Holy Fuck. Firstly. Glad I’ll be dead by the future. I don’t want a bar of it. Secondly. Starting to ponder the point of being an artist and wondering if it serves any valid purpose at all. Thirdly. How easy is it to create actual super-humans without basic man/woman reproduction. Do woman have some “power” still in this regard and if so, isn’t it about time we started using it.
Fuck Sarah. I don’t know. This is a crap start to Thursday but I love you and thank you for being you x
Art in service if life herself. Fighting where need be, which .. is a lot of places right now. But also listening, to the wider voices of earth, and coworking, coarting, cobuilding new ways, and translating and sharing them. I'm head deep in this at the moment, hope to be more heartily so. It feels so spinningly important.
I don't really have anything pithy to comment with, other than that this gives me a really disconcerting feeling right behind the breastbone. I'd not heard of much of this before.
It seems this proportion of humanity is so preoccupied with how to engineer the human experience that they forget that truly living it, in all its messy connectedness to the world at large and other creatures in it, is the whole point.
Ultimately it's probably an extreme response to the Fears, that everything is going wrong and getting out of hand, but...
It's almost like the human race has started noticing that our status at the top of the food chain is not saving us from any of the Really Big Shit that's going down in terms of climate, viral pandemics, food insecurity, natural disasters etc and is just doubling down as hard as possible like a 2 year old stamping their foot and saying "No! I'm the boss!" and trying to re-assert our 'superiority'. It's a separateness from the natural world, again.
Gattaca and Handmaids Take sprang to my mind immediately too. Sometimes it all feels a bit futile when these bros have all the money and all the power ... and the rest of us just have to go along for the horrible ride? 🤷🏼♀️
It can be like that Nat, but like political power is turned by people power, so can this.
The elite own the media, the net and try and control the narrative.
Then raise up people like Simone and Malcom in articles.
Like Instagram, if we all turned our back or didn't give anybody any likes, how long do you think a person would keep posting self absorbed shots if they got no likes or comments at all and how long would New Idea or Daily Mail survive for if we just didnt look at it? We give them too much of our time.
There are more people like you and I than them. It's just that they have a big stage. People power can pull down a stage, we just have to be unified and pissed off enough.
Good morning from sunny central Queensland. I enjoy reading your views and i certainly trust your writing more than most of what i read.
I see all these views as puzzling to say the least.
My personal view is that we will save the planet - our world from the ground up. Hope for me comes from connectedness to the earth through food and function and the community around us.
Bless you in your travels. I hope you enjoy your adventures as vicariously i will to.
Does anyone else ponder whether all this AI is really neccessary? Humans were doing a pretty good job at surviving and living lightly on the earth in times past. Using wind, stars and currents to travel on enormous ships. Living without anything plastic or distructively disposible junk. Growing and trading what we ate and needed. It worked. And yes, if you were ill you probably died - But that now can be helped with what has been discovered over the past 100 years or so. Anyhow, what I am trying to get at is, what if we turned off and put away the mobile phones, tv's, ipads, it would be a more connected world as connection would need to be sought out in real life. Every convienience given to us by the "rich in control people" has had more of a devistating effect on our species than beneficial. Look at supermarkets, disposible nappies, wifi.... i cannot finish, my toddler needs some attention, but i hope someone gets my drift! Have a lovely day all
Hipster Eugenics? This is so gross. I shared this with my husband and his response summed it up pretty well: “I mean, do we hope the future generations are smarter, happier, healthier...? Sure. But to say that genetics will solve the problem and not social/cultural/economic/political change & responsibility, is just a way of masking a misguided notion that ‘if everyone would just be like me and do what I do, everything would be fine because I'm inherently better than others’.” I’d add it also perpetuates ableism, sexism, anti fatness, neurotypical bias, etc etc. Just so many issues with this.
I don’t know much about the other topics. I grew up in mining country, my dad working at one owned by Warren Buffett, so I got to see how he treated the people who were making money for him. I feel I got a glimpse into his ethics and found him wanting. He’s often heralded in the US for his savvy business practices and philanthropy. The only way to hoard that level of wealth is through exploitation. Needless to say I’ve questioned billionaire philanthropy since I was a teenager. It’s just another way for the super rich to stay rich and often become even richer. I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows at effective altruism. It feels like more distraction. People can’t keep trying to convince the rich to “save us”, believe they will, and trust that they actually know the fuck. They don’t hold the answers or keys that are lost on the rest of humanity. They are who/what are hurting us! Policy changes - we need to regulate their businesses and tax them.
