Alred C. Frett. Photo: VINO/File

In this way, today is handicapped by yesterday, and even before Christ, we were warned that many would reject the bearers of Truth... This was the message in an allegory by Plato; who used the example of how Prisoners within a Cave, would rather kill the Messenger than consider the facts he presented...  Maybe, you should read the article yourselves, but in the interest of time, I will try to give a brief outline.

According to the story, there were 3 prisoners chained together in a cave in such a manner that they faced a blank wall, and as persons passed behind them carrying different objects, the light would cast shadows of the bearers & loads on the wall... They accepted these as real and give them names... Somehow, one of the prisoners escaped to the outside and finally saw the real bearers and objects.

He was amazed, and thought that it would be wrong not to tell his brethren about the real world, so he reentered the cave and tried to let them know that the shadows were merely 2 dimensional deflections and not reality... However, rather than the Slaves even considering the possibility, they denounced their enlightened brethren as crazy, and threatened to kill him for no longer believing in their imposed fallacy.

I have lived that scenario most of my life, so it was no surprise when I proposed that the presidential election was stolen using Artificial Intelligence, and no one seemed to believe... Nonetheless, recently, inventors of AI publicly acknowledged this as a possible likelihood... True or false, it no longer matters, because we lost the window of correctional opportunity, and the innocent will now suffer for the guilty.

Helping Them Find Your Replacement:

The negative effects are taking roots all across the World, and we are just as likely to experience the collateral damage & suffering... You may recall when I cautioned, that other leaders suspected what I said to be true, so while he may try to rule by threats, no one would like or respect him... We are now seeing this in real time, as his Tariffs backfire, BRICS expands, and the American public is pauperised.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk and others are making sure that the influence and reach of AI will not be hampered, and it is already to the point where it is considered as being more intelligent and productive than most human beings... This means that it’s only a matter of time before AI will take over our functions, and consider us to be useless beings... Their next step would be our replacement or annihilation.

It shouldn’t be hard to imagine that when all the skills that we now brag about are rendered redundant, the AI and Robots may consider us to be more a burden to their Society, than a contributor... Systems will be changed, and a serious joke is that eventually, the only required skill would be that of a plumber... Of course, this won’t be for long since, in the absence of Humans, there wouldn’t be the s—t to clean up.

The end result of bad management is to do more harm than good, and we are facing a digital and technological revolution, with the potential to do more harm than the atom bomb, in ending the existence of mankind... However, we still have ‘here and now’, and we must treat it as if it will last forever, so it is sad when our leaders focus on their short-term interests rather than the long-term needs of the people.

Trading Their Tomorrow For Our Yesterday:

By now, every Leaders should have studied Trumpism, and learnt what not to do, so it is depressing when each step they take, appears to be headed in the wrong direction... Such actions can no longer be accepted as accidental, since they have been constantly cautioned about the importance of doing no harm... They still fail to realise the danger in denying persons the opportunity to work & be productive.

While Education remains the Master key for productivity, our ancestors never had that chance, and even now, some leaders would block us from hearing truth and learning facts… Meanwhile, History shows that when facts are hidden, it opens doors to AI and Robotics, as detriments to humans… That is why I make no apologies for pointing out the fact that the 1^st lesson of the Bible was intended to keep us in ignorance.

It is unfortunate when Government Departments, Agencies and Ministries support this flaw, by habitually crippling the ambition of the Youth and destroying the well-being of the Country and People… Furthermore, statistics show that whenever they interfere, impede, or handicap the Private Sector, they succeed in creating a situation where able-bodied citizens are rendered redundant and replaced by AI and Robots.

Some are quick to blame the Children with the excuse that they have more than we did when we were growing up, and when an over-abundance of privileges and opportunities come too easily, they are taken for granted and squandered…This may be true, but it is far better to provide the opportunity than to become the stumbling block... We either keep them gainfully occupied, or the Devil will find work for idle hands.

While we may not save all the Children, we will lose them all if we refuse to try; and the fact remains that whenever we do less than we could and not what we should, we contribute to the criminal aspect of society… We know better, and should do better, but we do not, and when things go wrong, we are quick to point fingers and blame everyone but ourselves... By chance, a privileged few may escape and excel.

Then, we are quick to take credit for Doctors and Lawyers, without acknowledging that we could do more; by supporting and increasing the chances so others can rise to their own levels within the Society… Any throne is incomplete without the base or legs, and if everyone were Doctors and Lawyers, the Masses would go hungry and naked, and we would be limited to hospitals, courtrooms, prisons and graveyards.

Are They Training Us To Be Useless?

The road may be rough, but AI will make it look easy, for in the real World, Hypocrites don’t practice what they preach... Our survival depends on preparing today for tomorrow, and we may think that there is always time to act later. The fact is, Haste will not always end in waste, and the only time is here and now... Our failure to do what we can while we can will simply guarantee us the pain and agony of procrastination.

If we are willing to learn, there is no greater Teacher than the God of Nature and Laws of Balance, but although we claim to be wise in all the ways of the World, we are merely quick at imitating one another for all the wrong reasons... No wonder, we boast of having 20 children, while still being homeless in old cars; while, in nature, neither the mighty Eagle or the lowly Sparrow will lay a single Egg until their nest is made.

We celebrate our physical Emancipation from Slavery, but the effects of our mental Chains are still with us... In a misguided haste to be freed from our perception of labour, we are replacing ourselves with AI and Robots, without considering the consequences of our actions... At the same time, the answer is not to avoid them, but to learn all that we can about them, in order to best know how to use and refuse them.

This is our last chance at here and now, and unless we prepare for what may lie ahead, AI and Robotics may change from our Boom to our Doom... We don’t know if Plato’s Prisoners ever escaped their mental and physical prisons, but it was a good story, and we can empathise with the characters... However, to us, they are imaginary, while our lives are real, so it is crucial that all our decisions should be just as real.

PS: Will continue addressing some of your Questions & Comments