BXI Builingual System started translating.
The Middle Ages But With Memes
The Middle Ages, But With Memes
“Neither you, Simon, nor the fifty thousand; nor the Romans, nor the Jews; nor Judas nor the twelve, nor the priests nor the scribes, nor doomed Jerusalem itself, understand what power is; understand what glory is; understand at all”
- Tim Rice, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’
The Middle Ages, and even the Renaissance if we're being honest, was overseen by an unholy and often contentious alliance between the Church and Royalty. The Big Lie was always that there was a 'Divine Right of Kings' (a phrase not even articulated until deep into the Renaissance but operative for millennia prior) that allowed kings to push people around, hoard the wealth of the kingdom, put traitors to death, etc.
The priests may have hated the kings, but they knew their own edifice would have crumbled if they suddenly started telling people that kings were NOT chosen by God. That would be basically giving up the game, and they would have lost as much standing as the royal families had they fessed up.
So, together they ruled, mercilessly mistreating the common folk, enriching themselves beyond any and all justification, and symbiotically feeding into each others' dissembling claims to power. 'Listen to the Priests', say the Kings. 'They have God's ear'. 'Obey the Kings', say the Priests. 'Their will is God's will'.
We threw that off, but we are now hurtling toward its reemergence in the form of the collusion between tech giants and governments. The roles are clear; the tech giants are the new priests and the 'god' they wield as a bludgeon is AI, while the governments are - big surprise - the modern version of kings. And as before, though they don't always (or even often) like each other - as the blowup between Musk and Trump punctuates - they do NEED each other to maintain power over the rest of us and command our obedience.
At least at this point in time, the 'high priests' of tech and the politicians need each other. No doubt many tech bros are aiming for a time when this unholy alliance will become obsolete, as Silicon Valley and other tech outposts will simply rule as they please, without having to grease the palms of politicians in order to get the laws they want; laws which maximize their profits, externalize their responsibilities and increase their power. But that day hasn't yet arrived.
For now, the priests need the kings, because the kings make the laws and set the penalties for breaking the laws.
As for the 'kings' - in other words the politicians - they need tech essentially for three reasons.
The first is that tech makes them all very wealthy. If you think that politicians who have say over the laws that govern ALL our lives aren't influenced and seduced - let's just say it, BRIBED - by the tech moguls, you are naive at best. Not all politicians are rich, but ALL rich politicians attained their wealth by voting and crafting legislation to satisfy their richest donors, not the common folk. This doesn't begin with tech, of course. Look no further than the oil industry and the climate crisis to see how legislators sold out the people in obeisance to King Oil.
The second is that tech gives the rulers unprecedented surveillance power, power that is only increasing. The more government can spy on the common folk, the less it feels any obligation toward them. Tech is thus the wet dream of every would be dictator. It IS Big Brother. Greasing the wheels of AI to the point that it reaches into our brains and creates a 'Minority Report' scenario is self serving legislation for politicians, as they are the ones best poised to use its potential for their own purposes of control.
Thirdly, tech means war. It always has. Nearly every technological development in recent history began in military labs. Computers, the internet, telecommunications, satellites, rocketry, etc. Wars are the ultimate expression of government - or 'kingly' - power. Getting other people to kill and die not for their own benefit but for the perceived benefit of their rulers has always been one of the most puzzling, to say nothing of obscene, expressions of power. AI promises to enhance both the propaganda apparatus that manufactures consent for violence and the machinery of war itself, everything from robot soldiers to bioweapons.
This is truly a scenario reminiscent of the Middle Ages, when greedy priests and kings conspiratorially cooperated to enrich themselves and cow the masses.
Humanity is at a choice point. We are watching it unfold again before our very eyes. What are we going to do about it?
If 'well, we’ll just throw up our hands and stick out our behinds and let the techies take over and have their phony Singularity' is NOT, in your assessment, a wise course of action, what CAN we do?
First, we have to recognize the problem for what it is, not stick our heads in the sand. The Unholy Alliance between Tech and Government IS happening, and is broadly happening similarly to the earlier collusion between self-interested and self-promoting power seekers when we first started building our civilizations and falling for fantasies about a Sky God. Just because something is technological doesn't mean it isn't at the same time medieval. AI may wow you and impress you and amaze you and entice you, but it is STILL an instrument of control.
Start by ditching the selling points that its developers use to get you on board. AI isn't going to help us create a beautiful society. It isn't going to end human suffering. It isn't going to solve the environment crisis. It isn't going to end unfulfilling and menial labor and create a world where people only work if they want to, and only at tasks they are enthused about. It isn't going to yield a new Renaissance where everyone gets to be an artist, creator, scientist, etc.; all while living past 200 and enjoying every moment.
Not now. Not ten years from now, and not 100 years from now.
There is probably less than one in a thousand people working on AI right now who actually believe that. Bless their naive hearts. The rest are working on it because it pays well OR because they are willing to do the bidding of those who want to create the ultimate tool of human control (or both). For every Bucky Fuller there are 99 Oppenheimers who know the risks they are putting us all at.
