There has never been “the present,” or “the future,” for that matter. This illusion comes from belief in some static human nature, invaded by an alien force, called “the future” or “technology.” But we’re the aliens.
Contra @/GreatDismal, the present is still here it’s just not evenly distributed
— ༺ 𐂂 ༻🐦⬛ (@touchmoonflower) March 16, 2021
You still have a choice
The relentless march of technology is not an impersonal force — it is a venal and self-serving process driven by the petty desires of a few wounded flailers in power
There was one Turing-complete computing substrate on this planet before we developed language. Then there were two. The ramifications of that took thousands of years to unfold. Now there are three.
You can simulate a present by constraining yourself to a certain set of computations. But you’re still simulating it. You know that there is more out there.
The combinatorial explosion of all this computation is too much for a human brain to bear. Our minds have been the interface between DNA and language. Now we have code, and the three interfaces create another dimension entirely.