Confessing to a Plastic Jesus
Addicts of the Virtual Realities
This article came across my feed this morning: Church in Switzerland is using an AI-powered Jesus hologram to take confessions: (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14104559/Switzerland-Church-AI-Jesus-confession.html).
"Thanks to technological advances, worshipers at a church in Switzerland can now speak directly to Jesus - or at least an AI version of him. As part of an art project called 'Deus in Machina' (God in a Machine) St Peter's Church in Lucerne has installed an AI-powered Jesus hologram to take confessions."
The article got me to thinking about how much of the world we believe in is virtual - created by others. It has been said that Americans are the most disconnected from reality. The more plugged-in a society is, as goes the reasoning, the higher the percentage of the population that addictively converses with manufactured realities. And that led me to think about how much of the American worldview is based on those manufactured realities. And, how much that worldview conflicts with actual reality.
A good example is the so-called rule of law. Many TV series are based upon the premise that, by the end of each episode, the law prevails, and the good guys win. All neatly wrapped up in sixty minutes, with time allowed for commercials, of course. In fact, as a more general premise, law enforcement and lawyers always get their man. This idea is so deeply embedded that each episode is produced on a strictly adhered-to formula. The good guys are introduced, the bad guys do their things, the good guys try to put them away, the bad guys get the upper hand, and, in the end, the good guys always prevail. And the hero gets the girl as a bonus. (Hollywood is inherently misogynistic, you know – women are most often rewards for good behavior.)
This idea is so central to the American view of the world that legions of talking heads constantly reinforce it. Most of them are either retired or fired federal prosecutors whose job is apparently to act as cheerleaders in a clown show. “We’ll get them next time”, is their recurring battle cry. Their mantra is “no man is above the law”. They talk about legal exposure as if it’s a real thing for all. And they are constantly shown up as carney barkers, selling snake oil, by the players in the real world.
It is probably true that, for the last decades of the twentieth century, most Americans bought into this rule-of-law illusion. But occurrences during the first decades of the twenty-first century have driven that delusion onto the rocks. And that creates a real dilemma for the average American. Their choice is a stark one. They can live in the virtual world and believe that the white hats always prevail over the black hats. Or they can face the reality that the much-vaunted rule of law is a deception promulgated by the rich to distract the vast majority of Americans from the fact that it does not exist for them.
A recent example might serve to illustrate how seriously the illusion has been undermined. It is probably not adventurous to suggest that actions, or lack thereof, by Merrick Garland were instrumental in maintaining Donald Trump as a viable presidential candidate. If the average citizen had caused highly classified documents to be stored in the bathroom of their beach house, they would have been arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned. But the Attorney General has delivered irrefutable proof that, if you are wealthy and politically powerful, the rule of law is not even an inconvenience. The government official entrusted with defending the rule of law has demonstrated that it doesn’t apply to Trump – or anyone like him, for that matter. (It’s worth noting that the Supreme Court agrees with Garland. The highest court in the land has overturned the idea that no man is above the law.)
Now, I will leave the debates about the reality of the rule of law behind, and proceed to what I consider by far the most disastrous impact of its exposure is fiction. Americans have always sheltered within the civility and stability of their society. Generations have taught their children that living a good life means playing by the rules and respecting the guardrails that guide the country. Television and movies continue to promote that message. The good guys always prevail. Good always prospers. The bad guys always fail. Evil always pays the price. Now those lessons appear to be senseless babblings by the insane – radically disconnected from reality.
There’s no way to square the circle. The Attorney General and the Biden administration, through their lack of aggressive response, deference to the wealthy, and failure to aggressively enforce existing laws have essentially told the American people, “if you’re wealthy and politically powerful, do whatever the hell you want. As for the rest of you, watch your crime dramas and stay out of the way.”
Let’s take another example. The idea that the United States of America is supposed to be a representative republic where elected officials represent the interests of their constituents. Most Americans understand that the only constituents elected officials have are wealthy donors and major corporations. That they, as individuals, are meaningless. So, when they see a television episode or movie that argues the opposite – starring a good-hearted Senator, Governor or Member of the House, they have a choice - either to roll their eyes and wonder how the writers and actors can be so far detached from reality or close their ears and remain focused on the illusion that Mister Smith is still at his desk and filibustering. Most Americans choose to remain addicted to the illusion.
The American reaction to the conflict between these virtual realities and the world that plays out before them is complicated by their tendency to want to see their country as the leader of the good guys. The propaganda that forms the basis of their image of the role of the US in the world leads them to strive to see their government, and elected officials, in a positive light. No matter what they do. And so, a serial adulterer who has been found liable as a sexual predator and rapist, who has been indicted multiple times and found guilty of multiple felonies, who was married multiple times and cheated on every one of his wives is considered one of the good guys and the kind of man that many Americans want as a leader of their country.
They feel they know this man personally. Some refer to him as a gift from God. Others call him the Christ returned. But, like the virtual Jesus, they are pledging allegiance to a virtual reality. What they imagine him to be. They have chosen to maintain the gossamer belief in the rule of law, that the United States is a representative republic, that the US is a force for good in the world, and that this man will be easily admitted to whatever heaven they may believe in and sit on the right hand of their god.
To be clear, I am not making a political statement but observing that Americans’ loose connection with reality and their addiction to virtual alternatives makes them vulnerable to manipulation in ways that other national populations are not. It was Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister, who said, “Give me control of the media and I will turn any nation into a herd of swine.” That statement was made before virtual realities became so ubiquitous. There is a reason that the wealthy have systematically worked to gain control of the media, including social networks. The 'Deus in Machina' (God in a Machine) are the billionaire owners who control them. Their mantra is, “Give me control of the virtual world and I will turn any nation into a herd of impotent addicts.”
Jesus becomes a plastic Jesus. The rule of law is reduced to a plot gimmick in television episodes and movies. The Republic becomes its cartoon version encased in a snow globe. And a reality TV host becomes the leader of the free world. At least, when it all falls down, Americans will have someone, no something, to make their confession to. “We gave it all away for a bunch of gossamer illusions.”
I’m not sure that AI Jesus will be impressed.