To prepare readers for marvels and innovations, I offer this piece.
Since
we live in a virtual age, the image rules. A substitute for the thing
itself is acceptable in many venues. If the government can spend $6
trillion it doesn’t have to bail out the population from a virus that
doesn’t exist---$2 trillion more than the cost of World War 2---what
ISN’T possible?
I can see CNN leading the way, with this sort of announcement from CEO, Jaspar X Pucker:
“Today---after
consultation with our attorneys---we make this legal ruling: Our use of
the term ‘President’ will cover a range of potential meanings. For
example, it could mean ‘the committee that hovers behind the Occupant of
the Oval Office and decides policy, on behalf of which policy the
Occupant acts a conduit (to the public)’.”
“That
would be one meaning. But ‘President’ could also mean a computer
generated image (CGI) of the Oval Office Occupant, when that image
delivers what the Occupant WOULD HAVE delivered, were he present.”
“Here is our FAQ on the subject”:
Would the CGI image of the President have to resemble the President?
Yes. We will render an exact likeness.
CNN could decide when to deploy a CGI image of the President?
Of
course. That’s the whole point. But we will maintain a close
relationship with the committee that hovers behind the Occupant of the
Oval Office, to ensure we are accurately presenting official policy.
Is
it possible that, in a single instant of time, several CGI Presidents
could simultaneously appear in different locations speaking to
audiences?
Yes. Getting out the message(s) is the first priority.
What about viewer confusion?
We
recognize there will be an adjustment period. It isn’t a major
hurdle. For instance, for years, we’ve been claiming our anchors and
hosts are ‘real journalists’. Our viewers now understand that term is
relative.
The reality of TV ads is also relative.
Exactly. And no one has a problem with them.
Does the new definition of “President” also cover actual physical doubles who stand in for the Occupant of the Oval Office?
Yes. We’ve
pondered that decision. You see, we’re already in an era of gender
fluidity. A person can declare any of a whole host of gender IDs. So why
not extend that concept?
You’re saying a physical double for the President would IDENTIFY AS THE PRESIDENT?
Correct. And since he is a certified double, his/her claim is acceptable.
He/she IS the President?
That’s right.
Who has priority? A CGI President, or a physical double, or the Oval Office Occupant?
There is no priority. The situation is roughly analogous to Quantum Entanglement.
I’m not sure I understand.
No one does. It’s all right.
How will you avoid programming errors? Suppose a CGI President goes off on a tangent in public?
Every human President has done that from time to time. People complain, they object, then they forget and quiet down.
Do you intend to let the viewing audience know every time you use a CGI President?
That’s a definite no. The whole thrust involves the audience believing the image is real.
Even though they know or suspect it’s not.
Right.
How does THAT work?
The
broadcaster broadcasts. The viewer accepts. That’s the ideal toward
which we constantly strive. The viewers accept logical and psychological
contradictions.
Suppose, through some programming error, the CGI President shows up naked in a Washington DC hotel room with a hooker?
This
would mean the system has been hacked. The HACKING would be the central
element of the story we run. Russian hacker. Domestic terrorist. Trump
supporter. QAnon.
But still…
Possible
headline: “The hacker and the hooker.” The tabloid implications would
be enormous. Our ratings would go through the roof. It’s a new KIND of
story. We’re talking INNOVATION in the news business. The Future shows
up and blows everybody away.
I
guess I’m focusing on potential missteps. CGI President in Iowa
delivers a speech denouncing China’s trade policy, while CGI President
in Florida supports that policy at the exact same moment.
Yes? And? A President talking out of both sides of his mouth? We haven’t encountered that before?
But not in the same instant.
It’s just a difference between serial and simultaneous TIME. The whole notion of time is changing.
So the news would be manipulating space and time in a new way.
Exactly. Four
or five CGI presidents appearing in different locations at the same
time, each saying something quite different, with multiple
contradictions involved. It’s the Theory of Relativity applied to the
news. All based on one constant: giving varied audiences what they think
they want.
Is it possible a CGI President would be smarter than the actual Oval Office Occupant?
Of course. And this could eventually lead to the phasing out of all Oval Office Occupants.
The public would vote for one CGI over another CGI?
Correct. Each major political party would put up its CGI as a candidate for President. It’s inevitable.
The Republicans could run a CGI Ronald Reagan against a Democratic CGI Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
Yes. Or a political party would invent a CGI candidate based on extensive polling data and the deep profiling of voters.
That version makes it sound more believable.
That
version, using actual human candidates, has been in effect for
centuries. We’re just updating the practice and making it much more
effective. And people will learn to accept the notion of many current
CGI Presidents who look exactly the same, instead of one physical human
who looks exactly like himself.
Will these simultaneous CGI Presidents be numbered for easier recognition?
Heavens no. We want all of them to be equal and the same.
Here’s an obvious question. Suppose CNN and FOX create different CGI Presidents who don’t look the same?
That
would present an interesting situation. On the one hand, we would want
to forge an agreement among all the news networks, based on the outcome
of the vote and the election. The CGI who wins the election becomes the
universal likeness of the President. But think of the conflicts,
battles, scandals, and ratings bonanzas, if CNN and FOX used competing
CGIs as Presidents. Again, by agreement, the networks could stage
occasional wars against each other, mounting different CGI Presidents,
but then the wars would fade out and the one winner in the
election---that CGI---would reclaim its rightful place as
President. This way, everybody wins.
Let’s take an actual situation. Joe Biden, for example.
Sure. You
would have a dozen CGI Bidens as President. Some would stagger and fall
as they mounted the steps to Air Force One---that’s the sympathy
factor---and others would bound up the steps like healthy
kangaroos---that’s introducing hope.
And Trump?
Well,
the way old reality works now, Trump comes out in March of 2021 and
says he never bought into the heavy COVID restrictions and the crashing
of the US economy; that was all Fauci’s fault and Birx’s fault. But in
March of 2020, a year ago, he did support the temporary lockdowns, and
then, when they were extended, he went along with the horrendous
show. You see? Two different positions. Contradiction. But in the NEW
reality, you would have a dozen CGI Trumps simultaneously defending and
opposing the lockdowns.
People’s heads would explode.
Which
is better? Their heads exploding, or their minds accepting without
question the two opposing Trump positions in 2020 and 2021? In the
former case, they have to come to terms with political life as it
actually exists. In the latter case, they just give in to their own
deteriorating and long-term brain rot.
Finally, do you think the public would really accept CGI Presidents, with all the possibilities you’ve sketched out?
Of
course. Consider how quickly people accepted smart phones. One minute
they were alertly walking down the street looking around them, and the
next minute they all had their heads bowed, enraptured by those phones.
I know, but---
And
consider this FAQ. Are we two people talking, or was the FAQ generated
by artificial intelligence, based on polling and profiling?
DON’T SAY THAT.
Why not?
BECAUSE I WANT TO EXIST.
And you do, in a sense. We do. Or we did. We’re done.
(The link to this article posted on my blog is here.)
(Follow me on Gab at @jonrappoport)
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