~pfft~

skyrim doodles #46

Miraak:

driver: what

me: alright team. we kbow our roles. lets get to it

demolitions expert: wait can we go back to that thing earlier

grifter: yeah what was that about

me: charlie, i want you to take point. you're the most important for the early phase so you gotta make sure to nail this. remember we only have a limited time to pull this off, so the sooner the better

safecracker: youre not really gonna kill yourself if we fuck this up right

AI is designed to be addictive. like all commercialized technology it is designed to give you little boosts of dopamine and pleasure. it is designed to make life feel “easier,” to make your brain do less work, use less energy, so that you rely on the AI more and are more susceptible to influence (this isn’t tinfoil hat stuff, this is the model that the tech giants have been laying out for years now)

if you have the learning disability that is cause by an inability to regulate dopamine, that’s main symptom is your brain having to work twice as much for EVERYTHING AI will suck you in and never ever spit you out. Not ever.

when you have adhd/ have genetic predispositions/ are prone to addiction etc. interacting with ANY addictive substance or behavior or tech is like playing russian roulette with three bullets in the gun.

not because you’re “weak,” not because any of this is inherently a moral failing, not because i’m some purity culture freak who’s trying to control you or pass judgement on addiction. but because the second you give in, it will feel like RELIEF. physically, mentally, emotionally, It will feel good. and trying to convince your body, that doesn’t give a shit about morality or long term consequences or the rise of techno fascism, that ONLY cares about staying alive and getting dopamine in the easiest most energy efficient way possible to to go against its nature and go back to the difficulty and pain of life without will be one of, if not THE, most difficult things you ever do in your life.

don’t gamble against those odds. and don’t be cruel to people who’ve already lost that gamble — to AI or any other addiction. you are much more vulnerable, and much closer to being in their position than you think. the division and polarization of the working class is what keeps the tech oligarchs who are causing these problems in power, so don’t let them trick you into passing nuance-less and immutable judgement and isolating yourself and others further.

AI is the one ring. it was created by and for evil purposes. anything done with it, no matter how good intentioned, how helpful, how small, is twisted towards those goals, and you are not just susceptible to its call, you are targeted and vulnerable

Nobody is too smart to become addicted to a predatory algorithm or variable reward system.

Diabolikdvd

Grindhouse Video

Deep Discount

OrbitDVD

Barnes and Noble

And specific labels:

Kino Lorber

Criterion

Arrow Films (UK based)

Shout Factory

Eureka (UK based)

Vinegar Syndrome

Synapse

Warner Archive

Indicator/Powerhouse (UK based)

Severin

Second Sight (UK based)

Umbrella (Australia based)

Idk when I was younger, you could just go and go and find exciting new websites full of whatever cool things you wanted to explore. An overabundance of ways to occupy your time online.

Now, it's just... Social media. That's it. Social media and news sites. And I'm tired of social media and I'm tired of the news.

You're right that the internet is smaller than it used to be, but there's still some cool stuff left in the corners. I'd recommend checking checking out Neocities if you haven't--it's an independent web hosting platform like Geocities of the old web, and there are hundreds of interesting and active pages discoverable both through their search function and through web buttons (links attached to small pictures with the title of a website) within the websites themselves. Here are three examples of web buttons you may find in link pages:

Most Neocities websites have link pages or button collections with anywhere from tens to hundreds of these. Don't be afraid to explore!

If you're looking for something more like a search engine, I can point you towards Marginalia. It's not a particularly smart engine, but it's perfectly usable if you've ever been taught to use search engines back when they were mostly run through keywords instead of full sentence comprehension. There's also an "about" and "tips" section on the front page with more information. The algorithm of Marginalia can be filtered by the user to allow, disallow, or require JavaScript depending on your needs, plus there are filters designed specifically to prioritize web 1.0 sites or mostly text-based ones. It is possible to search for modern websites with it, but it can return websites from just about any decade (since the invention of the web, obviously) so long as they contain the information you're looking for. For example, here are some random interesting sites I've found using Marginalia:

Native Languages of the Americas: Native American Cultures

BASIC HTML COMPETENCY IS THE NEW PUNK FOLK EXPLOSION!

Earthbound Text Labs by Bill Eager

The possibilities for discovery are truly endless.

Now you might want to know about directories. These make browsing for websites easier, but require you to read through and judge which ones to visit, as there aren't algorithms ranking the sites besides the whim of whoever coded the directory. Some of them have themes, others don't. Here are two that I've used:

Yesterlinks Directory

Ichigo Directory

Directories can be harder to come by just by surfing the net, but they aren't impossible to find. Many personal websites have their own directories of interesting sites hidden within them.

Webrings are similar to directories, but are actually more community-based. You have to register your website to be a part of a webring, usually by sending an email to whoever runs it and meeting some kind of entry criteria. For example, my personal website used to be a part of a webring called Sweet Dreams, which was for websites that heavily utilize color palettes and images of cute things, particularly sweets. Webrings will give you access to a widget upon entry that allow visitors and other members to browse between the registered websites in a massive ring, ergo, where the term gets its name. Webrings can have any theme or criteria for entry. If you can make a website about it, you can find a webring for it.

Now, you might be wondering about social media alternatives. I can't offer much, but I can nudge you towards the idea of forums. Here's one I found that could really use some traffic. I also browse a bit on MelonLand forum, which is actually closed right now--it's currently closed on Mondays--but on any other day of the week, you can find a fun community there dedicated to web revival. You can find it through MelonLand's main page. I'd also recommend checking out SpaceHey, which is a MySpace clone that's customizable and easy to use.

Are you a word nerd like me, and my father before me?

Then may I introduce you to...