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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/
RFK Jr. says autism database will use Medicare and Medicaid info
The National Institutes of Health will partner with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to create a database of Americans with autism, using insurance claims, medical records and smartwatch data.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Something Bizarre Is Happening to People Who Use ChatGPT a Lot
Well, that’s not good.
Power Bot ‘Em
Researchers have found that ChatGPT “power users,” or those who use it the most and at the longest durations, are becoming dependent upon — or even addicted to — the chatbot.
In a new joint study, researchers with OpenAI and the MIT Media Lab found that this small subset of ChatGPT users engaged in more “problematic use,” defined in the paper as “indicators of addiction… including preoccupation, withdrawal symptoms, loss of control, and mood modification.”
To get there, the MIT and OpenAI team surveyed thousands of ChatGPT users to glean not only how they felt about the chatbot, but also to study what kinds of “affective cues,” which was defined in a joint summary of the research as “aspects of interactions that indicate empathy, affection, or support,” they used when chatting with it.
Though the vast majority of people surveyed didn’t engage emotionally with ChatGPT, those who used the chatbot for longer periods of time seemed to start considering it to be a “friend.” The survey participants who chatted with ChatGPT the longest tended to be lonelier and get more stressed out over subtle changes in the model’s behavior, too.
Zuckerberg’s Grand Vision: Most of Your Friends Will Be AI
Archived WSJ article
Meta’s CEO is promoting a future where artificial intelligence is increasingly intertwined with people’s lives
Mark Zuckerberg wants you to have AI friends, an AI therapist and AI business agents.
In Zuckerberg’s vision for a new digital future, artificial-intelligence friends outnumber human companions and chatbot experiences supplant therapists, ad agencies and coders. AI will play a central role in the human experience, the Facebook co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms has said in a series of recent podcasts, interviews and public appearances.
“I think people are going to want a system that knows them well and that kind of understands them in the way that their feed algorithms do,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday during an onstage interview with Stripe co-founder and president John Collison at Stripe’s annual conference.