for - key insight - roots of anthropomorphism - Greek and Christian narratives - from - Emergence Magazine - interview - An Ethics of Wild Mind - David Hinton - adjacency - existential polycrisis - roots of anthropomorphism in the written language - Deep Humanity BEing journeys that explore how language constructs our reality

key insight / summary - roots of anthropomorphism - Greek and Christian narratives - The Greeks defined the soul - The Genesis story established that we were the chosen species and all others are subservient to us - From that story, domination of nature becomes the social norm, leading all the way to the existential polycrisis / metacrisis we are now facing - This underscores the critical salience of Deep Humanity to the existential polycrisis - exploring the roots of language and how it changes our perceptions of reality - showing us how we construct our narratives at the most fundamental level, then buy into them

for - quote - lack of seriousness on addressing existential threat of climate change - Kevin Anderson - Dec 2024

for - need to establish global cooperation to mitigate existential threats of nuclear war and combat tipping points - Yanis Varoufakis - third and fourth suggestion - exercise soft power in the United States - Yanis Varoufakis - Yanis Varoufakis laid out the existential reasons why is important to reach out to the social democrats in the US such as Bernie Sanders - without establishing global cooperation, there is no way to prevent - nuclear war and - climate tipping points

for - AI - progress trap - interview Eric Schmidt - meme - AI progress trap - high intelligence + low compassion = existential threat

Summary - After watching the interview, I would sum it up this way. Humanity faces an existential threat from AI due to: - AI is extreme concentration of power and intelligence (NOT wisdom!) - Humanity still have many traumatized people who want to harm others - low compassion - The deadly combination is: - proliferation of tools that give anyone extreme concentration of power and intelligence combined with - a sufficiently high percentage of traumatized people with - low levels of compassion and - high levels of unlimited aggression - All it takes is ONE bad actor with the right combination of circumstances and conditions to wreak harm on a global scale, and that will not be prevented by millions of good applications of the same technology

for - Donald Trump re-election - existential risk - planetary tipping points - earth system boundaries - study - Impact 2024 - Cascade Institute - polycrisis - Trump reelection - increase risk

1:14;46 Our greatest existential threat is not CLIMATE CHANGE it is MIND CHANGE which leads to a CHANGE IN LANGUAGE

for - adjacency - key insight - quote - localization enables (infinite or universal consciousness) to perceive itself - Rupert Spira - discerning single voice at a busy party metaphor - existential isolation - umwelt

adjacency - between - key insight - quote - localization enables (infinite or universal consciousness) to perceive itself - Rupert Spira - discerning single voice at a busy party metaphor - existential isolation - adjacency relationship - quote - localization enables (infinite or universal consciousness) to perceive itself - Rupert Spira - This localization process enables (infinite) consciousness to perceive itself as the universe because - infinite consciousness cannot perceive its own activity directly - because if infinite consciousness were to perceive the universe directly - it would have to do so from every single point of view in the universe - It would be the deepest, darkest black image you could imagine - So in order to perceive an object - (infinite) consciousness must localize itself as an apparently separate subject so - the apparent localization of our self or - the dissociation of ourselves - as finite minds out of infinite consciousness enables - perception and - thought

• There is a metaphor that applies here:
  • At a busy dinner party, many people are talking at the same time
  • As the number of people approach infinite, the signal becomes more difficult to detect
  • In the same manner, as the activities of the universe are seemingly unbounded, how could infinite consciousness possibly observe its own infinite entirety?
  • Existential isolation is deemed depressing because it makes us feel intrinsically separated and disconnected from others, yet
    • it may be very necessary
  • Can you imagine hearing and understanding the voices of every human being, much less every living being?
  • An individual human does not have the capacity to process all that information
  • In the same manner, the body of every living organism is fine tuned for only one specific set of unwelts
  • How would we process the unbound amounts of information if we had an infinite number of different detectors?

for - AI - inside industry predictions to 2034 - Leopold Aschenbrenner - inside information on disruptive Generative AI to 2034

document description - Situational Awareness - The Decade Ahead - author - Leopold Aschenbrenner

summary - Leopold Aschenbrenner is an ex-employee of OpenAI and reveals the insider information of the disruptive plans for AI in the next decade, that pose an existential threat to create a truly dystopian world if we continue going down our BAU trajectory. - The A.I. arms race can end in disaster. The mason threat of A.I. is that humans are fallible and even one bad actor with access to support intelligent A.I. can post an existential threat to everyone - A.I. threat is amplifier by allowing itt to control important processes - and when it is exploited by the military industrial complex, the threat escalates significantly

