Official Intelligent Beings: How Our Devices Became Us, And The World Consumed Itself by Josh Greenfield Page A

red lights. Jagz was barely able to see. Redd’s eyes had long since adjusted to the lack of light and so Jagz walked slowly so as not to bump into anything
    “Right in here,” directed Redd. “You are going to want to see this.”
    Jagz walked into the next room, a large room almost the height of a 20 story building, each layer, housing something different, with hundreds of people going about their day. Some were picking fresh food from the garden, others were cutting up the food and manipulating it, some were making sounds with odd shaped objects in harmony, and others were tossing round objects to one another. There were even live animals.
    Jagz heard the sound of calming music, but it was unlike any of the music he was used to above ground. It wasn’t computer generated to fit a specific action. It had soul. He just didn’t quite know what that meant yet.
    “Oh my. This is amazing. Is that really a living animal?”
    “You bet your ass it is.”
    “Wow. I have never seen an actual animal up close in person. How did you even get them down here?”
    “We’ve got everything you can imagine down here. We are a fully functional operation. I’m sure when you first locked eyes on me you were a bit intimidated, maybe even thought I lived in a pile of crap, but I was actually farming, so I got quite dirty. I would have liked to clean myself up for you, but we didn’t know when we would have a chance to snag you. We had to go for it at the right moment. Speaking of which, I should apologize for our drastic measures taking you. We couldn’t let anyone know what we were doing and we didn’t exactly think you would come easily.”
    “That’s for damn sure, but I’m beginning to see just how twisted the world is. So not as much sur-prises me as it did just a few weeks ago. I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. What are these sounds I’m hearing? It’s quite beautiful.”
    “Ah yes. That is Jazz music. Always moving, always flowing, constantly connected, everyone  in harmony together, as if the music plays the person.”
    “Jazz music? Those people are playing music?” said Jagz as he pointed to the group in the distance making sounds with the strange objects.”
    “Yes. And this particular song is one of my favorites, it is by a true legend of Jazz, Miles Davis. This song, Blue in Green, never gets old. It reminds me of the non-duality that exists, not just in the colors that we see, and the sounds that we hear, but in all of life.”
    “Non-duality?”
    “I am getting ahead of myself. That’s a whole different conversation. For now I want you to take a few minutes to walk around. Everyone knows who you are. Do not be alarmed. They are all friendly and happy to meet you. “
    “Everyone?”
    “This is where most of our life takes place. Most of the people here know more about you than you can probably imagine. We have been able to monitor your life, read your Quacks, and get a general sense of what is going on. We keep tabs on anyone who develops a strong social media following.”
    “You are spying on me?”
    “I can see how you’d feel that way, you will understand in good time. When you posted about meeting an Alien and how the Aliens were coming here to wipe us out, well, we just had to speak with you ourselves. You have developed quite a following and could cause quite a stir. ”
    “Yes and may I remind you there are people above ground looking out for me.”
    “I know. We won’t keep you long. For now, why don’t you take a moment to look around and check out what the past used to be when fruit and vegetables still grew, when animals were alive, when music was created by real humans, and when people had personal interactions.”
    Jagz began to walk around, admiring everything. He had never actually seen anyone cook in person. The smells were fantastic. They gave him a sample of roasted carrots and freshly seared steak that blew his freaking taste buds out of his mouth.
    He watched a group