"all the promise of AI, better renewables, better nuclear, better education, chat-bots for old people in nursing homes, is mostly just spin to get you to support more lethal war, more sophisticated propaganda and expanded surveillance, on the way to extinction"
I'm not normally a reader but came across your article here. Thank you - excellent summary.
In thinking about these issues I'm struck by how this effort at techno-utopian (yet always ends up as dystopian) progress is, spiritually, just another variant of the essential fall of Genesis. The serpent promises 'you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil' - in other words, it's up to you, and your conditional, finite psyche to understand, control and manipulate the world to your liking. This will lead to peace, fulfillment, etc - it's the basic Satanic lie, re-expressed in the Tower of Babel story and countless times in human history. It's always a promise of happiness, but on the egoic level - whether individual or collective - that we'll eventually 'get it right' and make the paradise here through our efforts. Being gods. All the AI hype is just a new set of tools to play out the same psychic urge, one that from my Christian perspective is inherently sinful. It's rooted in self, self separate from God, whereas the doorway to paradise Jesus offers is surrender of self to God and living in the self-emptied service of the Creator/the great I AM as the way to human happiness in this plane of existence.
I see the promises of AI gaining purchase in people's minds only to extent that these same people have bought into (often unconsciously, as it's our cultural background assumption) the basis tenets of modernity - that human nature is perfectible by effort, that we can live sanely without God, etc. Modernity itself is based on the lies of the serpent (see St. Pius X) - AI is just the next turning/expression of this basic thrust.
Somehow I see the future of America as a place to exemplify the self, the gifts the creator gave us, in service to the creator, family, community and the earth.
Excellent article! We'd better not build any more nuclear facilities - you have to follow lots of rules with very high accuracy to run them without destroying yourself or your community. DEI hires will NOT be able to run power plants. And then there is the necessity of isolating the radioactive waste. Boeing is an excellent example of DEI that has run amok. Thanks for such a thought-provoking article!
Thank you! We have two facilities here in MN, both on the bank of the Mississippi, both about 20years or more older than originally planned, both with large stockpiles of used nuclear material. I suspect both are going to prove a predicament in the coming years.
It'll be everyone's predicament but will probably be hidden from the public. And the facilities are probably lying about what is already endangering their neighbors. I'm not anti-nuclear energy - I just don't think people who work with it are careful enough. You can't have an "off" day or allow life problems that to affect your work. Humans are the weakest link in nuclear facilities, which tells me that we need to stop building them until the tech is a LOT better (so the DEI moron population can't screw up and cause meltdowns). I live in New Mexico and it has ALWAYS been a DEI state. Los Alamos is the exception but they mostly have nerd problems. (I was born there; I can point and laugh. I'm also a nerd.)
You are very good at synthesizing content/ideas. I can merely quote. However, I had these thoughts and wanted to share.
The question is how do we avoid the multipolar traps of ‘well-meaning’ solutions being supported by earnest people, while avoiding the tragedy of the commons?
I have heard Daniel speak of the fact that no one wishes for these top-down approaches that are being proposed and implemented without our consent. I wonder if he has given up hope, since he seems to have escaped, not unlike Thoreau. Perhaps, like you William, he is returning to a more self-reliant, simpler life. I am glad he is still doing podcasts.
From Medical Nemesis Ivan Illich had much to say about the direction we were headed back in 1976. He stated that the current predicaments of men are the side effects of their continued pursuit of better and more. “When more than a certain proportion of value is produced by the industrial mode, subsistence activities are paralyzed, equity declines, and total satisfaction diminishes.” He is referring specifically to food production here, but can be applied to any mode of production.
He further stated that, “Defenders of industrial progress are either blind or corrupt if they pretend that they can calculate the price of progress. The down payment for industrial development might seem reasonable, but the compound interest installments on expanding production now accrue in suffering beyond any measure or price.”
Much of Illich’s description makes me think of Paul Kingsnorth’s Machine. Can we escape, tame it?
I’m not sure that we, or our predecessors, have not made that Faustian bargain? Convenience, comfort and tribe seem to contrive against us.
One thing that stands out from that podcast, is the 150trillion price tag for cleaning up PFAS forever chemicals. That is never going to happen. As Daniel said, we externalize 100% of the negative results of resource extraction and use. We build with no thought at all for the future.
