Memento mori, quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris.
There is a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from being online. Not the exhaustion of having nothing to say, but of having to remember which self is speaking. I have felt it for years. The subtle fragmentation, the performance of coherence, the quiet understanding that the person typing is not really me but only a version I consider acceptable for a specific purpose. Every social context…
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Social media does not steal your words. It steals your right to be left alone. The theft is structural, built into the infinite scroll, the notification badge, the architecture that treats a closed app as a failed session. You do not need to perform for the platform to win. Your attention is enough. Your boredom is the raw material they extract and sell. The terms we accepted We have known for a…
Cleaning up messy code and minor improvements. Cultist detecting an incoming transmission for ██████████.
Moved site to Zola instead of manually editing the HTML. RSS is now available at https://cult.ist/articles/rss.xml and Atom at https://cult.ist/articles/atom.xml
Before you start reading I'd like to make the following clear: This is a rant with not a lot of explanation or sources for that matter. I am assuming you already know what a large language model is, how generative AI works, what training data means, and that you've lived through the recent AI boom (unless you live under a rock). You've seen the hype and demonstrations, the startup…
In every relationship, there comes a point where things might start to feel heavy and chaotic. It might be a long silence after an argument, or quiet resentment that builds up over time because of each other's behaviour. These moments often make people question whether they are still meant to be together, or if the relationship has run its course. Yet sometimes, it is not about the end at…
This piece builds on my previous exploration of ideological strictness in the tech world. Following the DigDeeper writeup, I wanted to turn the spotlight on another rabbit hole I dove into: the culture surrounding so-called "minimalist software" movements, specifically suckless and its surrounding ecosystem and the mindset that drives them. Introduction: The Problem With Purity The minimalist…
You can explore the DigDeeper website that I'm addressing here . Introduction: Let's start with a disclaimer: there's nothing inherently wrong with being a privacy enthusiast. If you want to run a de-Googled Android, avoid JavaScript, or use niche Linux distros, great. Do what makes you happy. Privacy preferences are personal, and everyone has different levels of comfort with the…
You can read the Yesterweb article that i'm responding to here . Thoughts: Lately, I've noticed a growing trend across websites in my linked webrings: the use of the "No to Web3" button encouraged by Yesterweb. I understand that personal opinions vary, but it frustrates me to see such blatant misinformation being spread under the guise of rejecting Web3. This is especially prevalent on…
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