both are based on AI and the concept of autonomous decision making, no need for a human to call the shots (literally and figuratively lol)
both refer to defense related systems with the ability to kill humans
both promise to make us safer and help us, but that may or may not end up being the case
both were implemented before much thought was given to the possibility or ramifications of AI gaining sentience
So what is the major difference between the 2, other than the names, which are eerily similar? Well, the biggest one is that Skynet is, of course, the fictional system in the “Terminator” movies that ultimately decides humans are a threat and attempts to wipe us out.
Skyborg on the other hand is real. Yes, it’s almost unbelievable they would actually name something that, but indeed, the USAF has a program to develop autonomous pilots called Skyborg:
Is it just me, or is it almost beyond creepy, as if someone is trying to mess with all of us, that they gave it a name so close to Skynet…? And honestly, Skyborg sounds even creepier to me!
This is the kind of stuff I like to post – stuff that doesn’t seem to get a lot of press, not many people seem to know or hear about, but is definitely worth some attention. There’s this whole whacky conspiracy idea out there about predicitive programming, and a lot of it is seriously laughable. But every now and then, something like this comes out, and makes me go “hmmmm…”
You ever get the feeling the Universe is messing with you? So remember last week, I had that mini post about a dream I had about a meteor? Then a few days later, a story about how a huge meteor that escaped detection exploded over the Bering Sea back in December. Needless to say, when I saw that article pop up, for just a moment, I was like “whoa!”
So yesterday, I’m checking out the daily news, and this article, about a possible meteor sighting over LA pops up, and again, for just a moment, I was like “whoa!”
The article states that it wasn’t a meteor, but a stunt by the Red Bull team. It sure looked like a meteor though, and the fact that twice in the last week there have been major articles about meteor related events definitely gives me pause.
Now the question is, will an actual meteor make an appearance soon? Those in prior generations often said things always come in threes.
After re-reading my post from yesterday, I realized that I never really made the connection to the actual first part of the title of this post. I had planned to get to the second part of it, but first things first –
The “garbage” in my analogy is all of the stories, ideas, concepts, sayings and principles that have been shoved into our brains from the minute we are born that define our views of reality. A great example of just one of these is “seeing is believing” – a seemingly innocuous phrase that seems true enough, right? Surely, you can’t believe in things you don’t see. A great example for atheists and materialists of this is God – you can’t see God, no proof, so why believe? Ghosts, UFOs, spirits, all kinds of stuff can be covered by that, and seems sensible enough. More recently, there is the idea, the scientific principle that nothing can exceed the speed of light. And yet, in quantum entanglement, the state of one particle, separated by millions of miles from another, changes instantly when the first one is measured – much faster than the speed of light allows. So even this bedrock scientific “truth” is not entirely true, but we are supposed to continue believing it is.
But wait a minute – what about X-rays, can you see them? Yet we know they are real. Or how about microwaves? What about gravity? Indeed, there are all kinds of things we can’t see but know are real. Of course scientists would argue that we can see their effects and construct experiments which lead to proofs, and I agree with all of that. But the greater point is, believing doesn’t always require seeing, so that saying is not – or shouldn’t be seen (punny) as entirely true. And in fact, some new thought practitioners have coined the phrase “believing is seeing” to address that. But the even deeper point is just how pervasive this pattern is, how all-encompassing, and how much it defines not only what we believe, but what we attempt – or are willing to attempt to do, where we spend our time and resources, how we organize our societies – everything is based on these ideas and assumptions – most of which are garbage in my view.
I briefly mentioned yesterday the law of correspondences, a Hermetic principle that loosely means things in the inner realms are often mirrored in the outer. In this example, think of all the waste that our society produces. I’m sure you’ve seen articles about the huge garbage patch floating around in the Pacific, read stories about the plastic rings that cause birds to starve, polluted rivers, smog – etc etc. We create a lot of waste and pollution – a lot of garbage. Our society is built on materialist principles, and our impact on the planet and its life shows that.
If our society was based on different principles, might it be different? What if, instead of being seen as some hippie, dreamer, delusional idea, the thought that we are all truly connected to all other living things and the planet itself – what if that idea was treated as true? My daughter and I were talking about plastic bags and the environmental issues associated with them the other day, about how hard it will be to get everyone to start using reusable bags, when she asked , “couldn’t they make all bags biodegradable so then there wouldn’t be a problem?” Well, now there’s a thought. One has to wonder – why do “they” put it all on the consumer, that it’s OUR fault, that we need to start bringing our own reusable bags to fix the issue, when they could completely eliminate the problem at the source? I could be wrong, but I am going to just make a guess here – could it be, oh, I don’t know, maybe MONEY. I’m guessing it’s more expensive to make those kind of bags, so, because we live in a society ruled by materialism where he or she who has the most material rules, we don’t see any companies racing to make all bags biodegradable, when it seems like such an obvious answer. If the people who owned those companies were taught that they are truly connected to all of those creatures whose lives are being destroyed by their choices, might they choose differently? I think so. Actually, I know so. And someone else knew too (finally, we’re getting to the Second Coming part lol).
