The Blog
10 Feb 2014 The Wire meets NSA and the War on Terror meets New Aesthetic meets Design Fictions
First article in Greenwald's new journal 'The Intercept' https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/10/the-nsas-secret-role/ vs James Bridle's art project "Under the shadow of the drone" James Bridle - Meet The Artist Wondering if the US would like to take humans out of the loop completely. Here we have NSA Sigint leading to geo tracking cell phone SIMs then calling in a drone strike on the cell phone's last known location. So no humint checks on the intelligence side. The humans controlling the drone are on the other side of the world so no body bags. And no human checks on the fall out. It's assumed that the phone is held by an "unlawful enemy combatant" no matter where in the world they are. The other side responds with a kind of Russian Roulette where they have SIM swapping parties. If they've worked that out, you'd expect them to be using large quantities of 'burner' phones. Or just reverting to paper. Here's a member of the team talking, “People get hung up that there’s a targeted list of people,” he says. “It’s really like we’re targeting a cell phone. We’re not going after people – we’re going after their phones, in the hopes that the person on the other end of that missile is the bad guy.”   The NSA's Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program - The Intercept »The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people. [from: Google+ Posts] 09 Feb 2014 Woosh. An hour's lecture on the Critical Design movement.
Critical Exploits - Tobias Revell via http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2014/02/design-fiction-tobias-revell-critical-exploits-lecture-lighthouse/ [from: Google+ Posts] Yes, but is it art? Well, is it? Is it? Really? What if? ... Then what? Laugh. Ah-hah. But so what? What happens next? How do you measure success? Did it change the world? Via http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/critical-exploits and http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/ seeAlso: Under the shadow of the drone. James Bridle - Meet The Artist [ 09-Feb-14 8:34am ] 08 Feb 2014 On the Weaponization of Bullshit among a Cargo Cult of Aestheticizers who mistake themselves for artists.
Which, among other things, explains the fascination of hipsters for steampunkian gothic high tech. If nothing else, it's an entertaining read! http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/02/07/an-information-age-glossary/   An Information Age Glossary »We live in an information-rich environment, but our minds are still wired for an environment of information scarcity. It still hasn’t really hit us that in the last 20 years, we’ve experienced a transformation that is as dramatic for our [from: Google+ Posts] [ 08-Feb-14 4:23pm ] 05 Feb 2014 "By some estimates, the internet now uses 2% of the world's electricity"
I'm not even sure what that means but it sounds deeply scary when linked to the usual tech industries exponential growth. It feels like we're only a few doubling periods away from mankind devoting all it's remaining resources towards maintaining the computronium. But then we're still a long way from constructing nested Matrioshka shells to capture and completely use all the sun's energy output. http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/internet-sustainability-renewable-power http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrioshka_brain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando   The internet can be a force for sustainability if powered by renewables »The good work of web pioneers is held back by other tech giants who refuse to admit the impact of their energy use [from: Google+ Posts] [ 05-Feb-14 6:30pm ] 04 Feb 2014 We'll fill in the missing colours in each other's paint by number dreams.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54307735@N00/12301320885/ Or just be happy idiots and struggle for the legal tender with a nod to Jackson Browne - The Pretender   geoff mcfetridge always great! »Explore Ben Wilson Design's photos on Flickr. Ben Wilson Design has uploaded 7891 photos to Flickr. [from: Google+ Posts] [ 04-Feb-14 8:31am ] 30 Jan 2014 A doomer quant produces a plausible economic model for why the axe begins to fall in 2015 and the available solutions won't help. You scared yet? Don't mind me, I'm just indulging my usual pessimism.
