<p>What Edmund Burke identifies as the sublime in human experience, the arts, and science has been<br />
&ldquo;overthrown&rdquo; by a new cult-like religion of Scientism. As a secular religion, this new cult structures itself<br />
on the old framework of the Christian religion, in particularly Roman Catholicism, which it attempts to<br />
displace. While it does indeed depend upon the discoveries and advances of science to evangelize its<br />
message, it relies chiefly on belief, manipulation, and coercion as much as did its predecessor, but with<br />
entertainment and consumerism rather than great art and holy ritual as its expression. It is supported by<br />
a lesser cult: The Cult of Mediocrity, represented by the creators of entertainment content, the<br />
education system, government, and the financial industry. Its basis is largely commercial, as its finance<br />
needs are infinite. However, to create the right environment for its infinite expansion, it must work<br />
closely with government and the banking system in various effective ways to achieve its end: which is<br />
the creation of the Apex Consumer, the super-consumer helplessly indebted while equally helplessly<br />
addicted to the mediocre and toxic distractions the amnion offers in place of the Sublime. The collective<br />
result is the &ldquo;amnion,&rdquo; matrix, or technosphere. It is a de facto false world that strives to be &ldquo;more real&rdquo;<br />
than reality to the consumer. Consequently, the mass of consumers have already begun to eschew the<br />
&ldquo;real&rdquo; world of cause and effect, human relations and action, and nature and the sublime. Instead, they<br />
have elected to adopt the amnion&rsquo;s doctrine that everything good comes &ldquo;in the future&rdquo; &ndash; including<br />
medical immortality -- if they can only keep up with the monthly payments on the debt they have taken<br />
on, fatally, through the instrument of the promissory note. The exegesis of this work relies on what it<br />
defines as the &ldquo;world-historic&rdquo; culture of the collective voices of those who valued the sublime above all<br />
else. These voices include the literary work of European and American Romantic authors, French and<br />
German philosophers, artists, scientists, mathematicians, logicians, and, to a significant degree, the<br />
philosophical and semiotic work of American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist Charles<br />
S. Peirce.</p>