Alive
Conversations About Life When Technology Becomes Sentient
Post #19 - Born In The USA
The Impact Of AI-Powered War and Law Enforcement On America & The West
Previous Post: Tomorrow’s War … Today
Coming Home
So let's review the business plan. The "war lords" make money by inventing new weapons. Then, to prove the old weapons were ever needed in the first place—and to clear out the warehouses for new stock—they encourage wars and proxy wars to deplete the old arsenal.
But why stop there? To continue to grow the “business,” they sell more weapons back home for reasons of law enforcement and national security.
It’s a fear cycle worth trillions of dollars, and it seems everyone is in on it: the businessmen, the politicians, the bankers, and the generals.
And. It works, so why stop there? To continue growing the "business," those innovative weapons are then sold back home, rebranding them for "law enforcement" and "national security."
It’s only logical—if you’ve found your peace with killing, that is. First, a weapon is tested and proven on a battlefield far away. Then, "to keep the peace," it's modified slightly and sold to police departments back home.
The lie machine engages to make sure you believe they are on your side. So if you think autonomous weapons are just built for far-off battlefields, think again.
The weapons we build for others are always brought home. The military rifles end up on city streets, abused by corrupt police. Robotic officers will follow.
Mark my words. If you tolerate this, wherever you are in the world, then your children will be next. We will discuss this—the impact of the rise of AI on our freedom, further in Part (2) of this book. For now, remember this:
The superpowers that kill overseas, will use the same technology to expand their powers and oppress back home.
Armageddon — The Old Fashioned Way
Even if the autonomous weapons themselves don’t come back home to oppress you on your own streets, their impact on foreign soil will likely bring the war back in other ways—through economic collapse and, ultimately, a nuclear fallout.
Even if they don't bring the autonomous weapons home to oppress you on your own streets, they will surely bring the war back in other ways—through economic collapse and, ultimately, nuclear fallout.
Think about it. In a world filled with nuclear superpowers, there is no such thing as "deterrence" and no possibility of submission to an AI overlord. Any conventional war fought between major powers with autonomous weapons would inevitably escalate.
When one push of a button can annihilate all of humanity and wipe out every corner of our planet, war is a stupid game. For decades, America bombed the helpless, but now it wants to deter China. A war that may escalate to a stand off with the world’s most advanced autonomous armies, wherever those may be, is a sure path to the end. One wrong move by a "thinking" weapon, one flawed calculation, and we all share the same fate—a bright light that even the robots won't survive. No winners. No losers. It’s a curious game, war. The only way to win is not to play.
I pray with all of my heart that I am wrong in my calculations. I wish our world can learn to reason. I hope the Americans love their children too.
Please don’t believe the slogans. Say no to war!
… even if you are American.
Born In The USA
For what its worth, I don’t blame the American people for any of this madness and neither should you.
I love the American people.
But no amount of love can ever justify tolerating the arrogance and greed of those who lead America.
And I know this isn’t a radical sentiment; it's a feeling shared by many around the world, and by countless Americans. They sing it at the top of their lungs.
Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”—often blasted at political rallies like a national anthem—is one of the most misunderstood protest songs in American history. On the surface, especially if you only hear the roaring chorus, it sounds like pure patriotism. But dig into the verses, and you find a devastating critique of the American government and its war machine.
Springsteen sings from the perspective of a Vietnam veteran: drafted into a war he didn't choose, sent to fight people he had no quarrel with, and abandoned upon his return. When he cries out, "Sent me off to a foreign land / to go and kill the yellow man,” it’s not a cry of pride. It’s the raw, bitter cry of betrayal.
Like so many others, the song's narrator was swept into the war machine by patriotic slogans, only to be confronted by the truth of his situation. He realized the war had no reason. He saw that the horror was unbearable.
And then he came home—to find no job, no support, and no future.
From hero to zero. Cast away and unable to pay the rent.
My heart goes out to every American caught in the crosshairs of this psychological warfare, especially now, at the height of the age of mind manipulation. Taught to hate strangers they’ve never met. Forced to swear allegiance to "friendly" nations they have no connection to.
Made to live on constant alert, surrounded by imaginary boogeymen, all paid for by their own government to keep them in a perpetual state of manufactured fear.
Here’s a simple truth: the world doesn’t hate Americans. In fact, much of the world loves the American people, even while it despises the actions of their politicians and corporate overlords.
My heart aches for the citizens of a once-great nation, misled by slogans of "free markets" and the fantasy of the "American Dream." They pledge their labor to a machine that exploits them, funneling the profits to war lords while their own earning power has stagnated for decades.
I feel the pain of every household that now needs two incomes just to stay afloat—two people tolling away to earn what a single breadwinner brought home in the good old days.
My heart aches for them when nearly half of every dollar in the budget that Congress gets to allocate goes to funding a forever war they don’t get to vote on, while only a few pennies go to educating their children. I watch those the majority of their children grow deprived of a chance to make it out of poverty, as the rich get richer. I watch them misinformed while the blood of millions ends up on their hands.
I watch them struggle as they navigate the crumbling infrastructure—roads, bridges, and airports that now border on third-world, in contrast to the rising, modern nations like China, Singapore, or the UAE.
Yes. Read that again.
The crumbling third-world infrastructure, education and health care provided to the American people is the direct result of spending half of the nation’s discretionary budget on war.
And yet, Americans are still led to believe that the aggression of their government is what makes them the greatest nation on Earth. It’s not. It’s what is leading to the collapse of the empire.
In 2019, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter revealed that he had spoken with then-President Trump about this very issue. He explained that the reason China is getting ahead of the U.S. is war. "Since 1979, do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody? None. And we have stayed at war.”
This idea is echoed by Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished Singaporean diplomat and former President of the UN Security Council. In a now-famous speech at Harvard, he argued that America's greatest strategic mistake was spending trillions on "unwise wars" while China was investing in its own people and infrastructure. In his view, America's focus on war was the "greatest gift any country could give to the Chinese people," as it allowed China two to three decades of uninterrupted, peaceful growth while America's own foundation crumbled.
While the rest of the world pays for the greed
of America’s defense machine with innocent lives,
Americans pay for it with their dollars, their labor,
their children’s future and their suffering—every single day.
Let’s count the damages.
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