Watching the Beatles' video seems like a sort of free will violation putting long-dead people in a sideshow for which they didn't agree to participate.
I'm beginning to have a glimmer of understanding for the Amish.
Yes! There are all sorts of legal and ethical questions that are being ignored, except for the dire "there are all sorts of legal and ethical questions being ignored!" statements that every journalist makes when profiling the latest "advancement" in this territory. Which is why I didn't mention that stuff in this article. I just couldn't join in.
Researching this article actually made me look up, "how to become Amish." 🙄
Re: "I’d argue that this push from the tech overlords is calculated to strip us of that ability. They are like colonialist conquerers, offering us shiny trinkets in exchange for our far more valuable ancestral lands."
The 'colonizers' have been at it a long time - this push to get us in the cloud is the final goals. They have busy creating digital versions of us for years.
Agreed. This is not something that just popped up in the past decade, though it feels that way for some of us. I'll admit I ignored a lot of buzz about "the singularity" because I was either "too busy" or thought it was so far off, I could pay attention later.
Immortality for at least two millennia has been related to escaping mortal life and gaining eternal life. It has been what the church has promised if you have faith in God. The notion got twisted as the Modern Age progressed to being we will become as God with the power over life and death. This is the notion behind the Singularity. As a Presbyterian minister who has spent most of his career outside the parish, I never found the appeal of gaining Heaven very compelling. It minimizes the value of the current life that we have. I am convinced that this desire to transcend this life through technology will replicate in new ways the problems that we already experience. The reason is the egotism or arrogance required to play God means we believe in our superiority and that we are only accountable to our ambitions. Having been at the bedside of the dying at the point of death, and conducted their memorial services, two impressions remain. One is that those who lived into their nineties or past a hundred having outlived family and friends, feel very much alone. The social dimension of life has passed many of them by. Second, the moment of death does not point to need for immortality, but to importance of love as the defining character of our earthly existence. Where love fits into the advancement of technology remains an open question to be answered.
Yes and yes and yes. These ideas are so important, Ed, and clearly so well-considered from your own experience. Some of what you're saying fits perfectly with Part II of this essay; do you mind if I quote you?
"...the moment of death does not point to need for immortality, but to importance of love as the defining character of our earthly existence." Exactly right, Ed.
"Where love fits into the advancement of technology remains an open question to be answered."
I imagine if it were love guiding that advancement, we would be in good hands. Assuming that the tech aligns with principals of nature rather than attempting to co-opt or replace them.
Though I also think, as this slave-system implodes, and both information and higher frequencies flood this planet, we may discover our bodies are pretty high-tech. Already impressive we may discover they do much more - though haven't had the environment in which it can be utilized. (Not to mention the endless poisoning we deal with)
In the future humans may live decades longer, naturally.
I agree. As I have been saying for a couple of decades, we are in a great transition. There are endings and beginnings. The rediscoveries will be the ones that sustain our world as they have in the past. For this reason I have hope.
It's so hard to imagine tech being guided by love, after so many years of its being guided so heavily by military advancement. It's a beautiful concept though -- one that I'm going to incorporate into my intentions and imaginations of what lies ahead. Thanks as always for your perspective, Kathleen!
Another great piece, Mary! I love how you ended this so much, with the photo and your poem. Real life. I admit that, while being somewhat fully aware of the crazy AI goings on, I am choosing to just ignore it and carry on. I'll be 70 this month. As much as getting older has never bothered me much, I have to admit that the number has me thinking about lots of things. Least of which is a life of immortality via AI or any other way. I will let Nature take her course with me.
And, oh, that image of holding hands with a warm-water-filled plastic glove...I thought I'd seen it all. UGH. Over my dead body. Sorry, I couldn't resist! 🤭
December 17th! Yours?? A fellow Sag? My first birthday here was rewarded with a Nor'easter! There's a crazy beautiful snow happening outside right now as I type! xoxo
My North Node is in Capricorn... 😳 My body is literally vibrating from this snow experience. I woke up to see all the trees covered in snow. Looks like Camelot! I must have taken 100 photos. I want to write but I want to go back outside. Sending you some Snow Energy, Mary! ❄️❄️❄️
What a delightful post! Instead of filling me with dread, it filled me with assurance that we crave that which is real! Of course you had an existential crisis at 7! 😂 you are an old soul born in this Mary body and boy, am I glad, our paths have crossed! I don’t get the immortality scam. Wouldn’t ya wanna see (eventually) what death has to offer too? Wouldn’t you want to peak behind the curtain at the next grand adventure? By the way, I hadn’t seen the Beetles video and I really rather liked it. It spoke to me of friendship more than anything else, the journey those guys took together and to have only two of them still left is sentimental, sure. I often think about how when my generation gets older, in my theatre company, when we start dying off, who would be the last person remaining from the saga that was Silent Theatre; would they stand over the grave of the second to last person alive wishing it was them so that feeling of aloneness doesn’t overwhelm.
Looking forward to the next immortality post. You’re always invited to my party. I have a beat friend here that also loves the topic of death. We’d all get along great!
