Preparing For Reality

Written by a human, for humans, always.

I was reading a post earlier...

It was discussing AI, the future of humanity...

And why China and the US should be seeking peace and unity in the development of AI.

It is a beautiful ideal to strive for...

But it reeks of a problem that has plagued all idealism since the beginning of time...

And which I think it reveals an appropriate message for Veterans Day.

Sometimes ideals do not match reality.

This is something that our military knows extremely well.

There are ways that people, countries, and militaries are expected to conduct themselves...

But there are people who do not want to do that.

There are organizations that claim to be peaceful while actively funding harmful activities.

There are countries that do not share the same ideals.

These are things that the military must train for.

For instance...

Our military personnel in the US are trained not to target civilians.

Now...

I believe most people would agree that civilians should never be in the midst of an active battlefield...

But that is an ideal that some combatants refuse to follow.

There are combatants who use civilians, even their own people, as shields to deter being attacked.

You can't drop a bomb on a target when they take a dozen civilian hostages...

Because to do so can be twisted into a message that says civilians are being targeted...

When that simply is not the case.

The reality is that some people refuse to live up to the ideals we have.

It is a beautiful ideal to hope that China and the US could agree on how to utilize AI to better humanity...

But these particular countries have fundamentally different ideas of what it means to "better humanity".

There are different sets of "ideals" in the world that are irreconcilable with each other.

When you mix these differences in ideals with how they are lived out in reality, and not just in theory...

Sometimes preparing for reality means that we cannot come to terms.

That is reality.

We might hope for an ideal...

But if we are blind to the reality of how different ideals work out in reality...

We as humans will frequently become victims of the lesser of these ideals...

The ones who are willing to use and abuse people to provide power to specific individuals at the expense of others.

One form of this is suicidal empathy...

Where individuals and groups use emotional hijacking, purposefully, to get what they want, potentially at the expense of others.

So many people like to live in ideals and theories...

While failing to pay attention to what is actually happening...

Failing to see what history has shown over and over again...

Refuse to verify if what they hear is true or whether it is based on the illusory truth effect...

A cognitive bias where we believe something false is true simply because we have heard it so often, which all humans are susceptible to.

One of the reasons that I respect our military so much...

Is because they prepare for reality.

They do not have the luxury of living in worlds of ideals and theory...

When there are individuals, groups, and countries who would readily kill us over the beliefs the different groups hold.

It is possible to have ideals and hopes for how the future could be...

While simultaneously recognizing that there are realities today that we cannot ignore...

Otherwise, those ideals and hopes have no chance of ever becoming reality.

Our military in the US prepares for reality...

And our Veterans have fought difficult battles, in reality, so that others could hope and try to build a better future.

All veterans deserve only the deepest respect...

Because they have faced some of the darkest realities of the world and survived.

Thank you to all the Veterans here in the US.

I am grateful that you faced the world's realities.

Are You Ready to Go Beyond Leadership?

Tired of Broken Algorithms and AI Slop?

Excited to Dive Deeper into Psychophysiological Mastery?

Want to Change The World?

The Seeking Sageship Newsletter is for You!

Click Here to Subscribe for Free!