http://ourfiniteworld.com/2014/01/29/a-forecast-of-our-energy-future-why-common-solutions-dont-work/ The comment below caught my eye, especially in the light of the Cameron-Osbourne view of the world; that combination of austerity and fracking. I've been wondering what they know that we don't because their policies look so brutal and self(elite) serving. Perhaps they aren't showing any long term views on planning because they've been advised that there is no long term for business as usual. But there is short term mitigation that allows a select few to enjoy a wealthy lifestyle and use it to build a defensible position. I am also wondering if this unusually coherent, world-wide motivation to forestall collapse implies a sort of stair-step phenomenon rather than a fast, continuous dropoff. Say, on a roughly 6-10 year cycle, we have a financial crisis and sharp economic dropoff, followed by a series of “extraordinary measures” to cloak the reality of the situation, ala 2008-2009, a few years of steady-ish state, then another crisis. Human misery spreads, but propaganda, financial market manipulation, and increasingly oppressive governments keep things from spiraling out quite as fast as you predict. Given the unusual shared-motivation of world powers to figure out creative new ways to coordinate on mitigating the crisis, perhaps this cycle might repeat itself 2-3 times before the stresses finally start toppling major governments.   A Forecast of Our Energy Future; Why Common Solutions Don't Work »In order to understand what solutions to our energy predicament will or won't work, it is necessary to understand the true nature of our energy predicament. Most solutions fail because analysts ass... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 30-Jan-14 9:45am ] 23 Jan 2014 Stories to help us imagine the future
The Archdruid uses a bunch of old SciFi books from his childhood to try and introduce a new way of thinking about the future via story telling. These are stories to help us make sense of a future after this civilisation has squandered its resources. But they're post-apocalyptic stories without the apocalypse. Somewhat like AD 700 Europe post the Roman Empire, where the artifacts remain but the social organisation is long gone. And done without the diabolus ex machina of a nuclear war or pandemic or whatever to bring civilisation crashing down. http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/return-of-space-bats.html - M. John Harrison - The Pastel City - Edgar Pangborn - Davy - Marvin Kaye and Parke Godwin - The Masters of Solitude - Walter M. Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz This stems from a feeling that we currently only have two stories about the future. Either we have an inability to imagine a future that’s actually different from the present. Or the only alternative is no future at all. What we find difficult is a story of gradual decay of current structures allied to a transformation into something else. This is the danger of thinking that climate change or resource limits or whatever necessarily produce a Hard Stop. That's actually the least likely outcome. Our current institutions won't just stop over night any more than the baker stops baking bread because the government has been overthrown. Even in the local revolutions and wars of the last 50 years, life carries on. I wonder if this inability to imagine the future is why 5 minutes in the future SciFi is quite common and appealing, as in William Gibson's collapsing present. As I've said before, accelerating exponential growth (reducing doubling times) means we've forgotten the past so it disappears from view quicker and quicker. We don't remember the lessons of the past because they're behind the wall of progress. And we can't see the future because the changes are coming too fast. So we sit in this bubble of the present where both sides are mirrors reflecting our present back at us. And that bubble is now months wide instead of decades. And that's not a good thing like some Buddhist detachment from the world of illusion but rather the madness of a disconnection from reality.   Return of the Space Bats »"Some seventeen notable empires rose in the Middle Period of Earth. These were the Afternoon Cultures. All but one are unimportant to this narrative, and there is little need to speak of them save to say that none of them las... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 23-Jan-14 9:04am ] 18 Jan 2014 The picture says it all
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/01/signifying-nothing/ http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/empire.jpg Those serried American flags beneath their burnished and distinctly imperial eagles.   Craig Murray » Blog Archive » Signifying Nothing »The image was the thing. Those serried American flags beneath their burnished and distinctly imperial eagles. Obama's speech on the NSA was devoid of meaningful content. The threats against Snowden and the references to America's right to spy on its potential enemies – which seemed to mean ... [from: Google+ Posts] It’s as though they think some good fairy promised them that there would always be enough energy to support their current lifestyles, and the only challenge is figuring out where she hid it.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/seven-sustainable-technologies.html Seven Sustainable Technologies »Last week’s post on the contemporary culture of apocalypse fandom was also, more broadly, about the increasingly frantic attempts being made to ignore the future that’s looming ahead of us. Believing that the world as we know... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 18-Jan-14 7:32am ] 17 Jan 2014 Towards a new form of music criticism in a post, post[1] world.
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/the-trouble-with-contemporary-music-criticism I especially liked the critique of List criticism that just gives you a list of retro-historical references. I find myself wanting to do this all the time. "This sounds like that (and they did it better!)" As he says: This type of review says so little it might as well read: #ChewedCorners #Paradinas #chillwave #italodisco #pianohouse #hiphop #hardcore #footwork #UKfunky #house = 7.1/10. http://thefantastichope.blogspot.com/2014/01/further-to-this-debate-about-retromania.html has a dissenting view. [1]Try this. http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/473/Bruce-Sterling-and-Jon-Lebkowsky-page04.html#post84 Elsewhere in media art, the unprecedented use of the word “post” is unprecedented to the point where culture is so over itself to the point that what remains is a “super-hybrid” mélange of unicorns, kittens, animated GIFs of lactation, and the truckload of memes.   The Trouble with Contemporary Music Criticism | Article | Tiny Mix Tapes »1 Two hundred years before the release of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, people were losing their shit over a different sort of robot entirely. This one was known as the Mechanical Turk, and it was built at the end of the 18th century by a guy named Wolfgang von Kempelen. The Mechanical Turk comprised a puppet dressed in Turkish robes, sitting on top of a box containing an apparently complex set of mechanics. And it played chess. The Turk w... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 17-Jan-14 4:47pm ] 16 Jan 2014 On Silicon Valley "extracting financial value from the economy and transferring that financial wealth, which changes who holds real physical wealth, but doesn't much increase it."
