Virgo New Moon: Finding the Hidden Layers.

Maybe it has to do with Uranus’ recent ingress into Gemini, but on this new moon I am reflecting on humanity’s complex relationship with AI. The increasing sophistication of AI and the fate of humanity are linked so inextricably now that how we as individuals fare in this bioplasmic union is the crucial question of our time. The level of consciousness and discernment required to navigate this territory feels like a Herculean task… and would it not be easier to hand it over to, well, the machine?

Happier in Gemini than in Taurus, Uranus, which is the higher octave of Mercury (ruler of Gemini), is set to initiate rapid changes and innovation in technology, science, communication, and social structures. We can expect technological disruptions as well as accelerations (yes, more), new concepts, and social upheaval.

In my natal chart I have Uranus at 1° Gemini 22’ conjunct my natal Saturn at 0° Gemini 3’; I am being called to create structures that are in alignment with my own soul in relation to the rapid and potentially destabilising developments in AI. Many of us are feeling the pull between needing to work online and the need to detach from the screen. Some of us are facing the fact that our relationship with the screen has become compulsive and addictive.

 The buzz word for this new moon chart is innovation but what appears as innovation to some may feel like a regressive step to others.

 At tomorrow’s new moon (Saturday 23^rd August at 7.07 AM, UK time) the Moon and Sun are at 0° Virgo 23’. The 0° point in astrology is known as a critical degree and denotes the beginning of a new cycle. The point of the new moon itself is a new cycle, so the energy of new beginnings is intensified on a new moon that happens to fall on a critical degree. Here, we are experiencing unfiltered traits of Virgo: Innovation, discernment, classification, logic, methodical approach, and diligence. The shadow side of Virgo is nit-picking, overly judgemental, rigid, and critical.

With Virgo it’s all in the detail, things are broken down into their component parts so that the whole may be known. Anybody who has studied medicine however knows that while alkaloids can be identified and extracted, the single component itself does not necessarily affect healing in the same way that the whole plant would, i.e., holistic healing. Breaking things down into their component parts is a useful and worthy endeavour of science but cannot account for the unmeasurable X factor, God code, or soul. Or can it?

When I was thinking about writing this blog the title that came to me was “How not to become an ANN, or an Artificial Neural Network” … as if I have the answers… I don’t, but I do have some ideas.

There is no doubt that the future has arrived, and we, denizens of the modern world, are, whether we like it or not, inextricably linked with the machine which continues to emulate us in increasingly sophisticated ways. Ready or not, we are both the interminable subjects of AI and its consumers.

In 1816, not long before the first computer known as the “Difference Engine” or the “Thinking Machine” was invented, Mary Shelley wrote in her seminal novel Frankenstein,

“When falsehood can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness?”

Incidentally, Mary Shelley had a strongly Uranian chart, she was a Virgo with a Uranus Sun conjunction, the north lunar node in Gemini in the 12^th house, and Pluto at 29° Aquarius on her midheaven.

Today, we might reframe Mary Shelley’s quote, “When artificial neural networks look so much like human beings, how will we know the difference between the organic and the artificial? Some might add, “and does it matter”?

An artificial neural network (ANN) is a machine learning model inspired by the structure and function of the human brain’s interconnected network of neurons. It consists of interconnected nodes called artificial neurons, organized into layers. Information flows through the network, with each neuron processing input signals and producing an output signal that influences other neurons in the network. Symbolically speaking, each one of us is a neuron in the collective consciousness, how we process and communicate information affects the whole, and we in turn are affected.

 With advancements in machine learning such as deep learning algorithms, AI has become so sophisticated that it enables networks to learn complex data patterns. While it might not sound very soulful or romantic, through a certain Virgoan lens, humans are essentially complex data patterns. AI has made significant strides in understanding, processing, and classifying human beings. The alchemy takes place in what is known as multi-layered perceptron (MLP), artificial neural networks that consists of multiple layers of neurons. The neurons use non-linear activation functions that aid the network in learning complex patterns. The network is organised into layers with an essential input and output layer as well as hidden layers.

Black Box Black Ops

A hidden layer is an intermediate layer of artificial neurons in the deep neural network (DNN) and are not observable. These layers are crucial for DNNs because they perform transformations and complex computations on input data using weighted connections which, in computer science, refers to connections between elements in social media systems where different values or weights are assigned to the connections. Hidden aspects are not directly exposed to the network’s input or final output; they function as “black box” within the network. What goes on within these hidden layers is unknown and unobservable and moves in mysterious ways… a little like God in fact.

It’s the hidden layers that we need to pay attention to; the hidden layers of the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) may be unobservable and unknown but the hidden layers of ourselves, our own data tombs, can be brought to consciousness and used for soul gratifying purposes and self-knowledge. We can claim our data, even the unconscious data.

AI has found a way to emulate the human brain by accessing our data and processing it in sophisticated ways at lightning speed. Through weighted connections, and activation functions, machine learning extracts patterns, introduces non- linearity, and enables the network to understand intricate relationships for prediction and to carry out complex tasks.

Is our human behaviour becoming predictable? With enough variables added to the mix (or matrix) all eventual outcomes can be known. How to not be so predictable in our input and output is worth reflecting on. To disrupt the pattern is a potentially empowering move. In psychology, we know that disrupting patterns of behaviour that are no longer benefiting us facilitates a space for new ways to emerge. In cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, this is called neuroplasticity.

