Fake Overload



Hi Reader -

Do you remember back in the olden days when we started talking about information overload?

I still remember sitting on my shaggy carpet stairs in my old house, talking to my friend on my *dumb* flip phone and saying,

“I don’t think we were meant to sustain friendships with 5000 people.
It’s just weird I know what is going on in the life of someone I went to elementary school with even though we haven’t talked in twenty years. Maybe some relationships are supposed to be seasonal. Just like nature.”

Facebook had become commonplace, and we thought it was so wild that we were tallying up “friends” and seeing into the lives of hundreds of people every day.

Scrolling became the thing.
Newsfeeds brought us more content than TV.
Then smartphones made it possible to carry 24/7.
Pinterest was invented.
And Instagram.

Our bodies felt the information overload, but we did our best to adapt while not losing touch with the real world.

Then AI was released.

AI has taken information overload to a whole new level. While I support the ethical use of AI, my biggest heartbreak right now is seeing people give away their humanity by asking AI to speak for them.

It reminds me of when Ariel gives her voice away to Ursula in The Little Mermaid, thinking she’s made a great bargain, but she can no longer speak or sing for herself.

The “voice” I hear online right now is AI.
It sounds like one voice speaking.
And while there are some fancy and poetic wordsmithing AI can create, when it’s coming out of the mouth of someone who never speaks in metaphors or short choppy sentences or contrasts, it feels off.

One of my true talents is my authenticity barometer.

I can spot BS really fast.

Probably because my initials are B.S…a true gift from marrying my husband and getting a new last name. Let me tell you the joy of signing all official documents that require my initials with a B.S.

Please sign here….

B.S.

And here…

B.S.

t has truly provided endless delight in my life.

But I digress.

Oh yes, I have a BS barometer and can spot when things are not real or authentic. In fact, maybe the perfect word to use is “artificial”.

Not only did we get information overload, but now we also get artificial overload.

Because artificial can also mean fake, allow me to call it ‘fake overload’.

Last week I wrote about triggers. If you can’t tell, people giving away their voice is one of my biggest triggers right now.

But if I never let a trigger go to waste, that means I need to look inward and see what the message really is for me to learn instead of just spiraling into anger again and again.

The message: What I find myself craving more than ever is connection with real humans. I


thought 2020 was hard on connection.
This feels harder. Because I can see real humans, they just aren’t sounding real. They sound fake.

Richard Rudd, one of my favorite mystic poets, recently said he believes AI will incite a new Renaissance. That people will get so fed up with the artificial, they will revolt into creating human-made art, music, poetry, and experiences.

I hope he’s right. I know it’s stirring things in my own soul, and I am here for humanity reclaiming its natural creative birthright.

It’s through polarity that we have always learned our biggest lessons. May we use the contrast of all that is artificial here to celebrate what it means to truly be human.H
ow are you handling the fake world?

I’d love any ideas you’re finding to help you hold on to what is real. Please share.

You are loved.

The real authentic you.

Please don’t give that part of you away.

Namaste,

brooke

P.S. Even though AI is one of my biggest triggers right now, it is also one of my greatest tools. I do use it strategically behind the scenes to do work I would rather outsource. I learned how to do that in Natalie MacNeil's AI Dream Team program, and today is the last day to enroll in her live cohort (which was epically helpful to me.) I love and respect her as a human, and I honor her framework for teaching the ethical use of AI and finding the middle way.