Transhumanism and the Metaverse, an audio essay by Charles Eisenstein

[@jennifercoralie9158]

Beautiful and brilliant. I'm a 71 year old still celebrating the material world. Thank you Charles.

[@naturelistens1864]

Thank you Charles - especially for creating an audio version. I’m increasingly in the Hippy camp while grateful for some aspects of technology that make listening to your thoughts in this way possible. We must come into right relationship with our own wild nature and realise that as above, so below. 🙏💚

[@julianbrown7976]

So many excellent points made with characteristic eloquence. A CS Lewis for our time.

[@danisacredjourney5216]

This is such excellent work, Charles. Thank you so much for all of your essays. They have been an integral part of my own journey of understanding. Looking forward to many, many more! Sending you a wave of gratitude from one human to another, different sides of the globe, different lives; same tribe. THANK YOU 🙏🏼 Daniela

[@liminalgriffin8419]

Thank you Charles, for shining such thoughtful eloquence and elegance of verbal expression onto things I feel in my heart but don’t always know how to articulate 🙏🏼

[@SiSwitzer]

Thank you for this very insightful look at western culture. What stands out for me is the insidious nature of transhumanism, something that seems to have humanities best interest at heart but, certainly from my perspective, is a gradual spiral into an insular shadow world. If we can’t spend time with each other, playing in rivers and woods, beaches and the ocean, growing our food with the earth on our hands and under our nails, then something fundamental is missing. I especially like that you highlight that the transhumanist movement is very much hand in hand with capitalism, whereas our relationships with each other and the world around us is not only not financially quantifiable in any sense that carries intrinsic meaning but isn’t quantifiable in any sense at all of weights and measures. As far as I can see, we are nature and nature is us, and the more time spent “out there” and not in the world of computers, the clearer this becomes. Thank you once again for all your work🙏

[@kharrahs]

beautiful art work - and I like the description line - "for more contentent" whether a typo or intentional, I like the idea that I will be more content with more content :D- I have no doubt. I am so gratified by your writings Charles. They help me feel less alone, less sad, and more hopeful. Many thanks.

[@airmark02]

Thank You Charles ! Your observations are always enlightening & deeply appreciated.

[@maraikadanisch6571]

Good day! Excellent writing and presentation!!! Thank you! I was raised in a “Hippie” environment. Both my parents were Hippies and Artists. I am 56 now, and look back on my childhood and ways of being in my environment. Yes, my parents (Hippies), we’re back to the land, a co-op in our garage, question Government, etc. Fast forward today…. The peers of my parents are now “vaccinating”, trusting/believing all that Government/Media are saying, fearful, judging, etc. What happened here? What happened to the Hippies questioning? Having open minds? I’m shocked at their ways now, in these days of Covid, politics, etc.?

[@maraikadanisch6571]

Ooooops, I didn’t intend for the ? at the end of my last sentence…. However, maybe it’s appropriate. I’m just surprised and shocked at this situation of a change of heart and mind in these old Hippies, literally and figuratively. I also notice a change in my peers/old childhood friends….. I have been ostracized by lifelong friends and parents of friends since the beginning of these Covid years…These “Hippies” are following right along with the Main Stream Narrative, and practicing this thing called Virtue signaling, shutting out anyone who questions, thinks anything different from them. I would love some feedback in this quandary…. It has been heartbreaking to lose so many people from my life in the past two years.

[@JoshHeath71]

I can relate - my “hippy” family mostly went along with the Covid stuff hook line and sinker. My view is that the “trans humanist” agenda has many angles - if you fall for only one or two of their tactics you get rounded up with the masses. So I have compassion for these people and extend them forgiveness and understanding - they have simply been brainwashed :-/ In the case of the old hippies, they tried to escape and then seemingly a majority of them got corrupted. Seems likely to me that as early movers away from the culture of domestication and trans humanism they jumped in with innocence & naivety… and then became to some degree disillusioned. And then became easy pickings for the mother culture to appeal to their deepest beliefs about security and power either through government or through capitalism - either way they have you back under a program of control,

[@oliviaflorian]

Thank you for exploring these questions and putting words onto where we are heading and the choices. I was very moved especially at the part towards the end about embracing and falling more deeply in love with the material world … thank you 🙏💕

[@terryfitzsimmons]

Charles, the relevance of your expression grows with every day.

[@aparajitgupta]

Thanks for the incredible essay, Charles. I always hope you're wrong about these things, but unfortunately, I don't think you are. The picture you're painting can be demoralizing, but I always walk away from your work feeling more alive. That's your miracle. I hope you keep the beautiful writing flowing.

[@dani_no_thank_you]

Thank you for your essays, and thank you for reading to us!

[@SM-hf4vz]

That your reasonable voice and your clear and sound words nearly provoke a burst of tears on my side ('OMG, I can hear it, I still remember, the sound of reason!') - I think thats a clear sign of the insanity of our times.

[@heidieid2263]

Transparency 💚 conciousness

[@andrearesner]

Thank you Charles 💕 Your thoughts are pure medicine.

[@svenmahr]

Excellent work. Thank you! Also great you offer this audio version, I found the written form first.

[@greciamejias3633]

Thanks so much, especially for your honesty and generosity.

[@natalieschreiber7785]

Thank you! I only comment because I want the algorithm to suggest this video to everyone!

[@bobbiehansen1747]

I LoVE you so very much Charles!! Your ability to discern and put into words such wisdom is a blessing for us all - and you will say DOH! in the middle of it too. I feel great kinship and appreciation for you. Sending you waves of love my friend.

[@kuwapa]

Love your ending to part three! So profound and beautiful a vision that would transform the world if everyone felt and understood it as inherent truth within and without. Such paradoxical revelatory beauty that the suffering & pain is the divine expression and richness all around us. To understand what this undeniable pain speaks to within us is the gateway to liberation.

