Summer Potpourri

One of the joys of having a small platform is getting to share things I love, find useful, or both love and find useful, with others. This is a short post to do just that.

The show Silo, on AppleTV, is absolutely worth your attention. It’s incredibly well-done, but more than that, profoundly relevant to the risks we are taking in a world where people increasingly turn their judgment and decision-making over to AI. Season three is currently more than halfway over, with new episodes dropping on Fridays. If you pay for one month of AppleTV, you can binge and catch up, then finish out season three before canceling, and you’ll consider your twelve bucks extremely well spent.

I’m finding myself increasingly exhausted by conspiracy theories on the right side of our political discourse. Conspiracy theories are inherently unfalsifiable, since any evidence that points to the conspiracy theory being false can just be dismissed as more evidence of how skilled the conspirators are at covering their tracks. In addition to how thoroughly they ignore human nature — as most of them require people to act against both their own better natures and their own financial and other self-interests — they’re so goddamn narcissistic. They presume that the conspiracy theorist has special insight and knowledge that others do not, and these claims are almost never within the theorist’s realm of expertise.

Obviously, yes, sometimes conspiracies happen. But they are difficult to pull off and thus rare. Humans responding to bad incentives and believing comforting lies (such as that a vaccine is safe and effective) explain far more of the last ten years of our politics than anything else.

In responding to my email, I’ve developed a useful heuristic that I want to share with you. When someone emails me wanting me to look into their pet conspiracy theory, I now ask them to list three mainstream beliefs they hold and fully accept. I am so generous with this that simply affirming that the earth is not flat, the Holocaust happened, and humans went to the moon in 1969 would do it. I would also accept that 19 hijackers carried out 9/11 and no, Israel did not warn all Jews not to go to work in the World Trade Center that day.

So far, none of them can do this.

This is turning out to be an excellent time-saver, as it separates the people reasoning from a flawed "conspiracy is the likeliest cause" starting point from the people who might actually have a legit concern worth my time to explore.

My art is going in new directions lately, including stained glass drawings (using alcohol markers) and sculpture, the latter so far using wood and acrylic paint markers, which give me painted effects with drawing skills.

I now own, and know how to use, a trigger clamp for working with wood glue. The know-how is thanks to J. Daniel Sawyer, who made a video for me to explain how to use them after I called him to find out what to buy to “make two pieces of wood stick together,” which in retrospect was a laughably dumb request, but he figured out what I meant and got me educated. Dan is a prolific author of fiction and nonfiction who's helped me with strategy, research, editorial, and other brainy services, including finding and editing video clips when I’ve needed them — and he also makes my drawing boards and does a bunch of other cool stuff (including audio, voiceover, and book design/packaging for you people who prefer writing to drawing, for reasons between you, your therapist, and your gods). He loves a challenge, and is currently looking for work. I give him my highest recommendation. I’ve never been disappointed.

Speaking of art, I’m finishing up my last commission this evening, so I’m ready to accept a few more. If you’d like your loved one or pet drawn, email vtwriterartist at gmail dot com and we’ll work out the details. If you think there’s even a chance you might want one for Christmas, I strongly recommend getting started early. I expect the fall to be very busy at my job-job, and I may not be able to take as many commissions as I’d like.

Here are a few recent pieces to give you an idea.

I love reading, and it turns out I enjoy writing book reviews, too — and they do surprisingly well. I'm working on one now for paid subs.

Elliot Page has been in the news lately after jumping on the “actually lots of animals are trans/queer” nonsense bandwagon. Blaire White really went at this latest piece of bullshit in a recent video. I’ve read Page’s memoir and am working on an in-depth review. It’s quite challenging, as I’m torn between compassion for the damaged, traumatized soul trying to heal herself through self-mutilation and the desire to snark all over the lunatic peddler of cultural rot and bullshit.

That’s all, folks! Hope you’re enjoying your summer.