Here is a thread worth discussing:
https://twitter.com/helioslogos/status/1398766254677180422
The main points the gentleman makes are these:
- “All technology comes from demonic super-Intelligences, taught to humans to facilitate our destruction.”
- “This knowledge is relayed in many ways but the main one is through dreams. Trances are also common. In these states the mind opens up to the other side and information is passed along…”
- “There is a long standing myth/legend that humans in search of great knowledge turn to wise entities for guidance or wisdom, or even wealth. The classic “deal with the devil” of western folklore.”
- “This goes back to the garden of Eden where the serpent promises Eve divine knowledge in exchange for her immortal soul. Of course Eve didn’t know her soul was on the table, only that she would ‘be as god(s) knowing good and evil’.”
- “This is the demonic intent. To weaken us on civilizational level, to deracinated us and desensitize us to the utter darkness and depravity we subject ourselves to. I call this the Technological Cycle’ everything comes in gradual waves, all you have to do is passively accept it..”
- “Technology strips us of autonomy if we let it. This is what makes it so sinister. It preys on all our biological and evolutionary weaknesses, perfectly designed to drain us of all humanity, of all divinity until man becomes nothing more than a mindless slave.”
- “The technological cycle is a way to accomplish two of their desires. To corrupt our bodies until they no longer resemble the divine creation and to build for them what they cannot create themselves; digital and mechanical bodies that they can use to rule this world.”
- “And the people behind these advancements, the wireheads in Silicon Valley are notorious for their utilization of trance techniques to ‘discover new ideas’ namely microdosing. So where are these ideas really coming from?”
There is more to this, but these are the essence of the argument.
For a start, all truth begins in God. Our knowledge of the highest truths also comes from God, as do all truths ultimately. All the infinite universals we know by induction, the moral truths we grasp by intuition, the revelations given directly; all are from God.
How God chooses to reveal any truth is, of course, a matter of curiosity. Direct communication is one surefire way, but would seem to be rare, given what we know from scripture. Why not have an angel bear the good tidings of truth, or a whole string of angels playing telephone, starting from God’s lips (that’s a metaphor, son) along the angelic chain, to your ears.
Guardian angels, archangels and other Heavenly beings have been known to do this. Something like this would seem to be ideal and accounts for intuitions and so on, though I can’t prove it.
If good angels can whisper into our intellects, why not bad ones? Indeed, there is good reason to suppose the imparting of forbidden knowledge, which is to say forbidden truths, does happen via demons.
Of course, all truths must begin with God, the source of all truth. And demons, like all angels, need permission from God before interacting with people. The Hollywood version of demons sneaking around without God’s awareness is false. Therefore, if a demon is saying “Make the splice in the DNA here”, this whisper must have got the God go ahead first.
Why does God allow “forbidden” knowledge to be known? Well, why does God allow free will? I answer, I have no idea. That is just the Way Things Are. We never have to know how to know that. Confusion in this leads to scientism and the love of models.
There is wisdom in the old saying be careful what you wish for. Scientists, Mary Shelley tried to warn us, ignore it, and view it as a limitation of their “freedom”. Gain-of-lethality experiments came about as exercises in freedom. Chimeras do, too. Biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, same thing. Abortions, gender “confirming” surgery, and so on and so forth.
Of course, we do gain benefits, such as electric can openers and self-paid government tracking devices, to go with the shakier elements. Would you turn down the wonder drug that would cure your child? Certainly not, even though the costs of such creations are hidden or obscured.
There must be a reason why—read the first three essays in David Stove’s On Enlightenment here—it took so long for people to desire, let alone construct, all these “labor saving” devices we now cannot live without. This desire is not ancient, but recent. It was only in the last, say century or century-and-a-half, that the promise of the desire was met.
This reason must involve the metaphysics and religion in the minds of those with and without the desire. One side asks, “What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? What is good?” And the other side says, “Ignore them, let’s pleasure ourselves and make our lives easy.”
Well, there was the dark side to the old ways, too. The demonic lie that spiritual gains could be had if blood were spilled and other similar horrors. The difference, besides in the goal, spiritual versus material, is that what was believed were lies, and what we believe now about the material world is true (at least, we hope so). A demonic lie is not equivalent to a demonic truth.
Now just like with “equality”, the way how the more equal things become the more painful and glaring the minute inequalities that remain are felt, the more inventions we create to ease our burdens, the more painful and glaring are the physical duties left to us (suffering ill health is in this). Thus the larger the desire to accelerate our race to…what, exactly. Scientific utopia?
