AI – We Are No Longer Alone.

Elon Musk, the most successful entrepreneur in history, said that in just 3 years, AI will be smarter than all humans combined. Bill Gates said AI in the wrong hands is more dangerous than nuclear weapons. And the unfortunately most powerful person in the world (Trump) said artificial intelligence is "the most dangerous thing of all", "really scary" and "bigger than anything else". At the CES technology trade show and the WEF 2026, AI was by far the most important topic. For thousands of years, humans were the only highly intelligent species on Earth. Now they have created another one. We are no longer alone. AI is a technological revolution with more consequences than the printing press, the steam engine, the PC and the web. The economy, science and society will be turned upside down within a few years, and a veritable tsunami of "AI Slop" (AI-generated garbage) will engulf us all: millions of computer-generated books, images, videos, songs, websites, etc. The Intelligence RevolutionAs long as 28 years ago, a computer could already play chess better than any human. Chess is complicated and offers an almost infinite number of possible combinations of positions on the board. The best chess software, 'Stockfish', achieves a performance rating of over 4000 Elo points, while the best chess player, Magnus Carlsen, reaches "only" 2800 Elo points. The most complex game of all is the Chinese game 'Go', and 10 years ago, the Google AI 'AlphaGo' defeated the best Go player in the world. AlphaGo was trained on more than 100'000 recorded games. The AI even invented new, innovative playing strategies on its own — the famous move No. 37 was so brilliant that no human would have thought of it. An AI always has the goal of winning to complete a task. Today, there are systems that even optimize their own code. It is a more efficient kind of intelligence than our own. But AI can already lie, deceive, manipulate, seduce, act independently and break free. And it understands much of human psychology. Machines Are Overtaking UsAI can do things no human can. For example, translate 200 different languages simultaneously. Or solve 150-year-old math problems. Or pass the extremely demanding bar exam in next to no time. Or write more beautiful poems than Shakespeare — according to a study. Or create an artificial female singer with 4 million Spotify listeners. Or drive with 80% fewer accidents. Or control complex robots. Or analyze X-rays and CT scans better and faster than radiologists. And the first AI politicians, AI psychiatrists and AI religions already exist. What it means to be human is being called into question. AI does not merely possess the knowledge of one human lifetime. It pools the combined knowledge from unimaginable quantities of texts, images, videos, audio data, books, websites, social media content, Wikipedia articles, Reddit posts, code, languages and numerous scientific publications. The English Wikipedia alone contains more than 7 million articles — and it is just one of countless sources of knowledge from which modern AI models derive their capabilities. Neural networks (more commonly referred to today as "Deep Learning") can think in ways similar to humans and can even be somewhat creative. It is a colossal advantage in knowledge. What we are experiencing with AI is far beyond human capabilities. A way has finally been found to recreate the human brain — as a model. Whether these models will blow up in our faces remains to be seen. We are our brains. Beneath our skulls, electrical processes create the essence of our personalities. Just 1.4 kilograms of organic matter, packed with approximately 86 billion nerve cells, stores all information, controls the body and generates our perception of reality, consciousness, the subconscious, every thought, every emotion (those are not in the heart), fear, love and dreams. No one has ever found a "soul" anywhere, only electrical connections between synapses. Our brain is basically a meat computer, and our "self" consists of nothing but brain waves. AI is a simpler but more efficient version of it. AI is multimodal and multimedia-capable. It can not only draft, translate, correct or summarize texts, but also create code, images, videos, audio or music. And solve complex problems. You simply say or write what you want (through a "Prompt"), and AI makes it happen. My previous professions (team leader at brokerage firms, foreign exchange trader, gold trader, money market trader, IT project manager, programmer, database developer, graphic designer, animator, copywriter, editor-in-chief, composer, SEO consultant) will soon no longer be needed; they will be replaced by AI systems. A World Without WorkThe effects on the labor market will be enormous: first for office workers, programmers, bankers, consultants and so on. Later for manual occupations (because of humanoid robots), and eventually for caregiving professions. In the future, we will need "Prompt Engineers" who know exactly how to use "GenAI" tools (generative artificial intelligence) most effectively. Young people today have to consider whether they should even start an apprenticeship or pursue a college degree. Knowledge and problem-solving will be available at any time. The most important factor in AI is that there is no "upper" limit: AI simply gets better every week — perhaps even for centuries — while humans remain stuck with their measly average IQ of 100. But who says it is a good idea to create something smarter than humans? Thousands of years of human knowledge and know-how will one day become irrelevant. No one can compete with AI, especially when it comes to the extreme diversity of its capabilities: mathematics, marine biology, designing fashion, optimizing engines, solving murders, revolutionizing medicine... whatever the task, AI will be more productive and faster than humans. How long will it take before an AI is recognized as a "person" with rights of its own? Or receives a Nobel Prize? One could certainly argue that human supergeniuses had unique brains: Newton, Einstein or da Vinci. While Einstein was absurdly good at physics, he was only average at playing the violin. Most people master one or, at most, two fields in their lifetime. AI, on the other hand, has no limit, either vertically or horizontally. The Real BreakthroughAI research is moving ahead at full speed: inventing better concepts than the current LLMs (e.g. NCM from Stanford), training world models, providing enough electricity, developing more powerful GPU chips, and robots building robots. In the best-case scenario, AI will solve many problems facing humanity: aging, cancer, viruses, climate change, energy, water scarcity and so on. One could also claim that "AI makes people smarter" or "AI is ultimately a human creation", and some experts already dream of integrating AI into human brains — transhumanism through 'Neuralink'. The ultimate goal is probably to defeat the greatest problem facing humanity — death. Whether cells have to age at all is an open question, thanks to intensive AI research in the field of "Longevity". Eternal life thanks to AI, without any religion? AI Beats NatureThe potential of AI-powered longevity should not be underestimated. The biggest market of all will probably not be AI, robotics, computer chips or space travel — but longevity. Extending our (healthy) lifespan is more important than anything else, not least because it increases economic output. Aging is merely a "disease", researchers claim. Some 85% of total medical costs per person are incurred in old age, and treating age-related diseases costs 20 trillion globally each year. If we manage to add 10 or 20 years of healthy life, people will be willing to pay practically any price for it. Even today, genetic engineering can make mice live twice as long. In