Creating Conduits between the Visionary Realm and the Actual World
meaningness.substack.comu/LENSF8 — 3 days ago
u/LENSF8
Someone paid $10,000 to debate Eliezer Yudkowsky on AI
Here's a SoundCloud link to the debate.
I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but I really resonate with this guy and how he talks, and I dislike Yudkowsky's whole approach and agree with this guys' criticism.
Anyway I felt compelled to share it here in case anyone's interested to give it a listen, I don't know, I think it's relevant to this Subreddit.
u/LENSF8 — 8 days ago
An Interview with a 'Karma Mechanic'
Excerpt from Angel Tech by Antero Alli
AN INTERVIEW WITH A KARMA MECHANIC
^(with Chip Delaney, Ace Reporter)
Chip Delaney: You were saying.. .that you wish anonymity. Why?
Karma Mechanic: I prefer to work in silence. Also, I feel... any undue personal emphasis right now would offset Fourth Gear. You see, my social life is very active and I'm attempting some privacy.
CD: I see.. .so, when did you first realize that you were a robot and what was it like?
KM: I woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and just knew it. What was it like? Well, initially. . .a shock. When my mirror image started looking back at me, the "real me" felt this sensation like the bottom falling out, if you know what I'm getting at. I felt hollow.
It was disturbing and reassuring, simultaneously. I was mechanical and knowing this kind of fascinated me. I mean, I wasn't as attached anymore. How could I be?
CD (nervous laughter): No, I suppose not.. .fascinating indeed. Tell me, what did you do next?
KM: Not a hell of a lot right away, Chip. You see, it wasn't enough to realize my robothood. Once I knew that, well, you can just imagine the rest. Most of the people I considered friends were also robots, including my lover at the time.
I mean, now I believe we're all robots but only a few of us know it. There was this one friend of mine though, who'll also remain anonymous for reasons of his own, who knew he was a robot. I never knew he knew until I knew I was one first.
How could I? Anyway, we met and we both knew.. .it was kind of uncanny yet tremendously reassuring. He told me my life was a mess and turned me onto the karma mechanics motto... "Own Thyself." It was straight uphill from then on.
CD: Straight uphill?
KM: A hell of a lot of hard work. Chip.
CD: Right. Of course (coughs).
KM: You see, once I realized my life was a mess, I couldn't pretend to be a real, together guy anymore. I was no longer "in the know." In fact, I've never felt so damned ignorant in all my life. Not stupid... ignorant... there's a difference.
So, my life was a mess. I wasn't eating right. I was being evicted from my apartment for not paying rent because I was fired from work and on top of all this, my girlfriend dumped me. I mean, I did all the right things with her... i suppose the fire went out or something, I don't know. So, there I was... an abandoned robot on the streets.
CD: Looking at you now, that's hard to believe.
KM: Thanks, Chip, but it's all true and truth is stranger than fiction...
CD: That's right... so (clears throat), just how did you become a karma mechanic?
KM: Well... remember that fellow I mentioned earlier who also knew he was a robot? Well, he knew someone who dated somebody who used to live with this woman who called herself a karma mechanic.
She had apparently sent away for some obscure metaphysical manual which mapped out the schemata for becoming a karma mechanic.
This map got around fast. Folks just xeroxed them off by the thousands and gave them away free to anyone even half curious. Not only did I get one of these maps...
I managed to steal the entire manual which I'm xeroxing and distributing to other self-realizing robots. I'd say being a karma mechanic is an attractive idea in these times of growing social uniformity and standardization, don't you think?
CD: Yes, I imagine it would be, wouldn't it? So... you found a map and this manual... did you just follow the instructions?
KM: Not exactly, Chip. Whoever wrote that manual... I don't know how to pronounce the name, so I won't... but, this person knew what he was doing. You see, there were no real directions on how to run your life. The writer simply assumed that whoever was reading the map or manual already knew they were robots.
Robots are already pre-programmed to survive. The blueprint for survival is right there inside each of us encoded by the genetic intelligence of DNA. But... here's the clincher. DNA doesn't really care how you do it, just as long as you survive, get it?
The goal of DNA is immortality and the way we've been doing it so far has been through the reproduction bias... we make new fleshy robots.