Thanks, friend! Love your comment about the next grand adventure -- that's part of Part II, for sure. Glad you like the Beatles vid -- they did a great job with it, and it's definitely moving, for all the reasons you mention. I just... I dunno, it makes me grit my teeth in a funny way. 😂
Your macabre thoughts on the slow demise of your theatre company made me think: "It's no wonder we're friends." ❤️
" to have only two of them still left is sentimental" -- but with only one real'un (Ringo) an' one faker (Faul) --okay so I'm a crackpot, right?!--it's scenty-MENTAL! --it stinks an' it's "mental" i.e. crazy! Insane! It's like tryin' ta pass of a Ritz cracker as apple pie (oh they did this here durin' the war years). Sadly it's a con on them that are willin' ta worship the fake an' ditch the real. I'd yeet this away like a dead possum on a white wall tire... So there's only Ringo left an' if ya look at his expression, as my younger one said--looks like they held a gun to his head ta make 'im do it! May he do a deathbed "fessin' up" like George's... I'll bet he's ashamed ta have is name on this... Meantimes, I'll hope fer a revival (but not a dang AI ressurection!) of yer Silent Theater--real folks an'a real audience!
Ok, Daisy, you won’t believe this: but a.) I had that same thought about Ringo - like he’s being forced to participate and b.) I just went down the Faul rabbit hole. If all that is true, I know nothing anymore. I’m done. Nothing is real. Everything is a simulation of a simulation. Am I even typing this?! Who knows. Might be an avatar on some weird flat earth lab and I am just a figment of the universe’s imagination. What is reality, even.
I did the exact same thing, Tonika, and came up with the exact same existential questions. Then I pulled myself together and decided that I'm willing to believe certain things, just to keep myself tethered to the ground in some way. And something like Faul/Paul is so utterly divorced from my own life that I think, what the heck? I'll believe it. It has no relevance. It's not like a government program that has the potential to endanger my life, ya know what I'm sayin'?
Haha, yes, I know exactly what you’re saying. And if we’re here to dance the dance, be playful co-creators of our reality, we could do worse that have fun with Faul.
That was powerful, Mary. Humans can be so vain as to think they can "capture a personality" through AI as if a personality is something digital, repeatable and static. We are a process ever in motion and AI can never capture that. It can only give us back what we feed it. Your article helped me to think through many different aspects of AI. One of them is that AI will lie and make things up. Just like humans. Why would we want to recreate that exactly? LOL. You are awesome!!
Mary, I sent your article to 4 friends, and have only received one response, and I'm not holding my breath for the others to reply. This is what she wrote back, "Interesting, but I'm not interested." I replied, "you're not interested, in What??" She said, "in hanging around after I die." I replied that I doubted that any of us are, but that wasn't the point of the article. I told her it wasn't written as an advertisement to sell a product or an argument in favor of preserving one's remains, but to inspire some critical thought on the part of the reader about where AI is taking us if we allow it. I didn't try to discuss it any further. I could see she wasn't into it. Disappointing, but I don't know what I expected, and now I'm thinking maybe it wasn't fair of me to spring an article like that on any of them. I'll have to examine my motives. Oy!
As far as motives go, I think you said it pretty clearly: "Lovers of the Beatles will automatically be drawn in, and then be struck by the profound truths in the things you say." If that was the hoped-for result, then it makes sense that you'd be disappointed.
IMHO, only your expectation was "unfair" (if you want to label anything unfair), rather than the benign act of sharing an article. My two cents. xox
Thank you, Mary! I really like the way you processed that whole thing, and the conclusion you reached. I feel a lot better about it now. Isn't it amazing how much we all learn from these exchanges on substack.? It's the best. xox
Oh, Mary! you never fail to surprise me. What a great article., and what an amazing job you did discussing this topic. You left us with so much to ponder. I'm going to send this to my old friends back East. It might actually be a conversation starter. Lovers of the Beatles (who isn't?), will automatically be
drawn in, and then be struck by the profound truths in the things you say. Beautiful!
Hey, these are my favorite lines: "Ick." and "If you want to spend thousands of dollars to freeze your body, or just your head (it’s cheaper!) after you’re dead — knock yourself out. So to speak." You crack me up! I love your humor.
Oh, I like this one too, from the poem: "That’s vinyl siding, dear. Go find something real." A lot of truth in that statement, for sure.
Thanks for the mention. You caught me by surprise there also.
Dec 3, 2023·edited Dec 3, 2023Liked by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
Blurring the distinction between natural and synthetic has been going on for al long time. An essential part of the slave-system.
There is something about humans in nature, naturally, that triggers healing and calm and gratitude and connection - and likely holds many more benefits that we don't know about (or remember).
Humans go with Nature, are part of it and we feel that in our cells don't we?
Robots and (presumably) transhumans go with digital/cyberspace. That's their habitat. And that is great for this force/cult behind the control systems who do want to cyborg our asses into the cloud.
(Ain't gonna happen.)
Jay Weidner vid interviewing Mike Williams on Beatles as a manufactured band. (Manipulation goes on and on.)
That's an interesting concept, Kathleen. Why is that blurring essential to a slave-system, in your opinion? Is it a weakening of the soul-connection to the divine, or something else?
True that -- it ain't gonna happen. I've never thought about the concept of "habitat" as it relates to humans vs. robots, but your excellent comment popped into my head when I was realizing that the only place we can have private conversations now is in nature: a forest, beach, mountaintop, etc. (Assuming we've left our phones at home.) It's another reason to feel calm and connected there.
Thanks for the vid link, I'll take a look. Reminds me of the Laurel Canyon stuff.
"Why is that blurring essential to a slave-system, in your opinion? Is it a weakening of the soul-connection to the divine, or something else?"
Well, as Steiner predicted, this force, he referred to as Ahriman, would seek to use a vaccine to do just that - sever humans from their soul/divinity. It's for total control. Easy to programs robots, not so easy to program beings connected to their larger selves and Source.
