Infinity Curve - Lamentations to Unseen Friends Across the Vastness of Space

EP. 68 - ON BRAIN PLASTICITY AND INCREMENTALISM

NIGHT WAS FALLING, AND Rick had finished his sessions on God and sense of self. Since there was such close alignment between those two subjects and brain plasticity, he felt he should finish the day on the topic.

"Within the other information provided with this transmission, you'll understand our physiology and how our mentality is driven mostly by events and experiences outside of our own personal selves. Instead of explaining any of that in detail, I'll focus instead on what I consider to be two interrelated components of life that engender the greatest positive products of humankind, but also the most horrific and negative ones."

"Brain plasticity is both wonderful and terrifying. Wonderful because it allows us to adapt to our environments, but terrifying because it is so susceptible to emotional or even logical appeals to humanity's basest instincts."

"We discovered our amazing brain plasticity in the early part of this century as our emerging social networks became wildly effective in swaying public opinion. Such networks were devoid of any sense of responsibility for the content vomited forth, and they constantly claimed innocence that they were simply the unbiased conduit of human conversations and ideas."

"However, those networks utilized algorithms to manipulate the human essence. The networks became the mechanisms for anybody with enough savvy to push their self-gratifying, self-aggrandizing, and self-enriching stories into the minds of the vulnerable."

"Because humans cannot discern intent from content, and I emphasize 'discern intent from content,' humanity has been led down countless destructive paths of entropy due to such networks. Their algorithms are fairly simple: push content that binds the viewer more tightly to the narrative and therefore the network. Intent is never evaluated in the algorithm, only eye-catching content. It's the only thing that matters."

"I call it the multilevel marketing machine of social media. The corrupt wizards at the top of the pyramid puke their divisive or limited-inclusive content. Those without a proper sense of self, implying almost everybody, are attracted to that content which is typically the most titillating, outrageous, exclusive, and emotionally gratifying. Predictably, consumers became slovenly adherents, begging to consume more. Foolish ants slurping boron-baited sugar water."

"Social media was initially so novel to our minds that it took humans considerable time to assess its influence and the damage it was causing. When we did figure it out, it was far too late to act."

"Again, predictably, those in control of the conduit soon controlled the message. This enriched their enormously lined pocketbooks even further. And in these final days of humankind, there is duplicitous, unanimous, unquestioning surrender to the AI monsters in charge of those conduits. They are the unseen gods who administer and filter the messages to manipulate our minds."

"These networks are monolithic, vertically integrated machines, backed by algorithms of AI systems, owning the devices to push the messages, the conduits or paths for the messages, and the messages themselves. No antitrust laws, as antiquated as they are these days, could possibly cut through the maze of such complex control infrastructures. And even if it had the capacity, our judiciary is such a patsy for the oligarchs that it's useless to try. Besides, you can't expect any entity and its beneficiaries to fairly police themselves."

"I should avoid getting started on the judiciary again. That's a topic for a long and sorrowful session, if I'm given the time. In short, what was once a coequal branch of government grew bastardized and perverted."

"So many things have corrupted these institutions: anti-aging tech enabling lifetime judicial appointments that may extend into eternity; subordination of human and constitutional rights to corporations, AI, and military; and extreme powers vested into the presidency, which has now morphed into the technocracy and oligarchies."