Wentelbaan

^{Copyright © 2026 Illustration by Wilhelm Laufs}

Wentelbaan means “Orbit” in Afrikaans. With this illustration I tried to show how we are rapidly spinning towards the Singularity.

Ray Kurzweil has famously predicted the Singularity for 2045. The Singularity is when artificial intelligence will have developed full consciousness. As humans we have the ability to “think about our thoughts”. We can contemplate our own thoughts. This is what differentiates us from many other beings and makes us unique. Additionally we have the potential to love, forgive, create and experience wonderful joy. But, we also have the potential to manipulate, hate, hurt, create and experience tremendous suffering. We also have the ability to dream, wonder and come up with unique solutions to problems through creativity. But, this “thinking about thinking function” can also cause neurocis and make us sick because sometime it can be difficult to switch off.

What do you think? Will robots every be able to “think about their own thinking”. Will they be able to be creative and feel pain and suffer like humans? Do you believe Ray Kurzweil’s prediction will become true? Please comment down below.

In his book Brave New World, Aldous Huxley explores a futuristic “World State,” built on the pillars of Stability, Peace, and Happiness – at the cost of freedom, art, and the human soul.

In this utopia the words “Mother” and “Father” are outlawed. Humans are bred in laboratories. Society is organized through a caste system – from the highly intelligent Alphas to the semi-moronic Epsilons. Each conditioned from birth to love only their unique social class.

Social engineering has also gotten rid of conflict and pain through three strategies: 1. Soma (a drug that provides immediate euphoria and has no side effects) 2. Hypnopaedia (sleep education drilling state propaganda into kids minds) 3. Promiscuity (Sleeping around is the norm. Being faithful to one partner and having deep emotional connections is seen as wrong.)

The plot follows the journey of John “The Savage” as he moves from the “Savage Reservation” to London which is the Brave New World. Huxley explores the dynamic between truth and happiness culminating with John who refuses to live in a “controlled cage” and escaping to the countryside where he lives a humble life. Unfortunately the prying eyes of the “World State Media” drive him to a tragic end.

With the rapid advance of AI and it’s application in media, warfare and creating a surveillance state, it sometimes feels as if Huxley’s book was not a warning as much as it was a blueprint. Are we already living in the Brave New World he described in his book? What do you think? Please comment down below.

I would say not quite, but we are almost there. Big Pharma has millions of people hooked on their drugs. There is also all the cancer giving food and drinks we are so thoroughly encouraged to consume. Propaganda is everywhere. Left or right, it’s all the same, and serves mostly as a distraction keeping us glued to our screens sedentary and angry… Promiscuity is widely accepted and pornography is freely available to all ages. All these things make us sick, docile and easily controllable.

As far as surveillance and blackmail is concerned it seems pretty obvious that our digital footprints can be used for this purpose. It is not necessary to fly people all the way to Epstein’s Island anymore… All that is needed is a record of a person’s online activity; one’s biases and preferences could easily be leveraged, to keep you in line, or to gain power over you.

Are we busy trading freedom, art and the human soul for a surveillance state built on stability, peace and happiness? It does feel like it. Will many giants fall as the Alphas are now competing with each other using AI in their battle for world supremacy, and will the Alphas be reduced from 1% to 0.1% as power and control is centralized in the hands of an ever shrinking minority? Ten to one. What will happen to the Epsilons? Batteries for the Matrix I suppose… We will all become batteries for the Matrix. Is it not interesting how fiction sometimes becomes reality?

Lastly, a bit of hope. I recently watch a video by Rick Beato where he showed some clips of speakers at universities in America. When they start talking about AI and how we must embrace it the university students immediately start booing. This is very interesting. What will happen if the youth decides AI is not “Cool” anymore? I wonder if Big Brother considered this?

Listen to my cover of Wentelbaan here.

Buy the T-shirt here.

Please like, comment and subscribe to support my work. Visit my website for more info: wilhelmlaufs.com

Thanks for reading.