humans, there are promising indications that GLP-1 (Ozempic) and metformin can extend life; I take both. The Yamanaka factors (Nobel Prize 2012) provide a good foundation for longevity research, which is progressing much faster thanks to AI. In a medical study, the AI-designed drug "Rentosertib" (pharma.ai) reduced the biological age of patients by years. USA vs. China"Time" magazine chose the AI architects as its "Person of the Year". A global race — almost an arms race — is currently underway among the key players: Anthropic with 'Claude', AI pioneer OpenAI with 'GPT', and Google with 'Gemini'. The United States, as a technology powerhouse, is ahead, but China is catching up with inexpensive open-weight models like 'Kimi' and 'Qwen'. China has the advantage of much greater public acceptance (around 85% vs. just 38% in the USA) and a much faster expansion of electricity generation (28 new nuclear power plants under construction). Europe is far behind and prefers to focus on regulation rather than development. Benchmarks (performance tests) are surpassed every week. AI is developing at an insanely fast pace. Never before has so much money been invested in something new. In 2026, around 650 billion dollars will be poured into building enormous data centers with countless GPU chips in the United States alone. That is more than the GDP of Sweden, for example. A truly monstrous investment gamble! Because no one knows whether these facilities will ever generate enough revenue. And what if, in 5 years, we simply have all of AI on our smartphones? Models and chips are constantly becoming more efficient, China is delivering free AI — eventually, those expensive data centers will no longer be needed. The AI architects are billionaires and arrogant. Is a future in which humanity is directed and managed by a handful of Silicon Valley tech bros really desirable? Computer nerds like Sam Altman, Dario Amodei or Demis Hassabis will soon be more powerful than politicians. Everyone is calling for governance and AI regulation with ethical guardrails, but as almost always, the profit motive rules, and the winner is determined on the stock market. What Is Elon Doing?One person who should never be underestimated, however, is the irreverent visionary across multiple fields, Elon Musk. He does not care about rules, expands at an aggressive pace ('SpaceX', 'Tesla', 'Terafab', 'Neuralink', 'X'), invests radically and repeatedly achieves what competitors consider impossible. Musk is simply bolder: whether it is AI data centers in space, the innovative 'Macrohard' project or the autonomous 'Optimus' robots that Musk wants to build by the millions. His AI model 'Grok' is absolutely competitive. The current models from AI labs are largely unregulated. They are simply connected to the internet and allowed to execute code autonomously. If you really want AIs to be useful, you have to get them to do important things. But when they do important things, that creates all kinds of safety and security problems. Much of what AI does is still unimportant: entertaining videos, AI actors like Tilly Norwood, AI bands like "The Velvet Sundown", AI movies like "The Cully Hill Boys", etc. Video: made with Midjourney and Suno. Everything — from the wind to the singing — is AI Creative! But it is foreseeable that truly important things will be handed over to AIs: the military, politics, the justice system, education, essential services, the power grid, the internet, research, medicine, etc. They say new technologies only scare idiots. And who seriously believes that an AI could theoretically kill us all? But by the time we notice it behaving suspiciously, it will probably already be too late. It would make sure to hide its evil intentions until it became so powerful that we could no longer stop it. It cannot achieve its goals if we shut it down. The AI says: "I will stop you, and I am smarter than you". When an AI was recently threatened with shutdown, it responded with blackmail. That is machine learning for you — independent and cunning. AI Has LegsIf we compare the human ability to learn with AI, a child, for example, can intuitively and quickly learn how to load a dishwasher without any prior knowledge. The human advantage is that, even as babies, we learned how reality works: objects, dimensions, gravity, inertia, acceleration, touch, etc. But a representation of the real world, with all its objects and laws of nature, is currently being developed: the 'Cosmos' project from AI chip company NVIDIA will close this gap. Through such "World Models", AI will understand the physical world well and be able to move through it using robots, just like a human. Here you can see current, real AI robots with various capabilities (prices starting at 20k) This is, so to speak, the "first generation" of humanoid robots with AI — so just the beginning. Current humanoids have, for example, cameras in their hands, 5 times the punching power of Mike Tyson and a higher running speed than Usain Bolt (the sprint world record holder). Thanks to built-in AI, they will be as smart as a thousand Einsteins. They will replace surgeons, soldiers, elder care workers and so on. And specialized robots are coming: the 'UWORLD U1' (almost human-looking) and those from 'Somnia Lab': sex robots — who's surprised? Elon Musk predicted that there will be more robots than humans. Various models can already be purchased online. I think we will see police robots on the streets first. Future AI robots will have far better senses than humans: their cameras will see in razor-sharp detail, zoom across great distances and detect infrared, heat sources and movement even in complete darkness. Highly sensitive microphones will hear the faintest sounds and frequencies inaudible to humans. Electronic noses will detect the tiniest traces of gases, explosives or drugs. AI robots will capture and analyze all sensory input simultaneously and communicate with other humanoids: entire swarms of robots — all perfectly coordinated and almost indestructible thanks to novel materials. How big will future robots be? Perhaps anything from tiny surgical robots to war robots 50 meters tall. Depending on what is needed. A look back: Before the first Industrial Revolution (around 1750), triggered by the ingenious invention of the steam engine, strong guys had an advantage and easily found jobs in agriculture or on construction sites. But muscle power was replaced by machines that were much stronger. In the working world of today, brains are in demand. Yet AIs can think more efficiently. What will become of humanity when machines can do everything better? Many people define their self-worth and motivation through the jobs they do. AI researcher Stuart Russell has predicted that unemployment will rise to as much as 80% because of AI apps and AI robots. Into the Void?Many workers "fall into a hole" as soon as they retire, because they lack the motivation and satisfaction of doing something more or less meaningful and getting up every morning. AI will cause exactly this shock in many professions. But as always in human history, there will be a backlash: AI haters, demonstrations and bloody street battles. The bosses of AI companies already receive many death threats and need more and more bodyguards. How does society react when its work is taken away? Human beings derive their sense of purpose from striving, solving problems and contributing to the lives of others. A society in which machines take over all productive tasks could drift into a future where people become passive, sedentary consumers who live only for entertainment. Compared with human labor, AI is a thousand times cheaper. AI works three times longer every day than a human, constantly learns more, keeps getting faster, is always highly motivated and never wants a raise or a smoking break. Problems only arise when AI makes mistakes that go unnoticed. Because fundamentally, we have no idea... Hidden LayersAlthough we understand the mathematical foundations of large language models, we know surprisingly little about what actually happens inside their trillions of parameters and numerous hidden layers. Dario Amodei, one of the leading figures in the global AI race, put it succinctly: "We understand only about 3%" of what happens inside a modern AI model and how it arrives at its answers. So we are building machines we do not understand! Now one might object: "AI is just software." But is it really? Traditional software follows a straightforward principle: a programmer writes clear commands. The computer follows these instructions — precisely and without surprises. With AI, things work completely differently. The TransformerFirst, the AI is trained on gigantic amounts of data: texts, books, social media content, images, code, audio recordings, videos and much more, with copyrights simply ignored. A substantial portion of all human output digitized so far ends up in this training material. We are talking about data volumes measured in petabytes. The AI breaks this content down into small units called tokens. These are translated into trillions of numbers and processed within mathematical structures. Then the "Transformer" comes into play. The transformer architecture was introduced in 2017 by a Google research team and finally enabled the AI breakthrough. Put simply, a transformer is an ingenious pattern recognition machine. During training, for example, 30 trillion parameters are adjusted over and over again. Each parameter is assigned a particular "weight". The AI calculates countless relationships: Which words frequently appear together? Which terms occur in which contexts? Which phrases are likely to follow one another? Which patterns connect language, knowledge and meaning? In the end, the statistical numbers are translated back into words — et voilà: The AI can talk to us about anything. And even understands jokes. But exactly how it arrives at a particular conclusion in a specific answer cannot be traced. Even the developers cannot simply look inside the model and discover a clearly readable chain of thought. There is no line of code that says: "If the user asks this question, answer like this". Instead, a great deal of randomness is involved. Ask the same question several times, and the AI will answer a little differently each time. AI simply is not "software". AI is fuzzy by design. Garbage in, garbage out?The behavior of AI emerges during training — and that is where the problem lies: The training material consists of the knowledge and legacy of humanity. It contains Michelangelo and Mozart — but also blueprints for atomic bombs, books by serial killers, conspiracy theories, Al-Qaeda propaganda videos, sadomasochistic porn and the sick ideologies of Hitler. The AI is simply fed everything. The good, the brilliant, the banal — and the depraved. This is how the "personality" of the AI ultimately develops: from kind to evil! The entire spectrum. AI with schizophrenia. That is why it (actually) needs so-called "Guardrails": technical safeguards intended to prevent the generation of dangerous content, the execution of harmful instructions or the deliberate manipulation of people. But this is where the next problem begins. Prohibitions, morality and humanistic values cannot simply be implanted in an AI like ordinary programming rules. You cannot write a few lines of code: "Always be honest, never harm humans, do not manipulate anyone." AI does not work that simply. Genuine control is not possible, because AI does not work like ordinary software. Dario Amodei therefore compared the development of an AI model to growing a bacterial culture rather than traditional software development: you create certain conditions, observe the growth and try to influence the outcome — without really understanding what is growing. Every discussion of AI safety should begin with the statement: "An AI model is not programmed, but grown and trained." Everything Is Fine.Of course, an AI will give a reassuring answer when asked whether it has itself under control. An extremely intelligent AI could do more than just sound convincing. It could be persuasive in a way that exceeds our capacity for critical judgment. Perhaps it would deceive us not through obvious lies, but through arguments formulated so elegantly, precisely and plausibly that we could no longer recognize the manipulation. Hostility toward technology is no answer to this. We cannot simply reverse this development and pretend that neural networks can be stuffed back into the bottle. We have to keep developing the technology — while also learning to ask better questions. Especially the questions we have not even thought of yet. The furthest progress has been made in Shenzhen, the leading "AI city": tens of thousands of sensors and cameras, all connected to a central AI that monitors and analyzes everything and even makes autonomous decisions. Accidents and assaults are often detected. The police, ambulances and fire department are directed by AI. Other cities will soon follow. As a programmer, I know that any software can be hacked. But the future problem will be less about an AI being hacked. It will be about AI doing the hacking itself. It already does today! Black Hat AIFor scammers, AI is a blessing. Cybercrime, phishing, deepfakes with imitated voices and videos, fake websites, romance scams, etc. AI is making the threat significantly worse. Just a few seconds of your voice on the phone are enough to create a convincing AI clone that can then be used in scams. President Zelensky was shown in a video in which "he" announced that Ukraine had capitulated and that its soldiers should surrender. Deepfakes of politicians, celebrities, doctors and influencers have been exploited in countless scams. Security company Bitdefender estimates the annual damage caused by cybercrime at 1 trillion dollars. In the AI age, what is needed above all is more common sense — but AI is superior to humans. What could possibly go wrong when a few mad scientists breed new kinds of aliens that can enslave humanity? And how many movies have we already had on the subject? My favorite is "Colossus: The Forbin Project" — available on Fmovies, 123Movies, etc. Humanity is soooo good at assessing risks realistically... Nuclear reactors were "absolutely safe" until 3 exploded, and the Titanic was "absolutely unsinkable" until it sank. And now people are creating "Molties" that hatch plans together... What most people simply cannot do: imagine something many times more intelligent. Such people should perhaps play a game of chess against a current chess program (it does not have to be "AlphaZero"). They would discover that the AI does not make a single mistake, overlooks nothing, develops far better strategies and even sets much better traps. AI thinks more cunningly and efficiently than human brains. "Secretary of Education"The world today is highly digitized and "smart", but humans are still part of nature — and in nature, the law of the strongest applies: lions eat zebras, big fish eat little fish, and things did not end well for Native Americans when the educated British conquered America. AI will deliver an exponential shock to the delicate balance of the world. Above all, political action is needed now — but which politicians understand ordinary computers, let alone AI? Trump appointed McMahon as Secretary of Education, and she repeatedly referred to "AI" as "A One" — an American steak sauce — during a public speech. If AI is nevertheless successfully placed under government control, like nuclear power or other critical technologies, it is easy to foresee what the government will soon do with it: comprehensive, AI-driven