Ghosts in the Machine
An online talk coming up next week
Dear readers,
As those of you who have read my short story The Basilisk will know, I’m increasingly convinced that something is going on with our ever-enfolding digital networks which cannot be explained in purely rational terms. Nothing can actually be explained in ‘purely rational terms’ of course, unless you’re a computer, which may be why our Silicon Valley overlords are trying to turn us into computers. But I digress.
Last Wednesday evening I was due to give a live online talk about this as part of the ongoing Orthodox Arts Festival. I planned to deliver a version of a talk I have given before in Romania and in Ireland, in which I look at the development of digital tech, what I think it represents and what its dangers are, from a Christian perspective, and then explores what we can do about the net that is closing around us. The main point I wanted to make was that our ongoing struggle with the Machine is, more than anything else, a spiritual war.
Curiously enough, just as we were beginning the evening, some kind of technological collapse occurred, and I was unable to deliver the talk. I’m sure this was just a coincidence. We will perhaps find out soon, as I will be trying again this coming Thursday, 29th September, at 7pm UK time. The link below will take you to the Youtube page through which, if the powers allow, I’ll deliver the talk. There should be time for questions afterwards.
I was also interviewed recently for Mere Orthodoxy magazine, about this and other matters related to it. It’s quite a rambling interview - I need to learn when to shut up - but if you fancy, you can read it here.
Have a good weekend,
Paul
Rambling is beautiful
We’re all born with a right to roam :)
Also, I realized recently that the computer/cell phone/electronic reality was a superfluous add on, much less the coming artificial intelligence revolution. WW2, an immense feat of production, communication, design and planning among all involved with no computers. At age 16 in 1969 I watched the moon landing, in our farmhouse we had besides the TV, a phone capable of calling anywhere in the US and internationally, electric lights, thermostat controlled central heating, flush toilets, shower and a bath tub, a radio, record player, a nice home library with a range of books, mail delivery Monday through Saturday, refrigerator, electric mixer, electric can opener, ability to order a wide variety of things through mail order catalogs, weekly magazines, a daily newspaper,a dish washer, cloths washer and dryer just as effective as the ones we have now, a car and truck that worked as well as those of today, access to modern dentistry and medicine, a camera to take pictures, movie theatre and library in town. And jet travel just as fast as today, good highways, semi trucks, trains much the same - all products of pre-computer, pre - artificial intelligence human expertise and ingenuity except for a bit of computers for the moon landing - a useless stunt IMO. What needs to be done to heal the earth and society are methods and approaches again not needing tech wizardry.