rev |
line source |
paulo@107
|
1 Dance, Monkeys, Dance -- By Ernest Cline
|
paulo@107
|
2
|
paulo@107
|
3
|
paulo@107
|
4
|
paulo@107
|
5 % ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
paulo@107
|
6
|
paulo@107
|
7 ```
|
paulo@107
|
8 Orbiting the sun at about 98 million miles
|
paulo@107
|
9 is a little blue planet
|
paulo@107
|
10 and this planet is run
|
paulo@107
|
11 by a bunch of monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
12
|
paulo@107
|
13 Now, the monkeys don't think of
|
paulo@107
|
14 themselves as monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
15 They don't even think of themselves as animals
|
paulo@107
|
16 And they love to list all the things
|
paulo@107
|
17 that they think
|
paulo@107
|
18 separate them from the animals:
|
paulo@107
|
19 Opposable thumbs, self awareness . . .
|
paulo@107
|
20 They'll use words like
|
paulo@107
|
21 Homo Erectus and Australopithecus.
|
paulo@107
|
22
|
paulo@107
|
23 You say Toe-mate-o,
|
paulo@107
|
24 I say Toe-motto.
|
paulo@107
|
25 They're animals all right.
|
paulo@107
|
26 They're monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
27 Monkeys with high-speed digital fiber optic technology,
|
paulo@107
|
28 but monkeys nevertheless.
|
paulo@107
|
29
|
paulo@107
|
30 I mean, they're clever.
|
paulo@107
|
31 You've got to give them that.
|
paulo@107
|
32 The Pyramids, skyscrapers, phantom jets,
|
paulo@107
|
33 the Great Wall of China.
|
paulo@107
|
34 That's some pretty impressive shit . . .
|
paulo@107
|
35 for a bunch of monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
36
|
paulo@107
|
37 Monkeys whose brains have evolved
|
paulo@107
|
38 to such an unmanageable size
|
paulo@107
|
39 that it's now pretty much impossible
|
paulo@107
|
40 for them stay happy for any length of time
|
paulo@107
|
41
|
paulo@107
|
42 In fact, they're the only animals
|
paulo@107
|
43 that think they're supposed to be happy.
|
paulo@107
|
44 All of the other animals can just be.
|
paulo@107
|
45
|
paulo@107
|
46 But it's not that simple for the monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
47
|
paulo@107
|
48 You see, the monkeys are cursed with consciousness
|
paulo@107
|
49 and so the monkeys are afraid.
|
paulo@107
|
50 So the monkeys worry.
|
paulo@107
|
51 The monkeys worry about everything,
|
paulo@107
|
52 but mostly about what all the other monkeys think.
|
paulo@107
|
53 Because the monkeys desperately want to fit in
|
paulo@107
|
54 with the other monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
55
|
paulo@107
|
56 Which is hard to do,
|
paulo@107
|
57 because a lot of the monkeys seem to hate each other.
|
paulo@107
|
58 This is what really separates them from the other animals.
|
paulo@107
|
59 These monkeys hate.
|
paulo@107
|
60 They hate monkeys that are different.
|
paulo@107
|
61 Monkeys from different places,
|
paulo@107
|
62 monkeys who are a different color-
|
paulo@107
|
63
|
paulo@107
|
64 You see, the monkeys feel alone.
|
paulo@107
|
65 All six billion of them.
|
paulo@107
|
66
|
paulo@107
|
67 Some of the monkeys pay another monkey
|
paulo@107
|
68 to listen to their problems.
|
paulo@107
|
69
|
paulo@107
|
70 Because the monkeys want answers
|
paulo@107
|
71 and the monkeys don't want to die.
|
paulo@107
|
72 So the monkeys make up gods
|
paulo@107
|
73 and then they worship them.
|
paulo@107
|
74 Then the monkeys argue
|
paulo@107
|
75 over whose made-up god is better.
|
paulo@107
|
76 Then the monkeys get really pissed off
|
paulo@107
|
77 and this is usually when the monkeys decide
|
paulo@107
|
78 that it's a good time to start killing each other.
|
paulo@107
|
79
|
paulo@107
|
80 So the monkeys wage war.
|
paulo@107
|
81 The monkeys make hydrogen bombs.
|
paulo@107
|
82 The monkeys have got their whole fucking planet
|
paulo@107
|
83 wired up to explode.
|
paulo@107
|
84 The monkeys just can't help it.
|
paulo@107
|
85
|
paulo@107
|
86 Some of the monkeys play to a sold out crowd . . .
|
paulo@107
|
87 of other monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
88
|
paulo@107
|
89 The monkeys make trophies
|
paulo@107
|
90 and then they give them to each other.
|
paulo@107
|
91 Like it means something.
|
paulo@107
|
92
|
paulo@107
|
93 Some of the monkeys think
|
paulo@107
|
94 that they have it all worked out.
|
paulo@107
|
95 Some of the monkeys read Nietzsche
|
paulo@107
|
96 The monkeys argue about Nietzsche
|
paulo@107
|
97 without giving any consideration to the fact
|
paulo@107
|
98 that Nietzsche
|
paulo@107
|
99 was just another fucking monkey.
|
paulo@107
|
100
|
paulo@107
|
101 The monkeys make plans.
|
paulo@107
|
102 The monkeys fall in love.
|
paulo@107
|
103 The monkeys fuck
|
paulo@107
|
104 and then they make more monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
105
|
paulo@107
|
106 The monkeys make music
|
paulo@107
|
107 and then the monkeys DANCE
|
paulo@107
|
108 Dance, monkeys, dance.
|
paulo@107
|
109
|
paulo@107
|
110 The monkeys make a hell of a lot of noise.
|
paulo@107
|
111 Exhibit A
|
paulo@107
|
112 Monkey making noise.
|
paulo@107
|
113 And when he's done,
|
paulo@107
|
114 five other randomly selected monkeys
|
paulo@107
|
115 will rate this monkey's noises
|
paulo@107
|
116 on a scale from one to ten.
|
paulo@107
|
117 And at the end of the night,
|
paulo@107
|
118 they add all the numbers up
|
paulo@107
|
119 to see which monkey made the best noises.
|
paulo@107
|
120
|
paulo@107
|
121 As you can see . . .
|
paulo@107
|
122 these are some fucked up monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
123
|
paulo@107
|
124 These monkeys are at once the ugliest
|
paulo@107
|
125 and most beautiful creatures on the planet.
|
paulo@107
|
126
|
paulo@107
|
127 And the monkeys don't want to be monkeys.
|
paulo@107
|
128 They want to be something else.
|
paulo@107
|
129 But they're not.
|
paulo@107
|
130 ```
|
paulo@107
|
131
|
paulo@107
|
132 [Back to "Dance, Monkeys, Dance" dance_monkeys.html]
|