[FutureBuddha] The Nerd Reich

[Jundo]

I hesitated whether to post this, given our policy of avoiding politics in this Sangha. However, (1) given the theme of this section, on technology, ethics, the Precepts and the future of Buddhism, (2) the report from what appear to be serious and respected journalistic sources, (3) the seriousness of the matter right now, and the possible threat to social institutions and human lives, (4) the lack of public awareness, I think it best to post this and allow people to be informed and draw their own conclusions. It would be a science fiction story were it not happening before our eyes ...

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn52wL1b334

.

In 2022, one of [another tech billionaire and arch-conservative] Peter Thiel's favorite thinkers envisioned a second Trump Administration in which the federal government would be run by a “CEO”

The Back Story: In 2012, Curtis Yarvin — Peter Thiel’s “house philosopher”—called for something he dubbed RAGE: Retire All Government Employees. The idea: Take over the United States government and gut the federal bureaucracy. Then, replace civil servants with political loyalists who would answer to a CEO-type leader Yarvin likened to a dictator.

“If Americans want to change their government, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia,” he said.

Yarvin, a software programmer, framed this as a “reboot” of government.

Elon Musk’s DOGE is just a rebranded version of RAGE. He demands mass resignations, locks career employees out of their offices, threatens to delete entire departments, and seizes total control of sensitive government systems and programs. DOGE = RAGE, masked in the bland language of “efficiency.”

But Musk’s reliance on Yarvin’s playbook runs deeper.

In an essay dated April 2022, Yarvin updated RAGE to something he described as a “butterfly revolution.” In an essay on his paywalled Substack, he imagined a second Trump presidency in which Trump would enable a radical government transformation. The proposal will sound familiar to anyone who has watched Musk wreak havoc on the United States Government (USG) over the past three weeks.

Wrote Yarvin:

We’ve got to risk a full power start—a full reboot of the USG. We can only do this by giving absolute sovereignty to a single organization—with roughly the powers that the Allied occupation authorities held in Japan and Germany in the fall of 1945. This level of centralized emergency power worked to refound a nation then, for them. So it should work now, for us.”

...

Yarvin wrote that in a second term, Trump could appoint a different person to act as the nation’s “CEO.” This CEO would be enabled to run roughshod over the federal government, with Trump in the background as “chairman of the board.” The metaphors clarify the core idea: Run the government as a rogue corporation rather than a public institution beholden to the rules of democracy.

https://www.thenerdreich.com/reboot-...dictator-doge/

The whole idea is so dark and ridiculous, let's hope it proves itself ridiculous and never gets much farther.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Hosui]

Thanks for sharing this, Jundo. I fall into the fourth of your categories here, and wonder how practising zen training with a Bodhisattva’s compassion for all sentient beings manifests in the light of this post-liberal vision?

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

[Jundo]

Thanks for sharing this, Jundo. I fall into the fourth of your categories here, and wonder how practising zen training with a Bodhisattva’s compassion for all sentient beings manifests in the light of this post-liberal vision?

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

The traditional Buddhist response has been to head into the monastery and close the gates, forgetting the outside world until it passes.

Another response has been just to "bear witness," as we bow to it and do nothing.

A third response is to sit Zazen for awhile, then get up and take action. If the third option, then the only question is to ask what action (not clear now.) It might entail some form of non-violent resistance at some point, if things become serious enough. I do not think that we are there yet, but let us see what the world looks like a month from now.

If they start (1) arresting or otherwise silencing free press, TV comedians, other critics, and (2) disregarding court orders for them to cease actions, which is very possible because they control the Justice Department which would be enforcing the court orders, then we know how serious this truly is. Those are my two personal litmus tests.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Hosai]

F**ing finally....

Here's an interesting take with Ezra Kelin & Kara Swisher.

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Hosai]

F**ing finally....

Here's an interesting take with Ezra Kelin & Kara Swisher.

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

Glimmers of hope analysis

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Jundo]

Glimmers of hope analysis

One of the wisest interviews I have heard on A.I. in many moons. I make a like point in my book "Building the Future Buddha" ...

https://futurebuddhabook.com/

... A.I. (and the other areas that will be sped along by A.I., including medicine, chemistry, environmental responses and the like) are TOOLS that can be used to help make a peaceful and abundant world for the people of the world, or can be misused and to benefit a small number of individuals. Like a hammer, they are tools that can be used to build shelters or as weapons.

We must not run from this technology but, instead, must work to secure its use for good.

We can use A.I., medicine, chemistry, improvements in manufacturing means and the like to realize Buddhist goals (shared by other humanitarians): Enhancing empathy in human beings even toward strangers (where we would no more walk past a stranger homeless in the street than we would walk past our own mother if homeless), reducing violence done in rage, making the basics of life ... from food to medical care to general opportunity ... available to all. We can increase satisfaction with less, eliminating addictions. Those changes alone would make a better world, reducing or eliminating many of our most serious social problems.