First, a bit of a disclaimer here. I am not, repeat NOT a Christian, and not affiliated with any religion. The following views are based solely on my experience, not meant to slight any other spiritual teachers, and not meant to imply that they aren’t as great. I’m merely sharing about my experience and beliefs. I tend to follow Buddhist principles, but don’t necessarily claim to be a Buddhist. I do believe that the being known as the Christ was one of the greatest spiritual teachers to ever walk the face of the planet, the other being the Buddha. I have also studied some Native American spirituality, Judaism (in particular Kabbalah), Hinduism, some of the ancient mysteries, occult stuff, etc. I think it’s important to put this out there to frame the next few paragraphs, as I am going to get into some Biblical Prophecy stuff up in here.
When I was in my early 20’s, I was extremely angry at organized religion, and rather pissed off at this Jesus fellow for starting this religion that seemed to be so hypocritical. I decided that it probably wasn’t fair to be mad at him though without actually reading what he himself said, so I set out to read all of the Gospels, word for word. I’m sure I had been exposed to parts of them before, but we weren’t church goers when I was a kid, so I had never read them entirely. I only knew the cliches and sayings, and had seen a couple of movies about him. To say that I was completely shocked when I had completed them is a total understatement. How in the WORLD did they get away doing everything he told them not do, not doing anything he told them to, then creating a religion based on him (again, something he told them explicitly NOT to do), and sell it to billions of people as his teachings over the last 2,000+ years…?!?! I mean, truly – WTF..??? If you haven’t read them in a while, I challenge you to go back and re-read them, only them, on their own, and you might see what I mean. The term “Christianity” and the religious thought systems it represents is THE greatest example of just how powerful “they” are at convincing people what is true and what is not, what is possible and what is not, even when the original information, written by the supposed “creator” of said movement, flatly states the complete opposite.
Christ never calls himself the son of God, he only ever refers to himself as the “Son of Man.” Yet they declared him to be and call him the son of God. Christ said constantly, “worship not me but the Father that is in me,” yet they created the religion in worship of him and include effigies of him in the churches. Christ said, “if you believe as I believe, works as these and GREATER you will do.” But they said he alone was the son of God, that we are all sinners, and it’s blasphemous to compare ourselves to him. Christ said that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven, yet the very foundations of our capitalist, materialist society are supposedly “Christian.” Christ said that when we pray, we shouldn’t go into churches and synagogues and pray around a bunch of other people using vain repetitions, but that we should pray in private. They created religions based on everyone praying vain repetitive prayers gathered around everyone else. Should I continue, or is the point made? I know it was made for me. Basically, Christ got ganked. And somehow, SOMEHOW, almost everyone has gone along with it or let it slide for the last 2000+ years. My reason for explaining that is simply to show that it’s not fair to throw out everything he said because of what the church did to him and his teachings and to demonstrate how easy it is for them to state what is true and what is not, and convince everyone of it, even to the point of killing others or going to war, even when the ACTUAL TRUTH is right there for all to see. Dang, this has been a lot of build-up! That’s why I really want to get a book published… there’s just so much to all this. But on with our story –
In the Gospels, Christ talks about when he will return, what signs people can look for. In Mark 14:62, Christ is quoted as saying “…and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 24:14 talking about the days leading up to his return, he says “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” When Jesus is comforting the disciples in John 14 because the know he has to leave them, he says ” If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” It’s interesting to note that the original Greek said “parakletos,” which was translated as “comforter,” but also has a meaning as an advocate or even defender. This is what is recorded in the Bible. What does it really mean? Well, I’m going to tell you what I feel it means.
