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DEMONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

 

From time to time, I post some reflections on my ‘Bridge to Being Blog’ a place where I tend to address the bigger issues that concern the great secular-religious divide.  In the above referenced piece, I address the question of evil in a “novel” way.

 

The full article is posted on the Policy Think Site in htm format. 

LINK: http://jaygaskill.com/Nightmare21.htm

 

Here is a short excerpt from that article, “The Demons Inhabiting G-d’s Universes”

 

When the history of this brave new century is written, I believe that one of its earliest prophets will be the cyber-scientist, Bill Joy, who invented Java script, the computer language that knits our web communications together.  His prophesies were first set out in powerful article written in early 2000 for WIRED.  “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” has never gone off-line or out of print.  Here is the LINK: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html .  This is a wide ranging discussion about the future of cyber and nano-technologies, their promise and dangers, but there is a sobering takeaway point for those of us who see the relevance and extreme danger represented by meta-Evil in its 21st century incarnations:

 

“Thus we have the possibility not just of weapons of mass destruction but of knowledge-enabled mass destruction (KMD), this destructiveness hugely amplified by the power of self-replication.

 

“I think it is no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of the further perfection of extreme evil, an evil whose possibility spreads well beyond that which weapons of mass destruction bequeathed to the nation-states, on to a surprising and terrible empowerment of extreme individuals.”

 

The potential link-up of the demonic mindset with KMD’s is a transcendent threat to humanity.  We face the ongoing prospect of emerging negative charismatic leaders who in turn can command the resources to ignite a series of catastrophic events that collectively could reduce civilization to something resembling the Terry Brooks nightmares I’ve just referenced. 

 

Existential Evil must be resolutely, courageously and effectively opposed with practical, real world measures.  The entire world sat by idly during the first holocausts of the 20th century.  Never again...is more than a slogan.  It is a survival imperative. The moral and physiological damage from a passive, pacific and ineffective response to the looming new holocausts in this century will empower ontological evil, possibly beyond our power to contain it.  I do not exaggerate that the tendency to deny or dismiss existential and ontological Evil opens the doors wide to a local version of the End times.

 

Our personal “demon” inoculation lies in the maximum incarnation of the life affirming Creative Agency in each of us.  The task before us is to take the life affirming, creation-affirming, theogenic ethos out of all sectarian limitations, well beyond the religious-secular boundary into the world at large.  All morally aware men and women, secular and religious, need to accept the charge.  If we are to get through the present century intact, people of good will everywhere need to enlist.

 

JBG