The Great Awakening?

Dreams, hopes, holidays, events, perceptions and a plethora of other parameters seem to create a very personal recipe for a soup called LIFE that spins on an axis resulting in a form of evolution.  How one chooses and or is conditioned by our use of liberty reveals our map and its azimuth.

As a very young boy in cold and windy Wyoming starting out in an old green house in Encampment with an outhouse and a pump for water in the kitchen sink my hopes and dreams were limited and often practical.  Coddling was not part of our daily life and so that undernourishment sprouted a few weeds later in life.  In the winter my hope was that I would not have to go take a number 2 in the middle of the night and visit that scary and odorous out house.

In the summer it was that I would not have to go out in the hot day to that outhouse and risk getting stung by a bumble bee who liked to sting me in my ear.  That outhouse was a lose- lose situation.  Here I was sitting in that wooden shed (summer or winter) holding my breath and closing my eyes as I rushed “relief” as fast as I could.  My goal was to run in and run out!  Since there was no TV in those days I had very little pain or envy about things I have never seen or heard of because the outhouse was all I knew and I assumed it was the same everywhere.  Yes ignorance can be blissful.

As I grew in stature and age, I was now approaching 5 years perhaps in Encampment Wyoming and later in Rawlins, Wyoming.  It was where I touched maternal and paternal like experiences.  My Grandmother who I affectionately called GAMMY was full of spirit and passion for life.  Her eyes sparkled with leadership and drive and she dripped old fashioned maple syrup on my soul.  She would kiss you to death and tickle you and love you and then we would walk up the wooden boarded sidewalks to my new dream house, rhe Sugar Bowl.

The Sugar Bowl was full of sensual excitement, bright colors, happy women, and the best malts, ice cream sundae and banana splits you ever had.  It would take an hour to finish that banana split with whip cream, nuts and cherries on top.  I got my very own and so did Gammy.   This was a delicious treat that no one wanted to share.   It was the quiet time in our day where we both enjoyed the slow slurping indulgence of each spoonful and on every side of the tongue before we would allow it to be swallowed and disappear.

Then would come a quiet and loving humming sound …hmmmmmm of satisfaction.  That sound would of course evolve over decades of life’s varied experiences.

On the other side of the spectrum I was exposed to my male counterparts and some paternal behavior to learn and mimic or model later on in life. My Grandpa, Amos Wilcox, was a rancher and he owned the Flying Diamond Cattle Ranch near Saratoga and Encampment Wyoming.  My very young and impressionable mind saw Grandpa as the MALE Icon.  He was an excellent horseman and other men seemed to “follow” him.  He had this mare that he was proud of showing off after a few shots of whiskey.  He would take the bridle off her and then show all of the leg cues and how quick the horse could spin with no bridle whatsoever.

I can remember he almost fell off one time and in retrospect, I think that had to do with the volume of shots of whiskey.  Everyone thought that was entertaining and made the event a lot of fun, with back slapping and laughter.  That was my introduction to alcohol and its visual and auditory celebratory associations.

Grandpa took my brother Randy and me to the rodeo grounds a few times with him where they would rope Brahma calves.  These were macho men with power pedigrees they rode called registered quarter horses.  Their saddles, chaps, spurs, and ropes all helped with the prestige of a super hero or a wannabe.  The shape of a hat, the speed of the loop and the “stop” on the horse were key differentiators.  These men seldom cussed, did not mince words, and simply performed with that Wyoming Tough that 9 months of hard winters and 2 months of hay for his cattle will bring to a man trying to survive as a rancher.  Basically it was a hope to make a living but the men construed it as a way of life like no other.  Cold, broke, and tough referred to as a quality of life.  Hmmmmm, OK.

So my Grandpa never took me to the Sugar Bowl but he did take me to a few rodeos and bars.  My first experience as a boy was at the Saratoga Rodeo grounds one evening when the “super heroes” were practicing calf roping.  Hearing those calves as they hit the end of a rope tied hard and fast on the saddle horn was very confusing for a young boy and gave me mixed signals.  Here these “heroes” were laughing and clapping and joking about the calf who was roped, and jerked upside down in the air as he hit the end of the rope.  Not sure why none of those young calves did not break their necks because it was violent.

