By the Late John Brockman Read Online Free PDF Page A

changes taking place as a result of man-made actions. Had
     that level been appreciated, television sets might have been viewed in a different
     light. Within the linear construct he could not see the information patterns. Deaths
     were caused by fits induced by the flicker of faulty television tubes. 37 Scientific institutes warned that sitting within four feet of color television sets
     could cause cancer. 38 Yet the same old questions were asked: “Did you like the program?” All the while
     the information of the television experience was coding the operation of the brain.

     
    Consider that the experience of television violates innate biological rhythms programmed
     into the genetic homeostatic constitution from the earliest evolutionary eras. These
     biological rhythms are invisible, yet nevertheless are information in terms of the
     experience of the brain. The most obvious and perhaps least recognized rhythm is the
     day / night, light / dark flicker. The experience is a constant input of information
     for the brain, 39 effecting change without consent or awareness. Note also recent experiments indicating
     that “in all animal species gonadal activity is increased by light rays reaching the
     retina. . . . As is the case for other biological cycles, interference with the natural
     cycles of light exposure can result in physiological disturbances. . . . Until the
     last century, man lived in the dark for long hours during the winter months, and this
     is still true in many primitive societies. Modern man, in contrast, was exposed to
     bright light for sixteen hours a day throughout the year. In view of the fact that
     light rays can affect hormonal activities, and that many, if not most physiological
     functions are linked to circadian and seasonal cycles, it seems possible that this
     change in the ways of life had long range consequences for the human species.” 40

     
    Television, as direct experience, can be considered in this instance on two levels.
     First, it is a potent source of light. The cathode-ray experience is the only instance
     where man looked directly into a light source for any sustained period, possibly averaging
     four hours a day. Light is actually projected onto the retina by the cathode-ray tube.
     Second, man responded not only to light perceived by the senses but also to factors
     of biological rhythms such as the day / night flicker. Television alters this rhythm
     violently. Man talked about the violence evident on television programs. In light
     of the above considerations he might have developed a “Theory of Neural Programs,
     Television, and Violence,” which hypothesized that “due to circumstances beyond our
     control, this ‘program’ is out of order,” which is to say that “there may well be
     limits beyond which the natural rhythms are not amenable to frequency synchronization
     with new environmental periodicities.” 41 Violence.

     
    “We’re talking.” The direct experience of the brain is communicated. Communicated
     through information. Man ceased to exist when nonlinear extension of experience was
     comprehended. It always existed, but now, once again, it’s time to say, “We’re talking.”
     Thought control? Absolutely. There is one hundred percent thought control. Indeed,
     any considerations on this level are beyond man’s morality. It is a question of a
     major leap in evolution.

     
    We are beyond space and time; we are beyond good and evil. There is only information.
     It is the control, the measure by which the operation of the brain changes. There
     is always complete control.

     
    Man was always blind to considerations of the present. In the transactional present,
     man’s brain was continually coded through information. This information was of man’s
     own devising. Man determined what he would be, what he would think. This ordering
     took place in the present. But man, who made the mistake of confusing abstraction
     and reality,