Full Spectrum Data Surveillance, Transhumanism, and the Religion of the End.

In 1957 Julian Huxley, brother of Aldous Huxley, coined the term “Transhuman.”

Julian was a staunch evolutionist, eugenicist, and globalist; he was also the grandson of T.H. Huxley, a contemporary and proponent of Darwin and his theory of evolution. In basic, Julian believed that up until the modern area, humanity had hitherto naturally evolved by chance. Yet now before modern man stood the opportunity to take the reins from “natural selection,” humanity could guide its own evolutionary process. Of course, not all of humanity, only those who have been chosen by history to do so. This idea was not unique to Mr. Huxley. Others such as Jonas Salk, to name but one, also spoken in similar terms in his book “Survival of the Wisest.”

It seems very plausible that the “mystic” evolutionist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (himself a Jesuit priest), brought a certain religious aspect to the Transhuman ideology. It is certain that Transhumanism, as we know it, is religious in its application and intent, as will be made clear in this article. Vital to Transhumanism is Evolutionism, or Darwinism. Mr. Teilhard himself states, “Is evolution a theory, a system, or a hypothesis? It is much more – it is a general postulation to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must henceforth bow and which they must satisfy in order to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light which illuminates all facts, a trajectory which all lines of thought must follow – this is what evolution is” (Genesis, Creation, and Early Man, the Orthodox Christian Vision. Platina, CA. pg. 582). Although he did not coin the term “Transhuman,” he speaks in such terms, “May the world’s energies, mastered by us, bow down before us and accept the yoke of our power. May the race of men, grown to fuller consciousness and great strength, become grouped into rich and happy organisms in which life shall be put to better use and bring a hundredfold return” (Ibid. pg. 585).

It is worth noting that Julian Huxley wrote the introduction to a book by Teilhard, The Phenomenon of Man.

Early Transhumanists looked more to social institutions to mold the “new” man, yet as technology advanced rapidly over the 20th and 21st centuries, it was soon recognized as the most potent tool in the Transhumanist desire to remake man and the world. Central to the Transhumanist dogma is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

It is very important to comprehend that most of the current “elites” are Transhumanists. Transhumanism seeks an event called “Singularity.” When achieved, it claims, humanity as we know it will be no more. It seeks to overcome sickness and death and liberate the human consciousness from the bonds of the body. Transhumanism is profoundly anti-Christian and has developed an anti-Gospel, in which AI will save humanity.

Recently a video by the prominent Transhumanist, Yuval Noah Harari has resurfaced on the internet, in which he clearly proclaims the Transhumanist message. Mr. Harari is a lecturer, department of history, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is part of the World Economic Forum (WEF). This organization is devoted to Transhumanism.

In 2015, Mr. Harari published a book entitled, “Homo Deius, A brief History of Tomorrow.” As even the title indicates, in the Transhumanist mind, the future is already history. History is something that has been accomplished. They are convinced that the coming epoch of Transhumanism is inevitable. They believe it to be unstoppable. They believe their goals for the future are already “history.”

The reader should understand, first of all, not everyone will be chosen to enter the Transhumanist AI world. An aspect of the Transhumanist agenda is depopulation. The unfit will be given over to biological death so to purge the gene pool. But we little people of the masses may rest assured that the elites have been endowed with the power to direct evolution, so just trust them (remember just trust the experts!).

Many of the modern agendas being promoted, such as Environmentalism and Globalism, are grounded in aspects of the Transhumanist teaching. Elite Transhumanists view themselves as the architects and molders of the new coming age. Many of the current crises have the intent of reshaping the world. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, aka the Great Reset, is essentially Transhumanist in its agenda. Illness, war, economy, environment, social relations, and so forth, are all potential tools, so they believe, in achieving a Reset that will usher in Singularity. Much of the chaos in the world is intentional.

I have touched upon many of these topics in past articles. Yet, it never hurts to remind the reader that much of the agenda surrounding Covid-19 is also being influenced by the Transhumanist ideology. Covidism is a instrument of Transhumanism.

