May 2024

And Again

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Arthur Danin Adler

As anti-semitism bubbles to the surface in the U.S. again and so-called university students protest... whatever, it's that time again.

Briefly speaking… there is no such thing as time. There is only a perceptual measurement which humans created as a ladder to crawl through their sentience.Only the space-time-continuum exists. No, that's not quite true. Go talk to my friend Lawrence Krauss and ask him to explain. Good luck! Read his books instead.

With time in hand (or on the wrist) the perspective of history is a guide-thread in the web of human knowledge. It is the memory in that perspective that defines who we are, where we are, and what we are doing. Without it, we drift… as the vast mass (say 99.9%) of us has, since our first ancestors tumbled out of Africa. Other than with scholars and cognoscenti, the memory of writers, artists, warriors, politicians, criminals, et al, will simply, as always, dissipate and fade away.

In the next 20 years (assuming we survive the next six), we will have generations throughout the world who are so overwhelmed by information and imagery they will be able to recognize themselves only in mirrors and digital screens. No perspective, no memory, just… what-they-see-is what-they get… and then don’t.

It is becoming harder and harder to be concerned about the daily panorama of petty things: taxes, trade, nuclear destruction, environmental destruction. Petty because we are about to venture out into our solar system and beyond (if we’re still here) and so few understand how small we are, how vast the universe is, how much the future is the present.

Some insist that we must merge human intelligence with so-called “artificial intelligence” (as if there’s any difference) to avoid becoming irrelevant. They're wrong. As our brief perception of time exponentially accelerates, we are finally witness to our species’ evolution. AI truly stands for “As Is.” Our progeny will emerge and expand into a natural, immortal order. We in effect are currently the “artificial” intelligence!.

What happened last year and the year before is all part of the heisenberg rock that engulfs everyone… simply to be pushed to the top of the hill and then allowed to roll down again. What intrigued Albert Camus about this, his Sisyphus, was the time spent walking down the hill, free-spirited, knowing what will happen, free in that knowing. So have I become intrigued with anyone who lives in the present and is free of the past and the future. Like Camus, I've concluded… I must be happy.

Briefly speaking… as one of the great metamystical philosophers of the 20th century said:

“And that’s that!”

 

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Arthur Danin Adler is a playwright, writer and the founding Editor of Scene4. For more of his commentary and articles, check the Archives.

 

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