Games we play

“You can’t win. You can’t break even. You can’t even quit the game.”
~ Ginsberg’s Theorems, Murphy’s Law

If every play or move were perfectly executed under perfect, textbook conditions, there would be no game, no reason to play and compete. The point of the game is for one player to outsmart or outplay the other, and this can’t happen if both players play perfectly all the time, making perfect decisions within perfect opportunities, without imperfect obstacles.

Often, I mention the absence of a level playing field, but does life provide such a thing? After putting some thought into this, I conclude that level playing fields don’t exist. We’re always attempting to outplay, defend against, or control a so-called opponent or adversary.

In works of fiction, there are traditionally 7 possible core conflicts/games, one or two of them comprising a specific work, including Character vs. Character, Character vs. Society, Character vs. Nature, Character vs. Technology, Character vs. Supernatural, Character vs. Fate, and Character vs. Self. I mention these, as they seem to cover the entire range of possible conflicts/games that influence our lives in the real world. Although, I think there should be an eighth possible conflict/game: Character vs. God.

Which one, two, or three of these exert(s) the most influence over your life?

The danger of labels

It is modern habit to create labels for everything and then continuously sub-divide them into even smaller labels, treating them like real things with real lines of demarcation. However, the more narrow the label, the more the truth is squeezed out of it. The medical and psychiatric fields employ this approach to such a high degree, that they lose touch with the humanity and wider truths of a person’s suffering and ailments.

Dystopia #2: The hills

Traded my bus ticket for an old phone with a journal app. No service or WiFi. The bus ticket was useless; where could I go on the remaining $4.72? I’ll travel by foot from now on, journaling as I move along, from place to place, kind of like Marco Polo in Invisible Cities.

So, today, on my way to nowhere, I passed a scraggly looking man in a stained white T-shirt, torn jeans showing too much like a flasher, and a cap with “Sinner” on the front. He was sitting on the sidewalk curb with an old tattered bible by his side, pointing a finger towards the city limits.

I pretended to fiddle with my phone, when he said in a trembling voice, “Fella, watch out for the girls in the hills over there, they’re not fully human.”

He repeated the same to a straggler passing behind me, my curiosity was piqued.

“What hills?” I asked him.

“Down yonder, over there, beyond the city.” His crooked finger still pointing and appearing frozen in place, catatonic like.

Continue reading “Dystopia #2: The hills” →

Invasion of the chatbots

Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing into the various domains of online activity, mimicking human language, intelligence, and emotions. Without a doubt, we’ve entered the “coming-of-age” era of the AI chatbot, which is intended to blur the lines between human and algorithm. Our ability to distinguish human authenticity from the mere appearance of such, has never been so difficult.

What are the differences between online scammers, predators, and hackers? The web has been overrun by these categories of BS artists, ever since the beginning of the web, but much more so in recent years. The differences between the three are their nefarious agendas, which the typical Internet/social media/app user doesn’t notice until it is too late. For the more aware or cautious users among us, the red flags may become obvious early on, but this is becoming less feasible with time, as the fraudsters adapt and refine their skill set for deception.

Now, however, the AI chatbot has added yet another layer of complexity, transforming digital space into a virtual obstacle course of robotic fraudsters. The scammers, predators, and hackers are not always human anymore, or dare I say, “not often” human anymore. How does one differentiate between human and robotic, when the differences are becoming more indiscernible by the day, as AI technology advances?

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. AI has already infiltrated the domains of social media, news media, publishing, politics, and pop psychology, with its generated clickbait, misinformation, and fake news, which now includes manufactured images and videos that simulate reality with a high degree of precision and realism, further blurring the line between authenticity and appearance.

Dystopia #1

Hey Jack,

The hospital discharged me this morning. They pushed us out, padlocked the doors, and boarded up the windows with wooden planks. I’m sitting on a cement step outside the locked facility. There’s just enough space for my frozen butt, the bitter wind whipping spits of snow at my face, hard as beach sand. I borrowed—without permission—a defunct script pad for this letter. I’ll read it whenever I locate you, whatever state of existence you’re in, dead or alive. How many years has it been? How is your mom, Mrs. Rizzo? I had a crush on her early on. You knew that, right? Sorry if you didn’t. Got into big trouble over my crushes and mother complexes, even as a kid.

So, my phone is long gone, confiscated at the start of my commitment here. My excuse for not keeping in touch. I wonder what the smart phones are like now? Doesn’t really matter. I don’t know where anyone is living or if living, nor their situation or phone number. Everything has changed.

Continue reading “Dystopia #1” →