So, once that's clear, our options become more obvious. We can choose how to survive.
Freedom is really just a matter of style, wouldn't you say?
CD: Very interesting... so what did this manual tell you?
KM: Without going into too many details, it told me about the nature of Intelligence and how there are different functions of Intelligence. . .eight of them to be precise. . .as a system for Intelligence increase. These functions followed an evolution from the most basic, simple way to survive to the most wayout, expanded... uh, simplex ways to survive.
The system of learning that you are a Robot is ancient. For example look at what the Golden Dawn teaches. In essence The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic states that the aim of Magic is to become more than human.
That means more then a robot. Robots who know they're robots will have no problem in realizing that all these functions already exist as circuits in their Central Nervous System and that each robot experiences each circuit differently. One man's heaven is another's hell, y'know.
With each individual, different circuits are more active than others. Some circuits have been over-amped and need repair, others simply need adjustment. The manual tells you what the circuits are, what problems they face and how to facilitate the essential adjustment for optimum operational capacity. It works.
There's a hell of a lot more, Chip but I think its just too much information for a single interview. Robots should just get the manual. Start with Book One, Angel Tech... that's basic training.
CD: Quite. How has your life changed since becoming a karma..
KM(interrupting): Radically, Chip. There are no words.
CD(peeved): Yes, but... if you were to attempt to describe...
KM: Why not.. .Third Gear needs adjustment anyway. OK, the...description. The responsibility is awesome. The process of reclaiming ones old, discarded self from the shelf of a meaningless life is no small task.
It's basically an artistic endeavor.
One of the ways I knew my life was a mess was its "soupiness." It was all glued together, hodge-podge with no distinction at all.
I couldn't tell one part of myself from another and so I really had nothing to say, yet I felt like I had so much inside me I could burst. I just didn't have the energy or articulation to communicate myself.
I mean, I don't think everybody starts out like this but I did. So, back to art. My soupiness... uh, fuzziness... just served as the ideal kind of putty to be shaped by... the artist.
Everybody's an artist: And my life became my first art project. I went into retreat and brainstormed about how I wanted to create myself.
I set up research topics to learn more about where I really stood with different aspects of my existence. The maps in ANGEL TECH provided a format.
My work was to evolve through each grade and graduate in the manner best suited to my personal style. I suppose that's what "enlightenment" means to me.
Funny thing, enlightenment... there's really no place to go because no matter where you go, here you are! (laughing)
Seriously though, the biggest way my life has changed is that I'm no longer concerned with being just one type of person.
Sixth Grade Psychic Intelligence changed all that. I just don't get caught up in being anything, so I end up being able to do more. I've stopped trying to change the world, too. I mean, why should I change the world when I can change myself?
One more thing. I'm not as judgemental as I used to be.
Judgemental people are so-o-o boring... just dismal...
CD: Right. They certainly are. You say you don't want to change the world, only yourself... why do you want people to read this book? Isn't that a bit hypocritical?
KM: You're such a literalist, Chip. Not everybody is going to understand or even want to understand what I'm saying.
Those that want to, will.
The awakening robots will take to it right away,
I think. Those individuals are already changing themselves.
This book simply presents a guideline to accelerate the transformation.
It teaches the value of "quick decay" rather than "slow death" if you catch my gist. Besides, I'm more of a quick change artist anyway and I hate unnecessary suffering. I just don't have time to stay miserable or hang out with martyrs.
CD: I can see your point. So, in wrapping it up, is there anything else you'd like to share with the readers.. .uh, robots?
KM: Yes, there is. In all seriousness, there's a lot of anti-life influence going around in the mass media. The messages we get everyday from television, radio, newspapers and everybody's brother are so crossed and confused that if you don't start thinking for yourselves, you'll be woven into the social fabric of a great dying beast.
For many of us, it's far too late.
For the rest of us, I say:
Stay Hungry, Let It Rot and Don't Get Lost In The Sauce.
Remember, children have nightmares to wake up.
CD: That seems a bit cryptic, doesn't it? Won't you elaborate?
KM: Not a chance, Chip. It's as dear as a bell.
CD: Well, maybe to you it is. What about the millions who...
