why they call a meme that quickly spreads through internet "viral". It is because these things act like an infection. They take over people's minds. They quickly end up on websites, videos and podcasts across the internet. Think about how various "news" events have been able to virtually take over (over-shadow) other internet traffic during the last few years. This is an extremely effective way to quell public "dissent" (or awareness) and then drive it into a "descent" of agitation, distraction and/or unconsciousness.

Here are some examples of how this works:

• If too much unity (community, not Borg-like collective) begins to develop among the people, there is always some news story that seems to quickly make its way around the internet in order to drive a wedge between that unity (through gender, culture, religion, politics, etc)
• If too much awareness begins to develop among the people, then some event always seems to occur that effectively shifts focus and attention elsewhere (in order to derail the progress that the people have made towards increased awareness)
• If too much knowledge and understanding begins to develop in too many places on the internet, then a slightly altered version of that information or concept seems to magically go "viral" and subsequently corrupt or "infect" the original meaning of that knowledge or understanding (for example, the new age philosophy has often been used as a vehicle for such corruptions)
• If a "paranormal" phenomena gains too much attention, several fake images or videos are inserted into the mix and then exposed as fakes. The majority of people will then assume that the rest are fakes/hoaxes as well
• If a "paranormal" phenomena gains too much attention, an "authority" on the subject is inserted into the mix (a white coat, a PhD, a scientist, etc) in order to debunk the phenomena. People quite often get used in this capacity without even realizing that they are acting as "agents" for the system
• If a "paranormal" phenomena gains too much attention, then a "crazy" person is inserted into the mix in order to make the phenomena look silly or crazy. Since most people fear ridicule, they will disassociate themselves from that topic or subject (so that it quickly goes away)
• If a body of research or work is gaining too much exposure on the internet, small errors or mistakes are cited in the research/work in order to try and discredit the entire body of work or the credibility of the author 
• If a particular body of research or work gains too much exposure, a "trigger word" is sometimes used by the opposition to describe that research/work. Programmed people in society will respond to that word in the way that they have been programmed to respond (ignore, accept or reject it). Some examples of trigger words include conspiracy, terrorist, militaristic, new age, global warming, right-wing, left-wing, etc

Virtual Reality

When happens when you try and warn people of the underlying danger of social media? They will usually defend it by referring to the great potential that it has as a tool for social change. This is certainly true. But how is the majority of social media being used today? It was designed to encourage narcissistic behavior, and I would suggest that is accomplishing this objective. With billions of "selfies" and trillions of tweets populating the internet today...it's a world that is losing itself...in itself.

It's always been a game of numbers for the controllers. They know that any mechanism of control that they introduce must appeal to a very wide portion of the population in order to capture the greatest number of people in its "web". Therefore, not only must it contain the bread and circuses for the general population, but it must also have the potential to be a genuine tool of growth and change for the more aware people in society (in order to draw them into the trap and also to lock in any people who may become aware at a later time).

The gamble that the controllers take with something like technology is that they will be able to succeed in keeping the "majority" so preoccupied with entertainment and distractions that they will ignore the "minority" who are attempting to increase knowledge and awareness.

As the majority falls deeper and deeper into virtual reality, the hope of the controllers is that some of the consciously aware minority will begin to unconsciously fall in line behind the majority and then become trapped themselves in virtual reality (entertainment, distractions, drama, competition, manufactured arguments, the pursuit of fame, monetary incentives, ego manipulation, etc).

The key to resisting this influence exists not only in identifying the mechanisms of control, but also in understanding the many levels on which this war is being waged. This will be the topic of the next two segments: The Invasion and The Resistance.

Arrested Development

People sometimes get the idea from my writing that I am anti-technology. However, this is not the case. I was a very early adopter of technology and was involved with computers long before they became household names and involved with the internet before it became known as the world wide web. Thus, I have witnessed the evolution (or devolution) of technology based on many decades of direct practice, experience and observation.

In my view, technology is simply a tool. Just like anything else, technology can be used for good or for evil, and for evolution or for devolution. However, from my experience and personal perspective, what I have witnessed with technology (as a whole) is a movement away from reality and natural self-sufficiency into a dependence on artificial technology and unreality.