In the above-referenced book by Mr. Harari, there is a chapter entitled “The Data Religion.” In my article “Green Pass to the Abyss” I explored the writings of another WEF member, globalist, and Transhumanist, Jacques Attali. There I provided substantial quotes that reveal the goals of utilizing technology for enslaving and controlling the masses. Vital to this in the current age is data. I think it wise to understand that much of the Covid crisis was a massive data collection event.

Now we may believe that much of what Transhumanism is teaching is nuts. We may feel that it is far-fetched. Yet, the reality remains this is the philosophy – the religion – inspiring and driving much of the global agenda and is funded and promoted by many global agencies and even governments. It is also a major trend with Silicon Valley, University teachers, and bioethicists. Thus as far-fetched as it may strike the “average” persons, it is an ideology that deeply influences the mentality and actions of the “elites,” people with substantial worldly power.

Dataism and Humanity as Algorithm

A primary dogma of Transhumanism is what Mr. Harari calls “Dataism.”

Mr. Harari writes, “Dataism says that the universe consists of data flows, and the value of any phenomenon or entity is determined by its contribution to data processing. This may strike you as some eccentric fringe notion, but in fact it has already conquered most of the scientific establishment … the life sciences have come to see organisms as biochemical algorithms. Simultaneously, in the eight decades since Alan Turing formulated the idea of a Turing Machine, computer scientists have learned to engineer increasingly sophisticated electronic algorithms” (pg. 351).

Please note, he himself says this is not a “fringe notion.” He claims most of the scientific establishment has embraced this notion. Who have we been so fervently instructed to “trust” over the past few years?

He continues, “Dataism thereby collapses the barrier between animals and machines, and expects electronic algorithms to eventually decipher and outperform biochemical algorithms … For scholars and intellectuals it also promises to provide the scientific holy grail that has eluded us for centuries: a single overarching theory that unifies all the scientific disciplines” (Ibid).

Based on its grandparent, Darwinism, Transhumanism views humanity as a “biochemical algorithm,” as it does all biological life. It teaches, humanity’s own creation of “electronic algorithms,” such as computers and AI, will surpass humanity itself. This is known as “Singularity.” The barriers between animals and machines will collapse, which means the current barriers will be transcended and biological life will merge with AI. Singularity means the end of humanity as we have known it, so they profess. As Teilhard viewed Evolutionism as an indispensable theory, its child Transhumanism views itself as the emerging single binding overarching theory that will unite all scientific disciplines.

Since the human mind will be surpassed by AI, it is not trustworthy; thus we are told, “Dataists are sceptical about human knowledge and wisdom, and prefer to put their trust in Big Data and computer algorithms” (pg. 352). He goes on to reveal, “Dataism is most firmly entrenched in its two mother disciplines: computer science and biology. Of the two, biology is the more important” (Ibid). Biology is more important because they believe, it will give them the ability to control the human “algorithm” (which as he noted is not “trustworthy).

He boldly proclaims, “You may not agree with the idea that organisms are algorithms, and that giraffes, tomatoes and human beings are just different methods for processing data. But you should know that this is current scientific dogma, and that it is changing our world beyond recognition” (Ibid). Please note that he uses the word dogma. He claims that the world of “science” is already operating upon a central dogma of Transhumanism.

Dataism as the Master System

Some further goals are elucidated for us, “In the coming decades, it is likely that we will see more Internet-like revolutions, in which technology steals a march on politics. Artificial intelligence and biotechnology might soon overhaul our societies and economies – and our bodies and minds too – but they are hardly a blip on our political radar” (pg. 359). Ah, so a goal is to overhaul even a person’s body and mind! Transhumanism seeks to achieve this down to the genetic level. Thus, gene-editing is an important part of Transhumanism. As part of the process, humanity must be genetically modified. Also, it is worth noting again that the assimilation of even the body and mind is a clear goal of the Internet of Bodies (IoB).