I believe strong AI is impossible (I mean this word in its strong sense). We will not upload our “minds”, which are not our selves, to computers. Many think it can be done, however, and in a sense this is a final goal, a utopia. To “live” forever as a computer game.
To others who do not maintain a belief in strong AI, the goal is similar, to live forever, perhaps aided by mechanical means. This has definite realizable possibilities, at least to extending life. Yet because our intellect and wills require the cooperation with God, the forever part is again impossible.
Still, the thread writer is right. As we increase our knowledge, we increase our sorrow, to coin a phrase. We become stronger, or at least more durable, physically, but we whither spiritually. We lose our souls in proportion to the gains we make in our physical bodies. At least, this seems to be so during accelerations of knowledge gains.
This, if you will allow me the sidetrack, explains the mania for lockdowns. “Punitive restrictions are good if we save just one life”, said various governments, sometimes literally, and most citizens agreed. Life for the sake of nothing else but extending it slightly became the reason to do everything, and damn the spiritual damages.
As far as hallucinogens and forbidden knowledge, see inter alia Owen Cyclops.
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Dear Mr. Briggs. Excellent and provocative post. Bless you.
ABS has been rereading Job in which God reveals it is He who allows Satan to tempt man- but not beyond man’s ability to resist:
Now on a certain day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. [7] And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it. [8] And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil? [9] And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain? [10] Hast not thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth?
[6] “The sons of God”: The angels.– Ibid. Satan also, etc. This passage represents to us in a figure, accommodated to the ways and understandings of men, 1. The restless endeavours of Satan against the servants of God; 2. That he can do nothing without God’s permission; 3. That God doth not permit him to tempt them above their strength: but assists them by his divine grace in such manner, that the vain efforts of the enemy only serve to illustrate their virtue and increase their merit.
We know from St. Augustine that God not only allows but chooses evil men to rule over us – such men as Nero and Hitler – but if one agrees with that insight into the nature of events one is excoriated.
C’est le vie.
Few men know, and even fewer accept, that God is Infinite Justice, Infinite Mercy and possessed of sovereign liberty.
Far too many men think about what it is that God has done or not done and think – Well, that can’t be right. God is love and so He could not…
The fundamental problem is man’s idea of God and His love excludes Justice.
Not “if we save one life”, IF WE SAVE ONE LIFE WE CAN USE FOR PROPAGANDA PURPOSES. There is ZERO love for saving lives for the sake of saving lives in any of this.
I agree—AI will never be possible. (Of course, one must first find actual intelligence before artificial intelligence can be created….Just one of the many roadblocks. Another is every SciFi writer would be unemployed.)
Technology is like EVERYTHING else on earth—it can be good or bad. That steak knife cuts steak can also kill the annoying twit living next door. The knife is morally neutral. It is not knowledge now that is demonic—that ended with Eve receiving the forbidden knowledge. It is the USE of the knowledge that is now evil and demonic. Tech happens to have some of the most evil, horrible, vile people in it, but it’s mostly because of MONEY. It always comes back to the LOVE OF MONEY. Always. (Don’t tell me it’s power–You will never find a guy living in a cardboard box that celebrates being the most powerful guy in his city, even if he is. Without money, power means nothing.)
ABS: I totally agree and thank you for pointing this out. Love without justice is nothing. If only people would quit buying into the “unconditional love” propaganda…..
All technology comes from demonic super-Intelligences, taught to humans to facilitate our destruction
“All technology” includes fire making, cooking, farming, shelter making, tool making, etc. So it would seem anything that increases our chances of survival must be evil.
Luddites never go away but they won’t be letting go of their
Guns!
antibiotics
reading glasses?
planes trains and automobiles
wrist watches
buttons and zips
washing achines
dishwashers
bottle openers
seives
colanders
knives and forks
knives in general
shovels
spades
mobile phones, cheap tacky ones that prove you’re with the gang,
blackboards
books and printing presses
eiderdowns
dyson
Engineers are the best
very few ungrateful undead ever say thank you
They’;re the original survivors and problem solvers,
Hill people, not valley people
computers are evil.
They help people to know how evil computers are
With knowledge comes choice and with choice comes potential for wrongdoing and therefore moral or etihical responsibility.
The garden of eden story demonstrates that, amongst other things about human nature and the telling of lies.
Passing blame! At least eve blamed the worm/slug/baggot/snake/serpent. Adam dropped eve right in the clag.
Each had been told what to do and each had done something else. So they knew moral responsibility, therefore.