Perhaps some of the older generation can still remember when we had "partial reality" in this world? However, for much of the younger generation, this all that they have ever known. It seems completely natural to them to spend all day indoors texting their friends, playing video games, watching youtube videos, consuming digital "content" and checking their facebook account every five minutes.

Humanity has now "evolved" to the point where it is perfectly normal for two individuals to sit at a table together with their cell phones in hand and ignore each other. It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, except no one knows that they have been taken over.

Why is so much of the population still ignorant of knowledge when we essentially have the collective knowledge of the entire world at our fingertips? In the old days, they used to refer the wasting away of the human body as "consumption". Today we have a wasting away of the brain and an expansion of the body (via the consumption of weaponized information systems and the consumption of technologically altered "substantially equivalent" GMO food products). Instead of balancing out our consumption with equal parts of knowledge, learning and growth, we are being consumed (overwhelmed) by an addiction to entertainment, drama and distractions.

Why when there is so much potential for increasing intelligence today, do we see so many people pursuing activities that are contributing to the arrested development of the human race (instead of furthering our development)? The answer to that question is, of course, social engineering, social programming and social conditioning.

The Mark of the Beast

The discussion of the internet, digital technology and social media wouldn't be complete without examining the idea of the "mark of the beast".

Question: What item is most often seen "attached" to people's hands and pressed against their heads?

Answer: Smartphones (or some other form of technology)
 

Question: Which activities comprise a significant portion of cell phone use?

Answer: Employment, networking, shopping, marketing and customer service. What do these activities involve? Money
 

Question: What is money used for?

Answer: Buying and Selling
 

I sometimes hear people express a desire to disconnect from the modern world of technology (cell phones, tablets, computers, social media, etc) because they feel like it is taking over their lives. However, most people say that they cannot disconnect because:

• They need technology for their business
• Their social life would suffer without it
• The wouldn't know what is going on in the world
• It would be too difficult to function without it
• Their children would fall behind without it
• They would be bored without it
• It is the best tool for increasing social awareness
   

The "beast" must be pretty intelligent because it understands that it would run in to far more resistance if people were forced to take the "mark" than if it was packaged and presented as something that was a benefit or a "necessity" of the people.

It wasn't all that long ago when people lived without technology. Now people cannot seem to live unless they have it. I'm not suggesting that we should throw out all forms of technology. Rather, the point that I am trying to make here is that we should be mindful of how we are using technology and how it is influencing us. We have been incrementally and unconsciously conditioned (in a very short amount of time) to accept the idea that we need technology in order to be successful, effective, popular, attractive and fashionable.

• What originally helped to give us greater independence, has now tuned into greater dependence
• What once helped to fuel our expression, is now helping to fuel our depression
• What once was a tool for helping with our afflictions, has now turned into a source of our addictions
• What once was a new frontier for the individual, is now a trap for the collective
• What once was a vehicle for evolution, has not turned into a vehicle for devolution
• What once was a vehicle for increasing our intelligence, is now a vehicle for increasing their "intelligence"
   

The concern has always been that we will be forced to be "chipped" at some point in the future. However, I would suggest that people are being groomed to actually desire it (or at least not be opposed to it). That may sound strange to some people, but we really aren't that far away from the reality of implantable technology.

We started off with technology in the infrastructure. Then technology came into our homes. Then technology came into our hands. Now we are wearing technology. Next we will be integrating with it. It's not science fiction any longer. It's right around the corner.

Connections
 

 

B.F. Skinner is considered to be the father of operant conditioning. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1958-1974. Interestingly, the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard was established with help from the Ford Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation (Rockefeller Center) also plays prominent role at Harvard. Both of these foundations have a long and well-documented history involving the development and deployment of various agendas related to social engineering (i.e. behaviorism). Harvard actually receives close to one billion dollars annually in sponsored research funds (but of course there isn't any conflict of interest associated with that money).

• Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook) majored in psychology at Harvard University where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. College fraternities often serve as "gatekeepers" for many other fraternal (secret society) organizations. Initiations into college fraternities are not all that different from initiations into other fraternal orders. Initiations are used to test the psyche and the allegiance of potential members
• Early in the development of Facebook, it received $12.7 million in funding from a venture capital firm with ties to the CIA and a trail that leads to ties with DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency)
• DARPA's Information Awareness Office (established in 2002) was created under the guise of national security in order to help keep us "safe" from terrorism.  The stated mission of the IAO was to gather and store the personal information of everyone in the United States including internet activity, personal emails, social network activity, phone calls and numerous other types of information
• Google's search engine is based on the data mining program of Sergey Brin (the co-founder of Google)
• The Stanford Research Institute (SRI) is located very close to Facebook, Google and other internet "giants". The SRI is heavily involved in areas such as the internet, military technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, behaviorism and has been funded by DARPA
• Google recently hired Ray Kurzweil (a strong advocate for transhumanism and the technology singularity) as a director of engineering for their company. Google's recent acquisitions have been increasingly focused on AI technology and robotics (including the rather scary robots of Boston Dynamics)
• The San Francisco Bay Area has an interesting group of people associated with it. Anton Levay established his Church of Satan there. Michael Aquino had ties with the Church of Satan, the Temple of Set (a very dark offshoot of the Church of Satan), the Presidio Army Base (in San Francisco) and was the prime suspect in a pedophile ring that was believed to involve hundreds of children. Each year the Bohemian Grove (just a little north of San Francisco) is host to some of the most influential men in the world where they gather to take part in a ritual known as the "Cremation of Care' (the death and destruction of care...apparently so they can free their conscience of all of the dark things that they do during the year)
• There are reasons why certain people and organizations tend to gather in certain areas. It's why we see so much occult symbolism in places such as Washington DC, London and many other areas around the world (including ancient megalithic sites). Throughout the planet there are certain energy centers that can be tapped by those who have the proper knowledge (either for good or for evil). The decision to locate to a certain area isn't always a conscious one. Sometimes people are drawn to certain areas and then become affected by both the natural and unnatural energies in that area without being consciously aware of it
• A simple analogy of the idea of global energy centers would be if you tried to turn the water on in your kitchen sink while standing out in the backyard. It wouldn't be very easy. However, if you moved right over the source (the faucet), not only could you turn the water on, but you could also control and direct flow of water as well
• These connections run very deep. It would probably take the space of several books to properly explore this subject matter. Therefore, I will leave that task for a later time. However, I intend on exploring some of this material in the next segment including integrating the information that I planned to post in part II of "Communicating with Nature"

An Operation Manual or a Warning?

Two books that always seem to come to mind when I think of psychological programming and conditioning are 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Each author had their own vision (and warning) of what the future might look like. Unfortunately for us, it seems as though we have become deeply entangled in both versions of their dystopian futures (our present dystopia). We have become both the unconscious builders of the system and also unconscious participants in the system. We have become blinded to the continuing role that we play as agents of this dysfunctional and dystopian system, while we simultaneously curse the same system and ask it to fix what we perceive to be broken with it (while the system continues to function exactly as it was designed to function).

What is the difference between 1984 (Orwell) and Brave New World (Huxley)?

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the "feelies", the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy."

"As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny 'failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.' In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us."
 -- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) --
 

A Few More Quotes

"For in the end, he (Huxley) was trying to tell us what afflicted the people in 'Brave New World' was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking."  
-- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) --
 

"The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities."
-- Zbigniew Brzeziński, Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technotronic Era (1970) --
 

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."
-- Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928) --
 

"But it is much later in the game now, and ignorance of the score is inexcusable. To be unaware that a technology comes equipped with a program for social change...to maintain that technology is neutral, to make the assumption that technology is always a friend to culture is, at this late hour, stupidity plain and simple."
-- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) --
 

"If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself."
-- George Orwell, 1984 (1949) --
 

"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them"
-- George Orwell, 1984 (1949) --
 

"What the advertiser needs to know is not what is right about the product, but what is wrong about the buyer."
-- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) --
 

"It is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled."
-- B.F. Skinner --
 

"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution."
-- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932) --
 