They are, imo, running out of time as the earth's frequencies go up. They operate in a particular band of frequencies we are pushing beyond. It spells their doom and the end of spells too, since they were also successful at certain bandwidths.
It's just astonishing how prescient Steiner was. My husband came across that quote of Steiner's early in the vaxx campaign, and we were both agog, since many of our Waldorf friends (some of whom are devout anthroposophists) seemed entirely uninterested in its significance and relevance.
Astonishing is right. Same here. The woman who gave me several book on RS and told me about Ahriman and yes - even the vax prediction - still took the jab. As did the rest of the anthroposophists in her group. We don't stay in touch anymore though I'm tempted to reach out;I wonder if she's snapped out of the spell and realized what happened?
Tang would'a been better as a sink cleaner! Re the frozen OJ--oh lordy, I HOPE NOT (but my guess is yup, they still sell the stuff--ugh) --it wuz memorialized in song:
Yup, 7 is a "late nite" tho' no can do on daze where my younger'un has a 10am class! -- let's say I don't clock a full 8 too often but I'm more partial ta owls than roosters ;-) -- I say whut works works an' thank gawd fer homeschoolin', the-ate-'er hours, late call times, an' double espressos!
WOW, I am so glad to find you. I love your writing style. This particular subject was so gross to me when I first heard it. I could be remembering this wrongly, but I believe it was @Stegiel with the journal of lingering sanity who said that when he was looking for work online, he stumbled across a job posting. (I may have this wrong, but I believe it was him). anyway, it paid well per hour and it was really a gross job. They were creating memories for people who had loved ones die, by allowing them to talk to a pretend version of that person. The job posting was to do with working with those systems. I believe it was selling the idea to people, probably. Sacred: "Connected with God or a god or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration; religious rather than secular,
(of writing or text) embodying the laws or doctrines of a religion, regarded with great respect and reverence by a particular religion, group, or individual. Regarded as too valuable to be interfered with; sacrosanct. That is beyond measure, the pretend it's a conversation with your dead mom trick. That is just not healthy. I LOVE your poem. It's perfect.
I'm so glad you found me, too! :-) And thank you for the lovely compliment. Like you, I get excited when I find writers whose voice resonates with me -- it feels like coming home, in a way.
The job posting you describe IS gross. We are trading the sacred for the superficial, the profound for the profane, all the time. It's a bait-and-switch and it's killing our connection to ourselves and the divine.
I've never come across Stegiel or The Journal of Lingering Sanity. (Great title!!) I'm going to check him out now... thanks!
Human beings inherently cringe when AI impersonates being human and seductively offers the ego immortality while the soul naturally longs for wings to dimensions beyond
Dec 10, 2023·edited Dec 10, 2023Liked by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
Haha, of COURSE -- his face was dour! But I think at this point he don' wanna die at the hands of MI6 so he goes along with it but it's clear he'd ruther be gettin' a hot sauce enema than sufferin' the insufferable "Faul." Now don'cha worry Tonika, you ARE real, we ARE real--Faul is a nasty bloke named Billy "Shears" but he's real. Now if Mistah Cyber Lambchop Devil Balls gits their way--we're all in the Matrix but I think we human beans'll prevail. "Zey" been pullin' our legs (an' other parts private) fer deck-aids (oh AIDS wasn't real either... they just killed lotsa gay men with countermeasures too...Fauxchee also at the helm). So yeah, we ARE real but they've been pullin' wool over our eyes fer longer than we'd like ta think! (Fer fun this week, check out Greg Reese's teeriffic short-take out jus' this week on how we didn't go ta the moon--I've known it forever (nuttin' made sense, I figgered it WUZ Kubrick in the director's chair...) but anyhwhoo, what took me years of readin' up--he does in like 5 minutes! So yup, that "trip" wasn't real either -- tho some had a "trip' on us!) Nuttin' is real 'cept US!
When my hubby talked about the moon landings a few years ago I thought he was completely insane. My, what a few years can do! Now I question everything -- which isn't a bad place to be, really. The only things I don't question are the limitless nature of the human spirit, the triumph of love over fear, and peanut butter. I love peanut butter.
yer hubby wuz right about the moon landin's--I LOVE space stuff tho'--'cept Tang. Tang wuz deesgustin'. Kids only drunk the stuff cuz they imagined "real" Astro--NAUGHTS drank it. (I'll bet'cha the hired spacemen wuz suckin' down whiskey ta manage the lies...notice, they never smile...)
But yup, gotta question it all (an' no more am I makin' fun of them flat Eartherz--my kiddos laff at me fer that one tho'...).
Re Peanut Butter--we were LIED TO 'bout that as well. George Washington Carver didn't invent the stuff (not even close)--the Ancient Aztecs did an' then (soooo-ree George) a feller from Canada took it ta the next step--the form we got today...
Big fan 'o PB here too--I think we shared Buckey Ball Choco-LUV (an' of course you'll remember, "you got peanut butter in my chocolate, hey you got chocolate in my peanut butter!" -- a winnin' combo--triumph of PB over chocolate! or is it chocolate over PB? THESE are the true questions life presents!!!
Jan 20·edited Jan 20Liked by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin
Ditto re Tang! (save $ an' feed yer kiddos citrus scented cleanser--approved by fake-o Astro-NOTs --or 'member that frozen OJ in the tube ya mixed with tap warter "from the FlurryDa Sunshine Tree"--yukko! Them ads were "ketchy" but the food wuz mighty "sketchy!"
