Chapter II - X Extracts
Enjoy more and more and keep scrolling.
Chapter II - Hilo Y'All! Aloha Golden Sky!
…
“Hey, what’s up with you, brother?” Antônio asked his friend, “Are you feeling sick?”
Oskar looked up as if he had just woken up. “No Tony, I’m all right, I’m just a little confused by what I saw coming in.” replied Oskar.
Tomichi, overhearing Oskar, interjected. “If you were a little confused before, take a look at this.” He gesticulated toward the glass wall rising more than 60 feet, which they now could see was slanted to conform with the incline of the mountain.
“Aloha,” yelled Winston in a loud voice so that he could be heard above the din of the helicopter rotors. He embraced each passenger as they disembarked from the aircraft, “Welcome to Hawaii. Welcome to EA-RA.”
Oskar was the last one off the helicopter and after shaking hands and embracing the others; he turned toward Terri, whom Antônio was already hugging. Unbeknownst to Oskar, Antônio was already whispering in her ear that their friend, Oskar was acting a little strangely.
“What’s up Fellow, too much pâté de foie gras before the flight?” she asked.
“No,” Oskar reassured her. “But I think we should talk about it when we have a minute. I think that you might help me understand what I saw coming in here.”
…
Chapter III – Birth
…
Tomichi momentarily became lost in thought. As he often did while trying to work out a problem, he began fidgeting with the strap on his classic World Time watch, which, from childhood, he has called his Flat World watch.
Oskar continued, “If all the data were made visible like the scenery here or the way we see the world from the plane these days, we would need to volumize everything. Yes, what we need is to define a framework and volumize the content, dynamically of course since people see the world differently.”
Terri, who had been talking with Winston, turned her head when she heard Fellow mention volumization in time to see Oskar excitedly slap Tomichi on his shoulder with such force that Tomichi’s square-framed glasses nearly slipped off his nose.
Tomichi, after pushing his glasses back into position, responded calmly. “It is not an easy one to get right, but I have a sense that we can do it. It will take the concerted effort of the whole group to address each individual factor, but, what the heck, we are the Golden Sky and that’s why we are here in EA-RA in the first place. We volumize the whole thing and have the world look like the world everyone wants to learn about and understand. We make the invisible visible and put everything into context.” Then, beginning to feel O.K.’s enthusiasm, he burst out, “You know, this could be the most important week of the 21st century!”
…
Chapter IV – Soup and Volumizing the World
…
“A tribe could also be inhabitants of a country if they restrict themselves to their homeland, but this should be less and less the case. As a result of this, the volumes we calculated we decided to call ‘Tribe Units.’ These Tribe Units are the volumes modeled by 8W8 and specify the size of a tribe. There is an ultimate global tribe volume, which is the world based on its key stake holders that can not be influenced by the world’s surface nor the number of its inhabitants, nor its GNP. Based on the denominators we arrived at, we came up with the number 65 trillion TU (Tribe Units), which we feel reflects the world’s volume. All other tribes receive only a fraction or a stake of it, like a spoon of soup from the large bowl. We understand that the situation we are describing is more complex than I have just outlined; however, this is what we are trying to address. Considering the dynamic nature of this toll, 8W8, we concluded that everything can be entered and logically reflected. If we name a tribe and are able to define our priorities via the weighted factors, we ought to be able to see our world minus its invisibilities.” She, then, began reading the protocol aloud.
Priyanka’s Protocol
1. The Golden Sky Group has agreed on a framework that distinguishes between two levels (1.1) Earth Level and (1.2) Sky Level and the concept of putting all relevant criteria (the stake holders and influencing factors of the world) in a context and to mathematically volumize it.
…
Chapter V – The Emergence of the Global Space Tribes
…
“Financial institutions,” said Charles.
Theresa repeated “financial institutions,” and almost immediately, it appeared on the screen.
From Sonja, came, “Veggies,” a second later her contribution appeared on the screen.
Theresa’s Inraxx was on voice mode and as each Golden Skyer made a suggestion, it appeared on the screen.
“Green people,” offered Hans.
That was followed by Antônio who fired off three more: “Rain Forest people, Martial Arts people and Music people.”
Oskar immediately followed his friend, “How about the world Hip Hop Tribe?”
Dmitri was about to object to Oskar’s inclusion of Hip Hoppers as a bona fide tribe, but quickly thought better of it as several others including Maria, Rebecca, Emanuel and even “So, it looks like everybody has the idea.” interjected Theresa, as she quickly moved to regain control of the information flow before everyone began shouting out names of different tribes. “Let’s see if we can have a little fun with this. Let’s go around in a circle, and everybody come up with three Global Space Tribes that they belong to or would like to connect with in some way. I’ll begin with myself. I’d like to be able to see streams of IT technologists, Women professors around the world and Asian corporate executives. Within that stream, the most important element is you, Winnie,” she said with a wink in Winston’s direction. “Now, it’s your turn, Fellow.” Winston agreed with Oskar: “From the perspective of my business,” he said, “the Hip Hoppers are a very important Global Space Tribe.”