Once we are clear that AI is not a technology of liberation for mankind, but of increased power grabbing by elites, what's our next step? Here it is useful to go aaaa~~~lll the way back to the original playbook for how the majority of people were cowed; in other words, to the priests and kings. An analogy can only go so far, but this one actually takes us surprisingly close to home.
The priests and kings got people to cede external power by getting them to relinquish internal power. They squelched the idea that 'the kingdom of God is within' and created a monster Sky God to be worshipped and feared. ALL power lie with the Sky God ~ who didn't even exist ~ which meant that all REAL power was held by the priests and the kings. If someone, like the Gnostics, or Martin Luther, tried to share the truth of our direct alignment with the spirit that breathes life into the universe, they were considered Enemy #1 by the rulers and their lives were at risk.
Today we see the arrival of a new 'sky god' myth, although perhaps we should be calling it a 'cloud god' (pun very much intended). AI developers want to convince you that they are rapidly developing a super human intelligence that will do everything more efficiently, more logically, and more beneficially than we mere humans possibly can.
And the myth about internal power is essentially the same. They want you to believe that there ARE no spiritual truths that you can discover, and by doing so grow and come into your own experience of genius.
You, your consciousness, your free will, etc. are all merely configurations of matter, and any thoughts of connecting with the spiritual and the numinous are merely constructs of these material mechanisms; ’illusions', if you will. Soon, we are told, there will be a BETTER configuration of matter, created by humans but vastly superior to them. This Superior Intelligence will CLEARLY be mere matter and mathematics, so if that doesn't convince you that that's all YOU are as well, then you are simply deluded and unpersuadable. Or at least that’s what the tech lords would have you believe.
They are seizing power just as the priests did, by lying to you that you have no power. You are a machine who can and will be replaced by a superior machine. And this superior machine will provide you with loads of diversions like memes and RPGs to make your life bearable while those in power, the mighty priests who conjure vastly superior intelligences in their laboratories, amass the fortunes of pharaohs, and deservedly so! They created god, after all! Surely no paycheck is too high for that endeavor.
Don't. Fall. For. It.
I harp on and on about spiritual matters but there is a very 'worldly' aspect to why I do so. When people DO actually come to know - as I have come to know - that the kingdom of God truly IS within, then all the mechanizations of the new priests and kings look as pathetic and self serving and BLATANT as those of the ones who arose in the time of the early agrarian civilizations. It’s just another power grab, which we have seen so often in the past. Royal, papal, communist, Maoist, capitalist, etc.; different modifications of the same Big Lie, trotted out over the centuries by greedy men who have never explored their own inner dimensions and are against you doing the same, as such would immunize you to their bullshit. Should you turn inward, you will discover something far more powerful than AI is, or ever can be. And this latest version of the Big Lie will have no home inside your mind.
- Tim Rice, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’
The Middle Ages, and even the Renaissance if we're being honest, was overseen by an unholy and often contentious alliance between the Church and Royalty. The Big Lie was always that there was a 'Divine Right of Kings' (a phrase not even articulated until deep into the Renaissance but operative for millennia prior) that allowed kings to push people around, hoard the wealth of the kingdom, put traitors to death, etc.
The priests may have hated the kings, but they knew their own edifice would have crumbled if they suddenly started telling people that kings were NOT chosen by God. That would be basically giving up the game, and they would have lost as much standing as the royal families had they fessed up.
So, together they ruled, mercilessly mistreating the common folk, enriching themselves beyond any and all justification, and symbiotically feeding into each others' dissembling claims to power. 'Listen to the Priests', say the Kings. 'They have God's ear'. 'Obey the Kings', say the Priests. 'Their will is God's will'.
We threw that off, but we are now hurtling toward its reemergence in the form of the collusion between tech giants and governments. The roles are clear; the tech giants are the new priests and the 'god' they wield as a bludgeon is AI, while the governments are - big surprise - the modern version of kings. And as before, though they don't always (or even often) like each other - as the blowup between Musk and Trump punctuates - they do NEED each other to maintain power over the rest of us and command our obedience.
At least at this point in time, the 'high priests' of tech and the politicians need each other. No doubt many tech bros are aiming for a time when this unholy alliance will become obsolete, as Silicon Valley and other tech outposts will simply rule as they please, without having to grease the palms of politicians in order to get the laws they want; laws which maximize their profits, externalize their responsibilities and increase their power. But that day hasn't yet arrived.
For now, the priests need the kings, because the kings make the laws and set the penalties for breaking the laws.
As for the 'kings' - in other words the politicians - they need tech essentially for three reasons.
The first is that tech makes them all very wealthy. If you think that politicians who have say over the laws that govern ALL our lives aren't influenced and seduced - let's just say it, BRIBED - by the tech moguls, you are naive at best. Not all politicians are rich, but ALL rich politicians attained their wealth by voting and crafting legislation to satisfy their richest donors, not the common folk. This doesn't begin with tech, of course. Look no further than the oil industry and the climate crisis to see how legislators sold out the people in obeisance to King Oil.
