William Blake's depiction of Adam and Eve (Bildagentur-online/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Why are the countries of the West sliding toward electronically enhanced totalitarianism? Was it inevitable that government employees and corporate technicians wielding digital and psychological tools would promote a false conspiracy theory to cripple a sitting American president, and suppress and discredit news to aid a favoured candidate? Or that public health officials in Europe and the English-speaking world would use what may have been the deliberate release of a Chinese bioweapon to infringe civil liberties and hijack representative democracy?
Many factors have contributed to this predicament. But the ultimate cause lies in human intelligence, the germ and sap of the great hard oak that is, or was, the West (it’s old now, and growing soft with rot). That intelligence is a curse as well as a blessing was clear enough to the ancient Greeks and Hebrews, whose oldest legends drew vital meaning from the black earth, the primordial fundament of early human experience.
The origin myths of Genesis and Hesiod explain how the first human beings, wanting more, broke with God or the gods. It was a kind of primitive artificial intelligence that caused this quarrel: the combination of art and artifice that has always characterised the schemes of the human mind. Impelled not just by need, but by ungoverned desires, we came to rely on cunning deception and the use of tools to imitate things and living beings — skills that have always been essential, for example, in hunting, fishing, and warfare. The myths also teach that each advance — fossil-fuel power plants, for example, or the free-for-all of the internet — produces real or perceived problems that invite increasingly large-scale scientific and political “solutions”.
Seen in this light, recent developments such as the rush of American and European governments to transition to clean energy and electric vehicles, the emerging threat of a stealthy, two-pronged attack by electronic as well as biological viruses, the extensive manipulations or “nudges” of post-modern technocracy, and the employment of AI for the purpose of “information warfare”, are entirely unsurprising.
Hesiod tells a story from the Golden Age, before poverty, sickness and death came into the world, and gods and men (there were no women then) feasted together. The Titan Prometheus was the priestly master of ceremonies, in charge of dividing and distributing meat to the two parties, mortals and immortals. This office suited his presumably impartial nature: he was a god, but a philanthropic one with a recognisably human mind. In fact, he is not easily distinguished from man himself. Prometheus means Forethought, yet he saw only what was visible in the blaze of his cleverness. This is why, in myth, his brother Epimetheus — Afterthought — follows him through the dark like a comet’s tail of foolishness, constantly spoiling his work with unintended consequences.
On the occasion Hesiod relates, Prometheus came up with an ingenious fraud, a trick designed to hoodwink Zeus himself. He roasted portions of meat from an ox and arranged the pieces into two parts. He stuffed all the meat into the animal’s inedible stomach: a deliberately unappetising sight, emblematic of man’s insatiable hunger. In the other part, he hid the animal’s bones beneath its deliciously crispy fat. Then he asked Zeus to choose between the two portions. Zeus saw through Prometheus’s trick. Stung by the insult, but playing a long game of justice, he chose the fat-covered bones.
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SubscribeI’m a huge fan of this writer but it’s imperative that we do not fall foul of another psy op which is the idea that anyone has ever spread an airborne “bioweapon”. It is unlikely it is even possible. Even if it was, it would never be intentionally spread unless there was a known, fail-safe antidote, which is even more unlikely. The “Covid-19” event was smoke and mirrors. The flu/cold bugs that always affect a certain amount of human beings in winter when their immune systems are functioning at a lower level circulated as normal in 2019-2020. What was “novel” was the response. No one died because they got a coronavirus or flu bug – no matter what variant/mutation. People died because they were given incorrect treatments (ventilators, remdesivir), denied known and safe treatments for pneumonia (azithromycin), terrorised into not presenting at hospital for potentially fatal conditions like a stroke, not acted on fast enough whilst having a heart attack because ambulance crews were donning unnecessary “PPE” and other failures of care. These deaths were labelled “Covid” deaths because the individuals had a positive result from a manipulated “test” that was amplified in a lab to skew results or a home test that could be triggered using orange juice. It’s possible the jabs were designed as a bioweapon but if they were, they were a spectacular failure, given the fact most people were unaffected by them and only a few thousand died directly from them. Although it could have been a test run to measure compliance… in which case it was alarmingly successful. We’re pretty doomed until the majority of people give up all parts of “Covid” myth and engage with the truth. And the truth is… human beings will always be threatened by their own hubris, and only the humility to accept that we cannot control everything, and that we must acknowledge and correct our mistakes instead of doubling down every time we get things wrong, will save us from ourselves.
This is the most accurate, most succinct summary of the last 3 years I have read, thanks Amy.
All gleaned from real conversations with real people (including scientists, doctors, paramedics, random members of the public with horror stories, police and public servants) in real life. That’s the only place I get my facts. Thank you.
All gleaned from real conversations with real people (including scientists, doctors, paramedics, random members of the public with horror stories, police and public servants) in real life. That’s the only place I get my facts. Thank you.
This is the most accurate, most succinct summary of the last 3 years I have read, thanks Amy.