In interesting and telling words, he proclaims, “In the twentieth century, dictators had grand visions for the future. Communists and fascists alike sought to completely destroy the old world and build a new world in its place. Whatever you think about Lenin, Hitler or Mao, you cannot accuse them of lacking vision. Today it seems that leaders have a chance to pursue even grander visions. While communists and Nazis tried to create a new society and a new human with the help of steam engines and typewriters, today’s prophets could rely on biotechnology and super-computers” (Ibid). Communists and Fascists sought to destroy the old world and build a new one, such is also a Transhumanist goal! Or, rather, it is continuing the goal of its predecessors. These early attempts simply lacked the technological advantage afforded today (they utilized mainly the social construct approach), so it seems implied. Yet, today’s “prophets” are of the same cloth as Lenin, Hitler, and Mao.

Mr. Harari does confess that no current political system will be able to fulfill the vision of Transhumanism, thus a totally “new” one will be required. Such a system should be controlled by AI, which makes its just decisions based upon an endless supply of data, thus imparting to it god-like omniscience.

As humans we must be willing to offer ourselves up on the altar of “data,” “From a Dataist perspective, we may interpret the entire human species as a single data-processing system, with individual humans serving as its chips. If so, we can also understand the whole of history as a process of improving the efficiency of this system” (pg. 361). The human “worth” is only found in it being of benefit to the “system,” or as he himself says, this new religion.

Like capitalism, Dataism too began as a neutral scientific theory, but is now mutating into a religion that claims to determine right and wrong. The supreme value of this new religion is ‘information flow’. If life is the movement of information, and if we think that life is good, it follows that we should extend, deepen and spread the flow of information in the universe. According to Dataism, human experiences are not sacred and Homo sapiens isn’t the apex of creation or a precursor of some future Homo deus. Humans are merely tools for creating the Internet-of-All-Things, which may eventually spread out from planet Earth to cover the whole galaxy and even the whole universe. This cosmic data-processing system would be like God. It will be everywhere and will control everything, and humans are destined to merge into it. This vision is reminiscent of some traditional religious visions” (pg 364).

The Data Commandments

Humans are not sacred, we are but tools to create the Internet-of-All-Things. So, humans create technology and AI, and this creation of man will transcend man himself and become “like God.” It will control everything and our destiny is to merge into it. Not too far off from idol worship, human hands make an idol and then bow down and worship it as a “god.” Now we are simply making technological “gods.”

In case we still have lingering doubts, he elucidates, “Well then, if we could create a data processing system that absorbs even more data than a human being, and that processes it even more efficiently, wouldn’t that system be superior to a human in exactly the same way that a human is superior to a chicken?

Dataism isn’t limited to idle prophecies. Like every religion, it has its practical commandments. First and foremost, a Dataist ought to maximise data flow by connecting to more and more media, and producing and consuming more and more information. Like other successful religions, Dataism is also missionary. Its second commandment is to connect everything to the system, including heretics who don’t want to be connected. And ‘everything’ means more than just humans. It means every thing(pg. 365).

Don’t want to be connected? Too bad. For the AI-god to work as it should, everyone and everything must be assimilated. This helps shed light on the reason why the “everyone must do it” mentality is being cultivated. During Covidism this mentality has been applied to masks and injections, for example. Everyone has to be in, like it or not, or else. As a person, you have no privacy you have no choice, for your one point of existence is to generate life-giving data. This is one of the underlying motives to digitize everything. Data must not be private or personal. It must be open to all.

Sins against Data

And so we truly understand that Transhumanism seeks to subjugate and dominate everyone and everything, “We mustn’t leave any part of the universe disconnected from the great web of life. Conversely, the greatest sin is to block the data flow. What is death, if not a situation when information doesn’t flow? Hence Dataism upholds the freedom of information as the greatest good of all” (Ibid). Ah, blocking the flow of data is a “sin!” Thus those who do not offer themselves to the data gods are sinners and promoters of death. It should be clear to Christians how this is an anti-gospel.

