Thank you. I've really enjoyed your last two meditations. They speak to where I believe I find myself. Unfortunately walking the wire has gotten perilous and existentially uncomfortable. Many good people without internal direction or real hope find themselves on the easier hamster wheel that is fueling the very systems that are making them so miserable and afraid. I have opted out but I also realize that mine is a fairly privileged point view, to be free enough to even see and address it.
Being close enough to the tragic dimension and the finite to meet it realistically within the next few decades (if I'm lucky) maybe sooner, I've let go of all of the other lives I could have lived, paths not taken and other choices I could have made to fully embracing my chosen path without regrets.
I started down the wrong path in my very late teens, sleepwalking the road set by my parents and found that it was not my chosen path so pulled up short realizing at age 23 that I have one shot and that I needed to be deliberate and to CHOOSE in order to not live someone else's version of life only to realize that at the end filled with regrets because it was too late to meaningfully course correct. That moment was very healing and liberating. It set me essentially at odds with my upbringing and my family but I was free and would do it all over again. I opted out.
There’s a reason Mary Shelly’s “ Frankenstein” still holds such power. It appears that human hubris, in our desire to create what is “ perfect” in our own image, will always fail. The Silicon Valley tech billionaires, perhaps even more so than your standard financial manipulator billionaires, believed they were creating a new and more perfect world. At least that’s how they sold themselves to us. The vast wealth they accumulated only made it easier to insulate themselves from seeing that in the end what they were creating was no different than Frankenstein’s attempt to create a living human. Algorithms can never replace the essence of what it means to be human, nor will AI ever take over their human creators. Frankenstein lacked humility in his original quest, but in the end he learned that what he had created ended in tragedy. I’m not holding my breath that the tech titans will recognize the error of their ways , anymore than the monarchs of the past accepted they were not divinely appointed, but were in fact as human as their subjects. It appears that great wealth allows for such an insulated world, so you can be fooled into thinking life is under your complete control. Sadly, we see the results of that thinking all around us.
Even if you just collected what you've written here, popped a nice cover on it, and published. I'd buy it. My 'great writing' folder overflows and I'll probably never go back and look at it. But if it was printed...
Thanks for this piece. - Instead of being "turned into optimizable machines," we've often eagerly volunteered ourselves, agreeing to be managed, measured, and configured. We trade the messy freedom of being human for the convenience of the system, subscribing to the lie that our lives could be optimized and that our meaning could be replaced by metrics. We consent to terms of service that treat us as machinable components because it's easier than embracing the difficult, uncertain work of true citizenship and genuine community. We've essentially become co-creators of the very maps that overshadow the territory. I'm simply reminded--chastened--by our complicity in what we deplore.
Your words and observations are spot on. Why have we done such a terrible job in getting people like you and others like Tim that speak words that involve concepts, rather than the spiel of garbage we get from most of those in Congress?
I get at least 6 messages a day from Congressmen and Senators, almost all from the Democratic Party. The messages are hollow, but have one common denominator: send me money. As far as I am concerned, every Senator and every congressman were given huge donations of pay without work during the government shut down. Below are the stats.
The 2025 U.S. federal government shutdown began on October 1, 2025, and ended on November 12, 2025, making it the longest in U.S. history at 43 days in length. The approximate cost to American taxpayers: $10,966,661.55. Why should I donate a nickel to such thieves? As a Vietnam veteran, I sent a donation to Mark Kelly the day that he and others did the telecast about NOT following ILLEGAL orders. Since that time, I have had 6 requests from Mark Kelly for more donations. I now delete these messages as spam. During the shutdown, each member of Congress was paid $20,498 for sitting on their lazy asses. Did they donate these funds to SNAP or to any worthy cause. Did they help feed others? No, they just fed themselves. This is the shit that has to stop in our country unless we just want to say to all of this, "it's just a gag."
While reading this I went looking for the Charlie Chaplin quote from his speech in The Great Dictator, the part about not following machine men with machine minds. If found it, and a better part wholely in sympathy with daring to walk the wire:
"We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…".
Thank you for this and all your other work, Mike. You have allies, and we have you
There are two key principles I teach when I occasion to help folks understand systems thinking:
Everything is connected, & You can't do only one thing.
We will strive to trade this placeless, calculating economy for the vibrant chaos of a society. It too will eventually age and decay into the folly of control. Then it will be others yet born who will dare to walk the wire of the mutually constrained freedom we know as liberty
There are so many people who share their heart and soul on this forum that the First Peoples called the Like-Hearted and the Like-Minded. I call these the salt-of-the-earth people. On my travels, I find the preponderance of those I meet, indeed, are salt-of-the-earth (SOTE). I do learn from Mike's commentaries, but more valuable to me is the human connection, the realization that I am not alone in this country or planet and that others see the oneness of this one story (uni-verse), and are awed by our pale blue dot.
