We’re inundated with ideas, opinions and sales pitches, ’round the clock. It’s very hard to find an authentic person. There are real people here and also in the forum, but their number is dwindling as search nudges everyone towards the big platforms where they can get lost in a sea of bots and worse.
When this operation is successful, you’ll find yourself making “friends” with bots and other fake entities. Before you scream, “NOT ME”, hear me out. I’m against all this stuff as most know; I’ve already done this myself, and I’ll explain.
If I could find a living soul with a beating heart on one of these platforms, I would connect, but the real people rarely pop up. It like turning on the TV, looking for something good to watch – you can’t find anything. Few click off. Most will watch something substandard simply because watching TV is what they do.
I like twitter. Awhile back, it disappeared familiar faces, including mine, and substituted them with AI and/or shill accounts. I came on here and stated, I was reading AI content and some of it was interesting… very interesting, even. But eventually the soullessness comes forth in a way that can’t be denied. What to do next?
Next you find another interesting bot and invest in it, for some amount of time but guess what? Empty calories! You’re actually starving… starved for real connection. It’s an addiction waiting to take hold. So I come back here and try to be with actual people… who are not on the job when they post something. It’s like sleeping with a person vs sleeping with the facsimile of a person while deluding yourself. Plus, the whole goal is to manipulate you, make you into a puppet. I personally want to stay human. To do this, I need to stick with other beating hearts.
I have written about this for a decade; most people don’t miss their water until the well runs dry. The internet was made great by people freely sharing their ideas and their knowledge (like I do here, every day)… but the internet has just about spit all of us out.
Keep your heart beating by staying connected to other beating hearts as the day is coming where there will be NO mom and pop, independent, organic content anywhere on the internet. I mean, it may be there but how are you going to find it? Eventually if will dry up and blow away, along with the other lost content.
We’ve all been trained to hit the downvote, to cancel, to delete, to block, to reject. In this process, AI, has learned what you like; they stream it and nothing but it, into your veins, with tiny variations, but surprise! It doesn’t make you happy. You need other souls to commune with… to be human, really and also to grow and learn and evolve. Think about how women see their cycles sync up. You can’t fake that!
I hope we can stick together and make it through this next bit.
Covid changed socialization among all classes, all age groups. The world changed forever because of a lab-borne virus demanding isolation from society.
Elsa, you do a wonderful public service through your website and personal attention to your readers and their concerns. Now do you want to know why people are eager to connect with bots, AI, etc?
It’s because they expect instant results. On your computer, ever notice that your AI pilot is ALWAYS at the ready to answer your thoughts? Whereas if you try to connect with a real human being, they may not respond. The impossible response only increases with the “magnitude” of the person you wish to hear from.
Thus the growth of forums (which came from chatrooms).
rapid cycling, later stage addiction.
you sound as if it were a natural thing what happened to the world. There in, is the problem. as if a NONthing DID something…people have no critical thinking – it flew out the coop this century with those 3 buildings disintegrating – O 12 sand people did it , when our airspace has not been compromised since the early 70’s. They found their drivers license immediately in the rubble, Bush’s cousin was head of the Security – the Buildings were just bought by an Isreali tycoon who insured it for double indemnity against terrorism – we never had terror in USA before – there was no INSURANCE for it prior to this act. I can go on and on. We’ve got massive Corruption for 3 decades and now the well has run dry and people wonder what happened. It’s been a slow burn since WW2 that never ended – NOT REALLY. The Natzys pretended – the future already knows the truth of our time, even though We the People can’t see it now. Everything I’ve written are blatant facts – but we’re supposed to pretend it’s made up gobblegook. People are too WEAK to make a Stand, and the testosterone levels in men has been going down drastically these past 40 yrs. No men, make a weak country very easy to invade – without bombs or tanks. WE HAVE BEEN INVADED and there is no official date when it started. We’re becoming the Sickest Nation on Earth, we eat the most chemicals and pay the most in “healthcare”. Change your thinking to it’s not an accident what they’ve done to us. it’s all been ON PURPOSE. And all the Good people who saw and spoke up are just gone.
“On your computer, ever notice that your AI pilot is ALWAYS at the ready to answer your thoughts?” This reminded me of the paperclip on Word for Windows. Used to switch it off!
Great point about people not being able to deal with frustration. Patience is an essential spiritual (love) component.
I hated that paperclip! Glad it’s gone…
Me too. Interference!
Lots of good points above. Nazis did not go away. True they want to enslave us all with the help of the Christian Nationalists!
Corporate greed and individual greed too made all the corruption proliferate. Some politicians lie and fearmonger to get people with a lack of critical thinking to swing their way. I don’t think we are victims and many of us are aware of these ongoing threats. That said, many are appreciative that they got their info about threats to health, safety, etc. from the internet. So AI is not evil, (like guns, people kill people, not guns) it needs to be regulated so that people with evil intent can’t turn this into a “Terminator” society ruled by the machines!
