Architecting Our Own Extinction

I was watching Ina'nis' playthrough of NieR: Automata and a thought came to me.

Now, more than ever, humanity is at a very critical juncture where a series of choices that are made collectively will forever change the landscape of what makes us human, forever. I would go as far as to say that the impact that we are facing is even larger than that of the industrial revolution, for the sole reason that we are now encroaching into the definition of what it means to be a human.

Is being a human in this modern world one where we are still working long hours like our predecessors, despite the massive productivity increases that have come from massive amounts of technological innovation?

Is being a human in this modern world one where one can still be malnourished despite having an over-abundance of food to the point where most of the human race isn't directly involved in agriculture?

Is being a human in this modern world one where, despite the one hundred years of pedagogy improvements, are still dangerously ignorant and even demonstrate pride in that ignorance?

Is being a human in this modern world one where what we see, what we do, what we eat, who we find attractive, what we find pleasant, are all determined by an algorithm that, instead of facilitating creativity through exploration, strongly promotes typecasting in the form of a rigid but opaque rules system driving everyone towards a new tyranny of the unknown majority that cannot be appealed against?

Is being a human in this modern world one where what we do, who we meet, where we go is closely monitored by governments both ``ours'' and ``theirs'', as well as private businesses, all under the façade of ``security'', through the strategic use of the bogeyman to coerce us into gladly signing away our freedom of choice and association in the name of the false sense of security?

NieR: Automata as a story is very rough---there is no happy ending. Humanity is already dead at the point where the story starts, despite the whole ``Glory to Mankind'' proclamations. We are now at the point where we are capable of architecting our own extinction. If the irresponsibility that causes global warming doesn't kill us off, then the artificial scarcity through manufactured wants might. If neither of those will, then the toil on mental health through the fascist application of arbitrary rules and laws in the name of ``proper behaviour'' will.

It's funny. I'd never thought I would see the day that I would be pulling out the Bible as a point for argument, but here it comes.

What we are heading into is a world that is very similar to that of the biblical Jews of the Old Testament, where tradition and ``the law'' are hailed as the do-all, be-all, and end-all for being a righteous person. It sounds great in theory, but it cannot work for two reasons:

1. Human laws/traditions were never constructed to be bug-free with respect to interpretation---if they were, we don't need anything more than judges who just read the conditions and apply;
2. There is none, i.e. not one, of us who can claim to follow all the rules/laws, even if they were perfectly constructed.

My belief system says that this is due to humans being sinners, but the secular approach of considering that humans are social creatures by instinct and rational creatures by training with the realisation that this peculiar combination virtually guarantees automatic non-compliance to any rule/law that the person isn't actively recalling and verifying (assuming that the rules/laws are perfect) works as well.

I say that we are at that point of being wholly capable of architecting our own extinction for the sole reason that there is too much power being accumulated into the hands of too few. Combine that with the zealous pursuit of capitalistic ``efficiency'' and an increase in risk aversion the higher in status one is means that any choices/actions have a tendency to undergo the equivalent of convergent evolution, i.e. everyone will optimise towards the same solution.

This is bad. This is very bad. This is extremely bad because it creates homogenous systems, and homogenous systems are very weak as a whole---while they may share the same strengths, they also simultaneously share the same weaknesses. This means that if any one system has an exploit in it, then all systems that are based off it will, with high certainty, be vulnerable to the same exploit. And if there are no alternatives, that may mean the end of the normal operation of that system.

With the current trends, we are already having very few systems of that sort out there. And they have already been proven to not be strong the moment someone decides to pay a little closer attention to it and actively seek exploits.

Reversing such trends are hard to impossible---inertia from the current holders of advantage being the biggest of them.

Ever tried figuring out who owns what companies in the world today? I recommend that anyone who hasn't done so, try it out as an exercise. The answer can be quite scary.

And that is the reason why some things are the way they are, despite being detrimental to humanity in the middle and long term. Because profits are more important than sustainability.

Welcome to 1 Timothy 6:10:

¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But profits alone are not the only contributory cause to us architecting our own extinction: power for power's sake is also another one to behold.

In fact, I would say that it is that want for power that some people create massive conglomerations that end up controlling too many companies and pushing down their overarching agenda upon the many who have been made to depend on their products/services.

And before the pitchforks come out, no, communism is not the answer.

We need to really start thinking about what it means to be human, and think about how the systems that we have put in place now are threatening that intangible cultural aspect of humanity.

What's the point of being a human when the system treats one as nothing more than a data point to be manipulated?

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I complained about the RT button a couple of days back. I tried running the joystick configuration tool joy.cpl and did some recalibration, but now as I write it, I think I might have done the calibration ``wrong''. See, the LT button and RT button are apparently treated as analogue buttons controlling the z-axis, where LT reduces the z-axis value and RT increases the z-axis value. I calibrated it according to maximum squeeze---my epiphany as I am writing this is to perhaps not use maximum squeeze to define the extent, which can raise the sensitivity (smaller physical movement generates smaller raw numbers that get re-scaled to full deflection, causing a larger ``jump'' per smaller [angular] movement, which makes it more sensitive).

I'll probably try that.

I have started on Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night as well. The funny thing is that despite making such a big fuss of preferring the D-pad over the joystick, I ended up using the joystick in Ritual of the Night. It was less annoying on my thumb, but somehow it felt just as snappy as the D-pad.

Perhaps Feudal Alloy's handling of the movement is just more scuffed than Ritual of the Night.

Anyway, that's that for now. Till the next update.