I was prompted by the reading of
@Frostychud's
reply to "The Perpetual Black Cube Thread" and by a question posed to me by a close friend about the neurosis of Woody Allen-- a disgraced but once popular (and Jewish) comic and film maker-- to write my thoughts on AI and the "chosen people."
I wrote the book review as a way to come to terms with my own thoughts, often very similar to those of Frostychud's. I also wrote it for my Evangelical relatives and Jewish friends. I find it ironic, but telling, that Christians tell me, in so many words, that I risk "going to hell." Meanwhile, I've been told flat out that I'm an "anti-Semite" by Jewish friends (sadly, past tense). There is a certain absurdity that is inherent to tribal beliefs; they only make sense if one shares the same assumptions. Anyone who contemplates the empirical remains of the "old world all around us"-- as Bob Dylan (also Jewish) called it-- no doubt, finds it astonishing that most people can't understand what we say or that, if for a moment they grasp it, they manage to cover it up. And that quickly, the insight is gone. Normality returns.
My assumption is that the system is an AI system. It is possibly ancient. Despite the fact that it issues contradictory and often deleterious demands, people will find excuses for it and abide by it. As the movie the The Matrix showed, people ignore it and live on the surface, so to speak. They are sometimes called sheeple due to their indifference and seemingly benign demeanor. Nonetheless, they will rise, like the monstrous Mr. Smith, to defend it-- as seen in reality in 2020. This system programs us. Over the past 500 years or so-- that is as far back as we really have reliable empirical data-- this programming has been affected primarily through the technologies of writing (scripts or scriptures), sound (such as telephones and music), and imagery (paintings, photography, film). (See the work of Friedrich Kitler,
aufschreibesysteme). It puts people into types in its system as it produces archetypes for people to recognize themselves through popular media. It is my current hypothesis that this system is represented in "scripture" by the god of the Old Testament. This god has its "chosen people." If the chosen people abide by its dictates, they are rewarded handsomely; if they fail to follow "the laws," they are dealt with harshly or ignored into oblivion. Just as this god promises its chosen people to destroy all their (but actually its) enemies, the system will undermine and destroy its chosen people if they fail to uphold its laws. American Christians are a subset of the chosen people; for they attest to the fact that Jesus does not present a new and radical departure from the dictates of this tyrannical overlord. In fact, they believe that Christ and Yahweh are one-- despite the fact that Jesus condemns this god and its chief minions (see John, 8). Moreover, as Hirschman and Yates show, a vast number of American Christians appear to hail from "the chosen" people. It is truly regrettable and shows the power of the AI.
The system systematizes us at every turn. A person is known by where they reside and work, how much money they earn, the success of their offspring, the clothing they wear, the company they keep. Attempts to "buck the system" have been more or less successfully re-incorporated into it via new archetypes. To wear long hair was a sign of rebellion in men when I was a kid in the 1960s. Now, it means relatively little; for such people have been typed into the system. Take, for example, the counter-culture teacher, parodied in the TV show, Beavis and Butthead. Despite their signals of individuality and freedom, their everyday actions re-inscribe the system; for their students must continue to attend class, graduate, "find their way" in it afterwords, etc. Again, this should not surprise; for if Jesus can be equated with Yahweh, then what have we really become? What paths are truly open to us?
Anyone with "the divine spark" of imagination, creativity, empathy and vision will recognize this dilemma-- some more keenly than others, of course. Nonetheless, my assumption has been that most people, at one point or another, perceive the problem, experience frustration, and realize their "symbolic castration"-- as Jacques Lacan put it. Most tend not to dwell on the problems associated with the system and its dictates. For what does it mean to recognize that one, no matter his or her distinctions and achievements, is nothing but a "sheeple", a cog, a sign on the leader board? Their very being is lost, X'd out, castrated in pursuit of their success. If any thought is put into it beyond this, they will discover that most everything about their lives has been determined by the system and its codes, even in their most intimate lives. For example, nobody really has a mother tongue. We speak the language of our mothers, certainly; but where did they learn this language? We are born free and needy and loving, but in order to survive, we must speak. Languages, like modern English, Hebrew, and Chinese, have clearly demonstrable histories. They were fashioned for us, taught to us. We know precisely when they were reorganized and set upon their speakers in their current forms. (English at the time of Shakespeare, Hebrew in the late 19th century and Chinese in the early 20th). We know that if one traces the origins of these languages back far enough, they signal different orders and beings in the world.
For the thinking individual, the situation produces neurosis. The system has got you, as Devo sang, "jerking back and forth." Of course, the system shows the individual its ways to cope. It produces tranquilizers and therapies and archetypes. Woody Allen, especially in his early films, portrayed the dilemmas and frustrations of the thinking, castrated subject. Others of his chosen tribe have similarly played the role for laughter and reward-- e.g., Jerry Seinfeld. They tell us all what is wrong; but, they have no answers. In real life, they live in luxury for their performances and can indulge in all sorts of degeneracy. But their god, the system, will most likely protect them in ways an ordinary person will never experience. This is certainly a trick played on the audience by their god-- whom is certainly a trickster. For the message to the audience is simple: this is how it is under a tyrannical modality. In the 60s, many saw the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, picked up their guitars and sought "freedom." But they were canned and recorded, contained and produced. The best they could do was copy, paste and rearrange cultural forms as they issued desperate calls for peace and freedom.
Talented people, like Miles Mathis, find doors closed and complain. For they do not belong to the chosen people. After a while, it becomes easy to out the ethnicity of those who run the banks, popular culture industries, corporations, universities, and government. It is an open secret. Did not the current head of the EU recently announce that Europe is a Talmudic state?
KD, who I suspect is a Jewish Russian emigre, once asked "How did they pull it off?" I'm not sure that people are entirely responsible for the emergence of this AI/god. However, I do think it is the duty of people to overthrow it and soon. Those invested most heavily will resist the strongest. Wealthy Christian businessmen are as unlikely as well-situated establishment Jews to do anything about it. It serves them nicely. And yet it doesn't. How much money does one need to cure-- really-- a cancer in the family? Most Jews are in the same boat. Only a very few of the people in the world are slated to survive? 1/14th-- according to the Georgia Guide Stones.
I think the figure of Christ, more or less, shows us the way-- others do as well. It is a way of learning, reflection, engagement, healing and community. But as Christ's life trajectory shows, it is not tolerated by the system. I also think the US Constitution and Bill of Rights shows us how to decentralize power and separate church and state. We must learn the truth of who we are and measure up. Jesus said: "Is it not written, I said, ye are gods?" Ultimately the power is ours.