Ah sleep.... (perchance ta dream?)--yup I git some in--near-always--I'm consistently, like clockwork even--asleep at 7am ... tho' whut heppens on either side of that magic hour is a crap shoot! (goin' light on slumber seems ta be my vice--that an' dark chocolate!) I think yer burnin' that candle both ends too time ta time, no? (I've always been a night owl tho'!)
I'm with YOU an' the Woodpecker (tho' they'ze pesky lil' fellers--took down quite a fine few trees at Liz Christy Garden offa Houston--if ya knew it? that wuz a shame but indeedy them beaks was the real deal!) Anywho... tho I ain't no royal-tea, I quotheth whut the late dead Queen would'a said, "We are NOT amused!" Mediocritty aside (it's not so hot imo)--the whole thing reeks too smarmy by half an' chillin' if ya consider (as ya did so well!) the subtext--that we kin raise the dead! Deep fakery is deep fukery--this is more ersatz than an olestra tater chip...uggabug!
"The Beatles" were created by Tavistock--but they heppened ta be made up (original gang with 'er without Pete Best as ya'd have it... ) of some gen-u-ine-ly talented an' endearin' young fellers--who didn't figger out right pronto that they wuz pawns. That took time... Maxwell's Sliver Hammer seemed ta "hammer in" that idear... Poor George's dentist keep tryin' ta get 'em all on LSD--them boyz wuz HOUNDED! Now ya know that John wuz the acerbic one an' I'm not even 100% sure he penned this 'un which is a might scenty-mental an' even Adorno (!) wuz known ta pen some've their tunes. (BUT given John's CIA Dragon Laydee wife / aka hiz handler--still "managin'" the brand... wull, I have some thoughts 'bout how this came about). I'm amazed Ringo is even talkin' ta Faul (he shunned the man fer deck-aids an' wouldn't appear with that faker onstage). The real Paul, not havin' been on this Earth since 1966 (yup, that's a 66 an' if ya look at all that Sgt. Pepper Crypto-mancy 'er read "Faul's" self-congratulatory book/dross (Memoirs of Billy Shears), havin' some part in creeeee-ate-ing this wince-wurthy AI revival--RE-vive-all (let's bring 'em back as if they wuz fainted...it's more like NECROMANCY an' ZOMBIE RESURRECTION ha ha!)--is more 'n reprehensible ta me, the untalented wanker / imposter ratfink (!) -- plus this bizness is totally sad--all AI to me is BOTH sad an' dangerous as ya so clearly articulated here Mary. Kids with heads in their phones in cyber space--as the "real" Beatles sang--NOTHING IS REAL. Paul bein' buried in Strawberry Fields... So yup, this is phoney an' twisted as all heck--I'm fer bannin' all AI an' I keep meanin' ta do a full stack on it tho' been mentionin' this fer some time in many'a my pieces cuz I feel AI is like the sound of Nero's fiddle--which he did not play while Rome Burned but our entire legacy of culture / kult-sure! is on fire, dumpster fire...).
I'm a BIG fan'o the fab four--while they lived. An' in these times where folks'r droppin' like flies dyin' prematurely--it's really the nadir of shame ta normalize "un-dead'in' " of real lives... "now" it's Now & Then they do it--eventually--it will be "always" with all "lives" (unlives) in the cloud (toxic 'er otherwise)
I hate air fresheners but seein' this viddeyo makes me wanna spray the entire room an' then some! Thanks fer sharin' yer thoughts here--couldn't agree more!
Well, THAT was an education and a half! (I know you have a better way of saying "education," but I can't recall it right now... Thanks for all the rabbit holes, Daisy!!
My favorite is this: "Deep fakery is deep fukery--this is more ersatz than an olestra tater chip." You never disappoint. xox M
P.S. I'd love to see a stack of yours devoted to AI!
...Ah sweet mystery of life...love will never emanate from a robot, an electro-mechanical device, an artificial construct of any mathamatic equation...when a song or a photograph or novel, any ‘artificial reality’, or any representation of human experience evokes an emotional response, that response is from your own capacity, either to love or it’s opposite, to fear.
Beautifully stated, T.L., and so true. Love can only flow through and from the natural world. As Kathleen D wrote in another comment, "Humans go with Nature, are part of it and we feel that in our cells don't we?"
Watching the Beatles' video seems like a sort of free will violation putting long-dead people in a sideshow for which they didn't agree to participate.
I'm beginning to have a glimmer of understanding for the Amish.
Yes! There are all sorts of legal and ethical questions that are being ignored, except for the dire "there are all sorts of legal and ethical questions being ignored!" statements that every journalist makes when profiling the latest "advancement" in this territory. Which is why I didn't mention that stuff in this article. I just couldn't join in.
Researching this article actually made me look up, "how to become Amish." 🙄
A tech solution is NOT always better than nothing, just as there ARE things worse than death. Thanks for helping us stay human, Mary!
Well said, Katie! You, too...
Mary, what an excellent post this is.
Re: "I’d argue that this push from the tech overlords is calculated to strip us of that ability. They are like colonialist conquerers, offering us shiny trinkets in exchange for our far more valuable ancestral lands."
Yes, exactly.
I was going to re-quote those same sentences.
The 'colonizers' have been at it a long time - this push to get us in the cloud is the final goals. They have busy creating digital versions of us for years.
Agreed. This is not something that just popped up in the past decade, though it feels that way for some of us. I'll admit I ignored a lot of buzz about "the singularity" because I was either "too busy" or thought it was so far off, I could pay attention later.
