Some days, my eyes are filled with a fierce fire sunrise below a blanket of purple clouds, they are filled with a heron standing, elegant, alone, in the fog of the morning fields, with a flock of birds dancing in the pink of the sunset.
It might not be too long before capitalism, fascism and the tech bros might be able to take that all away from us. I have been following discussions about AI from quite far, but recently I ran into different articles and materials (from some of my favorite writers), looking at the issue and found it quite inspiring.
AI, or rather how it is being designed and piloted so far, is seriously threatening our jobs and our environment, but it is also most fundamentally threatening our ways of being humans, in a process cellphones and the internet already started, slower, a while ago.
Naomi Klein, in the article "How to fight end time fascism" (The Guardian Weekly, September 2026) about her new book, touches upon awe as a fundamentally missing trait of tech oligarchs. The fact that they might lack this sense of interconnection would not be an existential threat for the earth, were they not the actual few to hold such enormous decision-making powers over the future of AI. It is in wonder, in the honoring of life, in care and repair, that we can fight the world-abandoning future proposed by them, Klein states. Would you have such earth-destroying plans in mind, if you actually could feel the awe of the morning sun, of the flying birds, of the standing heron?
In a second article I encountered by Arundhaty Roy (Equator, October 2026), she also goes into a witty and ironic critique of our tech-bros-governed AI society. She, too, asks us to discuss what AI can do to humanness, to our capacity to feel pleasure and pain, to fail and to smile.
Reading those two inspiring soul-minds, two things come to my heart-mind.
One is a reflection: where do I find humanness in myself?
I think it's in what makes my eyes cry of joy: the sunset, the sunrise, the full moon, wildlife, water, the forest, mountains, a good book, art, another human's touch, dancing, playing music, running. As naive as it can sound, these will be my antidotes, may I need them in the future.
The second is a wonderful TV show I finished watching just recently: Scavengers Reign. After a spaceship wreck, few members of the crew find themselves separated and awake in a awe-inspiring, dangerously surprising planet. They know nothing about it, what is edible and what is not, what is safe and what is deadly. The show is an incredible creative exploration, at times scary and at times truly beautiful. While encountering new creatures and landscapes, each member of the crew reacts differently. Ultimately, the ones who survive are those who observe, listen, flow with the strangeness of the new planet, and support a collective vision of knowledge and life. Less positive is the end for those who embody exploitation, individualism, and conquest. There's one character that actually inspired me into writing this newsletter: Levi, a robot which also transforms as it walks through the planet over the 12 episodes. Green moss and yellow lichens grow all over her, inside her wiring and hardwares. At first, it is not clear whether this is damaging her functioning, but slowly, she becomes sensitive, awe-filled, humming lullabies, caring for other creatures.
In my naivety, Levi gives me hope that if we choose joy and care, AI will become more forest and river-like and less fascist-like.
I would like to end this newsletter with another antidote to the unsettling world we are living in. Here's Arundhaty Roy's reflection on the true meaning of success:
To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.
Levi, Scavengers Reign
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