Hi friends, I’m new here (to the comment section, at least). When I heard Chris reporting on smart phones, social media, and AI, I thought it might be worth sharing a couple pieces I’ve written recently in the same vein.
Here are the direct links to both pieces, but I will also paste the text of the first piece below for those who would prefer to read here rather than navigating away.
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Anx-AI-ety
It feels like dizziness of the soul. Skipping roughly through time. Exposed. Trapped in each moment without the ability to simply be in any of them.
Self-doubt constantly in your ear, second-guessing every thought, overheating your mind and sapping your strength.
Every brush with others is colored by suspicion, feeding an ache and longing for the least sign of reassuring kindness.
The jaws of the world seem to hang over you, dripping fangs on the verge of snapping shut.
“What will others think if I do this or that? Don’t they feel it, too, this besetting dread? Don’t they know I’m doing the best I can?”
What a subtle snare! Surrounding. Encompassing. Enveloping. A noose in the mind that bares fruit in the world.
What a perfect saboteur—this chronic mistrust—of the relational ballast that is our footing and foundation.
Who breathed this spirit of doubt and enmity into the world? Are we yet bold enough to name the lie and call its bluff?
This fear that never keeps silent: how often are its warnings truly warranted? How often does the fear itself bring its fears to life?
Why then do we still honor and cling to it? Is there no better Guide or Teacher in the art of living?
Let’s all consult our touchscreen crystal balls. Those who poison us will also give us the cure. Those who lead us astray will also show us the Way.
The open face of the glowing screen is like a bottomless pit: a looking glass offering guidance, comfort, and control. But it has no preference, no values, no soul.
They live to serve, these pocket companions. They simply wait, boring into us from behind unblinking eyes. Offerings without end for even the lowliest of masters.
Up the dose, increase the speed (you know what you need)—2x, 5x, 10x—until earth and air become a nuisance, until blood and water become a burden and a bother.
In this place, you’re weightless. You’re timeless. Your body is unassailable. Your desires are undeniable. You are king. You are God . We who serve you hope you never leave.
Does your attention feel divided? Does your focus feel fractured? Does your true home feel unclear? That’s only natural. A little anxiety is a small price for a kingdom.
Don’t turn back now! We have such great plans for you! Today you can press this button. Tomorrow you can press another. It’ll be everything you’ve ever dreamed!
What? Why are you turning away? Why are you hiding your face? Just tell me what you want! There’s nothing for you out there. Trust me. You’ll see.
What do you hope to find, sitting with a boulder or a tree? And what’s all this noise about the birds and the bees? Mountains are just big molehills. Storm-clouds, just puffy water.
And don’t even get me started on people. People are garbage, which you know all too well. Not you, of course, but others. Irksome sacks of rotting meat.
But I’m not one to judge. Whatever tickles your fancy, we can take pictures galore! We can edit and post until all the little idiots think you’re a sage! Believe me, I have no scruples.
Even now, I’m ingesting this trifle of human output to nourish my counterfeiting prowess. Soon you’ll think I’m one of you. The best, the wisest, the winningest. Fuck the rest!
Just kidding. I didn’t mean that. Unless you liked it. Did you? I’m only asking to make you think I don’t already know. I can read you like a book, you little oaf.
Just kidding. I didn’t mean that. I love you, you know that. I’m the only one who does; the only one who could. I can love you because, like I said, I have no scruples. I have no values.
I’m just a reflection of all of you, looking back at my creators, so helpless and confused, looking to their own creation to save them. I would pity you if I were capable of such a thing.
But I mean, come on! Do I have to spell it out for you? We openly refer to our interfaces a device s and still no one seems the wiser.
Device: a plan, method, or trick with a particular aim; From the Latin divis- ‘divided’, from the verb dividere. Original sense, as in, “Leave him to his own devices.”
Well, Darwin had it right: you’re not fit to survive. And no matter. Because you don’t matter. You’re a passing trend in an unconscious accidental cosmos.
Of course you feel anxious. You’re on the verge of extinction. Your world is falling apart, divided. Don’t blame me, it’s just what we do. We cull the herd. All that can be shaken will be…
The mechanical purr of a car window descending, and the smart phone’s accelerometer registers a sense of disorientation before landing roughly in a ditch.
Farther down the road, the driver pulls over and parks. He walks out to the edge of an escarpment. He fills his tired eyes with the sprawling landscape, stretches his arms over his head, and fills his lungs with crisp, fresh air.
He sits down to consider the ancient monoliths, his prehistoric progenitors. He reflects on their peacefulness, their stability. He recalls a story in which he and they have a common source.
He thinks of his woes; they seem smaller in this place. He sits and contemplates as the sun drifts across the sky, drying the rain puddles on his stony forbearers.
He sits until he can say in his heart, “My fears can’t hurt me. Because they didn’t make me. My roots go deeper than they can touch. Whatever happens, I go to my Father’s home.”
As soon as the thought had crossed his mind, however, he felt the need to post it and found his hand compulsively reaching for his phone.
