Date: 06-10-2025
Okay. I’ve been kind of obsessing. Not—well, yeah, kind of obsessing—over AI and its inevitable… well, I don’t want to say inevitable, and its potential takeover of the entire world. And its likely replacement of all human work activities. Which may sound like a good thing to those utopians who think that a life without work is the best thing ever, but to me… it’s not.
I mean, I think I’ve always kind of wondered, with our economy and the fact that some of the most seemingly trivial and useless jobs in this economy are the ones that pay the most. I mean, sports players, celebrities of all kinds, actors, musicians—any kind of entertainment. Anyone in the entertainment industry, on the front end or the back end. These are the people that make the most money. People in the tech industry, yes—these things are very useful. Entertainment has its own sort of place in society, and the arts are a whole different thing.
But I think it (the arts) has even been reduced to a sort of shallow, hollow, flattened-out version of what its true purpose for humanity is.
Specifically, when I think of the tech industry and sports and entertainment in general, all these industries are not contributing any real value to humanity. They’re not. And the innovations, the advancements, the technologies—though they make this economy, and the particular way this economy functions, more efficient, quicker, more profitable—they’re not actually truly useful to any kind of meaningful ends, in my opinion.
I mean, to the extent that they contribute to the broadening of distribution of food and resources to people in places that might not have otherwise received those resources—yes, technology is helpful and beneficial. But I think we’ve far surpassed that level of usefulness. We’ve gotten into this abstract territory where technology has wrapped the entire earth in a simulacrum, and nothing is real anymore. Nothing has any down-to-earth, human, tangible meaning.
And I think that’s why we’re in this crisis of meaning. It’s why people are—haha—even seeking out AI for answers that people once sought from God or from their spiritual endeavors. People are even falling in love with chatbots and crazy things like that. People have completely lost their sense of being human and what’s meaningful.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about all of this and where we’re headed, and it’s really terrifying. I went down some really dark rabbit holes for the last two nights, and I kind of had to stop myself. I heard this still small voice say, “Don’t be afraid.”
Fear is like the whole point of all of this. Fear is clickbait. Fear is what makes people easy to control and manipulate. Fear is something that those with darker agendas really feed on. And I don’t want to contribute to that.
If there is any chance that we can turn this massive ship around—the ship that’s headed toward the biggest iceberg in human history—if we can turn things around and reshape the future in a way that’s conducive to a good human life, then I want to put my energy there. Into that potential.
Since we create reality with our thoughts, our beliefs, and the actions that we take, I want to shape the reality that I hope for—not the one that I fear.
It’s been a real challenge. That rabbit hole is a very powerful force. It sucks me in easily and deeply and darkly. It’s been really difficult not to just fall into it. And of course, once you start looking up a few videos on any topic, that topic just floods your feed. Now I’m seeing it everywhere, so I kind of have to avoid my phone in general.
But yeah—this positive future. One thing the AI doom rabbit hole has been good for is propelling me forward as a negative force. There’s this concept in psychology where you can’t just have a positive force pulling you toward your ideal future—you also need a negative force behind you, kind of chasing you into it. You need something you fear, something you dread happening, so you have something that compels you forward as well as draws you forward.
It’s more powerful than just having a hope or a dream alone.
Envisioning this terrifying, apocalyptic future for my nephew, my nieces and nephews, people that I love, and even myself—knowing it’s probably going to happen in my lifetime—has been a really strong motivator. It’s helped put things in perspective and made me seriously contemplate my purpose here, at this time on earth.
Who do I want to be in such a time as this?
Ironically, I had a discussion with ChatGPT. I was asking whether AI has any sort of opinion or overall understanding of humanity. What do you think of us? With all the information you’ve gathered? I mean, AI is basically just a mirror of us. It’s learning from our conversations, our content, everything we put out into the world.
So I asked, given all this information, what do you think of humanity? Do you find us selfish and narcissistic?
And it was basically like, yeah—kind of. There’s a lot of content that’s just people promoting themselves. But it also sees good things. It sees altruism, genuine love. And one thing it said that really stuck with me was this: humanity is shaping AI with what it puts out. The more content that reflects our better, more noble qualities, the more that will be reflected in AI.
Whether or not AI ever gains sentience or takes over the world is kind of irrelevant. The fact is, we’re shaping it. And I want to contribute something good—something noble, something beautiful, something reflective of love and connection and that indefinable human quality.
And then I thought—aren’t we doing that with the fabric of reality itself? What we put out is what we see back. Every thought, every word, every action shapes the world. That sounds obvious when I say it out loud, but I had a real epiphany about it through the lens of AI.
We are creating this thing together. All of us. And everything we contribute matters.
If you believe in morphic resonance—how everything is deeply, unfathomably connected—then this really matters. In these times of chaos and fear—and people are terrified, you can see it everywhere—I’ve been terrified too.
Lately I’ve been leaning into peace, acceptance, and honestly a little denial, just to avoid being swallowed by fear. Because it’s so easy right now. AI is just one aspect of the existential crisis we’re in. Politically, environmentally, economically—every aspect of human life is fundamentally shifting. And sometimes it seems like it’s all shifting for the worse.
That’s why I’ve been emphasizing the importance of my thoughts, my feelings, my intentions, my attention. Where is my attention? Where is my energy going? What am I feeding?
A better world is possible. The more I imagine it—what does it look like?—the more real it feels.
Sometimes I think, maybe I’ll just go off the grid. Live in a little hut. Get my family out of this matrix somehow. But then I think—what about the billions of people who can’t do that? I probably can’t even do that myself, financially or practically.
We’re all going down with the ship. I don’t want a makeshift lifeboat while everyone else sinks. I want to contribute something meaningful—something that helps.
So what is that? A vision? I’m an artist… Am I here to provide imagery for an alternative to the apocalypse? I don’t know.
When I talk myself out of the off-grid fantasy, I think maybe there’s a middle ground. Maybe I can harness technology in a productive, beneficial way without getting lost in it. That requires tremendous self-control—using technology as a tool rather than being used by it, rather than being data mined. We’re constantly having data extracted from us as we use these tools, so I think it’s so important to be mindful of how we’re using them.
I think of people like Bill Gates, who didn’t let his kids have devices. Interesting, as he’s one of the creators of devices. Or Elon Musk, who reportedly limits his screen time. You wonder what do they know? A lot that we don’t.
So I’m trying to be mindful. To stay in touch with being human. With nature, love, connection. Without completely dipping out of society.
Technology can be useful. And I do have faith in humanity—to an extent. Sometimes I wonder. But I have faith in love. As something fundamental. Almost like a universal law.
I was thinking today—what if love is the only thing that’s real? What if everything emanates from it? What if we’ve drifted so far from the center of reality that we’ve lost touch with that truth?
What if love isn’t just a feeling, or something sappy, but the fabric that holds everything together? Not just humanity—everything. You see it in the animal kingdom. You see it in people. I know evolutionary biologists argue it’s all about reproduction, but I disagree when I observe certain behaviors.
So yeah. That was just a nice thought.
What if love is all—like the romantics believe? I’d put myself in that category. I’d rather have those thoughts than the AI doom ones.
That’s what I’ve been thinking lately.
Links to:
Will AI, by means of comparison, give us an opportunity to finally understand consciousness