I’m a huge fan of this writer but it’s imperative that we do not fall foul of another psy op which is the idea that anyone has ever spread an airborne “bioweapon”. It is unlikely it is even possible. Even if it was, it would never be intentionally spread unless there was a known, fail-safe antidote, which is even more unlikely. The “Covid-19” event was smoke and mirrors. The flu/cold bugs that always affect a certain amount of human beings in winter when their immune systems are functioning at a lower level circulated as normal in 2019-2020. What was “novel” was the response. No one died because they got a coronavirus or flu bug – no matter what variant/mutation. People died because they were given incorrect treatments (ventilators, remdesivir), denied known and safe treatments for pneumonia (azithromycin), terrorised into not presenting at hospital for potentially fatal conditions like a stroke, not acted on fast enough whilst having a heart attack because ambulance crews were donning unnecessary “PPE” and other failures of care. These deaths were labelled “Covid” deaths because the individuals had a positive result from a manipulated “test” that was amplified in a lab to skew results or a home test that could be triggered using orange juice. It’s possible the jabs were designed as a bioweapon but if they were, they were a spectacular failure, given the fact most people were unaffected by them and only a few thousand died directly from them. Although it could have been a test run to measure compliance… in which case it was alarmingly successful. We’re pretty doomed until the majority of people give up all parts of “Covid” myth and engage with the truth. And the truth is… human beings will always be threatened by their own hubris, and only the humility to accept that we cannot control everything, and that we must acknowledge and correct our mistakes instead of doubling down every time we get things wrong, will save us from ourselves.
No doubt in my mind that the ancient Greeks still offer us much if we are prepared to listen and even better, adjust our lives accordingly and begin to consider their precepts of how best to live. Governments in the West, mostly stymied by groupthink and inertia, unfortunately have lost sight of the fundamentals and as a result we have collectively lost our way with the nonsenses of modern life with which we are surrounded. If hope is still in the box then it has to be buttressed with action and change of direction.
No doubt in my mind that the ancient Greeks still offer us much if we are prepared to listen and even better, adjust our lives accordingly and begin to consider their precepts of how best to live. Governments in the West, mostly stymied by groupthink and inertia, unfortunately have lost sight of the fundamentals and as a result we have collectively lost our way with the nonsenses of modern life with which we are surrounded. If hope is still in the box then it has to be buttressed with action and change of direction.
The author asks ” Why are we so intent on building Babel yet again”. Because we can. It is enjoyable. Thinking things though is not as enjoyable.
The author asks ” Why are we so intent on building Babel yet again”. Because we can. It is enjoyable. Thinking things though is not as enjoyable.
Wonderful article in every way. I have a whole new understanding of Pandora’s, ahem, box.
Oooh, you are naughty Alison!
Must admit, i found much to admire in the article but wish the author had avoided:
which to my sensibility is just meaningless nonsense.
I love a good impish euphemism (you may recall my reference to the “mound of Venus” some months back).
And surely, God revealed law to man when he gave Moses the Ten Commandments, which are the basis for all of our laws. Historian and atheist Tom Holland famously said “All of us in the West are goldfish, and the water that we swim in is Christianity.”
Some of us prefer Gin.
Freshly-brewed craft/real ale for me, or a peaty single malt.
According to critics, i love a good whine too!
I hate to admit it,but I’m also with you on “ the peaty malt’. A true elixir or even Ambrosia!
If i believed in the gods, manna and nectar might also spring to mind.
You guys are both wrong! Benjamin Franklin said that wine was proof that God loves us!
True, but I also fall prey to my Germanic roots and enjoy a nice beer as well.
In any case, I’d gladly drink with all of you, and gladly buy a few rounds!
In any case, I’d gladly drink with all of you, and gladly buy a few rounds!
True, but I also fall prey to my Germanic roots and enjoy a nice beer as well.
You guys are both wrong! Benjamin Franklin said that wine was proof that God loves us!
If i believed in the gods, manna and nectar might also spring to mind.
I hate to admit it,but I’m also with you on “ the peaty malt’. A true elixir or even Ambrosia!
Freshly-brewed craft/real ale for me, or a peaty single malt.
According to critics, i love a good whine too!
The cheeky innuendo is already at full-mast in the author’s own words: “all of them hidden, like bones beneath fat, under Pandora’s lovely flesh, or in her infamous box. Zeus repaid Prometheus t*t for tat” (emphasis added). Not an accident. Pretty well done too.
Some of us prefer Gin.
The cheeky innuendo is already at full-mast in the author’s own words: “all of them hidden, like bones beneath fat, under Pandora’s lovely flesh, or in her infamous box. Zeus repaid Prometheus t*t for tat” (emphasis added). Not an accident. Pretty well done too.
I love a good impish euphemism (you may recall my reference to the “mound of Venus” some months back).
And surely, God revealed law to man when he gave Moses the Ten Commandments, which are the basis for all of our laws. Historian and atheist Tom Holland famously said “All of us in the West are goldfish, and the water that we swim in is Christianity.”
Oooh, you are naughty Alison!
Must admit, i found much to admire in the article but wish the author had avoided:
which to my sensibility is just meaningless nonsense.
Wonderful article in every way. I have a whole new understanding of Pandora’s, ahem, box.