Always a pleasure to read, I hope you find your comeuppance in due course!
I've been contemplating about Atlantis for a good few years now (Graham Hancock got me started on this long forgotten paths when I was a stoner back in the late 90s).
I agree with your interpretation that ultimately it's a story about remembering the future. And I agree with your interpretation of where we are atm.
My conclusion is slightly different though. A few years ago I came across a YT channel 'suspicious observers' who present a compelling case for regular cataclysmic pole shifts every 6/12k years. Every 12 is big, every 6 is small. It sort of fits with Sumer starting in 4k bc and the younger dryas 10.5/12k bc. 100 years is a fraction of 12k etc.
Obviously we're talking sci-fi as I like to premise these days. But if we take a starting point for homo sapiens at 350k, then we're around 30 cycles in, give or take.
So then, since we're talking sci-fi, I think about the agricultural, industrial and technological revolutions, all the way up to now. And I think, what gives, why now?
And I figure one explanation could be we're in a fish tank sand box kind of thing. And they (whoever they are) thought, well, them humans obviously have clearly fumbled the ball, again, so to speak, and the sphere will reset anyway, so let's see if humans can find a way to figure it out this time before the next inevitable wipeout and restart.
Obviously AI and robotics and what not could create a utopia, but realistically, we haven't been able to sort out the mechanics of a harmonious virtuous peaceful human sociopolitical life, becoming instead victims of our own narratives about life and labor and taxes and pensions and private property and money and power, etc.
Personally looking out ten or twenty years, I have a hard time imagining a future beyond the mental retardation currently going on, coupled with the inevitable fragility accompanying complexity.
Indeed we have built fragile, integrated systems. Imagine a superflare or a new 'Carrington Event' where we lose power, telcos, or just electronic payments for a week--or more.
What would remain? Just useless relics and some old symbols our descendants won't understand. Maybe even our story / stories will be forgotten.
However there is hope, always, in what we carry forward. Humanity survives and re-builds. And if an old priest survives, the story might live too.
Who knows how different the world would look after a cataclysm. And more importantly, who knows how our survivors will look at it...
I want you to know that this really affected me, as a number of your writings have. I've been contemplating Atlantis a lot recently as a myth of civilizational collapse. Your essay helps me see it in a whole new light, yielding many threads to explore. It is especially your poetically attuned foregrounding of memory that leaves an indelible mark on me today. Thank you.
Always a pleasure to read, I hope you find your comeuppance in due course!
I've been contemplating about Atlantis for a good few years now (Graham Hancock got me started on this long forgotten paths when I was a stoner back in the late 90s).
I agree with your interpretation that ultimately it's a story about remembering the future. And I agree with your interpretation of where we are atm.
My conclusion is slightly different though. A few years ago I came across a YT channel 'suspicious observers' who present a compelling case for regular cataclysmic pole shifts every 6/12k years. Every 12 is big, every 6 is small. It sort of fits with Sumer starting in 4k bc and the younger dryas 10.5/12k bc. 100 years is a fraction of 12k etc.
Obviously we're talking sci-fi as I like to premise these days. But if we take a starting point for homo sapiens at 350k, then we're around 30 cycles in, give or take.
So then, since we're talking sci-fi, I think about the agricultural, industrial and technological revolutions, all the way up to now. And I think, what gives, why now?
And I figure one explanation could be we're in a fish tank sand box kind of thing. And they (whoever they are) thought, well, them humans obviously have clearly fumbled the ball, again, so to speak, and the sphere will reset anyway, so let's see if humans can find a way to figure it out this time before the next inevitable wipeout and restart.
Obviously AI and robotics and what not could create a utopia, but realistically, we haven't been able to sort out the mechanics of a harmonious virtuous peaceful human sociopolitical life, becoming instead victims of our own narratives about life and labor and taxes and pensions and private property and money and power, etc.
Personally looking out ten or twenty years, I have a hard time imagining a future beyond the mental retardation currently going on, coupled with the inevitable fragility accompanying complexity.
Just food for thought.
Great essay, thanks!
Compliments appreciated!
Indeed we have built fragile, integrated systems. Imagine a superflare or a new 'Carrington Event' where we lose power, telcos, or just electronic payments for a week--or more.
What would remain? Just useless relics and some old symbols our descendants won't understand. Maybe even our story / stories will be forgotten.
However there is hope, always, in what we carry forward. Humanity survives and re-builds. And if an old priest survives, the story might live too.
Who knows how different the world would look after a cataclysm. And more importantly, who knows how our survivors will look at it...
Ai learns what we teach it. So as we become more retarded, it will become more retarded as well.
Lucky for us, we won't notice 😅😭
Speculative, but in the company of Sigmund Freud who argued that Moses was probably an Egyptian who had learned about monotheism from Akheneton.
I did not know! Thank you
Awe-inspiring and extraordinary writing as always. Greatly appreciated! 🙏🙇
I want you to know that this really affected me, as a number of your writings have. I've been contemplating Atlantis a lot recently as a myth of civilizational collapse. Your essay helps me see it in a whole new light, yielding many threads to explore. It is especially your poetically attuned foregrounding of memory that leaves an indelible mark on me today. Thank you.
I... am very moved by your comment, Jacob.
Thank you.
To know that it makes a difference, yields a thread, for someone, for you--is a reward I cherish, and the best encouragement.