A satire based on C.S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters"
Technology
My Dear Muckworth, There is a new frontier that holds as much promise as it does danger. Given the speed of the ever-changing landscape, the council has agreed to form a new branch for research, development, and instruction, to which you will be transferred after field training. My uncle Screwtape was deviously capable, but not even he foresaw the intricacies inherent in the new art of technological corruption, of which this letter is but a cursory introduction.
To begin, it is important to understand that technology is a tool, and tools merely give increased capacity to accomplish things that otherwise require a two-fold effort. You ought to develop a healthy respect for such mediums for they can advance our cause at blistering speed, but the same goes for the opposing cause as well. There exists no technology that can’t be used for good or evil, nor is any technology required for the presence and promulgation of the same. In regards to whether you ought to indulge her on all the modern technologies, the benefits outweigh the risks. Our developers work hard to bury threats undiscoverably deep in algorithms.
***
It is much easier for the walkers to desire the things of others when they can see in intricate detail the things of everyone. And what could aid them on to pride more than broadcasting the same? So long as your patient’s life looks relatively like the lives of most others, she can be lulled into an arrived complacency. On the flip side, she can more easily pressure and look down on those whose life does not measure up to her newly acquired standard. There is a pitiful significance that can be had by attaining what she perceives everyone already holds, and she is more likely to consider such attainment as worthwhile if she hasn’t taken hold of the foe’s deep-seated significance. There are various paths you could lead her on to keep her off his path, and social media provides many opportunities. You could have her never hear of the path in the first place. You could also work with a partner on having a pitiful creature misconstrue his message by claiming their life is the result of following his way. From all appearances, the modern interpretation of “let your light shine” seems to be “napalm anything that moves”. Or having heard of it, work with others to withhold support and paint it as hard and lonely, so as not to give it any traction. Just remember that the enemy can work without traction. Darkness knows the danger of someone who having lost sight of their master’s support and absent the support of others, dares plot the course without followers.
It is not over even if she does unfortunately end up on his path – though you won’t let that happen – for the number of potholes we have managed to dig out in the first few miles are enough to derail all but the most ardent efforts. They all feel a desire to be someone. Gently lead her to think that the socials are where it’s at, and that without them, significance and meaning cannot be had. If word gets out that significance, meaning, purpose, and value are less likely to be achieved with an increased use of technology, we are in heaps of trouble. Why? You fool! Because there is a ‘realer’ reality than the artificial one we purport. We don’t have a reality to offer, only a twisted series of distraction from his. If the two-legged miscreants were wise, they would realize that like the maxim “Don’t believe anything until the Kremlin denies it,” they could easily dispel many of our efforts were they to heed, “Believe anything until posted on social media.”
One unique feature of the technological town square is the ability to don any costume. One can enter with the elegance of a prince (never mind having the gait of a tranquilized hippo) or the renowned skill of borrowing another jester’s material – an all-too-common investment that is well accepted yet has next to no benefit, but from which many derive meaning and value as if their charge in life is “be cute or die”. One wouldn’t think that at the root of such a square is money, for the bargaining for attention happens in meetings behind closed doors. Attention is a sacred commodity: one advertisers are willing to pay large sums to exploit. They build their life on those that have been dumbed down. Politicians, businesses, even foreign governments, strive to not only create but also influence masses of swayables. We have led them to accept that this world is all there is to the world, and that moving up unstable and artificial ladders is the purpose of life. Whichever ladder she chooses, hold it steady until she climbs to the top, at which point I will inform you of the next move. We can’t have her discovering Jacob’s.
No matter which subculture she finds herself in, you mustn’t let her begin to ask the deeper questions. If, when browsing, there is a recommendation for one thing or another, let her grasp on the color, quality, and proposed usefulness of the item, rather than ask why it is being recommended to her. Does the advertiser have my best intention in mind? What is motivating them to suggest I follow a given course? It is one thing for business to make themselves known; it is wholly another to pressure for selfish gain. Convince either to give in to what is recommended without serious thought, or to become a recommender for selfish reasons. Everything posted has a motive and directs attention to something. You would do well to catch her up in the mosh pit of 21st century social media interactions, so long as she avoids discovering that every action of placing something in another’s attention will require an account. It is a godlike experience indeed to captivate another's world by a few seconds of spent attention. Keep her from seeing the future experience of giving the captive audience of one an answer for the consequences of her influence investments on others.
***
The excitement of games is not our hook; rather, our hook is anything that keeps them away from real things. Their expedient willingness to dispense with reality in favor of an inadequate virtual mock-up that we have managed to portray as more real than the real thing, ought to be exploited to the greatest extent. To those unable to reign in life, the solace, predictability, and ability to reign over, command, and alter a virtual world is nearly impossible to resist. The pitifuls were meant to rule and reign over reality. We lead them to the truth that they can’t but not to the truth that they can and especially not to how they can. We are perfecting the art of cleverly marketing the ability to effortlessly control and alter distant worlds with no perceptible ramifications – all to abate the incessant and ever-near “Call of the Wild” from the other side. The conquest of technological worlds will suffice when one is unaware of the actual world. As it turns out, there are hordes of barbarians, wastelands, fair maidens in distress, fire-breathing dragons, mud pits, slime-drenched gullywarblers, oceanic kingdoms, crustlemelters, sages, double-agents, tactics, a treasure, highlands, cave trolls, and ancient scrolls – and all much closer than one might think.
***
There are many today that would trust the consensus of all minds previously, though few (if any) would live this out consistently. Modern chatbots are nothing more than unreasoning, unchecked plagiarizers with no ability to determine right and wrong. As the ability to reason is eroded, it becomes necessary to submit to the most educated, the one who has gained the largest audience, or that which these recommend. Some information is good, but there is information that is not good and that should not be known. Leading them astray with the desire to know has worked well for us in the past and is still employed; we have only changed the façade. Algorithms determine what is seen, so they mustn't ask who determines the algorithms. Whenever possible, distract her from taking responsibility for her life, lead her to the meaning in artificial worlds, and keep her from thinking critically of the same.
***
Overall, the greatest benefit technology brings to our cause is the time wasted by those who oppose us. A minute spent on anything other than the likes of growth in grace, loving attention, and setting light to one’s corner should be considered a victory. In these times, their side is disadvantaged, as they must strike a balance between using technology and not falling victim to it. Keep her seeking the acquisition, indulgence, and self-advancement from modern tools to the neglect of the tools that are her mind and heart.
Your Affectionate Uncle, Wormwood
P.S. - Despite your best efforts, I have noticed, of late, a significant lack of female leadership among the lower ranks. Why aren’t more of you striving to be like me? Having imposed my will on many, I happen to know a thing or two about making people follow. I live by the mantra, “A leader without followers is just a person taking a walk.” Though after recent thought, to this I would add, “so, imagine yourself to be the father's gift to earth, impose your vision on people, and lastly and most importantly, berate those who inevitably will be unable to satiate your ego’s unrealized lust for grandeur by pointing out their inability (or perhaps unwillingness) to carry the torch of destruction.” Couple this with an inability to discern and you have a recipe for greatness, not to mention the coveted credentials to pilot any local fellowship. You must excel in your studies by disregarding them for the noble endeavor to make followers of those who are attempting to make a follower of you. Start making me look good, and if you don’t.... you’ll never amount to much anyways. I’ll see to that! Just ask the cleaning ghoul who inadvertently repositioned the picture on my desk.