In any case, there is no choice, because this technology will not be stopped no matter our preferences, and can easily be (and more likely will be) misused if we do not work for good.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Hosai]

In any case, there is no choice, because this technology will not be stopped no matter our preferences, and can easily be (and more likely will be) misused if we do not work for good.

It is by no means inevitable, especially if it is possible that we may destroy ourselves before we get to that Future of abundance that Mo Gawdat speaks of. Which I think you also allude to in your book.

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Hosui]

Jundo - please could you share your understanding of what ‘taking responsibility’ means for those following the zen path, in the light of the content of what you and Hosai are sharing here. Also, I’m keen to appreciate your opening mention of ‘hesitation’ in starting this thread. My understanding of Engaged Buddhism credits zazen as action, obviously, but this raises the spectral accusation of quietism.

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

[Jundo]

Jundo - please could you share your understanding of what ‘taking responsibility’ means for those following the zen path, in the light of the content of what you and Hosai are sharing here. Also, I’m keen to appreciate your opening mention of ‘hesitation’ in starting this thread. My understanding of Engaged Buddhism credits zazen as action, obviously, but this raises the spectral accusation of quietism.

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

I have posted elsewhere today why I generally leave politics outside this Zen Dojo ... so I hesitate to post anything that has aspects of that:

https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/treeleaf/treeleaf-community-topics-about-all-of-life/540627-practicing-with-political-change-and-fear/page2#post541653

However, some issues ... such as war, poverty, protecting vulnerable people including children, protecting the ecology, cross over into the Precepts.

Concerned Buddhists might even march, sign petitions, donate money or, if things are bad enough, even non-violent civil disobedience may be an option to oppose war, poverty, etc.

This "Buddhism of the Future / Building the Future Buddha" talks about the ethical use of A.I., bio-science and other technology, including in furtherance of Buddhist values. It also talks about the misuse of technology, possible for war, hurting children, for consumerism that is further damaging the environment and the like. I hesitated to post this thread, but I believe it is about such misuse of technology, so I posted it. I believe that we must resist the misuse of technology for war, hurting children, etc.

I don't know if that answered your question, Hosui.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Ryumon]

F**ing finally....

Here's an interesting take with Ezra Kelin & Kara Swisher.

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

I'm not sure that it's worth listening to anything Kara Swisher says. She is one of a group of tech journalists who enabled these tech bros and helped them become powerful by putting them on pedestals without any form of criticism. She's trying to rehabilitate herself now.

Gassho,

Ryūmon (Kirk)

Sat Lah

[Hosui]

Hi Jundo - I understand (as best I can, which is probably never going to be enough from inside these Treeleaf walls) the issues you’ve laid out here and why they’re important, as these are repeated themes in your writing all over this Forum and elsewhere. I’m left trying to interpret how your dalliance with politics here - distinct from the other options you opened this thread with - informs my own practice.

I’ll continue sitting with my question about responsibility, my seemingly inadequate response to global challenges you outline, and the consequences of taking the Bodhisattva vow daily some more.

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

[Hosai]

I'm not sure that it's worth listening to anything Kara Swisher says. She is one of a group of tech journalists who enabled these tech bros and helped them become powerful by putting them on pedestals without any form of criticism. She's trying to rehabilitate herself now.

Gassho,

Ryūmon (Kirk)

Sat Lah

Oh I fully agree its "mea culpa" hard from Swisher. (But she actually knows the guy from way back) I think there's going to be a lot of humble Pie when it comes to people who played a role in The rise of edgelord-in-cheif Musky poo... He's an anarchist....(no read that again. not antichrist).. which I have to admit when I was a young man I was attracted to this idea... But I was like in my early twenties and experimenting with ketamine and magic mushrooms... how old is this guy?? Grow up...

Glad to see you again Ryumon!..

_/\_
hosai

[Ryumon]

Not just Musk, but the entire class of tech bros. it’s a classic example of access journalism: they wrote all sorts of puff pieces and conducted Interviews in order to make sure they had access to information about these people and their companies. They legitimized the Silicon Valley VC industrial complex.

Gassho,
Ryūmon (Kirk)
Sat Lah

[Jundo]

Hi Jundo - I understand (as best I can, which is probably never going to be enough from inside these Treeleaf walls) the issues you’ve laid out here and why they’re important, as these are repeated themes in your writing all over this Forum and elsewhere. I’m left trying to interpret how your dalliance with politics here - distinct from the other options you opened this thread with - informs my own practice.

I’ll continue sitting with my question about responsibility, my seemingly inadequate response to global challenges you outline, and the consequences of taking the Bodhisattva vow daily some more.

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

Sorry, I do not care about politics here. I care about little children in far away lands who may be left without food and medicine.

You do whatever you need to do to "inform your own practice." To hell with "your own practice." Sit in your nice living room and "inform your own practice."

I'm more concerned for the little kids.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[Hosui]

Looks like I strayed into the wrong conversation and got Jundo’d. Apologies.

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today