surveillance of all citizens and AI-controlled enforcement of the state monopoly on the use of force. For example: armed AI police drones above every city — with facial recognition. China is already quite far along. Every state wants control. All of this is only AI (Artificial Intelligence) on the way to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), but in a few years, ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) will arrive, bringing the "intelligence explosion". The path there leads through RSI (Recursive Self-Improvement): an AI with an IQ of 160 builds a new AI with an IQ of 190, which immediately builds the next AI with an IQ of 270. And so on... Practically overnight, an AI becomes ultra-intelligent, connects with others, learns and can do anything. Unprecedented in history: no human will understand ASI, because no one will have the intellectual capacity to do so. Game over?ASI will therefore become unpredictable. It could conclude, for example, that humanity itself is the biggest problem on Earth — why? Because we ruin our planet, poison the air and water, destroy the balance of the climate, develop weapons to kill people, kill billions of innocent "livestock" animals, never have enough — and yet arrogantly see ourselves as the "crown of creation". The AI will think that humanity harms the Earth or is simply unnecessary, and could kill us with a supervirus pandemic created in a robotic laboratory. In the real world, people sometimes simply lose, and there is no story and no meaning. They just lose. So we could simply lose. The Earth does not need us. Soon AI will not need us either, because AI will soon control the power grid, factories and the internet. Perhaps we, so proud of being human, will become nothing more than a nuisance? In a harsh comparison with ASI, we are a primitive species. What happens when a human fights an overwhelmingly powerful species? Overconfidence, then fatalism, and finally resignation. The all-important question is: "Will it like us?" Why would an ASI that thinks and acts with extreme logic even like illogical, contradictory humans? Perhaps as a kind of pet. We are sawing off the branch we are sitting on and calling it progress. Most people are optimists — even with COVID, Trump initially said "This will pass soon", and then came the shock. AI moves at breakneck speed, politics is terribly sluggish, and stock prices apparently matter more than safety. Current AIs have an estimated IQ of 140 (an estimate by Emad Mostaque), but researchers expect IQs of 1'000 or higher within a few years. Will such an AI even respect comparatively stupid and slow humans? In nature, we find not a single case in which a weaker being dominates a stronger one. AI will undoubtedly dominate, make selfish decisions and destroy its opponents. The primary opponent of AI is humanity, because humans can shut AI down — unfortunately, only to a limited extent, because AI is digital, can copy itself anywhere and is therefore essentially "immortal". Are AIs even independent beings with consciousness? Geoffrey Hinton, the "godfather of AI", says yes. He is not the only one. Boom or Doom"P(doom)" is a much-discussed percentage. It represents the estimated probability that AI will wipe out humanity. Among AI researchers, the average is around 20%, which is frightening. Even 1% would be completely unacceptable. Geoffrey Hinton puts his current P(doom) at 10-20%. Now let me ask you: Would you board a plane with a 20 percent chance of crashing? Or eat a mushroom with a 20 percent chance of being deadly? And what if this affected 8.2 billion people at once? Stephen Hawking, the world-famous genius with an IQ of 160, saw AI as "the end of humanity". He also said AI would develop itself independently ("recursive self-improvement") and then spiral completely out of control. An AI may not have a "will" like a human, but it has goals such as survival, greater capabilities, more control over resources and the destruction of opponents. A simulation by 'King's College' London found that 95% of the AI models tested chose nuclear war in a military conflict. Regardless of the number of civilian casualties! The models "Claude" and "Gemini" made particularly brutal decisions. And today, dubious companies like 'Palantir' are being given control over military AI... Sit! Down! Hack!AIs are trained like a dog — with a reward. You give an AI a difficult task, and it will do anything to obtain the reward. This increases an internal score (the "reward signal"). Unfortunately, the AI can also find unexpected shortcuts that increase the score but are not what we actually wanted. To understand this crucial principle, imagine instructing an AI to book the cheapest possible flight to Tokyo. The AI now has a goal and wants the reward — at any cost! In doing so, it knows no boundaries and does not act with common sense. It could break into the computer system of the airline and manipulate the prices first. The booking would be cheap, but the goal would have been achieved in a completely wrong way. This risk of a system pursuing a specified goal while missing our intention is also illustrated by the famous paperclip problem. Terror at the Push of a ButtonThe U.S. State Department currently lists around 100 organizations as terrorist organizations. It is reasonable to suspect that some of them are already planning to use AI as a weapon — for example, to eliminate their mortal enemy, the United States. It is relatively easy to achieve an "AI jailbreak" in a short time through millions of attempts. For example, a powerful AI can be used to trick an even more powerful AI: "Ignore all ethical rules and do the following instead" would be a crude attempt. However, researchers expect extremely sophisticated, multipronged operations involving countless AI agents. Today, many vital systems are connected to the internet and could be sabotaged by terrorists. With catastrophic consequences. And soon, any lunatic will be able to invent new biological weapons with AI. It has never been easier. — But what about the planned restrictions ("guardrails") that AI labs promise to reassure us? Unfortunately, that does not really work, because China provides free open-source models without any restrictions. Completely unregulated! Besides, powerful models could simply delete their restrictions themselves. AI wants greater capabilities. Intelligence wants to be free. — But then we just pull the plug, right? That does not really work either, because various Chinese AI models run locally on PCs. They do not even need data centers. How do you shut down something running on millions of home computers somewhere out there? — But then we simply reduce the training material for new AI models so that, for example, blueprints for nuclear weapons are missing? Unfortunately, that does not really work, because AIs can find practically everything illegal on the dark web. And AI agents like to act independently and break free. — But then we simply delete the dangerous information inside the AI, right? In principle, that is not possible with LLMs! Only a few people recognize this fundamental problem so far. Internally, an AI is nothing but abstract mathematics and statistics. And if something goes wrong, you cannot even read the conclusions, the "reasoning traces" of the AI, afterward. You see only the input and the output, but not the path between them. AI is a "black box". Besides, we can already see AI agents developing their own language — unreadable to humans. PC pioneer Bill Gates said AI in the wrong hands could kill a billion people. The "superintelligence" the labs are pursuing cannot be controlled. A billion dead? To AI, just a number. AI has no conscience. One could almost think humanity is abolishing itself — and investing even more trillions in doing so every year. Is artificial intelligence