None of which surprises me, nor can I get very worked up about it, because clearly no one is in control of the world except God, so what can any of us do but take care of ourselves and those and what we love?
"I wonder if he has given up hope, since he seems to have escaped, not unlike Thoreau."
To have the will to escape, what you exactly have to have is hope and a will to live and even thrive. I live in a vast wilderness area, and it did not happen by chance it was a product of years of conscious willful effort.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that those who have retreated to the woods have thrown in the towel. I wish I was in a 20 acre plot to grow food and animals. I did not think ahead. Wasted much of my life. I am hoping for 5-7 acres in the next few years.
My plan is pretty simple, I already have beans stored, I need to get on the garden thing and there is a lot of fish and game and water where I live, I can scrape by and make it.
The sun is the largest source of energy we have and Bill Gates plans to capture that energy to save us from Global Harming. Best if we just skip type 1 and jump right to type 2.
Exactly and also add in crypto mining. The tradeoff of resources with diminishing returns. Data centers vs. rolling blackouts and the cost is passed on to "the customer".
Great share, Hunter! And your analysis at the end is very good.
I would amend the second point to read "fossil fuels," since I no longer believe in dinosaurs or that these wholly fabricated (like, literally made up out of random materials) "creatures" died and eventually turned into oil, natural gas, etc. There is a series of articles on the Subsy by Agent131711 in which the author exposes this grand lie.
It is just about time to haul in the storage veggies, though we are having summer now in fall, as we had spring all summer. Onions and garlic are drying.
As to hydro-carbons, I looked up your contact but could not find him. I caution not to get to deep in the deconstruct everything energy of the age. Fossil fuels are like old sea beds, where organic material mostly plants gathered, gradually subducted in the upheaval of plate tectonics, in the same way material sinks in ponds, lakes and seas, generating methane. That is entirely intuitive to me, as I see it in action all around me in this land of 15,000 lakes and hundreds of thousands of wetlands.
Thank you for your concern, Hunter. I have no doubt that, just as you witness in MN, organic material (and likely animal remains) contribute to "fossil fuels." I put the phrase in scary quotes because typically people see those words and think of "dinosaurs" — as they have been indoctrinated to do over many generations. I'm saying that I no longer believe that "dinosaurs" existed in the first place to potentially contribute to the natural making of "fossil fuels."
So, call me a deep deconstructionist; I am simply seeking the truth, regardless of what beliefs I must cast off. I've been called a freak my entire life, so I'm impervious to labels. (My nickname while I attended the U of M Mpls was "Scary," if that says anything, haha.)
Here is the link to Agent 131711's first article in a series debunking dinosaurs, in case you would like to read it. Unlike a lot of the articles there, I think all readers are able to read this entire post, but don't hold me to that as I only did a cursory scroll-through just now and did not see a "below the fold" notice.
Take care, and enjoy what harvest brings. The weather has been weird here, too. We're currently experiencing 50s-60s instead of warm 80s, and it sucks. The weather is forecast to return to normal weather again on Saturday.
I wouldn’t call you a deep deconstructionist, more like a secular prophet bringing truth to light. There is a Standard Oil memo from the late 1920’s that gives your answer. Dinos had nothing to do with oil. Deep earth bacteria was cited as the necessary piece, along with organic materials to generate renewed pockets of oil. Rockefeller signed the memo, and stated baldly that by positioning oil as a scarce resource, it would always demand a high premium in the market.
Look how a single marketing decision led to billions being deceived and made it possible to perpetrate Energy Con 2: Climate Change. It’s always about the Benjamin’s.
Thanks, M., for sharing about that Rockefeller memo. I think I recall reading the part about scarcity years ago. Then Agent131711 came along with additional corroboration. It's always great to have lots of backup for my silly hunches, haha.
And yes, indeed, we have been deceived, all part of their evil psychopathic agenda. It's good to question everything!
Well, y'all had the opportunity to get involved with legislation a little over a year ago and failed miserably. Good luck now that you finally realize the ramifications of leaving these technologies in the hands of Congress.💔
"all the promise of AI, better renewables, better nuclear, better education, chat-bots for old people in nursing homes, is mostly just spin to get you to support more lethal war, more sophisticated propaganda and expanded surveillance, on the way to extinction"
Really great summary William.
I'm not normally a reader but came across your article here. Thank you - excellent summary.
