"Fact:" "In 1974 Stanley Milgram conducted this experiment at Harvard University:" "ordinary men and women were brought in to participate in what they were told was a study in memory." "They were to play the role of "teachers"." "They were to read a series of words to a person sitting behind a partition." "That person was called a "learner"." "The "learner" was strapped into an electric chair while the "teacher" watches." "Fact:" "The "teacher" has in front of him a row of levers labeled from 15 to 450 volts and a row of switches labeled from slight to severe shock." "At 300 volts the "learner" suffers permanent damage." "At 450 volts - the final - death." "A scientist is with the teacher." "He instructs the "teacher" to move up one level higher on the shock generator every time the learner makes a mistake." "The teacher is supposed to test the learner's memory." "He reads the learner a word with four possible answers." "If the learner gets the answer correct, they move on." "If the learner answers incorrectly, the teacher shocks the learner." "He moves from 15 to 450 volts." "The learner makes mistakes." "The "teacher" administers shocks." "as the shock level increases the "learner" starts to protest behind the wall at 100 volts he begins to shout at 200 volts he pleads with the teacher at 250 volts, he screams at 300 volts he kicks the partition wall" "at 450 volts he stops moving or making any noise at all he's dead." "65% of the subjects went all the way to the maximum level and no one stopped before 300 volts." "Fact: there were no shocks at all." "The teachers thought they were administering shocks to the learner but the learner was actually an actor who was never really harmed." "This was an experiment in Obedience to Authority, known as the Milgram Experiment" "Consciousness the totality of a person's thoughts or feelings" "or a class of these." "Perception" "Curiosity" "Enthusiasm" "That's me, Jack or Dumb Jack if you will doing my daily routine." "Who is Jack?" "What does he do?" "Rewind to a disreputable hotel" "We are genetically enhanced to always be happy" "But somehow that turned into permanent numbness everyone is seeking ever stronger sensations and thrills ecstasy or epiphany the strongest is pain." "On the black market the price or drugs, medicine which expired decades ago, is staggering people buy them for the side effects and the overwhelming pain they induce" "pain makes them feel alive." "Each time I have to try my merchandise myself to make sure it is top of the line." "Fast forward" "It is the year 2044 or the Gregorian calendar or the Jewish 5804 or the Muslim 1466 or the Chinese year 60 of the 78th cycle another year of the pig if that matters... but that's not the story" "the story is my name's Jack, or Dumb Jack if you will and I'm a regular Joe of 2044 except for one thing" "I know words no one else knows anymore" "Many things cannot be said anymore many names can't be named and many thoughts can't be thought you can still say I want, I need, I have but you want or need food, sex, a car or a house." "Not solitude, or imagination, or divinity" "You don't know what it means." "Virtue: moral excellence, uprightness, goodness, justice, temperance" "This is a time when many words are forgotten but I remember" "I don't why or how or when I realized this but I know what all these words mean and everyday I record myself reciting them over and over again so I don't forget" "It's dangerous to know so many words so I play down" "Cut to the day I met Mateo." "It was Sunday or Monday... not a very special day at all" "Do you think Ed went insane?" "So the story goes" "Aren't you curious about your father?" "No" "Your father... recorded these video tapes" "he left them with me for you" "Tell me more" "That's all I know" "The first tape is just a series of old photographs-- so I want you to use your imagination now see Ed preaching in his church" "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them... nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God" "Ed Crowley became a priest because he doubted God, but desperately wanted to believe." "Doubt, however, persisted in his mind, and actually grew stronger as the years passed." "As Ed saw it, the world was deteriorating in front of his very eyes and what he was doing didn't make any difference he couldn't save anybody" "Through him everything came into being" "Less and less people came to his church" "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God" "And one day, everything changed" "I'm listening son" "I'm an accountant" "Go on" "Bless me father for I have sinned" "Don't be afraid" "I've seen the documents" "The secrets" "I know they know" "My life is in danger" "Calm down son, calm down" "You don't understand father do you know what Zenith means?" "What?" "Zenith... the highest point in the heavens directly above the observer there's a secret society of men and they're pulling the strings behind all the events under the guise of tolerance and brotherhood but really seeking to further their privileges" "the seed of which were unwittingly planted hundreds... thousands of years ago by an idea appropriated by the secret order and made into the laws of the land the system was perfected over a very long time able to control the masses to keep them dumb and numb" "Zenith is the time when the sun comes into its peak after which there follows an inevitable decline but this decline will become horrendous because these men will not relinquish their control society will crumble the vast majority will suffer but this tiny movement... has prepared for themselves" "they will survive" "From that moment on Ed becomes obsessed with conspiracy theories and mysticism" "He starts searching for the truth of it all" "Do you really think you know the truth?" "De you really think what's going on?" "First of all he started preaching about the grand conspiracy and mysticism from the pulpit which eventually got him kicked out of the church." "Three years later..." "Ed is married to a former prostitute who gives him his only son..." "Jack." "The next tape I found a couple of days later among the few belongings I had left over from my mother when she left me at the age of four." "Why did I search there now?" "Call it a hunch." "Edward Bernays --the inventor of public relations-- states in his seminal book "Propaganda"" "that we don't realize to what extent the words and actions of our most influential leaders are dictated by people behind the scenes" "Ed lives in a housing project in East New York and makes money as a locksmith." "The invisible government is concentrated in the hands of very few people." "Although he is not a priest anymore, he still wears his collar, because now he sees himself as "the priest of truth"" "They control the habits and actions of the masses." "and he's bought a video camera, because he can't write as fast as his mind works." "The secret society of the Illuminati was formed by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria in 1776." "But sometimes his frustration would boil over." "You wanna know what an asshole is?" "I'll show you what an asshole is!" "Actually the first time he went to the police by himself" "At the Majestic Hotel in Paris in 1919 the secret Round Table Groups of the United States and Great Britain officially became the Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal Institute for International Affairs." "It's the one-world government, it's the one-world currency." "They're trying to take control totally of our lives." "Next time he got busted for beating a neighbor, then for beating a customer who wouldn't pay" "But Ed was not stupid." "He might have been crazy... but not stupid." "Virtue" "Moral excellence" "Uprightness" "Goodness" "Temperance" "Let me clarify one thing now" "I'm not interested in my father or his conspiracies" "I'm interested in why, when and how language disappeared" "Ed knew something about that" "Harmless" "God does not die the day we cease to believe in our personal God but we die the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the radiance of wonder renewed daily." "Who said that?" "Dag Hammarskjold" "You know all these words..." "I'm old, I remember" "I can't forget anything" "How come I've never seen you" "You never looked" "And you waited all this time... to knock on my door?" "I don't go out much" "What is it?" "That is beautiful!" "You're very talented!" " He likes you" " You're very lucky to have a friend like him" "I know" "For me?" "Thank you Nimble" "Nimble and Jack-- we go way back." "Day one" " I drop out of medical school and start dealing on the black market." "I almost got killed that first day" "Nimble saves my life" "He's been doing it ever since." "And now" " Nimble, Jack and Mateo." "It seems like once Mateo sat down on that chair he never really got up" "The three of us, we don't know anything real about each other, but somehow this night feels like we're family." "Some nights I can't sleep" "My seizures are worse than usual" "That particular night I decided to distract myself" "Where is my money?" "Motherfucker!" "You think I'm that cheap?" "Sorry" "Solace is thy name." " What did you just say?" " Fuck you!" " Wait" " Leave me alone!" " Solace how do you know that word?" "Please..." "I don't wanna hurt you" "I know words too" "Have some tea" " Where am I?" " Home" "Your home?" "Why did you bring me here?" "I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm sorry" "Can you at least look at me like you really mean it?" "I'm sorry" "You're beautiful" "Rich..." " ...and you fuck for money" " Not for money" "What?" "To feel the pain?" "To feel the void... solace?" "I can sell you a lot of pain, I've got good stuff" "Do you know what Solace means?" "How come you do?" "I asked you first" " Comfort" " And what is comfort?" "Relief from distress that makes for pleasantness or ease" "What is your name?" "They call me Dumb Jack" " Are you dumb?" " So they say" "I don't think so" "How many words do you know?" " More than you" " Try me" "Ennui?" "Boredom, tedium, irksomeness, monotony" " a state of weariness" " Sadness?" "Depression, dejection, dinge... dysphoria, gloom, melancholy" "Affection?" "It was nice meeting you" "How are you sir?" " I'm fine" " Have a nice day" " You too" " Miss Lisa?" " I'm fine, have a nice day, have a nice week-end" " You too" "Lisa, there you are!" " How are you Mr Berger?" " I'm fine, how are you?" " Oh, I'm fine." "Have a wonderful weekend." " You too, have a wonderful week-end" " Isn't it time for your lecture?" " Yes dad" " This is your friend?" " His name is Jack" "Nice to meet you Jack" " Nice to meet you" " Call me Rudy, Lisa was just telling me about your terrible accident" "He just fell down the stairs, don't make a big deal out of it." "What do you do Jack?" " I'm a doctor" " What kind of doctor?" " Brain surgeon" " Ah, what hospital?" "Oh... kind of freelance" " I just had a procedure, you know." " Really?" "How old do you think I am?" " I don't know" " Come on, guess!" "Thirty-five?" "Close..." "Eighty-five." " They did great work on you" " Didn't they?" "I could have gone for 25 but I feel that's too much, 35 is... decent." "Don't you think?" "So..." "You're Lisa's date?" " Friend..." "I'm just a friend" " I should have known" "Lisa doesn't date nice young man like you I keep telling her but why should she listen to her father, right?" "Listen, thank you... for everything but I really should get going" "Certainly but please Jack, feel free to drop by and not only when Lisa's around, OK?" " Sure" " Rudy" " Sure Rudy" "Have a wonderful day" "You too." "Business is good but I don't care." "I wanna think about Ed and the missing tapes instead I think about Lisa." "I lie to myself that my interest in her is linguistic, anthropological, scientific" "I try to find her in usual and unusual places but she's nowhere." "Cut to a week later" "I put the word out on the street... searching for forty year old video recordings good money for clues, top of the line drugs in exchange for the tapes" "a few false clues later I get this call a rich collector wants to do business" "He sends us cops to meet me" "Let me see your stuff" "It's top of the line" "Heavy duty prescription tranquilizers with massive side-effects expired thirty years ago." "Oh... that is good" "He's one hundred and three years old reveling in his personal pain induced by excessive drug abuse." "Are you sure this is what you want?" "It's very strange" " I have thousands of more exciting tapes" "This is it." "Hold that thought now."