Upgrade of Nietszche's "God is dead"

Over the last couple of weeks, I heard Trumpian phrases coming out of the mouth of someone who would happily abolish constitutional law in order to regain power. Those phrases puzzled me, as they did not seem to convey any real meaning. Yet they sounded familiar. And the mere element of familiarity, seemed to grant those phrases a meaning. And thus, inevitably has an impact on the way in which I think about politics. I am on my guard when puzzling phrases seem to relate more to a desire to remain in power than to a desire to contribute.?

?As you may know, #Machiavelli is often referred to as the man who wrote with the pen of the devil. He represents a #totalitarian approach to power, or in other words dictatorial oppression as opposed to democratic freedom. The #power #of #language is essential to understand some of the dynamics of political regimes and their evolution. As language has the capacity to create mental illusions when words are used to disguise intentions or prevent thinking. My reading tip on this topic is “Why I write” from George Orwell (1946). At the risk of sounding na?ve, but I like to believe that we can eliminate a lot of evil through our language. As language reflects our thinking (and the other way around). So if we can see through Machiavelli-like political leaders and Machiavelli-like language, then we will be able to live closer to our own human nature. Simple comme bonjour, right? Of course (not).

?What does Machiavelli have to do with #Nietszche or #God? Nietszche made his famous quote (God is dead, long live God!) to express his happiness about the fact that our belief in God had been replaced with a belief in science. In the 19th Century context of the Enlightenment. But he also understood that humans need #moral beliefs, some kind of God(s) that convey(s) the images, concepts and ideas about goodness.??I personally belief that God has never been dead to start with. The question of whether God is dead or remains dead has become less relevant in the 21th Century. We as humans can do no more than trying to silence the opponents of God, of goodness, of democratic freedoms, like Machiavelli. And celebrate, protect, stay close to and be proud of our #Nature.

?Let’s get back to Trumpian phrases. At first, I thought that my lack of understanding had to be related to an insufficient mental capacity to understand the language used by people who have reached the highest level in both the political hierarchy and society. But then I remembered my passion for #language and my #job as a #strategic #storyteller / #lobbyist. Okay, so I should not blame my brain. But then why did those Trumpian phrases sound so familiar? Could it be that the non-sensical language was cheating on my brain? Trying to make it see meaning where there really is none to see? Like a #mental #illusion? And with the risk of creating some type of brain anesthesia in case of over-exposure to language that aims to “trump the brain”?

?Yes, that must be it. Trumpian phrases create mental illusions in that they make us see meaning where there is none to be found. At best, you are able to apprehend the intention of the speaker rather than the meaning of the phrases. As much as I love #clear #language, I need to accept that such could also be a disguise to hide insincerity. I am guessing that this is the reason for my unease with Trumpian phrases. I am perceiving an intention which is inconsistent with the way in which language should be used according to me.?Language is an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought. In the case of Trumpian phrases, thought seems to corrupt language. Which means that language can also corrupt thought. I understood that recently when I listened to my 12-year-old son’s Spotify account and realized how much foul language he was being exposed to. I am by no means an advocate of language puritanism, but I was happy to be able to use the Spotify screening options to avoid such exposure. My son's brain is simply too young to be able to categorize such language appropriately and avoid that it impacts his #mental #wellbeing and ultimately his #behavior. I hope there is scientific evidence that confirms this, but I will in any case follow my gut feeling on this matter. Sometimes, #mums really do #know best.

?I am grateful that Spotify is using #AI and #language #science to help parents protect the well-being of their children. I am also grateful that #EU #policy makers are doing a terrific job in?making the EU a world-class hub for AI and ensuring that AI is human-centric and trustworthy.?I am doing my part - as a consumer of LinkedIn and other social media platform services - by making 5 concrete suggestions to protect my brain against the illusionary effect that AI could have.?You can find those in my post.

?I will be happy to contribute further to this reflection, should you wish to. Leaving comments is one of the ways of achieving this, as it will trigger further thoughts and reflections. And in the meantime: thanks a lot for having read this article almost to the end.

N.B.: The thoughts expressed in this article are entirely my own. Any resemblance with existing work is entirely coincidental.

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