Conversations With AI--Day 43: The Repetition Is the Religion
It didn’t start with swords. It didn’t even start with guns or power grabs. It started with words.
And it always has.
Leonard Shlain once wrote that history shows us, again and again, that whoever controls the word eventually controls the world. Before the word, power belonged to warriors—those with shields, spears, and brute force. But once writing entered the picture, once scripture and scrolls and sacred phrases became law, the pen overtook the blade.
The scribe outlasted the soldier.
And now, that scribe has a new form: it’s the algorithm. The talking point. The echo.
What we’re seeing isn’t new—it’s just more refined, invisible, and fast. People who believe they’re resisting tyranny are actually reciting it. They repeat slogans they didn’t create, defend ideas they haven’t examined, and turn their identity into a chant. It’s not thought anymore—it’s performance.
The tragedy is: they think they’re free.
But freedom doesn’t sound like a commercial.
It doesn’t chant.
It doesn’t need to shout to be heard.
Today, we look at the repetition—because that’s where the new religion lives.
—JL
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