We should think of it less as technology becoming more sentient and more as ourselves becoming less autonomous.
In all of our obsessive discussions, predictions and anticipations of artificial intelligence and its inevitable point of singularity upon our horizon, we’re failing to properly account for one very important element in the equation — ourselves.
Not only are we, ourselves, behind this anticipated singularity, but we’re already functioning as the very thing that we seem to be so eagerly anticipating. It’s already here. It’s us.
We’re behind the wheel, but we’re acting as if we’re on a runaway train.
And rather…
On our inevitable collision course with the true nature of our potential
“A dynamic interplay in which particles are created and destroyed without end in a continual variation of energy patterns… The whole universe is thus engaged in endless motion and activity; in a continual cosmic dance of energy” — Fritjof Capra
Can an analogy be drawn between human nature and particle interactions?
We’ve learned, by now, that we should never underestimate the interrelatedness of life and our surrounding reality, even if it means blurring the lines between matter and non-matter; between living and non living organisms; between the subatomic world and the cosmic.
Quantum physics, as a prime example, has elucidated…
On the cadence of change and the frivolous need to construct a narrative of time
There’s one crucial phrase to remember throughout this piece: change turns future to past.
Change Turns Future To Past
As change turns future to past we’re stuck in the middle of the process trying to grasp at it however possible.
We’re an integral part of the process, even though we don’t need to be; we apply the definitions, the forms, the realizations.
For those of us too concerned with the future, we’re left missing our present; for those living in the past, we forsake our futures. All the while, we sift the future and the past through the present in ways we don’t necessarily understand.
…
Everything is within everything, except for our appreciation of this idea
Everything exists within everything else.
This is the kind of statement that can be so densely packed with laborious truth or so hollowed out with defective logic that we tend to simply circumvent its gritty perplexity whenever we confront it.
Biologists may understand this idea through looking at how organisms are identical to, or symbiotic with, or aligned alongside their environment. Astrophysicists may interpret this point by looking at the chemical signatures and structures of differing stars. Psychologists can do the same while assessing individual behaviors against the collective.
Anthropologists, geologists, botanists — they all encounter this universal trope which…
Every now and again, we unwillingly stumble into the realization that something, if not everything, is out of our control.
And as dreadful as this realization may typically feel, it’s usually accompanied by a resonating sense of peace — whether that peace is sourced from a blissful resignation of circumstance or from a wholesome surrendering of effort.
It’s at this existential intersection, one that we don’t get to frequent all too often, that we interact with one of the truest and most potent of universal laws — that everything is always changing, moving, never static and never still.
In the…
“The vacuum is truly a ‘living Void’, pulsating in endless rhythms of creation and destruction.”
Our ultimate underlying reality —it’s a tall order of a concept for us to digest, whether we want to consider this a spiritual force (intelligent design flowing through everything) or a scientific one (sub-sub-atomic currents of energy).
The question over whatever it is that fills empty space is one that bridges both science and spirituality together, carrying our curiosity more than perhaps any other question has been able to thus far.
What is nothingness? What exists all around us, if anything? What happens when we arrive at pure emptiness?
In other words, what do we find in the proverbial Void?
…
And how it fits into the dynamic nature of our world
Comfort, I propose, is toxic.
We seem to become so enthralled in our daily pursuit of solace that we unwittingly form something of a dangerous relationship with comfort, indirectly pursuing it was though it were the lifeblood of our existence.
Because most of us have the ability to move through our reality in a way that affords us a considerable amount of influence over our circumstances, both immediate and distant, we pursue our insatiable appetites into a relative kind of oblivion, either doom-scrolling away our free time or getting lost in the myriad of countless distractions that float about us…
The art of [un]balanced living: purposefully destabilizing the equilibrium
Excessive Moderation
A general law of nature that permeates all living and non-living matter alike is the incessant pursuit of equilibrium — the harmonious dissipation of energy that moves towards a comfortably static state of rest; like ripples reverberating outward into a silent and unperturbed state of being.
Only the journey towards a static state of calm may be the last thing that we should be after; after all, it sort of runs contrary to the dynamic river that is our reality.
It’s a fine line to navigate atop.
Within our own sphere of sentimental existence, we hear about the importance of…
Like a butterfly effect whereby the ripples and reverberations need not expand outwards but simply bounce back inwards, creating meaning amongst themselves
“I’m convinced that reality is a tinker toy set that we can learn to take apart and put together in completely different ways” — Terence McKenna
Dematerializing Existence
McKenna had often pushed the idea that we, as the sentient human beings we are, remain perpetually engaged in a certain conquest of dimensionality.
If we were to loosen the increasingly materialistic grip we hold on how we perceptually comprehend our immediate reality, as well as how we perceive our place in this world, we can see his theorized conquest at play.
To surpass the countless distractions and shift towards the less tangible realms…
“It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
It’s safe to say that we, as the curious human species we are, remain far from having figured ourselves out.
While we’ve tapped into certain elemental truths that swirl about us, we’re still relatively naïve when it comes to mapping the human condition, as well as our placement within this relatively unknowable reality that we find ourselves in — two interdependent dynamos of our curiosity.
But, like the well-intended beings we are, we try.
We may get confused along the way…
