While I love the "Fear is the Mind Killer" quote and have used it recently in comments perhaps the more or at least equally important lesson from Dune is Gom Jabbar. Very briefly for non-Duneites. the Gom Jabbar is test of ones humanity. It is part of a very complex plot line, but greatly simplified it tests ones being human by inserting your hand into a box that creates gradually increasing levels of pain until extremely painful. If test subject pulls their hand out of the box when the pain gets to be too much, they give up their humanity. The analogy used if an animal gets caught in a trap it will chew its leg off to get away and live what ever limited and painfully life that may buy them. A human would endure the pain and kill the trapper to save others.
I can't help but think of the Covid Crisis as humanities Gom Jabbar. The Covid Criminals, Evil Incarnate, created a psychological, sociological, and physical pain box that sadly virtually every person failed. By giving up their humanity they supported the Covid Criminals' massive crimes against humanity including mass murder by stifling incredibly safe and cheap early treatments including antibiotics, steroids and repurposed drugs. They also failed to stop the Evil Ones from mandatory vaccinations, lockdowns, selected business bankruptcies, censorship and causing permanent life-long psychological and educational damage in our children. As if hedonistically sacrificing children isn't the epitome of inhumanity, they laughed when a comedian joked about the totally illogical and divisive "Epidemic of the Unvaccinated" lie by saying that the unvaccinated should be let to die with the punchline "Die Wheesey". Even the Nazis Gas Chamber operators didn't do nightly comedy.
Having proven the great mass will fail their humanity Gom Jabbar, The Evil Ones are moving on to The WHO and UN Emergency Power agreements, enforced using AI.
While seemingly dire, there were those who endured the Gom Jabbar pain. If they haven't taken out the trappers, they may at least have made more of animals aware of the trap. From my readings of life in prison camps or Gulags, as long as some humanity survived, there was hope. Some survived this Gom Jabbar. Let's see what the next one is.
Jun 1, 2023·edited Jun 1, 2023Liked by Mathew Crawford
Hi Matthew.
Long time no chat ... Deluged by a flood of information, and a recent emergency health visit to the states to see my rapidly declining mom ... two years ago, relatively healthy ... now fully jabbed, rapid on-set dementia, Parkinson's, and completely blind ... and no one in the family is raising even the possibility of correlations.
But that's not what led me here. I've been playing with GPT4 and Bard as a means of dealing better with large classes of English students by tailor-making lessons for each student geared to their interests, personality traits, and English level + 1. Now working with small group lessons of elderly people who are somewhat interested in English, but more interested in staving off dementia ... an estimated 1/5 of the elderly predicted to be afflicted in the next couple of years. Reminds me, I have to give a nod of thanks to Gary Sharpe for his latest stack.
Giddy at first with the potential of A.I., then a little more somber at the typically slow bureaucratic pace of innovation, and now worried ... less about the alignment problem, and more about those high in 'dark triad' personality traits cornering the market, and their malignant misalignment with the best interests of most of us.
But found a gem of a YouTube in this guy ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssGKniyIUGk. I plan on writing about this YouTube as well, partially as self-therapy, partially in honor of the quality of his thought.
The correct motivating emotional response to the technocrats/globalists/elites/transhumanists/neo-feudalists, and their aims and objectives, is not fear, but disgust and revulsion? They should activate our Behavioural Immune System, causing us treat them and their ideas as sources of contamination?
Agree! I am not at all worried about what is being called AI nowadays, but about what humans are going to do with it. First came Musk/Harari et al, demanding "rigorous audits and oversight by independent outside experts":
Thank you for publicly advocating for homeschool. We homeschool and I constantly have self doubt about it. Having others who’s opinions I greatly respect support it keeps us going.
Jun 3, 2023·edited Jun 3, 2023Liked by Mathew Crawford
I am a nerd by profession and have always been a techno-optimist.
My biggest fear is no the tech, but the people who regulate and control the technology. The popular culture and politics that is so off the rails and the mass formation psychosis that seems to affect most people for us to effect a rational response to tall this.
I also think that the unknown factor or the "X" factor that can put a spanner in the works of the Kuglangeta is also, ironically, these new technologies. The Kuglangeta are just as cluless about it as the average man, and perhaps even handicapped because of their psychopathy induced cognitive deficits. But it is a dangerous existential game we are all forced to play here.
Not entirely convinced by this argument from Jeff, I must admit:
"Point number two: AI will not suddenly wake up, take over the world, and evolve into a higher order of life making us humans obsolete. Scientists don’t even understand HUMAN consciousness, so it’s preposterous to think they could artificially recreate self-consciousness in a lab. We’re not even close."