Tim's note strikes home, and for me, home is where the heart is. Tim, a week ago, I finished reading Wendell Berry's "It All Turns on Affection." I believe there is a 100% chance that your read of this will both stimulate and touch you.
I saved your Chaplin quote. I have one for you, that may be relevant to all of this, but I hope not.
When Charlie Chaplin lay on his deathbed, a reporter asked him: "Mr. Chaplin, you have done just about everything. Statesman, actor, director, filmmaker. Can you share with us, at this crossroad in your life, what you consider to be life's main lesson?"
Chaplin replied, with a hint of a smile on his face: "In the end, it's all a gag."
Along the above lines, as I typed those words, "It's all a gag." came to mind the Bee Gees Song, "I started a joke." And I connected that image of the poignant words to Mike's AI commentary, and thought, what impact would having that song sung by Trump, using AI. Here are the lyrics. Please share with all of us what you think.
I Started a Joke
Maurice, Robin, and Barry Gibb.
The Bee Gees (1968) Album: Idea
I started a joke which started the whole world crying
But I didn't see that the joke was on me, oh no
I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing
Oh, If I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died, which started the whole world living
Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died, which started the whole world living
Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
Oh no, that the joke was on me.
I have spent my life, most of it, trying to extend the lives of others, yet at times, like these, I truly feel that the death of some individuals in our world would start the whole world laughing. I apologize, especially to John Donne, as I write this, but like Bill Maher says, "I don't have the facts, but I know it is true."
Thank you. I had not heard that song before. It is a poignant expression of self-reflection and regret. If I can leverage Cathy's wonderful comment below, my thought is that Trump is trapped in his mechanized suit, an exoskeleton of trauma-induced pathological narcissism. He cannot reflect, only deflect. To self-reflect would bring unbearable shame, a shame he cannot confront or it would bury him in grief and destroy the exoskeleton of ego which has kept him moving his whole life.
They say trauma begets trauma. Trump, and others like him, have a hunger for power and recognition because they were damaged beyond the ability to self-examine by forces in their life. That hunger can never be filled because they never found a way to accept their own humanity, a humanity that recognizes that we sometimes damage the world in our mirth or carelessness, and sometimes the world laughs at our pain.
We who catch glimpses of ourselves, and others, see that this is the price of growth, of self-knowledge, and of joy. Even then, we struggle. That struggle is walking the wire bathed in light while teetering over the darkness below. It is the attempt to live life well, with meaning, purpose, and striving to making a difference. It is an act of bravery and self-discovery with every step. To wait until the end to make such realizations is to let the mechanical suit move while we slumber inside. Or as Kahlil Gibran said:
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity: For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears."
The easy ephemeral rush of feeling powerful and in control is what replaces the hard internal struggle for those who are lost. They don't understand pain and are thus lost to joy. This is the hunger they can never fill, a hunger which damages the world.
First, you write beautifully. Absolute caviar to my eyes, ears and cerebrum. Second, I would hazard a guess that we share many of the same authors we love. Khalil Gibran since my teenage years through my life and up to the present at age 83. Wendell Berry, who I discovered recently, and now Kathleen Raine. W.H. Murray and his first book Mountaineering in Scotland is a gem, full of heartfelt philosophy and a writing style that you will identify with. I think, if you are not familiar with Pablo Neruda, at least read his English translation of The Sea (El Mar). Let me share that with you and others below:
Back. My apologies for the terse reply earlier. I was pressed for time. Thank you again for your kind words about my writing. I usually write from my head, desperately trying to create a linear order out of webs of interconnected ideas and failing to capture what is so plain to see holistically within.
Mike's words compelled me to write from my heart. I am glad that you found beauty within them. Perhaps there is a lesson there for me in where my words should more often find their source.
Also, thank you so much for Neruda's The Sea. I had heard of him but never read him. Wendell Bell is also known to me, but I also have yet to sit with his works. Kathleen Raine and W.H. Murray I do not know, but have put them on my ever growing list of those to come to know. Such works are rare. My attention is usually focused on finding new ideas within works of the mind. You've reminded me to feed my heart more. I thank you for that.
W.H. Murray writes in such a way that you cannot help but read his sentences and wonder "where did such skilled and humanistic essayists go?" Murray was a POW during WWII. He met a person who changed his life while in prison camp. Murray became one of a select group that had that A_ha moment after reading of Huxley's "Perennial philosophy." Raine, has understood through her keen observations of life the integral nature of all of life. You can call it wholism, the Tree of Life, the Theory of Everything, or the medical term that opened my eyes to how a phsician should become a true MD (medical detective). I created the acronym that reminds me of this one-ness of the uni-verse: SAIN (Systems Analysis & Integrity Networking). I think you adhere to this philosophy. Raine incorporates it into her poetry and essays.
FOREST is multitude,
But one tree all, one apple-bud
Opens the flower of the world, infinite
Golden stamens and rose petals, here.