First up, that cover photo of the couple is terrifying, its straight off of a horror movie poster. Aka Get Out :) Cute glasses though. Secondly you summed it up pretty well Sarah, at the core of the problem is our disconnection to ourselves and everything around us. At least that is what I can feel in myself. Which is creating all of this unproductive behaviour which I see playing out in the larger community. I often wish for some guidance in recognising this disconnection in myself, so that I am able to quickly come back when that anxious hamster wheel starts spinning in the mind. Or better still, ways to create a lifestyle and daily expereince which promotes self connection and connection to community. (Maybe I should read first we make it beautiful). From this connected place, I don't think we will have any problem with making good choices, and creating good relationships. Reconnecting to each other and forgiving the past, while cocreating a bright future will set us right. And from there, babies and saving the planet will be a natural and pleasurable next step.
republicans is code word for what? in this context? nazi? why not just say rich white people? does not matter an iota what their religion or politics is. they are rich and white. period. name another class of people on the planet who believes money can buy them first class seats on the most heavily advertised apocalypse?🙄
Person to talk to recommendation: Chris Cooper, Head of Purpose Asia Pac, he is in London right now too. They work on counteracting digital threats to democracy. So I am sure he would have much to say about the tech bros. https://www.thefoil.ai/episodes/episode-19-regulationdefendingdemocracy
All this stuff in this stack is just so so creepy yuck!! But thankyou to you & Siobhan for flagging!!
Sarah - what a post! You've really summarized so many complex things that are going on in a digestible fashion. The whole thing is immensely disturbing / scary / terrifying / revolting with no end in sight.
What on earth can be done to try to stop all this? Maybe we need to focus on the people who are trying to champion more grounded, here and now, just connect with the earth and each other type solutions - if there is such a group. Or maybe because all their wealth and power comes from the technology we're all reliant on (addicted to in some cases) maybe we need to pull back on this when we can? Would love to hear suggestions from people!
First Nations leaders immediately spring to mind -- Ella Noah Bancroft speaks a lot about decolonisation as the antidote to capitalism and patriarchy. Helena Norberg-hodge also springs to mind for her ideas about localisation.
Sometimes it does feel like these big superbreeder folk are so embedded in everything in our “system” that returning to nature and building community feels a bit ... small or insignificant ... but maybe that’s the point? To completely step away from their tech and that world to focus our energy in a decapitalised way (gift economy, local trade, knowing our neighbours etc). Excited to see who you connect with, Sarah!
Yes! Those two speakers sound amazing, would love to see them on Sarah's podcast and their ideas becoming more mainstream, especially the decapitalized part. Although, I feel like for this to have long term success we need to get the younger generations on board which is a worry. Everyone that I know that's a teenager or in their 20s has bought into the capitalist system of constantly buying new clothes (because you can't possibly be on social media in the same outfit), a new iPhone each year etc. What you've described sounds great Nat, this is the world that I want to live in. I don't think it's small or insignificant but a life of connection. Currently it feels like we're on a runaway train with tech bros/ 1%ers / superbreeders at the helm with no hope of having a say on where the train is going or how fast :(
I know what you mean -- my friends talk about their kids in Year Four saying that they want to be YouTube Stars when they grew up 😬 I do feel like so much of the current education systems sets us up to believe that wealth and “good corporate jobs” equals success. A lot of my friends are going down the path of homeschooling / unschooling ... not sure that I’m quite there yet. Wild to feel that returning to nature feels like the alternative extreme rather than tend norm? Or maybe I am just a hippy now? 😆😅
Oh my word, I hear you on this, isn't it a terrible worry? Out of all the youngsters in that age bracket in my family, at family gatherings all but one of them spends the whole time on their phone - taking selfies, scrolling through socials etc. I've suggested that we have a no phones at the table rule and they've responded as if I was attempting to cut off a limb! Their whole focus is how many followers and likes they get online. I just look at them and think, if this is the future of our planet we are screwed, as sad as that is. My hope is that they 'grow out of it' quick smart, although I don't know how realistic this is either.
Totally agree re the current education system. And that if we have the three car garage, media room, outdoor living space and a pool and a boat which we can splash on socials then we are successful!
Let's be 'hippies' together then. I think the earth and human's ability to live on the earth would be in a much better state if the hippies were in charge haha.
Hi Sarah. This one is tough. I think if I was able to use technology to understand if my future kids would get to live beyond 70 (most of my family have died before 70), then yes I would want to find out the genetic answer to that problem.
However I would also want my kids to grow up in the now. Connect to nature. Learn about the world. See and understand the world from different perspectives, because that will ground them in life and experience for the future.