But wait, freedom of information? Isn’t that a nice thing? Let us see, “We mustn’t confuse freedom of information with the old liberal ideal of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression was given to humans, and protected their right to think and say what they wished – including their right to keep their mouths shut and their thoughts to themselves. Freedom of information, in contrast, is not given to humans. It is given to information. Moreover, this novel value may impinge on the traditional freedom of expression, by privileging the right of information to circulate freely over the right of humans to own data and to restrict its movement” (pp. 365-366). It is the freedom for “information” to demand anything and everything from you, and your responsibility to submit. Remember it is a sin to restrict the flow of data. Transhumanism is a fundamental denial and destruction of the human person. It is Technocracy par excellence.

So grand will be the blessing of being part of the “data flow” that Mr. Harari tells us we should be happy to relinquish our privacy, autonomy, and individuality (cf. pg. 368). It will be great to be a technological slave with no personhood. Anyway, free will does not really exist. It is just a construct of humanity, so they say.

And in the warmest words, he tells us, “As the global data-processing system becomes all-knowing and all powerful, so connecting to the system becomes the source of all meaning. Humans want to merge into the data flow because when you are part of the data flow you are part of something much bigger than yourself. Traditional religions told you that your every word and action was part of some great cosmic plan, and that God watched you every minute and cared about all your thoughts and feelings. Data religion now says that your every word and action is part of the great data flow, that the algorithms are constantly watching you and that they care about everything you do and feel. Most people like this very much. For true believers, to be disconnected from the data flow risks losing the very meaning of life” (pp. 368-369). Silly people use to believe in a Divine Being who was omnipresent and omniscient! No, humanity has created AI that will be god and watch over you. Believing in God is stupid but believing in AI is so profound! Just join the data flow and become a believer.

Humanity has no intrinsic value

The Transhumanists assure us that there is no meaning intrinsic to humanity, no value that we can find in ourselves. Human experience has no value unless it is feeding the data god. “It has nothing against human experiences. It just doesn’t think they are intrinsically valuable” (pg. 370). No hard feelings.

Humanity as we know it must be retired. It must be transcended. “When the car replaced the horse-drawn carriage, we didn’t upgrade the horses – we retired them. Perhaps it is time to do the same with Homo sapiens” (pg. 371).

Transhumanism is anti-human, that is it is totally against the traditional understanding of humanity, most of all as taught by Christianity. When it claims to not be “anti-human,” it means humanity as it defines it. As the reader may discern, it has no true value for humanity or personhood.

Confirming, in a certain way, observations made even by Orthodox Christian saints, Mr. Harari writes, “In the days of Locke, Hume and Voltaire humanists argued that ‘God is a product of the human imagination’. Dataism now gives humanists a taste of their own medicine, and tells them: ‘Yes, God is a product of the human imagination, but human imagination in turn is the product of biochemical algorithms.’ In the eighteenth century, humanism sidelined God by shifting from a deo-centric to a homo-centric world view. In the twenty-first century, Dataism may sideline humans by shifting from a homo-centric to a data-centric view” (pg. 372).

In sidelining God, humanity has ultimately sidelined itself. As a substitute, Transhumanism now offers to humanity a product of its own creation – AI – to be god over it. The Venerable Father Seraphim (Rose) keenly teaches, “Between them, the positive and negative images of the ‘new man’ sum up the state of contemporary man, the man in whom worldliness has triumphed over faith. At the same time, they are a sign of transition, a presage of a major change in the ‘spirit of the age.’ In the negative image the apostasy from Christian Truth which primarily characterizes the modern age seems to have reached its limit; God being ‘dead,’ the man created in His image has lost his nature and fallen into subhumanity” (Nihilism, the Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age. Platina, CA. pg. 88). Transhumanism is in its essence subhumanity.

