Keep on thinking free
NOV 01, 2026
When I was a teenager in the 1970s, three dystopic novels were pretty much required reading: Orwell’s “1984,” Huxley’s “Brave New World,” and Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” They were all interesting and important books, with Orwell’s being the most important and prescient.
Half a century later, dystopic elements of all three increasingly pervade our lives. From “1984,” America lives in a state of permanent war, with a “Big Brother” government surveilling us for thought crime, even “face crime.” Privacy seems a thing of the past. From “Brave New World,” deference to automation and efficiency remains a thing, along with deep faith in various drugs, whether for pain or anxiety or almost any condition that disturbs the physical and mental health of Americans. From “Fahrenheit 451,” the obsession with screens, which we see today with huge “smart” TVs and palm-sized “smart” phones, along with the decline of reading and books. (Firemen aren’t burning books yet, but maybe with growing deference to AI there’ll be no need to.)
Rattling off these symptoms also suggests a cure. Americans need to act against endless war. Against the erosion of our rights to privacy, free speech, and free expression. We need to resist all the advertising that sells us drugs as panaceas to personal and societal ills. We need to put aside our screens, big and small, and seek out people, nature, life and the reality of the same, without devices as intermediaries. Reality may be messier than virtual reality, but surely it is richer for that reason?
America used to be a land of dreams, or so we claimed, but it seems nightmares are becoming far too common. Perhaps we’ve allowed those with the most money and power to follow their dreams, which have resulted in increasingly nightmarish scenarios for the rest of us.
Which brings me to Caitlin Johnstone and her exploration of what’s up with the AI craze. I think she puts it well here:
I hear people say things like, “I don’t understand why they’re pushing AI so hard when we can all see it’s making everything worse.”
That’s because it’s not being marketed to you; it’s being marketed to governments and plutocrats. They’re the real target audience for these products, not you.
You are not receiving the real sales pitch for AI, because the real sales pitch would not appeal to your sensibilities. The real sales pitch for AI isn’t “Hey check out this product, it makes some web searches slightly easier and it can maybe write your emails for you.” The real sales pitch for AI is “This product allows you to surveil the entire population of your country. It can be built into autonomous surveillance drones and killing machines. It can allow you to monitor and control every aspect of your society. It can reverse the decentralization of information brought on by the internet age. It can take away the collective bargaining power of workers and give you the skilled services your company requires. It can nullify strikes, civil disobedience, and even full-scale revolutions, and lock humanity into your capitalist dystopia forever.”
That’s the real sales pitch. It doesn’t sound appealing to any normal person, but it makes sense when you remember who these technologies are really being sold to, and why.
More dystopia. We wish it weren’t so. But wishing isn’t a plan. Action is. For Americans, this Tuesday the least we can do is get out and vote for the least dystopic candidates. Meanwhile, continue to exercise your rights as best you can. As the Moody Blues said: And keep on thinking free.
Let’s put ourselves back “on the threshold of a dream.”
