Wonder-Working

Can we achieve real unity in a time of great change?

I want to state from the outset a few things about me; namely, that I'm a proud American, a skeptical European, a libertarian, a Theist, and a Technologist (the latter two often held as incompatible). I'm also a Jew of mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardi origin. And, I'm an optimist as well as a humanist. I do not partake in Substack to supplement my income (even though I’m not wealthy), rather I’m here to engage my mind with people around the world who are also questioning our reality.

As an engineer, I am aware that in the coming weeks many real people will lose their jobs to agentic AI. Some of these roles, such as DevOps and Accounting, are historically high paying jobs. These cuts were determined even before the latest GPT version drops, which some leaks have indicated will be highly agentic (and not require an agentic AI consultant or third party application for that matter). These cuts are not conspiratorial. The CEOs are not Jewish. They’re businesses trying to improve their bottom line in an economy where capital is increasingly expensive.

As a libertarian, I cried with relief the first time I saw an antisemitic comment in Parler because I knew the liberty of speech was still ringing. Yet now I see fake antisemitic comments - hundreds of duplicated texts from different user bots. Antisemitism has fast become a point of agreement for liberals and conservatives alike. And, at the same time, I see no political party questioning the rollout of artificial intelligence and the tsunami of sweeping change that rides behind it.

René Girard’s Scapegoat Theory was published in Violence and the Sacred (1972) and The Scapegoat (1982). His groundbreaking anthropological framework explained how societies channel collective violence onto a single victim or group to restore social cohesion during crises, revolution and societal collapse. From the Roman Empire to the Russian Empire, from the Weimar Republic to Arab Nationalism... Jews were scapegoated to provide unity during times of tremendous change. All periods of change fell victim to this scapegoating formula EXCEPT for the birth of the United States of America, which saw our founding fathers respect God and the pursuit of religious freedom for all.

In this light, the amplified hate towards Jews is a canary in a coal mine for pending societal change. It's not just a warning for Jews but for all humanity that we're on the horizon of upheaval. The notion that the extreme left and right share a growing consensus on Jewish hate hints at its artificialism. Just as no political party or organization trying to stop the race towards super intelligence draws into question the goals of our leaders.

This July, whilst we celebrate our founders' vision for human liberty as being our Divine right, have optimism that humanity has survived periods of great change. Understand that we are again on the precipice of change -AI agents that will transform our work and our world. There will surely be a mental battle to ensure our rights remain intact. In this light, be wary that the advent of AI comes with a baked-in formula for unity and acceptance which will distract us from demanding protections of our human liberties. It's a false unity through a timeless scapegoat. It's been baked into the formula through a hundred ancient times of crisis (just ask AI for examples).

If we avoid falling for this great distraction I believe we can mirror our American founding fathers and ride this storm with our freedoms intact. But, I fear that to fall for this ancient scapegoat is to remain asleep and risk losing. Our fathers gave birth to the Declaration of Independence whilst living side by side among Loyalists and spies for the British Monarchy. They did this by focusing their intention on the rights they deserved rather than hate for their brethren, who could easily renounce their ties to England and become an American ally at any moment. I pray to God that in the months and years ahead we focus on our shared goals and not our divisions… only then would we be truly united and victorious.

“May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the promised land—whose Providential Agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent Nation—still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.” ~ George Washington