Last week I wrote about the AI powered Duck, berduck over on the bluesky social network.

The update on berduck is that running a hugely popular chatbot on a social network populated by shitposters is expensive.

Deepfates‘ solve for this has been to implement the classic busker revenue model.

You can donate to shut the duck up, or donate to keep the duck posting. Nice

It’s been a good week for sensible AI content, here are some things I think are worth checking out on the subject:

This conversation with Holly and Mat on the New Models podcast. It’s behind a paywall for now, but bookmark it, set a reminder, and listen to it in a months time when it goes public. It’s a very in-depth conversation on the current state of play and where the near future might be going.

I also recommend checking out this interview with the Deepfake Tom Cruise guy. I think he looks more like an IRL Patrick Bateman to be honest but due to my aphantasia I’m semi faceblind so YMMV.

It’s a fascinating interview; the guy has been making viral videos since started. Not only that, he also founded the coffee company that partnered with Emma Chamberlain to create Chamberlain coffee. Following the deepfake Tom Cruise success he now runs a special effects company founded with the Internet Rando that originally put tom cruises face on one of his videos. It’s a really good conversation. I took a lot away from it.

Finally, o’l buddy o’l pall Gordon White smashed it out the park this week with his solo-show on AI:

The show covers the occultist’s metaphysics of tools, the work of Ivan Illich, Steiner’s description of Ahriman, and ‘mineral’ intelligence. Its inspired me to finish my ‘Mother of All Chains‘ essay which I think will be about 10-15k words when it’s done.

I talk a bit about Bitcoin as a living machine in my conversation last yer with philosopher of intelligence Reza Negrastani, and the perviously mentioned Mat Dryhurst.

Anyways. Lots to chew on!

Permanently Moved

I’ve has some wonderful messages from people doing the exercise in the show and being surprised they experience something too. Shocked that they never noticed X or Y before.

Machine Touch

We must try to cultivate a better sense of somatic awareness of the tools in our lives and give names to the things we discover.

Full Show Notes: https://www.thejaymo.net/2023/05/06/301-2316-machine-touch/

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Photo 365

The Ministry Of My Own Labour

• Research
• Deck Buidling
• Noodled on the blog. Refreshed my about page.
• Worked on some book notes, moving into reading about the history of role-play, and improv in the 20thC.
• Submitted talk pitch to a conference I’m attending in Lisbon late May.

Terminal Access

Big congratulations to Jay Owens! The cover for her forthcoming book ‘Dust: The Story of the Modern World in a Trillion Particles‘ was announced this week and I think you’ll all agree it looks fantastic. Go pre-order it!

Dipping the Stacks

‘Hot Ones’ Was a Slow Burn All Along

while “Hot Ones” wasn’t created with social media in mind, it is “made for it,” Schonberger said, with each wing being its own two- to three-minute segment designed to have a beginning, middle and end.

How to Beat Roulette: One Gambler Figured It Out and Won Big

For decades, casinos scoffed as mathematicians and physicists devised elaborate systems to take down the house. Then an unassuming Croatian’s winning strategy forever changed the game.

Every pair of sunglasses in the 1992 cyberpunk movie Nemesis

What makes a film great? Is it the images it conjures? The stories it tells? The editing, the photography, the mise-en-scene? In the case of the 1992 direct-to-video cyberpunk action thriller Nemesis, currently streaming for free on Tubi and Peacock, the answer is: the sunglasses.

Blame the CEO for Tech Layoffs at Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Amazon

The fundamental problem with corporate America is that it no longer makes any sense. The CEO, the most powerful and influential person at the company, is now a figurehead who receives all the benefits of a company’s success without being endangered by any of its failures.

I Saw the Face of God in a TSMC Semiconductor Factory

When, later, I recite Tooze’s words about God’s face to Mark Liu, he quietly agrees, but refines the point. “God means nature. We are describing the face of nature at TSMC.”

Reading

Still reading Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today by Marco Arnaudo.

I read the games designer Paul Czege‘s zine about journaling game’s The Ink That Bleeds. It’s not out just yet so I can’t listen to it. However its so good I’ve read it twice this week. Two evenings in a row before bed. Mind.totally.blown.

Music

thejaymo.net Spotify Playlist

Osorezan – Minoru Muraoka

Because apparently it’s ‘Jay falls into an obsessive deep dive in to 1970’s Japan music scene†’ season this weeks recommendation is Japanese shakuhachi player Minoru Muraoka‘s first live album Osorezan. Dedicated to mount Mount Osore the opening track is a powerful 16 min long improvised(?) track that *is/are* the mountain?. It’s absolutely haunting, whipping wind, and stedfast permanence and deep time.

The track ends, and after a moments silence there’s a count of two drum sticks and Muraoka and his band are straight into their rendition of the jazz standard Take 5. Really great.

I know that some of you suffer though the rest of my weeknotes just for my taste in music (You know who you are) I also recommend the Muraoka’s 1970 studio album Bamboo. Which is a mix of pop/jazz/experimental flute and is the only thing by Muraoka currently on Spotify.

Remember Kids: