This is the Broomway, allegedly “the deadliest” path in Britain, and certainly the unearthliest path I have ever walked. The Broomway is thought to have killed more than 100 people over the centuries; it seems likely that there were other victims whose fates went unrecorded. Sixty-six of its dead are buried in the little Foulness churchyard; the other bodies were not recovered. Edwardian newspapers, alert to the path’s reputation, rechristened it “The Doomway”.

Source: www.bbc.com

The internet has a name for this: “brain worms.” Brain worms are cognitively degenerating ideas. Allegedly, this comes from a Pink Floyd song. While the term is usually applied to paranoid conspiracy theorists, I’ve come to find it very useful to apply to many intellectually-minded people on the Internet who find some new, encompassing system to think about the world. This new idea completely consumes them and they become obsessed with applying their new theory to everything, yet it doesn’t yield fruitful results. You see it in both religious and non-religious circles from traditional Roman Catholics to famous almost-Christians like Jordan Peterson and Tom Holland.2 People with brain worms are fixated on a systematic belief, but the story they have chosen to latch on to is untrue and therefore unhelpful in getting them anywhere useful.

Source: theopolisinstitute.com

Wake up. The world that once welcomed outsiders and eccentrics is gone. We'll spend the next few years reminiscing about it with nostalgia, never quite capturing the same feeling. Offline is the new online, and we're currently at the beginning of a drastic shift in how we socialize. By 2027, less than 15% of the population will actively participate in the digital world unless it's for work. What Sam Kriss says about the internet already being over is accurate. Social media will lose its relevance for the large majority of us, and I'm going to have to (if you can excuse my phrasing) unpack this for a moment.

Source: default.blog

In the region of Kapandriti near Athens, a wonderful thing happens. Ten years ago, a devout beekeeper named Isidoros Ţiminis, thought to place in one of his hives an icon of the Crucifixion of the Lord. Soon thereafter, when he opened the hive, he was amazed that the bees showed respect and devotion to the icon, having "embroidered" it in wax, yet leaving uncovered the face and body of the Lord. Since then, every spring, he puts into the hives icons of the Savior, the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and the result is always the same.

Source: www.johnsanidopoulos.com

Conservatism has died, not from an assassin’s bullet, or even from old age or because it was run over by a bus. It has died because there is no call for it anymore. This isn’t to say that nobody wants it, but that nobody cares that we want it. The same thing has happened to most of the things I like, from the forgotten Aztec chocolate bar to railway restaurant cars, from woodland peace to proper funerals.

Source: unherd.com

With Garland playing it safe, then, Civil War is seen entirely from the perspective of America’s true heroes, the real consciousness of the nation: corporate journalists. You can giggle, but that’s the pitch. In this world, journalists are not enforcers of the status quo who spend their lives scrolling Xitter to satiate the incentives dangled before them by Globohomo; instead, they’re artistic bohemians out in the field, risking death in the name of uncovering truth and snapping that perfect shot of humanity under extreme duress. A world-weary Kirsten Dunst takes a plucky crew of journos and her Oscar-bait double chin through a series of set-pieces illustrating a war that is fought for reasons never explained, and by people it is impossible to feel any empathy for.

Source: morgoth.substack.com

Palmer Luckey, the creator of the original Oculus Rift headset, says he’s modified a VR headset such that it can kill the user for real. The provocative art project is inspired by the anime Sword Art Online in which players who are trapped in VR die for real if they die in the virtual world.

Source: www.roadtovr.com

I urge you to keep up your courage. Not that you have the least cause for hope. On the contrary, know that you will be very alone. Most people come to terms with life, or else they die. You are living suicides. As you approach the truth, your solitude will increase. The edifice is splendid, but deserted

Source: autodespair.wordpress.com

The goal of the society where you live is to destroy you. You have the same goal with regard to society. The weapon that it will use is indifference. You cannot allow yourself to have the same attitude. Attack! All societies have their points of least resistance, their wounds. Put your finger on the wound, and press down hard.

Source: autodespair.wordpress.com

The world is suffering unfolded. At its origin it is a node of suffering. All existence is an expansion, and a crushing. All things suffer into existence. Nothingness vibrates with pain until it arrives at being, in an abject paroxysm. Beings diversify and become complex without losing anything of their original nature. Once a certain level of consciousness is reached, the cry is produced. Poetry derives from it.

Source: autodespair.wordpress.com

With Altman, as with so many in this biz, the computational bias of computer engineering has bloomed into a totalizing psychology. As the CEO put it in a famous tweet, referring to Emily M. Bender’s critique mentioned above: “I am a statistical parrot, and so r u.” In other words, our brains are just running algorithms, making statistical guesses, and generating predictive processes that compose our reality almost entirely from the inside. When it comes to cognition, mental models, and even language, I have much sympathy for this perspective, but I refuse to sweep consciousness itself under the rug, let alone all the mysteries and cosmovisions that should keep us humble in the face of Mystery. There is a big difference between a statistical parrot and a statistical parrot that’s awake — let alone one that dreams, and loves, and weeps at the resplendent world disappearing through our screens.

Source: www.burningshore.com

With Altman, as with so many in this biz, the computational bias of computer engineering has bloomed into a totalizing psychology. As the CEO put it in a famous tweet, referring to Emily M. Bender’s critique mentioned above: “I am a statistical parrot, and so r u.” In other words, our brains are just running algorithms, making statistical guesses, and generating predictive processes that compose our reality almost entirely from the inside. When it comes to cognition, mental models, and even language, I have much sympathy for this perspective, but I refuse to sweep consciousness itself under the rug, let alone all the mysteries and cosmovisions that should keep us humble in the face of Mystery. There is a big difference between a statistical parrot and a statistical parrot that’s awake — let alone one that dreams, and loves, and weeps at the resplendent world disappearing through our screens.

Source: www.burningshore.com

i learned a new name for people who participate in this economy from uri. the name is board ho and i like that name very much. every blahblah board has its board ho. the board cannot exist without the board ho. the board ho drives traffic to web. the board cherishes its board hos, and it especially cherishes the diva or queen board ho. the diva or queen board ho is untouchable and can do anything. people know this, on the board, by intuition. the board and the board ho nurture and cherish each other because the board ho drives eyeballs to the board. i am not speaking of unique visits although those are nice. no. i am speaking of repeat traffic. because of the board ho the board can dream of growth and expansion. the board leverages whatever it is that drives the board ho, unto the board’s success and growth. in return, the board ho receives attention and a following. negative or positive does not have a value relative to attention. to the board ho, attention is all good.

Source: alphavilleherald.com