Where did “Omni” come from?

The word “Omni” comes from the movie Fahrenheit 451 which is a 1953 novel later recreated into a 2018 HBO television film starring Michael B. Jordan as Montag. The movie presents a futuristic dystopian American society where free thought is pretty much illegal and where books have been outlawed and "firemen" start fires rather than putting them out. Through the schooling system the government have taught the children when a book is found in the community, call the fireman so they can come and burn the books. And that Thomas Jefferson was the first firefighter.

Why did books become banned in the first place? According to Beatty, Montag’s superior, special-interest groups and other “minorities” objected to books that offended them. Soon, books all began to look the same, as writers tried to avoid offending anybody. This was not enough, however, and society as a whole decided to simply burn books rather than permit conflicting opinions. 

The result of this decision over time created a society that do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they follow a completely rewritten history told by the government and watch excessive amounts of social-media-like-television called “The Nine”.

Through this teaching in Montag’s world, nothing is more dangerous than the written word, and it's his task to burn every book he can find. The goal appears to be to achieve equality — but as you can guess, there's something far more sinister going on. It seems that the fictional government hopes to create a world where the narrative of history is controlled by the people in power. As Montag’s mentor, fire captain Beatty, says "We are not born equal, so we must be made equal by the fire."

In the movie the alarm sounds, “time to burn” says Montag, arriving at a large old house Montag and his team of firefighters are greeted with a library with rows and rows of shelves and on them are the largest amount of illegal books he has ever seen. His team start the process of piling hundreds of books in the middle of the house and start to dump gallons of gasoline on them. When they are about to burn her books, a woman that they catch inside of the home chooses to stand on top of the set of books herself, lights one match and sets her and the books on fire. Her gruesome death is streamed live on The Nine, but one detail is omitted from the public: the woman’s last words were “OMNIS.” Instead, her last words are replaced with "cowards," hiding the existence of a literature database that could change society despite the firemen's efforts. But why?

After witnessing her death it has a profound impact on Montag, and he sets out to find what the word means against the ministry’s attempts to make sure it's wiped from The Nine. He also starts to question everything including the toothpaste he is forced by the government to use everyday. Over time he starts to remember his past and is torn between his work and a growing feeling that there's more going on than what his mentor is leading him to believe and is beginning to question the society he lives in. For every moment in which he seems committed to the cause, there's another where Montag is seen wandering the futuristic city streets clearly wondering if he's doing the right thing by participating in a system that sees true knowledge as danger.

During his quest to find out what OMNIS means he is introduced to “The Eels”, a community of people who were exiled due to illegally owning literature and have come together in a remote part of the city. They are a part of a nationwide network of book lovers who have memorized many great works of literature and philosophy so that if all the books are burned they can still pass on knowledge to future generations. In the novel version Montag’s role is to memorize the Book of Ecclesiastes and to get to a book maker to reprint new books after the city is annihilated by nuclear bombs. 

But in the movie Montag finds out that OMNIS, is a project involved in encoding every piece of literature, art, and true history straight into DNA so they can never truly be destroyed and preserving the long forgotten culture that the firemen tried to erase. 

Through his conversations with the character Clarisse and the rest of the Eels, Montag realizes the importance of literature and the change OMNIS can bring to society and becomes the catalyst for the tension between Montag and his mentor Beatty. Meanwhile, Beatty deals with his own conflict of desiring knowledge yet wanting to remain in authority. When Montag begins to question him about the OMNIS, Beatty tries to hide what he knows, playing it down to Montag. This moment shows how Beatty already knows the magnitude of OMNIS and the threat it represents to their power over the society.

Montag starts to hear chatter by the firemen that they are looking to find OMNIS but one advantage the Eels have over the firemen is that the OMNIS' location is strictly kept between them. The firemen start to realize that Montag is up to something so they start to follow his steps and realize he has been communicating with The Eels. Montag warns The Eels that the firemen are coming and Montag has to prove himself to The Eels to be trusted and to learn OMNIS whereabouts, as they all fight to protect it at all costs. Once Montag finds OMNIS, he follows the Eels' fight to protect it, even if it means sacrificing himself. Before the firemen arrive The Eels come up with a plan to protect OMNIS by encoding the DNA into a bird, and then planned to encode it into many other species too. Before they get a chance, their hideout is raided. But the bird is set free and it meets with a flock of birds. As it mates, the information will spread. By the end of the film, the OMNIS lives on, but its fate is left up to open interpretation of the viewer.

And this is where the name “Omni” came from. We believe we are OMNIS. OMNIS is a symbol of a new hope in a bleak, literature-loathing society that hints at the emergence of a better future. OMNIS is a threat to society’s simple-minded views. When the old woman says “OMNIS”, it’s a reminder that it doesn’t matter how many books the firemen decide to burn, there’s still hope out there for a free-thinking future. We will be the catalyst of that future through OmniGroup Holdings Inc. and all the other companies under our umbrella.

In Latin, the word “omnis” translates to mean “every” or “all” or, more precisely, “all, every, the whole, of every kind.” 

Our plan is to create companies that will be able to impact “every” meaningful sector of life. We believe that through these companies will be able to pass on the idea of “OMNIS” and forever pave the way to a better future.