These futuristic kids will be bubble wrapped because their role in life is seen as important in the future not the now, and I think that’s kinda missing the point of the journey of life.
I've been on the road for the past few days and am just catching up with this now. but I'm SO thrilled to see where you've landed with all this, Sarah. I've been feeling deeply concerned over the past year or so by how the media has been reporting on all of these issues and failing to join the dots between them all.
I hope you'll have a chance to interview some of the people who are offering really important critiques of things like AI, longtermism, effective altruism, transhumanism etc etc – people like Timnit Gebru, Emile P. Torres, Emily Bender, and Nathan J. Robinson.
Have you come across the TESCREAL acronym yet? Here's a brief explainer. Again, I think it's something that needs platforming by anyone who's able to do so:
Bloody hell, what a read. Very sobering. We’ve got this far as we are melting pot of messy humans with all our faults, flaws and brilliance. My son is autistic with a batch of other diagnosis too - dyslexia, dysgraphia etc etc. and is the most human person I know with all his sensitivities and daily struggles with the massive amount of feelings he feels. He makes me a better, more compassionate, loving, inclusive human. For him to be potentially deselected at the embryonic state is a crime against humanity. In the world of the The Collinses there will be a vast gapping hole.
Holy Fuck. Firstly. Glad I’ll be dead by the future. I don’t want a bar of it. Secondly. Starting to ponder the point of being an artist and wondering if it serves any valid purpose at all. Thirdly. How easy is it to create actual super-humans without basic man/woman reproduction. Do woman have some “power” still in this regard and if so, isn’t it about time we started using it.
Fuck Sarah. I don’t know. This is a crap start to Thursday but I love you and thank you for being you x
Art - we need it more than ever. To remind us of what it means to be human.
Art in service if life herself. Fighting where need be, which .. is a lot of places right now. But also listening, to the wider voices of earth, and coworking, coarting, cobuilding new ways, and translating and sharing them. I'm head deep in this at the moment, hope to be more heartily so. It feels so spinningly important.
I don't really have anything pithy to comment with, other than that this gives me a really disconcerting feeling right behind the breastbone. I'd not heard of much of this before.
It seems this proportion of humanity is so preoccupied with how to engineer the human experience that they forget that truly living it, in all its messy connectedness to the world at large and other creatures in it, is the whole point.
Ultimately it's probably an extreme response to the Fears, that everything is going wrong and getting out of hand, but...
Unhappy shivers over here.
Agree, they miss the point of living. And they'll soon make it impossible for us to honour the point ourselves.
It's almost like the human race has started noticing that our status at the top of the food chain is not saving us from any of the Really Big Shit that's going down in terms of climate, viral pandemics, food insecurity, natural disasters etc and is just doubling down as hard as possible like a 2 year old stamping their foot and saying "No! I'm the boss!" and trying to re-assert our 'superiority'. It's a separateness from the natural world, again.
I think that is very accurate. Doubling down.
Ha Sarah, yes indeed - up early to milk my beautiful house cow.
Well that certainly dropped my optimism of humankind a few points.
Malcom and Simone...oh dear.
"I do not think humanity is in a great situation right now. And I think if somebody doesn't fix the problem, we could be gone"
When a man thinks solving humanities problem is to combine equal parts Gattaca and Hand Maids Tale, it is indeed a grim outlook.
To purposely eliminate the imperfect in people of the world, is still eliminating people.
What a terribly boring world it would be if we were all perfect.
How do either of them even get aroused when one would say "lets go to bed and superbreed".
Spreadsheets and superbreeding... wow, how erotic, I'm clearing the kitchen table now to get it on!!
Where the hell is the spontaneity in love making with that mindset.
Then times that mindset into three future generations of them both. Emotionless real life chatbots.
I think I'll be off then to live on a little Sumatran Island I know.
Gattaca and Handmaids Take sprang to my mind immediately too. Sometimes it all feels a bit futile when these bros have all the money and all the power ... and the rest of us just have to go along for the horrible ride? 🤷🏼♀️
It can be like that Nat, but like political power is turned by people power, so can this.
The elite own the media, the net and try and control the narrative.
Then raise up people like Simone and Malcom in articles.
Like Instagram, if we all turned our back or didn't give anybody any likes, how long do you think a person would keep posting self absorbed shots if they got no likes or comments at all and how long would New Idea or Daily Mail survive for if we just didnt look at it? We give them too much of our time.
There are more people like you and I than them. It's just that they have a big stage. People power can pull down a stage, we just have to be unified and pissed off enough.
