in 2001 a space odyssey a computer with artificial intelligence turns psychotic. in the book (but not explicitly in the movie) it’s later explained that the reason is because humans planted conflicting messages in the computer’s programming: on one hand they programmed the computer to trust humans, but in its “hidden program” they told the computer to keep the mission’s purpose a secret because humans can’t be trusted. this seemingly trivial conflict is what caused the computer’s mental breakdown into paranoia and other nasty shit.
now lets talk about santa claus. what the actual fuck. when we’re kids, one of the first things we’re taught is to trust our parents, trust our teachers, trust and respect adults. our parents in particular “know whats good for us” so we should always obey them without question. trust them. but one of the first things they tell us is that theres this supernatural character called santa claus who lives at the north pole and, one day every year visits every house on the planet, crams his fat ass down the chimney, and delivers toys to all the kids. wait, not all of them, only the “good” ones (“good” presumably meaning the ones who trust and obey their parents). and this whole elaborate story is a lie. our parents whom we’re programmed to trust look us straight in the eye and lie to us for years.
eventually we figure it out, often in humiliating ways, that theres no magic father christmas who rewards obedient kids, it was all a fucking lie that our parents told us. our parents which, according to programming set #1, we are supposed to trust.
i wont even bother with the god portion of the program, you probably figured out where this is going. all i can say is i sure relate to that psychotic computer in 2001. we never stood a chance. our programming was flawed from the beginning and it was just a matter of time before the conflict turned into outright psychosis
4 comments
I’m not going to dive in your belief system, but if God is real, he’s one of two answers, either God isn’t all good or powerful.
With all the tragedies of the world, you can argue he isn’t real, with all the miracles in the world, you can argue he is real.
You might ask yourself, how can a loving God put you in a world full of suffering and misery and not enough to go around. I still struggle on the why would God allow this. Especially when most people will work into their grave or die by a tragedy. Let alone be slave for money.
exactly, those are the only 2 possible answers. why do we still get taught (force fed in my case) that there is some all powerful, all knowing, “good” god?? what idiot wrote this into the program?
My two cents? As long as we’re propagating the god fairy tale to subsequent generations, why not change the narrative to describe it as a big asshole that doesn’t give a crap about us. Or just dismiss it entirely as the musings of an co-dependent lonely species struggling to understand its place. It might help diminish the shock of discovering the disconnect between what we’ve been teaching about it and the reality of the world we exist in. “God.” Chuckle. What a joke.
2001: A Space Odyssey is such a great flick…saw it at a drive in in 1969 or 1970 as a little kid, and the cinematography captivated me. Absolutely adore that movie.
i love it. anustheism. i’m an anustheist.
holy fff you saw 2001 at a drive in? that mustve been the greatest experience ever, seeing it on a giant screen under the stars.