Arthur Meek

I've seen several articles pop up in my Substack Notes about the evolution of AI and referring to Samuel Butler's short essay that originally appeared as a letter to the editor of the Christchurch Press in 1863.

It's called Darwin Among the Machines.

It's cited as one of the first (if not the first) in the 'what if machines evolve superior intelligence and kill us/make us our slaves??’ genre that we all know and love from, well, innumerable pop culture references.

So I thought I'd read you Darwin Among the Machines

It's an early piece of writing by Samuel Butler. You may or may not know I have spent a lot of time with Butler's writings, and created a show Erewhon thoroughly steeped in his novel, er, Erewhon.

What's it all about then?

The briefest of context… from Wikipedia, not me, just to whet your appetite to watch/listen.

"Darwin among the Machines" is an article published in The Press newspaper on 13 June 1863 in Christchurch, New Zealand, which references the work of Charles Darwin in the title. Written by Samuel Butler but signed Cellarius, the article raised the possibility that machines were a kind of "mechanical life" undergoing constant evolution, and that eventually machines might supplant humans as the dominant species.

Wikipedia

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The voice of Vic Nicolson, spoken aloud by Arthur Meek.

Today is the 109th anniversary of the Battle of Chunuk Bair. It was fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and began on August 8, 1915.

Vic Nicholson was there. I speak aloud his account of his experience of Gallipoli in general, and specifically the battle of Chunuk Bair.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

I’ve gone down a particularly delightful rabbit hole.

Julian of Norwich lead me there. She’s always leading me to interesting new people and places.

I was googling her and came upon an episode about her in this podcast.

I’ve now listened to every single one.

It’s the perfect style and tone for me. It’s hosted by two academics - Alberto De La Cruz who interviews and queries domain expert Dr. Carlos Eire, T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University.

They discuss the people who are most notably and articulately involved in the practices of mysticism.

What the hell is mysticism?

“Broadly speaking, I understand [mysticism] to be the expression of the innate tendency of the human spirit towards complete harmony with the transcendental order, whatever the the theological formula under which that order is understood.”

Evelyn Underhill from her book Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness (1911)

Mysticism seems to be an internal practice, which primarily revolves around contemplative prayer and meditation - but for some people, in fairly consistent ways, with great regularity over the course of human history (there are pre-Christian, Islamic and Buddhist accounts of it too) - this interior practice seems to manifest startlingly external phenomena.

Like flying.

Which reminds me that the first time I heard of human beings flying is my friend J- whose father is Cambodian and says he has seen a (Buddhist?) monk flying across a valley.

The same way someone else might ride a bicycle.

That would have been in the 1960s or 1970s.

I have no trouble believing his father when he tells me about fleeing the Khmer Rouge in the hull of a shallow river boat that was straffed with machine gun fire, mercifully sparing him but killing dead the unfortunate person beside him.

Nor have I reason to dispute his account of a flying monk.

Both stories told so matter-of-factly. Offhand.

But it’s all nonsense of course!

My beloved father-in-law hears these stories, hears of the hundreds of witnesses to Joseph of Cupertino levitating, and getting stuck in a tree holding a lamb, and having to be fished down from a belltower, and he seeks the trick; seeks the artistic license that is describing something that did not happen, as happening.

Fair enough.

Personally, I feel that one of the most compelling arguments for the reality of St Joseph’s levitations is how unimpressed and frustrated many of his contemporaries were of them. His feats were the opposite of celebrated by the powers that be - his abbots and superiors - who were trying to live a contemplative life themselves and were constantly being distracted by Joseph’s (unintentional) antics, and mobs of people - from villagers to kings of Europe - who strained their capacity for hospitality by turning up at Joseph’s various monasteries.

They kept moving him about because these physical phenomena of mysticism were such a pain in their ass. Remember, these folks didn’t have our contemporary issue of demanding acceptable signs of the presence of the transcendent in their world. They knew how to read what we might now call the less obvious.

Another interesting point…

The Christians who invoke him today don’t ask him to help them fly.

They’re seek his intercession with God to help them pass an examination that they’re un(or under)prepared for.

This is based on a much more relatable and much more practical miracle from the life of the intellectually disabled St. J: when he miraculously passed an examination he was totally incompetent to pass.

Here’s the prayer.

O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

Through Christ our Lord.St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.

Amen.