— Raine, Kathleen. The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine (pp. 395-396). Faber & Faber.
Raine's books are pricey with their limited editions. The above poem is from her Collected Poems (Kindle edition). But her paperbacks and hardcover books are 4-5x the price of other authors. I just ordered two of her books of essays; I will likely report back after reading.
BTW, it's Wendell Berry and not "Bell." From your comments, I am betting you would find "It All Turns On Affection" or "A Continuous Harmony" both a joy and an enlightment to read.
Wow. I have been thinking about that song on/off for roughly a decade. Also She's Come Undone by the Guess Who.
I had a dream just over six years ago to this day about a mechanized costume that was needed to be part of a very large, very important "must attend" gathering of people at an undefined celebration/parade but upon close inspection I saw that the costume was clearly a one way trap that sucked one in, that was grown into. Once inside of the costume it could not be removed. Then I saw that trump was in one of those costumes mouthing the word "help" but no one could hear him or help him. The joke was on him. I turned away refusing to participate in the party. I woke with my heart pounding and got up to write it all down. I sent to my fellow sister in philosophy the next day. I've returned to that dream repeatedly. Lately I fully understand why.
History is written by those with enough money to control power, a self-serving story. But empires fall and tyrants fall. Successor tyrants do the same. Somehow this never seems to favor the people in society. But isolated failures are about to become a thing of the past, as the planet crashes under the weight of foolish incompetents with all the power but lacking common sense. It's time for "ordinary" people to choose life, to put down the dogs of death. Change the course of history to the one we originally evolved to enjoy. Divest ourselves of these miscreants.
Thank You, Mike. There are several substack writers doing very interesting work. It's a remarkable time for epistemological inquiry, given the breadth of change happening after centuries of slogging through to this moment. But your work is particularly on point by focusing the intellectual lens on the rather dark synthesis of many elements of history that are forcing this change in this historical moment. I am greatly thankful for your technological knowledge as it is channeled through your intellectual and moral fury. No matter who a person is or what they do with their time and energies in this world, at the very least they likely instinctually feel that we are approaching a moment of great truth. And what we individually do with that knowledge must come from a deep place within our very being- each of us individually in our unique ability to live as free humans acting out our agency. In some ways, those that wish to fully push humanity into machine lives in a grand hive mind of optimization is forcing us to our own binary choice- to follow our hearts and be fearless humans or to submit to a fearful existence dominated by technologies that seek to control every aspect of our lives while promising a techno utopia. What was once simply an intellectual exercise explored by creative and questioning minds, is now a very real possibility. And everything is on the line for the outcome. Thanks again for bringing clarity.
Beautifully said.! I wonder, though, if you are not being a little too hard on rationality, since, it seems to me, reason can act in the service of love. For example: The tragic dimension: we are mortal and children are especially vulnerable. The only meaningful response to this: love our children. But love is not just a feeling, it is a way of being and rationality can empower it. At the turn of the 29th century childhood mortality was 23%. At the turn of the twenty first century, it was down to 0.7%. And this was not a change in the state of nature or the tragic dimension. It was public sanitation, development of antibiotics and vaccines, product safety regulation, nutritional programs for the poor, child welfare organizations, etc. - all based on metrics and data and rationality in the service of the love of children. How does an embrace of the tragic dimension avoid devolving into fatalism? A sense that we cannot ultimately escape the abyss so … why bother? As you so poignantly point out, the oligarchs cannot escape it either. Their belief that they can is a delusion. But the rationality of the oligarchs is in the service of acquisition and power - not love. This rationality justifies for Elon Musk the elimination, for example, of USAID - accepting the death and starvation of hundreds of thousands of children to eliminate any claims that decent humanity might make on his obscene wealth. “The tragic dimension for thee, not me,” is the ethos behind the rationality of the Elon Musks and Peter Thiels of the world. I believe you are right that the oligarchs will ultimately fail in the quest to overcome the tragic dimension as you so eloquently argue. But as liberals walk the wire over the abyss, is it not possible that rationality, metrics, data, etc. can, if done right, be a companion and aid to love - not just its adversary?
I employ reason all the time. I love reason. I just insist that it remain in subsidiary to the passions of the human heart. Some people disagree, and I bristle at this notion.
You should write an ontological account of the DMV, where real humans have to navigate a complex system together rather than “ramp up” a scalable system that ignores complexity and depth in the name of mechanical “efficiency.”
I remember when I went back to school (the same year my 49 year-old-son entered school) to study something called "Scientific Computer Programming" because I wanted to do something more with my B.A. in Philosophy than waitressing and I felt a bit daunted because "you'll have to take calculus". Well, I had taken calculus my freshman year of B.A. stint but I remembered little of it. But when I got into it again, I realized, "It's a bag of tricks, tricks in seeing the world." You, sir, are showing us the bag of tricks beguiling us today. Koodoos to you!
