#002297 – 12 de Setembro de 2025

“I don't get all choked up about yellow ribbons and American flags. I consider them symbols and I leave them for the symbol-minded”.

George Carlin

#002296 – 11 de Setembro de 2025

George Carlin pela manhã, para assustar o medo e a melancolia.

Keep showing me joy, passion, and awe, as they will guide me toward my desires, purpose, and mission.

Written by: Epikurus

February 28, 2026, 03:28 AM

Introduction.

What is Truth? At first glance, the question seems simple. Yet the deeper we go, the more complicated it becomes. We live in a world saturated with information—news alerts, social media takes, political narratives, religious interpretations—and yet clarity often feels elusive. To think clearly, we must first distinguish between facts, beliefs, and opinions, and then ask how these relate to truth itself.

This distinction becomes especially important when we move into complex domains such as religion, politics, and media, where measurable realities intersect with unseen meanings and value judgments.

Defining Truth.

Truth can be defined as how things actually are, whether we like it or not, and whether we perceive it clearly or not. Truth is not determined by consensus or comfort. It simply is.

This aligns with what philosophers call the “correspondence theory of truth”—the idea that a statement is true if it corresponds to reality (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2021).

Literature echoes this idea. In The Sign of Four, written by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes declares:

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

This statement captures the practical side of truth-seeking: eliminate what cannot be, and what remains—however uncomfortable—must correspond to reality.

Fact, Belief, and Opinion: Clear Distinctions.

A fact is something true independent of what anyone thinks about it. Facts can be checked, tested, or measured. For example:

• “There is a book called Daniel in the Bible.”
• “In Daniel 10, there is a story describing an angel delayed for 21 days by the ‘prince of Persia.’”
• “The Earth orbits the sun.”

These claims are verifiable. One can consult a Bible, examine astronomical data, or analyze textual records. Facts exist whether or not we agree with them.

A belief, by contrast, is something a person accepts as true. It may correspond to a fact, or it may not. Beliefs live in the mind. Examples include:

• “I believe my spouse loves me.”
• “I believe this politician is honest.”
• “I believe spiritual beings influence human history.”

Beliefs are not always directly measurable. They are often grounded in trust, reasoning, experience, or interpretation.

An opinion is a value-laden belief. It involves judgments about what is good or bad, better or worse, wise or foolish. For instance:

• “This war is unjust.”
• “This interpretation of spiritual warfare is healthier.”
• “Framing politics as spiritual warfare is harmful.”

Opinions add evaluation. They move from what is to what ought to be.

The Problem of Access.

The difficulty is that humans never encounter “raw” truth directly. We receive information through:

• Limited and biased senses
• Other humans (who are also limited and biased)
• Our own experiences, fears, and expectations

Thus, in practice, our task is not to grasp absolute truth in its fullness, but to ask:

Given what I can see, test, and cross-check, what is most likely true right now?

This epistemic humility is essential, particularly in domains that extend beyond direct measurement.

Spiritual Truth and the Limits of Measurement.

Consider the Book of Daniel, specifically chapter 10.

We can anchor ourselves in facts:

• The text exists.
• It contains a narrative of spiritual conflict.
• Religious traditions interpret it as spiritual warfare.

Beyond that, we enter belief:

• That these events occurred in unseen reality.
• That spiritual beings influence human affairs.
• That prayer interacts with those realities.

These cannot be tested in a laboratory. They are accepted or rejected through theological reasoning, trust in scripture, and personal experience.

And lastly, opinion:

• “This view of spiritual warfare is comforting.”
• “This interpretation makes God seem more loving.”
• “This framework is psychologically healthier than doom-centered preaching.”

These statements express value judgments, not measurable claims.

Truth in this spiritual domain would mean: What is actually happening in unseen reality? Yet by definition, such matters cannot be directly measured. Thus, responsible engagement requires anchoring in verifiable facts, recognizing one’s beliefs, and distinguishing evaluative opinions layered on top.

Clarity comes from distinguishing layers, not collapsing them.

Politics, Demons, and Interpretive Lenses.

Take the belief: “Demons influence politics.”

Throughout history, people have interpreted political events through spiritual frameworks. The belief that demonic forces influence politics is not new; it appears across centuries of religious thought.

Fact:

• Historical records show recurring patterns: propaganda, dehumanization, corruption, cycles of war. However, political outcomes demonstrably involve money, incentives, institutions, and psychology.

Belief:

• Unseen spiritual forces may exploit human weaknesses to shape events. These claims are accepted on theological, experiential, or interpretive grounds, but they are not testable like a ballot count.
• Prayer resists such influence is also a belief grounded in faith and anecdotal patterns rather than lab proof.

Opinion:

• Viewing politics as spiritual warfare is either motivating or distracting. Such framing is either healthy or harmful.

Here, the key is not to collapse layers. Human-level explanations—greed, fear, trauma, ambition—account for much political behavior. A spiritual explanation may function as a metaphysical interpretation layered on top. It becomes dangerous when it replaces accountability or empirical reasoning.

A healthy approach maintains both levels:

• Use facts for civic decisions (voting, policy evaluation, community action).
• Hold spiritual beliefs as interpretive frameworks for meaning and prayer.

Practical Stress-Testing of Beliefs.

If one holds the belief that demons influence politics, a responsible approach includes testing its practical implications.

• Ask what observable effects the belief predicts. If demons influence politics, one might expect coordinated deception, sudden moral collapses in leaders, or patterns that repeat despite rational explanation. Those are testable as patterns even if not as direct proof of spirits.
• Compare explanations. Does a spiritual explanation add something that greed, fear, trauma, and power dynamics do not already explain? If yes, it might be doing real explanatory work; if no, it might just be a metaphor.
• Keep both levels. Treat spiritual claims as interpretive frameworks for prayer and meaning, while relying on human-level facts for civic decisions.

A healthy version of this belief does not erase human responsibility. It says:

• Demons exploit human sin, trauma, and greed.
• Humans still choose.
• Systems still have accountability.
• You still have agency over where you give your attention, money, and rage.

Modern Patterns and Two-Layer Reading.

Consider recurring patterns in modern history:

• Mass dehumanization waves through propaganda.
• Leaders who shift from normal governance to paranoia and cruelty.
• Repeating cycles across nations: corruption, scapegoating, war drums, collapse.

On a purely human level, psychology, power, and money explain much of this.

On a spiritual level, some interpret these as evil exploiting human weakness— “something riding those weaknesses and steering them.”

This creates a two-layer reading:

• Layer 1 (Facts): money flows, laws, propaganda, incentives.
• Layer 2 (Belief): spiritual forces egging those weaknesses on.

The danger lies in collapsing Layer 1 into Layer 2 and abandoning responsibility.

Modern news often blends reporting with interpretation. Consider outlets such as:

• The Guardian
• NPR
• The New York Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• Washington Examiner
• The Spectator
• Reuters
• Associated Press

A practical method for clarity:

1. Assume everyone is selling something. Information often aims to move emotions or loyalties.

2. Separate the layers:

   • FACTS: dates, numbers, quotes, concrete actions.
   • INTERPRETATION/BELIEF: “This proves X is evil.”
   • OPINION/EMOTION: fear, disgust, outrage, tribal loyalty.

3. Triangulate. Compare sources with different leanings. Trust overlapping, boring facts. Treat the rest as interpretation.

4. Add time and distance. First takes are often the noisiest. Slower, sourced reporting tends to clarify.

What survives across ideological lines is more likely factual. What differs is often interpretation or opinion.

Daily Choices Under a Spiritual & Practical Lens.

If one believes politics has a spiritual dimension, daily practice should not look like obsession. It should look like grounded discipline:

• Be suspicious of content demanding instant outrage or dehumanization.
• Ask, “Who profits if I’m terrified or furious right now?”
• Guard your inputs. Limit doom-scrolling. Prefer long-form analysis over hot-take reels.
• Aim small and local. Treat co-workers, patients, and family members with integrity.
• Pray and act—not pray instead of act.
• Refuse to outsource responsibility to demons.

Belief should not produce paralysis. It should produce steadiness. If truth corresponds to reality, then emotional frenzy is often an obstacle to perceiving it clearly.

A mature stance holds:

• Humans remain morally responsible.
• Systems require accountability.
• Individuals retain agency in how they allocate attention, time, and action.

It’s reasonable to hold that demons could influence politics as a belief that helps make sense of recurring moral rot, but one should separate that from the hard facts about how power works and use both lenses – spiritual for meaning and practical for action. Thus, even if one believes spiritual forces operate in the world, daily life still centers on concrete actions: loving one’s family, practicing integrity at work, engaging locally, and contributing constructively. Belief in spiritual warfare does not require surrendering one’s cortisol to every headline.