And then there are the bilocations…

Sister Maria of Ágreda never left her tiny town in Spain… except for the times she went into a trance and was also mystically present in New Mexico and other places in the present day American southwest and Mexico - where she did some remarkable work converting Native Americans to Christianity.

Apparently they wandered into a Franciscan monastery in New Mexico seeking baptism.

The monks had never heard of them, let alone had any prior contact, but the visitors assured them they had been sent by the ‘blue lady’.

This was in the 1600s - so it all took some time to piece the story together.

The stigmatics, I think, are the most easily ‘explainable’ in modern terms

An intense psychosomatic response to contemplation of the Passion of Christ?

To me the most convincing case of the reality of these things is that in almost all cases - levitation, bilocation, stigmatism etc (there are more)…

They hurt and are neither asked for, nor particularly wanted by the recipient.

They’re endured.

The mystics constantly attest to the pain of these physical phenomena.

Then accept them as a grace, though often pray to have this grace taken away from them.

Which it sometimes is. Sometimes not. I read about a levitator who managed to make the levitations stop after much imploring.

Not one of these people sought out fame or recognition for these phenomena.

Though hucksters throughout the ages have turned them into business operations.

And ultimately they’re a sideline - a byproduct of the true work of the mystic.

Purgation, illumination and union with the transcendental order of the universe.

But boy, do they make a great story.

My own relationship to these phenomena is complicated.

I’m one of the likes on this review of Carlos Eire’s new book They Flew by a fellow I know from New York - Stephen G. Adubato

Eire welcomes the space that postmodernism has afforded to post-secular narratives, while–as a historian–being critical of the relativist reading of miraculous events. At the end of the day, either “they flew,” or they did not.

I rather think they did.

I observe these phenomena a little like watching a great Olympic feat.

Part of me is delighted at the seemingly limitless bounds of human possibility.

Part of me is bummed that I don’t feel capable of actually doing such a thing myself.

Part of me dismisses it, really, as just a matter of persistence and training.

Part of me is envious at the idea that there’s talent involved too.

And I don’t have the persistence, training or talent - or it may be too late.

Part of me is reminded that it hurts - so I probably don’t want it anyway.

Then - to continue the Olympic metaphor, which has clearly bled into the mystic phenomena comparison…

I think, well, I might not be able to run a marathon in 2 hours. But it wouldn’t hurt me to go for a 20 minute jog.

And I do.

Ultimately it fills me with wonder and curiosity.

It spurs new action in me. New habits. New horizons.

What, of the mental and spiritual and physical phenomena of mysticism can I experience in my own small way?

Personally, so far in my life, the closest I get to physical experience of the transcendent is through music.

So I’ll leave you with this.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

I walk away from an unusual accident without a scratch, and with a satisfying payout.

My car insurance costs a fortune. About £1200 a year. Maybe more, actually. I can’t bear to look.

I get it.

My 2 cars are worth <£10,000, but that’s not the point. The point is that I’m being insured against the danger of rounding a rural corner with too much pace and rear ending your expensive combine harvester.

But realistically, that’s very unlikely to happen. I have two kids, which my insurers know, and I putter around incredibly cautiously. And I only putter around when I need to take them somewhere. Otherwise I take the bus. I’ve actually done the math and it would be cheaper to get rid of car number 2 - the backup, and take taxis on the odd occasion that we need it (once a week when S- has to go to work and I look after kids, and on not infrequent occasions when car 1 is in repair shop, like when I had my accident…)

I’ll tell you about it.

I went to New Zealand for 5 months last November. I parked car 1 in our garage. The first garage I have had to park my car in for more than 20 years, since I lived at my parent’s house (my home?).

8 weeks into my trip, I got a message from Cousin T- who came to housesit/experience semi-rural Norfolk for some reason known only to God (T- himself was a bit confused at first but wound up having a blast driving expensive farm machinery - a tale for another time)

He pinged us to say he’d followed a pong into the garage and found Car 1 in wretched state - blanketed in mold (mould?)

He had taken it to a car valet centre that had never seen the like. It was going to cost £800 + VAT to clean.

Well, what could we do?

We paid it, and got it clean.

And to me, that was an accident.

And that’s what I told my insurer.

No, they said. It’s wear and tear.

WEAR AND TEAR????

No, I said. Precautions were taken. Car was garaged. Something unexpected and deleterious happened. An accident, I would go so far as to claim.

Administration happened. Emails sent back and forth. Photos attached. An inspector dispatched to see the now clean car and take a statement from S-.