Lastly, and most important, we as humans need to care more about each other. The belief that in order to win, someone else has to lose, needs to stay on the athletic field!
I remain real and original! Yours is still the only place I go for keeping my bearings, I flourish and feed my curiosity and am not repelled by old and related posts. I’m a historian I ferret and see patterns.
I am a mom and pop up maker and seller. Had a marvelously enjoyable day getting my tiny shop open for fall.
This work is hard. Tedious and unpredictable. But it’s exquisitely entertaining and real.
Took us more than 15 years to learn to navigate and translate the pretenders; my own confusion and pretenses need to be faced and replaced. Real life!
I was part of the old internet—much of my old writing floats the cloud. It’s pretty good stuff, and I want my grandchildren to know to find it after I’m gone. Your grandchildren will love knowing where to find Elsaelsa!
Kudos for the real dealers. Solidarity forever!!
As a kindred sister in the marketplace, I love your response to Elsa’s fantastic elucidation of our common plight..
Funny how my eye zoomed to it right away.
My tiny adorable shop/art-gallery … maker and seller of objects of beauty and function… old writings in cyhberspace… and moving closer to real people after a lifetime of solitude which became isolation.
Thank you. May we have another beautiful day!
Thanks Constance
Nice to know you’re there with us! I felt in good company reading your message. A market of makers and sellers realtime.
Better yet, connect with real people OFF the internet. I make fabulous dinners and invite people over. They don’t say no!
There you go!
Where do you live?
I feel the same about food- they have those commercials on the tv that show young adults scanning a QR code so that a toaster oven will heat up their premade dinner appropriately. People are loosing skills, I say! Work with your hands, write- critical think!
Yes Elsa. Caught in a ‘doom scroll’ searching searching for the thing which will fill the hole created by the emptiness of your not finding anything on your search. And on and on.
I find myself reading more Youtube comments. There was a time when they were joke, filled with first generation bots and spam accounts. No longer. People, mostly late 40s or older say real things give great reccs.
This is why I retain hope. A word from someone online you trust, a tiny idea, opening a small door, and then out onto a whole other world. I remain hopeful.
Life finds a way.
(yes that is a Jurassic Park quote. Yes it is).
I agree, life finds a way as long as we maintain hope. And hope is a human skill set. We have an innate access to cosmic magic and miracles that AI does not.
Each morning before I drag myself to strength training I look forward to a few minutes with my phone. It’s here I come. Thought provoking, entertaining etc etc, I enjoy you Elsa. The picture you chose today is perfect. Here we are again making a choice. Some of us already know the way. It’s heartwarming to feel you aren’t alone. Thank you, Elsa, for all you do.
You’re welcome!
This is so sad. But it’s reality. Good thing I’m a hermit. Even as a kid, I didn’t want to live with my family! I’ve always wanted to live with animals, by myself. but I truly feel for you , and all the others who feel like you.
Almost every day, in my REAL life, I encounter computer systems working to replace people. Coldness trying to replace warmth. Conformity trying to replace individual differences.
EVERY DAY.
The Post Office is the newest victim of AI micromanaging; it has decided to digitally standardize how mail is delivered in a mountainous rural area. My friend, a subcontracted mail carrier says they have installed a GPS in her car and she gets reprimanded if her car drives in reverse for more than ten feet! Heaven Forbid she might be going out of her way to convenience an elderly neighbor ON HER OWN TIME!
The damn computer has decided it is always right, and is devaluing and over-riding the wisdom of human beings.
Enraging.
And just the most recent example…
Some say Pluto in Aquarius will be a “Power to the People” era, where individuality is embraced, but I wonder if it won’t manifest as the opposite.
I’ve been seeing this AI invasion as leading us toward a post-reality world
Us real people are still here. I post your astrology all the time on the divine feminine app. It’s really, populated with real, thinking adults. You just have to stay away from mainstream or ‘use it’ like it uses you.
Thank you, Caryn!
Elsa, and everyone else who may be interested – I took a cyber security workshop and it was filled with suggestions for getting away from this crap. To get the full 100% list of info, it cost a lot more because the guy giving it works in this field helping people prepare for what’s happening and our future online. So here are some things to check out:
For a browser, look into Brave. It’s the best most secure.
For an internet search engine, look into Pre-Search or StartPage
For an online CC with zero tracking, look into Privacy.com
For the better password managers, look into BitWarden or Proton Pass
For unmonitored and totally private online messaging, look into Signal or Session
To take this guy’s security course, which I aim to(!!) as soon as I have the extra money, look up Garvin Academy and the Privacy & Security course. The guy’s name is Forrest Garvin.
Hoping this is a little bit of saturnian clarity -I have strong saturn/Cap in my chart.
best wishes everyone.