Conclusion.

Truth is not whatever feels persuasive, comforting, or viral. It is how things actually are. Facts describe measurable reality. Beliefs interpret that reality. Opinions evaluate it.

Confusion arises when we blur these categories—treating beliefs as facts, or opinions as truths. Clarity emerges when we consciously separate them.

In religious and political life alike, wisdom lies not in abandoning belief, nor in pretending certainty where none exists, but in disciplined humility: anchoring in what can be verified, acknowledging interpretive layers, and refusing to let emotional manipulation replace careful reasoning.

Truth may remain partially hidden, and we may never grasp truth in its fullness. But by carefully distinguishing fact, belief, and opinion, we can move toward it with humility—and live sanely in the meantime.

Manipulation thrives on speed and emotion, not careful thought.

Sources.

Conan Doyle, A. (1890). The Sign of Four. London: Spencer Blackett.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2021). “Truth.” Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/

The Holy Bible, Book of Daniel, Chapter 10.

0

今から約一年前、私の住む街は、人間によく似た姿を持つ「妖精族」によって統治されることになった。 彼らはルサイ族と言う。 人間より上位の存在として振る舞うものの、暴力や強制で人々を従わせることはない。

むしろ、彼らは普段ほとんど姿を見せない。 それでも、街の細かな決まりごとや日々の作法は、気づけば妖精たちの感性に沿うように、静かに形を変えていった。

生活そのものは大きく変わらない。 ただ、私たちの感覚だけが、まるで本来持っていない色や質感――たとえば、淡い黄色の画用紙を脳にそっと貼り付けられたような、薄い膜のような違和感――をまとったまま日常を過ごしているようだった。

1

子供の頃、私はよく缶詰を高い棚の上に置き、わざと肘で当てて落としていた。金属の鈍い音が床に響くと、必ず誰かの視線がこちらに向く。それだけで、私は妙に満足していた。 いま思うと、あれは単に大人の気を引きたかったのだろう。

その記憶を思い出すたび、私は少し困る。 というのも、今の私は、よその子供にほとんど関心を持てないからだ。公園などで、誰かの子供が走り回っているのを見かけると、なぜか鼻の中に汗が出てくる。体の奥の方で、小さな警報が鳴るような感じがする。 自分もあんなふうに注意を欲しがっていた子供だったのに、と思う。

そういうことを考えていると、自分というものがどんな経験で出来上がっているのか、不意に思い出すことがある。

たとえば、口約束だけでジェットに乗れたことがある。 誰かが「大丈夫」と言い、私は「じゃあ」と言った。それだけで本当に乗れてしまった。 あれは妙な成功体験だった。 あれ以来、人は案外、状況の形だけで納得してしまうものだと思うようになった。もし私が昔の時代の人間だったら、展望台の上から誰かが命令してきたとき、それがどんな内容であっても、きっと正しい命令だと思い込んでいただろう。

ある日、警察が誰かに向かって言っていた。

「デパートは外から楽しむものだ」

私はその会話を通りすがりに聞いて、変なやつが街を守っているものだなと思った。

街の空気は、どこかずれている。

その日の帰り道、スーツ姿の若い男が私の横を横切った。

「スーツを正しく汚せます」

彼は誰に言うでもなく、そんなことを口にしていた。社会人一年目の人間が、どこかで覚えたばかりの言葉を試しているような声だった。

人の流れに押されるように歩いているうち、いつの間にか集合場所が変わっていることに気づいた。 俺たちは何に集合しているんだろう。

本来は手前の広場だったはずなのに、人の群れは自然と向こう岸へ移動している。私は戸惑いながらも、皆と同じように早歩きでそちらへ向かった。

橋を渡ると、水が見えた。 本当に水がきれいで、少し怖いくらいだった。 透明すぎて、そこに自分が立っていることの実感が薄れてしまう。 生きている感じがしない。

そのまま歩いていると、骨董店の中から声が聞こえてきた。

「魔女は何もしなくても年々強くなるんだよ」

店の奥で誰かがそう言っている。 私は立ち止まらなかったが、その言葉だけが耳の中に残った。

魔女という言葉を聞くと、ある人物を思い出す。

友達が一度、霊媒師みたいな格好の人を連れてきたことがあった。黒い布の重なった服を着ていて、歩くたびに少しだけ音がした。その人からは梅の匂いがしていた。

梅の匂いを嗅ぐと、私はなぜかお茶漬けが食べたくなる。 そのことを思い出しながら帰路につき、団地の公園のような場所を近道しようとした。 すると、入口のところに木こりのような男が立っていた。

「今はここは通れない」

そう言われた。 私は「あなたはここのなんなんですか」と聞いたが、男は答えなかった。

そのまま土をならす作業に戻ってしまった。 仕方なくその場で立ち止まり、周囲の木を見ていると、昔からの癖を思い出す。 風船を膨らませたあと、手についたゴムの匂いを、私はよく木に擦り付ける。 なぜそんなことをするのか、自分でもよく分からない。 木の皮に手を当てると、匂いが少し落ち着く。

その感触を持ちながら、自分の家へと帰宅した。 最近、愛犬がくしゃみをすると、その振動が骨に響くような気がする。昔はそんなことはなかった。自分の体の強さに、少し自信がなくなっている。

家に帰るとき、遠くからベランダが見えると安心する。 カーテンが風で揺れているのを見ると、それだけで気分が少し高まる。 家がそこにあるということは、まだ大丈夫だという気がするからだ。

私は半分冗談のように、自分のことをおばあちゃんだと思って暮らしている。 だから帰ったら、いつも娘にお湯で優しく洗ってもらう。 それを、ちょっと楽しみにしている。

When Brad Smith, Microsoft's vice chair and president, stood before cameras in December 2025 to announce his company's largest ever commitment to Canada, he did not simply unveil an infrastructure deal. He outlined a blueprint. The C$19 billion investment, spanning 2023 to 2027, with more than C$7.5 billion (approximately US$5.4 billion) earmarked for the next two years alone, was wrapped in the language of sovereignty, trust, and governance. Smith called it “the most robust digital sovereignty plan that we have announced anywhere,” building on commitments Microsoft had previously made to the European Union. But behind the soaring rhetoric lies a more complicated question, one that regulators, civil society groups, and rival governments are only beginning to wrestle with: can a single corporation's infrastructure investments actually create replicable models for responsible AI governance across jurisdictions with wildly divergent regulatory expectations?

The answer matters. It matters because the sovereign cloud market is projected to grow from US$154.69 billion in 2025 to US$823.91 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights, with Europe expected to hold the highest market share. It matters because the EU AI Act is rolling out in phases that will reshape compliance requirements for every organisation deploying AI in Europe. And it matters because Canada itself has failed to pass comprehensive AI legislation, leaving a regulatory vacuum that corporate commitments are rushing to fill. Microsoft expects to spend US$80 billion on AI-enabled data centres in its fiscal year 2025 alone, according to a January 2025 blog post by Smith, with more than half of that spending directed at US facilities. The Canadian investment, while substantial, is one piece of a global infrastructure play that spans Portugal (US$10 billion), the United Arab Emirates (US$15 billion), and dozens of other markets.

The Anatomy of a Sovereign AI Play

To understand what Microsoft is attempting in Canada, you need to see the investment as more than data centres and fibre optic cables. The C$7.5 billion will expand Microsoft's Azure Canada Central (Toronto) and Canada East (Quebec City) data centre regions, with new capacity expected to come online in the second half of 2026. These facilities will be designed for energy efficiency, renewable power, and water-saving cooling systems, features that are increasingly non-negotiable given the enormous power demands of AI workloads. Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 systems, widely used in AI data centres, are estimated to consume up to 120 kilowatts per rack, demanding liquid cooling and advanced infrastructure management.

Microsoft currently employs more than 5,300 people across 11 Canadian cities, operates a significant R&D hub in Vancouver with over 2,700 engineers, and supports an ecosystem of 17,000 partner companies that generate between C$33 billion and C$41 billion annually, supporting approximately 426,000 jobs. The company estimates that AI tools could generate up to C$40 billion in annual productivity gains for Canadian organisations. A 2025 Microsoft SMB Report found that 71% of Canadian small and medium businesses are actively using AI or generative AI, with 90% adoption among digital-native firms.