Weeks pass, and then, out of the blue, into our bank account plops…

The full whack, minus our excess, no impact on our no claims bonus (violence against language… but that’s another story).

I won the insurance lottery.

And walked away from my accident without a scratch.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

My first book report. I want to do these things differently. No hot takes. I'll only talk about books I've read twice (or more). No preprepared readings - I flick to a couple of sections and read aloud. If it's a good enough book, those sections should hold up... and these ones do!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

* Do it for Free

* If you have all this stuff already, just load it up

* Or, here's the Canva Substack template bundle - I have a paid subscription to Canva that makes everything a bit easier, but apparently you can do it all for free

* And here's a free place to derive colour codes from an image you like by uploading it

* Pay an Experienced Designer

* I know and recommend Tara (NZ based) who is awesome and has some fixed price packages - she's been doing Substack brand kits for years - including my Cursive Discursive personal Substack.

* She’ll tell you up to date prices and package options

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

* I recommend you say more to free subscribers and keep it briefer for paid/founding members.

* It's a good idea to push them towards reading in the Substack app - because then you won't have to contend with email inbox overwhelm.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

Here’s Farrah’s email to Free Subscribers

See how she’s affirming their decision - and nudging them to go paid!

BEGINS

It’s so good to have you here! Seriously, the world (and probably your inbox) is a busy place, so Im super grateful you’ve found your way here.

I don’t know how much you know about me but I used to edit a bunch of magazines here in the UK- Cosmo, ELLE, Women’s Health. Then I brought over all my writing to Things Worth Knowing, making it the home for my most personal essays. You’ll get a newsletter every month but the most talked about like: Like these few:

Have women really stopped wanting to be thin?

How NOT to have children? Notes from the other side of a child-free life…

The woman I used to be

And many others like this are for paid subscribers only. So too is our monthly writers group and our weekly chat thread where you can ask the group anything you want- salary negotiation help, what books to read, fashion tips, travel help…..It’s YOUR playground.

If you feel at all tempted to take part in any of this then I’d love to offer you a special 20 per off discount to help get you started.

Regardless of what sort of subscriber you become, please remember it’s simply a pleasure to have you here. So thank you for reading, sharing and showing up. It means everything.

Farrah

PS: This is me on Instagram should you want to see a bit of my life I don’t share here.

ENDS

Here’s a short cool one from Chris Arnade Walks the World

BEGINS

Subject Line: Thank you for joining

Body:

I very much appreciate your signing up.

My goal is to give at least 30 walking posts a year, filled with pictures (hopefully good ones.)

I will try to keep half of this free, but having you as a paid subscriber would help cover travel expenses to a wider variety of places.Paid subscribers will have full access to all posts as well as access to the growing library of full resolution photos from all my walk — to download and use as you like.

So please consider hitting the pay button!

Upgrade to paidI am really humbled by your support.

© 2024 Chris Arnade548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104Unsubscribe

ENDS

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

You can see how all the work you did before on subscription tiers, publication name, description and category makes this about page clearer and easier eh?

And remember… you can change any of the stuff you’ve written before if this exercise gives you fresh brainwaves!

Really useful reference stuff...

* Farrah's about page

My breakdown of the structure of Farrah's About Page

* Picture of her

* Welcome message that outlines the mission/purpose of her Substack

* What you get for free

* Insert subscribe button

* What you get for paid

* Insert subscribe button (it'll automatically prompt them to upgrade to paid if they're already subscribed)

* What you get at founding member tier

* Choose custom button. Make text 'BECOME A [name of your founding membership]' and make the link https://[yourpubname].substack.com/subscribe - so Farrah's is https://farrah.substack.com/subscribe

* Suggest that they gift or donate a subscription or get a group subscription

* Insert gift/group subscription button

* Urging added value from your keenest readers

* Suggest they share the publication

* Your subscribers are going to be your biggest advocates - so make it easy for them.

* Then urge them to get reading!

* It might be nice to link them to a great article here so they immediately start reading you - later on I'll show you how to seed your Substack with a couple of articles before you have a list of people to send stuff to.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com

Really useful (but optional) reference stuff.

* Farrah's welcome page shows you how this is the first thing people see when they're deciding whether to check out your Substack

* Here's a leaderboard so you can see how choosing a category can help you get discovered

* Official Substack guff about meaning and purpose of categories

Arthur

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit arthurmeek.substack.com