…
Chapter VI
…
Downstairs, the ducks and swans paddled leisurely through the clear water, occasionally projecting their heads beneath the surface of the water almost mimicking the fluid motions of the human form at the edge of their watery world. From her vantage point in her apartment, Madam Chee had observed Emanuel also, but she had a long day ahead of her, so she decided that while her husband and BridgeMan discussed the fine points of their contract, she would take a short nap. Soon, all the others would be up and she would have her duties and responsibilities to execute, but now a few more minutes of sleep would serve her well later. Besides the nighttime staff, she knew that all of EA-RA’s security systems were constantly being monitored. This was a good time to rest, she reassured herself, as her eyes slowly closed.
In the solarium, two figures dozed seated next to each other on a sofa, their heads and hands touching. Although the sun’s rays were beginning to penetrate where they sat, it went unnoticed by the sleeping couple. Oskar and Theresa had spent the entire night discussing their past lives and their dreams for the future. On the table in front of them, side-by-side, their two birds sat where they had been placed hours before, also touching.
…
Chapter VII - Approaching New York City
…
“We have to employ our tool with special goggles similar to the multiple eyelids that allow the frog to close his eyes while on land. However, when it is diving beneath the water level, it uses a second transparent set of eye lids that protects its eyes and allows it to see underwater. What the frog sees underwater is a totally different world than the one it might see sitting on its lily pad. Before it jumps into the water and breaks the surface tension, another reality takes hold. Below are fishes, a variety of different plant and animal life with sundry old tires and other human detritus spread along the bottom of the pond. With its extra eyelids, it can differentiate between human garbage and yummy mosquito larvae.
“For our purposes, 8W8 is our extra set of eyelids enabling us to see below the visible surface tension. A simple way of looking at it would be to imagine Fellow sitting in an ordinary helicopter a thousand feet above a motorcycle rally where 200,000 motorcyclists have gathered. Consider O.K.’s frustration trying to distinguish members of his classic BMWs Global Space Tribe from among that sea of machines. Using only his eyes with only one eyelid would be nearly impossible.
“Sitting in the cockpit of the 8W8 heli, however, he is able to get a three-dimensional aerial picture of the chaos below. After entering the necessary criteria like tribal DNA and the relevant benchmarks, he would be able to see his tribal fellows.”
Theresa didn’t mean it, but immediately recognized that she had something funny, and laughed along with the others. But she didn’t want to lose her own train of thought and quickly recovered, repeating the last few words of her previous sentence. “…out of the visible but chaotic intensity below he would be ale to recognize his fellow tribers.
…
Chapter VIII – Don’t Get Pizza on the Dashboard
…
“Is that it?” asked Antônio.
“That’s it, Tony,” she said laughing without inhibition. “I think that you will be more interested in the next Global Space Tribe which we have called the Green Bucks, GBT.”
Sonja reached into her pocket and came out with her miniature jade crane, which she had not been able to part with since receiving it the night before. “I have to thank Madam and Winston for coming up with the name of this tribe. Like the crane, the GBTs are environmentally friendly businesses, and we can follow their stream from the energy efficient hills of Japan, with their introduction of hybrid engines to North America and the organic foods hills on the north west coast of North America stretching out to Europe and the alternative energy hills, most notably inGermany and Denmark. All these tribes flow in streams that interact with each other because they are of a similar mindset. Green Investment funds, buyers and business leaders who focus on marketing healthy foods and other products are also members of this Global Space Tribe.
“Traveling and intersecting with the GBT are the Health and Peace tribes whose streams are entwined. I call these two streams the Sunrise Tribe or ST. Their streams are interlaced from Africa to Latin America and to every valley of low economic volume whether it is in the Bronx orBangladesh. These two streams, or just one, if you like, flow together to gray areas like parts of today’s Middle East.
…
Chapter IX - The Aerially Shaped Opportunities
…
“When Global Space Tribe understanding becomes even more important is when specific tribes move in new or simply unconventional directions. Governments can recognize future or emerging problems as well as a new Zeitgeist or trends early and prepare and act accordingly. As Global Space Tribes expand beyond their own geographical region, politicians will find that they have a golden opportunity to learn tribal behaviors in other geographical areas since most developments happen in same-time.
