Foreword: I wrote this for myself, a bit, but in the writing of it decided it may be useful to others, whether they’re seeking to understand or just want to know someone has felt similar. If you’re part of the latter, please seek professional help: things can get better, and while everything won’t be magically…
Category: General
The Danger of Artificial Intelligence is Still Us
Earlier this year I had the privilege of being included on a discussion panel about the dangers of artificial intelligence. This is an area I’ve long watched and the panel went off well; I’ve been meaning, since then, to piece together my notes into a coherent blogpost. Nearly six months after the fact oughta be…
Visualization: Viking Burial of the Past
Came up with this visualization earlier this year and it’s been quite helpful, especially when used at the end or beginning of each day. It’s relatively simple and once you’ve got the basics down you can walk through it as slowly or as quickly as you’d like. Relax however you like. Sit in a chair,…
A Revenge Fantasy
I have a very specific revenge fantasy in mind for the person that stole my Amazon package with a spool of solder in it. I hope you open that package, pal, and I hope it confuses you. I hope you don’t know what the hell it is. I hope, in your darkened den, in your…
The Wellsian Mirror
I’ve struggled recently with the individual and collective response to the Trump administration. The level of inaction and unconcern feels nothing short of pathological given the material harm that’s being caused. And I’ve been unable to construct the right internal model in order to understand it until the past few days. On the whole, people…
Where did I leave that bottle? On 2017 and Trump.
The number of mixed messages is maddening. Whether we’re in a bona fide emergency or not. A constitutional crisis or governmental concerns in the context of a frantic news cycle. Steps toward a new type of government or a mechanism that largely preserves the status quo. After all, not a hell of a lot seems…
The Explosive Trajectory of Technology
Jon Jeckell tweeted a Popular Mechanics piece showing what appeared to be a Ukrainian prototype shoulder-fired missile with a guidance system powered by the Raspberry Pi microcomputer. The inclusion of the Pi makes it a seeming next-step from the much shared image of Syrian rebels in Jobar in 2013 using an iPad to angle mortar…
Re-balancing
University of Pennsylvania information science professor Matt Blaze happened upon an SUV near the Philadelphia Convention Center sporting a license plate radio and other surveillance gear not-so-cleverly disguised as a Google Street Car (the kind that roam around and produce Google Maps and the accompanying Street-level scenery). More than a few outfits picked up the…
Fucking with the Data Gods
First of December and my head’s still stuck in early AD, maybe even late BC. Still thinking about one of the images from my last post — namely, pre-Christian Britons depositing weapons and riches into lakes to honor and impress the gods. It hit me after writing about that in one context (projecting Fiction Conditions) that it…
Competing Magics and Fiction Conditions
Leaving my mid-Manhattan hotel to write at the Starbucks across the street: almost a smart idea. Almost because: it is blasting Christmas music on November 29th. An impossibly young-sounding baby wails from the lower level trying to make its discomfort heard over the louder wail of festive saxophones. I hear you, kid. I hear you….