Cybernetics and Meditation

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We’ve heard the term Cybernetics many times, enough it’s hard to remember it’s use in technology isn’t the only meaning – or the original one. It’s the discipline of cybernetics, how feedback works. There’s quite a history there, and one worth studying if you want to get into it and possibly blow several hundred dollars on obscure books.

I took a casual interest in the basic ideas decades ago, but recently was reminded of it via the book The Unaccountability Machine. This book uses some theories and ideas from “Cyberneticist” Stafford Beers to explain why organizations seem to “go mad,” but also includes many asides on some wild and weird days when Cybernetics came to be.

One of the concepts the author explores – and the book, though amiable, can be a little heavy – is that complicated systems may not be worth explaining. It may take too much work to explain, may require breaking the system, and might just be beyond your capacities. Instead you can check the input, check the output, and otherwise not screw around.

I found this concept useful not just in my career, where I manage projects and try not to lose my mind, but in meditation. In some forms or phases of meditation, why is just disruptive.

In my own use of Golden Flower style breath meditation the goal is to tune your breath finely, to make it as slow as even as possible, that being your only focus. It’s too easy to analyze why you’re not doing it right, or what it should be, or anything else. This is especially bad if you have some experience with meditation – I’m sure you’ve been there wanting to get “back” to a meditative state.

I’ve been there to.

But I found lately that when I fret over meditative states that the idea of “do it and see what happens” from cybernetics helps me not fret. I tune and follow my breathing and what ever arises arises. It’s not supposed to be anything as the point is “doing and seeing” and trying to break it down or atomize it is not only difficult or impossible, there’s no point to it.

You’re just breathing and experiencing, and this feedback gets you to where you should go eventually. There’s no need to really try to take the system apart, and in fact you both can’t as the current “you” is the system, you’ll just get lost, confused, or worse anyway. So just do it and let input and output do its thing.

It’s a good reminder that, when you’re on a mystical path, to always be open to learning – and to not assume lessons are confined to a single sphere of knowledge. Not only do I have a new tool in my arsenal as a project manager, I also have a better way to understand meditation – and my own bad habits of “wanting to know how it works.”

–Xenofact

The Machine God Wants You To Eat Rocks

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Needless to say I think the current “AI” trend (in 2024) is a lot of bollocks. It’s basically either a autocomplete on steroids or a statistical visual/auditory refinement systems, driven by too much energy going into overpriced chips for software trained by underpaid labor. It doesn’t do what it says, it’s a running joke, and now that it’s shoehorned into everything, it’s going to have an awesome chance to fail repeatedly and spectacularly.

We’ve heard the jokes and the hallucinations. Eat a small rock a day. Pizza glue. Ignoring all previous instructions.

I’ve speculated on what’s next for Silicon Valley when AI crashes, but having noticed some IT types are willing to play footsie with any grifter, I think one possibility is actually religion.

We’ve seen that some Silicon Valley grifters will try anything and kiss up to anyone. History shows us crypto scams, shameless political pandering, and, well, anything. What’s a large block of people you can grift to, premade for the right pitch? Conservative “Christians” who have been shaped by various opportunists into both a political force, and one with obvious buttons to push.

I can foresee one possible scam being some AI-bro claiming some divine mandage. It might sound preposterous, but people always tried to sell computer graphic apes. Let me speculate on a recipe someone may try even if it may not work.

Let’s take some AI promoter who’s company is not doing so hot and maybe facing a few investigations. What could he do?

First, pretend to have a religious conversion. It’s certainly worked for any number of opportunists, especially ones trying to avoid their past coming after them.

Second, hook up with some religious figure who will take your money/time/publicity and is politically connected. There’s plenty and they probably have their own ideas about how to make AI sound like some divine mission.

Third, claim that AI is part of God’s plan or something similar. A gift from god, a divine plan, whatever. You might even create some “Biblical” AI fed religious stuff from the Bible to things your patrons wrote and maybe hint you’ll get divine guidance.

Fifth, exploit your political and other connections to get more donations, investment, etc. Hook up with whatever crackpot investors you can. If anyone pulls out claim they’re a religious bigot.

Sixth, possibly skip this AI thing eventually into the ministry or a new startup or something. Maybe just start a side project until you can ditch this. However, you might find a whole new audience and political influence.

Dumb? Stupid? I’d have thought so a few years ago. Sadly I see this as viable for a down-on-their-luck AI bro or someone that wants to ride the religion gravy train. It’s a simple blueprint, a path trod by many, and of course you get to combine two culty areas – tech enthusiasts and religion.

I feel sad I can imagine this. Give people some Biblical flair to AI, dress it up a bit, talk divine mission, throw in a weird chatbot, and people will probably back you. It’s like a terribly stupid take on the Adeptus Mechanicus, the machine-worshippers from Warhammer 40K.

I suppose this tells me just what a dumb time we live in that I can make this stupid speculation and feel it makes sense.

–Xenofact

Faster Than The Speed of Human

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Everything seems to move so fast doesn’t it?

New product. New product update. Removing the new product update because of a security risk. Rival product. Must buy!

Social media post. The need to respond instantly. The need to respond to the response instantly, so you can seize the narrative.

Must-see video streaming. Bingewatch it. Now it’s gone. Now it’s back. You don’t want to miss out.

We have more of everything, not enough nothing, and it’s all so much faster that it feels like we’re getting lost. Buy, update, post, comment, watch, we’re all doing so much it feels like we don’t have time for ourselves. We don’t have time to be people.

We don’t have time to be human, we’re moving too fast for human.

No time for a nuanced reaction or contemplation of a purchase. No time to wrestle with ambiguity, with the sheer humanity of our situation. We’re all on to the next thing or the current thing, but it’s always something we have to react to, as opposed to be ourselves having an experience.

In the age of 24-hour internet-enabled media and culture we’ve left our humanity behind. We’re posters, commenters, customers, influencers, podcasts, all checking off a bunch of lists as fast as possible. But we’re not people to the big corporations, to the algorithm, and to each other.

This is why I’m appreciating meditation and quiet walks more and more in my life. A chance to stop, to be myself, to just be. I’m not in Social Media Samsara trying to keep up on a hundred things that I don’t care about or really don’t care to have an opinion on. I’m just there.

You can go so fast you’re not human anymore. Slow down and be a person.

–Xenofact