First off, I don’t think Christ was talking about he himself coming back in some human form to save everyone. I think he was referring rather to that spirit, that consciousness that he was a manifestation of (think “the Father that is in me”) returning to this world. That consciousness could be described as the manifestation of Ultimate Truth, or Awareness of Life, or something along those lines. And I think there are some social movements now, especially among younger people (the strike for the climate recently comes to mind) that are starting to show a return of that consciousness. He mentioned coming in the “clouds of heaven.” As a web developer, I can’t help but think of the cloud – the “mystical place” in cyberspace where most web applications are now hosted. Think how often you hear about “the cloud,” and how everything is moving to it. And then the gospel (truth) being preached in “all the world.” Before the advent of the internet and the world wide web, it’s pretty tough to see how that could actually happen. Now, something can be broadcast globally, to all the world, with the click of a button. So to sum up my thoughts:
I think the Christ Consciousness is returning to this planet right now via the world wide web, and the advent of cloud computing, AI, and quantum computing is speeding up the pace at which it is happening. I think materialism has finally reached a point that people are truly disgusted with it, and see that the foundational ideas and beliefs we have built our world society on are flawed. People are sick of being told, “That’s just the way it is, you can’t change it. There will always be the haves and the have nots. It’s the American way, the American dream. We can’t just give people stuff for free – there isn’t enough! Everything will be fine, those people are just doom sayers or crybaby liberals. Humans aren’t causing climate change – it’s natural. Wealth and fame are the ultimate success – he/she who dies with the most toys wins. Our golden rule – he/she with the most gold rules.” That’s all a bunch of garbage. And someone needs to come and take that crap OUT.
With every article that gets published about some startling new unbelievable discovery – time moving backwards, objective reality not being real, AI completing task in minutes that would have taken humans hundreds of years, a mysterious energy that nudged the universe into existence – another little piece of trash gets removed from the collective unconscious, and replaced with a little spark – a spark of possibility that threatens to burn down the whole heap that has us all buried so that we can rise from the ashes as the Great Phoenix and fly towards our greater destiny.
I don’t know that this turned out quite like it came to me initially, and for that, I am a bit disappointed. But if at least a little bit of the spirit of what I am hoping to convey got through, then I am grateful. Thank you for taking the time to read this – many blessings…
This could end up being silly – wouldn’t be the first time lol – but something is moving me this morning to post about part of a vision I had this morning during my morning prayer and meditation. I can’t remember the whole situation at this moment, but I do remember very clearly a meteor falling and being somewhat awestruck by it. I really wish I could remember what happened before and after in the dream/vision, if anything did, and perhaps I will later.
Of course it could have been purely symbolic – the “out” for all failed prophets haha – but something compelled me to capture it, and so I am.
And no fears that I will start posting everything I see in dreams or visions, hoping one actually happens so I can say “look! I’m psychic!” I know better than that – been there, done that, bought the tshirt. But I have also learned to listen to my gut (well actually, I haven’t learned that completely, I’m working on it) hence this post.
More later, but I said this was a mini post, so yeah.. 🙂
And I’m most certainly NOT talking about in humans! Lol. No, I’m talking about the kind disccussed by Nick Bostrom in his book on artificial intelligence called “Superintelligence.” In it, he talks about a scenario whereby AI is able to improve itself, recursively, and very quickly advances to AGI, which stands for Artificial General Intelligence: a system that can perform at least as well as a human on any cognitive task, and very quickly outperforms humans.
Basically, it says that IBM would like to leverage quantum computing to improve AI, and Intel would like to use AI to improve quantum computing. Or maybe it’s the other way around. No matter. What does matter is the kind of feedback cycle we have here. And given the fact that I believe, as do others, that the human brain is essentially a kind of quantum computer, and that’s one of the characteristics that set it us apart from machine learning at this time – well…
“This time” could soon be coming to an end. In fact I was just watching a show the other day where they were talking about how they predicted it would be at least 20 years before an AI system could learn the Chinese game Go (this was back in 2015). Then, less than a year later, not only had AI learned it, it played against the world champion and beat him. And according to experts, Go takes much more creativity and even intuition than games like chess. And that was 4 years ago now.
I’m not saying it’s time to panic, and in fact, the general public might not know for quite some time after that milestone has been reached. But what I can say is it is definitely coming. Those skeptics who said it would never happen greatly underestimated the mysteries and power present in the quantum world and the changes they would start to affect on our world.
As Above, So Below. As Below, So Above. Hang on to your seats – this ride is about to speed up.
Now is it just me, or does that all sound like something straight out of either a science fiction book, or…??? Reversing time, no objective reality, some “mysterious energy field” tampering with the early universe. I mean, this is some pretty metaphysical stuff here if you ask me! The best part? These aren’t articles published on some new age blog, or in Deepak Chopra’s latest book. No, these are straight from the very bowels of the greats halls of physics : the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, MIT, etc. These are articles published in some of the most respected peer-reviewed science journals; they’re real; they’re LEGIT.