Immortality for at least two millennia has been related to escaping mortal life and gaining eternal life. It has been what the church has promised if you have faith in God. The notion got twisted as the Modern Age progressed to being we will become as God with the power over life and death. This is the notion behind the Singularity. As a Presbyterian minister who has spent most of his career outside the parish, I never found the appeal of gaining Heaven very compelling. It minimizes the value of the current life that we have. I am convinced that this desire to transcend this life through technology will replicate in new ways the problems that we already experience. The reason is the egotism or arrogance required to play God means we believe in our superiority and that we are only accountable to our ambitions. Having been at the bedside of the dying at the point of death, and conducted their memorial services, two impressions remain. One is that those who lived into their nineties or past a hundred having outlived family and friends, feel very much alone. The social dimension of life has passed many of them by. Second, the moment of death does not point to need for immortality, but to importance of love as the defining character of our earthly existence. Where love fits into the advancement of technology remains an open question to be answered.
Yes and yes and yes. These ideas are so important, Ed, and clearly so well-considered from your own experience. Some of what you're saying fits perfectly with Part II of this essay; do you mind if I quote you?
Quote away. Glad to encourage deep, peaceful thoughts. Thank you.
"...the moment of death does not point to need for immortality, but to importance of love as the defining character of our earthly existence." Exactly right, Ed.
"Where love fits into the advancement of technology remains an open question to be answered."
I imagine if it were love guiding that advancement, we would be in good hands. Assuming that the tech aligns with principals of nature rather than attempting to co-opt or replace them.
Though I also think, as this slave-system implodes, and both information and higher frequencies flood this planet, we may discover our bodies are pretty high-tech. Already impressive we may discover they do much more - though haven't had the environment in which it can be utilized. (Not to mention the endless poisoning we deal with)
In the future humans may live decades longer, naturally.
I agree. As I have been saying for a couple of decades, we are in a great transition. There are endings and beginnings. The rediscoveries will be the ones that sustain our world as they have in the past. For this reason I have hope.
Me too. Endings are necessary for change to occur; that's probably another reason for our reluctance to embrace them.
Grateful for your presence and your shared wisdom, Ed.
It's so hard to imagine tech being guided by love, after so many years of its being guided so heavily by military advancement. It's a beautiful concept though -- one that I'm going to incorporate into my intentions and imaginations of what lies ahead. Thanks as always for your perspective, Kathleen!
Another great piece, Mary! I love how you ended this so much, with the photo and your poem. Real life. I admit that, while being somewhat fully aware of the crazy AI goings on, I am choosing to just ignore it and carry on. I'll be 70 this month. As much as getting older has never bothered me much, I have to admit that the number has me thinking about lots of things. Least of which is a life of immortality via AI or any other way. I will let Nature take her course with me.
And, oh, that image of holding hands with a warm-water-filled plastic glove...I thought I'd seen it all. UGH. Over my dead body. Sorry, I couldn't resist! 🤭
Thanks, Barbara! I fully support your fully ignoring this crap and steeping yourself in Nature. That's where the healing happens, as you so well know.
Hey, when's your birthday? I'm a Dec. baby myself.
I know, that image totally took me down when I saw it. But I appreciate the dark humor...
December 17th! Yours?? A fellow Sag? My first birthday here was rewarded with a Nor'easter! There's a crazy beautiful snow happening outside right now as I type! xoxo
December 29th -- Capricorn. Ooh... I miss the snow something fierce. Enjoy, Barbara!
My North Node is in Capricorn... 😳 My body is literally vibrating from this snow experience. I woke up to see all the trees covered in snow. Looks like Camelot! I must have taken 100 photos. I want to write but I want to go back outside. Sending you some Snow Energy, Mary! ❄️❄️❄️
Hey, a P.S.: do you mind sharing where in NH you landed?
North Sandwich, in the foothills of the White Mountains and in the Lakes Region. Bear Country. 🐻🐻🐻. I still pinch myself with gratitude. 🙏🏻🌲🌲🌲🥰
What a delightful post! Instead of filling me with dread, it filled me with assurance that we crave that which is real! Of course you had an existential crisis at 7! 😂 you are an old soul born in this Mary body and boy, am I glad, our paths have crossed! I don’t get the immortality scam. Wouldn’t ya wanna see (eventually) what death has to offer too? Wouldn’t you want to peak behind the curtain at the next grand adventure? By the way, I hadn’t seen the Beetles video and I really rather liked it. It spoke to me of friendship more than anything else, the journey those guys took together and to have only two of them still left is sentimental, sure. I often think about how when my generation gets older, in my theatre company, when we start dying off, who would be the last person remaining from the saga that was Silent Theatre; would they stand over the grave of the second to last person alive wishing it was them so that feeling of aloneness doesn’t overwhelm.
Looking forward to the next immortality post. You’re always invited to my party. I have a beat friend here that also loves the topic of death. We’d all get along great!
Thanks, friend! Love your comment about the next grand adventure -- that's part of Part II, for sure. Glad you like the Beatles vid -- they did a great job with it, and it's definitely moving, for all the reasons you mention. I just... I dunno, it makes me grit my teeth in a funny way. 😂
Your macabre thoughts on the slow demise of your theatre company made me think: "It's no wonder we're friends." ❤️
Hahaha, indeed! Sorry, I somehow missed your response.
