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Confirmed User
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: In the hearts of cowards
Posts: 2,611
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Food For Thought (Long Read)
Diversity is something that many people think about, accept as a concept, and then continue on with their everyday chores to live their existence. Diversity by definition:
1.
a. The fact or quality of being diverse; difference.
b. A point or respect in which things differ.
2. Variety or multiformity: ?Charles Darwin saw in the diversity of species the principles of evolution that operated to generate the species: variation, competition and selection? (Scientific American).
With this definition, we can see that diversity is that which makes the difference between two things. One can see that life in Africa is much different from life in America because Americans are diverse in the way they live their lives, have resources, and many other factors like their religions, morals, sociological differences, and so many other aspects I could hahahahaha pages talking about them. The fact that I chose Africa and American is simply an example, nothing more.
Knowing that there is diversity between countries we can then focus our attention down to just America. Americans are very diverse in the mixture of their races, religions, and beliefs. The one thing they like to believe they have in common is their on-going goal of a perfect harmony between very diverse cultures. However, to the contrary, we are beginning to find out that they must come to some unified agreement that strays from the path of being diverse. This is where their government comes into the picture.
A government, by definition (and there are many), is simply the exercise of authority in a political unit. The rules in which Americans chose, as a nation, to live. However, there is another thing that one must have in order to be able to chose the right path: Information.
Information is that which we convey ideas to one another through various means. If I hahahahaha a letter to you, then I am conveying some form of information to you. If you watch a television show, say the news, then you are having information sent to you from the broadcasting entity?whoever is in control of the channel you are watching at the time.
Console systems really, in the beginning, were seen as a means to delivering a form of entertainment to the masses in order to achieve a profit. Yes, I know that many people believe that there is the mystical element of ?creating worlds? that is mixed into the whole concept as well as many other concepts. Whether we like to believe this or not? the whole thing that made the game industry possible was a group of investors that saw potential in the market to make money. Thus, the console/game industry boomed.
Behind the scenes, there was a group of people, within the government and other corporate bodies, which realized there was something coming soon that needed to be addressed. This is where our government and other governments come into the picture. During all of this entertainment mumbo-jumbo the internet-super highway was being constructed and conveying information became as simple as clicking a button and sending electronic mail. The governments, during this period, would use television to broadcast ideas and concepts to the masses in order to spread ideas to let them focus on particular topics that would enable the masses to determine what it was they, as a race, were up to.
This is where we start getting to the good stuff. During all of this, it became very evident that people did not care to really sit down and research what it was they were watching on television. Sure, there would be scenarios where people would be caught in lies and the like, but for the most part if you saw it on television, and it came from a reliable source, then it must be true. A lot of you might have found that there are those of us reading all sorts of things on the internet that aren?t really the way things are, but are considered true by the hahahahahar and other groups or individuals. With this being said, we can then come to the understanding that conveying information is a way of channeling the diverse range of opinions into a focused channel. While the government could normally funnel the diversity down to a handful of choices, the idea was to focus society into a channel of ideas. If humans have a choice and are given the choice to choose then they feel as if they are in control of their own destiny. If they are forced to do something then they feel like their existence is meaningless without the ?freedom to choose?, and thus one can see where sociological structure can begin to break down from within and cause dissention amongst the ?ranks?.
Console systems are the means to delivering channeled information to the consumer body. Really, when you look inside of a console system, you will find that now days they are not very dissimilar to that of a home computer. The next generation console systems will be ?internet ready? and will not only have all of the functionality of a full entertainment system, but will also serve as a conduit to delivering information to the consumer market. Now, we need to have some foresight here. Off, in the not too distant future, console systems will be standardized to the Nth degree. They will act as a ?complete home entertainment and information center?. With wireless networks on the up rise, internet connections mingling with cable connections, and the console systems being setup as an alternate method to accessing these and other means of information delivery, we will see that the console system is the gateway to delivering ?content?(information) to the consumer (you and me).
Ok so what does this have to do with governments, diversity, and entertainment?
In order to get the console system into the home there must be a demand. If someone came up to you and told you that they could wire you to the gill with access to all sorts of information they wanted to send you? I think you wouldn?t be too excited about it. If someone came to you and told you that you could escape your menial life for a brief period each day and be the commander of your own army?creator of your own world? or the super-hero of your town?then you might raise your eyebrows to the notion. The idea is that entertainment is a form of demand that we, the consumer, want?and sometimes I think some of us ?need? it.
The government, and like entities, realizes that there is a race in coming up with the complete solution to the consumer market. They also realize that by delivering information to the masses they can ?influence?/?channel? them to focus on a particular set of ideas. In order to control the society of the future you must control the information they process, and in order to do this you must control the means in which they acquire said information. So, in order to get the consumer market to willingly agree to have said information presented to them? you must create a demand for said system. Thus, we have the game industry: the perfect medium to collecting the masses.
So, now we can step back and look at what Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are up to and what the outcome will be from their efforts. Microsoft and Sony understand this fundamental concept and are racing to get as many units into the homes of the consumer. Of course, the systems you see today are very minor reflections of the future. You need to use your imagination and think about the year 2020 or perhaps 2030. By that time frame, we will have systems capable of driving many terminals in one home, delivering movies via digital means, delivering music, internet capabilities, and well? anything else you could think of related to the computer industry and the general electronic consumer market. The entity that holds the most units in the most consumers? homes wins the race. They hold the keys to delivering the information to the home and the means in which we perform our daily lives? paying bills? sending mail? talking with one another? basically the way our society and other societies function will be based around this system.
It was first perceived that the operating system was the means to the end. However, Microsoft picked up quickly on this and realized that the operating system was one means to the end. The other means to the end was the system that ran the operating system. Each entity related to the construction of said system will hold a certain ?bargaining chip? in the way we receive information and how we perceive the world around us. Our government and other governments realize that this is the next war: The war of ?influencing? the masses into agreement within a focused channel of ideas.
Where does Nintendo come into this picture? I am thinking that Nintendo is founded on a group of people that believe in the game industry as a means to delivering content of quality to the consumer. Much like that of Sega, Nintendo has driven their focus towards the content end of the spectrum, which is far from the end goal. Unfortunately, I would say by the year 2010 Nintendo will have either bowed out of the console market or will have radically changed the way they do business. With their current system, the Game Cube, and their new system under development it appears they still believe that holding intellectual properties is the final keys to the city? or they are oblivious to the intentions of both Sony and Microsoft.
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Trust no one there all snakes
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