30 Comments
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Heidi Carpenter's avatar

Mike, this is one of the best pieces I've ever read. And I feel every word in my bones. If we remain on this track, I dread the future of humanity. Care, creation, and community: we must hold fast onto these pillars of humanity.

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sotoportego's avatar

Yes, Mike has pretty much nailed it.

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Life is good's avatar

Maybe you or folks in your circle should start reporting on the future vision of Yarvin, Thiel, Altman, Vance et al for our country. With the four AI dudes getting sworn in as top military brass recently, I believe many people will not write it off as a conspiracy theory, and could help our efforts to stop all this. I do believe this is their endgame, and everything that’s occurred since January makes sense when put in this framework. As I’ve said before, Trump is the shiny object meant to distract us and break things for the other guys to rebuild in their image.

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Life is good's avatar

And everyday folks needs to have this reported in concrete terms that they can fully understand. Not academically or intellectually. In basic wording everyone can understand. Because for many, the intellectual speak is too easily ignored or not understood by the majority. This stuff will never be reported in mainstream media, unless it is on our front doorstep literally. The time is now.

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RDW's avatar

Sworn in as military brass? Cite? Googling I found AI said: “Furthermore, some recent news indicates that executives from tech companies like Palantir are joining the U.S. Army Reserve as part of a new program to bring private-sector expertise to the military. This initiative, known as Detachment 201 or the Army's Executive Innovation Corps, aims to accelerate tech adoption and talent management…”

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Phat Khat's avatar

Well, that's scary. And I say that as a veteran.

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Larissa Schwartz's avatar

Yes. It's true.

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RDW's avatar

Do you have a cite? I am not finding anything about it beyond what I posted.

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Life is good's avatar

I’ve also seen this posted on several other news sites. Decide for yourself what the ultimate goal of this union is.

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Life is good's avatar

I will look for a news article and post.

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B. Calbeau's avatar

https://theweek.com/tech/network-states-the-tech-broligarchy-who-want-to-create-new-countries

I think you’d find this interesting, Mike as well, although he probably knows it already!

This too: Carole Cadwalladr’s TED TALK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZOoT8AbkNE

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Life is good's avatar

Yep, read this and similar articles. Thanks! Do you think the American public is ready to hear this? I hope so.

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Larissa Schwartz's avatar

It's a little late.

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Pandora’s Box's avatar

This is very, very good but would be great as two posts given the intensity of the information.

This being said we were discussing with friends how unpleasant shopping has become. It is not possible to make a simple purchase without upselling, subscription attempts, requests for surveys or attempts to get you to join a membership. Hotels now send me over the edge and I will never pay an upfront non-refundable rate no matter the savings. We used to travel to our Alma mater for a football game. Even that is now a pain. There is no longer any consistency to the schedule and now hotels require a two night stay. We are just things to be bitten.

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Life is good's avatar

I agree, this truth is very, very intense. Most people will push it away. I don’t know when the right time is to allow it to be heard and acted upon. Maybe never, given human psychology.

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Pandora’s Box's avatar

I suspect many people feel this way.

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B. Calbeau's avatar

They NEED to hear it!

Wait until Trump recruits 13 year old boys into battle!

Sarah Kendzoir predicted all of this years ago!

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Life is good's avatar

Who are the best influencers to break this info to the general population? Have any influencers with a huge following done this yet, to your knowledge?

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B. Calbeau's avatar

Rachael Maddow (TV) although she’ll be fired. 60 Minutes, ( you know what they’ve gone through already), Keith Olberman podcast, Jim Acosta, Substack, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Guardian in print and online!

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B. Calbeau's avatar

PS I did contact Katie Couric about this subject and will keep you posted!❤️☮️

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Life is good's avatar

Great question, I don’t have the answer.

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Phat Khat's avatar

There are a lot of people putting these thoughts into short posts on TikTok, Facebook, Insta, and YouTube. Sound bites that anyone can comprehend. The problem I see is that most of them don't have as many followers as the MAGA types.

This kind of information isn't likely to produce many dopamine hits, sadly. And people's eyes glaze over and they just shut off when exposed to an essay like this one. I have to admit, I kinda did myself. I have ADHD, and have a hard time absorbing it all.

Someone suggested this should have been two essays, and I tend to agree.

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Serena Fossi's avatar

this is the absolute heart of it all for me…

great article for our times.

The argument for preserving meaningful struggle must be distinguished from justifying unnecessary suffering. Not all difficulty generates meaning—some struggles are simply destructive, some challenges are purely wasteful, some friction serves no purpose beyond perpetuating injustice. The task is learning to distinguish between suffering that diminishes human dignity and challenge that enhances it. Between obstacles that prevent human flourishing and resistance that enables it. Between systems that create artificial scarcity to maintain control and natural constraints that generate creative response.

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Rosanne Azarian's avatar

I love this particular piece. It engages me at multiple levels.

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Larissa Schwartz's avatar

The four new Army Reserve Lt. Cols. are Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer for Palantir; Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer of OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former Chief Research Officer for OpenAI.

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Theodore's avatar

I thought it was a great piece too! Fits hand in hand with what you said about dialectical thinking. Consciousness is the blessing and the curse! Having the moral courage to be in opposition!

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sotoportego's avatar

What we are, what we need, what we risk losing. Thanks for this. It deserves a book...

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Guy Evans's avatar

Art.

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Lilsbstk's avatar

I’ve run into this with another subscription- & no response when I notified the content creator. Is it a Substack problem? If you find a resolution, would love to hear it.

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