As an only child I entertained myself by becoming a magician, ventriloquist and hypnotist.
I often wished for a brother or sister and asked my mom to drink more milk so she might have another baby.
That’s what I thought. I was young.
But, by aspiring to these topics, I was amazed that the ventriloquist doesn’t actually ‘throw’ his voice.
An illusion where the human speaks and the puppet responds but the voice actually comes from the same place. The illusion is, you believe for a moment that the puppet actually has a life of its own, and speaks.
A famous ventriloquist was Edgar Bergen.
He named his dummy Charlie McCarthy, hence, Edgar Bergen and Charly McCarthy, on radio.
Later, the question was, if it’s on radio, how do we know when Edgar Bergen as a ventriloquist, throws his voice to Charlie McCarthy, his dummy.
Before stereo, and tv.
Back then, radio was theatre of the mind.
And your imagination created images and stories beyond CGI.
I’m beginning to think I must get myself back to analog because everything is being absorbed into digital and only mathematically correct zeros and ones loom ahead.
Digital is a copy of the real world and we’re being absorbed.
And so I say, float through, dream dreams what you want to do.
Stay human and say, no robot shall be automonous, ever.
Met a Japanese guy here on Samui who was rebelling against four companies who wanted him.
He didn’t want any of them.
He wanted freedom.
Played the flute, pleasantly woke me up with it one beach morning.
Thank the stars he spoke English.
He left the island and I never saw him again but think he is either a musician or painter, or community worker or farmer, scientist, something good. He had the sensitivity of someone important to our planet.
We didn’t exchange business cards.
I admired him for his largeness of view and wish him well.