The Well Frog, Politics and the Metaverse

Bronze Tree Frog

In my latest novel, Virtual Control, Yale professor and China expert David Chen is giving a talk to a group of South Florida billionaires at the West Palm Beach estate of Tom Bowman, a leading fund manager who is active in national politics. Like my other novels, the book is a fast-paced real-world thriller set at the intersection of politics, technology and social change. The plot is based on a conspiracy by wealthy business leaders and politicians to control the U.S. presidency and dominate the metaverse.

Chen called his talk Chinese tools and actions for mind control as he said, “just to be provocative.” As he explained, “These tools are being used in China and Russia, but they have been used for decades by dictators and democratic leaders around the world. I would argue that they are also being used in the United States today—by both political parties and their leaders and media friends.”

Here is an excerpt of Chen’s remarks and interchange with one of the people in the audience:

“We have a bipartisan group here today, which is rare in our current times. So, as we talk, I’d like you to consider how many of these tools are being employed in the United States—and by whom. As you ponder this question, don’t just demonize the other party. Think about the misinformation and propaganda your own party has used as well. Also, think about the advantages that social media and the internet bring to deploying these tools. Virtual mind control is already evolving and it will become even more effective and efficient as technology advances.

“These are the four basic tools for mind control. Everything else is implementation. If the U.S. is going to compete globally in an era where democracy is on the wane, we must do a better job of deploying these tools against our enemies domestically and internationally.”

Chen paused for effect. “Let me be clear: whatever your political persuasion, if your party expects to win future elections it must excel at mind control. Would any of you disagree?”

“No one. All right, let’s talk about how you do it.”

“First, use government-controlled education to structure what people learn, beginning with the very young. Education is especially important in liberal democracies like the United States, which have constitutional protections against direct government interference with freedom of speech. Educational standards let governments indirectly control speech and cultural values that they could never mandate directly. This is why the Democrats are so concerned about parents who are daring to question and confront what their kids are being taught in public schools.

“Second, use the media to reinforce the message. Reduce the scope and influence of the traditional news media to make it easier to control the narrative and stories. Use social media to create new topics to replace them, especially with younger viewers.

“Third, realign trust. Weaken peoples’ trust in the traditional institutions that have guided them across time and replace them with new institutions that will lead people to the desired thoughts. Xi capitalized on this in China, making the CCP and Xi himself into the most trusted institutions in the country. As a result, trust is rising in China while in the U.S. and many other liberal democracies people are losing trust in their sociopolitical institutions, from religion to civic organizations, Congress and the Supreme Court. This is not happening by accident. People will trust something. In China, it’s the CCP and Xi. In the U.S., it’s increasingly the uncontrolled passions of the people, fueled, coalesced and magnified by social media and the partisan extremes on both sides. Trust in American business has held up reasonably well, but that may not continue as America’s woke corporations take essentially partisan cultural positions in response to the progressive views of their activist employees.

“By the way, trust goes beyond institutions to defining the people who are trustworthy. China’s Social Credit System is a sophisticated example of using Big Data, algorithms and AI to identify and brand the people who cannot be trusted. In America, social media bans of posts and people are having their own effects. Either way, people who break the social or political trust are shamed and penalized without the rule of law and—in the U.S. at least—without direct governmental action. The game is the same on both sides of the Pacific. If you support us, you can be trusted. Otherwise, we will show you what it’s like not to be trusted.

“Fourth, when it fits the narrative, make the people forget. Reinterpret the present. Make the lies seem true. Putin and Xi are stars at this, but U.S. politicians are close. Redefine the past to explain the present. History is being restated in the U.S. and China. Statues are falling in Hong Kong and Virginia. Tiananmen Square never happened. The 1619 Project wins the Pulitzer Prize.

Chen continued, “When all these things are played well, the people become like the well frog in the Chinese fable. Perhaps you know the story. A frog lives its life happily at the bottom of a well, looking up at a small circle of sky. One day, a turtle happens along and tells the frog about the wonders of the boundless sea. The frog has no way of comprehending what the turtle is talking about. The frog has every happiness he could ask for. What would he want with this strange place the turtle is describing? Perfect mind control occurs when the frog carries the universe of his well with him in his mind. He can go out into the world and sit beneath those vast skies and see only the wonderful universe where he grew up.”

“The frog is in a f---ing metaverse,” one of the younger billionaires from Miami said loudly with a laugh.

“Possibly,” Chen said. He glanced at Bowman with a hint of a smile. “But your comment is important. The coming metaverse will be the most valuable tool for mind control that the world has ever seen. Some observers say that politics in our post-truth world has already become an alternate universe designed by politicians and their often-captive media to portray the environment they would like us to believe exists. The supporters of this view would like us to be like the well frog. In the meantime, we will continue to struggle with the question of which universe is real, as we wonder who created the others.”