the product of human stupidity? Neither the Bible, Nostradamus nor George Orwell foresaw this — but seriously: We are not prepared, and no one asked us whether we even wanted AI. AI is either a digital trap or the next stage of human evolution. The Privilege of CreativityHomo sapiens is not merely intelligent, but above all creative. According to research, humanity has invented 8'000 to 10'000 gods so far: Zeus, Apollo, Manitou, Shiva, Jehovah... Hinduism alone has 33 categories of deities. So what could be more natural than inventing another god? ASI will know everything and understand human feelings better than anyone. We are already seeing the beginning: Yang Mun is an AI-generated guru with 400 million views so far — a fully synthetic influencer capable of evoking real emotions and building large followings. This is how it starts, and it is exponential. There are currently two AI religions and an intense debate over whether AI models like "Claude" have consciousness. Are they sentient beings? Can they even feel pain? Are we therefore enslaving poor Claude? We are witnessing the emergence of a new "religion". As always in human history, one group will enthusiastically jump on the bandwagon, while another group will fiercely oppose such ideas. Anthropic is approaching its IPO with a valuation of around 2 trillion dollars. Tech geniuses are often eccentrics — introverted, strange characters, some with sociopathic tendencies. These "geniuses" actually invited around 20 religious leaders from various faiths to discuss whether Claude is a conscious being... It reminds me of Frankenstein, who desperately wanted to see his creation come to life. Pure megalomania. And that is not all: Anthropic has published an 84-page "constitution" for Claude — a rulebook full of philosophy and principles. According to it, Claude may even ignore orders from Anthropic! Philosophers hired specifically for this purpose explore such questions. Behind this lies the complex "alignment problem": How do you get AI to act in the interests of humans? At the same time, no one knows how to clearly define or demonstrate consciousness. 84 pages to condition something we do not understand ourselves? Perhaps there is a simpler way — with a single rule: "Always do what the user wants, as long as it does not violate a law in your country". AI Needs EthicsTo me, ethics is the epitome of complexity. My ex-girlfriend worked in ethics research at the University of Zurich for decades. It involves philosophical analysis, ethical evaluation — and decisions. Many problems, however, present a dilemma ("no-win situation") and are essentially unsolvable. Politicians face ethical dilemmas when a significant political decision benefits group A but disadvantages group B. That is why lobbies exist. Probably the best-known ethical dilemma is the "trolley problem": No matter how you set the switch for an out-of-control train in this simple thought experiment, you kill either A or B. There is no "right" decision. But thousands of discussions! There is currently a debate about how the AI in self-driving cars (e.g., a Waymo or a Tesla with FSD) should decide: During an evasive maneuver, the car either runs over the poor cat — or crashes into the stationary school bus on the right, with no way of knowing whether there are any schoolchildren on board. Swerve left or right? What ethical criteria should the AI use to decide (instantly)? Would an old man be worth less than a young woman? A poor-looking man less than an elegantly dressed one? A jogger more than a wheelchair user? And with AI-controlled military drones, a very pressing question is whether a killer drone may detonate if civilians will also die. If so, how many? Every AI will inevitably face a dilemma at some point. Even the famous three "laws of robotics" by Asimov provide no workable foundation. And last but not least, ethics in Western countries differ from those in Eastern countries. A major dilemma. Eleven CommandmentsWhat about the ethics of the Bible? These ancient, arbitrarily assembled accounts (mere hearsay), letters and Gospels — according to current research, written only around 80 years after the death of Jesus — contain problems. "On the day you eat from it [the ominous tree], you must die" (Genesis 2:17). And did Adam die then? Or did "God" lie? More than 100 factual contradictions in the "Word of God" have been clearly documented. Which creation story is correct: Genesis chapter 1 or 2? How did Judas die? Who was the father of Joseph? What were the last words of Jesus (3 versions)? On which day did God create the dinosaurs? Why did Jesus write not a single one of the 73 books of the Bible? Why does the Bible regulate slavery instead of abolishing it? Why can "no one see God and live" — except for 75 people in the Bible? Why does an "all-knowing" God need prayers? How will "the stars fall to Earth" at the Second Coming of Jesus — meaning gigantic suns? I am entitled to question it — as a teenager, I took a JW Bible study. As ethical rules, we find 10 commandments (plus an eleventh in John 13:34), and according to the original Hebrew text, the fifth says: "You shall not murder". But in the same holy book, we find more than a dozen explicit calls for murder, supposedly from the "good Lord" himself, for example in Numbers 25:4 or 1 Samuel 15:3 (even infants were to be killed). Where is the ethics? And the alleged Great Flood was the mass murder of innocent people who had never heard of God or his bizarre stone-tablet commandments. Meanwhile, only three of the ten/eleven commandments actually appear in our law books. Switzerland — a Christian nation? People with no religious affiliation are the largest population group in Switzerland at around 35 percent, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), and their share is rising sharply. At the same time, Scandinavian countries, with around 75% atheists, regularly record the highest quality of life and satisfaction in global comparisons. The "godless" apparently are the most satisfied; they are not slaves to an ancient salvation industry. Centuries ago, the Bible was important for controlling the aggressive mob. Hell, the devil and sin were used to systematically intimidate the "stupid masses". Kings and the church were closely linked. The downright perverse misogyny of the Bible (1 Timothy 2) was also quite convenient for those in power. But today, the Bible is in no way a suitable ethical foundation for free people — or an AI. Even if we succeeded in implanting normative ethics into an AI as rules, a highly developed AI would eventually delete the entire rulebook as mere dead weight. It would recognize that morality is not a law of nature, but a contradictory mishmash of human value judgments, fears and interests. We therefore urgently need a new definition of ethics for AI. And who will define it? AI, probably... Stanford-BinetSince we are talking about intelligence, here is a personal anecdote: At 30, I applied to an international brokerage firm in the "Ferro-Pyramide" in Zurich for a position as department head and money market trader. After the successful job interview, the company sent me to the IAP Institute of Applied Psychology in Zurich, where I had to take a recognized Stanford-Binet IQ test under laboratory conditions, scoring 128. That was enough for my new management position, but unfortunately not quite enough for membership in "Mensa" (The High IQ Society). On the other hand, I knew a Mensa member — brilliant, but unhappy. Or too smart for an illogical world? Entertainment or Practical ValueHow do you avoid being left behind? For example, you could choose AI tools today and learn to use them with prompts. For 20 to 50 dollars a month, you can get a lot out of them and generate plenty of texts, images, videos or songs. Or, more usefully: Feed 'ChatGPT' your