Jamrock

I got asked recently to resolve the post/trans human debate (in a work context) and was exploring techno-humanism. This led me to Techno-Humanist Manifesto (Jason Crawford/@rootsofprogress) which I am now quietly working through. The content so far feels like it would align with or be well received by #anglofuturism supporters. It is certainly poking a sharp stick at some of my own thinking.

Almost 20 years of being various different club nights on Twitter

They set an appointment for June. Three people turned up today with no appointment. Even though work needs to be done on the main road they were starting to take up my driveway. The fun part: I could not ask them what they were doing or explain to them why they shouldn’t be doing anything because not one of the three spoke a word of English. Not. A. Word. Even Sky were astonished and they deal with Openreach blunders daily.

@jamrock @WeAreOpenreach Wow. We lost our broadband for 12 days because of OpenReach. 😕

I’ve encountered a lot of incompetence in my life but never the level of incompetence that @WeAreOpenreach have managed over the last six months. Even Sky are staggered (and embarrassed).

@Substack how do you make an app this dysfunctional? Step one: tell me I’m not signed in and “do I want to sign out or ignore?”. Why would I need to sign out if I’m not signed in?! Seeing as Ignore just prompted the same message, I signed out. Now when I open the app, there is no option to sign in?! What is this shambles?

Today's fun read: arxiv.org/pdf/2409.01754… "These findings provide the first empirical evidence that humans increasingly imitate LLMs in their spoken language. Our results raise societal and policy-relevant concerns about the potential of AI to unintentionally reduce linguistic diversity, or to be deliberately misused for mass manipulation. They also highlight the need for further investigation into the feedback loops between machine behavior and human culture"

@RohanEmpire @megha_lilly this is a great read @RohanEmpire

@megha_lilly Success, as defined by end stage capitalism, is not actually success but materialism. I wrote a brief article about this on my substack. open.substack.com/pub/rohanremi/…

You’d think capitalism should make the quality of everything go up because of the theory of free market competition. But end stage capitalism reveals low quality in everything, from food to home goods to books to toys. Boeing airplanes becoming low quality to improve the bottom line for the company is the most egregious example that this is not merely a problem of preferences, but actually kills thousands of people. Capitalism’s value structure reveals why quality is decreasing: when the bottom line in profit, quality will always be an expensive option and quickly discarded. The free market is not what pushes quality. Community accountability and a social value structure is. There was a time BEFORE communism and capitalism when business was the enterprise of communities. And we saw the residual value structures persist into the 90s and then fizzle out of steam. We can’t just “return to the 90s” and expect things to be good again. We actually need to return to where the 90s drew their energy from in the first place because that too was a time of a dying light. Now that it’s gone out, we need to go to the source. And that source is community, locality, and a society with good values above all else. Capitalism and Communism are both stupid.

I think there is too little discussion and comprehension of neoliberalism, relative to the capitalism that preceded it. As I understand it, neoliberalism removed the "double safeguard on capitalism" which were 1) the protective role of the state (through regulation, welfare and capital controls) and 2) the counter‑power of organised labour (union-busting in UK/US) and social institutions. This cleared the way for intensified profit‑seeking, inequality and "enshittification" that I think the OP refers to. This is no doubt an oversimplified take.

@megha_lilly Capitalism works best when there is a moral imagination. Without an ethical framework, it rapidly degenerates as you say above. Any thoughts? @OBEhizele @jamrock

@TowerofAdam1 thanks for reading, if I build on your idea, us Anglofuturist idiots may need to escape the 'culture of digitality' and reclaim the analogue sphere, perhaps along with revitalising customs.

Nice article. It lands well. I can trace the thread. I like the idea of the ‘idiot’. And I thought one of your previous posts about the dullness of culture due to late-stage capitalism was interesting. Though, I think the problem is deeper than capitalism. I would go as far to say the whole system is struggling, economically, politically, and culturally. AngloFuturists could be the ‘idiots’ who refuse to accept the way things are, and push us towards a revitalised country.

@Nina_Power_ I just wrote a small review of Psychopolitics and wanted to link it to something that (if my notes can be trusted) I think you said about challenging the Hegelian system at the end of last week's lecture on AI and Nature.

I have been revisiting a chapter in Robert Hassan's 'The Condition of Digitality', titled The Culture of Digitality. Key arguments: * The analogue base and superstructure can’t tell us about culture formation in the digital context. * Digital production and consumption (base and superstructure) now exist within a single sphere * This sphere creates a digital loop that excludes and alienates the individual and society from the analogue ‘circle of action’ that constituted a point of authenticity for humans * Society no longer recognise the basis of our culture formation * Digital culture does not recognise or promote tradition or creativity * Edward Thompson argues for a difference between customs and culture, noting customs were more resistant to Capitalism Source Hassan, R. 2020. The Culture of Digitality. In: Hassan, R, The Condition of Digitality. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: doi.org/10.16997/book4…

@TowerofAdam1 cultofio.substack.com/p/psychopoliti… < I tend to write to try and make sure I have understood something rather than for an audience but let me know if it makes sense :)

@jamrock @Nina_Power_ Where is the article? I’d like to read it.

@Nina_Power_ Thank you for confirming (and for the other link). I was trying to write up my thoughts on that final lecture but needed to get Han's book straight in my head first. The full post is here (if interested): cultofio.substack.com/p/psychopoliti…

Yes! (Your mention of Han reminds me btw that I get "psychopolitics" mixed up with Jäger's "hyperpolitics". I should stop doing that). There's an interesting paper on Kierkegaard's critique of Hegel by Jonas Hodel, which argues "For Climacus, it is in turning toward this first cause, namely God, and toward our own contingent existence that we recognize our ethical obligations which he sees as under constant threat by a (philosophical) engagement with world-history." here: cambridge.org/core/journals/… interesting to ask what the relation between the individual, the unique, the singular and the contingent might be...

@yahya7802 @Google update which app, exactly?

@jamrock @Google Update your app That's what it needs

Is this article, along with “retromania” and The Great Meme Reset, evidence of a foreclosed future or simply a rejection of digital and algorithmic culture (or both) bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

it’s still incubating amongst those driving it with a plan to “launch” on 1st Jan 2026, alongside the revival of Vine (which is promising a zero tolerance approach to AI content). These young teens are rebelling Luddite-style against the algorithms and AI slop (which may be semi relevant to tonight’s lecture).

@jamrock I haven't followed this trend, but seems fitting, also with Simon Reynold's thoughts around "retromania"...?

Could anything resonate harder with Mark Fisher's 'slow cancellation of the future' than Gen Z/Alpha's 'The Great Meme Reset' movement and their zeal to bring back 2016-era memes?

core to this movement is the revival of Vine (!) x.com/nypost/status/…

@Nina_Power_ It's an ebook version on Kobo (an alternative to Amazon) and was available to buy and in my basket. When I returned to check out it had labelled it as "no longer available in the UK"

@jamrock Oh, curious. No idea! Maybe out of print?

@Nina_Power_ I swear this has happened since I put it in the basket (on Kobo.com)