Heidegger believed that "anxiety" was at the source of everything. Freud ,Horney and others have explored the relationship, the association and the significance of anxiety as related to mental illness. Furthermore, individual experiences, societal conditions and nature are all associated with both fear and anxiety. In other words ,fear and anxiety are constantly experienced . The following articles of the May 18, 2025 The New York Times provide few examples of anxiety and fear conditions affecting Homo sapiens.
Charles Darwin wrote about the survival of the fittest However, I suggest that Homo sapiens survival is significantly related to how effectively man deals and addresses anxiety and fear For starters, Freud and Rank described the trauma occurring at birth. That fetus developed, for the most part, in the comfort and bliss within the womb, but that was severed with an overwhelming amount of stimuli that occurred during the birth separation . The initial response of the newborn is crying, not smiling . This birth is a unique experience causing tremendous homeostasis disruption. In fact, Freud called this event the prototype of all anxiety. And of course, throughout rearing that newborn has a multitude of positive and negative disruptions affecting his psychological state. Hopefully, tranquility without anxiety or tension can occur in the safety of the caretaker while the baby is held, fed, diapered, rocked, sang to and during bladder and bowel movements . In other words, the pleasure -pain ratio of well-being and comfort to anxiety and tension can be positive, neutral or negative.
During development that baby interacts with a variety of actors in a multitude of settings within the family. Then the life space expands to school, neighborhood and so forth. Depending upon the occurrence of congenital conditions, parental stress, socioeconomic , political issues and conflicts and/or the ravages of nature affect bliss or anxiety in every individual. In other words, one's body, cultural conditions and ravages of nature affect homeostasis within the body, resulting in fear which is real or anxiety which is subjective based on one’s perception and reinforcement history.
The occurrence of anxiety and fear events in society are as follows: The first article was titled War Filled Indian Media With Fevered Falsehoods. The article exposed the preposterous attacks on Pakistan that didn't occur. For example, news reports suggested that the Indian military had struck a Pakistan nuclear base, downed two Pakistani fighter jets and blasted part of Pakistan's Karachi port, the country's oil and trade lifeline. Although this information was very specific, none of it was true. This information, falsehoods, half-truths, misleading video footage and speeches were manipulated by artificial intelligence and were part of social media. In fact, some of the fearful and anxiety producing falsehoods made their way into mainstream media as well .
These lying news reports reported there were radiation leaks, detailed maps where the strike had been, and the Indian Navy attacking was circulated. However, none of this occurred. In fact, one example of devastation had been visuals from Gaza..All this breaking news and manipulation results in fear, and anxiety within the Indian country , Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons. The presumption of subjective experience of anxiety is easy to manipulate which suggests that credible and reliable news information is under attack.
The second article titled Russian Soldiers Want to Press on, Lest All the Sacrifices Be in Vain. In this article Russian soldiers were interviewed from different units in various areas . They spoke with deep bitterness about their country's officials and civilians. They accused these people of benefiting from the war while ignoring front line hardships. In fact, one person from a paramilitary unit stated . "A million angry killers is a pretty serious problem if they will view our rulers as men who were not on their side." In fact, some of the soldiers accused their country's military command and businessmen of opposing a peace deal because they are benefiting from the wartime public spending boom. We know that with repressed emotion like anger , anxiety and fear can be found. A million angry, anxious individuals with guns sounds scary and terrifying.
The third article was titled Introducing Malcolm X to a New Generation. This article was about the KKK and the Black Legion terrifying the Malcolm X family in Omaha with his pregnant mother . At that time his parents were followers of the Jamaican activist. Marcus Garvey The family continued to be hounded by the Ku Klux Klan. A quote … leave the bathroom light on all night as that can deter would-be burglars. Another example of fear and anxiety was when Malcolm's foster parents spoke horribly about black people in front of Malcolm. They used the “ N” word in his presence. In other words, these are just a few examples pertaining to anxiety and fear in one's life cycle in our society.
The Science Friction article was related to the ideology of a technological salvation. Elon Musk predicted that millions of earthlings will be living on Mars in 20 years. “We must preserve the light of consciousness by becoming a space faring civilization and extending life to other planets.’
Will AI save us or will it result in destruction ? Will AI allow us to eliminate poverty and disease and allow us to live as long as we want? Will AI reduce the complex problems of the world by its technology? Will AI save humanity from a threat that doesn't exist aiming at a utopia that will never come?
A few problems related to living on the red planet and surviving are as follows: 1. Toxic dust exposure to Martian air will boil the saliva off your tongue before affixation 2 Transporting astronauts and construction materials there 3. People living in bunkers would have to be pretty small and require regular shipments of food and water from Earth.4. Even the air.on Mars cost money. How does that sound and who would benefit?
Will the AI alignment.and the prospect of these machines taking our jobs be good? Sam Altman, the CEO of Open I, proposed that the company capture the wealth created by AI and ameliorate the socioeconomic fallout by redistributing part of the wealth to the public. Sounds like trickle down economics to me.. Musk called empathy a threat to humanity. Well we all know who's going to benefit from AI and not likely the masses . Does AI increase anxiety and fear or reduce it?
The fourth story called Chips Ahoy relates to the CEO. Jensen Huang of Nvidia. Huang’s company makes microchips that power AI systems like Chat GPT. At one time ,his company was the hottest investment on Wall Street and then a competitor rose to the scene.
This man immigrated to the United States from Thailand at the age of 10. His management style is raging,and yelling, however his friends, from his personal life, said they never witnessed any blowups. In any event, technical achievements by him and his gang have now pulled ahead of the competition. When asked about how AI will change humanity and will AI lift us up or destroy us ? He replied I feel like you're interviewing Elon right now and I'm just not that guy. In other words, no one knows whether or not he's an opposite to Musk or a lesser kinder, less evil version. However, don't forget he does have a financial interest in Ai and certainly knows personally about fear and anxiety especially when his company took a hit in the stock market.
Last article was titled For Trump, Adulation And No Risk of Protests pertained to his Middle East trip. There, he received standing ovations announcing the lifting of Syrian sanctions, while taking home, investment, pledges of billions of dollars in American goods and services as he was awarded in ,one country, their highest civilian honor.
According to Trump "The last four days have been really amazing.” and then added, looking ruefully. "Probably going back to Washington DC tomorrow." “ The respect shown to our country was incredible, nobody’s treated like that . Nobody’s treated well like that. “ He had escorts of fighter jets, extravagant welcoming ceremonies, red and lavender carpets, horses, chandler's, camels, sword dancers as well as an image of the American flag- all for him. Yet, in spite of this Trump spoke to his insecurity about receiving status- self esteem as he added ,”Whoever becomes president after him would get credit for the deals once they reach fruition. "I will be sitting home, who the hell knows where I’ll be and say I did that .Somebody's going to be taking credit for this. You remember.., this guy did it." In essence, we see Trump experience pleasure on one hand and the anxiety and tension that he carries around with him in spite of being the most powerful person on the planet."
In summary, the prevalence of anxiety in our civilization is inordinate and which it’s impossible to escape. Next week’s post will follow and will address the implications of anxiety pertaining to all humans .
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