"Until they became conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."
-- George Orwell, 1984 (1949) --
 

"Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials."
-- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) --
 

"When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility."
-- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) --

 

Footnote: The concept of culture can be viewed in many different ways. For example, a culture could be seen as system (cult) of dogmatic beliefs that rigidly define a particular group of people.  Or, a culture could be seen as a group of similar "organisms" that exist within shared medium of growth (i.e. a petri dish). Or, a culture could simply be viewed as the historic traditions that help to make a particular society unique. I would suggest that culture, as it is used in the quotes above, refers to the unique and organically derived traditions of a people, rather than to a dogmatic system of control that has "evolved" via some sort of artificially directed agenda (i.e. social engineering and behaviorism).  

Organically inspired (natural) cultures help to create uniqueness and diversity in the world, while the death of natural cultures help to create sameness and conformity in the world. Both of these concepts can be warped or reversed (weaponized) in order to create the illusion of something that the aren't. For example, natural cultures can be pitted against each other in order to create unnatural division and conflict in the world. And artificially created (or engineered) cultures of conformity can be used to create the illusion of unity. True unity is possible within a culturally diverse world. It is the social engineering, programming, conditioning and "behaviorism" that creates the division, not the natural diversity.
 

 

A vision of the future? What's the name of that operating system
that is often glued to people's hands and foreheads?

 

Why this Message Will Most Likely Be Ignored

As long as the ego is being fed, it will blind us and it will rule over us.  As long as the ego sees the possibility for fame, fortune and worship, it will drive our pursuits and it will dictate our actions. The ultimate goal of the ego is to achieve godhood. The ego desires "followers". When the ego is threatened, it will reject reason and it will retaliate against all those who challenge it. The ego is a jealous god. The ego does not want competition. However, the ego will sometimes hide among and support similar egos in order to avoid being discovered.

• The goal of the Spiritual Being is to understand their connection to God (please see the link for a discussion of this term) and to become one with God
• The goal of the ego is to maintain a separation from God (blindness/duality) so that it may become the one god

 

A final thought...

The end of the world will not occur with the old weapons of war. Rather it will
arrive with the new weapons that we use in our everyday lives...

Unless we choose to become conscious again.

 

Music

Connected
(Stereo MC's)
 

Links

Psychiatry / Eugenics Documentary
This documentary has a reference to Scientology at the end of the film. I've included a link to this particular documentary because I think that it offers a good glimpse into how the field of psychiatry has evolved to become one of the primary cogs in the social-engineering/eugenics agenda. The inclusion of this link is not intended to promote Scientology in any way.
 

StarGate SG1- "Revisions"
Is this the future of the internet and the human race?
 

Star Trek The Next Generation - "Chain of Command"
An examination of how "will" is broken through the acceptance and the substitution of unreality in place of reality. Once the "will" has been broken in this manner, it can be more easily programmed to accept an idea that is in conflict with reality, morality and the conscience of the individual. This is a technique that is often used to control members of cults (and also followers of corrupted/organized religions)
 

Social Lab and SuperState
(social media behavioral science laboratory
software complete with automated "bots")
 

List of Dystopian Films

List of Dystopian Literature

Project MkUltra

Facebook and the CIA (parody)

 

Nested Realities

Schooled By Nature

Welcome to the Machine: Mechanisms of the Matrix

Alchemical Reactions

For the Children

The Warrior Within Us

The Virtues and Sins of Religion

Monsters Among Us

The Battle Between the Light and the Dark

The Road to Destruction

Gray Areas

Incrementalism

Corrupted Realities - Satanic Influence in Our Society

Keys to Understanding

The Consolidation of Power and Control

Externalizing the Internal

Chemtrails

The Bus Trip

The Tree of Life and
the Roots of Destruction

The Great Deceiver

Earth is a Prison/University and the Human
Race are its Inmates/Students

2012 Olympic Games
 Occult Symbolism and Mind Programming

The Great Deceiver

Escape Velocity (Escaping Reality)

Escape From the Matrix (Escaping Illusion)

 

A complete index of all segments in this series
can be found here:

The most recent posts in this series
can be found here: