what i'm reading§

CommuNoid Zine Vol. 1A on Epstein and the Santa Fe Institute§

In 2021-2022, around the time GPT started revolutionizing text prediction but just before the release of ChatGPT would plunge us into the current period mass voluntary retardation, I picked up a book at a used book sale: Silicon Second Nature: Culturing Artificial Life in a Digital World by Stefan Helmreich.

The bulk of the book focuses on Helmreich's sociological investigation of Artificial Life (A.L.) research being conducted at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI). Helmreich finds that the SFI researchers speak of lofty aspirations but more often than not simply reproduce heterosexist presumptions about biology and the world in their supposedly 'tabula rasa' creations.

It was a prescient read back then. But Silicon Second Nature has driven me insane. Because it brought some threads together in a way I have no fucking clue how to interpret.

At some point in Silicon some A.L. researchers frame their work as "guiding human evolution". They see Darwinian Natural Selection as something that can be hijacked and guided by Man through technological means.

Elon Musk echoed the sentiment verbatim: that humans are mere "boot loaders" to a superior conscious^[1]; which gels with his racist eugenics outlook and practice of sex-selecting in-vitro fertilization for his willing surrogates.

But Musk is just an Jeffery Epstein wannabe, because Epstein's goals were even loftier: said he wanted to 'seed the human race' with his DNA by inseminating 20 women at a time^[2], a project which was supposed to take place at his Zorro Ranch in New Mexico-- which was selected for its proximity to the Santa Fe Institute.^[3]

What the fuck am I supposed to do with this information?

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not the only one being driven insane. The first article of CommuNoid Zine Vol. 1 is about Epstein's Santa Fe Institute ties, but traces it even further. Starting with Robert Maxwell's (Ghislaine's father) role as MI6-funded scientific publishing tycoon, the author traces the field of cybernetic's globe-trotting path from the U.S. to the U.S.S.R, from Vietnam to Chile-- with the Five Eyes always on its heels. Along the way, connections to Cold War ops and CIA coups are tied back to Maxwell, Epstein, and the SFI.

True to its mission statement, the zine is paranoid and conspiratorial-- but does this moment demand anything less?

I'm not crazy. pinky swearsies.

what i'm listening to§

Cyst - ᲘᲘ§

ighlooghost and daisy* (f.k.a. BABii) rap about a rabbit breaking into their studio ("Rabbit") and then later hijacking their record deal ("Pest"). What's not to love.

what i'm watching§

Singapore Sling (1990)§

Watched this because someone on Tubmlr said it was so gross they couldn't finish it. It wasn't that gross.

The charitable would call is a post-modern neonoir. The uncharitable would call it aimless gross-out schlock. I would call it, 'nice'.

The lead's (Meredyth Harold) "crazy" act is very "~ohhh I'm mentally ill~", which is perfect for a 50s pastiche. In fact, except for the copious vulva-rubbing and vomiting, I wouldn't blink if came labeled with the year 1955.

what i'm playing§

Sprawl: Zero§

I finished Sprawl: Zero. I think the plot is purposefully incomprehensible as a homage to its spiritual roots in 90s/00s boomer shooters. But it's just as if not more fun than any of those. I wouldn't know. I'm not a boomer. Unless...?

what i'm working on§

fixing a tablet§

My dad gave his Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 which stopped charging. The screen lights up if you push a cable in at a certain angle, so I feel like it might be a charging port issue. So I hit it with a hair dryer to unglue the screen and look at its guts. Luckily, the charging port is its own discrete board, and you can get replacements, which means I don't have to do any finicky soldering (and we know how well that went last time).

something i liked§

tuxdle§

It's wordle but for linux.

something i hated§

white man face blindness§

I was charmed by this charismatic deputy in The Fugitive (1993) and decided to look him up because I thought the actor was cute. Motherfucker. It's Joe Pantoliano, who is also playing an awful guy I hate on The Sopranos. I've been fucking bamboozled. They can't keep getting away with this.

a picture:§

a whimsical smiley face§

This whimsical smiley face was left behind on the toilet seat by the hairs on my ass. He's got more personality than me.

"[Y]ou could sort of think of humanity as a biological boot loader for digital super intelligence... [Y]ou couldn't evolve silicon circuits^[4]—there needed to be biology to get there.