But the infrastructure spend is only one layer of a five-point digital sovereignty plan that Smith articulated as a deliberate governance architecture. The five pillars cover cybersecurity defence, data residency, privacy protection, support for Canadian AI developers, and continuity of cloud services. Each pillar addresses a distinct governance concern, and together they represent Microsoft's attempt to demonstrate that a hyperscaler can operate within national boundaries while maintaining global interoperability. On the fifth pillar, Microsoft made a distinctive pledge: to pursue legal and diplomatic remedies against any order that would suspend cloud services to Canadian customers, a commitment that goes beyond standard service-level agreements.

The cybersecurity pillar centres on a new Threat Intelligence Hub in Ottawa, staffed by Microsoft subject matter experts in threat intelligence, threat protection research, and applied AI security research. The hub will collaborate with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (part of the Communications Security Establishment), and other government agencies to monitor nation-state actors, ransomware groups, and AI-powered attacks. Microsoft claims access to 100 trillion daily threat signals globally, a figure that underscores the sheer scale of its intelligence apparatus. The company disclosed that its investigators had recently uncovered Chinese and North Korean operatives using fake identities for tech sector infiltration in Canada, lending urgency to the hub's establishment. Microsoft's own assessment found that in 2025, more than half of cyberattacks against Canada with known motives were financially motivated, with 80% involving data exfiltration efforts, and almost 20% targeting the healthcare and education sectors.

On data residency, Microsoft committed to processing Copilot interactions within Canadian borders by 2026, expanding Azure Local to allow organisations to run Azure capabilities in their own private cloud and on-premises environments, and launching the Sovereign AI Landing Zone (SAIL), an open-source framework hosted on GitHub designed to provide a secure foundation for deploying AI solutions within Canadian borders while maintaining privacy and compliance standards. Canada is one of 15 countries to which Microsoft is extending in-country data processing for Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions; the initiative began rolling out to Australia, the United Kingdom, India, and Japan by the end of 2025, with 11 additional countries, including Canada, scheduled for 2026.

The privacy pillar introduces confidential computing capabilities within Canadian data centre regions, keeping data encrypted and isolated even during processing. Azure Key Vault will be available to Canadian customers, supporting external key management and allowing encryption keys to remain under customer control. Microsoft has also made a contractual commitment to challenge any government demand for Canadian government or commercial customer data where it has a legal basis to do so.

When Sovereignty Meets the Sovereign Landing Zone

The technical architecture underpinning Microsoft's sovereignty claims is the Sovereign Landing Zone (SLZ), a variant of the Azure Landing Zone (ALZ) that layers additional controls for data residency, encryption, and operational oversight. In June 2025, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced a broad range of sovereign cloud solutions, and the SLZ has since moved from concept to implementation. The SLZ on Terraform achieved general availability, with a Bicep implementation currently in development building on the new Bicep Azure Verified Modules for Platform Landing Zones.

The SLZ is not a separate cloud. It builds on ALZ principles but applies tighter, enforceable controls aligned with sovereign operating models. The architecture includes management-group hierarchies tailored for workload classification (Public, Confidential Online, and Confidential Corp), additional policies for data residency, and encryption at rest, in transit, and in use through confidential computing. The key design principle is enforcement over guidance: guardrails are applied at the platform level using management groups, Azure Policy, identity controls, and standardised subscription layouts. Application teams can move quickly, but only within approved boundaries. In addition to Azure's built-in policies, the SLZ provides a Sovereignty Baseline Policy initiative alongside country-specific and regulation-specific policy sets, with the set of built-in policy definitions continuing to expand.

For regulators, this architecture raises a fundamental question: does platform-level enforcement constitute genuine governance, or is it merely compliance theatre orchestrated by the very entity being regulated? The distinction matters enormously. When Microsoft embeds sovereignty controls into its infrastructure layer, it effectively sets the rules of the game. Customers can customise deployments in accordance with established regulatory frameworks. But the underlying infrastructure remains Microsoft's, subject to its design decisions, its threat models, and its commercial priorities.

This tension is not hypothetical. Under the US CLOUD Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), data hosted on servers owned by US companies can be subject to US law enforcement requests, regardless of where those servers are physically located. The Canadian government itself characterised FISA as a “primary risk to data sovereignty” in a 2020 white paper. Microsoft's contractual commitment to challenge such demands is welcome, but it remains a voluntary corporate pledge, not a structural guarantee. Smith told CTV in December 2025 that “no country can defend its digital sovereignty if it cannot defend its digital borders,” adding that Microsoft defends Canada's digital border “every day.” That framing reveals a core paradox: digital sovereignty premised on the goodwill of a foreign corporation is sovereignty of a peculiar, contingent sort.

The EU AI Act and the Compliance Calendar

Any discussion of replicable governance models must contend with the EU AI Act, the world's most comprehensive AI regulation, which is being implemented in phases that will reshape the compliance landscape through 2027 and beyond.

The Act entered into force on 1 August 2024, but its requirements activate at different milestones. As of 2 February 2025, AI systems posing “unacceptable risks” became strictly prohibited, including manipulative AI, predictive policing, social scoring, and real-time biometric identification in public spaces. Organisations also became required to ensure adequate AI literacy among employees involved in AI deployment.

On 2 August 2025, rules for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models took effect, requiring providers to maintain technical documentation, publish public summaries of training content using the European Commission's template, and comply with EU copyright rules. Member States were required to designate national competent authorities and adopt national laws on penalties. EU-level governance structures, including the AI Board, Scientific Panel, and Advisory Forum, had to be established.

The majority of the Act's provisions become fully applicable on 2 August 2026, including requirements for high-risk AI systems in healthcare, finance, employment, and critical infrastructure. Transparency rules under Article 50 will apply, and each Member State should have established at least one AI regulatory sandbox. Full application, including rules for high-risk AI embedded in regulated products, arrives on 2 August 2027, with a final deadline of 31 December 2030 for AI systems that are components of large-scale IT systems.

Finland has already moved ahead of the pack, activating national supervision laws on 1 January 2026 and becoming the first EU Member State with fully operational AI Act enforcement powers at the national level. On 2 February 2026, the European Commission conducted its first mandatory review of Article 5 prohibitions, potentially expanding the list of banned AI applications based on evidence of emerging risks. Meanwhile, in November 2025, the European Commission proposed the “Digital Omnibus,” a plan to simplify the EU's sweeping digital regulations, which could delay when certain high-risk obligations take effect; however, this proposal must still pass through the EU legislative process.

For Microsoft, the EU AI Act creates both obligation and opportunity. The company has stated that its early investment in responsible AI positions it well to meet regulatory demands and to help customers do the same. Microsoft has already established a European board of directors, composed of European nationals, exclusively overseeing all data centre operations in compliance with European law. But the Act's requirements for explainability, auditability, and fairness documentation go far beyond what any single company's voluntary commitments have historically delivered.

Canada's Regulatory Vacuum and the Corporate Governance Paradox

While the EU is implementing the world's most detailed AI regulatory framework, Canada finds itself in a strikingly different position. The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA), introduced as part of Bill C-27 in June 2022, was designed to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for AI. It would have introduced measures to regulate AI systems, prohibited harmful practices, created a new AI and Data Commissioner, and imposed penalties of up to C$25 million or 5% of global revenue for non-compliance.

AIDA never became law. The bill died on the order paper in January 2025 after extensive parliamentary scrutiny revealed concerns about its scope, the delegation of regulatory powers, and the adequacy of public consultations. Critics noted that key provisions were vague, including the lack of a clear definition for “high-impact system,” with the Act stating that the definition might evolve in the future. The Act was also criticised for having been developed behind closed doors by a select group of industry representatives, drawing criticism for its lack of broader stakeholder engagement.

The current federal government has indicated it will seek to regulate AI through privacy legislation, policy, and investment rather than overarching AI-specific legislation. In October 2025, the government held a public engagement “sprint” in connection with a new AI Strategy Task Force to support a renewed national AI strategy, expected to rely on policy mechanisms rather than comprehensive legislative reform. Canada's Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, stated that “Canada is scaling homegrown companies while also working with international partners to build the advanced infrastructure our innovators require.”

This creates what might be called the corporate governance paradox: in the absence of binding regulation, corporations like Microsoft step into the gap with voluntary commitments, infrastructure investments, and self-imposed governance frameworks. Microsoft's five-point sovereignty plan, its Sovereign Landing Zone architecture, and its Threat Intelligence Hub all function as de facto governance mechanisms. But they are governance mechanisms designed, implemented, and enforced by the governed entity itself.