• to - YouTube - 4 hour in-depth interview with Leopold Aschenbrenner on the disruptive and existential impacts of A.I. super-intelligence
  • https://hyp.is/zk8hdjEoEe-EIHtdo3U81w/www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdbVtZIn9IM

for - answer - Planet Critical podcast - Terrence Deacon - We're in existential crisis - but difficult to convey to most people - why? - human symbolic abilities - mass collaboration

answer - Planet Critical podcast - Terrence Deacon - We're in existential crisis - but difficult to convey to most people - why? - Our symbolic abilities have given us tremendous capacities - Over the past two thousand years, - our ability to communicate - has allowed us to create amazing technologies - Example: James Web telescope - millions of hours of human thought - thousands of people collaborating - now we an look back billions of years - We are no longer isolated minds - Our symbolic capacity allows us to - share thoughts, - collectively plan futures - unlike any other species

for - question - Planet Critical podcast - We're in existential crisis - but difficult to convey to most people - why?

for - quote - how things appear - quote - Nic Higham - key insight - duality

• Because of our narrowed, distorted focus,
  • we’ve become apparently disconnected from our essential Aliveness, which is universal.
• We are so accustomed to perceiving a dualistic paradigm;
  • there’s “me” and
  • a world of “others”
  • existing in an infinite and vastly unknown universe of disparate objects.

comment - Nic summarizes the dualistic perspective succinctly

for - quote - imagined duality - unpack - imagined duality

quote - imagined duality - author - Nic Higham

• On a deeper level,
• it’s imagined duality which creates all manner of separateness
  • from the kind I call “dualistic isolation,”
    • the sense that you’re identified with and alone in your body and your mind,
  • to “existential loneliness,”
    • a persistent sense of incompleteness that no amount of social or material connection can resolve.

unpack - imagined duality and existential isolation - Alone in your body and mind - in my younger days, I had a metaphor for this - Life is a movie theatre for one, yourself - Only you have access to this movie theatre - Nobody else is there to experience the totality of your experiences, except you. - You are the sole inhabitan of your YOUniverse -

adjacency - between - existential isolation - desire and fear - adjacency statement -Desire of the other emerges from a sense of lack in the totality of reality - fear of the other emerges from a sense of avoidance of aspects of reality - Biologically , we have an innate desire and fear instinct - We desire to that which helps us survive - We fear that which threatens our survival - The psychological construction of the self takes cues from this biological attraction and aversion - the self-consciousness of the biological self as individual that is a separate entity from the environment - It is interesting to ponder how we could reconcile this difference

for - insight - existential isolation - quote - existential isolation

• Because we’re unable to
  • experience life genuinely, or
  • relate authentically to our own nature and to others,
• we often suffer from a “dread of nothingness.”
• Loneliness, Moustakas says,
  • is part and parcel of being, of existing, which,
  • if embraced, can lead us to “
    • deeper perception,
    • greater Awareness and sensitivity, and
    • insights into one’s own being”.

existential isolation - evocative description - See David Loy's description of the same thing as the fear of our own inherent emptiness

quote - existential isolation - Nic Higham

• .But this other kind of anxiety was more like
  • a quiet, unintelligible terror,
  • a distant alarm bell,
  • an uncaused danger.
• It seemed more real and fundamental than any passing concern.
• Apparently arising from my innermost core,
  • existential anxiety was a lurking, menacing mythical figure.
• It hid in the shadows of my very Being,
  • coming at me from
    • everywhere and
    • nowhere.
• It wasn’t an entity but an inescapable mood
  • that cunningly evaded -reason and
    • remedy.
• It was
  • a constant undercurrent,
  • an impending nothingness and hollowness,
  • a strange intimacy with an enticing void,
• the cost of having a thumping heart and a free spirit.

reference - Ernest Becker - Denial of Death - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=denial+of+death - The Birth and Death of Meaning - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=the+birth+and+death+of+meaning - David Loy - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=david%2Bloy

from -search - Google - https://www.google.com/search?q=Heidegger+existential+isolation+Milarepa+alone+but+not+lonely&oq=Heidegger+existential+isolation+Milarepa+alone+but+not+lonely&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCjQ1OTU2ajBqMTaoAgGwAgE&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#sbfbu=1&pi=Heidegger%20existential%20isolation%20Milarepa%20alone%20but%20not%20lonely

to - Nic Higham - https://hyp.is/trokCgCNEe-QGA_EuaiIPg/nisargayoga.org/

for - existential isolation - existential loneliness - existential isolation - Heidegger - Deep Humanity

from - Science and Nonduality article - https://scienceandnonduality.com/article/embracing-existential-loneliness-and-waking-up-to-non-dual-aloneness/

backlink -search - Google - https://www.google.com/search?q=Heidegger+existential+isolation+Milarepa+alone+but+not+lonely&oq=Heidegger+existential+isolation+Milarepa+alone+but+not+lonely&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCjQ1OTU2ajBqMTaoAgGwAgE&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#sbfbu=1&pi=Heidegger%20existential%20isolation%20Milarepa%20alone%20but%20not%20lonely