I am an observer and with acumen in this realm I am a very good diagnostician. Let me share with you in blunt terms what to expect in the US today.
The Context:
We allowed a criminal in our house. That criminal is Trump, who, whether you believe this or not, is a Russian operative. What specific relationship he has with Russia's Intelligence agencies, I do not know, but just THINK about all of Trump's actions and ask yourself:
A. Is this what a Russian operative would do?
B. Do these actions hurt America or help America?
C. Is DOGE really DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment)?
Look at what is happening in Ukraine, and how Trump & the Republican Congress has acted. Putin, in the style of Hitler, has invaded the Sudetenland, but this is Eastern Ukraine. What is Trump and the EU doing that is NOT different from what Chamberlain did in 1938. We placated Hitler back then. What was Hitler's next move-- invade the whole country of Czechoslovakia, and then Poland, France, etc. We have Putin's past history of invasions into Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea.Does a leopard change its spots? How fucking stupid can we be. We expect Putin to say, "I happy with this land I grabbed from my invasion of Ukraine. Now I am content. I will be a good boy from now on." Yeah, sure. I cannot believe that all of free Europe has not united against Putin and stood up to the Russian bully. I cannot believe that everyone in the US that is not part of the Trump coterie has not stood up to the Trump bully. The fate of our children is in the process of being trashed. Will we get to the Midterm elections- I doubt it.
Modifier:
A clock tells time twice a day. Trump, in his destruction of this country, occasionally ends up doing a tiny bit of good coupled with horrendous collateral damage. Examples: Immigration. An area that Democrats could have fixed, but instead sat on their asses and did more harm than good- apparently).
Diagnosis:
Trump, his Cabinet, the GOP House & Senate, forget MAGA, we can all agree have lost decency, empathy and caring about America and its peoples. The motive is a power grab, a money grab, and underling racism related to WASP is the only population worth saving.
Underlying Pathology
All that we are seeing with Venezuela, the air-craft carrier Gerald Ford mobilized in the Caribbean, the bombing of ships in the Pacific and Caribbean without knowing who or what is on it, the US Military in American cities, ICE wearing masks and attacking civilians-- all of this is a rehearsal to desensitize the military and the people of the US for the time that Trump will stage a full-blown coup to stay in power and restrain all who oppose him. News people, Jimmy Kimmel, all that have criticized Trump will find themselves imprisoned or disappeared. The Trump Gang will come for all who are opposed to Trump. Like Bill Maher, I don't know it for a fact, I just know it's true. You will see. And.... by that time, we will have lost the ability to get his bum out of office.
The bottom line is that there is an immoral and unethical group in the US that seeks power, glory and greed, at any expense, and especially the expense of others.
I end this with words from Robert Heinlein:
Heinlein believed ignoring history was detrimental to both past and future. He described history, along with languages and mathematics, as essential for true understanding, warning that without these, one remains ignorant. He also viewed the distortion of history as a particularly harmful act by a police state. From Methuselah's Children, he noted that history doesn't support the idea that truth will automatically prevail.
Heinlein famously commented on humanity's failure to learn from history's lessons. He also remarked that history seems unsurprising only in retrospect. In Revolt in 2100, he observed how historical cycles of social control frequently involve scapegoating.
Kant’s project was to use reason to plumb the very ground of reason, to articulate the conditions for reason to function at all. That’s an amazing project. And his claim for aesthetic judgement, that we decide “as if,” is not wrong. It works for religion too. So rationalism may not be the arena of passion, but it “goes big.” For tragedy you want the existentialists. Kant’s not a poet, but “critique” remains a necessary project. Marx and poetry are what you are looking for to resist these pirates of the human patrimony.
Why is it, do you think I am unaware of these philosophical categories, exactly? I am quite aware that I am writing from an existentialist frame, here.
Yep mess with sleeping giant best not miss.They arent happy with what bad actors are doing to their kids. They should understand or gonna understand the power of mama bear.
Thank you. I've really enjoyed your last two meditations. They speak to where I believe I find myself. Unfortunately walking the wire has gotten perilous and existentially uncomfortable. Many good people without internal direction or real hope find themselves on the easier hamster wheel that is fueling the very systems that are making them so miserable and afraid. I have opted out but I also realize that mine is a fairly privileged point view, to be free enough to even see and address it.
Being close enough to the tragic dimension and the finite to meet it realistically within the next few decades (if I'm lucky) maybe sooner, I've let go of all of the other lives I could have lived, paths not taken and other choices I could have made to fully embracing my chosen path without regrets.
I started down the wrong path in my very late teens, sleepwalking the road set by my parents and found that it was not my chosen path so pulled up short realizing at age 23 that I have one shot and that I needed to be deliberate and to CHOOSE in order to not live someone else's version of life only to realize that at the end filled with regrets because it was too late to meaningfully course correct. That moment was very healing and liberating. It set me essentially at odds with my upbringing and my family but I was free and would do it all over again. I opted out.
Thanks again.
Wonderful, Mike. It left me hearing the deep baritone of Christopher Plummer narrating in the film, The Gospel of John:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.”
Listen to the first 1:40 here: https://youtu.be/lchB_CEg5VI?si=kXAUft4lSEJFbSWC
There’s a reason Mary Shelly’s “ Frankenstein” still holds such power. It appears that human hubris, in our desire to create what is “ perfect” in our own image, will always fail. The Silicon Valley tech billionaires, perhaps even more so than your standard financial manipulator billionaires, believed they were creating a new and more perfect world. At least that’s how they sold themselves to us. The vast wealth they accumulated only made it easier to insulate themselves from seeing that in the end what they were creating was no different than Frankenstein’s attempt to create a living human. Algorithms can never replace the essence of what it means to be human, nor will AI ever take over their human creators. Frankenstein lacked humility in his original quest, but in the end he learned that what he had created ended in tragedy. I’m not holding my breath that the tech titans will recognize the error of their ways , anymore than the monarchs of the past accepted they were not divinely appointed, but were in fact as human as their subjects. It appears that great wealth allows for such an insulated world, so you can be fooled into thinking life is under your complete control. Sadly, we see the results of that thinking all around us.
Mike write your book. I’m waiting for this all to come together as a coherent whole. It’s needed now.
Even if you just collected what you've written here, popped a nice cover on it, and published. I'd buy it. My 'great writing' folder overflows and I'll probably never go back and look at it. But if it was printed...
Thanks for this piece. - Instead of being "turned into optimizable machines," we've often eagerly volunteered ourselves, agreeing to be managed, measured, and configured. We trade the messy freedom of being human for the convenience of the system, subscribing to the lie that our lives could be optimized and that our meaning could be replaced by metrics. We consent to terms of service that treat us as machinable components because it's easier than embracing the difficult, uncertain work of true citizenship and genuine community. We've essentially become co-creators of the very maps that overshadow the territory. I'm simply reminded--chastened--by our complicity in what we deplore.
Your words and observations are spot on. Why have we done such a terrible job in getting people like you and others like Tim that speak words that involve concepts, rather than the spiel of garbage we get from most of those in Congress?
I get at least 6 messages a day from Congressmen and Senators, almost all from the Democratic Party. The messages are hollow, but have one common denominator: send me money. As far as I am concerned, every Senator and every congressman were given huge donations of pay without work during the government shut down. Below are the stats.
The 2025 U.S. federal government shutdown began on October 1, 2025, and ended on November 12, 2025, making it the longest in U.S. history at 43 days in length. The approximate cost to American taxpayers: $10,966,661.55. Why should I donate a nickel to such thieves? As a Vietnam veteran, I sent a donation to Mark Kelly the day that he and others did the telecast about NOT following ILLEGAL orders. Since that time, I have had 6 requests from Mark Kelly for more donations. I now delete these messages as spam. During the shutdown, each member of Congress was paid $20,498 for sitting on their lazy asses. Did they donate these funds to SNAP or to any worthy cause. Did they help feed others? No, they just fed themselves. This is the shit that has to stop in our country unless we just want to say to all of this, "it's just a gag."
While reading this I went looking for the Charlie Chaplin quote from his speech in The Great Dictator, the part about not following machine men with machine minds. If found it, and a better part wholely in sympathy with daring to walk the wire:
"We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…".
Thank you for this and all your other work, Mike. You have allies, and we have you
There are two key principles I teach when I occasion to help folks understand systems thinking:
Everything is connected, & You can't do only one thing.
We will strive to trade this placeless, calculating economy for the vibrant chaos of a society. It too will eventually age and decay into the folly of control. Then it will be others yet born who will dare to walk the wire of the mutually constrained freedom we know as liberty
There are so many people who share their heart and soul on this forum that the First Peoples called the Like-Hearted and the Like-Minded. I call these the salt-of-the-earth people. On my travels, I find the preponderance of those I meet, indeed, are salt-of-the-earth (SOTE). I do learn from Mike's commentaries, but more valuable to me is the human connection, the realization that I am not alone in this country or planet and that others see the oneness of this one story (uni-verse), and are awed by our pale blue dot.
Tim's note strikes home, and for me, home is where the heart is. Tim, a week ago, I finished reading Wendell Berry's "It All Turns on Affection." I believe there is a 100% chance that your read of this will both stimulate and touch you.
I saved your Chaplin quote. I have one for you, that may be relevant to all of this, but I hope not.
When Charlie Chaplin lay on his deathbed, a reporter asked him: "Mr. Chaplin, you have done just about everything. Statesman, actor, director, filmmaker. Can you share with us, at this crossroad in your life, what you consider to be life's main lesson?"