" to have only two of them still left is sentimental" -- but with only one real'un (Ringo) an' one faker (Faul) --okay so I'm a crackpot, right?!--it's scenty-MENTAL! --it stinks an' it's "mental" i.e. crazy! Insane! It's like tryin' ta pass of a Ritz cracker as apple pie (oh they did this here durin' the war years). Sadly it's a con on them that are willin' ta worship the fake an' ditch the real. I'd yeet this away like a dead possum on a white wall tire... So there's only Ringo left an' if ya look at his expression, as my younger one said--looks like they held a gun to his head ta make 'im do it! May he do a deathbed "fessin' up" like George's... I'll bet he's ashamed ta have is name on this... Meantimes, I'll hope fer a revival (but not a dang AI ressurection!) of yer Silent Theater--real folks an'a real audience!
Ok, Daisy, you won’t believe this: but a.) I had that same thought about Ringo - like he’s being forced to participate and b.) I just went down the Faul rabbit hole. If all that is true, I know nothing anymore. I’m done. Nothing is real. Everything is a simulation of a simulation. Am I even typing this?! Who knows. Might be an avatar on some weird flat earth lab and I am just a figment of the universe’s imagination. What is reality, even.
I did the exact same thing, Tonika, and came up with the exact same existential questions. Then I pulled myself together and decided that I'm willing to believe certain things, just to keep myself tethered to the ground in some way. And something like Faul/Paul is so utterly divorced from my own life that I think, what the heck? I'll believe it. It has no relevance. It's not like a government program that has the potential to endanger my life, ya know what I'm sayin'?
Haha, yes, I know exactly what you’re saying. And if we’re here to dance the dance, be playful co-creators of our reality, we could do worse that have fun with Faul.
👯!
That was powerful, Mary. Humans can be so vain as to think they can "capture a personality" through AI as if a personality is something digital, repeatable and static. We are a process ever in motion and AI can never capture that. It can only give us back what we feed it. Your article helped me to think through many different aspects of AI. One of them is that AI will lie and make things up. Just like humans. Why would we want to recreate that exactly? LOL. You are awesome!!
Vanity, for SURE. And you make great points about AI reflecting back our own stuff -- the good, bad, and ugly. We don't need more of the same!
You're awesome, too, my friend. Give my regards to Om Shanti ❤️
Mary, I sent your article to 4 friends, and have only received one response, and I'm not holding my breath for the others to reply. This is what she wrote back, "Interesting, but I'm not interested." I replied, "you're not interested, in What??" She said, "in hanging around after I die." I replied that I doubted that any of us are, but that wasn't the point of the article. I told her it wasn't written as an advertisement to sell a product or an argument in favor of preserving one's remains, but to inspire some critical thought on the part of the reader about where AI is taking us if we allow it. I didn't try to discuss it any further. I could see she wasn't into it. Disappointing, but I don't know what I expected, and now I'm thinking maybe it wasn't fair of me to spring an article like that on any of them. I'll have to examine my motives. Oy!
You crack me up!
As far as motives go, I think you said it pretty clearly: "Lovers of the Beatles will automatically be drawn in, and then be struck by the profound truths in the things you say." If that was the hoped-for result, then it makes sense that you'd be disappointed.
IMHO, only your expectation was "unfair" (if you want to label anything unfair), rather than the benign act of sharing an article. My two cents. xox
Thank you, Mary! I really like the way you processed that whole thing, and the conclusion you reached. I feel a lot better about it now. Isn't it amazing how much we all learn from these exchanges on substack.? It's the best. xox
Oh, good! And yes, it is. A ray of light in these benighted times. Xox
Oh, Mary! you never fail to surprise me. What a great article., and what an amazing job you did discussing this topic. You left us with so much to ponder. I'm going to send this to my old friends back East. It might actually be a conversation starter. Lovers of the Beatles (who isn't?), will automatically be
drawn in, and then be struck by the profound truths in the things you say. Beautiful!
Hey, these are my favorite lines: "Ick." and "If you want to spend thousands of dollars to freeze your body, or just your head (it’s cheaper!) after you’re dead — knock yourself out. So to speak." You crack me up! I love your humor.
Oh, I like this one too, from the poem: "That’s vinyl siding, dear. Go find something real." A lot of truth in that statement, for sure.
Thanks for the mention. You caught me by surprise there also.
Can't wait for Part II. xox
Thanks so much, Rocket! Let me know if your friends back East have any reaction -- if they even read it. 😂
Your support means so much to me, and you bring your own humor and wisdom to the table, which always enlivens me. Big hugs... xox
Blurring the distinction between natural and synthetic has been going on for al long time. An essential part of the slave-system.
There is something about humans in nature, naturally, that triggers healing and calm and gratitude and connection - and likely holds many more benefits that we don't know about (or remember).
Humans go with Nature, are part of it and we feel that in our cells don't we?
Robots and (presumably) transhumans go with digital/cyberspace. That's their habitat. And that is great for this force/cult behind the control systems who do want to cyborg our asses into the cloud.
(Ain't gonna happen.)
Jay Weidner vid interviewing Mike Williams on Beatles as a manufactured band. (Manipulation goes on and on.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMSlq9sYrQc&t=4s
Thanks, Mary for the thought provoking post and lovely poem at the end!! Indeed, we each figure it out for ourselves. Best.
That's an interesting concept, Kathleen. Why is that blurring essential to a slave-system, in your opinion? Is it a weakening of the soul-connection to the divine, or something else?
True that -- it ain't gonna happen. I've never thought about the concept of "habitat" as it relates to humans vs. robots, but your excellent comment popped into my head when I was realizing that the only place we can have private conversations now is in nature: a forest, beach, mountaintop, etc. (Assuming we've left our phones at home.) It's another reason to feel calm and connected there.