The paradox deepens when you consider that Canada has launched the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (CAISI) as part of a broader C$2.4 billion investment in AI initiatives announced in the 2024 federal budget, alongside a C$2 billion Sovereign AI Compute Strategy encompassing the AI Compute Challenge (up to C$700 million), the Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Programme (up to C$705 million), and the AI Compute Access Fund (up to C$300 million). The country also has sector-specific regulatory efforts: the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has released Draft Guideline E-23 on Model Risk Management for financial institutions, Ontario's Workers for Workers Four Act (effective 2026) will impose requirements on employers using AI in hiring, and Canadian law societies in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario have issued guidance for lawyers using generative AI. But none of these measures constitute the kind of comprehensive, cross-sector AI governance framework that the EU AI Act represents.

Responsible AI Tooling and the Measurement Problem

Microsoft's responsible AI framework rests on six stated principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. The company has operationalised these through its Responsible AI Standard, which covers six domains and establishes 14 goals intended to reduce AI risks and their associated harms. But principles are not outcomes. The critical question is whether Microsoft's tooling can produce measurable governance results that satisfy regulators, customers, and civil society stakeholders.

The company's primary instrument is the Responsible AI Dashboard, which integrates several components for assessing and improving model performance. Error Analysis identifies cohorts of data with higher error rates, including when systems underperform for specific demographic groups or infrequently observed input conditions. Fairness Assessment, powered by the open-source Fairlearn library, identifies which groups may be disproportionately negatively impacted by an AI system and in what ways. Model Interpretability, powered by InterpretML, generates human-understandable descriptions of model predictions at both global and local levels; for example, it can explain what features affect the overall behaviour of a loan allocation model, or why a specific customer's application was approved or rejected. The dashboard also includes counterfactual what-if components that help stakeholders explore how changes in inputs would alter outcomes.

For generative AI specifically, Microsoft Foundry allows developers to assess applications for quality and safety using both human review and AI-assisted metrics. Microsoft has also introduced Transparency Notes, documentation designed to help customers understand how AI technologies work and make informed deployment decisions. The company's 2025 Responsible AI Transparency Report detailed 67 red-teaming operations conducted across flagship models, including the Phi series and Copilot tools, stress-testing them for vulnerabilities to malicious prompts and misuse. Microsoft introduced an internal workflow tool that centralises responsible AI requirements and simplifies documentation for pre-deployment reviews; for high-impact or sensitive use cases involving biometric data or critical infrastructure, the company provides hands-on counselling to ensure heightened scrutiny and ethical alignment.

In September 2025, Nadella announced new AI commitments focusing on enhanced safety protocols, transparency in algorithms, and investments in bias mitigation tools. He warned at the World Economic Forum that AI would lose public support unless it demonstrated tangible value: “We will quickly lose even the social permission to take something like energy, which is a scarce resource, and use it to generate these tokens, if these tokens are not improving health outcomes, education outcomes, public sector efficiency, private sector competitiveness.”

Microsoft has also aligned its Cloud Adoption Framework AI governance guidance with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF), which organises recommendations into four core functions: Govern, Map, Measure, and Manage. Azure Policy and Microsoft Purview are offered as tools to enforce policies automatically across AI deployments, with regular assessments of areas where automation can improve policy adherence. Counterfit, an open-source command-line tool, allows developers to simulate cyberattacks against AI systems, assessing vulnerabilities across cloud, on-premises, and edge environments.

Yet the measurement problem persists. Responsible AI dashboards and transparency notes are useful tools, but they are fundamentally self-assessment instruments. They tell you what Microsoft's own systems detect about Microsoft's own models. Civil society organisations have been explicit about what they consider insufficient. A survey by The Future Society of 44 civil society organisations found overwhelming consensus on the need for legally binding measures, with enforcement mechanisms receiving the highest support across all priorities. The top-ranked demand was establishing legally binding “red lines” prohibiting certain high-risk AI systems incompatible with human rights obligations, followed by mandating systematic, independent third-party audits of general-purpose AI systems covering bias, transparency, and accountability. A side event titled “Global AI Governance: Empowering Civil Society,” held during the Paris AI Action Summit in February 2025, reinforced these priorities.

The Frontier Governance Framework and Corporate Accountability

Microsoft's response to growing calls for accountability has been its Frontier Governance Framework, introduced in the 2025 Transparency Report. The framework emerged from voluntary safety commitments made in May 2024 alongside fifteen other AI organisations and now functions as an internal monitoring and risk assessment mechanism for advanced models before release. It represents Microsoft's attempt to self-regulate frontier AI development before governments can impose external constraints.

The framework's effectiveness depends entirely on its implementation rigour and the independence of its oversight. Microsoft's partnerships with civil society organisations, including its collaboration with the Stimson Center on the Global Perspectives Responsible AI Fellowship, suggest an awareness that corporate governance cannot operate in isolation. The fellowship brings together diverse stakeholders from civil society, academia, and the private sector for discussions on AI's societal impact. Brad Smith has emphasised that government, industry, academia, and civil society must work together to advance AI policy.

But awareness is not the same as accountability. The gap between corporate voluntary commitments and the binding regulatory frameworks that civil society demands remains wide. As one participant in The Future Society consultation articulated: “Public accountability demands that we develop meaningful measures of impact on important issues like standards of living and be transparent about how things are going.” Civil society organisations are calling for standardised methodologies for independent verification across jurisdictions, crisis response protocols with clear intervention thresholds, and transparent participation mechanisms that ensure equitable representation. Microsoft's investment of US$80 billion in AI data centres during fiscal year 2025 makes it one of the world's largest investors in AI infrastructure; that scale of spending creates commensurate obligations for governance transparency.

Divergent Frameworks and the Replicability Question

The global landscape of AI governance is characterised by fundamental divergences. The EU has adopted a regulation-first approach emphasising human rights, conformity assessments, and mandatory transparency. The United States has historically favoured innovation-first self-governance, though sector regulators including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are increasingly referencing NIST AI RMF principles in their expectations for safe deployment. China pursues state-led AI governance with centralised control over AI development. The BRICS nations, representing eleven countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran, advocate for flexible governance structures that respect national sovereignty while maintaining international cooperation. McKinsey analysis suggests that sovereign AI could represent a market of US$600 billion by 2030, with up to 40% of AI workloads potentially moving to sovereign environments.

Only about 30 countries currently host in-country compute infrastructure capable of supporting advanced AI workloads. Many lack not only hardware but also local model development, applications, energy systems, and governance frameworks optimised for AI. This compute divide creates a structural dependency: nations without indigenous AI infrastructure must rely on hyperscalers like Microsoft, accepting their governance frameworks as a condition of access to AI capabilities. Seventy-one per cent of executives, investors, and government officials surveyed by McKinsey characterised sovereign AI as an “existential concern” or “strategic imperative” for their organisations.

Microsoft's Canadian investment can be seen as a template for this dynamic. The company offers sovereignty tools (SLZ, SAIL, Azure Local), cybersecurity collaboration (Threat Intelligence Hub), and local AI developer support (Cohere partnership). Cohere's advanced language models, including Command A, Embed 4, and Rerank, are being integrated into the Microsoft Foundry first-party model lineup, making Canadian-developed AI accessible on Azure. Microsoft and Cohere aim to co-develop industry-specific models for sectors like natural resources and manufacturing, where Canada has particular strengths. This partnership serves a dual purpose: it provides enterprise customers with an alternative to US-developed models, and it bolsters Canada's credentials as an AI innovation hub.

The question of replicability hinges on whether Microsoft's approach can be transplanted to jurisdictions with fundamentally different regulatory, political, and economic contexts. Consider the EU: Microsoft has already committed to end-to-end AI data processing within Europe as part of the EU Data Boundary, and Microsoft 365 Copilot now processes interactions in-country for 15 countries. The company's Sovereign Landing Zone provides EU-specific policy sets aligned with the AI Act's requirements. But the EU's regulatory expectations go well beyond data residency. The Act requires conformity assessments for high-risk systems, detailed technical documentation, human oversight mechanisms, and ongoing monitoring obligations. These requirements demand independent verification, not just self-reported compliance through corporate dashboards.

Building Governance That Outlasts the Press Release

The mechanisms that would transform corporate AI commitments into measurable governance outcomes fall into three categories: explainability, auditability, and fairness documentation. Each requires specific institutional arrangements that go beyond voluntary corporate action.

Explainability demands that AI systems provide meaningful explanations of their decisions to affected individuals. Microsoft's InterpretML and model interpretability tools offer technical capabilities for this, generating both global explanations (what features affect a model's overall behaviour) and local explanations (why a specific decision was made). But technical explainability is only useful if it is accessible to non-technical stakeholders, including regulators, affected communities, and individual users. The EU AI Act's transparency obligations under Article 50, applicable from August 2026, will require explanations that are comprehensible to the humans who interact with AI systems, not just the engineers who build them.

Auditability requires independent third-party access to AI systems, training data, and deployment processes. Microsoft's red-teaming operations and its alignment with the NIST AI RMF's Govern, Map, Measure, and Manage functions provide an internal audit framework. But the civil society consensus, as documented by The Future Society, is that self-auditing is insufficient. Measurable governance outcomes require external audit mechanisms with genuine investigative authority, standardised methodologies for independent verification across jurisdictions, and enforceable penalties for non-compliance. The EU AI Act's conformity assessment procedures for high-risk systems point in this direction, but their effectiveness will depend on the capacity and independence of national competent authorities.

Fairness documentation requires systematic evidence that AI systems do not discriminate against protected groups. Microsoft's Fairlearn library and the Responsible AI Dashboard's fairness assessment capabilities provide tools for detecting disparate impact. But fairness is not a purely technical concept. It involves normative judgements about which disparities are acceptable and which constitute discrimination, judgements that vary across cultures, legal systems, and political contexts. A fairness standard calibrated for Canadian employment law may be inadequate for EU anti-discrimination directives or for the complex intersectional discrimination patterns that civil society organisations have documented.

What Replicable Governance Actually Requires

Microsoft's Canadian investment demonstrates that a hyperscaler can build infrastructure, deploy sovereignty tools, and partner with local institutions to create governance capabilities. The skills component alone is substantial: Microsoft aims to help 250,000 Canadians earn AI credentials by 2026 through its Microsoft Elevate unit, having already engaged 5.7 million learners and supported 546,000 individuals in completing AI training across the country. Only 24% of Canadians have received AI-related training, compared to a 39% global average, according to Microsoft data.

But replicable governance requires something more: institutional arrangements that survive changes in corporate leadership, shifts in commercial strategy, and the inevitable tensions between profitability and public interest.

Nadella himself has acknowledged this tension. In November 2025, he published a widely circulated memo on “Shared Economic Gains,” warning the tech industry against value extraction and arguing that for the AI revolution to be sustainable, it must create more wealth for its users than for its creators. He has consistently argued that “technology development doesn't just happen; it happens because us humans make design choices. Those design choices need to be grounded in principles and ethics.”

The replicability question ultimately comes down to whether Microsoft's governance architecture can be separated from Microsoft itself. If the Sovereign AI Landing Zone is truly open-source, if the Threat Intelligence Hub's methodologies can be adopted by other nations' cybersecurity centres, if the responsible AI tooling can be validated by independent auditors, then Canada's experience could serve as a genuine template. If, however, these governance mechanisms remain dependent on Microsoft's infrastructure, subject to Microsoft's terms of service, and validated primarily by Microsoft's own assessments, then they represent corporate governance rather than public governance, and their replicability is limited to jurisdictions willing to accept that distinction.

The EU AI Act's phased implementation will provide the most rigorous test. By August 2026, when the majority of provisions become applicable, Microsoft and every other AI provider operating in Europe will face mandatory requirements for transparency, explainability, and accountability that no voluntary framework can substitute. The question is whether the governance muscles Microsoft is building in Canada, through its SLZ architecture, its Threat Intelligence Hub, and its responsible AI tooling, will prove strong enough to meet those requirements, or whether the gap between corporate self-governance and democratic accountability will prove too wide to bridge.

For Canada, for Europe, and for the approximately 30 nations currently capable of hosting advanced AI workloads, the answer will define the next decade of AI governance. Microsoft has laid down a US$5.4 billion wager that its version of sovereignty by design can become the global standard. Whether that wager pays off depends not on the size of the investment, but on whether the governance frameworks it produces can earn the trust of the regulators, civil society organisations, and citizens whose lives AI systems increasingly shape.

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References and Sources

1. Microsoft. “Microsoft Deepens Its Commitment to Canada with Landmark $19B AI Investment.” Microsoft On the Issues, 9 December 2025. https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/12/09/microsoft-deepens-its-commitment-to-canada-with-landmark-19b-ai-investment/

2. Business Standard. “Microsoft to invest over $5.4 bn in Canada to expand AI infrastructure.” 9 December 2025. https://www.business-standard.com/technology/tech-news/microsoft-to-invest-over-5-4-bn-in-canada-to-expand-ai-infrastructure-125120901025_1.html

3. Fortune Business Insights. “Sovereign Cloud Market Size, Share, Growth | Forecast [2034].” 2025. https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/sovereign-cloud-market-112386

4. EU Artificial Intelligence Act. “Implementation Timeline.” 2025. https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/implementation-timeline/

5. Microsoft Learn. “Sovereign Landing Zone (SLZ) Implementation Options.” 2025. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/industry/sovereign-cloud/sovereign-public-cloud/sovereign-landing-zone/implementation-options

6. Microsoft Azure Blog. “Microsoft Strengthens Sovereign Cloud Capabilities with New Services.” November 2025. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-strengthens-sovereign-cloud-capabilities-with-new-services/

7. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. “Artificial Intelligence and Data Act.” https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/innovation-better-canada/en/artificial-intelligence-and-data-act

8. White & Case LLP. “AI Watch: Global Regulatory Tracker, Canada.” 2025. https://www.whitecase.com/insight-our-thinking/ai-watch-global-regulatory-tracker-canada

9. Microsoft. “Responsible AI Principles and Approach.” https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/principles-and-approach

10. Microsoft Learn. “What is Responsible AI, Azure Machine Learning.” https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/machine-learning/concept-responsible-ai?view=azureml-api-2

11. GitHub. “Microsoft Responsible AI Toolbox.” https://github.com/microsoft/responsible-ai-toolbox

12. AI Magazine. “Inside Microsoft's 2025 Responsible AI Transparency Report.” 2025. https://aimagazine.com/articles/inside-microsofts-2025-responsible-ai-transparency-report

13. The Future Society. “Ten AI Governance Priorities: Survey of 44 Civil Society Organizations.” 2025. https://thefuturesociety.org/cso-ai-governance-priorities/

14. McKinsey & Company. “The Sovereign AI Agenda: Moving from Ambition to Reality.” 2025. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/tech-forward/the-sovereign-ai-agenda-moving-from-ambition-to-reality

15. NIST. “AI Risk Management Framework.” https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework

16. Microsoft Learn. “Govern AI, Cloud Adoption Framework.” https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/scenarios/ai/govern

17. ERP Today. “Microsoft's Canada Investment Puts Digital Sovereignty to Work.” December 2025. https://erp.today/microsofts-canada-investment-puts-digital-sovereignty-to-work/

18. BetaKit. “Microsoft to spend $7.5 billion on AI data centre expansion with pledge to protect Canada's 'digital sovereignty.'” December 2025. https://betakit.com/microsoft-to-spend-7-5-billion-on-ai-data-centre-expansion-with-pledge-to-protect-canadas-digital-sovereignty/

19. BNN Bloomberg. “Microsoft will protect Canada digital sovereignty: president.” 13 December 2025. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/politics/2025/12/13/microsoft-president-insists-company-will-stand-up-to-defend-canadian-digital-sovereignty/

20. Trilateral Research. “EU AI Act Compliance Timeline: Key Dates for 2025-2027 by Risk Tier.” 2025. https://trilateralresearch.com/responsible-ai/eu-ai-act-implementation-timeline-mapping-your-models-to-the-new-risk-tiers

21. Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. “Sovereignty in the Age of AI: Strategic Choices, Structural Dependencies and the Long Game Ahead.” 2025. https://institute.global/insights/tech-and-digitalisation/sovereignty-in-the-age-of-ai-strategic-choices-structural-dependencies

22. TechXplore. “Microsoft's AI deal promises Canada digital sovereignty, but is that a pledge it can keep?” January 2026. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-microsoft-ai-canada-digital-sovereignty.html

23. Canada.ca. “Canada's National Cyber Security Strategy: Securing Canada's Digital Future.” 2025. https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ntnl-cbr-scrt-strtg-2025/index-en.aspx

24. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. “Canada's 2026 Privacy Priorities: Data Sovereignty, Open Banking and AI.” 2025. https://www.osler.com/en/insights/reports/2025-legal-outlook/canadas-2026-privacy-priorities-data-sovereignty-open-banking-and-ai/