Chaplin replied, with a hint of a smile on his face: "In the end, it's all a gag."
Along the above lines, as I typed those words, "It's all a gag." came to mind the Bee Gees Song, "I started a joke." And I connected that image of the poignant words to Mike's AI commentary, and thought, what impact would having that song sung by Trump, using AI. Here are the lyrics. Please share with all of us what you think.
I Started a Joke
Maurice, Robin, and Barry Gibb.
The Bee Gees (1968) Album: Idea
I started a joke which started the whole world crying
But I didn't see that the joke was on me, oh no
I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing
Oh, If I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died, which started the whole world living
Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died, which started the whole world living
Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
Oh no, that the joke was on me.
I have spent my life, most of it, trying to extend the lives of others, yet at times, like these, I truly feel that the death of some individuals in our world would start the whole world laughing. I apologize, especially to John Donne, as I write this, but like Bill Maher says, "I don't have the facts, but I know it is true."

Thank you. I had not heard that song before. It is a poignant expression of self-reflection and regret. If I can leverage Cathy's wonderful comment below, my thought is that Trump is trapped in his mechanized suit, an exoskeleton of trauma-induced pathological narcissism. He cannot reflect, only deflect. To self-reflect would bring unbearable shame, a shame he cannot confront or it would bury him in grief and destroy the exoskeleton of ego which has kept him moving his whole life.
They say trauma begets trauma. Trump, and others like him, have a hunger for power and recognition because they were damaged beyond the ability to self-examine by forces in their life. That hunger can never be filled because they never found a way to accept their own humanity, a humanity that recognizes that we sometimes damage the world in our mirth or carelessness, and sometimes the world laughs at our pain.
We who catch glimpses of ourselves, and others, see that this is the price of growth, of self-knowledge, and of joy. Even then, we struggle. That struggle is walking the wire bathed in light while teetering over the darkness below. It is the attempt to live life well, with meaning, purpose, and striving to making a difference. It is an act of bravery and self-discovery with every step. To wait until the end to make such realizations is to let the mechanical suit move while we slumber inside. Or as Kahlil Gibran said:
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity: For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears."
The easy ephemeral rush of feeling powerful and in control is what replaces the hard internal struggle for those who are lost. They don't understand pain and are thus lost to joy. This is the hunger they can never fill, a hunger which damages the world.
First, you write beautifully. Absolute caviar to my eyes, ears and cerebrum. Second, I would hazard a guess that we share many of the same authors we love. Khalil Gibran since my teenage years through my life and up to the present at age 83. Wendell Berry, who I discovered recently, and now Kathleen Raine. W.H. Murray and his first book Mountaineering in Scotland is a gem, full of heartfelt philosophy and a writing style that you will identify with. I think, if you are not familiar with Pablo Neruda, at least read his English translation of The Sea (El Mar). Let me share that with you and others below:
The Sea
I need the sea because it teaches me:
I don’t know if I learn music or consciousness:
I don’t know if it’s a single wave or deep depth
or a hoarse voice or a shining
suggestion of ships and fish.
The fact is that even when I’m asleep
in some magnetic mode I move
in the university of waves.
It’s not only the crushed shells
like some shivering planet
participating in a gradual death,
no, from the fragment I reconstruct the day,
from one grain of salt the stalactite
and from one spoon the immense god.
What it taught me before I keep! It’s air,
incessant wind, water and sand.
It seems insignificant to a young man
that came here to live with his own fire
yet the pulse that rose
then fell into its abyss,
the sputtering blue cold,
the gradual fading of a star,
the gentle unfolding of the wave
wasting snow with its foam,
the still power, out there, resolute
like a stone shrine in the depths,
replaced my territory in which was growing
hardening sorrow, mounds of oblivion
and my life changed suddenly:
I gave my commitment to pure movement.
Neruda
Back. My apologies for the terse reply earlier. I was pressed for time. Thank you again for your kind words about my writing. I usually write from my head, desperately trying to create a linear order out of webs of interconnected ideas and failing to capture what is so plain to see holistically within.
Mike's words compelled me to write from my heart. I am glad that you found beauty within them. Perhaps there is a lesson there for me in where my words should more often find their source.
Also, thank you so much for Neruda's The Sea. I had heard of him but never read him. Wendell Bell is also known to me, but I also have yet to sit with his works. Kathleen Raine and W.H. Murray I do not know, but have put them on my ever growing list of those to come to know. Such works are rare. My attention is usually focused on finding new ideas within works of the mind. You've reminded me to feed my heart more. I thank you for that.