Since humanity is an obsolete algorithm, it should not even listen to itself. It must place all its faith and trust in Data, “Consequently you should now stop listening to your feelings, and start listening to these external algorithms instead. What’s the use of having democratic elections when the algorithms know how each person is going to vote, and when they also know the exact neurological reasons why one person votes Democrat while another votes Republican? Whereas humanism commanded: ‘Listen to your feelings!’ Dataism now commands: ‘Listen to the algorithms! They know how you feel’” (pg. 373). Humans should not make any decisions or choices, they are illusions anyway – just let Data do it for you.

What are some practical steps of Transhumanism? How can we become beneficial servants of the Data god? Conveniently, Mr. Harari has some Transhumanisn praxis for people to follow, “Here are some practical Dataist guidelines for you: ‘You want to know who you really are?’ asks Dataism. ‘Then forget about mountains and museums. Have you had your DNA sequenced? No?! What are you waiting for? Go and do it today. And convince your grandparents, parents and siblings to have their DNA sequenced too – their data is very valuable for you. And have you heard about these wearable biometric devices that measure your blood pressure and heart rate twenty-four hours a day? Good – so buy one of those, put it on and connect it to your smartphone. And while you are shopping, buy a mobile camera and microphone, record everything you do, and put in online. And allow Google and Facebook to read all your emails, monitor all your chats and messages, and keep a record of all your Likes and clicks. If you do all that, then the great algorithms of the Internet-of-All-Things will tell you whom to marry, which career to pursue and whether to start a war.’ But where do these great algorithms come from? This is the mystery of Dataism. Just as according to Christianity we humans cannot understand God and His plan, so Dataism says the human brain cannot embrace the new master algorithms” (pp. 374-75)

Conclusion

I once again bring forth first-hand testimonies so that the reader may see clearly the goals and agendas that are driving much of world events.

For Christians, it is in no way to be “obsessed” with darkness. The Lord will allow the goals of evil men to be achieved to a certain degree. He has set a boundary to evil. Our hope is in the Lord. Yet, we must be diligent to be steadfast in the Truth, most of all as, “Evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of” (2 Tim. 3:13-14).

We must soberly understand that the times will become increasingly difficult for those who desire to hold fast to the Lord Jesus Christ. According to the new emerging religion, we will be sinners, those who are obstructing the great advancement of humanity. This accusation against true Christians is not new. We should embrace it with joy and honor in the Lord. Never forget, the Lord God will overthrow all the false works of men. May we be found faithful in Christ Jesus, making the song of our hearts these words, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

33 thoughts on “Full Spectrum Data Surveillance, Transhumanism, and the Religion of the End.

  1. Craig Mouldey

    I always feel renewed courage when I read your articles. Even when we are looking at such horrible events. That is when we need strengthened courage or faith. That would be now.

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  2. Alan Orsborn

    So, humans create technology and AI, and this creation of man will transcend man himself and become “like God.”This sounds a lot like the Tower of Babel, updated..

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Alan Orsborn

      To quote from this post: “So, humans create technology and AI, and this creation of man will transcend man himself and become ‘like God’.”

      This sounds a lot like the Tower of Babel, updated, which I credit to CS Lewis. He wrote quite a lot about scientific progress, becoming like God, and the Tower of Babel.

      (Sorry I messed up my previous comment).

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Have you read C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength? The villains in that book look and act a lot like the Davos crowd. Klaus Schwab reminds me of Professor Frost and Dr. Fauci reminds me of Mr. Withers. The NICE organization tries to blend witchcraft and technology to conquer the world.

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      2. Maxim

        To Rachel Nichols:

        Lewis was concerned with the rise of what he called the “Materialist-Magician”, the merging of opposite spiritual temptations to create the perfect diabolical personality. In THS, Frost and Wither form the opposing poles of this personality; Frost is the Materialist who by means of psychic research has made submission to demonic entities an article of his scientific creed, and Wither the Spiritualist who has been led by these same entities to become the head of a pseudo-scientific organization whose purpose is to destroy human individuality and all social liberty. In that sense, Frost would be more like Fauci and Wither more like Schwab, being more of a political animal. The point, of course, is that they are both directed toward the same ends, Fauci, though a credentialed scientist, perverts and distorts his Science in the service of his dark masters, and it is well recognized the extent to which Globalist politicians like Schwab are influenced by vague but worldly spiritualities such as Spiritism, and seek to create a world in which Science becomes but another instrument to enact the will of those who wield political power, and that of those powers which lie behind politics. The prescience with which THS describes the world which is emerging is indeed remarkable.