25. CNBC. “Microsoft expects to spend $80 billion on AI-enabled data centers in fiscal 2025.” 3 January 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/03/microsoft-expects-to-spend-80-billion-on-ai-data-centers-in-fy-2025.html

26. Microsoft 365 Blog. “Microsoft offers in-country data processing to 15 countries to strengthen sovereign controls for Microsoft 365 Copilot.” 4 November 2025. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/11/04/microsoft-offers-in-country-data-processing-to-15-countries-to-strengthen-sovereign-controls-for-microsoft-365-copilot/

27. Microsoft. “Responsible AI Tools and Practices.” https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/tools-practices

28. Schwartz Reisman Institute, University of Toronto. “What's Next After AIDA?” 2025. https://srinstitute.utoronto.ca/news/whats-next-for-aida

29. Digital Journal. “Microsoft's $19-billion Canadian AI investment stokes digital sovereignty debate.” December 2025. https://www.digitaljournal.com/business/microsofts-19-billion-canadian-ai-investment-stokes-digital-sovereignty-debate/article

30. Microsoft Source EMEA. “Microsoft Expands Digital Sovereignty Capabilities.” November 2025. https://news.microsoft.com/source/emea/2025/11/microsoft-expands-digital-sovereignty-capabilities/

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Tim Green UK-based Systems Theorist & Independent Technology Writer

Tim explores the intersections of artificial intelligence, decentralised cognition, and posthuman ethics. His work, published at smarterarticles.co.uk, challenges dominant narratives of technological progress while proposing interdisciplinary frameworks for collective intelligence and digital stewardship.

His writing has been featured on Ground News and shared by independent researchers across both academic and technological communities.

ORCID: 0009-0002-0156-9795 Email: tim@smarterarticles.co.uk

My friend, Rachel, who has much more experience with pets than I do, shared an excellent bit of wisdom after Kika died.

Death isn’t a failure of care.

On some level, it seems obvious enough. No one has ever beaten death. Your loved one was supposed to be the first? I don't think so.

On another level, I find the statement difficult to accept. There's always more that could have been done. I could have timed her medication better. I could have brushed her more to calm her and to express my love. I could have slept by her side those final days, on the floor of my office where she hid at night. I don't know why the idea only occurred to me later. Maybe she would have lived longer if I had. (To be fair to myself, I was pretty confused and exhausted in those final days. Perhaps I couldn't think clearly with her health declining.)

Kika's death

Kika ultimately died of gastrointestinal disease. She may have had lymphoma, but we will never know for sure. Her primary veterinarian felt that certainty was unnecessary, because the treatment for lymphoma was the same as the treatment for other kinds of gastrointestinal disease. We did follow that treatment plan, but it wasn't enough.

I brought Kika in for an appointment the day before she died, on my mother's urging. My mom knew I would never regret going, but I would regret not going. That turned out to be excellent advice. If it hadn't been for that, I would still be second-guessing myself, wondering if Kika had died of acute pancreatitis or something else that I failed to see. The vet took some fluids and sent them to Cornell, but when Kika passed the next day, the practice cancelled the tests. On the day Kika passed, the attending veterinarian did say something about how Kika's fluid looked cancerous under their microscope, but I was so flustered I could hardly understand what she was talking about.

The GI med may have worsened Kika's condition in the end, but I still think trying it was the right course of action. No one could have predicted how she would react to it, and if I hadn't tried it, I would be blaming my avoidance of the medication for her decline.

Even still, I should have been able to extend Kika's life somehow. Every choice matters. In that sense, wasn't her death a failure of care?

I don't know. There are many causes of death in humans and animals. Kika didn't die of the following things, to be clear, but mistakes happen, people die of medical malpractice, and accidents take lives too soon. Are those deaths predetermined? Are they unavoidable?

Maybe they are.

Kika died because she was a living thing, and living things die. Death is the price we pay for birth. Perhaps everything else is secondary—a few days here, a few days there, perhaps more. Immortality? No.

The Mortal Rule

I'm not a Buddhist, but I find Buddhism interesting and Buddhist and Buddhist-inspired meditation indescribably helpful. Buddhism can sometimes seem impenetrable, with myriad traditions, vast terminology, and scripture which is much more voluminous and much more sprawling than Westerners are accustomed to. I recently stumbled across the “Five Remembrances,” though, which are not at all difficult to understand. They offer a meaningful response to my difficulties, or perhaps a preventative for the feelings I've been struggling with. Practitioners are encouraged to memorize and reflect upon these facts, as interpreted by Lion's Roar and author Koun Franz:

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

The names of others can be substituted in these reminders. Kika was of the nature to grow old. Kika was of the nature to have ill health. Kika was of the nature to die. There's nothing we could have done to change that. (The last remembrance seems like a non-sequitur, but I assume its inclusion partly serves as a reminder of the centrality of karma in Buddhist thought.)

Philosophical stoicism offers similar advice:

With regard to whatever objects either delight the mind, or contribute to use, or are tenderly beloved, remind yourself of what nature they are, beginning with the merest trifles: if you have a favorite cup, that it is but a cup of which you are fond, – for thus, if it is broken, you can bear it; if you embrace your child, or your wife, that you embrace a mortal, – and thus, if either of them dies, you can bear it.

—The Enchiridion of Epictetus, as translated by T.W. Higginson

Dialectical behavior therapy encourages the broader practice of “coping ahead.” Others take solace in remembering the phrase “memento mori.” It's not the Golden Rule, I suppose, but there's enough ancient and modern support for the idea: remember that you and others are destined to die. It has helped me, and it may help you, too.

Watching without failing

In the end, Rachel may be correct. Certainly, insisting that your loved ones overcome death is insisting that you be disappointed. You will not succeed. Even still, that won't make you a failure.

#Life #Quotes

Dans la chambre de passage ou un studio de location, voilà qu'il devient fenêtre, capturé par son carré, ouverte puis refermée sur l'illusion qui nous désorbite la tête. On croit voir ce qu'on croit voir, mais soumis aux forces de l'ordre interne, on se retrouve seulement bêta devant l'image, humainement trompé. On en fait un tableau, montage inachevé, qu'on voudrait libéré des clôtures du monde, de la propriété, réchappé de l'explication, une petite chose aussitôt perdue de quelques lettres aux formes noires, en attente d'être retrouvée.

Le mot œil apparait 13 fois dans Ma vie au village.

#VoyageauLexique

Dans ce deuxième Voyage au Lexique, je continue d’explorer, en me gardant de les exploiter, les mots de Ma vie au village (in Journal de la brousse endormie) dont le nombre d’occurrences est significatif.

It’s day nine after the break up. And today fucking hurt like hell, I emailed her the Minecraft world and told her that I had unfriended her little brother which was the last two loose ends. And she responded thank you with a period and so it’s over. It hurts a lot because I loved her, and a part of me still does. But at the same time I’ve grown and I’ve learned that the relationship was not good for me. It was a constant cycle of scraps of love and hope, and then she would do something bad or hurtful and that would make me feel unsafe and betrayed, and then after I would apologize even though I shouldn’t have, then she would apologize and then give me hope and the love again for a couple days. And that is very addicting to the brain, and I recognize that because I’m having withdrawals. I so desperately wanted to talk with her because it feels like I’m due for my next hit, where she’s going to be kind and she’s going to be loving and sweet, but it’s done and I need to remind myself that.