W.H. Murray writes in such a way that you cannot help but read his sentences and wonder "where did such skilled and humanistic essayists go?" Murray was a POW during WWII. He met a person who changed his life while in prison camp. Murray became one of a select group that had that A_ha moment after reading of Huxley's "Perennial philosophy." Raine, has understood through her keen observations of life the integral nature of all of life. You can call it wholism, the Tree of Life, the Theory of Everything, or the medical term that opened my eyes to how a phsician should become a true MD (medical detective). I created the acronym that reminds me of this one-ness of the uni-verse: SAIN (Systems Analysis & Integrity Networking). I think you adhere to this philosophy. Raine incorporates it into her poetry and essays.
FOREST is multitude,
But one tree all, one apple-bud
Opens the flower of the world, infinite
Golden stamens and rose petals, here.
— Raine, Kathleen. The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine (pp. 395-396). Faber & Faber.
Raine's books are pricey with their limited editions. The above poem is from her Collected Poems (Kindle edition). But her paperbacks and hardcover books are 4-5x the price of other authors. I just ordered two of her books of essays; I will likely report back after reading.
BTW, it's Wendell Berry and not "Bell." From your comments, I am betting you would find "It All Turns On Affection" or "A Continuous Harmony" both a joy and an enlightment to read.
Thank you. I normally don't write that. I am a bit of a mirror and Mike inspired me.
Wow. I have been thinking about that song on/off for roughly a decade. Also She's Come Undone by the Guess Who.
I had a dream just over six years ago to this day about a mechanized costume that was needed to be part of a very large, very important "must attend" gathering of people at an undefined celebration/parade but upon close inspection I saw that the costume was clearly a one way trap that sucked one in, that was grown into. Once inside of the costume it could not be removed. Then I saw that trump was in one of those costumes mouthing the word "help" but no one could hear him or help him. The joke was on him. I turned away refusing to participate in the party. I woke with my heart pounding and got up to write it all down. I sent to my fellow sister in philosophy the next day. I've returned to that dream repeatedly. Lately I fully understand why.
That is a powerful dream, a metaphor which explains so much. Thank you for sharing it. May the light be with you in all the dark places you must walk.
History is written by those with enough money to control power, a self-serving story. But empires fall and tyrants fall. Successor tyrants do the same. Somehow this never seems to favor the people in society. But isolated failures are about to become a thing of the past, as the planet crashes under the weight of foolish incompetents with all the power but lacking common sense. It's time for "ordinary" people to choose life, to put down the dogs of death. Change the course of history to the one we originally evolved to enjoy. Divest ourselves of these miscreants.
Thank You, Mike. There are several substack writers doing very interesting work. It's a remarkable time for epistemological inquiry, given the breadth of change happening after centuries of slogging through to this moment. But your work is particularly on point by focusing the intellectual lens on the rather dark synthesis of many elements of history that are forcing this change in this historical moment. I am greatly thankful for your technological knowledge as it is channeled through your intellectual and moral fury. No matter who a person is or what they do with their time and energies in this world, at the very least they likely instinctually feel that we are approaching a moment of great truth. And what we individually do with that knowledge must come from a deep place within our very being- each of us individually in our unique ability to live as free humans acting out our agency. In some ways, those that wish to fully push humanity into machine lives in a grand hive mind of optimization is forcing us to our own binary choice- to follow our hearts and be fearless humans or to submit to a fearful existence dominated by technologies that seek to control every aspect of our lives while promising a techno utopia. What was once simply an intellectual exercise explored by creative and questioning minds, is now a very real possibility. And everything is on the line for the outcome. Thanks again for bringing clarity.
“Abstinence sows sand all over
The ruddy limbs & flaming hair
But Desire Gratified
Plants fruits & beauty there.” William Blake
Beautifully said.! I wonder, though, if you are not being a little too hard on rationality, since, it seems to me, reason can act in the service of love. For example: The tragic dimension: we are mortal and children are especially vulnerable. The only meaningful response to this: love our children. But love is not just a feeling, it is a way of being and rationality can empower it. At the turn of the 29th century childhood mortality was 23%. At the turn of the twenty first century, it was down to 0.7%. And this was not a change in the state of nature or the tragic dimension. It was public sanitation, development of antibiotics and vaccines, product safety regulation, nutritional programs for the poor, child welfare organizations, etc. - all based on metrics and data and rationality in the service of the love of children. How does an embrace of the tragic dimension avoid devolving into fatalism? A sense that we cannot ultimately escape the abyss so … why bother? As you so poignantly point out, the oligarchs cannot escape it either. Their belief that they can is a delusion. But the rationality of the oligarchs is in the service of acquisition and power - not love. This rationality justifies for Elon Musk the elimination, for example, of USAID - accepting the death and starvation of hundreds of thousands of children to eliminate any claims that decent humanity might make on his obscene wealth. “The tragic dimension for thee, not me,” is the ethos behind the rationality of the Elon Musks and Peter Thiels of the world. I believe you are right that the oligarchs will ultimately fail in the quest to overcome the tragic dimension as you so eloquently argue. But as liberals walk the wire over the abyss, is it not possible that rationality, metrics, data, etc. can, if done right, be a companion and aid to love - not just its adversary?
