The “I” in AI
The challenge of establishing rules and regulations around technology is a theme we know well; Saturn having recently completed his three year transit of Aquarius now occupies quixotic Pisces. One example of this theme has manifested through a popularization verging on romantization of AI among other things. From a business and content creation perspective, the goldrush is here (I look at the new squarespace AI feature icon as I type this). While Saturn currently makes no aspects to Pluto, the planet’s place in the sign of technology can’t go unnoticed within the phenomenon that is the commodification of artificial intelligence. It is aptly anthropomorphized by There Will Be Blood character Daniel Plainview, played by actor Daniel Day Lewis. In the film, Plainview builds his wealth through the sometimes free, sometimes coerced cooperation of homesteaders. He has the technology needed to extract oil from land families have inhabited for generations. Ultimately, Plainview makes out like a miserable bandit, a very Jovian-Plutonian ending which calls into question moral incentives vs. raw power. If we homesteaders first met our mysterious Mr. Plainview during the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction of 2020, we’re now starting to watch the rigs go up and experience the deep alteration of the reality we’ve inherited in exchange for an evanescent economic benefit. Human behavior is the new oil. Praxeolgy may become a more popular theme as we are forced to consider the rigging and extraction taking place everyday.
@bambashkart
Saturn Sextile Jupiter in Taurus
This aspect became exact in June and brought with it lots of thoughts on AI within my professional and social circles. The topic seemed to permeate headlines and even mundane astrology circles. Under the aspect of Saturn sextile Jupiter, we’re more optimisitic about changes of a permanent nature or at least inclined to philosophize about the possibility of such outcomes. Whether it is the possibility of having double the hours in your day or an AI techpocolypse making your career obsolete, only one thing is certain; Saturn disposed by this earthy, materially focused Jupiter creates the siren’s song of infinite progress and productivity that defies human reason and intrigues the imagination.
For myself and many others, AI’s seemingly limitless power to produce within the material and mental realms raises question of human value. It’s a given that contribution to society through career is rewarding for many. In the USA, there is definitely a correlation between career and basic identity. This question and its premise set the stage for a materialist mentality. Despite the potential of this tool, there is something eerie about a technology that can help you write an essay, structure a highly successful stock portfolio, or hack nuclear codes. Such a technological utopia is rarely inclusive of the spiritual, which can be chaotic even for the most developed human psychology. Jesus did sweat bloodin the Garden of Olives. Saints often did the most insane things in the name of God. Some might say this is actually a problematic part of the psyche while others see a great possibility.
Ahriman’s Era and the Magical Self
According to Steiner’s spiritual cosmology, we will eventually enter what is an “Ahrimanic” era of gross materialism, of a type so great that humanity as we know it will be more like a controlled hive mind than a group of individuals contributing to a society. Ahriman, like Angra Mainyu, opposes the divine forces of intellect and creation. Most people, regardless of their personal or political beliefs, can imagine bad outcomes of a species lacking a creative impulse or individual thoughts and desires, where the self is wholly dedicated to its contribution to the collective. Ironically, if one has no sense of self, one has a utilitarian view of relationships, and they are downgraded to a purely economic or reproductive activity (even more so than you may witness today). Your individuality might be akin to a shadow self that will likely fall into the realm of myth and “magic”. Critical thinking becomes the equivalent of astral projection. Some people might experience it, but truly feel it to be “supernatural” and something they must either suppress or rationalize away. In the coming Ahrimanic age disconnecting from this type of utilitarian society will be all but impossible, as all-alienating as getting rid of one's cellphone is today.
AI Drink Your Milkshake
Yes, it is time for the obligatory soul-as-milkshake metaphor wrapped in the context that only a Summer ‘23 retrograde Venus can provide. Jeanne Hersch, in an essay, “Mythos and Politik” states “All politics are based on myth…it is an effective fiction.” She elucidates how human elements fuel belief in ideologies which back political movements. While my peer group tends to view politics as expressly negative and divorced from reality, we often forget its potential to empower collective narratives, our common "foundation myths". These myths are never clean cut as they frame and channel discourse, there are always disagreements regarding our cultural fictions.
These narratives are also ones that have been degraded in some way by inevitable human corruption. Venus rules relationships of all kinds. This very personal planet is integral to harmonizing smaller groups which in turn, find their place in larger society based on a bounded set of narrative roles. Venus retrograde is a time when the general ability to relate or compromise is more difficult than usual.
Loss of faith of leaders combined with rapid technical expansion isn’t new. Pew research outlines that waning faith is something that began decades ago, but it will be interesting to see where these trends take us moving into 2026. While Pluto is going tough on the Saturnian status quo, this is a potentially empowering one for reimagining and restructuring politics in a way that is more participatory.
Loss of faith in politics would also mean the neglect of powerful public fiction. In her essay, Hersch points out that one possible outcome of the disappearance of politics would be the appearance of a brute rule technocracy that destroys any sense of human freedom, very similar to the Steiner’s outline of the future under an “Ahrimanic impulse”. While psychics and sensitive people might be aware of this, I wonder if there is a grounded way of re-invigorating politics, taking it out of the land of the mystical and back into a system that acknowledges the need for public ideas and economic innovation? It could take us away from the Q anon type disassociation into what is a “real” myth to some, but definitely not for most of us. This would definitely entail making decisions about AI and it’s future within human society.
We are entering a rough period before 2026 when we are tempted to completely surrender the public fiction as the possibility of infinite productivity under an all-standardized, mass-produced, top-down technolatry proliferates. With this proliferation, so too will those at the margins, the psychics, the insane, and shamans. No one can easily drink up the milkshake that is a soul as it remains encrypted, the stuff of legend and myth to a great deal of western society. It is only through the psycho-emotionally charged astral realms, not the higher spiritual planes, that strange forces influence culture and defy logic. They almost revel and self-promote in the glamorous hopelessness and triumph that infinite growth and corporatist need bring. Forget rock n’ roll. AI is here to stay.