Arguing near certainty that something will not happen on the basis of a lack of knowledge about that something is not very sensible.
A.I. is the product of an existential crisis for humanity it seems. All the questions surrounding it are only possible if there's confusion about what it means to be human in the first place. Since my children were very young, I'd point out and reinforce the limits of technology every chance I got, but I think it ultimately has more to do with understanding ourselves better that we wind up living at peace in the starry universe, or whatever, and yes, getting a hold of fear is essential, it's literally what's driving the radicalization of everyone.
Mmmm.... Which revolution was it that improved the lives and relationships of humans with each other and nature?
The agricultural revolution?... Mmmm. No.
The industrial revolution?... Mmmm. No.
The scientific revolution?...God no.
The technological revolution.... Mmmm. No.
The A.I. revulsion ? Oh yes mummy I'm just not stupid enough yet. Cyborg me up Scotty! For fucks sake.
I'm not scared of A.I. because it is just a poor reflection of millions of idiots that refuse to let go and face their demons and then the real demons on the real world.
This is an excellent and thought provoking article, but there were a few words that bothered me: "Somebody failed you". That, to me, reinforces the current fashion for victimhood. How about "Things happened", instead?
To me the ubiquitous narcissism around the globe, where many people seem to spend much of their time looking for something or someone else to blame, is part of the problem.
The Laptop Class sold out the young, the old, the sick, the poor, the “essential” workers, and the country for their false sense of safety. Paraphrasing the Roman quote “They create a desert and call it peace”, the Laptop Class “Sold their souls and called it virtue.”
While I love the "Fear is the Mind Killer" quote and have used it recently in comments perhaps the more or at least equally important lesson from Dune is Gom Jabbar. Very briefly for non-Duneites. the Gom Jabbar is test of ones humanity. It is part of a very complex plot line, but greatly simplified it tests ones being human by inserting your hand into a box that creates gradually increasing levels of pain until extremely painful. If test subject pulls their hand out of the box when the pain gets to be too much, they give up their humanity. The analogy used if an animal gets caught in a trap it will chew its leg off to get away and live what ever limited and painfully life that may buy them. A human would endure the pain and kill the trapper to save others.
I can't help but think of the Covid Crisis as humanities Gom Jabbar. The Covid Criminals, Evil Incarnate, created a psychological, sociological, and physical pain box that sadly virtually every person failed. By giving up their humanity they supported the Covid Criminals' massive crimes against humanity including mass murder by stifling incredibly safe and cheap early treatments including antibiotics, steroids and repurposed drugs. They also failed to stop the Evil Ones from mandatory vaccinations, lockdowns, selected business bankruptcies, censorship and causing permanent life-long psychological and educational damage in our children. As if hedonistically sacrificing children isn't the epitome of inhumanity, they laughed when a comedian joked about the totally illogical and divisive "Epidemic of the Unvaccinated" lie by saying that the unvaccinated should be let to die with the punchline "Die Wheesey". Even the Nazis Gas Chamber operators didn't do nightly comedy.
Having proven the great mass will fail their humanity Gom Jabbar, The Evil Ones are moving on to The WHO and UN Emergency Power agreements, enforced using AI.
While seemingly dire, there were those who endured the Gom Jabbar pain. If they haven't taken out the trappers, they may at least have made more of animals aware of the trap. From my readings of life in prison camps or Gulags, as long as some humanity survived, there was hope. Some survived this Gom Jabbar. Let's see what the next one is.
If we don't understand consciousness, how do we know when we've created it?
Hi Matthew.
Long time no chat ... Deluged by a flood of information, and a recent emergency health visit to the states to see my rapidly declining mom ... two years ago, relatively healthy ... now fully jabbed, rapid on-set dementia, Parkinson's, and completely blind ... and no one in the family is raising even the possibility of correlations.
But that's not what led me here. I've been playing with GPT4 and Bard as a means of dealing better with large classes of English students by tailor-making lessons for each student geared to their interests, personality traits, and English level + 1. Now working with small group lessons of elderly people who are somewhat interested in English, but more interested in staving off dementia ... an estimated 1/5 of the elderly predicted to be afflicted in the next couple of years. Reminds me, I have to give a nod of thanks to Gary Sharpe for his latest stack.
