One of the aspects of Satanism I have never fully agreed with is the main stream application and use of AHCs (Artificial Human Companions)
In talking with the broad spectrum of Satanists and researching Dr. LaVey’s Den of Iniquity, and especially the mysterious automaton Isis, I am starting to come around. Confronted with evidence and forced to confront my own hang ups, I am starting to see the issue, as with most things, as less black and white.
My own reservations stem from a constant exposure to the “dark side” of humans interacting with technology. I have worked in IT in so many markets, my honest appraisal of the bulk of humanity is that our years of scientific prosperity are being wasted. Pearls before swine, in essence.
We live in a brilliant age where technology is shaping our daily lives, and centuries of advancement are being treated like Pez candies. Infinitely dispensed, consumed and discarded. The youth of today has grown entitled and spoiled on their access to smart phones, video games, tablets, laptops, etc. 4G signal and WiFi are more important than clean air or water.
The idea of bestowing something as advanced as an AI, or fully functional companion on the general populace makes me physically ill. I’ve been on the other end of the phone call of the angry father whose thirteen year old son nuked the family computer with porn; the clueless housewife who demands that her delicate touch screen device “just work because she paid money for it” despite the fact that she herself broke it; the doctor who is paralyzed mid-surgery because “the tool he prefers to use for dictation isn’t working and he needs it fixed ASAP”.
Tell anyone of these end users, that despite their sticker price, these devices are not necessary for a job well done, or a fulfilling life, and the result will be the same: tantrum like that of a toddler.
As technology gets more accessible and people spend more money on it, there seems to be a direct regression in the bearing and demeanor we expect from adults.
I rue the day I have to work on the team to figure out why the Sexbot 6000 is ripping dicks off like paper towels. I would be more inclined to program them to do just that, before these shut-ins breed.
Speaking of shut-ins, the population of Japan is in decline based on the current generation’s addiction to digital entertainment. Research the hikikmori phenomenon: hundreds of thousands of young men, enabled by their parents, willfully shutting themselves in their rooms and refusing any and all human contact that isn’t filtered through some digital medium.
Not to mention we have not determined the moral regulation of introducing an AI into the world, and yet we march forward to do so. If an AHC kills someone, who is then responsible? What if someone kills an AI that is fully aware of itself and believes it is sentient? Do we make new laws? Do we treat them as property?
Many of my concerns, I admit, are seeded in a near-distant future and flavored by pop-culture. The works of Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick, and movies like “The Terminator” and “The Matrix”, all paint a fairly grim picture, but should at LEAST start the conversation of can we and should we? Yet it has not been entertained by any major body with any sort of sincerity.
So now that I have laid out my reservations and apprehensions, here is what I have been learning, considering, and how my opinions have changed:
Dr. LaVey kept his own AHC’s in a speakeasy set up he called “The Den of Iniquity”, here “lived” highly detailed mannequins, created by the Doktor himself. Each had a name, a history, their own personality, all characters in a diorama of his creation. Like musical instruments he tuned, managed and spent a great deal of time among them. One of his close affiliates was Cecil Nixon, an inventor who created the automaton Isis, who, decades before her time, could play dozens of songs on a zither that was placed in her lap, and operated with voice commands. Light years ahead of her time. She is a fascinating piece of machinery and a modern marvel, something truly prized and embodies that echelon of sanctity such advances in technology should. Such things should be revered, not slathered up with Astroglide and left sticky and covered in pubic hair.
I am not one to judge what people do in their free time, I am just as guilty of perusing internet porn and other unsavory deeds when no one is looking, however we know, the first thing nearly any man would do with an AHC is have sex with it. In fact that is likely the only thing that would be done. We don’t need to waste robotics and high end computing technology. There are lifelike sex dolls and that industry is growing more and more popular every day, as Anton LaVey predicted it would once enacted. I have no hang ups about sex, nor qualms with technology enhancing our pleasure, though I cannot emphasize enough my disdain for putting so much work into a glorified semen catcher.
The fact that the idea that sex could be removed from the equation, as with The Den of Iniquity (at least I am fairly sure it was) is reassuring.
The idea of having a makeshift scene that you can adjust, alter and present with your own dialogue and drama, or lack thereof, is an understandable appeal. As a young boy I had action figures and would spend hours just setting them up, preparing for a mock battle that would last only minutes. So this is a sentiment that I had not considered, and one that is fairly enticing.
Another aspect presented is the idea of facsimile. If pedophiles were presented with such an alternative to harming a real girl or boy, it does not justify the act, but it spares someone’s child, potentially my own. I can’t argue the benefit of that. I would be curious to see if the long term effects paid off, as in other areas. Violent video games for example have been known to soothe psychopathic urges. Would this deflection treatment work for sexual deviants?
There are private artists who create these facsimiles for private use, but could use in a clinical or therapeutic setting alleviate the strains on men who fetishize children before they become predators?
Judgments on pedophilia aside, I feel it would be worth exploring.
Finally, it was pointed out to me, that my apprehension stems largely from a disdain for humanity at large, and what they do to their various technological devices. The common man is neither a smart one, nor an ambitious one. To give them what is basically the work of the Gods, dumbed down to be easily consumed and digested, is really what fuels my negative opinions on it.
When pointed out to me, the correlation, and then asked, “Would I have an AHC if given one?” and my answer was an emphatic yes. Of course I would, and they, much like Isis, would know every tune on an instrument, would be trained in politesse and able to entertain guests of the highest caliber.
To which the one who posed the question replied, “Well so too would all of us elites.”
It donned on me then, I was not so worried about humanity fucking their AHCs all the time, I was worried about everyone having one and making the Isis’ of the world generic, bland, relegated to fetching beers and giving blow jobs. I was being solipsistic and forgetting that those, whom I most closely identify with, would likely share my respect and admiration for their AHCs and thus, the population among us, would also be a further elite class.
The Alien Artificial Human Companion. That is a cause I can get behind.
So… screw it I say. Literally and figuratively. Let loose the gates on the taboo industry and put a Companion in the home of every man and woman. I will treat mine as an equal, and held in the highest regard, everyone else… well they can get their dicks ripped off.
Additional Resources:
Church of Satan – Washington Post Interview with Anton LaVey
Modern Mechanix – An Evening with Dr. Cecil Nixon
Baphomet Is My Copilot 
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