Simplex
Anamnesis Track 6
ANAMNESIS
In philosophy, anamnesis (/ˌænæmˈniːsɪs/; Ancient Greek: ἀνάμνησις) is a concept in Plato’s epistemological and psychological theory that he develops in his dialogues Meno and Phaedo and alludes to in his Phaedrus. The idea is that humans possess innate knowledge (perhaps acquired before birth) and that learning consists of rediscovering that knowledge from within.
In 2003–2004, I made my first record with 1 SM57 mic, a small three-piece drum kit, an acoustic and electric guitar, an Access Virus analog synth, and Ableton 2. The nine tracks each represent the stages of Consciousness, as proposed by Spiral Dynamics and Ken Wilber’s work. Here’s a quick overview story. Each of my next nine posts will be dedicated to telling the story and meaning of each track-stage. Enjoy!
SIMPLEX
What if?
Just what if?
There was no what?
What if?
Just what if?
There was no what?
Then… ???
Stage six, where we find the most complex consciousness yet, with the simplicity of what is now and for the first time a global mindset. The Simplex modality finds individuals filtering a more Humanistic, Holistic, Pluralistic and Earth-centric worldview that transcends the Nation-States prior. This extremely advanced stage is still of the first six stages, meaning its deficiency remains in its myopia in its fight for the One True Opinion. This deficiency is often accused of “Wokeness” in the derogatory sense, that’s been co-opted by less-inclusive stages as a weapon to fight back against the threat of stage six, the “Globalist” worldview.
Every stage has both “efficient” or “healthy” perspectives, as well as “deficient” or “unhealthy” mindsets. It’s a general rule of thumb that deeper levels are not necessarily “better”. Rather, a deficient and higher-level consciousness is much more destruction than an efficient lower-level consciousness.
Now that I had some footing in beat making, this is my attempt and being a more electronic/IDM feel piece of music. Safe to say I was listening to a lot of Radiohead, Four Tet, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Aphex, and so on at the time, and this track is a stab in that direction. The beginning glitches are again created with the FF on the DAT machine. Its a sample of coins hitting a desk. I wish that kick drum was tighter, alas, I can’t go back on it now. There’s a million things I’d change if I could!
There’s a fair amount of rhythmic complexity here. All the drum samples and the cross-stick are all played on my shitty little kit. The Access Virus is doing a lot of work on this one, as is the bit distortion. The sample at 2:07 is a recording of our cat Bella’s meow, sped and pitched up.
I wrote this little poem, “What if” as a little thought experiment in watching the brain fill in an expected blank. It’s also a reference to the “What-ification” that represents to the reductionism of the fifth stage. Stage six asks this question, What If? as it sees much more global possibility and nuance to perspective. What if we didn’t have to reduce everything into lines and categories? What if we could end poverty? What if GAIA is pushed passed the point of no return?
What if… WE ARE THE WORLD?
The second section that comes in at 1:45 introduces a melody to a line that is unsung, referencing the inability to vocalize the nuances of this stage to those stages prior. The unsung lyric to this melody is:
“Time to come together, time to fall apart.”