Thanks for the vid link, I'll take a look. Reminds me of the Laurel Canyon stuff.
So appreciative of you!
"Why is that blurring essential to a slave-system, in your opinion? Is it a weakening of the soul-connection to the divine, or something else?"
Well, as Steiner predicted, this force, he referred to as Ahriman, would seek to use a vaccine to do just that - sever humans from their soul/divinity. It's for total control. Easy to programs robots, not so easy to program beings connected to their larger selves and Source.
They are, imo, running out of time as the earth's frequencies go up. They operate in a particular band of frequencies we are pushing beyond. It spells their doom and the end of spells too, since they were also successful at certain bandwidths.
Such an amazing time. Appreciate you, too, Mary.
It's just astonishing how prescient Steiner was. My husband came across that quote of Steiner's early in the vaxx campaign, and we were both agog, since many of our Waldorf friends (some of whom are devout anthroposophists) seemed entirely uninterested in its significance and relevance.
An amazing time, for SURE. xox
not only Alex wuz right, Rudolph wuz right over a century before! ha ha
Astonishing is right. Same here. The woman who gave me several book on RS and told me about Ahriman and yes - even the vax prediction - still took the jab. As did the rest of the anthroposophists in her group. We don't stay in touch anymore though I'm tempted to reach out;I wonder if she's snapped out of the spell and realized what happened?
Shaking my head in recognition of our similar experiences...
Tang would'a been better as a sink cleaner! Re the frozen OJ--oh lordy, I HOPE NOT (but my guess is yup, they still sell the stuff--ugh) --it wuz memorialized in song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAD2XR5Db7U
Yup, 7 is a "late nite" tho' no can do on daze where my younger'un has a 10am class! -- let's say I don't clock a full 8 too often but I'm more partial ta owls than roosters ;-) -- I say whut works works an' thank gawd fer homeschoolin', the-ate-'er hours, late call times, an' double espressos!
The song is groovy, thanks! Yes, what works, works. Keep the train a-runnin'!
WOW, I am so glad to find you. I love your writing style. This particular subject was so gross to me when I first heard it. I could be remembering this wrongly, but I believe it was @Stegiel with the journal of lingering sanity who said that when he was looking for work online, he stumbled across a job posting. (I may have this wrong, but I believe it was him). anyway, it paid well per hour and it was really a gross job. They were creating memories for people who had loved ones die, by allowing them to talk to a pretend version of that person. The job posting was to do with working with those systems. I believe it was selling the idea to people, probably. Sacred: "Connected with God or a god or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration; religious rather than secular,
(of writing or text) embodying the laws or doctrines of a religion, regarded with great respect and reverence by a particular religion, group, or individual. Regarded as too valuable to be interfered with; sacrosanct. That is beyond measure, the pretend it's a conversation with your dead mom trick. That is just not healthy. I LOVE your poem. It's perfect.
I'm so glad you found me, too! :-) And thank you for the lovely compliment. Like you, I get excited when I find writers whose voice resonates with me -- it feels like coming home, in a way.
The job posting you describe IS gross. We are trading the sacred for the superficial, the profound for the profane, all the time. It's a bait-and-switch and it's killing our connection to ourselves and the divine.
I've never come across Stegiel or The Journal of Lingering Sanity. (Great title!!) I'm going to check him out now... thanks!
Human beings inherently cringe when AI impersonates being human and seductively offers the ego immortality while the soul naturally longs for wings to dimensions beyond
Beautifully said, Marcelle!
Haha, of COURSE -- his face was dour! But I think at this point he don' wanna die at the hands of MI6 so he goes along with it but it's clear he'd ruther be gettin' a hot sauce enema than sufferin' the insufferable "Faul." Now don'cha worry Tonika, you ARE real, we ARE real--Faul is a nasty bloke named Billy "Shears" but he's real. Now if Mistah Cyber Lambchop Devil Balls gits their way--we're all in the Matrix but I think we human beans'll prevail. "Zey" been pullin' our legs (an' other parts private) fer deck-aids (oh AIDS wasn't real either... they just killed lotsa gay men with countermeasures too...Fauxchee also at the helm). So yeah, we ARE real but they've been pullin' wool over our eyes fer longer than we'd like ta think! (Fer fun this week, check out Greg Reese's teeriffic short-take out jus' this week on how we didn't go ta the moon--I've known it forever (nuttin' made sense, I figgered it WUZ Kubrick in the director's chair...) but anyhwhoo, what took me years of readin' up--he does in like 5 minutes! So yup, that "trip" wasn't real either -- tho some had a "trip' on us!) Nuttin' is real 'cept US!
When my hubby talked about the moon landings a few years ago I thought he was completely insane. My, what a few years can do! Now I question everything -- which isn't a bad place to be, really. The only things I don't question are the limitless nature of the human spirit, the triumph of love over fear, and peanut butter. I love peanut butter.
yer hubby wuz right about the moon landin's--I LOVE space stuff tho'--'cept Tang. Tang wuz deesgustin'. Kids only drunk the stuff cuz they imagined "real" Astro--NAUGHTS drank it. (I'll bet'cha the hired spacemen wuz suckin' down whiskey ta manage the lies...notice, they never smile...)
But yup, gotta question it all (an' no more am I makin' fun of them flat Eartherz--my kiddos laff at me fer that one tho'...).
Re Peanut Butter--we were LIED TO 'bout that as well. George Washington Carver didn't invent the stuff (not even close)--the Ancient Aztecs did an' then (soooo-ree George) a feller from Canada took it ta the next step--the form we got today...