In thinking about these issues I'm struck by how this effort at techno-utopian (yet always ends up as dystopian) progress is, spiritually, just another variant of the essential fall of Genesis. The serpent promises 'you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil' - in other words, it's up to you, and your conditional, finite psyche to understand, control and manipulate the world to your liking. This will lead to peace, fulfillment, etc - it's the basic Satanic lie, re-expressed in the Tower of Babel story and countless times in human history. It's always a promise of happiness, but on the egoic level - whether individual or collective - that we'll eventually 'get it right' and make the paradise here through our efforts. Being gods. All the AI hype is just a new set of tools to play out the same psychic urge, one that from my Christian perspective is inherently sinful. It's rooted in self, self separate from God, whereas the doorway to paradise Jesus offers is surrender of self to God and living in the self-emptied service of the Creator/the great I AM as the way to human happiness in this plane of existence.
I see the promises of AI gaining purchase in people's minds only to extent that these same people have bought into (often unconsciously, as it's our cultural background assumption) the basis tenets of modernity - that human nature is perfectible by effort, that we can live sanely without God, etc. Modernity itself is based on the lies of the serpent (see St. Pius X) - AI is just the next turning/expression of this basic thrust.
Somehow I see the future of America as a place to exemplify the self, the gifts the creator gave us, in service to the creator, family, community and the earth.
Excellent article! We'd better not build any more nuclear facilities - you have to follow lots of rules with very high accuracy to run them without destroying yourself or your community. DEI hires will NOT be able to run power plants. And then there is the necessity of isolating the radioactive waste. Boeing is an excellent example of DEI that has run amok. Thanks for such a thought-provoking article!
Thank you! We have two facilities here in MN, both on the bank of the Mississippi, both about 20years or more older than originally planned, both with large stockpiles of used nuclear material. I suspect both are going to prove a predicament in the coming years.
It'll be everyone's predicament but will probably be hidden from the public. And the facilities are probably lying about what is already endangering their neighbors. I'm not anti-nuclear energy - I just don't think people who work with it are careful enough. You can't have an "off" day or allow life problems that to affect your work. Humans are the weakest link in nuclear facilities, which tells me that we need to stop building them until the tech is a LOT better (so the DEI moron population can't screw up and cause meltdowns). I live in New Mexico and it has ALWAYS been a DEI state. Los Alamos is the exception but they mostly have nerd problems. (I was born there; I can point and laugh. I'm also a nerd.)
I hear that Satan is building an annexe to house the transhumanists.
You are very good at synthesizing content/ideas. I can merely quote. However, I had these thoughts and wanted to share.
The question is how do we avoid the multipolar traps of ‘well-meaning’ solutions being supported by earnest people, while avoiding the tragedy of the commons?
I have heard Daniel speak of the fact that no one wishes for these top-down approaches that are being proposed and implemented without our consent. I wonder if he has given up hope, since he seems to have escaped, not unlike Thoreau. Perhaps, like you William, he is returning to a more self-reliant, simpler life. I am glad he is still doing podcasts.
From Medical Nemesis Ivan Illich had much to say about the direction we were headed back in 1976. He stated that the current predicaments of men are the side effects of their continued pursuit of better and more. “When more than a certain proportion of value is produced by the industrial mode, subsistence activities are paralyzed, equity declines, and total satisfaction diminishes.” He is referring specifically to food production here, but can be applied to any mode of production.
He further stated that, “Defenders of industrial progress are either blind or corrupt if they pretend that they can calculate the price of progress. The down payment for industrial development might seem reasonable, but the compound interest installments on expanding production now accrue in suffering beyond any measure or price.”
Much of Illich’s description makes me think of Paul Kingsnorth’s Machine. Can we escape, tame it?
I’m not sure that we, or our predecessors, have not made that Faustian bargain? Convenience, comfort and tribe seem to contrive against us.
One thing that stands out from that podcast, is the 150trillion price tag for cleaning up PFAS forever chemicals. That is never going to happen. As Daniel said, we externalize 100% of the negative results of resource extraction and use. We build with no thought at all for the future.
None of which surprises me, nor can I get very worked up about it, because clearly no one is in control of the world except God, so what can any of us do but take care of ourselves and those and what we love?
"I wonder if he has given up hope, since he seems to have escaped, not unlike Thoreau."
