Simulated Samsara: Buddhism, Jung & Vonnegut on Why Tech Feels Like a Script

What happens when our brains can’t keep up with our machines? This monologue argues that we’re living inside a curated loop—samsara with a silicon spine—where algorithms farm attention, nudge choice, and script our days. We move from Buddhist insights on suffering, no-self, and the Middle Way to Freud’s ego under siege, regression-by-design, and our Oedipal rebellion against AI. Jung’s archetypes reappear as feed mechanics—the Shadow in the black box, the Trickster in memes—while sociology maps the aquarium: stratified classes, echo chambers, deskilled lives, and moderators who can rewrite the rules mid-game. Economics explains the profit of confusion: depreciating human capital, nudges that look like choices, dazzling interfaces masking real stagnation. Then Vonnegut winks from the control room—“So it goes”—as time plays like save files and foma keeps the cursor moving. The exit instructions are simple and hard: treat mindfulness as latency detection, reclaim your Shadow, build offline craft, and hold long-form conversations no algorithm can compress. Are we becoming slaves to our own tech—or players who remember we’re in a game? Don’t let your mind atrophy—read, think, resist the algorithm. If this hit you, drop a comment, share it with someone who needs the wake-up, and subscribe for more uncompromising, long-form truth.