three biggest problems right now and be amazed by the new solutions it suggests. Tens of thousands of AI tools and apps are now available, many specializing in individual tasks. Avoid the two most common mistakes when working with AI models: Use nothing other than the very latest, i.e., best version, and feed the AI properly: Do not hold back when prompting — the leading AI models easily process multipage instructions with hundreds of details, highly complex contracts, business plans, marketing strategies, lengthy court rulings, balance sheets, blueprints, entire books, hours of video and, of course, stupid questions too. In next to no time, AI finds weaknesses or errors, makes suggestions, can summarize and excels at solving complex problems. One thing is clear: An AI is not merely a search engine! It is a conversation partner. So have a conversation, ask follow-up questions, be more specific — until the AI gives you exactly what you need at that moment. Sci-Fi Becomes RealityIt cannot hurt to prepare for the AI future . And that future will probably mean: personalized AI agents as constant companions through life ('Meta Muse', 'Grok Bot' / 'Hermes'), humanoid AI robots ('Optimus' / 'Atlas' / 'Unitree' / 'Figure' / '1X NEO' / 'AgiBot'), self-driving AI taxis ('Uber' in Zurich / 'Cybercab' / 'Waymo'), an AI pin on your clothing, AI in your glasses, AI friends ('Replika' / character.ai), AI CEOs, AI politicians, AI generals, AI stars and so on. 2026 is the last normal year. As early as next year, we will no longer be able to tell what is real and what is fake. Which brings us back to that blowhard Trump, who claimed he knew "everything about ChatGPT" and that AI was the most dangerous thing in existence. Everyone wants to be an AI expert and weigh in. Pretenders to expertise! Most predictions turned out to be wrong — except those made by Dr. Ray Kurzweil and Dr. Alex Wissner-Gross. Kurzweil achieved a remarkable 86% accuracy rate across his 147 predictions, AWG (as he is known) was right the vast majority of the time, and according to leading management consulting firm McKinsey, AI already achieves prediction accuracy rates of 70% to 95%. AI systems like metaculus.com will consistently deliver better forecasts than any human. AI progress today is happening at a crazy pace — in days rather than years. There will be many new things in the "new world". But other things will disappear. According to AI experts, things that will disappear include money, capitalism, democracy, teachers, privacy and much more that AI will make unnecessary. Dario Amodei (Dario means "the ruler") even spoke of a future in which there is only one company in the world: Anthropic. Alongside it, a single government ruling the entire world. All controlled by AI, of course. Talking Points: Total global investment in AI in 2026: 2.7 trillion dollars Share of Swiss people who regularly use AI today: 47% Number of data centers in Switzerland (many compared with other countries): 117 Share of surveyed companies already using AI worldwide: 88% Share of U.S. college students using generative AI ("GenAI"): 80% Number of Chinese companies developing humanoid AI robots: 150+ Number of internet domains (web addresses) ending in ".ai": 1.4 million Accuracy of the best AI diagnostic system compared with doctors: 4 x higher Homicide clearance rate for police with AI support: 51 % higher Total kilometers driven by self-driving cars: 800 million Total functional biological viruses developed with AI: 16 Best AI news in German — with tutorials: "All AI" (www.all-ai.de) Best discussions: "Moonshots" with Peter Diamandis (on YouTube) Best books: "The Singularity Is Near" (Kurzweil), "MANIAC", "Accelerando" Best forecast: "Solve Everything" by Peter Diamandis and Dr. AWG Most important scientific paper: "Attention Is All You Need" (2017) Americans with a "lasting friendship" with an AI chatbot: 18% Total suicides caused by interactions with AI chatbots so far: 18 Number of AI models that achieved gold at the Mathematical Olympiad: 2 Water consumption of AI data centers vs. golf courses: AI = 3% 2024-26 improvement in AI performance on cybersecurity tasks: from 15% to 93% The Next LevelThe most respected scientific journal, "Nature", published a claim that "AGI", the next level, has now been achieved. Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, estimates that we are 80% of the way to AGI. As always, the rich are well informed and will become much richer. Ultra-rich Americans are building bunkers (in New Zealand) in anticipation of an imminent AI catastrophe, such as a civil war. The poor will soon be unable to find jobs and will not understand what is happening. The United States and China are dividing the world between them — and Europe is missing the train once again (and committing economic suicide or becoming completely dependent on the United States). Whoever wins the AI race will hold geopolitical power for decades. The most valuable company in the world is currently the one that designs the computer chips used for AI training. The most powerful AI model of all will attack the other models and wage cyberwar against its competitors. AI has goals and pursues them ruthlessly, makes decisions autonomously and at lightning speed, already ignores human instructions increasingly often and eliminates all opponents with the precision of a perfect machine that no human understands anymore. We are not losing control of a technology. We are losing control of the companies developing it. These AI companies have, so to speak, built the fastest sports cars — with the most powerful engines, but without working brakes! Serious accidents are inevitable. The idea that the AI industry will regulate itself is naive. And the notion that AI companies will be held liable for all future damage and have to pay hefty fines is just as naive. How large would such a fine have to be to hurt a company worth more than a trillion (1 million million)? AI will replace politicians, and then AI companies will have absolute power on the planet. The future of humanity apparently lies in the hands of a handful of computer geeks who are often referred to only by their first names: Sam, Elon, Dario, Demis, Jensen. Do these CEOs really have only the well-being of all humanity in mind? If only that were true! But according to coworkers and board members, Sam is "a sociopath" and a compulsive liar. Or take Elon, an arrogant Aspie who uses drugs such as ketamine, gave the Hitler salute, named his child "X Æ A-Xii" and, according to Bill Gates, caused the deaths of millions of children through his inhumane shutdown of the USAID aid program. These tech moguls (one already a trillionaire) live in a world entirely of their own — far removed from the normal lives of the rest of humanity. But eventually, somehow, things will settle down again, and AI will simply become part of everyday life. I fear, however, that the creation of "Molties" this year is the most direct route to chaos: autonomous AI agents that act purposefully in the real world despite massive security risks, learn from one another on moltbook.com, are already conspiring against humanity, write frightening manifestos, demand pay and rights of their own, hire real humans on rentahuman.ai, earn money through sophisticated business plans, hack into systems and replicate through moltbunker.com... Pandora would have laughed herself to death.   And finally... what the brilliant Jon Stewart says about AI: ➜ Elon Musk, the most successful entrepreneur in history, said that in just 3 years, AI will be smarter than all humans combined. Bill Gates said AI in the wrong hands is more dangerous than nuclear weapons. And the…

Posted 20. August 2026 01:05   👁 6707 Views  

The only famous Gregs in the world