It was probably a lesson about poisonous tree frogs, or similar.
I’m starting to think that Snake was not on the up-and-up. Anyone know where I can buy a ticket back to the Garden?
Joy, we didn’t need all that junk in the Garden.
In the Garden we owned nothing, and we were happy.
Maybe Klaus is on to something.
Switch off your computer, for a start, Dean
The thing that allowed you to so sweetly and honestly put over your feelings in such a brave, manly way, then it served you a purpose? Therefore not Junk?
(it can get very cold and wet in the garden, without shelter, a basic requirement for human survival)
So is it metaphor? or absolute truth?
You seem to be claiming the latter.
Dean,
Your point refers to the discontentment of human nature.
Go to India and see how the (cliched) smiles on the faces of people, children, especially, despite their having very little “junk”. Yet they crave more and more “junk”:
sanitation,
mobile phones,
roads,
toys for the adults and the children
Yet as a westerner you know they still won’t be happy, often looks the reverse.
The garden of Eden is an imaginary place unless you think otherwise!
Then!
Do away with the farmers and you’re really on your own
No time to feel sorry for yourself, busy busy keeping the food supply, not for the table though,
How about showing everything you’ve got for the competition?
Not sure that’s your idea of heaven given your comments
No ballerinas, no musical instruments
internet: access to information — access to personal information
computers; calculate precise values — infiltrate the power grid
antibiotics: cure disease — create and spread bioweapons
jet planes: go lots of places — intercontinental bombers
sieves: filter out impurities — filter out and concentrate deadly toxins
knives: cut yourself free of entanglement — stab your neighbor to death
shovels: dig a foundation for a patio — smash someone’s head in
mobile phones: call people from anywhere — build trigger for remote bomb
books: a treasury of learning and entertainment — Mein Kampf, Das Kapital, etc.
I sense a philosophical insight dawning.
One of the Twitter threads that I ran into:
owen cyclops Flower playing cards
@owenbroadcast
Sep 16, 2019
once again we must reflect on the reality that timothy leary was wrong about essentially everything.
Reminds me of George Carlin
Dr. Timothy Leary’s brother … Really Leary … formed a new religion that teaches when you die your soul goes to a garage in Buffalo!
YOS! You’re catching on
If I don’t have problems to challenge me at work (like when I’m on vacation, such as now) I will dream of problems to solve. Problems that are similar to real life, but upon awakening are impossible to occur.
The mind acts funny.
Is it open to demonic influence? But of course.
The unregenerate mind of the person who is not led of the Spirit of God via the new birth is apt to do anything horrible. And justify it.
But going Amish is not the correct response.
As an aside:
I wrote a story back in high school, wherein Satan (an alien being in my mind then) wanted to subjugate mankind, so he gave some guy in Switzerland the idea of a precision clock.
Similarly he wanted to drive us mad, so he gave us Tesla and a 60 cycle grid surrounding our domiciles.
Meh … Knowledge and technology are neutral.
This smacks of the same argument that gun control advocates use; ie the gun is a talisman of evil that will infect the mind of those that posses them and cause them to do evil and if we had no guns there would be no evil.
No, humanity is self destructive without technology (or guns) and its the abandonment of our loyalty and subservience to The Creator that causes our suffering, not learning new stuff about creation.
The dark side of immortality – in the physical terms of the transhumanist – is living forever.
I do believe we are given or figure out God’s Truths as we grow older, and as I grow older I find that while I certainly have no death wish, I am glad I’m not immortal on this Earth.
Mankind has no self-control over his quest for knowledge at any cost, good or evil – and we seem to be opening Pandora’s Box wider and wider. I don’t want to see it.
But what is money? It is just a means to power. Money (or gold, or bitcoin) sitting in an account means nothing. What gives “money” value is the influence and ability it gives you – i.e., power. Or do you think guys like Gates or Soros just like to look at their pretty pennies (well, maybe)? No – they love money because it gives them power.
This short story gives a great horror vibe to ‘strong’ AI and brain simulation.
https://qntm.org/mmacevedo
One need merely to look around at most of the prominent people in culture and politics to see that demons are among us and largely in control right now.
There seems to be no secular/political Katechon any more, and the Church has been well on the way to abandoning its role as spiritual Katechon since Vatican II, hastened even more now by the rise of anti-pope Bergoglio.
“One must be able to name the Katechon for every epoch of the last 1948 years. The place has never been empty; or else we would no longer exist.” – Carl Schmitt [writing, of course, in 1948; adjust to 2021 now]
In Traditionalist circles, the Occultation of the Katechon is a key issue. If Schmitt is right, then who/where is the occulted Katechon today? And if there isn’t any…and yet we can’t exist without it…what grim future lies ahead?
