It was the spring of the year 2010,when I went to visit an old friend of mine, living in the country side,..I was in great need of this kind of rest,..I had worked so much in the recent months so that I was nearly isolated from the society,..I thought it was a good idea to spend some days with Bill at his big country side house.
Bill was a very friendly person,he welcomed me warmly,then he lead me to the room where I would stay during my visit,.."take some rest from the trip,then join me at dinner time,..I have lot to tell you about"..Bill said.
I lay down on the bed,closed my eyes,..the place was very quite and peaceful,..I was very relaxed,and felt as if I was out of space and time.
I felt asleep immediately,..I wake up after about two hours,..went down stairs to the living room,..Bill was reading a book,he smiled when he saw me and said:"welcome my dear friend,I can not express how much I am glad to have you with me these days,..you came just in time,I was in need of some one as smart as you to discuss a subject of great importance,..but let us first have something to eat",...after we ate,..we sat in the living room on two very comfortable chairs,drinking tea and smoking,..then Bill stood up and went to another room,..after a minute he came back with lot of papers in his hands,..."these are some of my papers,..I was doing a serious research during the last couple of years,...I believe that after few days,the world will see three dark days,that will end human civilization for ever !!".
I was taken by his words,....I always knew Bill as an intelligent,reasonable person,..I couldn't say a word,...Bill looked at me and smiled,.."I know what you are thinking about,but don't worry,...I do not mean three dark days in the literal meaning,..I just mean,the worst three days in human history".
I took a deep breath and said,.." and what makes you believe in that?"
Bill said:"I just told you,I was studying the subject for years now".
I said:"ok,but what do you think will happen during these three dark days?"
he said:"only one simple thing,..a huge spread of sudden death among most people on this planet!!"
I looked at him not knowing what to say,..it was clear to me that he was under some kind delusive idea,..but I tried to put things back to logic,..so I asked him:"and what will be the cause of that?"
he said:"there will be NO obvious cause,and this what will make it more terrifying"
I said:"but of course there will be a cause"
Bill said:"of course my friend,..or are you still thinking that I am out of my mind?"
I said:"to be frank,all this sounds very strange,..but I want to hear you first,..you probably made some kind of a logical mistake which led you to all these strange conclusions"
Bill smiled and said:"that's good enough for me as a start"
we discussed the subject for about an hour,..he told me some reasonable ideas,but I was not convinced yet,..I believed there must be a logical mistake in what he said,and I intended to find this mistake.
The next morning we had a walk in his farms,..he didn't open the subject but I did,..I said:"I had lot of thinking about what you said yesterday,..and I still believe there is a mistake"
he said:"that's ok,..I didn't expect you to accept this terrifying ideas from the first conversation,..we shall continue our conversation in the evening".
in the evening we had our two comfortable seats with two cups of tea like the day before,..Bill gave me a paper and said:"it will be helpful if we write down the main points of my idea,..you can then tell me which one of them you find unreasonable",..I agreed with him,..so he said:"fine,..then write number one,...The environmental dangers can destroy civilization and kill most people with in twenty or thirty years,...two,..our knowledge of this fate will cause an economic collapse that would destroy civilization in two or three years,...three,..our knowledge of the fact that civilization will collapse within two or three years will cause an immediate panic which will make the collapse happen within months,..four,..",...I then told him:" wait one second,...those who will be able to think this way will only be the very intellectual persons,and they are few,..so this fate will not be known for the majority of people,therefore no panic will happen,simply because most people will not know"
he smiled and said:"you are right,..but if the intellectuals did not pass the information they know to the majority,it will be a kind of betrayal,and will creat a new threat,which is the loss of trust that will occur when the next stage of the collapse begin to happen,..for example,..if the intellectuals denied the possibility of the collapse the economy within two years as the result of the environmental dangers,..it will keep the economy going for some months,but once this idea becomes clearer and easier to be understood,it will reach the public causing an additional destructive force,which is the complete loss of confidence in the intellectuals,..people will no more trust their leaders nor scientists nor writers,..this is the exact cause of the wide spread of confusion and superstitions all around the world these days,...this is the real situation of the world right now,complete loss of confidence and false ideas,..where do you think this will lead us?"
I said:"maybe with some time people will regain there confidence in the intellectuals"
Bill replied:"regaining the confidence after a betrayal is not an easy thing to happen,it will simply need long time,..but the quicker thing that would result is that these superstitions will lead to more deterioration in the mentality level of the public,..these days it is easy to observe,people talking about very strange ideas"
although I was away from the society for some months now,I couldn't but agree with this idea,..but I also said:"ok,but this deterioration of the mentality level will happen to all people"
Bill said:"this terrible aggregation is the simple result of the very powerful system of communications and information which we built during the last decades,...this strong system creates an equilibrium in the ideas and mental state of most people all around the world,..it makes every one on this planet,almost have the same information in the same time,..nearly all the minds around the world are now connected in what is like a huge global mind,..so,this collective state is not a strange thing now,in fact we are almost talking about one huge collective mind"
"you can't say that every one is thinking in the same way others do"..I said,..
"of course there are exceptions,and there are differences,..but these exceptions are not so many,..and these differences are not in the essential ideas,like the loss of confidence and the dangers that are threatening our civilization"
"we are still talking about the collective mental collapse not the collective death"..I said
Bill replied:"it is obvious that a very strong shock or mental collapse can kill a person,,therefore a very strong collective mental collapse will lead to a collective death"
I kept silent for some minutes,then I asked him:"but how can you determine the time of this mental collapse,..how can you know that it is after few days only?"
Bill said:"I still don't know the exact date,but the mental reactions happen so quickly,..the deterioration of the mind could even happen in few hours"
I was silent again,...I couldn't find where was his mistake,...but I was still sure there was one.
when I went back to my room,I kept thinking about what he said,..I insisted on finding the logical mistake before I fall asleep,..but I couldn't.
next morning I wake up with the same ideas in my mind,..and for the first time I asked myself:"what if Bill was correct?!"..the idea was terrifying,..I felt depressed immediately,...there was no escape,I had to find the mistake today or else this negative feelings would drown me
Bill was a very friendly person,he welcomed me warmly,then he lead me to the room where I would stay during my visit,.."take some rest from the trip,then join me at dinner time,..I have lot to tell you about"..Bill said.
I lay down on the bed,closed my eyes,..the place was very quite and peaceful,..I was very relaxed,and felt as if I was out of space and time.
I felt asleep immediately,..I wake up after about two hours,..went down stairs to the living room,..Bill was reading a book,he smiled when he saw me and said:"welcome my dear friend,I can not express how much I am glad to have you with me these days,..you came just in time,I was in need of some one as smart as you to discuss a subject of great importance,..but let us first have something to eat",...after we ate,..we sat in the living room on two very comfortable chairs,drinking tea and smoking,..then Bill stood up and went to another room,..after a minute he came back with lot of papers in his hands,..."these are some of my papers,..I was doing a serious research during the last couple of years,...I believe that after few days,the world will see three dark days,that will end human civilization for ever !!".
I was taken by his words,....I always knew Bill as an intelligent,reasonable person,..I couldn't say a word,...Bill looked at me and smiled,.."I know what you are thinking about,but don't worry,...I do not mean three dark days in the literal meaning,..I just mean,the worst three days in human history".
I took a deep breath and said,.." and what makes you believe in that?"
Bill said:"I just told you,I was studying the subject for years now".
I said:"ok,but what do you think will happen during these three dark days?"
he said:"only one simple thing,..a huge spread of sudden death among most people on this planet!!"
I looked at him not knowing what to say,..it was clear to me that he was under some kind delusive idea,..but I tried to put things back to logic,..so I asked him:"and what will be the cause of that?"
he said:"there will be NO obvious cause,and this what will make it more terrifying"
I said:"but of course there will be a cause"
Bill said:"of course my friend,..or are you still thinking that I am out of my mind?"