To have the will to escape, what you exactly have to have is hope and a will to live and even thrive. I live in a vast wilderness area, and it did not happen by chance it was a product of years of conscious willful effort.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that those who have retreated to the woods have thrown in the towel. I wish I was in a 20 acre plot to grow food and animals. I did not think ahead. Wasted much of my life. I am hoping for 5-7 acres in the next few years.
Far better to actually have one acre, than wish for 20 when the fecal matter crosses the whirling blades.
Think smaller. One acre is enough to grow a vast garden, and if you are in a wilderness area fish and game can supply your protein.
Though a bit more if one is thinking about storing beans, and growing fruit trees, cane's, vines and shrubs.
My plan is pretty simple, I already have beans stored, I need to get on the garden thing and there is a lot of fish and game and water where I live, I can scrape by and make it.
Great post.
Amen🙏
The sun is the largest source of energy we have and Bill Gates plans to capture that energy to save us from Global Harming. Best if we just skip type 1 and jump right to type 2.
Exactly and also add in crypto mining. The tradeoff of resources with diminishing returns. Data centers vs. rolling blackouts and the cost is passed on to "the customer".
Rolling blackouts, forever chemicals, and a global panopticon. They don't need a functional AI to build a nightmare dystopia.
Great share, Hunter! And your analysis at the end is very good.
I would amend the second point to read "fossil fuels," since I no longer believe in dinosaurs or that these wholly fabricated (like, literally made up out of random materials) "creatures" died and eventually turned into oil, natural gas, etc. There is a series of articles on the Subsy by Agent131711 in which the author exposes this grand lie.
P.S. Happy harvest!
It is just about time to haul in the storage veggies, though we are having summer now in fall, as we had spring all summer. Onions and garlic are drying.
As to hydro-carbons, I looked up your contact but could not find him. I caution not to get to deep in the deconstruct everything energy of the age. Fossil fuels are like old sea beds, where organic material mostly plants gathered, gradually subducted in the upheaval of plate tectonics, in the same way material sinks in ponds, lakes and seas, generating methane. That is entirely intuitive to me, as I see it in action all around me in this land of 15,000 lakes and hundreds of thousands of wetlands.
Thank you for your concern, Hunter. I have no doubt that, just as you witness in MN, organic material (and likely animal remains) contribute to "fossil fuels." I put the phrase in scary quotes because typically people see those words and think of "dinosaurs" — as they have been indoctrinated to do over many generations. I'm saying that I no longer believe that "dinosaurs" existed in the first place to potentially contribute to the natural making of "fossil fuels."
So, call me a deep deconstructionist; I am simply seeking the truth, regardless of what beliefs I must cast off. I've been called a freak my entire life, so I'm impervious to labels. (My nickname while I attended the U of M Mpls was "Scary," if that says anything, haha.)
Here is the link to Agent 131711's first article in a series debunking dinosaurs, in case you would like to read it. Unlike a lot of the articles there, I think all readers are able to read this entire post, but don't hold me to that as I only did a cursory scroll-through just now and did not see a "below the fold" notice.
https://chemtrails.substack.com/p/the-dinosaur-hoax-the-royal-society
Take care, and enjoy what harvest brings. The weather has been weird here, too. We're currently experiencing 50s-60s instead of warm 80s, and it sucks. The weather is forecast to return to normal weather again on Saturday.
I wouldn’t call you a deep deconstructionist, more like a secular prophet bringing truth to light. There is a Standard Oil memo from the late 1920’s that gives your answer. Dinos had nothing to do with oil. Deep earth bacteria was cited as the necessary piece, along with organic materials to generate renewed pockets of oil. Rockefeller signed the memo, and stated baldly that by positioning oil as a scarce resource, it would always demand a high premium in the market.
Look how a single marketing decision led to billions being deceived and made it possible to perpetrate Energy Con 2: Climate Change. It’s always about the Benjamin’s.
Thanks, M., for sharing about that Rockefeller memo. I think I recall reading the part about scarcity years ago. Then Agent131711 came along with additional corroboration. It's always great to have lots of backup for my silly hunches, haha.
And yes, indeed, we have been deceived, all part of their evil psychopathic agenda. It's good to question everything!
Well, y'all had the opportunity to get involved with legislation a little over a year ago and failed miserably. Good luck now that you finally realize the ramifications of leaving these technologies in the hands of Congress.💔
Excellent essay, thanks!