A church, the movies and Hamsters vs Oblivions. (May, 2018)
Sunday could have floated out of dream, brilliant and colorful, an impressionist gift painted by the wind. The picture was wasted on me. I returned from travel and refused to be social. I wanted to be inside and look at pictures on the screen.
In an Uber, heading to the movies, I passed by a small church lit by the afternoon sun. Sensibly, I imagined the skyline of the city that would dwarf this old church in a hundred years. I wanted to build that skyline.
The sign above the entrance depicted a Biblical scene. The art work's deep past stood before a conflicted present. An hazy picture of a future started to form in my head.
The present was indeed conflicted: Trump, climate change, my bank account. Hopefully, the world won't have to burn to prepare for my future's future. I checked my phone. I was almost at the theater.
I would spend the day watching two movies (5+ hours, back to back). Hollywood today is a barely disguised escapism from reality with a barrage of super heroes and fantasies.
As the car roared on, the church image stayed with me. That Church is fading. The Techno-Church is in ascendance, like Christianity in early Rome. People are lonely and angry, so it's an easy sell. Some say the source of the virus is peddling the cure.
Instagram preaches escapism through a lifestyle I can't pull off. Twitter prophesies the end of the world. Half of America is falling into economic oblivion (let’s call them Oblivions), or drowning in stupefying anger. The other half hamster-wheels (Hamsters) itself into depression to enrich a few lottery winners with good timing. The solution? Well - there is probably an app for that.
The lottery winners become idols (and bet on the next lottery) whom the Hamsters idolize and the Oblivions can't stand. The rampant inequality between tribes is dynamite. The proverbial fuse is lit the highly stereotyped (sometimes correctly) ignorance from the Oblivions and equally offensive, condescension from the Hamsters.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m pro Idols, have a hamster wheel in my bedroom. (next to the Peloton) and would like to help Oblivions. I want to accelerate progress socially, technologically and economically. But I don’t want to burn the planet, 10x the number of Oblivions and set America back 25 years through politicized decisions.
Back to Churches. They have gotten one thing right. When pressure builds, everyone believes in something. People run out of easy fixes and even embarrassing options. They have been betrayed by their last resorts. If you don't believe the paragraph, you are likely a Hamster (welcome!).
As most Hamsters, you have an alibi. You personally didn't create the problem. In a rich society, the basic needs are covered, so you either make mountains out of mole hills (where is my Uber?!), or consciously stress the system (Seed level startup).
In a logical mission to protect our self interests, we give up agency to an autonomous system (the market). I fear that like an AI, it would convert the universe into paper clip, if that’s its objective function. I prefer the Human in the loop approach, where the market optimizes, but people can alter parameters (don’t burn the planet).
The Oblivions think there is a person, at the top, responsible for their strife. But really, it’s just a loose grouping of people each individually acting in their best interest, regurgitating a message that keeps them employed, promoted, laid and looking smart at dinner.
From the CEO/President, to the VPs, it’s starts with global idols, down to local idols, with a little Hamster in them, until a local idol wakes up one day, having blown through the lottery winnings and realizes they are now a Hamster again.
When things go south, everyone turns toward a Church of sorts. We may be looking at the same picture (a source of answers or help), but can't see the forest for the trees.
May be there is a God and she is only conceivable through a fourth dimension. Or may be she resides in the quantum space (we can’t see that small yet) or scatters her consciousness across galaxies (we cannot see that large yet).
May be the jump from Ancient Mesopotamia to NOW is one technological basis point on the way to be building a Church that can speak to God. Or may be it’s around the corner and the first General Purpose AI will pick it up.
The key is not to fuck it up, or have to restart society and progress on the way to answers.
I pushed these techno philosophies out of my mind as I got out of the car.
Time to step back into reality, just to pay to escape it again.
