UNPOPULAR OPINION: PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE

Do You Feel Like You Have Been Hacked?

Are you feeling unlike yourself?

Have we been reduced to hackable animals? Have we completely lost our sense of reality? According to Prof. Yuval Noah Harari, an Israeli best-selling author, historian, and philosopher:

“The most important thing to know about the 21st century is that humans are becoming hackable animals.”

Are you feeling like you are having an out-of-body experience? Are you like me and feel like you’re trapped in a world that you can’t quite explain? Do you feel disconnected from the average person or even your loved ones? Are you experiencing unusual levels of anxiety or feeling unsettled? Do you ever feel like you have lost parts of your humanness? If you answered yes to any of these, you are not alone, and perhaps you have been hacked.

Why are we feeling this way?

There could be many reasons for feeling this way. It could be purely that we have entered different phases in our lives. Just like the seasons change, humans can transform into different versions of themselves, right? Nah, that ain’t it. Perhaps we are experiencing the after-effects of the chaos that we endured over the last 2 years or perhaps there is a war on our minds that is triggering these feelings. Let’s examine both theories.

The pandemic was traumatic for many of us and because we were constantly faced with despair and chaos many of us crumbled underneath that pressure.

There was an administration in power that created unprecedented and polarizing conditions, there were high levels of stress and anxiety from prolonged lockdowns, there was a novel virus that ravaged people’s lives in our nation and around the world, and there were the constant news cycles of death, police brutality, violence, and crime. There were many other chaotic situations that we faced during the pandemic, but I will not discuss them here, instead, I will state the one conclusion that I know to be true — WE ARE NOT OK.

Personally, I had a breakdown during the pandemic primarily because I felt like death and violence were all around me. It lowered my energy and I had to find ways to cope with the situation. But coping was just a temporary means that allowed me to function each day. I know that I wasn’t ok, I just did what I could to survive through those daily adversities. Is that where we are as a society, are we all trying to survive?

Are you ok or are you coping and trying to survive?

We all walk around pretending that we are ok, but are we ok? No, seriously, are we really ok or do you think that something is wrong with most of us? Could it be that we are facing some level of depression or perhaps mental health issues? According to an article published by Boston University, “depression among adults in the United States tripled in the early 2020 months of the global coronavirus pandemic — jumping from 8.5 percent before the pandemic to a staggering 27.8 percent.”

Recently, I had a chat with a family member who is convinced that most people are suffering from some kind of mental health issue. The ironic part about that is, I believe he is as well, but either he’s unaware or has failed to recognize his own problems. So, could it be that after the last 2 years we are experiencing some levels of post-traumatic stress disorder? Or are we having post-pandemic mental issues like depression, but we are oblivious to it? Or perhaps there is something else brewing — be aware, here comes the #conspiracytheory.

Let’s explore another reason for us not feeling like ourselves — psychological warfare

What if there is something more sinister at play here, like psychological warfare — a war on our minds? What if Prof. Harari is correct and we have become hackable animals?

In addition to all the pandemic-related issues, what if there is another reason for us feeling unlike ourselves? What if they —the masterminds behind the media, algorithms, and AI technology — figured out how to hack our brains? Think about it, over the last few years and especially during lockdown, we consumed an excessive amount of information from various media and social networking outlets. Could AI technology have overloaded our circuits, could it have triggered something in our brains that has caused them to malfunction?

You must admit, some humans have not been the same. Some are experiencing levels of psychosis that we can’t explain. Some are beyond reason and have become complacent with their cognitive dissonance. It appears that their minds have been hijacked and they have completely lost their sense of reality.

AI technology and the war on our minds

Psychological warfare has been around for many years, but in the 21st century, it has become a lot more sophisticated. The data collected by AI technology can identify our biases, and it can be formulated and used to exploit and manipulate our minds. This weaponization of data can easily alter our thoughts, it can interfere with the way we interact with others, and worse of all, it can be used to disconnect us from reality.

So, we wonder why humans are not the same — it is because we are not. It could be that we might be suffering from post-pandemic related mental issues or it could be that we have been hacked by those evil men, perhaps women behind the machines. Regardless of what it is, it is quite evident that humanity is experiencing a psychological crisis. A war has been waged on our minds, and unfortunately, many of us have turned a blind eye to it.

The scary part about that is, how much more of ourselves we will continue to lose as AI technology keeps on advancing or as the world becomes more chaotic? Humans are emotional creatures and as AI technology continues to collect information on our triggers and the propaganda machine keeps running, they will succeed in creating psychological warfare on society.

So, what can we do if we are feeling unlike ourselves? I don’t have the answers, but what works for me is when I take a pause from technology and reconnect with myself. Or I find a new hobby that brings me pleasure, or I will escape for a long hike to reconnect with nature. These ideas may not work for you, but it is imperative that you recognize when you are being hacked and feeling unlike yourself.

Collectively, we must find ways to survive these attacks, and perhaps one day we will feel like ourselves again, or perhaps humanity as we know it has finally reached the end of its existence — HACKED.

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