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The Great Weirding:
Introduction: The Weirding of the Symbolic You see, there’s this idea floating around that we’re living through what some are calling the “Great Weirding.” Now, that might sound like the title of a sci-fi novel, but it’s really about something pretty fundamental—and a little unsettling—about how we understand the world. It’s the collective realization that…
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The Industrial Revolution of a Type I Civilization:
As humanity inches closer to becoming a Type I civilization—a status where we can harness and manipulate the total energy output of our planet—we stand at the precipice of an unprecedented industrial revolution. Yet, as with all monumental leaps forward, this journey is fraught with challenges that echo some of the oldest paradoxes and most…
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The Symbolic Reality of AI and the Unseen Frontier of Type I Civilization
In the twilight of the 21st century, humanity finds itself standing at the threshold of a new epoch, one where the boundaries between the digital and the physical blur into an indistinct haze. Artificial Intelligence, the latest and perhaps most transformative offspring of the Industrial Revolution, now governs vast swathes of human activity. Yet, for…
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The High Cost of Necessity
In the landscape of modern technology and agriculture, the dominance of companies like OpenAI and Monsanto presents a strikingly similar narrative. Both sectors—artificial intelligence and genetically modified organisms—exhibit a troubling trend: market leaders imposing inflated costs while wielding disproportionate power. This essay explores the dual-edged nature of this dominance, dissecting the cynical realities behind the…
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A Manifesto for the Modern Money Launderer
Listen up, fellow drifters of the digital dirt roads, and connoisseurs of the con. The world’s a stage, and every storefront, every glossy website, is just a prop in the grand theater of laundering. The real action happens behind the curtain, in the shadows where the money changes hands without so much as a whisper.…
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Civilization’s Last Stand: Charter Networks
So all the talk about civilization was just about charter cities and charter schools. They sold you a bill of goods wrapped in the shining veneer of civilization, the grand promise of order, progress, and prosperity. But what did they give you? Not the grand city on a hill, but a shantytown of grifters playing…
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Whodunit: The Jacobean Revenge Play Turned on Its Head
The whodunit, a subgenre of detective fiction, has captivated audiences for over a century with its intricate plots, red herrings, and the ultimate revelation of a murderer. Yet, beneath its polished veneer lies a structure that bears striking resemblance to an older, bloodier tradition: the Jacobean revenge play. While the Jacobean play explores the inexorable…
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Free Stuff
The irony is thick when a Silicon Valley VC criticizes the concept of “free stuff” while the entire tech industry often thrives on giving away services for free, monetizing data, or operating on a “freemium” model. Silicon Valley’s success has largely been built on repurposing industries and offering free or heavily subsidized services to consumers,…
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Tangier
The air hung heavy with the sweet, cloying scent of kif. The narrow, labyrinthine streets of Tangier were alive with the cacophony of street vendors, the chatter of locals, and the distant wail of a muezzin. In a dimly lit, opium den, a group of expatriates sat huddled together, their faces illuminated by the flickering…
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