[@troygoss6400]

I choose LIFE. I choose reality. Thank you for your mindful words.🔥♾🔥

[@SM-hf4vz]

Very, very precisely put - brillant ❣️

[@Knight766]

Never clicked so fast on a new CE video

[@jenniferbuckle1]

Yes Charles, min 24 - Yes, yes - the physicality of appropriating what of substance (our clean and sacred symbols and ideas of mythologies, hence the superhero obsession of the younger 'fearful' generations) lies scattered around us in our existential attempt to plug up the holes in our atomic bodies through which our souls are leaking out, so to speak. It is difficult to say in words the experience of seeing how 'reality' works in action - and not as a negative thing. In realising that when we can see beyond the veil while in our awake five senses' body, how much more of an incredible experience on Planet Earth can we have, when we are no longer limited to being simply reactive but interactive with reality, and with what it reveals to us. Well, this would be the kind of transhumanism that would appeal to me. The irony of this realisation is that this would be so much more of a 'real version of reality' than any AI driven version. Obviously, power, wealth, therefore consumerism and control would no longer work on us, and therefore those in power and the super rich who see this coming are fearful of losing what they consider most precious - their advantages and privileges - so no change there. We will be able to fix things like our health and poverty, mental health issues, and so much more. Thank you for revealing your thinking in your essay - it worked for me. I will not ‘unsee’ what I have just experienced. I look forward to hearing the second half of the essay.

[@Truthkindnesslovefunhealth67]

Totally agree with you on the effects/ influence of gaming and computers on children! It is not good overall. Difficult to find a balance. Many families have suffered, it has been a giant experiment.

[@matthewsmi2239]

Charles, have you thought about a dialogue with Paul Kingsnorth? Baudrillard's concept of sign value looms large here.

[@matthewsmi2239]

"assumes that quality is an illusion". Robert Pirsig is up on a cloud somewhere cheering your ironic statement.

[@wenshu888]

Very well said. Thank you Charles.

[@euclidofalexandria3786]

30:44 secs the flavors of movement.

[@ellepeterson9992]

Yes. Just as Aldous Huxley predicted nearly a century ago, we’re still on track.

[@sunshinelively]

Verifies my analog condition thank you

[@suziejones3721]

This is so very helpful, as always....thank you, thank you xxxx

[@carlosvonderheyde]

Thank you

[@duncanmarlow]

What happened to "A New and Ancient Story Podcast"?

[@Artezia]

Virtual reality is another space created by the mind in order to provide more pleasure, security and permanence. Once you see there is no permanence of anything but a process of indefinitely changes and pleasure is just one face of a coin and everything is just a process of thinking around senses or better said wishful thinking fueled by the senses, the game is over. And there you can find some sort of a different reality where you can rest the senses and map a new mind. I think we shall embrace the point of realization in which any reality is built on knowledge which is built on language which is built on concepts which are just imagination.

[@deanamyers57]

Thanks Charles, i really needed this, excellent. 💚 🤲

[@MsSilver41]

47:03 great description of life as a transhuman. Why would people even consider this to be a good idea ?

[@FabsterClapster]

Thanks charles!

[@cherylbater9962]

I'm working today on the question of what attitude I want to have in light of this because I'm angry at what's happening. I'll just keep offering myself to God and asking him to use me according to his purposes. I'll avoid anger about it but also not allow the pretense of feigned love and peace.

[@crimson3stl]

Love your work Charles. Please get a better mic.

[@claudiapatriciatorregarcia2372]

Excelente. Gracias 💓

[@rinnin]

Amazing piece of writing and thought. Definitely another hippie. Just wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of free energy devices? Was the only bit I couldn’t get behind - breaking the laws of physics & all that 🤔 Thanks 🙏🌎🌱

[@snakemont]

No! This divine reality I wanna live! The Natural world! And i will be a torchbearer for this beautyfull devine natural world!

[@euclidofalexandria3786]

everything in reality can be measured..."" it depends on how many domains the entity or object is spread out across.

[@ArtOfWarStudios1]

Interesting essay. I wonder why you assert some things that seem like a stretch or mischaracterization though. Granted I could be misreading you. I don’t know of anyone saying they want to fully reject the real world for the sake of a digital one. They just want to enhance access to a broader spectrum of potential experiences and information. I also don’t understand why you seem to be suggesting that because depression, suffering and pain still exist, seeking to find ways to make life more enjoyable through technology are futile. No one is saying tech = utopia, but it has been the main source of historical progress. It makes sense to keep endeavoring to improve that which can be improved. Also, no one is saying the new tech is mandatory or compulsory. We still have Amish people today. The best case is to use tech to both heal and embrace nature while increasing the potential for human life liberty and happiness. These are not conditionally opposites. I agree though that corporate and political interests are not humane caretakers of our future trajectory.

[@Z0mb13ta11ahase]

There is a transhumanism world in VR chat and I checked it out being interested in political ideologies and holy fuck dude they are the reason I sold my VR headset.

[@adrianneonline9888]

@Devin Mchorse, Can you explain more? (Speaking as someone with little experience with VR, but curious about your own experience and insight.)

[@paulavaleyogaevida7420]

🙏

[@PhoenixwayNet]

Hippy here.

[@alexandrazachary.musician]

I love you! That’s all I have to say. 🙏🏽❤️🌏

[@hierophanttarot5225]

Right! Why are trying to recreate something we already have.

[@euclidofalexandria3786]

not 1 person should die....

[@euclidofalexandria3786]

flavors of randomness.

[@hierophanttarot5225]

Life can become a consumer product..#redflag