Pissed off and united. I like it 😉
Haha, always happy to have good company Anna.
Won't have to read about superbreeders, only having the coconut telegram as communication.
Dear Sarah
Good morning from sunny central Queensland. I enjoy reading your views and i certainly trust your writing more than most of what i read.
I see all these views as puzzling to say the least.
My personal view is that we will save the planet - our world from the ground up. Hope for me comes from connectedness to the earth through food and function and the community around us.
Bless you in your travels. I hope you enjoy your adventures as vicariously i will to.
Bill
Thank you Bill. You're up early!
Does anyone else ponder whether all this AI is really neccessary? Humans were doing a pretty good job at surviving and living lightly on the earth in times past. Using wind, stars and currents to travel on enormous ships. Living without anything plastic or distructively disposible junk. Growing and trading what we ate and needed. It worked. And yes, if you were ill you probably died - But that now can be helped with what has been discovered over the past 100 years or so. Anyhow, what I am trying to get at is, what if we turned off and put away the mobile phones, tv's, ipads, it would be a more connected world as connection would need to be sought out in real life. Every convienience given to us by the "rich in control people" has had more of a devistating effect on our species than beneficial. Look at supermarkets, disposible nappies, wifi.... i cannot finish, my toddler needs some attention, but i hope someone gets my drift! Have a lovely day all
That is a way...if we ALL quit the products made by the rich guys.
Hipster Eugenics? This is so gross. I shared this with my husband and his response summed it up pretty well: “I mean, do we hope the future generations are smarter, happier, healthier...? Sure. But to say that genetics will solve the problem and not social/cultural/economic/political change & responsibility, is just a way of masking a misguided notion that ‘if everyone would just be like me and do what I do, everything would be fine because I'm inherently better than others’.” I’d add it also perpetuates ableism, sexism, anti fatness, neurotypical bias, etc etc. Just so many issues with this.
I don’t know much about the other topics. I grew up in mining country, my dad working at one owned by Warren Buffett, so I got to see how he treated the people who were making money for him. I feel I got a glimpse into his ethics and found him wanting. He’s often heralded in the US for his savvy business practices and philanthropy. The only way to hoard that level of wealth is through exploitation. Needless to say I’ve questioned billionaire philanthropy since I was a teenager. It’s just another way for the super rich to stay rich and often become even richer. I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows at effective altruism. It feels like more distraction. People can’t keep trying to convince the rich to “save us”, believe they will, and trust that they actually know the fuck. They don’t hold the answers or keys that are lost on the rest of humanity. They are who/what are hurting us! Policy changes - we need to regulate their businesses and tax them.
First up, that cover photo of the couple is terrifying, its straight off of a horror movie poster. Aka Get Out :) Cute glasses though. Secondly you summed it up pretty well Sarah, at the core of the problem is our disconnection to ourselves and everything around us. At least that is what I can feel in myself. Which is creating all of this unproductive behaviour which I see playing out in the larger community. I often wish for some guidance in recognising this disconnection in myself, so that I am able to quickly come back when that anxious hamster wheel starts spinning in the mind. Or better still, ways to create a lifestyle and daily expereince which promotes self connection and connection to community. (Maybe I should read first we make it beautiful). From this connected place, I don't think we will have any problem with making good choices, and creating good relationships. Reconnecting to each other and forgiving the past, while cocreating a bright future will set us right. And from there, babies and saving the planet will be a natural and pleasurable next step.
republicans is code word for what? in this context? nazi? why not just say rich white people? does not matter an iota what their religion or politics is. they are rich and white. period. name another class of people on the planet who believes money can buy them first class seats on the most heavily advertised apocalypse?🙄
Not code for anything so much as relevant given these actors are pro-life, pro-creation.
Person to talk to recommendation: Chris Cooper, Head of Purpose Asia Pac, he is in London right now too. They work on counteracting digital threats to democracy. So I am sure he would have much to say about the tech bros. https://www.thefoil.ai/episodes/episode-19-regulationdefendingdemocracy
All this stuff in this stack is just so so creepy yuck!! But thankyou to you & Siobhan for flagging!!
Sarah - what a post! You've really summarized so many complex things that are going on in a digestible fashion. The whole thing is immensely disturbing / scary / terrifying / revolting with no end in sight.
What on earth can be done to try to stop all this? Maybe we need to focus on the people who are trying to champion more grounded, here and now, just connect with the earth and each other type solutions - if there is such a group. Or maybe because all their wealth and power comes from the technology we're all reliant on (addicted to in some cases) maybe we need to pull back on this when we can? Would love to hear suggestions from people!
