As someone who subscribes to chaos and nihilism as the underlying conclusion of it all, I struggle to believe that humanity can evolve into some enlightened state where peace will come to all.
I read so many blogs talking about working on our empathy and the ripple effect it will have on others... that the individual's ability to evolve will affect those around them, and so on... But how, though?
Empathy has evolved to some degree in all cooperating species on the planet, and still — 99% of all life that has ever existed is extinct. Are we really all that special? Or are we sold on the idea of some sort of cosmic transcendence — that we can create Heaven on Earth if only we meditate the right way?
I'm not bitter or disappointed in humanity — simply disillusioned. Humanity, hah! The little of it that we still have — we’re about to delegate it to an artificial mind. And what it will do to our “humanity” will depend on the effectiveness of the prompt you feed it. But worry not — it will help you generate the prompt too.
So down we go, with the rest of the 99% — our unbroken chain of predecessors, to whom we owe the evolution of such emotions as empathy. Perhaps we should have been horseshoe crabs — these little guys have remained unchanged for almost two whole galactic years (450 million years). I've held one. They're cute and harmless — and I think they run on Norton Commander, at most.
Perhaps we should ask birds — the only direct descendants of the large dinosaurs who remain. They’re some of the most social creatures on the planet. Some have mates for life. They imprint on each other. They bond with other animals too! They are highly intelligent and definitely don’t lack empathy.
You could maybe say, “Ahh, in their evolution they gave up on size, sharp teeth, arms with claws — to become these cute chirpy little flyers. And look at them thrive!" But no, reader — don’t fall for my strawman representation of these fuckers. They are vicious, opportunistic, baby-killing machines — and that’s just among themselves. Don't let their apparent cuteness deceive you — they are complex — beautiful and disgusting at the same time. And that goes for us too.
Dogs — The epitomes of trust and unconditional loyalty. We can't even bring them into this! Just like AI, we’ve created them as companions — but who’s in charge, really? We've given them more rights than we give other humans. These little tail-waggers have the incredible intelligence to read our micro-expressions and peer into our souls. A malnourished dog can crush the internet with the outpouring of compassion — but his starving Palestinian owner will not receive any. True story.
But, for all this trust, loyalty and companionship, they pay dearly. They get abused, made to fight one another, eaten.
Dogs are also not the best among themselves — territorial, hierarchical and impulsive. As such, we can't use them as any success story in this quest for better nature.
In other words, nature already has empathy programed for us, it helps animals survive in numbers, and yet the collective murder still persists.
Let’s all spend some time chasing ego-death in rave festivals, drum circles, meditation retreats — it's only $599. Empathy, spirituality, and the “power to manifest reality” have also been abducted by woo-woo grifters who sell you alien-lore 'documentaries' for $8.99/month. While you think you’re achieving some sort of esoteric “ultimate form,” someone is running out with a bag full of money. So any talk of enlightenment always leaves me with a cynical thought: that even if some individuals can find some sort of revelation or awakening among all these spiritual quests, collectively we’re still wired to fail. Are there any barefoot, earth-loving survivors from that rave festival who are enlightened enough to understand why they were attacked, and muster empathy for the innocent in Palestine? It seems like empathy is something that can be easily shoved away when tribalism kicks into gear.
Doomer shit, I know.
And as a doomer, I can see humanity for what it is — pattern-seeking chaos.
There is no such thing as good and evil. There is no perfection. No infinity. These are just concepts we've invented because we want to find patterns. Patterns give us comfort. How juvenile is it to believe that we are chosen for something? That the cosmos is just waiting to give us what we want if we can only vibrate on a higher frequency?
Yes, everything has frequency — but it’s a fact, not a prescription.
Particles vibrate too, and they decay. Do you know what causes particle decay? Other particles. Interaction is chaos. And the root of chaos is interaction.
I'm evaluating my own reactions and interactions with others — it’s all flawed, even when done with empathy. Its game theory - be vulnerable, but watch what you say. We can become so empathetic that we relinquish our own well-being, and become exposed to abuse. We believe in scarcity of resources and fear exploitation. We see kindness as weakness. And if we don’t exploit others, then surely we are the ones being exploited. Look at this playing out right in front of us:
If we don’t kill them — they’ll kill us. So we’ll kill them first.
Like all of them???
Yes, we must — otherwise they will seek to kill us for killing them.
Now lets teach that to our kids.
and off we go in cycles.
This vicious cycle of scarcity mindset and fear of exploitation is — in my opinion, the biggest barrier for individuals (myself included) and for society to overcome. And its not about finding peace, or ending starvation - it about willingness to fight or starve for the sake of another. Peace and abundance are too orderly, and too bureaucratic to achieve, and entropy only moves in one direction.
Scripture won’t help either. God exnihilates all humans and animals because at some point in history they were alleged "child-sacrificing sodomites."
Oh yeah? Like all of them? Just sodomizing and sacrificing children all day long?
There were no bakers? No farmers? No fishermen? No fabric makers? No teachers? No social order?
And how did they build cities between all these acts of sodomy?
The Bible is just a green light to dehumanize people — just gather them neatly in a group, call it “Evil,” and now you can do anything to them. This Bronze Age shit is literally perpetuating itself today — all under the stupid guise that there is a celestial being that has its chosen people.
Empathy made us cooperate ⏩ Cooperation made us tribal ⏩ And tribalism made us lose empathy.
This is our predicament, I’m afraid. And I don’t have a solution for you. I’m just going to say that accepting your dark side is just as important as accepting your ideal self. Know that you are but a lightbulb away from total barbarism — and some people don’t even need the lightbulb.
And despite all that, I want you to revel in the fact that we can create art. We live longer. We can fly. We can name stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We can be both falling into a black hole and collecting Pokémon cards.
We are just chaos.