I think I want to remind myself is that she absolutely loved me, but I don’t think to me I was loved enough. I think if it had been a more proper love, she wouldn’t have done things out of anger that hurt me or broke my trust or betrayed me, and she wouldn’t have consistently crossed boundaries and continued to hurt me very deeply without making any kind of a change. And I’m not saying that she’s a bad person, I think she’s someone who has a lot of growing to do, and also was dealt a bad hand. But at the end of the day those things are her responsibility and not mine. I deserve a relationship where it is reciprocated, my love, the effort that I put in, and the care that I put into my partner’s well-being. I don’t deserve to be in a relationship where the other person is OK with hurting me, consistently and as a pattern. I know that she didn’t mean to manipulate me either, but she consistently did in several different ways and even if it’s out of ignorance, it still is manipulation. And all of the crying and guilt that she felt I appreciate, because it shows that she did not take pride in her actions, but at the same time tears are not enough, and she just continued to hurt me and break my trust over and over again. And so I know that she is not the one for me. And I think it’s a really strange thing for someone who might’ve grown up with love, to understand that this is not something to accept, and that things can be so much better. But to me, I was neglected as a kid and so I didn’t get to experience what love felt like, and so when I get these small scraps to someone else it might feel like being mistreated, but to me this is more than I’ve ever felt before. And it sucks because that made me so much more susceptible to love bombing, and sweet promises. It’s so incredibly cruel and convincing when someone is so starred for this love to tell them consistently how much you matter, and also how you want to be with them in all of these intense different ways. But those things were not true, and I think she also got swept up in this fantasy. I’m again saying all these things not because I blame her, but because it did happen to me and I want to acknowledge that. And I didn’t deserve a lot of the stuff that happened, I didn’t do bad things back, I didn’t retaliate, I didn’t mistreat her, and there were mistakes that I made like going too fast or not setting boundaries earlier, but these were not things that hurt her, but rather were things that should’ve protected me. I think I fall into a trap thinking about if she is hurting or what she is doing, or if she’s going to move on, or if she’s thinking about me, and all these things do not matter. They are ways of keeping me trapped in the past, and that was a lesson that I’ve learned from and it was a person that I got to spend a lot of good memories with. But that person is gone and so is the person that was in that relationship from my sign. I’m right now driving on a route back from the airport that I remember because after almost a month apart I took her back the same path. And I remember how good it felt to finally hear her voice not over a microphone or a speaker, and to feel her legs in my hands. And I also thought a lot about how she was my baby, and how I thought those names were cringe until I got it with her. And I really wanted to protect her and keep her safe, because I really felt like a caretaker to her. I also need to remind myself that there are going to be people out there that would not treat me or do the same things that she did, there will be people out there that will love me without having the additional baggage of emotional work left undone, like self sabotage, or insecurities, or lack of independence. There will be people that have gone through experiences in life, and have properly grown from them the same way that I hoped to. There will be people that will challenge me, that will pridefully show me off and want me to meet their friends, there will be people that will be so incredibly happy and lucky to have me in their lives, and I will feel the same way towards them. There will be people that will actively make me laugh, not just reiterate my jokes or give me opportunities to make myself laugh. There will be people that enjoy learning as much as I do and growth, and I can be competitive with and actually be competitive with. I won’t have to permanently handicap myself around them to make things fair, and the other person won’t feel patronized. I won’t have to worry about someone else’s ego and constantly censor the things that I do. I won’t have to worry about when I’m not with them, because there will be people out there that do not give me reasons to worry especially so early on. There will be people out there that will apologize without me having to beg for it. That was a big thing, I remembered how much I had to beg for certain things. Like I had to ask her to tell me that she didn’t forget about it and that she is sorry. Or that she could try to do something without me having to handhold her or walk her through it to show that she cares. And on top of it she would actually do the things that I would ask her to do. I wouldn’t have to worry about someone who just felt like they did not have the mental capacity to recognize what things needed to be done without instruction. I would want a partner that gets me a thoughtful Christmas gift and a birthday present and something sweet that feels like they understand me or that they care and that they put an effort, rather than me giving them an explicit Christmas list and explicitly same things that they went against or completely ignored. And then afterwards they wouldn’t say something like oh I just didn’t think about it, and that would be a reasonable explanation to me. Like the fact that she crossed my boundaries and immediately again hurt me in those ways and showed me how little I mattered, and her excuse was just the fact that she did not think about it. I deserve to be with someone who has the mental capacity to fucking think about things like that. Because I deserve to take a space in someone’s mind, and if there isn’t enough space to begin with, there’s nothing I can do. When she would give me the space it would feel like it’s suffocates her and gets rid of her as a person, and I fear that maybe that’s just because she did not have enough space to begin with. And I deserve to be with someone who can see me in a much bigger way than what she did. I know that I will never be fully seen, and I know that of course people will not read your mind and fully understand and into it everything that comes to your heart but it shouldn’t be this damn low. There will be someone out there who does not have unresolved baggage. There is nothing wrong with having poor circumstances of birth, and also the ways that we cope with things. But it is your responsibility to deal with that baggage. And that was not something that she had done and that put all of that burden onto me and that crushed me. And I’m right now driving past her school, and where she is. And it hurts, but I also have this desperation and anger that at least lets me advocate for myself enough to not just feel like shit. Because I know that I have the problem from growing up of putting all of my interest all of my feelings and wishes on the back burner, and instead I focused fully on trying to take care of the other person because that’s what I had to do with my mom. And that’s what I also felt like I had to do with her, but I don’t have to do that. And so I’m driving past a lot of memories that I have with her, the constant late nights and the hours of driving I would do just to see her. And I think about all of these sweet memories and I also hold this in mind with the person I share these things with. And even regardless of all of the other bad things, we just were not that compatible in the first place. I think I have very much convince myself how easy it is to love, and I think I almost need to be pickier with who I give that love to. Regardless of if it’s correct or not, my entire life my goal was to be happily married. That was my biggest desire, and it is not right for me to settle for this person. I refuse for something important to just accept the first person that gives me slight scraps, and is in such a drastically different place of overall from me. Like I don’t even know if I mentioned it yet, but I thought earlier about what would happen after she graduated, and she didn’t get any kind of a job, then what? Does she just not pay anything towards rent but lives in this really nice house for free? And on top of it would I then take care of her finances in addition to her parents? And would she continue to waste her money on gifts and small things like snack snacks or food for me when I’m paying for essential things for her. She was not responsible, she is inexperienced in life in a lot of ways, and for me at least my parents stopped micromanaging everything about my life when I entered college. For her her parents still do that, and I’m very grateful that she has a very sweet mom and parents I can financially support her, but at the same time it does hinder her a lot. And that’s not something I want in a partner. I don’t want a partner with these naïve lofty dreams, talking about wanting to buy their own house in their 20s, and getting a nice fancy sports car and customizing it and making it really pretty, and not understanding how certain things in life are absolutely a luxury. Having to reconcile this fantasy world that she has been piggybacked on is something that causes a lot of strife, and it’s something that I don’t want to deal with and I don’t have to. I don’t have to sit and hope that she changes for the better in the immediate big problems, well not even thinking about the fundamental in compatibilities. It hurts a lot, it hurts so much to lose someone that did love you. And it hurts a lot to see how it goes from this cycle of hot and cold to just a permanent cold. But it’s absolutely without a doubt for the best. And I guess I just need to hurt, because I need to let my brain regulate itself and understand that all of his hope and fantasy is gone. And I need to truly feel that in both my brain and my heart. And I think I know that in my brain, but my heart still feels it. And my heart still belongs for her, but it doesn’t even belong for her, as long as for this idealized version of her, as long as for this fantasy that we built together. But there will be someone for sure in the future that will be kind to me, and that will love me, and that will not have all these additional caveat. Absolutely in the future my partner will not be perfect. They are going to have their fair sheriff baggage, as do I. They are going to fuck up, but the difference will be that they can recognize it and take accountability, not just push it off and make it a painful thing to me. They will respect me and they will cherish me, and they will have done similar work to what I’ve done to get to where I am now. And that is the person that I want to raise my future family with. I don’t want the person that I feel like I have to parent, or Coach, or suck up shit from. And I will be able to make so many beautiful memories with those future people, and it might not be the next relationship that’s the one, it might not be the one after that, and I don’t know when it’s gonna be, but I absolutely will be able to make so many even more beautiful memories. Like for fucks sake, one of the happiest memories I have is when I gave her her childhood stuffed animal that she had been searching for for Christmas. And that was the same Christmas that she basically spat on my face, and put so little effort it felt like a direct jab at asking how much I would tolerate. And I know that stuff like giving presents and things like that are stressful, and if you wanna be an adult about it you can speak about those feelings sooner. But instead she just did not put any effort. And that is not what I deserve. I deserve to be loved, and I know that karma exists, and if I do the right things and work on myself and build this life that is beautiful and something that makes me so thankful to be alive for, I will have been so grateful that I got the experience to do it.

In Summary: * It appears that my basketball game before bedtime tonight will come from the NBA: my San Antonio Spurs vs. the Detroit Pistons. Since I'll be following the game on the radio rather than watching it on TV, it will be easier to keep a more peaceful state of mind. Don't want to get too excited before turning in for the night. Right?

Prayers, etc.: * I have a daily prayer regimen I try to follow throughout the day from early morning, as soon as I roll out of bed, until head hits pillow at night. Details of that regimen are linked to my link tree, which is linked to my profile page here.

Starting Ash Wednesday, 2026, I've added this daily prayer as part of the Prayer Crusade Preceding the 2026 SSPX Episcopal Consecrations.

