Memeplexes, Podcasting & the Movies (Issue #194)
Degrass on maybes & buddhism, MSM vs podcasting, chatting programmers, memeplexes & memetics, BTC and Reddit, Tarantino & Avery, and our bots heavy future
Hello and welcome to my newsletter!
Another season 2 instalment…
I feel like this week has been all about the media the past, the present and the future. Given that Christmas is on the horizon, quite fitting I suppose. In “the olden days” it was all about stylishly cool violent movies, and shocking heavy metal music. The present it’s all about freeform intellectual conversations piped straight into your earways, and the future is all about angels, demons, memeplexes and talking to the internet. Also crypto bitcoin AI blockchain. Yes it’s a very fucking strange Christmas carol, but maybe it’s progress.
The whole time I was growing up, we were repeatedly promised flying cars. They were always just around the corner. And we had all watched the Back To The Future trilogy, so it seemed plausible. I remember thinking how amazing things were going to be in the year 2000. That was 24 years ago! We still don’t really have flying cars do we.
The funny thing is that the futurism industrial complex, surely at this stage it has turned into an industrial complex, hasn’t stopped. No infact it’s going through somewhat of a renaissance with ever more outlandish claims. Self driving cars, exploring the solar system, colonising the galaxy! And it all kind of seems plausible and just around the corner. I’m getting a strange sense of dejas vue.
Yet there is a lot of cool new shit. Certainly when it comes to software. And I’m into it. But I’m weary of it. You’ve got folks talking about techno god demon memeplexes powered by crypto AI and I’m like, hmm is this such a good idea? Maybe we should go outside a bit more, ride bikes and skateboards, poke things with sticks, kick some tin cans. I struggle with all this because I want both. I want the old ways, they were pretty cool, but I also want the new stuff, they are the future.
So this week’s podcast selection is pretty awesome. It’s a real mix of everything. We are bursting at the cultural seems, constantly. I wonder whether there will be a change of pace, a move towards simplicity, not just in technology, but in culture. We used to have a different “scene” every 10 years or so, but that doesn’t appear to be happening anymore. I wonder what it’s like growing up in all this. I bet it’s quite confusing.
I’ve made some good progress on my static site generator and website. I’ve overhauled the underlying HTML structure, getting rid of unnecessary tags, and just generally simplifying and tidying things. I’m quite happy about it. I think there might be some issues still with the RSS feeds. Items look a bit strange, with HTML tags appearing in the posts. I’ll have to wait till the end of the month to fix that as I’m running very low on build minutes.
I wrote a couple of blog posts:
Earnie C. from Body Count on Gate Keepers https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/12/12/earnie-c-from-body-count-on-gate-keepers
You will like your default reality https://markjgsmith.com/blog/2024/12/13/you-will-like-your-default-reality
One looks at the past and is positive and upbeat, the other looks at the future and is kind of dystopian. Life is full of ups and downs, but the world keeps on turning.
I’ll keep doing what I can to make heads or tails of it all. Hopefully there’s some insight in these words I write. I’m still struggling to buy a new laptop. If you see value here, please donate! :) It really does make a difference. Thank you.
https://markjgsmith.com/donate
Loads of great podcasts this week…
Martial Laws, End Zones, and the Cosmos (The Daily Show Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/743448?episode=30824202316
Dan Wootton On the Death of Mainstream Media Ep#28 (Mr Obnoxious Podcast) https://www.mrobnoxious.com/episodes/the-death-of-mainstream-media-dan-wootton
Shop Talk & Friends Ep#72 (Changelog & Friends Podcast) https://changelog.com/friends/72
Soloooo (Duncan Trussell Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/199138?episode=30953495169
TWiST: Bitcoins Future, Reddit Answers, SEC Shifts and More! Ep#2057 (This Week in Startups Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/788244?episode=30999113347
Roger Avery & Quentin Tarantino Ep#2240 (Joe Rogan Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/550168?episode=31014250844
Why Every Company Wants a Podcast Now (Decoder Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/2123?episode=31039693907
Michael Sayman: In the future all our interactions online will be with bots https://podcastindex.org/podcast/240566?episode=31059375249 Ep#2269 (Keen On Podcast)
Memetics, Religion and the Power of Humanity in the AI Age ft Ryan Ferris and Andy Ayrey (Raoul Pal: Journey Man Podcast) https://podcastindex.org/podcast/4473895?episode=31076347947
That’s all from me…
Best regards,
Mark
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Have a great weekend and a fantastic next week!