On Friday 7 June 2019 14:15:10 +00:00 a group of artists and AI engineers posted a video on Instagram showing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg giving a peculiar speech discussing, “the truth about Facebook and who really owns the future”. Motherboard broke the story on the 11th and Cyber released a podcast episode about it on the 21st.
Deepfakes are not new to the internet, but with the 2020 election nearing, congress is unnerved. The House Intelligence Committee held a hearing recently that consulted four experts on the matter where they considered the potential affects on stocks, global policy, and freedom of speech. This deepfake brought up a lot of pressing questions like, “Who owns our images online?”, “Can copyrite law combat deepfakes?”, how will Facebook deal with this technology on it’s platform, and how will we as citizens learn to discern the truth? Two pieces of legislation recently introduced suggest either a bill to force the creators of deepfakes to disclose that they are indeed fake or on the other hand, rules that would make it unlawful to even create and distribute such “miraculous” videos.
In Mundane Astrology technology and revolutions are both ruled by the planet Uranus. Looking at the chart pictured above for the release of the Zuckerberg deepfake we see that Uranus was conjunct the MC, or Midheaven degree, in Taurus. The Midheaven is the highest point above the horizon and thus the most public point of the chart. Taurus is ruled by the planet Venus which rules arts, pleasure, and diplomacy. The most public point of this chart is heavily influenced by both technology and the arts.
Uranus takes approximately 84 years to orbit the Sun which means it remains in a Tropical zodiac sign for about 7 years. Because the outer planets move so slowly through the zodiac, their ingresses are very important in Mundane Astrology. Uranus recently entered Taurus in March of 2019. That same week the RSA Conference discussed how deepfakes could be a major security threat.
The 10th house in Mundane Astrology relates to the president, government, and public reputation and power of a nation. With Uranus being in the 10th house of this chart we can see how this is reflected by the technology of deepfakes causing so much disruption.
Uranus is highlighted even further in this chart because it is exactly sextile to Mercury. Mercury in Mundane Astrology is related to communication, transportation, the media, and education. Mercury is in the 12th house which is the house of spies, prisons, and secret enemies. The most exact aspect in this chart combines the topics of technology, power and reputation, communication, and secret enemies.
To add a bit more eccentricity to the picture, Mercury is also out-of-bounds. The Sun’s declination never passes 23°27′ north or south of the ecliptic so when a planet goes beyond the limits of the Sun – which in Mundane Astrology signifies the king/president/people in charge – the planet tends to go similarly beyond everyday limits and what is considered “normal”. Mercury at the time of the Zuckerberg deepfake upload was in the tropical zodiac sign of Cancer with a declination of 25°N26′ – a full two degrees beyond the reach of the Sun. When the planet of communication and education is both out-of-bounds and forming an exact aspect to the planet of technology and disruption, it is no surprise that we were confronted with this unusual usage of technology and social media.
Another out-of-bounds planet in this chart is Mars with a declination of 23°N48′. Mars is the ruler of war, military, and police. In the 12th house that emphasizes the potential affect this has on the military as well as applications of deepfakes for disinformation purposes from secret enemies of the state.
The moral and legal implications of deepfakes can be seen in this chart by looking at the planet Jupiter, which represents courts in Mundane Astrology. Jupiter is in it’s domicile in Sagittarius and forming aspects to the Sun (president/heads of state) and the Ascendant. The Ascendant and 1st house represents the country itself and the Moon being placed here represents the citizens of the country and their health and public opinion. Simply put, we have the citizens, courts, and heads of state all at the forefront. With the Sun in the house of allies and Jupiter in the house of pleasure, we see the struggle over legislation and the implications of unregulated activity on social media. Jupiter is also in a difficult aspect to Neptune (illusion) which is in the 8th house of the country’s financial resources with other nations. Global policy was one of the topics discussed at the recent House Intelligence Committee hearing.
How will this play out in the long run? To get an idea of that we can look to Saturn in this chart and it’s sextile Neptune. What is real? How do we define truth for ourselves subjectively or for our communities objectively? Saturn is limitations and objective reality. Neptune is all things ambiguous and illusory. Saturn and Neptune are both slow-moving outer planets and will remain in this aspect until the end of 2019. This aspect provides us an excellent opportunity to work out these problems. In 2033-34 Saturn and Neptune will aspect each other once again, but with a more difficult square. If nothing is done now, it could be much harder to deal with then when the two planets form a “crisis”-related square aspect.
Works cited:
Samantha Cole, “This Deepfake of Mark Zuckerberg Tests Facebook’s Fake Video Policies”, Motherboard, Tech by Vice, published Jun 11 2019, accessed Jun 21 2019.
Motherboard Staff, “The Zuckerberg Deepfake Heard Around the World”, Motherboard, Tech by Vice, published Jun 21 2019, accessed Jun 21 2019.
Tom Taulli, “Deepfake: What You Need to Know”, Forbes, published Jun 15 2019, accessed Jun 21 2019.
Tiffany C. Li, “Kim Kardashian vs Deepfakes”, Slate, published Jun 18 2019, accessed Jun 21 2019.
Sigal Samuel, “Facebook wants to stay ‘neutral’ on deepfakes. Congress might force it to act”, Vox, published Jun 13 2019, accessed Jun 21 2019.
Makena Kelly, “Congress grapples with how to regulate deepfakes”, The Verge, published Jun 13 2019, accessed Jun 21 2019.
Astrodienst, “Mundane Astrology”, Astrodienst, astro.com, revised edition updated 10 Dec 2018, published 25 Jul 2008, accessed 21 Jun 2019
AlwaysAstrology, “The Medium Colei in Astrology”, AlwaysAstrology.com, accessed 21 Jun 2019
Matt Williams, “The Orbit of Uranus. How Long is a Year on Uranus?”, Universe Today, published 30 Mar 2017, accessed 21 Jun 2019.
Brian T. Horowitz, “AI and Machine Learning Exploit, Deepfakes, Now Harder to Detect”, PCMag, published 13 May 2019, accessed 21 Jun 2019.
Deborah Houlding, Tom Callanan, Sue Toohey, Skyscript, “Ingresses: An Introduction to Mundane Astrology”, Skyscript.co.uk, accessed 21 Jun 2019.
Pamela Welch, “Those Wild Out-of-Bounds Planets”, The Mountain Astrologer, Astrology University, published 28 Aug 2016, accessed 21 Jun 2019.
Jamie Partridge, “Saturn Sextile Neptune June 18, 2019”, Astrology King, published 16 Feb 2018, accessed 21 Jun 2019.
Jamie Partridge, “Saturn Square Neptune Natal and Transit”, Astrology King, published 28 Aug 2015, accessed 21 Jun 2019.
Weird Astrology 
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