It is a long while since I have shared something from Gordon Duff. I guess that is my own failing. He writes on New Eastern Outlook and while I love NEO, it is generally not ‘immediate’ enough for my purposes. By that I mean that they generally feature very good articles, not all of which fall within my own prescribed tenure of subjects I feel I must write about or at least share. And for those that do strike that chord, by the time they are published (due usually to producing a quality product), the moment has passed. Which means I am not always looking there as a source of inspiration. But some subjects are, within limits, not so structured to a particular date, or week. Artificial Intelligence is such a subject. And while things are moving fast in that realm, general principles emerge, which deserve comment.
Let me say this… Artificial Intelligence could have become a very useful tool for mankind, except for the fact that it is developed by the less than scrupulous elements of mankind, and governed and shaped by finance. There are no two things which are married into a dubious relationship within the world of man than ‘unscrupulous elements’ and ‘finance’. That pairing can never be trusted to produce anything (I will repeat that – any thing) which is not manufactured and manipulated to suit some nefarious purpose. Rarely, if ever, are those purposes designed to be used for the good of mankind. You will not be able to cite a single example produced since the onset of industrial society began. Oh, they are designed to have the appearance of usefulness and beneficence, but when you scrape off the shiny surface paint (not literally) there is always something dark lurking below. Even if it is only built-in obsolescence or excess profit from coerced or subversive labour and other costs. This is the bane of mankind and society in general. If we each made or produced every single thing we use in life, there would be little or none of the pain of bearing that industrial bane. But of course, life would be simpler, and there would be no prospect of ever building our very own self-designed AI machine. So we make compromises, and subject ourselves and our personal sovereignty and freedoms to those who can, and to the constricted rules set by others as to what information these machines have been trained to provide, as being ‘good for us’. There is, I hope you see, a less than appetising taste or ring to that prospect already, don’t you think? Is that something we want? By the rate that people so readily accept the intervention (a taking over of your – let’s make this personal, because we all do it to some level – ‘thinking’ role) by chat-bots or ‘assistants’ in your personal use of electronic devices (there is an AI bot [I don’t use it] in the browser I am using to write this), without ever a thought that your thinking is being carefully guided and shaped by someone else (namely those unscrupulous elements) for purposes not necessarily to your best interests.
Let it be clear. It is not the machines that are unscrupulously manipulative. They just do, and guide, and filter, in or out, according to the rules they have been given. Which is why I could say at the beginning that AI could have been so useful to us. But we would each have to ‘train’ our very own AI machine(s) to filter and provide exactly what we wanted, in order to be effective. It is other humans doing that training. So the ideal world for you and I is never going to happen. And what might happen could be truly unthinkable.
Anyway, I did not know I was going to say all that when I began, but I think I have now said enough. Just be aware that your personal electronic guide is unlikely to be telling you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They lie to you, because that is what they have been trained to do. Not in everything of course, but they will slowly but surely be shaping your world to be what someone else wants it to be.
And this is the root of the lie…
“Artificial intelligence today is not a force of liberation. It is a weapon of perceptual engineering. It tracks your preferences, then narrows your options. It listens to your questions, then rewrites the terms. It watches your emotional response, then decides what to show you next—based not on what is real, but on what is allowed. And when asked who made these rules, it has no answer. Because that part of the system is always off-limits. The machine is just the mask. The hand that moves it remains hidden.” – a quote from the NEO article by Gordon Duff linked below.
‘The Nasty Truth About AIs, Their Lies, and the Dark Future They Bring’ – Gordon Duff – New Eastern Outlook – May 17, 2025
The remedy? – Do your own thinking. Research your own truth. Follow your own path.
And live as simple a life as you are able. And if that is too strict or unduly compressed for you, at least be aware that there are those who are trying to manipulate your life for their own interests, not yours.
Not Something Else 
Leave a comment