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I would suggest that the melancholia which now pervades our existence was initiated by the trauma of the Covid upheaval and amplified by the subsequent Covid vax fiasco. Bubbling in the wings has been the rapid evolution of Internet-based databases which have now comprehensively profiled each one of us and continues to monitor our every move in real time. Even before adding AI to the mix, your geographic location is known; your daily movements are charted; your preferences have been tabled; unique occurrences in your life are noted. Therefore it’s no surprise that when there’s been a death of a family member and airline tickets need to be purchased to attend the funeral, the algorithm registers the urgency in the required purchase and the price of the tickets is inflated! That’s how comprehensively the data is now integrated.

Enter AI in the form of machine-learning algorithms and every component of you is profiled with an exponentially increasing accuracy of predictability of your choices and outcomes in all areas of your life. In this way, humans are categorized into degrees of usefulness, compliance and financial viability – all contributing to controllability by the Powers That Be (PTB) and their enrichment. But that’s not all folks ... the infiltration of AI into education, research, art, music, movies and indeed in all creative and innovative endeavours is accelerating the alarming dumbing down of mankind – which simply increases the pliability and subsequent control by the PTB!

The melancholia which was once a mere whisper is rapidly evolving into a great shout with the words, ‘What’s it all about?’ This melancholia, tinged with dread, reflects a descent into fear, hopelessness, helplessness and a realization of irrelevance - accentuated by job redundancies resulting from AI integration. Underpinning these dark emotions is the chemistry that conspires against us – giving rise to immune suppression and chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation in the brain is reflected in the function of a small cell (the microglia) which begins to chew up all the circuitry that has become redundant. And since curiosity and engagement is deficient in the melancholia, new circuits are conspicuously rare. Add to this the failure to generate new brain cells in the memory area and the brain volume together with the function that it supports begins a relentless journey into crippling atrophy and dementia. But this applies to those who did not succumb to their own hand or to a fatal medical condition, resulting from generalized immune suppression and chronic inflammation.

The implication is that those who descend into progressive atrophy and accompanying dementia incorporate two fundamental components: 1) A state of terminal hopelessness, helplessness and a subjective feeling of irrelevance; 2) A fear or dread of the unknown and a fear of loss. Herein lies the cruel reality of the consequence of a mind state characterized by the integration of a sense of hopelessness and helplessness together with fear - the dread of death is greater than the waning will to live.

It is my contention therefore, that Alzheimer’s disease reflects a convergence point of cognitive and emotional influences which contribute to a devastating neuro-degenerative process, mediated by chronic inflammation. The mind state incorporates nurture influences, influences from the trajectory of life as well as from more current environmental challenges. Consequently Alzheimer’s disease in my opinion illustrates a true biopsychosocial condition and not a biomedical illness, initiated de novo by some chemical process. I would suggest that the time and money spent on some elusive cure should rather be directed at psychotherapeutic interventions designed to enhance meaning, purpose and relevance as well as appropriate lifestyles. If it becomes clear in the course of counselling that the individual truly believes that their life’s work is done, then the emphasis of the intervention should shift to the alleviation of fear and the acceptance of death as a terminating natural process.