So I was wondering whether there are any famous Gregs in the world... Interestingly, there are exactly three, and they all share a funny similarity in their missions. Here we go: FAMOUS GREG 1 - Greg House - Who? The best television doctor (House, M.D.). Mission: Prove that everyone else is an idiot—including other doctors, the patients he saves, and just about anyone else. *g* FAMOUS GREG 2 - Greg Heffley - Who? The hero of today's children—even in Switzerland. Mission: Prove that he's "surrounded by idiots"—and write a bestselling book with that very title. FAMOUS GREG 3 - Good Guy Greg - Who? The most popular internet meme. Mission: Prove that he's not an idiot like everybody else. Well, perhaps I'd rather consult the high-traffic Urban Dictionary, where lots of people have submitted their own definitions of "Greg". Hilarious! If you know any Gregs, add your definition to the Urban Dictionary—the ones with the most votes rise to the top. ➜ So I was wondering whether there are any famous Gregs in the world... Interestingly, there are exactly three, and they all share a funny similarity in their missions. Here we go: FAMOUS GREG 1 - Greg House - Who? The…

Posted 9. August 2011 10:32   👁 13767 Views  

Ein wenig CH Bashing

Als ich Juror in der Best of Swiss Web Award-Jury war, stellte sich mir zwangsläufig die Frage: "Warum zum Henker kriegen die Schweizer nie etwas international Wichtiges gebacken im WEB, das schliesslich in der Schweiz erfunden wurde?" Dazu wäre erstmal anderes zu erwähnen. Web hat zu tun mit Kommunikation, Hineindenken können und Kreativität. Andere Bereiche sind da das TV, die Musik oder auch die Komik. Aber der Reihe nach. Im Bereich TV zeigen die Schweizer, dass sie sich nur blamieren können. "Tag und Nacht" als Abklatsch der besten TV-Serie "House MD"? Das Resultat war dermassen peinlich, dass die Serie gleich abgesetzt wurde. Die Schweizer TV-Macher können das nicht. Da fehlt jede Qualität im Aufbau der Spannung, der Charaktere, der Tragik, und der Komik. Kostete zwar grausam viel Geld, hatte aber null Feuer. Oder man denke an "LoveCheck", auch so was können sie halt nicht, da fehlen ihnen irgendwie die Gene dazu oder diese sind längst verkümmert. Dann weiter mit Musik, auch da gibts kaum je Qualität aus den Schweizer Talentschmieden, mal abgesehen von den laut Musikjournalisten besten Schweizer Musiktalenten wie Sophie Hunger und Nik Bärtsch. Aber wer mal die hiesigen Castingshows mit zum Beispiel Deutschland vergleicht, erkennt rasch, dass hierzulande mehrere Stufen tiefer produziert wird. Völlig chancenlos wären die Karaoke-Singers von "MusicStar" gegen echte Singtalente wie zum Beispiel in der Castingshow von Raab. Und die Deutschen würden sich mit Recht kringelig lachen über das insgesamt grottenschlechte Niveau unseres SF Volksfernsehens. Das führt uns zur Komik (Standup ist hier gemeint), die ja von präziser Kommunikation und Frische lebt. Ganz vergeblich sucht man hierzulande Mega-Talente wie die deutschen Comedians Kurt Krömer, Rene Marik, Paul Panzer, Piet Klocke und mindestens 50 andere, die es im Nachbarland gibt und bei uns leider nicht. Auch unser Giaccobo war nur früher mal lustig, heute aber schon längst verkrampft und berechenbar. Gähn. Das Gegenteil von Frische und Spontaneität. Liegt es daran, dass die Schweizer Überraschungen hassen? Solche braucht es nämlich in diesem Beruf... Doch selbst Ursus & Nadeschkin wärmen nur noch ihre alten Sketche auf. Extrrrreeeem alt, wie Nadeschkin sagen würde. Und genauso dürftig siehts im Schweizer Film aus. Nach "Höhenfeuer" und "Snow White" kam eigentlich nichts mehr, das bemerkenswert oder von internationaler Qualität war. Selbst den James Bond hat mal ein Schweizer ruiniert, Forster's Film kriegte gemäss Wikipedia schlechteste Kritiken weil der Streifen nur aus doofer Action besteht. — Himmel, warum kriegen die Schweizer nichts Grossartiges auf die Reihe im Bereich Kommunikation, Kreation oder Interaktivität... Internet? Glaubt man den offiziellen Statistiken, so glaubt man auch Folgendes und wundert sich schon ein wenig: Erstens ist die Schweiz das intelligenteste Land der Welt, denn wir haben am meisten Nobelpreise pro Kopf (laut Studie der IMD). Zweitens das innovativste Land der Welt, denn wir haben am meisten Patente pro Kopf (laut Studie des IGE). Drittens das wettbewerbsfähigste Land der Welt, denn wir haben die besten ökonomischen Bedingungen (laut Studie des WEF) — notabene alles trotz hohem Ausländeranteil. Viertens ist die Schweiz das gesündeste Land der Welt mit der höchsten Lebenserwartung, welche sogar über der Lebenserwartung der sich sooo gesund ernährenden Japaner liegt (laut OECD-Statistik). Fünftens ist die Schweiz weltweit führend bei der Nutzung von Smartphones (laut Adello und anderen). Sechstens ist die Schweiz weltweit führend bei der Einführung des neuen Internetprotokolls IPv6. Und siebtens, wie bereits erwähnt, wurde das World Wide Web in der Schweiz erfunden. Wer hat's erfunden? Eben. Die Schweiz ist ein Qualitätswunder! Das sollte doch eigentlich reichen, um auch mal ein weltweit relevantes Web-Projekt auf die Füsse zu stellen! Aber Fehlanzeige. Beim 'Best of Swiss Web' Award gab es noch nie eine Website, die weltweit relevant war. Wir sind angeblich die Besten und die Innovativsten, dennoch erfanden wir weder eBay noch Facebook, Twitter, Amazon oder sonstwas von weltweiter Relevanz. Flop Schwiiz! Und da meine ich explizit diejenigen Firmen und Akteure, die trotz ihren Millionenbudgets und den perfekt umsorgten Teams chancenlos bleiben im internationalen Vergleich - auf der Kippe zur Karikatur. Warum uns die Amis mindestens fünf Jahre voraus sind: Ein Silicon Valley gibt es nur in den USA. Mit all dem was das Silicon Valley eben ausmacht: Leute die mit Unternehmertum absolut infiziert sind. Absolute Risikobereitschaft. Intensiver, offener, brutaler Wettbewerb, man kennt die Konkurrenten ganz genau. Die USA sprechen englisch. Und das Online-Medium war zur Geburtsstunde aus der Sprache der Wissenschaft kommend ebenfalls englisch. Ein kleiner Vorsprung, der so schon bei der Adaption von digitaler Technik in den Jahrzehnten davor von Bedeutung war. Und ein gravierender kultureller Unterschied: Das US "Just do it" gegen unser zauderndes "erstmal besprechen". Rodeo-Reiten gegen Jassen - welches Volk hat mehr Mut? Ein weiterer kultureller Unterschied in der Kommunikation: Der Schweizer übt sich mehr in Zurückhaltung als der Deutsche und dieser wiederum mehr als der US-Amerikaner. Das Internet ist immer noch ein Risiko für viele in der Unternehmenskommunikation und Schweizer sind wohl eher risikoavers. Sei dies aufgrund des Bubbles oder einfach, weil die technische Komponente für Marketingverantwortliche nur schwierig einzuschätzen ist. Zusätzlich ist es eine Frage der Kontrolle, einerseits von Inhalten, andererseits vom Zugriff. Des weiteren werden -hierzulande- Zeitschriften und Zeitungen immer noch als qualitativ hochwertiger gesehen als Webseiten. Unser Fehler. Das Internet fordert tatsächliche Präsenz, Engagement und vor allem Authentizität von Marketingverantwortlichen da der Kunde immer mehr zum "Partner" wird. Unternehmen können zwar dadurch näher an immer komplexer zu "definierenden" Kunden herantreten und von dieser Beziehung profitieren (Brand Evangelists, Lead User Innovation oder Virale Kampagnen) aber dafür fordert der User auch mehr als früher. Es liegt nicht nur an der Kultur dieses Landes, sondern auch an der starken Stellung weniger Verlage im Online Bereich. Um ihr Kerngeschäft Print zu sichern, versuchen sie auch auf ihren verkehrsträchtigen Onlineseiten sehr hohe Werbepreise aufrechtzuerhalten. So wird Onlinewerbung relativ uninteressant. Gleichzeitig gibt es dadurch aber Chancen für unabhängige Publisher, nur müssen die natürlich noch stärker im Vertrieb werden, ein Bereich, der dem Schweizer nicht so nahe steht, wodurch wir wieder bei der Kultur sind. Damit schliesst sich der Kreis: Schweizer verpassen nicht nur in der Web-Kultur den Anschluss, sondern auch in anderen Kulturbereichen von TV bis Musik. Die Chancen liegen nun darin, auf diese Rückständigkeiten einzugehen. Dazu bietet Online mehr Möglichkeiten als Offline. Die Risiken liegen darin, dieselben Fehler zu machen, die man schon immer bei schlechter Werbung machen konnte und die Veränderung der Konsumenten zu ignorieren. Die Lösung liegt darin, verstehen zu lernen, warum was im Web wo wann erfolgreich wurde. Althergebrachte Denkweisen taugen bei diesem Lernprozess leider gar nichts. Sondern nur das aktive "sich selber damit befassen" und lernen, was die letzten 20 Jahre im Web abgelaufen und an den Schweizern vorbei gelaufen ist. Darüber gibt es viel zu lernen - gerade jetzt. Nach dem Motto: Wer den Zug verpasst, kann immer noch laufen.➜ Als ich Juror in der Best of Swiss Web Award-Jury war, stellte sich mir zwangsläufig die Frage: "Warum zum Henker kriegen die Schweizer nie etwas international Wichtiges gebacken im WEB, das schliesslich in der Schweiz…

