At the end of the morning...
... Or is it the day? Are we all responsible for the way we live, the decisions we make, the lack of common sense, the refusal to train and use our brains? Who knows, we may even end up being stupider than an animal, given that humanity is already ignoring its instincts.
This is my #comment to @ibesso his comment
I don't think you can expect the children of a generation that does little thinking itself to do so either. There are vast numbers of people, entire nations, who have never learned to think critically, and who aren't taught to do so at school, let alone within their own families.
Religion is the number one factor in stifling critical thinking.
The government is number two, and this has been going on for a long time, at least 40 years (if not since the Romans or back to the cavemen). Even back then, students were forced to attend demonstrations organized by the school; those who refused received poor grades.
We live in a world where the quality of education has been in steep decline for at least 40 years, and in my view, this is intentional. A stupid populace is required, not independent, intelligent people who use their brains and ask questions. That doesn't fit the vision of the One World Order: obedient slaves without possessions.
Every technology intended to help or unburden humanity, or at least marketed as such, has ended up chaining people to screens and government control... while making them dumber, more addicted while stealing personal data.
It started with television (or was it cinema and newspapers?), followed by gaming, then the computer, and now the mobile phone.
The very fact that people can be manipulated and brainwashed en masse through a medium speaks volumes. The "culture of wanting to posess" and the throwaway culture are built on this. People don't buy what they actually need; they buy what they are persuaded is necessary, or what makes them feel their lives are worth less without it.
And then there are all those technological marvels, from refrigerators that order your groceries to robots that sweep the floor and drones that wash windows... Technology that spies on you, takes your picture, eavesdrops on you, corrects you (like electric cars), or even steers you toward your death...
It’s all just coincidence, of course... much like the frequent public transport failures, the strikes, the digital euro ID wallet, the power outages, and the lack of drinking water. Or the perpetuation and celebration of more wars. Farmland being set at fire, just like one oil refinery after another.
Only Bill G’s four chemical plants remain untouched, the man who owns the most unused farmland.
Naturally, his children are raised differently, just like the offspring and followers of Soros, Klaus Schwab, and the rest of them. They don’t belong to the plebs, exhausted, burnt-out people seeking relaxation by channel-surfing in front of the TV or staring at their email inboxes, hoping for a sign of life.
In the span of fifty years, children stopped playing in the streets, and the reason wasn't Covid, nor the number of pedophiles or the rise in immigration.
I, too, hardly watched TV as a child, though that was partly because there was hardly any TV to watch, let alone children's programming. What shows did exist aired at fixed times: after school on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, and in the evening between 6:00 and 7:00 PM. After that, you were in bed as a child and that was perfectly normal.
We children weren't saddled with soap operas, scenes of drinking and fighting adults, talk shows featuring shouting Americans, or endless commercials that made it impossible to concentrate on a 75-minute film constantly interrupted by breaks. There wasn't a news broadcast every 30 minutes where the same people were always cast as the enemy.
Well, the ordinary Dutch people aren't stupid. At least 100,000 soldiers are needed, yet the government can't even muster half that number. The public refuses and isn't falling for the one-year army trial scheme or other recruitment drives.
People would rather be unemployed than fight for King and country, a country where many don't feel at home, and "royalty" looking down on the people, partying and living it up while the populace is locked down during Covid, forbidden from doing anything.
Incidentally, it was also during Covid that AI was pushed through on such a massive scale.
Bill Gates is making a fortune from it, especially given all the data he collects, for which we sacrifice land and energy just to keep the data centers running.
All those data leaks and hacks?
They’re deliberate, and you can already see that people have become accustomed to them. There’s no reaction; nothing changes.
Revolut, a bank that is supposed to protect and warn customers, hands over all the data itself. It’s not a hack, not about hacks, it never was. I’m certain the other banks do the same thing.
Where I live, checkout lines are getting longer. Lidl has expanded its self-scan checkout areas, yet they are largely ignored.
Sensitive individuals will certainly notice a difference (including regarding their health) between a home free of technology and one filled with the latest gadgets. It’s not just power consumption that has skyrocketed; there’s also the radiation, the increase in cognitive ability, and, who knows, perhaps Alzheimer’s and cancer as well. All above is the price payed of (trying) fitting in.
I don’t believe it would have helped to intervene earlier. Perhaps critical parents also have critical children?
Mine still are, and in our household the television has played no part for at least 23 years and remains switched off. When we watch a film as a family, we still discuss it, not just the content, but also the way it has been filmed. We don’t watch films because they’re hyped up or because they cost so much, something the film Titanic, for example, was promoted on at the time. That’s a line of reasoning we simply don’t subscribe to. Rotten Tomatoes makes good films.
Allowing or wishing for the EU, or the government, to enact rules (laws) under the pretext of protecting children (the population) is the most foolish thing one could wish for.
Is the AI sooner wave genuine alarm or a scheme for control
20.9.26
Thank you for your in-depth comments on the various issues, Kitty.
I partly agree with what you say. In the real world, and perhaps especially today, greater state control is easily perceived as a form of oppression. And I believe that, with the rise of technology and surveillance tools, this mistrust has become even stronger.
I am now well aware of my own naivety, or perhaps goodwill, in hoping that those who govern us will act in the people’s best interests. My view is probably more benevolent, perhaps even utopian. I tend not to see, or perhaps I should say, not to want to see, the evil in what, by its very nature, should protect me. Not because I’m unaware of what’s happening, but because I find it hard to accept that this must necessarily be the only possible direction.
People I speak to often tell me I’m living in Wonderland, or simply ask me where I’ve been living these past few years. This creates a sort of crossroads within me: on the one hand, it makes me doubt my own naivety; on the other, it almost cheers me up, because it means I’m still able to hold onto a different perspective.
I think I unconsciously tend to distance myself from what I find harsh and abrasive in reality. I don’t reject it; I’m aware of its presence. On such complex issues, I tend first to listen and rarely take a categorical stance. Not because I don’t have an opinion, but because I prefer to leave open the possibility that there is something I don’t know or haven’t considered. And when I do speak out, I still try not to lose a certain light-heartedness.
Perhaps this is also why I continue to believe, even though it is becoming increasingly utopian, in the social function of the state and, more generally, in the responsibility of those who hold power and vast resources. I’d like to think that those resources serve, first and foremost, to build, help and support those who need them most, rather than becoming tools to further their own interests and increase their power. A bit like a mother and father looking after their children.
Well, I know that this is often not the case. But given that I am powerless to stop this madness, I try at least to start with what I can actually influence: my way of life, my decisions and the upbringing of our children, in the hope of fostering more aware future generations.
And I believe that there is more critical thinking among young people than we imagine. Of course, perhaps this is especially true of the more fortunate ones, those who have had the opportunity and the tools to develop it.
I’m not even quite sure where I’m going with all this, nor whether any of it is relevant. Perhaps the only thing we truly have is an awareness of the present.
Heidegger’s The Concept of Time springs to mind, the very book that, a few days ago, ended up almost by chance in my photo for the shadow contest. If I have understood anything of his thinking, we can only imagine the future starting from the present in which we find ourselves. When that future becomes the present, we too will have changed and will inevitably view it from a different perspective.
Perhaps, then, it would make more sense to focus on being in the here and now, placing greater emphasis on our being-in-the-world and making our decisions more mindful of our surroundings.
Clearly, I speak for myself. We are all different, but we all nurture a sense of purpose in life. Let’s not allow it to be taken away from us by those who can no longer find it.
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