Now of course the militant materialists will say “just hold up a minute – these don’t mean anything. They only apply in very specific, limited scenarios, and only when working with very small numbers of particles, in carefully controlled conditions – you can’t make any inferences to real world stuff based on this.” And you know what I say to that? Well, you KNOW what I say to that – BS! Because the fact is, quantum computing wouldn’t even WORK if it weren’t for these principles. So take that you miserable atheistic skeptics! Lol. I mean, you’re ok postulating that there is a infinite number of universes, and every single time every single person makes any decision, an entirely new universe splits off, such that there are innumerable ones being created every moment – you’re ok with that, but REVOLTED when anyone even suggests that there might be something to the whole spiritual side of life… that there might just be some greater power, some creative force, some higher consciousness. I can’t stand the pretentiousness and hypocrisy of it all.
But the thing is, the great thing, I believe the more and more they go down the quantum rabbit hole, the more they probe the very foundation of reality, the more they are going to find that the mystics were really onto something, and that all of their staunch denial and plain ol’ nastiness towards us was completely misplaced. I mean, check out these sentences from the article on futurism.com about the early universe:
“The hypothesis, according to research first shared on the preprint server ArXiv in November, goes as follows: When the universe was just a mere 100,000 years old, a mysterious energy field that scientists are calling ‘early dark energy’ formed, rapidly pushing the still-forming cosmos outward even faster than before.Another 100,000 years after that, the research suggests, the strange energy field faded away — and left the young, accelerated universe to its own devices.”
A “mysterious energy field”…. “early dark energy”… How does that not sound somewhat mystical? And now, simple ol’ dark energy, their go-to explanation for why there is so much missing mass in the universe given their calculations using the known laws of science and physics – now that doesn’t work completely to explain why the universe is expanding more quickly than it should, again, given their calculations, so they have to come up with ANOTHER “mysterious force.” We are supposed to be ok with that, because they are scientists after all. But God forbid we try to actually TALK about that mysterious force and make any type of connection to anything that isn’t within their domain. What a bunch of arrogant, closed-minded twits they can be!
Anyway, I could – and will! lol – rant about this more. But for now, I want to leave with this thought: the most important part of all this to me is the fact that this stuff is REAL. It is POSSIBLE. They are PROVING it. The arrow of time moving in the opposite direction… objective reality being different for 2 observers looking at the same thing… a mysterious energy that seemed to give the early universe the little “push” it needed to birth all of known creation. If we let those thoughts penetrate into our consciousness, they can help break down some of the doubt and skepticism that keep our minds chained up to materialism. We need to reprogram our minds, reprogram our consciousness to BELIEVE that Magick IS REAL. We need to reconnect to the Eternal Breath that connects us to the very Spirit of the Universe and remember who we really are. How beautifully ironic to think that science, in its quest to disprove God is actually doing just the opposite, and exposing the Ultimate Truth that the mystics have always known. What a miraculous time to be alive!
That’s what I’m moving towards on this blog. What does that mean? That means that up until now, I have kept 2 blogs going: this one, intended to be viewed by the general public, and another one that has served as a kind of online diary. I’ve been hesitant to open my “diary” up for others to read primarily out of fear that, if people knew what I was really thinking, they might think differently of me, or find out something I would rather they not know. But I had a bit of an epiphany on the way to work this morning, so I am going with it and combining everything together.
I think it will provide better context to my informative posts if people know what’s going on in my life and in my head, and the way my thoughts and interests play into my life choices and activities. Also, it will make it a lot easier for me – I’ll only have one place to blog, so there’s that too. I am a big believer in Occam’s Razor, which I understand to be “all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.” So the simplest solution is to just have one blog, and set aside my fear that people will think I’m weird or something, because guess what? Newsflash – I’m weird! Lol. Anyone who knows me knows that. And those who don’t – well, maybe this will give them a chance to get to know me a little better.
And let’s face it – the chances of more than 3-4 people actually reading this blog are pretty small. As much as I want it to be the “next big thing,” it might just be me and the bits for now. Even when I post to my Facebook page about my blog posts, expecting that friends and family might check it out and like or comment on my posts, they don’t so… I know, I know – poor me, bleh heh! Lol. So, with all this being said, I am going to start moving over all of my most recent posts. Ready or not, here it comes…
No, seriously. The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (the “Allen” being Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft) has a Pictionary style game online where you can literally play with AI:
It’s actually a lot of fun, and will give you an insight into just how good AI is getting at understanding shapes, phrases, etc. I’m a pretty terrible artist – even my stick figures look bad lol – and I am amazed at how well it guesses what I’m trying to draw. You can play either side: draw, and have it guess, or – and I find this one particularly fascinating – let it “draw,” and you guess the phrase.