http://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1vc481/howling_at_the_end_of_net_neutrality_and_an/ With a wonderful re-statement. With apologies to Alan Ginsberg: I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by viral social media, screaming hysterically naked at video-advertising pre-rolls, dragging themselves through the mobile gaming marketplace looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.  Howling at the End of Net Neutrality and an Opportunity for the Rent-Seeking Economy : dredmorbius »[My comment](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7063690) to Hacker News on opportunity availed by [the probable impact of net neutrality on startup ... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 16-Jan-14 8:23am ] 14 Jan 2014 Yay! Looks like Winamp will be able to go on whipping the llama's ass.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/14/radionomy-acquires-winamp-and-shoutcast/ They've promised that development will continue. I wonder what that means for the programming team?   Radionomy acquires Winamp and Shoutcast to boost its streaming efforts »There were rumors that Winamp would find a rescuer following its shutdown, and today that rescue is official. Online radio platform provider Radionomy [from: Google+ Posts] [ 14-Jan-14 6:56pm ] I'm a bit sad that the latest Mogwai - Rave Tapes is so forgettable after a first listen. Seems I'm not the only one.
http://www.drownedinsound.com/releases/18029/reviews/4147325 Slightly surprising because "Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will" was excellent, as was their soundtrack for "Les Revenants". Never mind, I've got Grails for my Post-Rock needs and the tickets for the London gig (Dalston, 12 Mar) to prove it. "Black Tar Prophecies Vol's 4, 5 & 6" was a stand out from 2013.   Album Review: Mogwai - Rave Tapes »It’s not that _Rave Tapes_ is disappointing, it’s just underwhelming - but it’s beautiful enough that maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe. Next time t... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 14-Jan-14 6:19pm ] 11 Jan 2014 A 5 year retrospective on the Viridian movement 1998-2008
https://medium.com/5-viridian-years Lots of brain food here. Now why are there so many quotes from Hakim Bey in the articles?   5 Viridian Years »Viridian Design was an avant-garde bright green design movement engineered by Bruce Sterling and intended to address climate change. It ran from 1998-2008. Five years later, we reflect. [from: Google+ Posts] [ 11-Jan-14 5:37pm ] ASAP - American Society of Adaptation Professionals. Climate change is inevitable so here's ASAP to the rescue.
Nice Acronym! http://adaptationprofessionals.org/  [from: Google+ Posts] [ 11-Jan-14 5:09pm ] 10 Jan 2014 Gorgonzola as cooking oil in a Mondo2000 recipe from back in the day when The Cyberpunk Handbook was "edgy".
Slice two endives long wise and steam, strain and drain. Take a large frying pan and get it medium hot. Take a big chunk of gorgonzola, maybe 1/4 lb, hack it into small chunks and chuck it in the pan. The cheese will instantly separate into golden oil and vile crufty scum. Skim out some of the scum if you must. When the oil is sizzling, add the endive and turn the heat all the way up. Fry until slightly crispy. While all that is going on, cook 1.2 lb of squid ink pasta in plenty of water until al dente. Drain. Toss it energetically with the juice of one lime and a cup of bruised blueberries. Add the crisp and scummy endive slices. Slick grey pasta, with purple streaks and blue black beads topped off with strips of scummy gold-green, crispy, cheesy endive. Enjoy with something like Monster-Vodka-food colouring cocktails and a black light (Gin, Tonic, Colouring also works well). [from: Google+ Posts] [ 10-Jan-14 8:36pm ] 09 Jan 2014 The Mystic Borgeoisie
Every once in a while my news reader burps up a bunch of posts from back in the day. It prompts me to ask "where are they now?". And none more so than the Black Prince of Gonzo Marketing and the most interesting quarter of The Cluetrain Manifesto. Here's Christopher Locke deconstructing the denizens of the (mostly) Californian personal development industry. http://mysticbourgeoisie.blogspot.co.uk/ Last updated 18-May-2010 seeAlso: https://www.facebook.com/kat.herding last updated 18 minutes ago   mystic bourgeoisie »Naturally, this requires further explication -- as does my absence here since May 22, but we'll get to that. Twitter just recently implemented these lists, and it took me a day or two to figure out what they were for and how they worked. Then the penny dropped. Oh! I immediately flashed on the ... [from: Google+ Posts] [ 09-Jan-14 7:24pm ] 08 Jan 2014 5 companies who don't deserve any slack, any more. Because this is the whirlpool where Capitalism, Politics, Really Big Money, the Secret Police and The Internet collide and collude.
http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/01/07/five-companies-to-fear-fondly/ I'd probably add eBay/Paypal and Yahoo to that list. And Twitter. And that's just the US ones and before we start talking about infrastructure or security people. Or the big hitters from SE Asia. And please explain to me again why these are more important than Shell, GlaxoSmithKline, Toyota or Monsanto. [from: Google+ Posts] [ 08-Jan-14 7:31am ] 06 Jan 2014 Here's Bruce Sterling's State of the World 2014 conversation on The Well. So I will try this year not to let it get me too wound up and just lurk.
http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/473/Bruce-Sterling-and-Jon-Lebkowsky-page01.html  The WELL: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky: State of the World 2014 »The WELL: Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky: State of the World 2014 [from: Google+ Posts] 
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