We ask ourselves the question often about how to wisely discern the benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence, but it also seems prudent to ask the question lurking underneath: how can humans stay rooted in the “real world” in such a way that we don’t get sucked into the currents of the digital age?

There is a constant push and pull with the online world. On the one hand, it’s a wonder we can chat with other people across the globe, move money around with a click of the thumb, and even alter political and cultural opinion just by typing up a blog and sending it off into social media. On the other, though, it is easy to get so immersed in the online world that we begin to draw all of our primary experiences and emotional responses from its digital pastures. Whatever happened to real pastures to walk in? And real people to talk to and walk with?

This is one of the main reasons the Irish writer Paul Kingsnorth is so interesting to read these days. Kingsnorth writes “The Abbey of Misrule” on Substack, and often critiques the technological beast of the modern age that he simply dubs “The Machine.” And the problem with the Machine is that its machinations, especially in the age of AI, are completely fake. It distorts the world and our relationship to it.

In a new video on YouTube, Kingsnorth further articulates the tension in question. Do we need more “content” on the internet? Do we need another video to watch or another Substack essay to read? In addition, Kingsnorth admits that written language is arguably the “ultimate technology.” We invented it to communicate and “measure the world,” which, in a way, is what the internet seeks to do. Kingsnorth says in the video (which you can watch below):

Not only are we flooded with endless content as a result of the writing revolution and the digital revolution, but we’re flooded with fake nonsense. The world is driving us mad.

Kingsnorth says that in just a few years, we won’t be able to tell the difference between human and machine-generated writing, or videos of real people versus deepfakes. We are headed to a “deepfake world” in which people will be increasingly jaded, confused, and overstimulated to even function properly.

Kingsnorth thinks that in order to stay sane in the modern world, we have to some extent imitate the desert fathers and mothers of ancient Christianity who “retreated” from the fakery of their cultures to regain perspective, a life of prayer and devotion, and a sense of what truly counts as real.

Perhaps in the age of AI, that is going to be one of the fundamental questions we are going to have to start asking. What is truly “real”? And can AI, in all its programmed sophistry, ever mimic reality to the extent that we gullible humans actually fall for it? Well, it seems inevitable.

Of course, the tension of the internet’s benefits apply to the very act of writing this blog post and sharing this video with you. And it’s a tension Kingsnorth admits, too. I was inspired by his words to retreat from the chaos of the online world of fakery by listening to his video, and yet his video was put on the platform that often champions such nonsense in the first place! But there is age-old wisdom in Kingsnorth’s short film. To stay grounded and rooted in reality, we have to take breaks from the fake world that we’ve created. Some of that online world is good (like Mind Matters News). Much of it, however, twists, distorts, and captures vulnerable minds. Nothing is stopping us, though, from powering down and going for a walk, or conversing with a friend over coffee, or even making an old-fashioned phone call to our grandparents who might live in a different state. We might have to get caught up in the online freneticism again at some point, but returning, again and again, to physical and spiritual reality, is a good practice to cultivate these days.

You can read more from Paul Kingsnorth on his Substack: The Abbey of Misrule | Paul Kingsnorth | Substack