for - search term - Google

Search term - Google - Heidegger existential isolation Milarepa alone but not lonely - Google return results - https://www.google.com/search?q=Heidegger+existential+isolation+Milarepa+alone+but+not+lonely&oq=Heidegger+existential+isolation+Milarepa+alone+but+not+lonely&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCjQ1OTU2ajBqMTaoAgGwAgE&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#sbfbu=1&pi=Heidegger%20existential%20isolation%20Milarepa%20alone%20but%20not%20lonely - websites visited from returned result -https://scienceandnonduality.com/article/embracing-existential-loneliness-and-waking-up-to-non-dual-aloneness/

source - my wife's WU post on isolation during COVID

for - 2nd Trump term - 2nd Trump presidency - 2024 U.S. election - existential threat for climate crisis - Title:Trump 2.0: The climate cannot survive another Trump term - Author: Michael Mann - Date: Nov 5, 2023

Summary - Michael Mann repeats a similiar warning he made before the 2020 U.S. elections. Now the urgency is even greater. - Trump's "Project 2025" fossil-fuel -friendly plan would be a victory for the fossil fuel industry. It would - defund renewable energy research and rollout - decimate the EPA, - encourage drilling and - defund the Loss and Damage Fund, so vital for bringing the rest of the world onboard for rapid decarbonization. - Whoever wins the next U.S. election will be leading the U.S. in the most critical period of the human history because our remaining carbon budget stands at 5 years and 172 days at the current rate we are burning fossil fuels. Most of this time window overlaps with the next term of the U.S. presidency. - While Mann points out that the Inflation Reduction Act only takes us to 40% rather than Paris Climate Agreement 60% less emissions by 2030, it is still a big step in the right direction. - Trump would most definitely take a giant step in the wrong direction. - So Trump could singlehandedly set human civilization on a course of irreversible global devastation.

for - quote - Michael Mann - quote - 2024 U.S. elections - future of civilization - quote - existential threat of 2024 Trump win - polycrisis - politics - inequality - climate

quote - Michael Mann - date: May 11, 2023 - source: The Hill - Op Ed - https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4290467-trump-2-0-the-climate-cannot-survive-another-trump-term/ - (see below)

• It is not an overstatement to say, one year out, that
  • we face an American election unlike any other.
• It will determine
  • not only the course of the American experiment
  • but the path that civilization collectively follows.
    • On the left is democracy and environmental stewardship.
    • On the right is fascism and planetary devastation.
• Choose wisely.

for - 2024 U.S. elections - polycrisis - 2024 U.S. elections - existential threat to civilization- climate crisis

summary - Some good points: - importance of Black and Latino voters - importance of a third party that can spoil the vote

for - Gen Z influence on 2024 US election - Trump 2024 win - an existential threat to humanity - stats - Gen Z - 2024 U.S. election

comment - Gen Z can play a role in determining the future of human civilization. How? Their vote in the upcoming 2024 U.S. election. If Donald Trump wins, it can pose an existential threat to human civilization - https://hyp.is/mwqwpsA-Ee6bAd9C2MLeKg/www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-2024-presidency-climate-change-rcna131928

stats - Gen Z - 2024 U.S. election

• In the next presidential election, 40.8 million members of Gen Z (ages 18-27 in 2024) will be eligible to vote,
  • including 8.3 million newly eligible youth (ages 18-19 in 2024)
  • who will have aged into the electorate since the 2022 midterm election.
• These young people have tremendous potential to
  • influence elections and to
  • spur action on issues they care about
• if they are adequately reached and supported by parties, campaigns, and organizations.

Especially note:

With such a warning in hand, we might, for example, take extra care to protect our ecosystems, perhaps even at substantial expense to our economic growth rate. We might be even especially cautious regarding the possibility of world-destroying physics experiments. And we might place a much higher priority on projects like Biosphere 2, which may allow some part of humanity to survive a great disaster.

for sure?

• for: Center for the Study of Existential Risk - excludes modernity

• Comment

  • Center for the Study of Existential Risk still assumes a modern framework to solve the polycrisis

Morens, D. M., Taubenberger, J. K., & Fauci, A. S. (2021). Universal Coronavirus Vaccines—An Urgent Need. New England Journal of Medicine, 0(0), null. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2118468

Akaliyski, P., Taniguchi, N., Park, J., & Gehrig, S. (2022, February 4). The COVID-19 Pandemic Inflicts Lasting Changes in Societal Values in Japan. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/gx5mn

Vartanova, I., Eriksson, K., Kirgil, Z. M., & Strimling, P. (2021, April 26). The advent of the COVID-19 epidemic did not affect Americans’ endorsement of moral foundations. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/957zk

Bruce D Walker. (2021, March 17). COVID Course 3 17 21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGjYE2GtRLw

Cushing, E. (2020, May 13). I Was a Teenage Conspiracy Theorist. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/i-was-a-teenage-conspiracist/610975/

About. (n.d.). Our World in Data. Retrieved May 25, 2020, from https://ourworldindata.org/about