(https://historycooperative.org/who-invented-peanut-butter/ )
Big fan 'o PB here too--I think we shared Buckey Ball Choco-LUV (an' of course you'll remember, "you got peanut butter in my chocolate, hey you got chocolate in my peanut butter!" -- a winnin' combo--triumph of PB over chocolate! or is it chocolate over PB? THESE are the true questions life presents!!!
Tang!! My dad used to insist we drink it on road trips instead of orange juice, to save money. I can still smell that powdery sour-sweet. Ack!
Of course you would know the real PB story... Do you ever SLEEP?? 😆
Ditto re Tang! (save $ an' feed yer kiddos citrus scented cleanser--approved by fake-o Astro-NOTs --or 'member that frozen OJ in the tube ya mixed with tap warter "from the FlurryDa Sunshine Tree"--yukko! Them ads were "ketchy" but the food wuz mighty "sketchy!"
Ah sleep.... (perchance ta dream?)--yup I git some in--near-always--I'm consistently, like clockwork even--asleep at 7am ... tho' whut heppens on either side of that magic hour is a crap shoot! (goin' light on slumber seems ta be my vice--that an' dark chocolate!) I think yer burnin' that candle both ends too time ta time, no? (I've always been a night owl tho'!)
"Citrus scented cleanser"... omg, that's exactly what it is/was. 😂 And don't they STILL sell those concentrated oj in tubes??
Wait... 7am?
I have night owl habits, but am trying to change it up. 🤞
I'm with YOU an' the Woodpecker (tho' they'ze pesky lil' fellers--took down quite a fine few trees at Liz Christy Garden offa Houston--if ya knew it? that wuz a shame but indeedy them beaks was the real deal!) Anywho... tho I ain't no royal-tea, I quotheth whut the late dead Queen would'a said, "We are NOT amused!" Mediocritty aside (it's not so hot imo)--the whole thing reeks too smarmy by half an' chillin' if ya consider (as ya did so well!) the subtext--that we kin raise the dead! Deep fakery is deep fukery--this is more ersatz than an olestra tater chip...uggabug!
"The Beatles" were created by Tavistock--but they heppened ta be made up (original gang with 'er without Pete Best as ya'd have it... ) of some gen-u-ine-ly talented an' endearin' young fellers--who didn't figger out right pronto that they wuz pawns. That took time... Maxwell's Sliver Hammer seemed ta "hammer in" that idear... Poor George's dentist keep tryin' ta get 'em all on LSD--them boyz wuz HOUNDED! Now ya know that John wuz the acerbic one an' I'm not even 100% sure he penned this 'un which is a might scenty-mental an' even Adorno (!) wuz known ta pen some've their tunes. (BUT given John's CIA Dragon Laydee wife / aka hiz handler--still "managin'" the brand... wull, I have some thoughts 'bout how this came about). I'm amazed Ringo is even talkin' ta Faul (he shunned the man fer deck-aids an' wouldn't appear with that faker onstage). The real Paul, not havin' been on this Earth since 1966 (yup, that's a 66 an' if ya look at all that Sgt. Pepper Crypto-mancy 'er read "Faul's" self-congratulatory book/dross (Memoirs of Billy Shears), havin' some part in creeeee-ate-ing this wince-wurthy AI revival--RE-vive-all (let's bring 'em back as if they wuz fainted...it's more like NECROMANCY an' ZOMBIE RESURRECTION ha ha!)--is more 'n reprehensible ta me, the untalented wanker / imposter ratfink (!) -- plus this bizness is totally sad--all AI to me is BOTH sad an' dangerous as ya so clearly articulated here Mary. Kids with heads in their phones in cyber space--as the "real" Beatles sang--NOTHING IS REAL. Paul bein' buried in Strawberry Fields... So yup, this is phoney an' twisted as all heck--I'm fer bannin' all AI an' I keep meanin' ta do a full stack on it tho' been mentionin' this fer some time in many'a my pieces cuz I feel AI is like the sound of Nero's fiddle--which he did not play while Rome Burned but our entire legacy of culture / kult-sure! is on fire, dumpster fire...).
I'm a BIG fan'o the fab four--while they lived. An' in these times where folks'r droppin' like flies dyin' prematurely--it's really the nadir of shame ta normalize "un-dead'in' " of real lives... "now" it's Now & Then they do it--eventually--it will be "always" with all "lives" (unlives) in the cloud (toxic 'er otherwise)
I hate air fresheners but seein' this viddeyo makes me wanna spray the entire room an' then some! Thanks fer sharin' yer thoughts here--couldn't agree more!
Well, THAT was an education and a half! (I know you have a better way of saying "education," but I can't recall it right now... Thanks for all the rabbit holes, Daisy!!
My favorite is this: "Deep fakery is deep fukery--this is more ersatz than an olestra tater chip." You never disappoint. xox M
P.S. I'd love to see a stack of yours devoted to AI!
...Ah sweet mystery of life...love will never emanate from a robot, an electro-mechanical device, an artificial construct of any mathamatic equation...when a song or a photograph or novel, any ‘artificial reality’, or any representation of human experience evokes an emotional response, that response is from your own capacity, either to love or it’s opposite, to fear.
Beautifully stated, T.L., and so true. Love can only flow through and from the natural world. As Kathleen D wrote in another comment, "Humans go with Nature, are part of it and we feel that in our cells don't we?"
Thanks for your presence and wisdom here.