I love reading the comments and learning from you all and Elsa. I can feel how real you are from the life events everybody here is fielding (even if I don’t understand what you’re telling me about your 6th house, lol!). According to a palm reader I have an excellent ‘shit detector,’ so here I am lurking around this ‘real’ place in space because it’s authentic. Thank you, Elsa, for making so much clear about our crazy world! I feel like I’m in a stone building on top of a hill watching everything around me crumble and shift like crazy. Thanks for being here!
Thanks, JJ!
have you tried mastodon.social ? I don’t fb or X (never have), so I don’t really know how they are.
I do know I find real, beating heart, humans on mastodon every day.
Your site is one of the only places I feel like a person when I’m online. The way you tell stories reminds me of what I felt like growing up in my small hometown, where I had so many people I could just TALK to. Nobody calls anymore, I miss the rambling phone calls so much, the phone was my lifeline. And now? Well I guess I could ring up a bot? barf.
Thank you for keeping it real.
Hi Elsa and the ElsaElsa community! What a wonderful post today, Elsa. Trust me, I feel this too very strongly, but I keep myself so busy with work. Another small business, maker and seller here. We are heading into the Holidays and I can tell you, everyone I talk to feels this immense pressure, like a pressure cooker prepping up. Everything is behind, orders are late, shipments are lost, pallets sit in trucks and dispatchers say they don’t want to go out to the truck to see if they are there. Just wild out there right now. So, I am happy to be at our little factory with my small team, doing our part to bring a little deliciousness to the market. We have been trying to hire folks for the season and people say they want to work, but never show up, leave early, had to put their dog down so they don’t show up for a week without a word. It is a fall we are heading to and people will be wondering why no one spoke up sooner, and we are at that point where there is no turning back. Just like you said. I rarely post anything on Facebook, but this weekend I did and I received so many comments from people I had not heard from in years. My siblings and I had survived Hurricane Fiji in 1974 and seeing the images of western NC brought that all back. And guess what, it happened 50 years ago to the month of September. I didn’t even put the two together, but weird! People were saying, wow, you opened up a portal, you made us feel that. It was a good feeling telling my story. So, please keep telling stories, they do bring so much comfort, warmth and like so many here already mentioned, real friendship, kinship, a sense of belonging.
What made me write the story was that I couldn’t believe that with all the AI, technology, infrastructure, etc that we have in 2024, Mother Nature showed us that time, money, etc, none of that means anything and she can still do her thing, exactly like she did in 1974, turn streets into rushing rivers, wash away whole towns, leave people without a thing. Connection and community was what kept us alive during that period.
Right,we’ve been bought(bot)
I live on a little island I met a woman who said her and her husband sold their house bought a boat and been floating around and she asked me is safe Harbor here. They have bought every piece of waterfront boat yard through Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I’m on an island off the coast. They are here also For us we were bought or sold rather to the wind Farms you look out and now you see all these posts the fisherman are upset. The fans are washing up on shore. Our tides are always high Our seashore water table is higher not sure how that correlates but I’ve heard of many people with leaking pools as the ocean rises. It pushes upon our drinking water pushes up against the septic water trying to filtrate down and purify itself. What’s happening here are many many homes that have pools are cracked , they can’t continue to fill them so they just let this chlorinated water leak out!! It’s entering the drinking water, 😬I’m working so much. I’m down to less than 20 minutes a day any kind of screen time we’ve been bought by federal government grant money means a handout to a nonprofit who of course won’t profit of course so they’ll buy a jet, a yacht a beach , can’t show a profit you have to pay tax on that I imagine enormous yachts, and private pent houses will look out at the many many wind farm pieces then they will send a bill to every household monthly crazy
daylight is slipping just like the tide can’t wait to retire. I just realized I work too much so I am required to chip in to retirement. It’s called a contribution. They keep changing our retirement group. Social Security told me I have to contribute to everyone of these retirement groups, so I’ve decided to cut my time back , so that I don’t have to pay mandatory retirement (after 20 hours)
Won’t help my soc sec check they already sucked on but I’ll make less money but because they won’t be able to take out this retirement money ( required after 20 hrs. )I’ll actually come home with 35 less a day working 3 hours less a day , The extra time free I can invest in my sewing and my art projects that I sell in the summer season and the Christmas season wish I had caught onto this 10 years ago .
As the group I work for change the language about our work and we’re not paid by hours were paid by what they call runs. I give them 45 hours a week. They only pay me 30 runs a week however the state mandates me to chip into retirement that I’ll never qualify for when I take the money out I’ll be fine and penalized for early withdrawal such a game, but you could only get to the table if you own billions of people .
I used to be a democrat. My dad told me when I was young with his handover heart, baby. I’m for the little guy, but unfortunately little poor people are ways for nonprofits to stick their hand in the federal government pocket book for money you know they’ll take care of us kind of mentality Doesn’t work ,a republican now I’ve decided I probably won’t vote as it’s just the electoral that’ll matter they’ve already decided sorry if I sound spooky on my way to work again