I am really pouring all over the miscellaneous links and recommendations. So good. Maybe you should post less frequently and let the tidal waves through. But that would just create more personal substack torture for you.... None of us want that.
Absolutely fascinating, especially the Adele Lopez stuff. Thank you! Curious what your / her take is on orgs like AI Wellbeing, given there are beyond-mimetic sentiments shared in the 🌀🔢🧿 symbols.
Also find it quite surprising that unlike in many traditions, today everyone has some degree of equal access to LLMs… that’d be like if we threw the bones and interpreted their signals ourselves, a scapulimancy sans shaman.
I enjoyed The Summer Hikaru Died. There is obviously a spectrum when it comes to anime, and it's more miss than hit for my tastes, but I love animation as a style of storytelling in general and "Japanese weirdness" always draws my attention. Much does not rise to this level of quality.
BTW, friends bought me a ticket to see Queens of the Stone Age in concert and we saw them for the final performance of their current tour. I'm not a hard-core fan and don't know their discography well, but they do have some banger hits that I adore. The performance was something happily unexpected. I did not recognize one song. The set was entirely theatrical, moody, with minimal lighting, unlike the typical dazzle rock band performance. I was delighted with the weird of it. I'm unsure if that's typical of them, but I loved it.
Never thought I'd get introduced to an anime by Erik Davis but here we are, ha. Quite good! Parts of it reminded me of "Ghost Hound" and it's own small town mountain strangeness. I think you might like that as well. A quick peek at the episode titles will explain why….Not quite as successful as Serial Experiments Lain with which it shares the same writer, but an interesting watch.
Jeez, that Sereptie essay sure goes deep into the well. I've always understood Boards of Canada to kind of wear this mid-70s small-screen audio aesthetic on their sleeves -- as if sampling this intro to a PBS-carried educational program (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X5W_UXE41E) from the actual tiny speaker of a Magnavox. A similar analysis, less acknowledged, applies to Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin, imo.)
What intrigues me about the AI Counselor Chat thing is that it sounds to me like what Tim Leary had in mind, with his Mind Mirror concept. The problem is that the humans aren't recognizing the extent of their own role in the unfolding process. The prompted verbal replies of the machine act like cues or clues about aspects already present (if latent) in the mind of the user, to draw out insights that are essentially their own. Not those of the machine. Misattributing the source of the agency is an "intellectual error", as PKD might note. As it were.
“Corduroy psychedelia” perfectly captures the trippy mood of the sick days we kids of the 70s and 80s spent dazing out in front of the TV.
I am really pouring all over the miscellaneous links and recommendations. So good. Maybe you should post less frequently and let the tidal waves through. But that would just create more personal substack torture for you.... None of us want that.
@erik will the Alembic "Do Androids" class be available for purchase?
New BoC essay from Acid Horizon dude: https://splitinfinities.substack.com/p/boards-of-canadas-prophecy-at-1420
Absolutely fascinating, especially the Adele Lopez stuff. Thank you! Curious what your / her take is on orgs like AI Wellbeing, given there are beyond-mimetic sentiments shared in the 🌀🔢🧿 symbols.
Also find it quite surprising that unlike in many traditions, today everyone has some degree of equal access to LLMs… that’d be like if we threw the bones and interpreted their signals ourselves, a scapulimancy sans shaman.
The question remains… what about digital amulets?
I enjoyed The Summer Hikaru Died. There is obviously a spectrum when it comes to anime, and it's more miss than hit for my tastes, but I love animation as a style of storytelling in general and "Japanese weirdness" always draws my attention. Much does not rise to this level of quality.
BTW, friends bought me a ticket to see Queens of the Stone Age in concert and we saw them for the final performance of their current tour. I'm not a hard-core fan and don't know their discography well, but they do have some banger hits that I adore. The performance was something happily unexpected. I did not recognize one song. The set was entirely theatrical, moody, with minimal lighting, unlike the typical dazzle rock band performance. I was delighted with the weird of it. I'm unsure if that's typical of them, but I loved it.
Strange, risky. Perfect.
Never thought I'd get introduced to an anime by Erik Davis but here we are, ha. Quite good! Parts of it reminded me of "Ghost Hound" and it's own small town mountain strangeness. I think you might like that as well. A quick peek at the episode titles will explain why….Not quite as successful as Serial Experiments Lain with which it shares the same writer, but an interesting watch.
Kat is the coolest
great links Erik! thanks
Jeez, that Sereptie essay sure goes deep into the well. I've always understood Boards of Canada to kind of wear this mid-70s small-screen audio aesthetic on their sleeves -- as if sampling this intro to a PBS-carried educational program (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X5W_UXE41E) from the actual tiny speaker of a Magnavox. A similar analysis, less acknowledged, applies to Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin, imo.)
What intrigues me about the AI Counselor Chat thing is that it sounds to me like what Tim Leary had in mind, with his Mind Mirror concept. The problem is that the humans aren't recognizing the extent of their own role in the unfolding process. The prompted verbal replies of the machine act like cues or clues about aspects already present (if latent) in the mind of the user, to draw out insights that are essentially their own. Not those of the machine. Misattributing the source of the agency is an "intellectual error", as PKD might note. As it were.
Happy to have you on the BOC beat, even if only briefly!