Giddy at first with the potential of A.I., then a little more somber at the typically slow bureaucratic pace of innovation, and now worried ... less about the alignment problem, and more about those high in 'dark triad' personality traits cornering the market, and their malignant misalignment with the best interests of most of us.
Just posted a mini-stack on an easy target here ... https://steven45.substack.com/p/the-sky-is-falling-again/comments#comment-16780465
But found a gem of a YouTube in this guy ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssGKniyIUGk. I plan on writing about this YouTube as well, partially as self-therapy, partially in honor of the quality of his thought.
Cheers from Japan Matthew.
Keep up the good fight!
steve
Uh oh ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk-nQ7HF6k4 ... "Greed and stupidity will mark the end of the human race." — Stephen Hawking
The correct motivating emotional response to the technocrats/globalists/elites/transhumanists/neo-feudalists, and their aims and objectives, is not fear, but disgust and revulsion? They should activate our Behavioural Immune System, causing us treat them and their ideas as sources of contamination?
Agree! I am not at all worried about what is being called AI nowadays, but about what humans are going to do with it. First came Musk/Harari et al, demanding "rigorous audits and oversight by independent outside experts":
https://cm27874.substack.com/p/hans-truman-and-chad-chippetee
Now it's Hinton/Altman/Harris et al:
https://www.safe.ai/statement-on-ai-risk#open-letter
"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."
One of the most significant repercussions of the Covid dilemma is the application of the pandemics paradigm to everything...
"How Kaczynski and Davos Oligarchs Are of One Mind"
The Roots Of Modern Eco-Terrorism: From MK Ultra And The Unabomber To Maurice Strong And Yuval Harari
https://matthewehret.substack.com/p/the-roots-of-modern-eco-terrorism
.
Thank you Sir.
.
Thank you for publicly advocating for homeschool. We homeschool and I constantly have self doubt about it. Having others who’s opinions I greatly respect support it keeps us going.
I am a nerd by profession and have always been a techno-optimist.
My biggest fear is no the tech, but the people who regulate and control the technology. The popular culture and politics that is so off the rails and the mass formation psychosis that seems to affect most people for us to effect a rational response to tall this.
I also think that the unknown factor or the "X" factor that can put a spanner in the works of the Kuglangeta is also, ironically, these new technologies. The Kuglangeta are just as cluless about it as the average man, and perhaps even handicapped because of their psychopathy induced cognitive deficits. But it is a dangerous existential game we are all forced to play here.
Not entirely convinced by this argument from Jeff, I must admit:
"Point number two: AI will not suddenly wake up, take over the world, and evolve into a higher order of life making us humans obsolete. Scientists don’t even understand HUMAN consciousness, so it’s preposterous to think they could artificially recreate self-consciousness in a lab. We’re not even close."
Arguing near certainty that something will not happen on the basis of a lack of knowledge about that something is not very sensible.
Who needs AI to enslave the masses? They got people to self-enslave during COVID using MSM propaganda.
A.I. is the product of an existential crisis for humanity it seems. All the questions surrounding it are only possible if there's confusion about what it means to be human in the first place. Since my children were very young, I'd point out and reinforce the limits of technology every chance I got, but I think it ultimately has more to do with understanding ourselves better that we wind up living at peace in the starry universe, or whatever, and yes, getting a hold of fear is essential, it's literally what's driving the radicalization of everyone.
Mmmm.... Which revolution was it that improved the lives and relationships of humans with each other and nature?
The agricultural revolution?... Mmmm. No.
The industrial revolution?... Mmmm. No.
The scientific revolution?...God no.
The technological revolution.... Mmmm. No.
The A.I. revulsion ? Oh yes mummy I'm just not stupid enough yet. Cyborg me up Scotty! For fucks sake.
I'm not scared of A.I. because it is just a poor reflection of millions of idiots that refuse to let go and face their demons and then the real demons on the real world.
Chew on the black goo morons.
This is an excellent and thought provoking article, but there were a few words that bothered me: "Somebody failed you". That, to me, reinforces the current fashion for victimhood. How about "Things happened", instead?
To me the ubiquitous narcissism around the globe, where many people seem to spend much of their time looking for something or someone else to blame, is part of the problem.
The Laptop Class sold out the young, the old, the sick, the poor, the “essential” workers, and the country for their false sense of safety. Paraphrasing the Roman quote “They create a desert and call it peace”, the Laptop Class “Sold their souls and called it virtue.”
Thank you Mathew - FAITH over fear - Courage = feel the fear & do it anyway. GOD/good will always overcome evil. I will continue to Trust GOD ...