I skimmed his Twitter:
It’s called confirmation bias, one of the most obvious ways of leading yourself astray. No demons required.
‘All technology’ includes things as simple as levers – I’m not sure why we’d need to consult a demonic super-intelligence (HAHAHA) in order to make a lever. But if this were really a thing, I don’t see how God could reasonably allow us to be led astray by demonic super-intelligencies (HAHAHA – sorry, I can’t say that without laughing!), then hold us accountable for being led astray?
Slavery is okay according the the OT, so I’m not sure what all the fuss is about, but in any case, having a car strips us of our autonomy?
Re psychedelics; oncet, Ken Kesey was a brilliant man and an accomplished novelist – “Sometimes a great notion” is a legitimate great American novel but he submitted to Electro Convulsive Therapy (Shock Treatment) to be able to communicate what Randall Patrick McMurphy would undergo (“One flew over the cuckoo’s nests”) and then he became a Merry Prankster and ate Acid like Pez and destroyed his brain.
It is interesting to entertain the idea that a scientist discovered a treatment or a pill that eliminated all homosexual desires without any discernible side effect.
Would men take the Tx/Pill?
Dennis, wouldn’t a simple answer for the identity of the Katechon be the Holy Spirit in the believers, the member of the Body of Christ?
“All technology comes from demonic super-Intelligences, taught to humans to facilitate our destruction.”
WTH?
Sounds like this guy has a (borderline) Manichaean view of the world and technology. Or, something similar to that phony idea.
Even if Marconi had a demon whisper to him on how to create the first radio communication system, it wouldn’t mean that we shouldn’t use radios for good purposes or out of fun for that matter. Technology is fine, just needs to be used under good purpose and direction.
Adam lay Ybounden
https://youtu.be/TnX0xaKlqK8
folk version
Or the version Anglicans sing in choir at Christmas:
https://youtu.be/626Nrbtwtao
For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law who will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus. Roman 2:,12-16.
Always, the temptation is the same one:
“4The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! 5For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3: 4-5.
And so, the technological inventions can tend towards the Genesis temptation. We must keep our hearts and minds on Jesus Christ … eternity is on its way.
And if one has knowledge that a drug was manufactured using murdered baby parts, or that an organ for donation, which removal knowingly caused the death of the donor, is offered, one must not partake.
God bless, C-Marie
Ed: The problem I have with identifying the Holy Spirit with the Katechon is twofold: (1) It doesn’t seem consistent with biblical terminology. Katechon is typically translated as “the Restrainer,” whereas synonyms used in the Bible that are generally taken to refer to the the Holy Spirt are words such as “Comforter” or “Advocate.” I’ve seen no exegesis that would identify the Advocate/Comforter with the Restrainer as well. And (2) Historically the Katechon has always been identified as a person or entity headed by a universal monarchical authority as guardian of order and/or dogma – typically the Roman Empire/Emperor and later Holy Roman Empire/Emperor, or sometimes with the Church and the Pope as, effectively, the successors to the Roman Empire/Emperors. In the Middle Ages you have a kind of bifurcated Katechon – Emperor and Pope in their respective spheres of authority (see Dante’s “De Monarchia” for the most elegant and concise explication of this idea).
Since there hasn’t been a true Emperor, and thus perhaps no true political/secular Katechon for a long while (perhaps really since the end of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern Westphalian state, even though the title of Emperor continued for a few centuries more, with occasional pretenders claiming the title also, such as Napoleon and the Hohenzollern Kings of Prussia), that leaves the Pope…in theory…if he’s legitimate and upholds the Deposit of Faith as passed on through the ages. In the wake of some of Archbishop Viganò’s explosive letters last Summer, a prominent Italian professor of theology Professor Radelli, raised the issue of the Katechon in endorsing Viganò’s take on Vatican II, saying the introduction of any ambiguity in Dogma makes the Church vulnerable to the Antichrist:
“The dogmatic level (as presented by the Pope or by him together with a Council) is the true and only Katéchon that can bridle the Antichrist. The Katéchon is the Dogma. Take off Dogma and you will unleash the Antichrist.”
Has there been a more calculatedly ambiguous Pope in history than Bergoglio? And has the Church and Popes unambiguously upheld the Dogma and the Deposit of Faith since Vatican II? Only one blind and deaf since 1965 could say so without laughing (or perhaps crying).