I employ reason all the time. I love reason. I just insist that it remain in subsidiary to the passions of the human heart. Some people disagree, and I bristle at this notion.
You should write an ontological account of the DMV, where real humans have to navigate a complex system together rather than “ramp up” a scalable system that ignores complexity and depth in the name of mechanical “efficiency.”
Amazing piece! Brilliant, thank you for sharing
I remember when I went back to school (the same year my 49 year-old-son entered school) to study something called "Scientific Computer Programming" because I wanted to do something more with my B.A. in Philosophy than waitressing and I felt a bit daunted because "you'll have to take calculus". Well, I had taken calculus my freshman year of B.A. stint but I remembered little of it. But when I got into it again, I realized, "It's a bag of tricks, tricks in seeing the world." You, sir, are showing us the bag of tricks beguiling us today. Koodoos to you!
I am an observer and with acumen in this realm I am a very good diagnostician. Let me share with you in blunt terms what to expect in the US today.
The Context:
We allowed a criminal in our house. That criminal is Trump, who, whether you believe this or not, is a Russian operative. What specific relationship he has with Russia's Intelligence agencies, I do not know, but just THINK about all of Trump's actions and ask yourself:
A. Is this what a Russian operative would do?
B. Do these actions hurt America or help America?
C. Is DOGE really DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment)?
Look at what is happening in Ukraine, and how Trump & the Republican Congress has acted. Putin, in the style of Hitler, has invaded the Sudetenland, but this is Eastern Ukraine. What is Trump and the EU doing that is NOT different from what Chamberlain did in 1938. We placated Hitler back then. What was Hitler's next move-- invade the whole country of Czechoslovakia, and then Poland, France, etc. We have Putin's past history of invasions into Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea.Does a leopard change its spots? How fucking stupid can we be. We expect Putin to say, "I happy with this land I grabbed from my invasion of Ukraine. Now I am content. I will be a good boy from now on." Yeah, sure. I cannot believe that all of free Europe has not united against Putin and stood up to the Russian bully. I cannot believe that everyone in the US that is not part of the Trump coterie has not stood up to the Trump bully. The fate of our children is in the process of being trashed. Will we get to the Midterm elections- I doubt it.
Modifier:
A clock tells time twice a day. Trump, in his destruction of this country, occasionally ends up doing a tiny bit of good coupled with horrendous collateral damage. Examples: Immigration. An area that Democrats could have fixed, but instead sat on their asses and did more harm than good- apparently).
Diagnosis:
Trump, his Cabinet, the GOP House & Senate, forget MAGA, we can all agree have lost decency, empathy and caring about America and its peoples. The motive is a power grab, a money grab, and underling racism related to WASP is the only population worth saving.
Underlying Pathology
All that we are seeing with Venezuela, the air-craft carrier Gerald Ford mobilized in the Caribbean, the bombing of ships in the Pacific and Caribbean without knowing who or what is on it, the US Military in American cities, ICE wearing masks and attacking civilians-- all of this is a rehearsal to desensitize the military and the people of the US for the time that Trump will stage a full-blown coup to stay in power and restrain all who oppose him. News people, Jimmy Kimmel, all that have criticized Trump will find themselves imprisoned or disappeared. The Trump Gang will come for all who are opposed to Trump. Like Bill Maher, I don't know it for a fact, I just know it's true. You will see. And.... by that time, we will have lost the ability to get his bum out of office.
The bottom line is that there is an immoral and unethical group in the US that seeks power, glory and greed, at any expense, and especially the expense of others.
I end this with words from Robert Heinlein:
Heinlein believed ignoring history was detrimental to both past and future. He described history, along with languages and mathematics, as essential for true understanding, warning that without these, one remains ignorant. He also viewed the distortion of history as a particularly harmful act by a police state. From Methuselah's Children, he noted that history doesn't support the idea that truth will automatically prevail.
Heinlein famously commented on humanity's failure to learn from history's lessons. He also remarked that history seems unsurprising only in retrospect. In Revolt in 2100, he observed how historical cycles of social control frequently involve scapegoating.
Kant’s project was to use reason to plumb the very ground of reason, to articulate the conditions for reason to function at all. That’s an amazing project. And his claim for aesthetic judgement, that we decide “as if,” is not wrong. It works for religion too. So rationalism may not be the arena of passion, but it “goes big.” For tragedy you want the existentialists. Kant’s not a poet, but “critique” remains a necessary project. Marx and poetry are what you are looking for to resist these pirates of the human patrimony.
Why is it, do you think I am unaware of these philosophical categories, exactly? I am quite aware that I am writing from an existentialist frame, here.
Like you, I was reflecting.
Yep mess with sleeping giant best not miss.They arent happy with what bad actors are doing to their kids. They should understand or gonna understand the power of mama bear.