KM (interrupts): Goodnight Chet.
CD (upset): That's Chip, (suddenly laughs) Oh, I get it! Good Night, David.
u/LENSF8 — 8 days ago
Working with Despair and Emptiness
Original text by Devaraj Sandberg from his Substack
I was in the “Osho scene” deeply for some two decades and there are a lot of things I’m grateful for from this time.
The friendships especially stand out for me. Osho, the Indian mystic who passed away in 1990, created a huge scene around him of brave-hearted individuals who wanted to look inside or to get more from life. Also, it must be said, of people who also wanted to have more sex! And I’m grateful for the people I met, many of whom I’m still close with.
But, aside from the friendships, I’m also grateful to Osho for the idea that at the core of our world exists nothingness. And that our sense of personal selfhood arises from this emptiness.
Of course, this is hardly a new idea and most Buddhists, for example, will be totally familiar with it.
Each of us exists in a relationship to the emptiness that is at the core of our being.
For many of us, that is not an easy relationship. Emptiness is by no means the ideal partner for our sense of personal selfhood!
At certain times of the day, usually around 4 pm, I often notice myself in some anxiety. It’s like I’m being pulled into a certain inner state and I’m in resistance. I experience a compulsion to do something to change how I am in that moment.
I don’t want to be pulled into this inner state.
This to me is the classic anxiety around emptiness that I suspect many of us experience.
I think for a long while I was not aware of this dynamic in my daily life. I would just find something to do, or maybe something to eat, at this time. It was a habit. Nowadays, when I’m mostly working mornings and free in the afternoons, I’m becoming more aware of it.
There is a way that we can work with this type of anxiety when we become aware that we have it - when we regularly notice a subtle desire not to be how we are at any moment.
We can surrender to it.
Now, talking about surrendering to an underlying state sounds like a proactive thing to do. I can imagine myself saying, “Okay, now I want to face the emptiness inside of me!”
Like I’m taking on some kind of mythical beast. But surrender is not so proactive, I think. Just how do we let go into some inner state we are avoiding?
Body-based therapy has the answer.
I simply sit down and feel my body, nothing more. In a relaxed manner, I put as much of my attention as I can on the sense of my body, just deeply feeling it. I don’t “try” to feel the emptiness. I don’t use my mind in any way. I try to just rest in the sense of the body.
This is such a simple technique. But, over time, I have found that it has two benefits.
Firstly, as all sensations and human emotions are processed by simply feeling the body, and avoiding feeling the body is how we repress, it allows us to process whatever is going on inside of us.
Secondly, we send a message to our psyche that we are no longer afraid of our inner world.
We are ready to process and be with whatever we are carrying around inside.
When I consider common mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, I think that in the final analysis, both are, at their core, a reaction to a sense of deep emptiness that each of us inevitably carries around.
Our whole way of being, as Westerners, is to avoid feeling empty. We learn to fill our lives with experiences, food, friendships, possessions, whatever. And I don’t think, for the most part, this is necessarily problematic.
But when we are trying to fill a hole that we actually need to feel, then we are in avoidance. And at some point, we will become addicted to that strategy, whatever it might be.
Yet, there is an issue with using the sense of the body to process our past and to come to accept and enjoy our inner sense of emptiness.
Even with the best will in the world, it is not always easy to sufficiently feel our body to process the past. This is because, over time, our body fascia has either become armoured or has lost all natural toning.
This is where body-based therapy techniques like Bioenergetics or Reichian work come in.
They progressively open up the body fascia such that we can have a deeper experience of the sense of our body.
We begin to get such pleasure from simply feeling our body that we no longer need dopamine-creating mental behaviours.
This diminishing need to “do something” releases us from our fear of being empty or being alone.
We can rest in a deeper sense of presence and accept ourselves whether we are actively being someone in that moment or not.
u/LENSF8 — 9 days ago
Sharing this text comparing AI Alignment to DMT Entities because I find it very interesting and relevant to this Subreddit.
Also some great pragmatic instructions, guidance and models for viewing ourselves as 'sub-agents' and how we can become more integrated and whole by recognizing and communicating to these parts within ourselves.
u/LENSF8 — 11 days ago