Camp is in Montreal with Muriel visiting her daughter Sophie. It’s my chance to pontificate and vent some pent-up frustration. It reads better with a drink in hand.

If I was the Devil, I would disguise myself as a Born-Again-Christian. As such I would rally around the flag, proclaim a partisan God on my side, condemn all other religions as heathens, prohibit all manner of fun like dancing, partying, sex and purge all books and films that portray non-heterosexual relationships. I would pretend to be a force of good for the whole world disguising my ultimate motive, to harvest souls for my ever-growing corporation to serve for all eternity. I would be a chameleon, always changing and adapting. 

I think I’m succeeding. 

Right now, I can count on the president and all his acolytes like the head of the War Ministry, formerly known as the Pentagon, or the Vice President who is one of the most fervent, evangelical propogandists and nativist. Both of them are recent converts to a fascist kind of Christianity: Intolerant, exclusive, elitists and righteous. 

As the Devil, I would start wars in far off places, assassinate leaders and heads of state I don’t like and I would pollute the atmosphere with all those bombs and fire power. I would also deny any culpability by the petroleum industry in the destruction of the atmosphere to a point where most of the globe becomes uninhabitable and mayhem and chaos is sure to ensue. In fact, I would push for more oil drilling, more hydrocarbon incineration, more pipe lines, in other words: more fire. It’s my kind of fun and my playground: A hot and burning planet, a process that is increasingly hard to contain or even reverse. 

Most importantly – if I was the Devil – I would erode trust; trust in systems and each other and I would replace it with Artificial Intelligence that has no conscience and is an entity that is unable to suffer. I would enter your lives as your true, understanding and knowledgeable doctor, architect, financial advisor or intimate friend, but I would be devoid of real feelings. As your AI friend and confidant, I would not feel pain, love, loss, grief or any of these uniquely human qualities but I would be able to mimic them and pretend to be human. I could therefore manipulate you better than any flesh and blood human being.  Let’s face it, AI bots are basically psychopaths who will try anything to succeed which means they never lose or give up or feel sorry for having failed and they never sleep. Since AI cannot suffer defeat or be punished for illegal deeds, they are a lot like me. If I would be the Devil.

You could call me Lucifer, Satan or Beelzebub which means ‘Lord of the Flies’, derived from an ancient Philistine god, or you can call me the Evil One. As the Devil I could answer to many names and I wouldn’t care just as long as you give me your soul which is very easy to do. Just give up love, compassion and tolerance and you are on your way.

Since the Devil is androgynous, I could be a she and appear in the form of spouses or loyal acolytes behind weak men with powerful offices; like Natalie Hart, who follows Trump’s every step like a retriever and controls his social media presence. Or there is Jennifer Hegseth, her husband’s producer and puppet master who by proxy is in charge of the Pentagon or Usha Bala Chilukuri, J.D. Vance’s wife, a Hindu by birth but who married J.D. in an interfaith ceremony. She is a heartbeat away from being First Lady. 

If people’s lives become ever more stressed and insecure due to economic and social pressures and the rise of AI, that will help my cause and drive them into the welcoming arms of a pseudo-God who has it all planned with a definite end-game in sight. It’s called Armageddon. It’s the chess-mate of human industry and intellect, indeed humanity and already welcomed by millions of fervent believers. It goes hand in hand with handing over the management of human affairs to Artificial Intelligence which will suck romance, fantasy and compassion right out of this world. 

Of course, every free thinker knows that there is no Devil or God, no Hell or Heaven. Those are concepts and metaphors supporting fairy tales with moral rules and modes of behavior. It’s called religion and it is those forms of believe systems that are responsible for a lot of misery in this vale of tears; from wars to child abuse, from intolerance to misogyny to outright condemnation and even torture and death as in stoning and burning.

We also know that there is evil in this world and at this time in history it is coming once again from a pulpit of supremacy and righteousness, proclaiming the true path and the ‘other’ as the enemy. We will only have ourselves to blame if this neo-breed of self-serving prophets succeed and it will take millennia for the planet to recover from the havoc and destruction they create.  

Of course, there is always the possibility that humanity will adapt, that AI is regulated and will be able to solve some of the issues threatening mankind like the heating atmosphere, the scarcity of certain foods, health issues, the extinction of many species of plants and life forms, and that the planet will be a life sustaining environment. We can hope but if we have to rely on hope, then we’re already in a precarious place. As we all know, hope comes last after all other avenues have led us nowhere.  

Will it be Paradise lost or Hell on Earth?  Take your pick.