From Bad to Worse to the Mirror

I’m listening to “Classical Piano & Fireplace 24/7 - Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, Grieg, Schumann, Satie” right now on YouTube (I’m not sure why I’ve made a habit of this…it started randomly) and while trying to remember how I was going to intro this intro (I just remembered but let me continue) I noticed that there were 952 people watching the same live streaming video/music…954 now…956. And, for a moment, I felt connected to these…960 people. It felt good, it felt like - as cliche as it sounds - like I wasn’t alone. Which is strange because…I go on Twitch sometimes and have little chat groups here and there but because its just music, there is a presence that comes from it far different than those others.

And, given the state of things, I probably don’t have to explain to you why it feels so good to be connected to now…957 people via this YouTube channel because you are probably feeling it in your own way. For me, despite feeling the rage and the hopelessness, the exhaustion and the confusion, my life, my day to day life, is not bad (yet at least) and in no way, shape, or form as terrible as others in this country that are getting out right attacked by a government that is supposed to protect them. From the the Bill of Rights, AMENDMENT XIV, Section 1, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Yet... here we are... with all of that seemingly up in the air. I have no advice but will say: be vigilant, be kind, be aware, be smart, and be open to the possibility of anything and everything on both sides of the spectrum.

This newsletter includes…

Robert Sapolsky’s Theory with a Social Media Overlay

Public Domain Image Archive, and Other Things to Keep You Alive and Well

Take Back Your Attention, a Mini-Memoir

And…Things I’m Reading

Robert Sapolsky’s Theory with a Social Media Overlay

I have had this idea rumbling around in my head, along with others…many others and unfortunately, it has to do - primarily - around the “broligarchs.” If you’re not familiar with the term or who they even are, a broligarch is basically a politically influential male tech tycoon who wields power and control over political structures, i.e. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel (JD Vance’s mentor and financial suitor), and Marc Andreessen. I don’t need or want to get into all of them because you likely know enough but, my interest is in the ones that have made their fortune (or attached themselves onto) social media platforms specifically though, one could say Mr. Bezos has created his own little world, with levers and pulleys, systems and algorithms, himself…sitting back and looking on almost like Zeus…it actually reminds me of a funny line from The Odyssey, Book 1 by Homer where Mr. Z, says, “Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, but they themselves, with their own reckless ways, compound their pains beyond their proper share.”

But back to Professor Sapolsky’s theory, which, as simply and shortly as I can put it, is a sociological explanation/theory for moralizing deities in human societies. Stay with me. Sapolsky theorizes that in traditional hunter-gatherer societies, where human beings lived in small groups…lived and hunted and survived closely together and related…their gods, per his data, were typically indifferent to human affairs and did not monitor or judge human behavior. Now, when societies grew big enough for people to get up close and personal and - if you’ve ever been to New York - literally living on top of each other, people began having interactions with individuals they might never see again which, in Sapolsky’s theory, was a socio-evolutionary opportunity that allowed for mass anonymous interactions, misconduct, judgement etc. and so, to serve as a psychological mechanism for maintaining social order (because humans themselves could not do this) they created a paradigm or a “faith” to monitor human behavior, judge morality, and justly distribute punishments and rewards. This, to me at least, sounds interestingly very similiar to these social media applications the world is currently on, all strangers, all “close” in their own digital ways, yet the creators of these spaces or, “worlds,” are walking around and acting like living Gods with all the wealth and power and “status” today’s society at least, to the best of its ability, knows how to grant them. Is there something there? Maybe.

Public Domain Image Archive, and Other Things to Keep You Alive and Well

I was shook the other week by a few Substack writers downright pulverizing the use of AI art in newsletters. I see where they are coming from: hundreds of thousands of years of art out there, from famous artists to unknown ones, that can easily be downloaded and shared instead of some random apparition that arrives from a prompt from Chat-GPT. The act itself is immediate and the viewing of it even more so. I get it. But I also have fun messing around with it…messing around with prompts and specific words and placement to “create something” that feels like solving a riddle than anything artistic. Of course believe human work is always going to be better/more effective/have soul 100% of the time but the acerbic way all AI “art” is being lambasted feels old hat. Aren’t artists supposed to try everything, even if it ends up killing them? Maybe it’s because it could in the end up killing people…taking away their livelihoods…or entirely shifting younger generations from the act itself. Maybe…and like I said, I get it!

All that to say, I have been having a blast on Public Domain Image Archive from The Public Domain Review. They have such a variety of art in so many different styles organized by century or theme. And it updates constantly, letting you see any weird and random assortment that you want. See below of a quick collage I did. Very strange. Endless possibilities. Stories in every image.

And these days, something as simple as practicing soap bubbles to get the best reflection of the suns light - however meaningless - feels like a direct fuck you to capitalism (though a buyer always needs more bubbles) and a nod in support to everything that makes the ripple effect (s) of humanistic utilitarianism so important.

Take Back Your Attention, a Mini-Memoir

I can definitively say there is likely nothing more detrimental, nothing more psychologically and soul-damaging be it for writing, drawing, reading…everything, than my phone, though I do think this ailment of having to be watching or listening or entertained at all times has been with me before I even acquired this block of glass and plastic hell sitting in my pocket as I write this right now.

I remember when I was in middle school, my mother’s boyfriend at the time would come home from work and see me, likely with a shoddy bowl of mac and cheese and a glass of milk by my side, doing my homework with the TV on while listening to music from the house computer. This was mid-2000 where computers, smart phones, and ear buds were not literally in every orifice of one’s body yet (and yes I am that old). Why do you need to have everything on at the same time? my mother’s boyfriend probably asked me. Why can’t you do one thing at once?

At the time, I took this as a slight, likely thinking, because you don’t think I can because you’re my mother’s boyfriend, or some childish shit. But I hope I said, or at least what I would say now, is that it felt good. It felt good to be so overwhelmed with everything the world and its technology had to offer because it submerged me, obliterated me…turned me into metaphorical dust which then, through this transformation, was maybe taking me away from the mundanity of what I was doing - high school algebra or some shit.

But that good feeling was, in the end, a trap…a carrot at the end of a stick I and many millions of others have been chasing for years, the stick being everything from the media, social and news media…the list goes on…essentially distracting me from the true silence of the world and the I, at least I think the self that is in there within that silence which leads to self-discovery, or something like that. Whatever the case, I’m working on it which I know is a balancing act in the world we live in.

Most of these thoughts come from a video I saw on, of course, TikTok but I thought it held some truth, whatever that means nowadays.

And…Things I’m Reading

Stephanie McCrummen, The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows, The Atlantic

Jeff VanderMeer, Opinion | Cults and mind viruses run rampant. Powerful algorithms hijack our minds. No wonder we all feel so deranged, The Star

Tommy Orange, Onyx Pt. 1, Substack

Oh yeah, and it was John Belushi’s birthday Friday, January 24, 1949. I’m no diehard JB fan but shit, dying at 33 and doing all that before even 35 (I’m 36) made me do a double take. Some people gave everything back then for a laugh and seeing how rightfully fucked things are right now…a laugh only he could provide feels like the most precious thing in the world. Thank you John. RIP.

So You've Decided to Become Isolated & Weird Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.