The second is that tech gives the rulers unprecedented surveillance power, power that is only increasing. The more government can spy on the common folk, the less it feels any obligation toward them. Tech is thus the wet dream of every would be dictator. It IS Big Brother. Greasing the wheels of AI to the point that it reaches into our brains and creates a 'Minority Report' scenario is self serving legislation for politicians, as they are the ones best poised to use its potential for their own purposes of control.
Thirdly, tech means war. It always has. Nearly every technological development in recent history began in military labs. Computers, the internet, telecommunications, satellites, rocketry, etc. Wars are the ultimate expression of government - or 'kingly' - power. Getting other people to kill and die not for their own benefit but for the perceived benefit of their rulers has always been one of the most puzzling, to say nothing of obscene, expressions of power. AI promises to enhance both the propaganda apparatus that manufactures consent for violence and the machinery of war itself, everything from robot soldiers to bioweapons.
This is truly a scenario reminiscent of the Middle Ages, when greedy priests and kings conspiratorially cooperated to enrich themselves and cow the masses.
Humanity is at a choice point. We are watching it unfold again before our very eyes. What are we going to do about it?
If 'well, we’ll just throw up our hands and stick out our behinds and let the techies take over and have their phony Singularity' is NOT, in your assessment, a wise course of action, what CAN we do?
First, we have to recognize the problem for what it is, not stick our heads in the sand. The Unholy Alliance between Tech and Government IS happening, and is broadly happening similarly to the earlier collusion between self-interested and self-promoting power seekers when we first started building our civilizations and falling for fantasies about a Sky God. Just because something is technological doesn't mean it isn't at the same time medieval. AI may wow you and impress you and amaze you and entice you, but it is STILL an instrument of control.
Start by ditching the selling points that its developers use to get you on board. AI isn't going to help us create a beautiful society. It isn't going to end human suffering. It isn't going to solve the environment crisis. It isn't going to end unfulfilling and menial labor and create a world where people only work if they want to, and only at tasks they are enthused about. It isn't going to yield a new Renaissance where everyone gets to be an artist, creator, scientist, etc.; all while living past 200 and enjoying every moment.
Not now. Not ten years from now, and not 100 years from now.
There is probably less than one in a thousand people working on AI right now who actually believe that. Bless their naive hearts. The rest are working on it because it pays well OR because they are willing to do the bidding of those who want to create the ultimate tool of human control (or both). For every Bucky Fuller there are 99 Oppenheimers who know the risks they are putting us all at.
Once we are clear that AI is not a technology of liberation for mankind, but of increased power grabbing by elites, what's our next step? Here it is useful to go aaaa~~~lll the way back to the original playbook for how the majority of people were cowed; in other words, to the priests and kings. An analogy can only go so far, but this one actually takes us surprisingly close to home.
The priests and kings got people to cede external power by getting them to relinquish internal power. They squelched the idea that 'the kingdom of God is within' and created a monster Sky God to be worshipped and feared. ALL power lie with the Sky God ~ who didn't even exist ~ which meant that all REAL power was held by the priests and the kings. If someone, like the Gnostics, or Martin Luther, tried to share the truth of our direct alignment with the spirit that breathes life into the universe, they were considered Enemy #1 by the rulers and their lives were at risk.
Today we see the arrival of a new 'sky god' myth, although perhaps we should be calling it a 'cloud god' (pun very much intended). AI developers want to convince you that they are rapidly developing a super human intelligence that will do everything more efficiently, more logically, and more beneficially than we mere humans possibly can.
And the myth about internal power is essentially the same. They want you to believe that there ARE no spiritual truths that you can discover, and by doing so grow and come into your own experience of genius.
You, your consciousness, your free will, etc. are all merely configurations of matter, and any thoughts of connecting with the spiritual and the numinous are merely constructs of these material mechanisms; ’illusions', if you will. Soon, we are told, there will be a BETTER configuration of matter, created by humans but vastly superior to them. This Superior Intelligence will CLEARLY be mere matter and mathematics, so if that doesn't convince you that that's all YOU are as well, then you are simply deluded and unpersuadable. Or at least that’s what the tech lords would have you believe.
They are seizing power just as the priests did, by lying to you that you have no power. You are a machine who can and will be replaced by a superior machine. And this superior machine will provide you with loads of diversions like memes and RPGs to make your life bearable while those in power, the mighty priests who conjure vastly superior intelligences in their laboratories, amass the fortunes of pharaohs, and deservedly so! They created god, after all! Surely no paycheck is too high for that endeavor.
Don't. Fall. For. It.
I harp on and on about spiritual matters but there is a very 'worldly' aspect to why I do so. When people DO actually come to know - as I have come to know - that the kingdom of God truly IS within, then all the mechanizations of the new priests and kings look as pathetic and self serving and BLATANT as those of the ones who arose in the time of the early agrarian civilizations. It’s just another power grab, which we have seen so often in the past. Royal, papal, communist, Maoist, capitalist, etc.; different modifications of the same Big Lie, trotted out over the centuries by greedy men who have never explored their own inner dimensions and are against you doing the same, as such would immunize you to their bullshit. Should you turn inward, you will discover something far more powerful than AI is, or ever can be. And this latest version of the Big Lie will have no home inside your mind.