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      3. I know Maxim. As far as ideologies and specialties go.
        I was thinking more about appearance and mannerisms.
        Withers seems like a courtly, elderly gentleman but speaks in a meandering way as though uncertain–in order to confuse those he wishes to deceive. Rubbing his hands together and coming across as wavering or weak. But he knows what he intends. He will be super polite to young Mark while plotting against him. His wavering is also used to frighten people by keeping them in suspense..
        Frost conveys coldness with little glasses perched on his nose. Rigid. He moves and speaks like an automaton and only shows passion when discussing a megalomaniacal idea. Even in the midst of great cruelty he remains cold and remote–observing the victim as a specimen.

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      4. Maxim

        Oh, yes; if I were casting a play I would definitely cast Schwab as Frost and Fauci as Wither, that is, if Fauci were a lot taller and didn’t have a nose that looks like it’s absorbing his face.

        They are a very interesting duality, as presented by Lewis; I have wondered previously what is the exact significance of his choice of names. At one point Lewis describes the different effect of their training, Frost being hardened and sharpened to a single bright point, while Wither is distended into a shapeless, almost ghostly entity. Frost believes in Determinism so fiercely that he hates the very idea of mind, while Wither has developed such a strong distaste for anything crude or vulgar that he has withdrawn most of his personality from interactions with the real world, and floats aimlessly through what I assume contemporary Spiritists would call the Astral realm, projecting his image ubiquitously throughout the Institute he governs. His absent-mindedness is not a stratagem, he really conducts his business with only a fraction of his mind, dealing with day-to-day situations with almost programmed responses in machine-like fashion. In the end, their associations with demons destroys Frost’s will and Wither’s intellect, before they are themselves destroyed by their masters.

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  3. John D

    Father bless.
    Fr. Lynch,
    Are you familiar with Bl. Father Seraphim’s [Rose]’Subhumanity The Philosophy of the Absurd’
    Well worth the read. It can be found here.
    http://www.startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2013/12/subhumanity.html
    Orthodox Word #106 [Sept.-Oct. 1982]
    “This study was written by the late editor of The Orthodox Word as a subchapter in his book The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man, on which he was working at the time of his conversion to Orthodoxy in the early 1960’s and which, unfortunately was never finished. Although written 20 years ago, this in-depth study rings true, for today we see only too clearly the disastrous effects of this philosophy of the absurd.”

    Doxa to Theo, John
    Father bless.

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  4. Fr David Sommer

    Thank you Father for bringing these dark subjects to light. We know how this story ends though, don’t we? Yes, another Tower of Babel that will fall like the first. But what will these ruins look like? What sort of confused tongues? These truly gifted minds who, in their creative image of God, have perverted the good and rejected The Good. The Huxleys were a sad bunch. Searching for truth but never finding The Truth. It was not in the tens of thousands of doses of LSD Aldous took as he died. I shudder to think of his last moments. It would be good for each of us to remember these people in our prayers that Christ truly enlighten them!

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    1. Andrew

      Aldous Huxley took about one dose of LSD per year. If you grossly distort the reality, then you’re certainly not serving truth in so doing. He also was very earnest about spirituality, which isn’t to say he couldn’t fumble about and make errors. But books like The Perennial Philosophy show that he took Christianity, particularly on the mystical side of things, very seriously. And of course with books like Brave New World, he was warning humanity exactly about the kind of trans humanist visions this article is about.