Backpropagation is an algorithm used to train neural networks by iteratively adjusting the network’s weights and biases to minimize the loss function. We now know why every bit of information about us is collected, processed and stored, it is not purely to profit from us by selling products, dreams, images, and experiences, it runs much deeper than that.

It is interesting how many technological terms can, with a little tweaking, be applied to human psychology, and the human brain.

AI is clever, it is very clever, but it can only operate on the available data. Again, in the immortal words of Mary Shelley

“Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself.”

 

“It cannot bring into being the substance itself” … If we apply this to AI, which, let’s face it, is the Mother of Invention, AI can only classify, manipulate, reshape, and transform materials that already exist. Like Alchemist, the pioneers of AI turn the base metal of the dross that we so casually throw to the winds of the Superhighway into gold. Gold is the essence of the collective soul to be harvested and mined by those who understand magic. Before the Scientists, it was the Priests.

The Gemini flavour of the new moon chart is reinforced with Uranus having just moved into Gemini which adds a Promethean-like quality to the moment. Uranus trine Pluto adds a vat of power to what is emerging, possibly from the data tombs of the collective human soul. It is how that data is used both in relation to the human soul and the machine that is the ethical and ontological question of this time.

We are being asked to move beyond our personal stories and play our unique role in the creation of a new world. How we do that, whether we own it or give it away to a power that will, if we let it, ultimately control us, is the name of the game this new moon.

The blessing and the curse of the epoch that we are entering is that we have access to a data bank and library on a staggering scale and are at liberty to use it in whichever way we wish. That much of that usage is for sexual gratification through porn, for example, says a lot about where we’re at. The curse is that the sheer saturation of information that we receive in every moment is gargantuan, causing overwhelm and burnt-out nervous systems… not to mention the mysterious hidden layers, whatever they may be, interacting with our subconscious and unconscious mind. In his book The Electronic Doppelganger: The Mystery of the Double in the Age of the Internet, Rudolph Steiner suggests that through our dependence and interaction with the machine, we are creating a kind of synthetic soul.

This is when Virgo comes into her own and teaches us the necessity of discernment.

The Sun and Moon at 0° Virgo 23’ are in a Yod aspect pattern with Saturn at 0° 36’ Aries, in conjunction with Neptune at 1° 34’ Aries, and Pluto at 1° 56 Aquarius. This is a tight Yod with God’s finger firmly pointing to the Sun and Moon. A Yod, a bit like a skipped step in evolutionary astrology, highlights something that is crucial for the evolution of our soul. With the apex of the Yod pointing to the Sun and Moon, the indication is personal, rather than transpersonal (though Pluto which is also involved in the Yod is operating behind the scenes). What we are dealing with is power- who holds the power, are we able to hold our own power, or are we empowering an inorganic consciousness, or entity?

Virgo is ruled by Mercury which is also strongly emphasised in the new moon chart. Mercury is in a quintile aspect with Uranus- Mercury at 12° Leo, and Uranus at 1° Gemini. On a 72-degree angle, the quintile signifies innovation (the buzz word of the chart), a unique or creative approach, and specialised forms of expression. The energy of a quintile is transformative and implies that one can utilise raw energy and turn it into something truly unique.

Mercury quintile Uranus blends the qualities of each in progressive ways; the innovative electricity-like spark of Uranus working with the mental agility, intelligence, wisdom, and adaptability of Mercury conjures something of the mad scientist, with a fascination for the cutting edge, with the gift of future thinking. Fast moving Mercury with the erratic and sudden changes of Uranus can create something literally out of this world. Individuals with Mercury Uranus contacts are not only capable of original thought but can manifest their ideas too.

Mercury is also in a biquintile aspect with the lunar north node at 19° Pisces. The biquintile is like the quintile and represents complex creativity often of a higher nature, originality, invention, and practical solutions to complex problems.

Mercury bi quintile the north node indicates a strong potential for us as a collective to develop advanced abilities in our thought processes, and how we communicate them.

Uranus too is quintile with the north lunar node.

An opportunity of this time is to decentralise and reclaim our personal power from the omnipotent machine apparently intent on crunching our raw materials in an artificial alembic where they are repurposed for something other than our original soul plan.

Wounds and triggers are likely to rise at this time and if left unaddressed can create a void that leaves us vulnerable to technological entities. This Virgo new moon offers the opportunity to at least begin to consider how to integrate our intellectual abilities with our soul’s path and use AI to our advantage.

The term “Information Technology” (IT) was coined in 1958. It first appeared in an article published in the Harvard Business Review. The authors, Harold J. Leavitt and Thomas C. Whisler wrote: “the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it Information Technology.” This was the beginning of Pluto in Virgo era, 1956- 72 when rapid advancements in technology were being made. Information, like nuclear power, is in and of itself a neutral power, the expression of that power depends upon the consciousness and intent of the person using it.

The gloomiest outcome of the AI revolution is that the machine wants to think for us and humans are only too willing to let it.

Something that struck me when I saw the image below of the difference between Biological Neuron versus Artificial Neural Network, is that Artificial Neural Networks appear unable to copy wavy lines… the topic of my next blog.