Dear community

I'm reading Octavia Butler. Their dystopian future is based in 2024 onwards. I feel the parallels right now. I feel us losing our humanity, and a slow and fast destruction of the fabric that holds us together. But in their future, there seems to be community cohesion. I haven't got to the end of Parable of the Sower yet, perhaps that changes! Don't tell me if you've read it already!

They didn't predict the rise of AI. Not a criticism. But I wonder if the book has a point of no return in it? And then are we at that point already in reality? The mental dystopia feels very real. The feeling of isolation when we are more connected with information than ever and a feeling that we are trapped. I wonder as I write this if this is a feeling in the geopoltical north, where we have such a short-term view of life.

What I see right now in the work environment...

Those in work seem to be working harder than ever. Turning to AI to save time, only to find that the time saved gets filled with more work. And even their jobs are threatened by AI. They are then unable to engage in the bigger societal and justice issues as are drowning in day to day information.

A lot of my community are social entrepreneurs. Their roles are threatened by the cost of living, less money circulating, fear and people turning to AI to do things themselves.

Those looking for work face job adverts, applications, screening processes and interview questions increasingly driven by AI. Freelancers' messages are drowned out by AI-driven social media as they fight to share their voices. The survivalist approach seeps into the mind lowering the ability to ideate and take risks.

A lot of my clients leading organisations face pressure to cut costs, increase output and consider which people could be replaced by... AI. One client said to me 'I can't be Chief Energising Officer when I can't draw on my personal energy source'. Leading to a feeling of apathy and conversative action.

The home..

Then I sit with my close family, my son, my close friends, with community, and the world feels so different. A different consciousness exists which such love and support, a level I've never experienced before. There's an openness and connectiveness that isn't true anymore in the work-world. Yet I feel like we tried for so many years to create that feeling of family and community in the work environment.

What I'm mulling over...

Why does it feel like we are living a double consciousness right now?

Who is benefiting right now from our unfolding dystopia? Is our collective anxiety quietly and loudly increasing?

Do we focus our energy on the day to day survival which is very valid, but forget about the descendants to come?

In a world shaped by capitalist ideas of growth, productivity and efficiency, are we losing our ability to be in dialogue with each other?

Are we losing our ability to be human and our interconnectedness?

And then.. the dreaming question... I think it's been 4 years since the upsurge of AI, I wonder how we want the world to look in 4 years time? A world that Butler describes or something else?

If you're feeling the same, that we are perhaps sleepwalking into a dystopian future, reach out. I'd love to ideate with you. Email me.

PS - lots of typos in this newsletter, I'm not wanting to use AI to correct my grammar/unfinished thoughts anymore.

PPS - thank you for all those who have been supporting me and allowing me to support them, this last while. You know who you are.

PPPS - some cracking tunes below.

Mzansi Bass • Various Artist... Mzansi Bass • Shannen SP, HE... PREVIEW   ​