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      1. Maxim

        You don’t take Christianity seriously unless you accept the claims of Christ to be the Son of God and the Redeemer of the World, which Aldous definitely didn’t; as Lewis (and others before him) pointed out, one is forced either to accept what Christ said, or reject the whole thing as the ravings of a lunatic. Aldous definitely was interested in a type of “Spirituality”, but that amounts to very little in the end.

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      2. Fr David S

        After looking back, I could be mistaken on the number of doses of LSD that Aldous H received on his deathbed. There are many accounts of this, including a firsthand account from his wife, who administered the two doses. It was recorded that he was given 100mg (milligrams) as an intermuscular injection. This was done twice. Other references are of 100μg (micrograms). A dose of LSD is between 50-100μg (micrograms). There is some uncertainty about whether it was 100 milligrams or 100 micrograms though. Either way, it remains a sad state to leave this world from a Christian perspective.

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    2. Maxim

      Not the confusion of tongues, but the confusion of minds, will be the result of the erection of this tower, and it will produce a people not divided by different languages, but divided because they follow different Truths; what is fact to one is fiction to the other, what is white to one is black to the other. Evil is good, and Good evil. Once again is it shown that Modernity had it backwards: You can’t base the search for Truth on “Fact”. Facts are malleable, and willingly march on both sides of an issue, it is ideas which form the solid bedrock of a worldview.

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  5. Maxim

    The day a machine exhibits human-like capacities for reason, we will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is a “ghost in the machine”. In the past, animals have gained the ability to use human speech when under the influence of a spirit, either angelic or demonic. There’s no reason to think that the same principle doesn’t apply to machinery, hence the whole elaborate AI apparatus may just be the creation of a vehicle for the exertion of demonic influence. What if, in Lewis’ “That Hideous Strength”, it had been a computer at the center of the NICE instead of a human head? The principle would remain the same.

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  6. Andrew

    Well, whatever about the specifics of Aldous Huxley’s beliefs, he most certainly didn’t reject Christ as a raving lunatic. It’s not our job to worry about hypothetically damning people, and to be born into a world where atheistic materialism and all kinds of worldly idolatories are rampant, and where also according to Orthodoxy, Western Christianity is heretical and divorced from Christ – and to which Lewis was affiliated … well I think everyone needs mercy in those situations, and Huxley certainly did not go with the materialist flow. But of course how God received him isn’t anything in my power to discern.

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    1. Maxim

      My mother died with Alzheimer’s last August; she was a pious Evangelical woman. I don’t at all disagree that we can hope for mercy in all kinds of imperfect situations. It is important though that we say that wrong is wrong, and don’t blur the distinctions between right and wrong. This is not exercising improper judgment, which is only done when we presume to declare the condition of another’s soul. It is also important to discern in what direction something is oriented; spirituality per se is not necessarily of the good. We no longer have the luxury of presuming, as some did in the midst of the 20th century when Positivism reigned over intellectual culture with an iron hand, that if we just start people thinking about spirituality it will tend toward the good. Positivism lost its power, but the spirituality which subsequently emerged was largely diseased.

      Judgement is left to God, but it is just as much an act of judgement to say that someone is certainly saved as to say that they are certainly damned. St. Ephrem the Syrian (I think) said in his homilies on Paradise that it is like a mountain; some inhabit the heights, some the slopes, and others the foothills. It is certainly possible that there are some who are without the benefit of Orthodox Faith who may far outstrip me, who am struggling to ascend the lowest of the outlying hills, by the skillful use of the poor equipment which is available to them. However, when it comes to the heights inhabited by those who have fully acquired the Spirit of God, who glow in the splendor of deification, how can we say that any not nourished by the Body and Blood of our Lord can be among them? No matter how fervent their practice, they simply don’t have the tools to get there.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Alan Orsborn

    Fr Zachariah,

    What a truly interesting discussion your post has produced in these comments. I wish we could all meet in a pub somewhere to discuss these ideas. It would be a most welcome break from covid, the Ukraine and disturbing trajectories within the Orthodox Church.

    Liked by 1 person

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