Elon Musk’s massive xAI data center is poisoning Memphis.
It’s burning enough gas to power a small city, with no permits and no pollution controls.
Residents tell us they can’t breathe and they’re getting sicker.
Month: May 2025
Professors Are Using A.I., Too. Now What?
Colleges and universities have been trying to fight against students using tools like ChatGPT to do class assignments and communicate. But here’s a twist: Professors and educators are now turning to A.I. to prepare lessons, teach, and even grade students’ work. We talk with NYT tech reporter Kashmir Hill about these conflicts on campus. Also, she shares what she learned after giving over her life for a week to A.I. tools, which wrote emails for her, planned her meals, chose what she should wear, and even created video messages for TikTok using her likeness and a clone of her voice.
The exegesis of Philip K. Dick – hacking the hero’s journey: Richard Doyle at TEDxLowerEastSide
EPISODE #243: THE MAD BOMBER OF TWENTYNINE PALMS
The maniac who blew himself up outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic is our latest High Desert dingbat to make the national news. Luckily, those injured in the Palm Springs terror attack have been treated and released from the hospital. But who bombs fertility clinics? Meet America’s worst new subculture, the violent anti-natalists, and their new hero from Twentynine Palms.
This is EPISODE #243: THE MAD BOMBER OF TWENTYNINE PALMS with geographically appropriate soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Written & hosted by Ken Layne. Listen on the radio in Joshua Tree and across the Mojave High Desert on Z 107.7 FM, 10-11 p.m. Fridays.
The Death of an Innocent
sources:
Into the Wild, by John Krakauer
The Journal of Chris McCandless
The Wild Truth, by Carine McCandless
Carl Jung’s Red Book Says You’re Not Depressed
Some people don’t go crazy.
They go deep.
Carl Jung was one of them—and The Red Book is proof.
It wasn’t a breakdown.
It was an initiation.
He wasn’t depressed. He was awakening.
And if you’re feeling lost, numb, or disconnected—you might be too.
This isn’t just a theory.
It’s the spiritual blueprint for breaking down and becoming whole again.
Slavery in the name of progress | A Wake-Up Call by Martin Scorsese
Surviving Progress explores the dangerous paradox at the heart of modern civilization: what we call “progress” might actually be leading us toward collapse.
Based on Ronald Wright’s concept of the “progress trap,” this documentary journeys through history, economics, biology, and politics to reveal how technological advancement, debt, overconsumption, and ecological destruction are threatening the future of humanity.
Ronald Wright’s bestseller A Short History of Progress inspired this cinematic requiem to progress-as-usual. Throughout human history, what seemed like progress often backfired.
Some of the world’s foremost thinkers, activists, bankers, and scientists challenge us to overcome progress traps, which destroyed past civilizations and lie treacherously embedded in our own.
With powerful visuals, expert commentary, and haunting parallels to the fall of past empires, the film challenges viewers to rethink growth, power, and sustainability. Are we too smart for our own survival, or is there still time to change course?
The Entire Benadryl Lore Collection
Benadryl has some incredibly disturbing lore. In fact, it’s one of the darkest corners of the internet. Reddit threads, memes, schizoposts and of course the Hat Man. This compilation is a thorough and comprehensive look into the psychotic world and all the lore surrounding Benadryl. Compilation: includes 4 on my own videos.. including one you’ve probably NEVER SEEN BEFORE You will see; New edits, commentary, and some good ole’ extras, have fun and enjoy.
The Magic of the Metacrisis
The following is a talk I gave to open the 2nd Alumni Gathering for the course ‘Leading Through Collapse.’ After 7 years we ended teaching the course, but invited the 300+ alumni to gather. The talk is available as a video, and transcript. I touch on some issues about how to remain outward in our focus, and the importance of thinking about what terms might help engage people in the transformative opportunities of accepting our predicament. Thx for watching or reading! Jem
405. AI is the Demon God of Capital (ft. Hagen Blix)
Episode Description
We chat with linguist and cognitive scientist Hagen Blix about his new book Why We Fear AI (co-authored with computer scientist Ingeborg Glimmer) about how the technical qualities of AI – especially LLM chatbots – take the alienation (and seemingly alien power) of capital to the next level. What happens when the social logic of capital — which appears to be a motive force with no motivator — is channeled through generative technologies that appear to be texts with no author? People see an entity that must be feared and worshipped.
SHOW LINK: https://pca.st/yx8mw3zq
••• Why We Fear AI | Hagen Blix & Ingeborg Glimmer https://www.commonnotions.org/why-we-fear-ai
••• https://www.If A.I. Systems Become Conscious, Should They Have Rights? nytimes.com/2025/04/24/technology/ai-welfare-anthropic-claude.html
••• Marx’s Comments on James Mill http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/james-mill/