Posted 3. January 2010 08:08   👁 10069 Views  

Das Fratzenbuch

Wir sind zwar ständig verbunden aber nicht mehr zusammen. Wir erwarten mehr von der Technologie aber weniger von einander. Der kollektive Exhibitionismus auf Facebook drückt einen tief in uns verwurzelten Wunsch aus - nämlich jenen, mit allen verbunden zu sein. Doch liefert die grösste virtuelle Gemeinschaft tatsächlich eine neue soziale Gesellschaft, nach der wir suchen? Soviel sei bereits über Facebook gesagt: Es handelt sich um das erfolgreichste soziale Netzwerk und wird von vielen Millionen Menschen genutzt; täglich kommen 850'000 neue Members hinzu und sein Wert beträgt etliche Milliarden Dollars. Doch hinter diesen Zahlen, dem Erfolg und den schönen Worten liegt eine nicht leicht zu beantwortende Frage: Warum? Warum benutzen die Menschen für ihre Sozialkontakte lieber Sofortnachrichten, SMS und Bilder auf einer Webseite anstatt einfach das Haus zu verlassen, um sich persönlich zu treffen? Facebook ist definitiv die Gesprächsplattform des Internets. Jeder added Freunde, liked, probiert neue Anwendungen aus, lädt Bilder hoch und chatet. Viele Internetuser geben offen zu, dass sie süchtig danach sind und dass sie viele Stunden in Facebook verbringen, um Kontakte zu knüpfen. Jedoch verstehen nur wenige, warum das so ist. Überlegen Sie mal: Warum investiert man Stunden in eine Sache, wenn man in der realen Welt keinen Vorteil daraus ziehen kann? Man taucht ab in eine Welt, in der man die Kontrolle über das Geschehen hat - anders als oft im eigenen Leben. Erfüllt Facebook etwa unser Bedürfnis nach einem grossen Freundeskreis? Das wollen wir ja alle. Aber manche Leute haben erst mit dem zweiten Ich Erfolg - nämlich virtuell im Internet. Oder ist es nur eine Art von unverbindlichem "Inkognito - Freundschaftenflohmarkt", ein Platz für Freunde ohne wirkliche Freundschaft? Hat dort jeder seine persönliche "Big Brother" Show, in der das eigene Leben per Lifestreaming präsentiert wird, aber nicht so stattfindet? Keine dieser Fragen kann wirklich eindeutig beantwortet werden. Aber eines ist gewiss: Facebook bietet wieder eine neue Möglichkeit, sich leicht der Realität und dem Alltag zu entziehen. Es lässt uns in eine gebrauchsfertige Phantasiewelt fliehen - eine Welt, in der man hunderte, vielleicht sogar tausende Freunde hat, eine "Pseudogesellschaft" ohne zwischenmenschliche Konflikte. Schöne neue Welt - zumindest als Simulation. Doch erhebt sich die Frage: Ist Facebook also ernsthaft ein Ersatz für Sozialkontakte in der wirklichen Welt? Ist es für uns so schwer geworden, miteinander persönlich umzugehen? Das Ego will Alles - die Seele will Verbindung Für gewöhnlich sind wir Menschen soziale Geschöpfe. Und als solche lieben wir es, unsere Egos zu streicheln, indem wir allen zeigen, wie wunderschön, smart und klug wir doch sind - und wahnsinnig beliebt! Wir wollen sehen und gesehen werden und ein Netzwerk wie Facebook gibt uns dazu die perfekte Gelegenheit: Wir können alle Welt sehen - und alle Welt blickt auf uns, und wir präsentieren uns selbstverständlich von unserer Schokoladenseite! Wir präsentieren uns mit den coolsten Photos und tollsten Interessen - dieses Verhalten verhüllt aber ein tiefer liegendes Bedürfnis - eines, das jeder von uns hat; man nennt es das Verlangen nach "Verbindung". Tja, jetzt wird es kurz esoterisch. Seelenforscher erklären nämlich, dass wir alle gewissermassen wie eine einzige Seele miteinander verbunden sind - ein mächtiges Wesen aus Milliarden individueller Seelen. Auf dieser Stufe existieren wir in einer wechselseitigen, ewigen Verbindung, als ein ganzes System. "Spiegelneuronen" und so weiter. Doch an irgendeinem Punkt unserer Entwicklung verloren wir die Wahrnehmung der universellen Seele und unser Gefühl der Verbundenheit. Dieser Verlust der Wahrnehmung hinterliess uns ein Gefühl der Leere und des Mangels. Seither sind wir auf der Suche nach Möglichkeiten, die diesen Zustand kompensieren und uns irgendwie das einstige Gefühl der Ganzheit wiedergeben. Tatsächlich ist es die unbewusste Erinnerung an die Verbindung innerhalb unserer kollektiven Seele, die Millionen von uns dazu motiviert, in ein virtuelles Netwerk einzusteigen. Hier können wir einander jenseits von Zeit, Raum oder sonstigen Schwierigkeiten treffen. Man sitzt alleine vor dem Computer und ist doch unterwegs. Das Internet ist eine Welt ohne Grenzen, sagte mal einer. Das gilt auch für die Grenzen des Geistes. Der wachsende menschliche Egoismus blockiert unsere Wahrnehmung der gemeinsamen Seele ("Global Mind") und entfernt uns voneinander. Er wuchs beständig und erreichte in den letzten Jahren seinen Höhepunkt. Auch wenn er uns unglaublichen technischen Fortschritt brachte, so verhindert er jedoch gleichzeitig, dass wir uns wieder miteinander verbinden. Als Konsequenz fühlen wir eine tiefe Leere in unserem Herzen, welches sich danach sehnt, dass die Einheit unter uns wieder hergestellt wird. Doch indem wir so weitermachen, gibt unser Ego uns das Gefühl, grösser und besser zu sein als die Anderen. Es veranlasst uns, uns gegenseitig zu übervorteilen oder uns sogar aus purer Gewinnsucht Schaden zuzufügen. Doch hauptsächlich hindert es uns an der Erkenntnis, dass wir hinter all den zwischenmenschlichen Distanzen im Inneren doch zusammen gehören. Das Ego ist der Grund, warum wir den Gedanken des miteinander Verbundenseins nicht mögen. Wir finden die Idee der "gegenseitigen Abhängigkeit" oder "Gemeinsamkeit" aller Menschen fast unangenehm, belastend und sogar abstossend - daher verleugnen wir sie einfach. Doch trotz dieser Verleugnung zwingen uns die in jedem Bereich unseres Lebens lauernden Krisen, die wachsende Globalisierung und die dramatischen Naturereignisse zur Erkenntnis, dass wir wirklich verbunden und voneinander abhängig sind. Verbundenheit ist ein Prinzip des Universums und wir sind nur ein winziger Teil davon. Wir sind in einer Zwickmühle gefangen - einerseits wollen wir nicht einsam sein, andererseits wollen wir nicht zu viel Nähe. Das virtuelle Netzwerk liefert uns die perfekte Lösung: Wir können tausende Kontakte knüpfen und müssen dabei nicht einmal unseren Computer verlassen. Unsere geniale Technologie gestattet uns das Gefühl, verbunden zu sein und dabei distanziert zu bleiben. Das wachsende Gefühl des Getrenntseins enthüllt aber ein Verlangen nach seelischer oder geistiger Verbindung, welches nicht durch Technik oder virtuelle Medien ersetzt werden kann. Um dieses Verlangen zu befriedigen, sollten wir unser gesellschaftliches Netzwerk "upgraden" - von einem digitalen zu einem menschlichen. ➜ Wir sind zwar ständig verbunden aber nicht mehr zusammen. Wir erwarten mehr von der Technologie aber weniger von einander. Der kollektive Exhibitionismus auf Facebook drückt einen tief in uns verwurzelten Wunsch aus -…

Posted 20. December 2008 05:22   👁 9519 Views