"So," I said, "if we're going into battle, we need a war strategy."

"We?"

"Yes, we. I need your help if I'm going to pull this off."

Zac gave me a salute. "I have no idea what we're doing, but I would march to the ends of the earth for you. The ends of the fucking earth, Nikki. Just as long as I don't have to get up before ten a.m. to do it."

"I know," I smiled. "I used to think of myself as a bit of a lone wolf wandering through life, but the truth is I'll never meet a more ferociously loyal sidekick than you."

"Ah," Zac sighed. "And this beautiful friendship all came about because my two mates wanted to bang you. This algorithm works in mysterious ways."

"It does indeed.”

"So, my Queen," Zac flashed me his troublemaker grin. "Let's fuck shit up. What's our target?"

"King Materialism."

"Hold up," he paused. "You mean we're literally going to kill a King?"

"No, silly. It's a metaphor. Here..." I leaped off the bed and began drawing on the whiteboard.

I pointed to the board. "This is the architecture of our enemy. In the center, we have King Materialism sitting on his throne. His throne represents the reigning paradigm through which humanity sees the world. This paradigm influences our understanding of everything — science, philosophy, religion, medicine, biology, the environment, politics, economics, education. Literally, everything.

The King is protected by a rigid marble castle we'll call The Scientific Method. This castle is constructed from the rules of logic. You have to play by these rules to enter the castle and have your idea installed in this Monarchy of Truth. Therefore, knowledge resides within the castle walls.

And then the castle is protected by a fortress — a huge fortified wall, covered in archers. This is The Academic System. The fortress is designed to protect the knowledge residing inside the castle. Only people who follow certain rigid academic rules or have an academic qualification are allowed to walk through the fortress gate and into the town square, where ideas are discussed and shared.

The academics in the town square are always attempting to get their work installed inside the castle and elevated to the status of truth. However, if you don't look a certain way, or act a certain way, or think a certain way, or talk a certain way, or have a certain set of credentials, you won't even make it into the town square. The archers will yell "crackpot!" and shoot you down before you even approach the fortress walls.

Now, this whole system is somewhat effective if the correct King is already sitting on the throne. It protects knowledge and truth, and only allows well-vetted ideas to gain access to the castle and join the monarchy. But if the wrong King is sitting on the throne, then it’s a fucking nightmare to overthrow him. Unfortunately, King Materialism is not the rightful heir. He slipped in through the castle's secret entrance and has remained there for centuries just because he looks the part. He has no true claim to the throne, yet everyone inside the fortress worships him and protects him. They assume he is the rightful King just because he always has been. These scientists are all plugged into The Matrix, blissfully unaware that their most fervently held beliefs are just a persistent illusion.

So now we’re in a very dangerous situation. Anyone who questions the King is labeled 'woo woo' or a 'pseudoscientist,' and either shot down or kicked outside the fortress walls. Scientists in the town square aren't willing to tolerate dissenters. Speaking up against the King's authoritarian regime takes a unique combination of traits — independent thought, credibility, courage. Our education system and society don’t exactly breed the former and latter trait. And, generally speaking, those who climb the ranks of academia to obtain credibility are not dissenters by definition. We don't reward dissent in our society. Independent thought is vilified because it throws people's minds — and the whole world — into chaos. Our society loathes chaos.

This potent cocktail of dysfunction means we need someone outside the system to call bullshit on the King. Problem is, the fortress prevents that. It will shoot down anyone who doesn't fit a very narrow set of criteria. They won't even get a chance to enter the town square and prove that the King is an imposter.

This is what we are up against, and we are going to bring this system to its knees. We have to penetrate the outer fortress, slip into the castle and slit King Materialism's throat before installing the rightful heir on the throne: Queen Consciousness. The world is going to bend the knee to this new paradigm. To quote the great Billie Eilish, ‘Just watch me make 'em bow one by one by one.’ It's a cognitive revolution, and it needs to happen if we have any hope of saving humanity from itself.

Once this mission is complete, the whole system is going to crumble into chaos. When you kill a King, all the knowledge that exists within the King's regime is going to die with it. It will call everything we know into question. The logical foundations of physics will disintegrate when space and time are conclusively ripped from the ground floor of reality. The logical foundations of society will follow.

The scientific community will need to rebuild their entire understanding of the universe. But at least this time it will be based on truth, not illusion. When the dust settles, and these brilliant specialists get to work, everything will blossom and change. The Kingdom of Truth will be transformed, and we will usher in a brighter future for humanity full of technological and philosophical progress. This is a holographic pattern we see in every system: growth and evolution is preceded by chaos. Chaos is the birthplace of creation. The world will be a phoenix, rising from its own ashes.

So make no mistake, Zachary. This is a war, but it's not a physical war. The battlefield exists in the mind of every human being on this planet. We fight this fight with weapons forged from thought, not steel."

"I love it!" Zac yelled. "I am so in, oh fearless leader. Let's kill a metaphorical King! This is some David and Goliath shit."

"Exactly!" I said. "Most people think David and Goliath is a story of an underdog-"

"That's the Australian way," Zac interjected. "We'll always root for the underdog."

"But it's not just about an underdog. It goes like this: two armies decide to settle a dispute by sending their single best warrior into a one-on-one battle. One army sends Goliath — a beast of nearly seven feet tall, wearing armor, with his combat weapons. The other army sends a little shepherd named David, simply because no one else has the courage to battle the behemoth.

David approaches Goliath. He has no armor — just a shepherd's staff, five stones, and a sling. Goliath arrogantly mocks him and talks a lot of shit about slaughtering the boy with his sword.

But David doesn't walk up to Goliath. He doesn't engage the giant in combat. He doesn't play Goliath's game at all. He just hurls a stone from his sling. The stone hits Goliath square in the forehead and knocks him out. Then David simply walks up to Goliath on the ground and cuts his head off, thus claiming his victory.

The story of David and Goliath is not just about the triumph of an underdog. It's a story about the blindness of a behemoth. Goliath thought he was getting a swordfight, but David changed the rules. Giants lose battles because they are so big and slow and powerful that they can't see the world clearly."

"So, we need to change the rules," Zac said.

"Yes," I agreed. "All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable. When using our forces, we must seem inactive. When we are near, we make the enemy believe we are far away. When far away, we must make the enemy believe we are near."

"Where's that from?"

"The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Jesse had a copy on his coffee table. Actually..." I ran into the living room and returned a minute later with the book in my hand. "This can help us with strategy. We're fighting an intellectual war, but the principles are the same."

Zac grabbed the book from me, flipped it open, and began skimming through the highlighted quotes.