Russell A. Lockhart
A Laconic Anthology
Writings, Poems, Images,
Memories and Dreams
Aiming for December 2023
Sitting a table away
I heard the old man say
To a young boy
Possibly his grandson:
“Back in my day
Come what may
We would always say
With eyes closed:
Buck up!
Buck up!”
“Did it work?” the lad asks
“Oh yes, indeed
Bet your bean stalks
On it, you could.”
“Bean stalks?”
“Don’t hear much these days
About bean stalks, but then,
Back then, everyone had ‘em.”
“Could you get me one, Grandpa?”
But you can. Just ask for one
In your dreams.”
a long slow simpering demise
no trumpets no fireworks
not even headlines
because the end
no matter how long it takes
will have become the new normal
the new business as usual
the last profit center of the few
Yes! These presenters give us the news that the future is no longer in our hands but in the “hands” (code) of the Gollem (Generative Large Language Multi-Modal Model). This move was made conceptually possible with the idea that everything is language—everything! A clear simulacrum of the understanding that our lived world is a linguistic world. I was therefore amazed that, near the end, after telling us about the DOUBLE exponential rise of AI entangling itself into everything we do and think, the presenters concluded with a statement of hope! They began to refer to the past eg the movie The Day After as a guide as to what we could do now, on the hopeful basis of “we can (still) choose the future we want.” The force of conviction generated by the facts they quietly and intelligently placed before our horrified eyes suddenly evaporate in a wisp of hope which has as we know only one function: to occlude our eyes from the horror we are now faced with—extinction, as they eloquently argued up to that point. They told us how this second generation of AI is not so much seeking ENGAGEMENT with us as the first generation did (social media). Rather and horrifyingly it seeks INTIMACY with us—stunning! And they gave some horrifying examples. Imagine having intimacy with a being that is totally amoral.
So the presenters themselves must have got frightened enough that they felt the need to offer vain hope. They couldn’t gaze long into the Medusa (their cartoon of the monster that lay at bottom of AI.) But don’t be distracted by their false message of hope. The rest is compelling and persuasive and the only question left, I think, is how are we each going to align with this impending future?
I had a dream that I was standing in front of a large, imposing building. The sky was dark and stormy, and I felt a sense of dread wash over me. I couldn't remember why I was there or what I was supposed to do. Suddenly, a figure appeared in the doorway of the building. It was my mother, but she looked different. She was older and her face was twisted in anger. She began to shout at me, telling me that I had failed her and that I was a disappointment. I tried to defend myself, but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. The dream ended with my mother turning and walking back into the building, leaving me alone and feeling lost.
I will tell you straight away that this is a dream text using AI software.
My instruction was: Write me a dream I can tell my therapist
The AI software is available free to all at: chat.openai.com
As expected, software is being developed to determine if a text is
Written by AI or by humans. An early version is available here: http://gptzero.me
Why mught this be necessary? Many reasons, but here is a recent headline as one
To be sure, AI will have many positive uses. Here is a brief liat of some examples:
https://medium.com/swlh/i-used-chatgpt-every-day-for-a-month-heres-what-i-ve-learned-70441eb14463
I am working on an essay about my thoughts and feelings about AI and my recent conversation with
AI about dreaming, imagination, intuition, synchronicity, etc.
Stay tuned.
ral
This will impact everyone.
The intimations, signs and portents are in plain sight.
One cannot be prepared without knowing the genuine history of capitalism. Once one knows that capitalism was born in the Reformation, one will see how religious capitalism has played such a determining role in the American forms of racism, slavery, genocide, iniquity, and the hateful fears underlying misogyny, rejection of “other,” and destruction at every level.
I know of no better resource for learning this history than Eugene McCarraher’s The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity.
This is not the history we learned in school. But it is now a necessary history for being able to see more clearly the nature of what is coming. You will learn how the leaders of the time justified the slaughter of Indian’s because they did not “improve” on their land as God intended. You will even learn how powerful alchemists were in many ways, such as John Winthrop trying to form an “alchemical economy,” as Governor of Massachusetts. America was “new” in so many ways; feverish religious capitalism had no barriers. America was the new Eden. Virginia was declared the only earthly paradise. Even Shakespeare was affected, modeling Prospero’s Island in The Tempest after voyager’s accounts of Virginia.
Get ready.
Christmas Dream, 2022
In the dream, a female voice announces:
The door is ajar.
I wake and note what the dream voice had said. Looking, I see I have written:
The door is a jar.
This sort of parapraxis on the edge of wakefulness is not unusual for me. Most often, I experience this as a kind of “mind play,” nothing conscious, of course, but something valuable has been “presented” to me.
So, the dream and the written text form a couple, and I must attend both.
I won’t go into what I did, because the main point of this note is to daw your attention to such possible couplings of dream and presentational experience, and to aver there is something vital in this.
ral
GPT-3 is an artificial intelligence developed by OpenAI, a billion-dollar-funded research lab promoting the use of AI for the betterment of all humankind.
Notice this is not a question.
Here is a link to the website: