Pegman Theory

 

I feel so much more relaxed about the state of the world I happen to be living in today. Why? Because I do not believe it is the only game in town. I think I will have as many chances to play again as I have already had and I do not think there is any end to it. Of course, there was no beginning.

As this present avatar shows signs of failure, I feel even more alive every day. I even find myself completely satisfied with everything. According to this present, subjective state, I can tell you all about a few wins and a few losses, but I think there is another subjective state where the wins outweigh the losses by a lot. The reason losses phase me less is as follows: I do not have to accept this subjectivity.

Dreams have revealed that I can easily jump from subject to subject, with no interruption. In dreams, I often find myself living in different houses, working at different jobs and married to different people. But that’s not the unlikely thing about dreams; what is extremely strange is that my consciousness or should I say, consciousness, never seems to feel out of place, wherever it finds itself.

Pegman Lives

I’ve begun to consider my “Pegman Theory” in greater detail. Naturally, and as always, I am not the first person to imagine such a universe. Generic Subjectivity and Open Individualism are schools which have also begun to explore similar possibilities.  

I only need Pegman for a moment and it helps me to explain something unlike a typical, Google Map. In this thought experiment, I ask the individual to consider The Universe as mapped, and searchable as a two-dimensional image. When a location has been decided on, I simply suggest a different way of seeing the area, by considering the little yellow man in the corner. If you decide to see the landscape in a different way, you grab the virtual man by the collar and dangle him over any scene; blue streets will reveal areas where he could be dropped in. If you take Pegman to a new place, and drop him therein, you no longer see Pegman; you see through Pegman’s eyes. Google calls this “Street Veiw” and it brings landscapes to life, by stitching 360 degree photos together as seamlessly as possible. By borrowing Pegman’s eyes, the experience is yours and you forget that you are still the little yellow man; you’ve jumped subjectivity without giving this part much thought.

With this thought in mind, imagine a universe that works this way. Times, places, worlds and spaces, all available on a universal desktop, where the map can be two dimensional until you find the place and time you want to explore; and then it is an interface, where the two dimensional avatar can offer you a virtual reality from its point of view; a “Street View” of any time and any place. And you are suddenly “Pegman” of any other name.

~End Theory

But if this were true, it would mean that You were someone before You were you. It would mean that You made a decision to become you. It would suggest that You willed you into this place and time. You must have had a goal in mind. You must have wanted to experience the very life-story you are presently experiencing. Not only that, you must be The Architect. In her beautiful song, Kacey Musgraves considers The Architect:

 

“Does it happen by chance? Is it all happenstance?

Do we have any say in this mess?

Is too late to make some more space?

Can I speak to the architect?”

 

The Architect lyrics © Sony/atv Cross Keys Publishing, 351 Music, Songs For Indy And Owl, Art Of Ctm Music Outlander Lp, Smackworld Music

I ask the same questions and offer one possible option: however, I offer one possible answer: That You Are The Architect.

How much time would it have taken to put such a program together? How long would it take to build mountains and map them, stars and light them, moons and fix them into orbits around planets and all of the colors too?

If infinity is an option, The Universe could have been created by One person, working slowly. And I think this is exactly what we are now experiencing. And when I say “we” I mean “I”, and I speak for everyone.

Of course, I do not think I am God; but what does God think?

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” Acts 17:28 KJV

“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love". Meister Eckhart

Something like Pegman.