15. Uncanny Valley Thanksgiving

“Is the star of The Truman Show suffering from the Truman Show delusion? Have culture and reality finally merged into one, trapping us in a feedback loop? What happens when reality doesn’t show up to the reality show?”

00:00 —On misnomers and false maps…

04:06 —Elevator Riders on the Storm

11:42 —Is Tomorrow a Virgin?

14:15 —A walk with Jesus…

17:26 —Notes on the Mandela Effect

22:51 —Late night at the grocery store self-checkout

30:52 —Zombie Ants

32:50 —Behind The Doors

43:00 —Notes on Dissociation as Enlightenment

50:49 —The Day Before Thanksgiving

54:56 —The Terrarium

57:30 —The Last Laugh

65 minutes

“Time After Time,” by Hiroshi Yoshimura, “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,” by Robert Goulet, “Baby (slowed down 800 percent)” by Justin Bieber, “Riders on the Storm,” by The Doors, “Blown-Out Joy from Heaven’s Mercied Hole” by A Silver Mt. Zion, “Unseen Forces” by Justin Walter, “#3” by Aphex Twin, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds, “New Space Music,” by Brian Eno, “Everybody’s Talkin'” by Harry Nilsson, “Able-Bodied Seamen,” by Jonny Greenwood, “Disintegration Loops” by William Basinki, “Mad World (slowed down 800 percent)” by Gary Jules, “An Ending (Ascent),” by Brian Eno, “Thursday Afternoon,” by Brian Eno, “#3” by James Devane

10. The Healthy Skeptic

“This is an irony you couldn’t get away with in fiction—socially impaired programmers creating social media environments for society to socialize within. And the irony doesn’t stop there. Grandin points out that the programmers require intense concentration to look at information for long periods of time. Meanwhile, the technology and media they create distract and fragment people’s attention. Even Grandin, whose condition is characterized by an inability to recognize irony, recognizes this irony.”

0:00 —Intro: You’re not a hoarder, not if you can put it in order…

01:00 —Notes on weaponized autism

12:15 —Alone at the Social Skills Group Therapy

19 minutes

“Witchs Will” by Wilburn Burchette and “No Riders” by Pye Corner Audio

5. The “Real” Question

“A machine has yet to officially pass such a test, and though it’s still a talking point in the dialogue about artificial intelligence, many argue that passing the Turing test doesn’t prove intelligence as much as an ability for mimicry. Which leads to the question: how much of what we call human intelligence is actually just mimicry? Isn’t repetition pretty much the basis of our whole educational system? Also, we often hear the human mind is often likened to a machine. On some level it is a pattern recognition machine, programmed by evolution to detect approaching danger and avoid being eaten. Not surprisingly, studies show that pattern recognition goes up when the mind is experiencing fear. If internet conspiracy culture is any indication, fear seems to be building in the populace. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Reptilian conspiracy, in which a malevolent race of shape-shifting lizard elite controls the world….”

0:00 —The Depersonalization Questionnaire

02:01 —Notes on the Turing Test

09:40 —The Derealization Questionnaire… or, more questions for human robots and robot humans . . .

11:30 minutes

“Poa Alpina” by Biosphere