Children, many of you are third- and fourth-generation citizens of the Connected World, which we once called the Internet. You, your parents, your grandparents, and possibly even further back, have never known a life without the vast web of connections that infuse the world with digital energy and bind us together as a species. You are natives of an enspirited reality, where every person, place and thing can tell you its name, its story, its composite subsystems and its molecular provenance. You live each day with the auras and whispers of ten billion humans just at the periphery of your senses, and you can know the concentration of carbon dioxide in the room or the 5 year voting record of your World Economic Congress rep with just a glance. All the world's information is at your beck and call, and there is no piece of knowledge you cannot find instantly.
Or is there?
I am going to entrust you with a secret, a bit of understanding that I think you will find quite surprising and precious. No, I do not think you know this thing, and you will not discover it in your heads-up display. But be forewarned: once I pass this secret on to you, it will change you. Prepare yourself, and follow my instructions carefully.
First, remove your corneal display surface. Remember, don't stare at the sun directly as it may damage your eyes! Now disconnect your nonSENSE module, your non-visual sensory overlay enhancements. And take this faraday patch, peel off the backing, spread on some transduction gel and apply it directly to the area of skin that covers your WiNi wireless neural interface processor. Good.
Now I am going to disconnect you from the Net. It's going to feel a little weird.
In 3...2...1...now.
Are you okay?
Do you hear that? They are all gone. The machines, the buildings, the sensors, the ten billion humans.
You are alone.
You are an individual being, with your own body, your own thoughts, your own free will. You are an animal in the world, and everything you hear, see, feel, smell, and taste is authentically your own.
And that's the secret. Treasure it well, my children, and never forget.
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