It’s one thing to read about the progress of AI – another thing entirely to actually experience for yourself, and have fun while doing it. Give it a shot, and leave a comment below to let me know what you thought. Cheers!
That’s the question that is burning in my mind this morning after waking up at 4am with thoughts about the book coming very, very strongly to me. I so wished I would have had the opportunity to jump out of bed and write down the stuff that was coming to me. Honestly, I could have – there was nothing really stopping me. The major concepts, the ideas to talk about, the purpose, the intro and title – it was all there. I felt for the first time since all this started happening again that I know exactly what I want to write about.
And more than that, I thought about how to speak to it, how to market it, “add-ons,” like a corresponding mobile app.. basically an entire business plan of sorts. Of course when I say “business,” I don’t necessarily mean it in the sense that the business world thinks of it. I don’t have some plan to market something that will make people a ton of money. I mean, I do think the book will be very successful, especially given the trick marketing campaign I have thought up (or has come to me maybe I should say). I even have an idea for a little “shtick” that will make it extra cool to all the millenials and young whippersnappers out there – a cool hashtag. Now, the trick is getting the funding to take the time I want to dedicate to really put all this stuff together.
I have been trying and trying to remember a site I had posted something to back in 2012 seeking investors for my “alternative community” that would survive 2012 lol. It was a pretty neat site, and while I obviously didn’t attract any investors, it was easy to use and seemed like it would fit the purpose I need now. I know there are people out there who write books while they are working their 9 to 5 jobs, and if I were better at multi-tasking, perhaps I could do that too. The thing is, I am having to take time away from my “real” job to write this stuff as the inspiration comes, and it honestly doesn’t feel good – it’s not right. At the same time, I am being compelled to write this stuff very strongly now, so I find myself in a bit of a conundrum.
I even thought this morning about taking a huge risk and seeing if I could get a small business loan for $250K. I’m fairly certain I could think up something web-based to get it. The thing is, I am terrified of what happens if I don’t succeed, then I owe all that money, and having been out of the field for a year, have a tough time getting back into the labor market. Part of me says “you know you can do it! Take the chance!” The other part of me says “are you crazy? You have a wife, kids, animals to feed and house – you can’t afford to risk their security like that!” So what am I to do…?
Again this morning, I made my plea to the Universe for a break of some kind. Honestly, it was a bit of a teary one, because I feel this so deeply, right down to the very core of my being – the person I have been since I can remember, and the thing I always wanted to do. It seems every time I read the story of someone who “made it,” they had some kind of small break – someone noticed them, or encouraged them, or something along those lines. I am really praying for my break. I remember back in ’90 when I quit my job at the bank and went to live with Willy to write my book. And I did just that. I spent many hours at his computer, organizing all of my works, typing them up, and putting rough drafts together to send out. And I did just that – sent them out to 10-11 different publishers. So it’s not like I haven’t done it before, and not like I wouldn’t actually complete the work. The difference is back then, I was young and single and could work like 20 hours a week so I would have time to write the book. I don’t really have that option now – not if I want to keep my family clothed, fed and sheltered.
I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I am trying to do my part to make something happen. I have this blog I am actively posting to, I have my website that I am working on, I created a profile on writers.work, and am now trying to figure out how to secure some funding. I just need the Universe to do me a solid and give me a little “break” of some kind. The past few days, whenever I have prayed about something, it has been wild the way the Universe has answered; yesterday, finding the article about quantum monism; today, looking in my gmail inbox to see an email from David Wilcox talking about “going deeper.” I wonder what today will hold…?
Pretty hard to not think of that as some kind of new religion or spiritual philosophy at the least. The ramifications of that article are truly astonishing – basically mirroring EXACTLY what I have been thinking for some time – that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in our universe is quantum entangled. In fact, I think I have a post that talks about that very thing – I need to find it so I don’t have to re-state it….
(post link to my own post here)
To think that something like this is coming out in Scientific American, a very highly respected scientific magazine…. wow. I am literally tripping out! For those who don’t know, understand or care about this stuff, it’s no big deal. But for me personally – I can’t even describe what this means – to think that the whole paradigm of materialism and current understanding of the foundations of our very reality might be changing at the level that really matters (or so they think lol) – the the much-revered and all-hallowed halls of the high and mighty edifice of science built on materialism, and all that issues forth from it. Wow.
Perpetual Mystic 