Theresa paused to take another sip from her glass, which Oskar had just refilled for her, then looked at Sonja. “Now, let’s move away from politics and look at how 8W8 will effect advertisers and marketers. Beginning with the understanding that the Global Space Tribes are virtual communities where each individual element and stream of aggregated elements moves nearly synchronous to one another. Eventually, they evolve into Global Space Tribe Universes, which are the new virtual countries that are constantly changing while dynamically and continuously moving forward.
“From the perspective of advertisers and marketers, Global Space Tribes are their target audiences. However, they are finding that when they use traditional marketing and advertising techniques to reach this Global Space Tribe audience in the offline world, the results are negligible, realizing even after having invested tremendous efforts and resources no real return on their capital investment for marketing and advertising cost. Furthermore, in the non-digital world there is no real interaction taking place, and there are always gaps in the communication chain from an initial display contact to a possible purchase or conversion. This problem is mirrored as it applies to any branding or loyalty campaigns.
“On the other side of the equation, from the perspective of the advertiser and marketer, targeting Global Space Tribes via the Internet is not only cost effective but it is efficacious. Moreover, reaching the targeted audience will be greatly facilitated using the relevant data: that is, the individual triber’s DNA, geographic and demographic profile, including available behavioral and transactional information. All these factors will enable the correct marketing and advertising messages to be communicated to the targeted individual at the right time and on the right platform, or by simply accessing a digital device, including our Inraxxes. It is the platform for a potential lifetime relationship between a brand and a consumer. Permission-based marketing provide win-win situations for marketer and advertiser as well as for the consumer. In the end, it simply comes down to mutual relevance.”
…
“One can ask, ‘How does the world really look?’ After traveling and using the aerial dynamics of the 8W8 helicopter, a Global Space Triber will see and experience the way the world really exists once the invisible has been revealed. While it can be said that this is always a matter for the beholder, there’s a consensus: as the world economy continues to grow, the surfaces of the world will grow in tandem with it. This growth will not always be synchronous; in fact it may differ significantly. However, volumes and hence surface heights will grow.
“What volume will the earth be able to carry and support? The stakeholders of the world will merge into the Global Space Tribes of the world and with its Elements, Substances and Action power. Whether the impact of these forces is intentional or unintentional, they will continue to contribute to the shaping of the world and its continuing growth. If growth is largely powered by nonrenewable natural resources, it is reasonable to assume that growth is limited and is finite. In this scenario the Earth’s Substance volume shrinks and the Action volume may follow. In addition, the pollution of the earth will likely contribute to this scenario and the clouds in the Sky Level would turn black. The good news is that with 8W8 the world can be seen and understood better, and therefore the right and necessary political, regulatory, business and social decisions can be made so that the Earth Substance will be stronger and the Sky Level will shine brighter instead of turning black.
…
Chapter X – It Feels Good
…
“Then, as I continued east, I could see miles of geometric geography, manmade of course. Again, I couldn’t see the real elements that I knew existed in those great checkered squares. Where were the motorcycle freaks or journalists? I asked myself the question, ‘If the plane landed on the highway below, where would I find those people with whom I could share a sense of commonality?’ Further, the majestic snowcapped Rocky Mountains began to become inverted. They were tall, but were as empty as paper bags. I think that’s when I began to see the world differently. When I reached the Mississippi Valley, it was like looking at the earth with mirrored glasses.
“Instead of a valley I saw a chain of mountains rising, reaching its tallest point in the middle of St. Louis. I was aware that I was only seeing wealth, population and activity. I was frustrated because I couldn’t discern the various elements that made up the vision I was having. Where were the BMW folks, the writers, the people online? Later that day, as we flew into New York City’s airspace, I could see the slopes of a giant mountain getting taller and taller. I could see miles of streams of cars and other vehicles going up and down the mountain. The HudsonValley suddenly became rolling hills growing in heights they got closer to Manhattan. When theEmpire State Building became visible it looked like a tower on top of the mountain.
“Much of what I have just said, I have shared with my colleagues over the last few months, but what remained troublesome was the question of being able to locate likeminded people—what we call ‘tribes’ and what Theresa first described as Global Space Tribes. The combination of the two, 8W8 and Global Space Tribes, have made the invisible world visible.” Oskar sat down and joined his Golden Skyers colleagues, who were still eating their breakfast.
Stephen Mann cleared his throat softly but enough to get the attention of the others. “Is it possible using your engine to be able to see the condition of humanity? That is, can you program your tool to see the state of the world? Specifically, would it be possible to quantify and predict the effects of global warming, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the potential of violent regional conflicts?”
It wasn’t clear if Mann had finished speaking and Priyanka was prepared to answer his questions when the door burst open and the tall angular body of Antônio stood within the frame of the door like a picture. “I finally figured out where I know you. We met in 1990!”
…