Status:

Still feeling tired and a bit fuzzy, same as yesterday. Did a tiny bit of DIY in the house that Fi was struggling with, which was pleasing as it’s good to be useful, but otherwise rested. Cooler today, about what summer is ‘supposed’ to be like.

Reading:

• The ghost in the spam folder: Remembering Mark Smith — Martin was given the archives from his old band when his estranged bandmate left them to him in his will and has written a lovely piece about those times that ended badly but were still foundational to who he is.
• A trans ban came to rugby. Baltimore’s Ferals played on. — This is how you deal with bigoted legislation targeting individuals. You come together and ignore it as a community. Do not make persecuted people stand alone.
• Why AI companies want you to be afraid of them — Nice to see the BBC highlighting this pattern of behaviour from the tech bros that the media seems unable to see through. They keep making these “unsubstantiated claims of power” as a distraction from the grim reality of their burning earth’s resources and eroding the foundations of society. ‌"Talking about their products as if they could end the world has not hurt these companies. It has not limited their power. If anything, it makes people feel like the only ones they could possibly look to for protection are the companies themselves."
  • Could AI be conscious? — Case in point is this piece of nonsense the Guardian posted the other day by their resident effective altruism shill. Don’t worry about the clear issues these computer systems are having on people and the planet right now, worry about whether lines of code can get upset or whatever.
  • The looting of science fiction — Definitely related is this overview of how tech oligarchs selectively absorb science fiction, entirely missing the point of what are usually cautionary allegories about present day issues, not roadmaps. “At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don’t Create The Torment Nexus!" and all that. (I haven’t fully digested the essay yet so might return to it.)
• Why many Black Americans were rooting for Argentina to lose the World Cup — I watched the soccer last month with a fairly neutral eye. My support for the England team was purely because I knew them to be good people, not for some nationalistic nonsense, so I was also on the lookout for other teams to take the side of, should I feel the urge. Argentina were a candidate as I’d heard good things about Messi, but I quickly soured on the rest of the team who seemed to epitomise everything I dislike about the culture of football. And Messi, as captain and figurehead, was culpable in that toxic culture even if he didn’t directly partake in it. I had no idea their fans were also cockwombles, but there you go.
  • As for that Malvinas banner, the issue of the Falklands can seem a bit tricky for leftist Brits as we clearly can’t support how Thatcher ran that war and the very notion of the islands being “British” is patently absurd. But we have to remember that Argentina in the early 80s was under a neo-fascist military dictatorship, and is one again dabbling with that shit. Sometimes both sides can be wrong, as Raymond Briggs made clear in what should probably be the last word on that shitshow.
  • (In case it needs saying, not all Argentinians.)

Watching:

• Practical Engineering: What’s under your feet in New York City? ‌(22:31) — When my art practice moved towards walking I found myself thinking a lot about the underground and otherwise invisible networks as a guide for exploring the city, so I’ve always had a fascination with the pipes and tunnels. One of the greatest moments of living in this house was when the water company dug up our entire road to expose the sewer. You could flush the toilet and run outside to see it shoot out of the pipe!

Music:

• All Rights Reserved by The Evolution Control Committee — Not a big surprise that I started listening to this after hearing some totally random song and wondering what it was sampled on, looking it up on Who Sampled, getting the answer I expected and then seeing the ECC also listed. I was enjoying the listen and wondering if this sort of thing was still interesting or relevant given the progression of, well, everything. And then California Dreamings kicked in and, yeah, big grin. Such a stupid little thing yet saying so much about 20th century music. I probably have mp3s of this album somewhere but the big shock was finding it on Apple Music and Spotify. What has the world come to??!?!