Gautama Buddha, the famous reality hacker

釋迦牟尼應當是比Neo更有名的實存骇客(reality hacker). 當他當頭遇上生,老,病,死這四項生命設計本質的缺陷(the fundamental bugs of the system called Life), 他開始找尋基進的解答。在嘗試过當年的傳統修行(四禪八定及苦行)後，他悟出5藴和12因緣的業力蓝圖 (system diagram)。The rest , was history. 2000年後雖然他的解答需要與時倶進，但他的精神萬古常新。

佛陀當時的两項駭客精神: (1) 實验求解(test-driven) (2) repeatable,  verifiable result (四果可証, 此生可期) 後來被歷史顛覆流失，大乘佛教成了三大阿僧劫的"我願無窮" 及"等待果(彌)陀"。也許未來佛彌勒，他的浄土, 是數位性的，因為宇宙是數位的。一切只是訊息與律動，只是色與空的一場对話。

"I have passed in ignorance through a cycle of many rebirths, seeking the builder of the house. Continuous rebirth is a painful thing. But now, housebuilder, I have found you out. You will not build me a house again. All your rafters are broken, your ridge-pole shattered. My mind is free from active thought, and has made an end of craving." (Buddha)

The simulation hypothesis: the Taoist version

The Simulation hypothesis, or the Matrix, and Reality hacking, as explained by the Taoist classic  "The Book of Lieh-Tzŭ" (604 B.C ?):


"Lao Ch'êng Tzŭ went to learn magic from the venerable Yin Wên. After a period of three years, having obtained no communication, he humbly asked permission to go home. Yin Wên bowed, and led him into the inner apartment. There, having dismissed his attendants, he spoke to him as follows: 'Long ago, when Lao Tzŭ was setting out on his journey to the West, he addressed me and said: "All that has the breath of life, all that possesses bodily form, is mere illusion. The point at which creation begins, the change effected by the Dual Principles — these are called respectively Life and Death. That which underlies the manifold workings of Destiny is called Evolution; that which produces and transforms bodily substance is called Illusion. The ingenuity of the Creative Power is mysterious, and its operations are profound. In truth, it is inexhaustible and eternal.[4] The ingenuity of that which causes material form is patent to the eye, and its operations are superficial. Therefore it arises anon, and anon it vanishes." Only one who knows that Life is really Illusion, and that Death is really Evolution, can begin to learn magic from me. You and I are both illusions. What need, then, to make a study of the subject?'[5]

Lao Ch'êng Tzŭ returned home, and for three months pondered deeply over the words of the Venerable Yin Wên. Subsequently, he had the power of appearing or disappearing at will; he could reverse the order of the four seasons, produce thunderstorms in winter and ice in summer, make flying things creep and creeping things fly. But to the end of his days he never published the secret of his art, so that it was not handed down to after generations."

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Taoist_teachings_from_the_book_of_Lieh_Tz%C5%AD/Book_3


老成子學幻於尹文先生，三年不告。 老成子請其過而求退。尹文先生揖而進之於室，屏左右而與之言曰：「昔老聃之徂西也，顧而告予曰：有生之氣，有形之狀，盡幻也。造化之所始，陰陽之所變者， 謂之生，謂之死。窮數達變，因形移易者，謂之化，謂之幻。造物者其巧妙，其功深，固難窮難終。因形者其巧顯。其功淺，故隨起隨滅。知幻化之不異生死也，始 可與學幻矣。吾與汝亦幻也，奚須學哉？」

老成子歸，用尹文先生之言，深思三月，遂能存亡自在，憣校四時；冬起雷，夏造冰；飛者走，走者飛。終身不箸其術， 固世莫傳焉。

子列子曰：「善為化者，其道密庸，其功同人。五帝之德，三王之功，未必盡智勇之力，或由化而成。孰測之哉？」

(列子 - 周穆王)

Chaos Magick - Gnosis: Lose yourself

"Chaos Magick ....ritual.... Bearing many similarities to the Stanislavsky system of Method Acting, the ritual systems of Chaos Magick aim at blocking the conscious mind and generating a state of consciousness known as gnosis, a state of mind in which the defenses of the discursive mind are overthrown and the magickal intention of the magician can be driven deep into the Absolute, that is to say into the quantum flux of the universe.
Like Method Actors, Chaos Magicians seek to forget their identity in order to achieve their will, the change in the universe that is the goal of the magickal act. To do this Chaos Magicians use gesture, ritual, sound, visualization, the cues of their senses, meditation,and generated emotional states such as anger, fear, disgust, boredom or despair...sex, pain, and confusion.....

 Chaos Magick is concerned with developing magick that works, rituals that have specific effects, that create change in conformity with the will of the chaos magician, that are testable and can be replicated, that affect the Chaos Magician's deep self in sometimes catastrophic ways....

...Since it is designed to deconstruct belief, dearly held opinions, the stories we tell ourselves to lull ourselves into a sense of security will tend to fray and unravel....."


http://www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/Magick/Chaos_magick/chaos_magick.htm

(Haha, well said. To go into the rabbit hole is to throw yourself into the unknown, to lose yourself, and to lose whatever you think you might have.)

Reality Hacker Manifesto

Reality is meant to be broken. Sciences (hard and soft), arts, spiritual quests are forms of reality hacking, to expose the internal workings of "consensus reality", to seek new definitions. Magick, although susceptible, is not without potential to become future techs. Reality is structured like meta-fiction.

Every Reality Hacker should ask at least these questions:

1. Is reality dual or non-dual? Namely, the mind-body problem, which Schopenhauer called the "world-knot".

2. If the root of reality is one (non-dual), is it matter or mind? Energy or Information? Digital, fictional or rule based (mathematical)? If it's like code, what do the code run on, how and why?

3. What are the layers and boundaries of each reality sub-systems, among quantum, physical, chemical, biological, physiological, social, economical and narratively? How do they interact with each other? "Think interface, not implementation".

The algorithm to hack reality is recursive in nature, as reality is self-referential, a strange loop. Any question will turn into chains of being, if asked correctly. Traversing the tangled hierarchy of nature and human artifacts reveals the circular dependency pattern like a sleight-of-hand of causality. Reality hacking aims to uncovering open mysteries hidden in the plain sight. To do that, reality hackers devote themselves to study the source code of EVERYTHING.

Be forewarned about potential stack overflow caused by this self-fulfillness. To hack the world is to hack your own life. Reality is an open but encrypted mystery. Our own world-knot and the world is one and one is many. Our own fate is the private key used to decrypt public messages asymmetrically. "No one but the pure at heart may find the golden grail". This is how Universe secured her deepest secrets. Compassion -> Knowledge -> Power. That's the order.

Possible roads to reality hacking include:

(1) Reality Charting

(2) Reality Deconstruction

(3) Reality Mining

(4) Reality Engineering

(5) Reality Simulation

(6) Reality Gaming

(7) Self-realization

By asking how consensus reality is built, reality hackers step into a rabbit hole, recursively get lost while attempting to untie the world-knot. Is it worth it? Maybe not. So why do it? Because reality is meant to be broken. Because we are here.