I said:"to be frank,all this sounds very strange,..but I want to hear you first,..you probably made some kind of a logical mistake which led you to all these strange conclusions"
Bill smiled and said:"that's good enough for me as a start"
we discussed the subject for about an hour,..he told me some reasonable ideas,but I was not convinced yet,..I believed there must be a logical mistake in what he said,and I intended to find this mistake.
The next morning we had a walk in his farms,..he didn't open the subject but I did,..I said:"I had lot of thinking about what you said yesterday,..and I still believe there is a mistake"
he said:"that's ok,..I didn't expect you to accept this terrifying ideas from the first conversation,..we shall continue our conversation in the evening".
in the evening we had our two comfortable seats with two cups of tea like the day before,..Bill gave me a paper and said:"it will be helpful if we write down the main points of my idea,..you can then tell me which one of them you find unreasonable",..I agreed with him,..so he said:"fine,..then write number one,...The environmental dangers can destroy civilization and kill most people with in twenty or thirty years,...two,..our knowledge of this fate will cause an economic collapse that would destroy civilization in two or three years,...three,..our knowledge of the fact that civilization will collapse within two or three years will cause an immediate panic which will make the collapse happen within months,..four,..",...I then told him:" wait one second,...those who will be able to think this way will only be the very intellectual persons,and they are few,..so this fate will not be known for the majority of people,therefore no panic will happen,simply because most people will not know"
he smiled and said:"you are right,..but if the intellectuals did not pass the information they know to the majority,it will be a kind of betrayal,and will creat a new threat,which is the loss of trust that will occur when the next stage of the collapse begin to happen,..for example,..if the intellectuals denied the possibility of the collapse the economy within two years as the result of the environmental dangers,..it will keep the economy going for some months,but once this idea becomes clearer and easier to be understood,it will reach the public causing an additional destructive force,which is the complete loss of confidence in the intellectuals,..people will no more trust their leaders nor scientists nor writers,..this is the exact cause of the wide spread of confusion and superstitions all around the world these days,...this is the real situation of the world right now,complete loss of confidence and false ideas,..where do you think this will lead us?"
I said:"maybe with some time people will regain there confidence in the intellectuals"
Bill replied:"regaining the confidence after a betrayal is not an easy thing to happen,it will simply need long time,..but the quicker thing that would result is that these superstitions will lead to more deterioration in the mentality level of the public,..these days it is easy to observe,people talking about very strange ideas"
although I was away from the society for some months now,I couldn't but agree with this idea,..but I also said:"ok,but this deterioration of the mentality level will happen to all people"
Bill said:"this terrible aggregation is the simple result of the very powerful system of communications and information which we built during the last decades,...this strong system creates an equilibrium in the ideas and mental state of most people all around the world,..it makes every one on this planet,almost have the same information in the same time,..nearly all the minds around the world are now connected in what is like a huge global mind,..so,this collective state is not a strange thing now,in fact we are almost talking about one huge collective mind"
"you can't say that every one is thinking in the same way others do"..I said,..
"of course there are exceptions,and there are differences,..but these exceptions are not so many,..and these differences are not in the essential ideas,like the loss of confidence and the dangers that are threatening our civilization"
"we are still talking about the collective mental collapse not the collective death"..I said
Bill replied:"it is obvious that a very strong shock or mental collapse can kill a person,,therefore a very strong collective mental collapse will lead to a collective death"
I kept silent for some minutes,then I asked him:"but how can you determine the time of this mental collapse,..how can you know that it is after few days only?"
Bill said:"I still don't know the exact date,but the mental reactions happen so quickly,..the deterioration of the mind could even happen in few hours"
I was silent again,...I couldn't find where was his mistake,...but I was still sure there was one.
when I went back to my room,I kept thinking about what he said,..I insisted on finding the logical mistake before I fall asleep,..but I couldn't.
next morning I wake up with the same ideas in my mind,..and for the first time I asked myself:"what if Bill was correct?!"..the idea was terrifying,..I felt depressed immediately,...there was no escape,I had to find the mistake today or else this negative feelings would drown me
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