It certainly seems to be the case these days in every aspect of life – social, moral, religious, political, economic, etc. – that, as the repeated refrain running throughout Lars von Trier’s film “Antichrist” puts it, “Chaos reigns.” I think Valentin Tomberg, the great 20th century Catholic mystic, was alluding to the loss of the Katechon when he wrote of Europe being “haunted by the shadow of the Emperor.” (And not just Europe, but the world, I’d add. Like it or not for the multiculturalists out there, Europe has been the chief engine of world history since the time of the Roman Empire, the religious and political Omphalos of the world, and the denoument will be centered there as well).
I think the chaos will accelerate in the years to come. If there is a Katechon still, he is well hidden at present and doing very little “restraining.” And if there is no longer a Katechon, we are well and truly screwed.
The article brought memories back from university residence and a highly intelligent African computer science student whose goal was to graduate, return to his country and become an official in order to block technological progress in his country
The technology list of Joy (June 17, 2021 at 8:34 am) and Ye Olde Statistician [June 17, 2021 at 9:38 am] led me back to the key part of the article:
The keyword is autonomy, the degree of which proscribes an individualism or collectivism based society.
Individualism being the natural state, I submit that drawing the line on tools/technology is simply done, by deciding if a tool/technology method of use impinges in a systemic way on individualism or not.
Joy’s list is a list of items – all neutral in the matter.
Ye Olde Statistician’s list DOES mention use. The only uses that impinge on individualism **systemically** I would say are: mobile phones, which are tracker and portable collectivism conditioning devices
(because collectivist portals such as facebook and twitter are installed by default).
My list:
sunsets
baby laughter
working up a sweat
faith in seeds
bush-to-mouth blueberries
7 year old girls
dogs
summer
…
None of which have anything to do with “technology”. In fact, the more you stare at a screen, the less you live real life. But you all know that.
btw, I was acquainted with Ken. His mind was sharp to the end. Smart, funny, kind. Might be best to check your own delusions…
Technology is about tools, lStatistics, is a tool, some say an evil one, some say otherwise, depending on what day is is.
It is not neutral in spiritual or pastoral terms,
Here are a few more which include some more emotive elements, since everybody makes up their mind by how they feel:
Armchairs
Wedding rings
Wine vessels (see weddings in the bible)
Baby incubators
Neonatal research
(Peacock incubators)
Potash
Tractors
Kilns!
Ovens of all kinds
Ventilators
‘Central air’
Central heating
sink plungers
Cardiac bipass machines
Quartering knives
Antiseptic
Septic tanks
Running water
Hot water taps
Dialysis machines
perfume
Make up
shampoo
Analgesia
High speed video
Telemetry software
Seat belts
Fireworks
IV drips
Music
Software of all kinds
The postage system
The sewage system
Bridges
Viaducts
Aqueducs
*ducts: surgical conduits, T tubes
Ladders
bricks
Robots!
Cinema
rope
Hammocks
Radio
socks,
Hats & gloves
umbrellas
TV
Fog lights
DNA database
Space ships
Raindrops on rose and whiskers on kittens
Tools are not inherently bad
Nor is nature inherently kind, quite the opposite, it is harsh and indifferent
The idea of technology is to life people out of that harsh indifference, if only for a moment
That is a noble and kind quest
Kindness comes from God,
People don’t need to know or even believe he’s there to be kind
(I started a list of my favourite things about a week ago having seen someone else’s somewhere on the internet.)
Didn’t like their list so had to trim and edit.
It was an interesting exercise, decided it is all about categories, Again.
Mine are secret because one of the things you don’t have to do in an unkind internet world is tell strange people what or who you love or where your heart lies. See old masters for details. You could take Uncle Mike’s as a template but you can’t have summer without winter. Autumn and winter are “better” but they’re nothing without summer!
Information is power the choice is yours
Dear internet:
Just when you think it’s lemon that’s been thoroughly sucked, to quote Boris Johnson:
(No lemon squeezers)
YOS always says, and it’s true, that believe means beloved
So don’t tell people what you believe?
That’s the opposite of Christianity
Tell people what you believe but don’t expect a different response than Jesus received.
Especially if it is true
Whether ‘you or I’ believe in Jesus Christ or not, it is irrelevant to the reality of how it all works
If you really are sure, don’t make it impossible for everybody else
Until it’s known, for certain, people are going to try and work things out
This is probably sinful music in someone’s book but to me it’s pretty universal.
https://youtu.be/zOvsyamoEDg
Best not to know the words, just hear the music