Then the cowboy would rapidly dismount his horse as the horse skidded to a stop on his rear hocks and the cowboy would run down and “flank the calf” (pick him up and throw him down on the ground on his side) and begin very quickly tying all of this legs together so he could not move.  The calf would bellow and cry and then eventually they would un-tie the calf and let him limp off and recover.  It was at this time my Grampa looked over at Randy and me, wrestling, and said come on boys, lets show these guys how Wilcox boys ride brahmas.  Come on boys, follow me he said.  So we followed him down to the bucking shoots and all the cowboys were laughing as my Grandpa was going to use us as entertainment.  As we got down by the bucking shoots the bellowing of the calves and the noise of horses and the herding of calves by the cowboys was, well, pretty intimidating and threatening.

These calves were much bigger than I was and I really did not want to ride them.  In fact, I was scared and pissed off at my Grandpa for doing this to me in front of his audience and fans.  But, they did not have any bull ropes or rigs so they took their roping lariat and put it around the Brahma calves belly.  Then the Brahma would bellow loud, buck and kick and I was sure I did not want any part of this monster.  But, the problem was, I was Amos Wilcox’s grandson, and a Wilcox better have try.  TRY is a big thing in Wyoming for males.  So they lifted me up and showed me how to put my hand under the rope (rigging) so I was tied to the calf and the rest of the 20’ of the rope would be trailing behind the calf and me as they lets us run and buck down the rodeo arena.  Of course I got bucked off (or probably just fell off) rather quickly, got stepped on and got rope burns and a very hurt ego.

Today one wonders how to best bring a young boxer a long in life, and the best way is not to over match him in the beginning.  So what in the hell was this rodeo ride of mine about killing my evolving ego?  Low and behold, I was crying with fear and that was a major no no.  My grandpa told me in no uncertain words to quit that damn crying. Jesus he said in embarrassment, you’re not dead are you?  The cowboy fans chimed in with laughter.  Funny, later in life I wanted to rodeo and rode my first bare back bronc and first Brahma bull in Rawlins Wyoming.  As I grew older I continued to pursue the rodeo world and become a Professional Rodeo Cowboy member.  I sadly mimicked this event with my own son later on in life when I taught him how to “rope and chew tobacco” at 7 years of age.  One day his cinch broke coming out of the chute and he was lucky to not have been hurt badly.  Another day he was throwing up from the tobacco can he took a little scoop of because we dared him and then laughed as he entertained us.

The slow and painful scars we all mimic and employ as parents seem to perpetuate the good and the bad in so many ways.  Hopefully MEN learn the TRY in a man should not be the ONLY quality and it should be complimented with a caring, nurturing and loving soul, satisfied with his own identity and open to female logic and input.  That balance for some men is a difficult task, just ask his wife.  There was no propitious choice of body or spirit in those young years.  There was only ego, activity, development and possessions.

Vietnam was another interesting perspective of the male.  I often say for me Vietnam was a rich experience where I was able to see RAW.  The RAW character of man and his will power when challenged with removing the enemy target or being removed was life changing.  The so called “try” in a man during those traumatic events was naked for all to see every day!  It was during these times filled with strife and corruption that our conscious had to choose denial, diminished and detachment.

As I reflect back on my world and today’s very dynamic world, I find that I am still trying to get my “sea legs” with this new dynamic world of today.   Often my soul yearns for some harmonization in society, some penance, some balance. For example, I can remember racing cars, racing go karts, and playing tennis, with a world class athlete friend of mine.  It would seem today that particular friend died and he became a SHE and my world and my definitions were in shock and confused.

The vast agitation of the cross, of the human life seems to open up a road filled with incomprehensible gravity. It would seem that the doctrine of accommodating these social and philosophical changes in a political environment is littered with fleshly people anxious to judge you and hate you if you do not immediately acclimate to their belief system where conformity is demanded.  All of a sudden you are the “unsophisticated and unexposed hick of the world, probably a red neck” and the chants go on.

No one cares about your personal evolution and where you came from or where you have been, they only care about your compliance with their beliefs.  One might contemplate the logic that confusion should be a temporary term which yearns for some patience, sensitivity and toleration?  Right?  This new terminology, logic and open philosophy is often really oblique to you and so one either condemns it,  ignores it and or lies about it as the new world evolves without any toleration and or patience for your state of ignorance which according to them is encumbered by your demographic and psychographic.  Well it is not that I condemn it, just, well, it is NEW to me. I never heard of such a thing.