I'm in search of the same crew/groups. Vital. I'm going to try to get to Stockholm Impact Week while I'm over here....
Amazing. Good luck and look forward to listening / reading!
First Nations leaders immediately spring to mind -- Ella Noah Bancroft speaks a lot about decolonisation as the antidote to capitalism and patriarchy. Helena Norberg-hodge also springs to mind for her ideas about localisation.
Sometimes it does feel like these big superbreeder folk are so embedded in everything in our “system” that returning to nature and building community feels a bit ... small or insignificant ... but maybe that’s the point? To completely step away from their tech and that world to focus our energy in a decapitalised way (gift economy, local trade, knowing our neighbours etc). Excited to see who you connect with, Sarah!
Yes! Those two speakers sound amazing, would love to see them on Sarah's podcast and their ideas becoming more mainstream, especially the decapitalized part. Although, I feel like for this to have long term success we need to get the younger generations on board which is a worry. Everyone that I know that's a teenager or in their 20s has bought into the capitalist system of constantly buying new clothes (because you can't possibly be on social media in the same outfit), a new iPhone each year etc. What you've described sounds great Nat, this is the world that I want to live in. I don't think it's small or insignificant but a life of connection. Currently it feels like we're on a runaway train with tech bros/ 1%ers / superbreeders at the helm with no hope of having a say on where the train is going or how fast :(
I know what you mean -- my friends talk about their kids in Year Four saying that they want to be YouTube Stars when they grew up 😬 I do feel like so much of the current education systems sets us up to believe that wealth and “good corporate jobs” equals success. A lot of my friends are going down the path of homeschooling / unschooling ... not sure that I’m quite there yet. Wild to feel that returning to nature feels like the alternative extreme rather than tend norm? Or maybe I am just a hippy now? 😆😅
Oh my word, I hear you on this, isn't it a terrible worry? Out of all the youngsters in that age bracket in my family, at family gatherings all but one of them spends the whole time on their phone - taking selfies, scrolling through socials etc. I've suggested that we have a no phones at the table rule and they've responded as if I was attempting to cut off a limb! Their whole focus is how many followers and likes they get online. I just look at them and think, if this is the future of our planet we are screwed, as sad as that is. My hope is that they 'grow out of it' quick smart, although I don't know how realistic this is either.
Totally agree re the current education system. And that if we have the three car garage, media room, outdoor living space and a pool and a boat which we can splash on socials then we are successful!
Let's be 'hippies' together then. I think the earth and human's ability to live on the earth would be in a much better state if the hippies were in charge haha.
Haha ok the hippy path it is! I hope your youngsters don’t think you’re too crazy for recommending they put their phones away 😆
Hi Sarah. This one is tough. I think if I was able to use technology to understand if my future kids would get to live beyond 70 (most of my family have died before 70), then yes I would want to find out the genetic answer to that problem.
However I would also want my kids to grow up in the now. Connect to nature. Learn about the world. See and understand the world from different perspectives, because that will ground them in life and experience for the future.
These futuristic kids will be bubble wrapped because their role in life is seen as important in the future not the now, and I think that’s kinda missing the point of the journey of life.
yes, that's another consideration. How will these kids feel coming into the world as "units" to serve a purpose?
I saw the word hoo-ha in your post and wondered if it was the same hoo-ha I was thinking of?
I've been on the road for the past few days and am just catching up with this now. but I'm SO thrilled to see where you've landed with all this, Sarah. I've been feeling deeply concerned over the past year or so by how the media has been reporting on all of these issues and failing to join the dots between them all.
I hope you'll have a chance to interview some of the people who are offering really important critiques of things like AI, longtermism, effective altruism, transhumanism etc etc – people like Timnit Gebru, Emile P. Torres, Emily Bender, and Nathan J. Robinson.
Have you come across the TESCREAL acronym yet? Here's a brief explainer. Again, I think it's something that needs platforming by anyone who's able to do so:
https://twitter.com/xriskology/status/1635313838508883968
Bloody hell, what a read. Very sobering. We’ve got this far as we are melting pot of messy humans with all our faults, flaws and brilliance. My son is autistic with a batch of other diagnosis too - dyslexia, dysgraphia etc etc. and is the most human person I know with all his sensitivities and daily struggles with the massive amount of feelings he feels. He makes me a better, more compassionate, loving, inclusive human. For him to be potentially deselected at the embryonic state is a crime against humanity. In the world of the The Collinses there will be a vast gapping hole.