Technology has enriched our lives, we now have computers and the internet whereas we did not just a few decades ago. Our technology has obviously been morphing at a rate that goes beyond anything evolution has accomplished. We generally see humanity and human beings as unchanging and fixed, not evolving biologically, while we see our technology and our devices changing and getting better rapidly, year after year.

Most of the technology comes from the research of the government, and the people it employs. Then it slowly diffuses outward to companies and finally consumers. This has been the case throughout history, even in the middle ages research was done by people directly under the king, who gave them the funds to enable a lifestyle of freedom to think deeply for long periods of time.

We think of technology as changing year-to-year. Most people know what the government has is 10+ years more advanced than what is available to most companies and consumers. This advantage is a big part of how the US maintains military control, through superior technology. It is how the British and French were able to conquer Africa during the "Scramble for Africa" in the 1800s, it was because of this one model of machine gun called the [Maxim Gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun). They had it, and the natives didn't, so they easily won. Technology victory.

While most people in our culture are on the same page regarding the development of physical technology like this, many don't stop to think about the development of the technology of culture itself.

Culture developed organically, in part. But people who are rulers are also constantly looking for ways to have a population that better meets their goals, be it to be more productive or more efficient, or have better housing or build highways. The leaders can bring the populations around to their goals, and culture through language and media is the means by which they can do this.

TV was a great development for this not only because of the technological feat of being able to broadcast moving pictures in real-time, but more importantly because it was able to broadcast the _culture_ more effectively. The governmental/corporate culture became more deeply rooted in American culture, because people were exposed to so much more of it.

500 years ago, you knew who the king was, but at most you probably went to public ceremonies and saw a picture in a pamphlet once in a while since you couldn't read. It took up very little of your time, relatively speaking. Nowadays culture is becoming more and more invasive. It's everywhere. See how long you can go without seeing something about the election without just disconnecting entirely.

Propaganda has become more and more subtle, to the point where it's not even recognized as propaganda. The most effective prison is one you don't even realize you are in. I've read people from the USSR complain about US propaganda, saying "At least in the Soviet Union, you _knew_ it was propaganda when you saw it."

Over hundreds of years, across thousands of brilliant minds, our culture has developed. Some see the change from the age of kings to the age of nations as just a legal change, but it was more importantly a cultural change, a change in beliefs and values of the people en masse. What is acceptable and what is not acceptable, and how adamant we should be about defining where the boundaries are. We are taught the values of the previous generations from birth, and we wrangle with the ideas presented for all of our lives to figure out what we care about and what we don't. However if the whole picture is off-kilter, you can think you are drawing a neutral conclusion, but in the greater scheme of things it is actually very biased. This is why seeking out information that is ignored by culture is so important. There are reasons these truths are ignored, and many times it is because the people in charge of our culture (the 6 companies that own 95% of US media and the people who design the school curriculums) don't want certain information exposed because it makes the structure they are the head of, look weak. So to appear strong, the weak spots are hidden, and we end up with a sort of echo chamber that provides a biased overall picture, while simultaneously being told this is not the case.

[To paraphrase Terrence McKenna, "Culture is not your friend. Culture is an intelligence test. Create your own culture."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP-jvxopEF0)