Oh yeah, if you want to say I lived a sheltered life and you enjoy reactively pouncing on condescending labels, go ahead. Let me take you to my world and see how you fare.   So as these worlds collide the defecation begins with labels and haters and cliques.  Here are some shoes,if you want to try and walk in them or are you busy and lost in yourself? Oh the beatitude of the political correct asking us to swoon in their shadow or remain insipid and intolerable as a spectacle of asceticism.

As definitions of various “groups” in the human species begin to “evolve” we have lots of splinter groups and lots of new and open philosophies to accept all.  We are told that religion is passé and morality is an ephemeral term or at best an anachronism.  How do we teach sex in school if at all?  How do we teach or mention God or pagans or Devils or whatever?  How do we teach logic and philosophy and how do we teach TRUTH?  We are chasing the life of the corporal being and glorifying the passivity of time.  Are we in growth or curtailment?  Is there no renunciation, no understanding of giving one’s time, health or life to something greater than himself?  Is there transformation or substitution?  Is our spirit experiencing inertia or kinetics?

And then I contemplated my most recent meetings as I listened to man mount the ladder of human endeavor. Yesterday and the day before I attended meetings with some very bright young men who work in technology.  Their field of choice is called Artificial Intelligence and they are using this new “machine learning” to be incorporated in the gamification of 3D Life and Entertainment.  It is often referred to as immersive technology as you can put yourself in the middle of the solar system or a war zone and move around accordingly.

You are literally immersed in a real 3D environment of your “choice”.  As the artificial intelligence grows the applications are impressive on one hand as we watch the birth of the autonomous automobiles taking place quickly.  AI and the enormous amounts of data are key components here and can be applied to almost any business or vertical.  Right now they are using immersive technology and AI to teach and train people and are seeing enormous qualitative efficiencies.  For example what took 7 days in the past to learn is being taught in 1 day and retained as a result of immersive technology and AI.

Analytics now are becoming very complex as they continue to raise the bar on what your likes and dislikes in life are with respect to an advertising perspective.  We used to think it was a big deal to know some of your demographics and psychographics to assist us in selling and marketing to you specifically.  Today, because of many things like what you read online, what you look at online, what you buy, what loyalty club you are part of etc.  Now certain analytic groups have a data base of 150 million people and they have 1000 data points per person.  Literally they know what kind of underwear you prefer.

Imagine how this will affect life.  Weapons and military applications will change dramatically.   The medical industry and robotic doctors will become the norm. Who will take possession of whom? ALEXIS will know more than you.  As the library of information through AI grows the human will diminish and some have even said we will be replaced.  Will ego grow or diminish?  Will there be a glorification of fleshly endeavors as we become passive halves?  Perhaps, the human will become the grenouille (my favorite French word for the frog) of the world…..an old outdated splinter group of the species.

As I walked around Sony Studios yesterday and saw how they define data as an “asset” or part of the asset library I began to see them take some “assets” (what we call as film sequences and pictures and sound) and re-purpose them into multiple forms of entertainment from one source.  In other words in real time they could create a CHIPS game, a 3D experience with Ponch and Jon on enforcement of laws and training; a CHIPS movie where YOU were in the movie; or a training on friction coefficients of motorcycle brakes and heat elements.  This was live production and done in real time right in front of you. My ego apologizes for the 80s reference herein.

The point is that AI and immersive behavior are about to change our lives and change our perspectives and perhaps diminish our effect on the world and our ecosystems.  The definitions of some of our pillars of thought and logic will blur and become the trite totem poles of a past dimension.  The geometric permutations of machine learning will forever change the world and mankind.  At the end of my meeting, the scientist stared at me and said with a cavalier seriousness punctuated with a dramatic silent pause and then whispered,”I hope you realize that AI is the last great invention the human being will accomplish.”

The Cross has always been a symbol of conflict and some people adore it as a symbol of sadness or limitation and repression.  As some would swoon to walk in the shadow and reach or climb to the light for a spiritual sanctification and evangelical counsel, now we are seeing a communion with machine learning.  Will the supreme machine perform benediction with grace?  The deafening pace of innovation will have a major effect on the war of the Blue Church vs. the Red Church and collective intelligence will be amassed.  The subtly of collective intel and the said war has begun. One might ponder the word propitious, as everything that happens next depends on what will happen here.

Larry Wilcox – copyrighted – Jan 2018