Health Metrics: * bw= 232.59 lbs. * bp= 155/93 (66)

Exercise: * morning stretches, balance exercises, kegel pelvic floor exercises, half squats, calf raises, wall push-ups

Diet: * 06:15 – 1 ham & cheese sandwich, 1 banana * 07:05 – 2 cookies * 09:50 – fresh pineapple chunks * 10:50 – cheese and crackers * 13:30 – rice cake

Activities, Chores, etc.: * 04:45 – listen to local news talk radio * 05:50 – bank accounts activity monitored * 06:20 – read, write, pray, follow news reports from various sources, surf the socials, and nap * 13:10 – Began listening to to pregame coverage of this afternoon's 2nd Round Game of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament, IU vs. Ohio St. * 15:20 – Ohio St. wins 83 to 59. * 16:00 – listen to The Jack Riccardi Show * 17:00 – tuned into 1200 WOAI, the flagship station for the San Antonio Spurs, well ahead of pregame coverage for tonight's game vs. the Detroit Pistons

Chess: * 11:43 – moved in all pending CC games

Toda historia de amor contiene su despedida desde el primer beso.

Es una tarde de la primera semana de mayo de 2021. Después de acercarme bastante —y de que no se alejara mientras le mostraba fotos de mi último viaje a Cuzco— a una chica que me tenía locamente enamorado, le “robo” un beso. Ella me lo devuelve con gusto, y de ahí empieza una relación muy hermosa.

Un poco más de tres años después, a finales de septiembre de 2024, tras superar desafíos difíciles, convivir juntos, hacer planes de boda, crecer, atravesar duelos duros y sostenernos en nuestra vulnerabilidad, con mucho dolor decidimos abrazarnos, perdonarnos y despedirnos para siempre. No volvernos a ver nunca más.

¿Por qué pensamos que tiene que durar hasta viejos?

¿Quién nos vendió la idea del “para siempre”?

Nunca pensé que lo más difícil de amar fuera la despedida. Siempre creí que lo difícil era encontrar a alguien.

Proyecté una idea casi perfecta del amor: permanencia, felicidad, estabilidad. La sensación de que, pasara lo que pasara, siempre había una alternativa, y terminar no iba a ser una opción.

Durante mucho tiempo creí que el amor verdadero era el que resistía todo. El que sobrevivía a la rutina, al desgaste, al paso del tiempo.

Ahora no. Entendí algo que, si soy honesto, todavía estoy tratando de aceptar.

Empiezo a sospechar que el amor romántico no está hecho para quedarse.

No lo digo con cinismo. Tampoco con resentimiento. Lo digo con la extraña serenidad que aparece cuando uno empieza a mirar su propia historia con un poco más de honestidad.

He amado profundamente. Y también he visto cómo ese amor, que alguna vez parecía invencible, se iba transformando lentamente en otra cosa. No siempre en dolor, ni siquiera en distancia inmediata. A veces simplemente en silencio. En una especie de melancolía anticipada mientras la relación aún existía.

Nadie nos enseña a amar con fecha de caducidad.

Nos enseñan a prometer “para siempre”, pero no a agradecer el “mientras tanto”.

El “hasta que la muerte nos separe” quizá sea uno de los edictos más crueles y engañosamente consoladores en los que hemos creído.

Pensaba que el objetivo del amor era durar. Que si algo terminaba, entonces algo fundamental había fallado. Que alguien había amado menos. Que alguien no había luchado lo suficiente.

Ahora empiezo a sospechar que esa idea es una trampa.

Quizás el amor no está diseñado para ser eterno.

Quizás está diseñado para ser vivido.

Para despertarnos. Para mostrarnos partes de nosotros mismos que no habríamos descubierto solos. Para crecer con el otro y ayudar al otro a crecer. Para volver a ser un poco infantiles. Para descubrir qué te importa y qué no.

Para hacernos sentir, aunque sea por un tiempo breve y milagroso, que la vida es más grande de lo que parecía antes de conocer a esa persona.

Y aun sabiendo todo esto, todavía hay una parte de mí que quiere creer en el “para siempre”.

Esa parte todavía protesta cuando algo termina. Todavía pregunta por qué. Todavía busca en el pasado maneras de haberlo salvado.

Supongo que hacer las paces con el amor implica convivir con esa contradicción: entender que todo es pasajero, y aun así querer que ciertas cosas duren un poco más.

Tal vez amar bien no significa aferrarse ni resignarse.

Tal vez significa algo más simple y más difícil: estar completamente presente mientras sucede, y aprender de lo que ese amor vino a mostrarte

A veces pienso que la vida se parece más a un tren lleno de encuentros temporales. Personas que se sientan a tu lado por algunas estaciones, comparten el paisaje contigo, sacan fotos, cambian algo dentro de ti… y luego, en algún momento que nunca parece el adecuado, se levantan y bajan en otra parada.

Todavía hay una parte de mí que quisiera pedirles que se quedaran.

Pero otra parte empieza a entender que el verdadero regalo nunca fue que permanecieran, sino que, entre millones de trayectorias posibles, nuestros caminos coincidieran durante un tramo del viaje.

La fin de l'hiver

Chaque larme versée pour noyer ton chagrin N'a fait que raviver la douleur de la plaie, De cet amour parfait ce regret qui t’étreint : La voix, la vue, le corps de celui qui t’aimait.

Le souvenir s’éloigne, le visage s’efface. Dans le creux de tes rêves tu crois apercevoir Une fois encore, un sourire sur sa face Que le vent du passé dissipe chaque soir.

Mais tu as traversé le long hiver du deuil Et dans les tourments de ton cœur convalescent C’est le printemps d’une autre vie que tu accueilles

Sur l’arbre à sa mémoire pour célébrer l’absent Déjà viennent rameaux qui vibrent dans le vent C’est sa bénédiction — pourvu que tu le veuilles

“This book (The Solar Grid) is a singular voice, unique in its eclectic mix of intelligent science fiction, world politics, innovative design, and hardcore punk aesthetic. THE SOLAR GRID is fantastic art and you will be changed after reading it.”

—Farel Dalrymple, author of THE WRENCHIES

#TSG #quote

Almost 3:00pm and I've already been awake for 12 hours. My circadian rhythms have been all out of whack since I got here. Spent most of the day reading before paying one of my storage units a visit (and coming to terms with the impossibility of completely clearing it out this time around) before situating myself at my cafe of choice before picking my son up from school and taking him out to dinner.

Given that it is the 5th, and my newsletter goes out every 10th, I should be drafting it right now, but I kind of have nothing to say. You'd think that between my travels, the workshop I just gave, and war breaking out, now would be just the time to have plenty to say, but I really don't. I'm more in a quietly observational mood right now than anything.

Presently house-sitting for a friend, who just so happens to be safekeeping quite a few of my books. So I took it as an opportunity to read through a few I have yet to finish, and just this morning found myself completing DAILY RITUALS by Mason Currey. Nothing groundbreaking but includes a great many amusing vignettes that I think would be delightful for most creatives to leave through.

“Mencken's routine was simple: work for twelve or fourteen hours a day, every day, and in the late evening, enjoy a drink and conversation. This was his lifestyle as a young bachelor—when he belonged to a drinking club and often met his fellow members at a saloon after work.”

See, it can be done! To be productive and have an active social life. Twelve-to-fourteen hour workdays however strike me as overkill and wholly unnecessary (though I am guilty of it myself from time to time). The sweet spot it seems, if one can extract a commonality between the vast majority of creatives surveyed in the book, is probably working in 3-4 hour shifts. Either breaking before carrying on for another shift, or calling it a day at that. And this even applies to some of the most prolific creators.

Georges Simenon, for example, who published 425 books over the course of his career, only wrote from 6:30 A.M. to 9:30 A.M. “Then he would go for a long walk, eat lunch at 12:30, and take a one-hour nap. In the afternoon he spent time with his children and took another walk before dinner, television, and bed at 10:00 P.M.”

This schedule seemed to allow for a pretty active social life beyond the home and family too. “When living in Paris, Simenon frequently slept with four different women in the same day. He estimated that he bedded ten thousand women in his life. (His second wife disagreed, putting the total closer to twelve hundred.)”

Active social life or not, there is no doubt that many of us are way too pampered compared to the some of the artists of old. Take Willem de Kooning and Elain Fried for example, who would have a breakfast that “consisted mostly of very strong coffee, cut with milk that they kept in winter on a window ledge; they did not have a refrigerator, an appliance that in the early forties was still a luxury –. (So was a private phone, which de Kooning would not have until the early sixties.)”

The heat also automatically went “off after five o'clock because they were commercial buildings.”

#journal #Reads