"Schrodinger's Heros" Isn't a TV Show, But It Is, And It's Complicated.

Last night, I posted a cute, humanist-forward reworking of a Christmas carol (see a post or two below, can't remember if I've posted something else, since...

Anyway, this morning, I had my first ever DW reaction from a new (to me) human. Through that response, a few fun interactions have happened and I wondered if this new person knew the person who introduced me to "DeeDub" knew them, the only type of interactions I've had since joining, the friends of my only friend here. No, the new human is a blow-in, attracted by above-mentioned humanist reworking of a Christmas carol, and a really interesting writer. Really interesting writer! Ladies and gentlemen, ysabetwordsmith. She contributes to a thing that is an imaginary TV show and its actual fan fic. This is, to my mind, really cool meta-nerdary! "Schrodinger's Heroes" is the TV show I wish was a real show more than I wish they'd reboot Stargate SG-1 or make movies of all of the Dune novels! At least the ones not written by Frank's sons. (Sorry boys, you're really not up to "dad's" literacy. They're acts of love and remembrance, I value that, but, to be frank, Frank was the man. Harsh, I know, sorry, not sorry.)

"Shrodinger's Heros" is a show about...

...Alex... A brilliant theoretician who is independently wealthy, Alex buys the whole abandoned compound and adapts it for her research. Alex's partner Bailey helps build the hardware; he is the practical part of the team. Ash, the research and computer expert, designs much of the programming (with Alex) and some of the hardware (with Bailey). Pat handles public relations and keeps the team running smoothly. Kay, one of the security guards, watches in bemused silence as the project takes shape. They are all set up to study particle physics, quantum dynamics, and manifold space.

Unfortunately things get a little out of hand when Alex's cat Schrodinger chases a mouse onto a control board during the first big experiment. Sparks and smoke pour out, a bizarre image of jumbling shapes appears outside in the middle of the ring, and then everything goes dark. When it clears, now there's a luminous field shimmering inside the ring, the landscape there looks different, and the sky over it is different too. This is not what was supposed to happen."

Then everybody is invited to read and write fanfic for this show, as well as episide synopses! I mean, this has to be the coolest thing! I've been floating around space, on the dry, hot, southern island continent of our rocky ball for 63 years and I have never struck such a cool form of literature!!! And it's all open source! Social art, as opposed to social media! This is 21C's dungeons and dragons only way cooler, and while I was never any good at D&D, I still reckon it's 20C's coolest entertainment.

Chance encounters, hey? There is much reading to do before I even think of contributing. This might be the equivalent of an english lit bachelors degree worth of reading... but way more fun!

Situationism V. The Spectacle

Watch this video. I'll wait, but you need to watch it...

Watch on YouTube

OK, The Spectacle is this world of manipulative media. Stochastic terrorism, where a "freely speaking" celebrity, with millions of fans, wishes a type of people dead, out loud on TikTok. Distraction, where a minor public figure is shamed to hide the atrocities of a national leader. An ugly court case, hearing domestic violence accusations, becomes a public trial, shaming the victim/accuser and praising the purpetrator. We take sides, we hold opinions, yet we have barely even a parasocial connection to the respondents. Meanwhile, something crawled out of the slime of a dark Scottish Loch next to a golf course and becomes president of the self appointed "most powerful nation" on earth, while his idiot grin offsider wants to take us all to Mars. This was all predicted in 1967. Not literally, but Debord is screaming, "I TOLD YOU SO!" from his grave.

We the people are asleep at the wheel. "Oh, by the way there's this... Sorry what, oh yes I saw the big game... what was I going to say? Can't have been important. Oh, I thought I was due a payrise, now I get less?" Then we the people are blamed for the climate crisis, Israel's genocide against Palestine, China taking "our" jobs. All things over which we have no control.

What we do have control over, are the small decisions we can make. We can choose to ignore Johnny Depp, but acknowledge violence as wrong. We can be good citizens and still throw bricks at power. We can light fires, metaphorical or real is your choice, but light them, like I am trying to strike a fire here in a wet, dark forest, away from the busy streets, on this isolated blog. But, how do we start fires with wet matches and no dry fuel? What Situations distract onlookers from The Spectacle?

This question is the beginning of a Situationist uprising. Facebook is not the distraction, it's The Spectacle, it's the focus, it's what's expected of you as a good "Prole." Youtube, too. All of these distractions are not distractions, they're what Capital wants you focused on. The distraction is action.

As I watched the last line of the video, the thought occurred to me, stickers on trains that urge the viewer to, "Talk to the person next to you." If you talk to the person next to your on your public transport ride home, that's situationism. You're not "in your device" you're back in your community! Elon wants you to believe in robots and holidays to Mars. He's a liar. Sure, these things are possible, but they're not for you, they're for him, his ego and his wallet. What you get is distracted by the irrelevant garbage the rich tosspots spout and you forget to go to the union stopwork meeting. And your vote was the decider for the payrise, it was that close. That's the Spectacle at work.

So, as you leave work, turn your phone off, get on the public transit that takes you home and talk to the person next to you. If it feels like you've got their attention, ask them if they think they're fairly paid. Ask them why they think their answer is what it is. Now you're both ignoring the Spectacle. Then talk about clever political street art.

That is revolution. A tiny pocket of it, but many such conversations become change. Ignore the Spectacle. Be the distraction. Start a revolution.