#21 Spooky season
Intelligent robots, being ghosted and manifestation
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The spooky season, AKA October, is upon us, so we're taking a look at real and unreal horror stories this week. From AI to unreliable advice and goblins under children's beds. We keep it mystical by adding a bit of chance and manifestation. Enjoy!
what's earned, what's not
AI, beauty, threat, and the tech-capitalist losers we handed the reins to
To earn comes from Old English earnian "deserve, earn, merit, labor for, win, get a reward for labor," from Proto-Germanic aznon "do harvest work, serve, reap" When I feel unease at the milieu around me, I’m given pause by the one million app-mediated interactions meant to outsource units of menial labor to interchangeable low-wage laborers, the proliferation of a San Francisco aesthetic in new bars and cafes, the writer whose parents bought him a whole-ass house so he could finish his first book without worrying about rent, how so many creative people present exactly alike in their pursuit of style, how turnkey so much seems in contemporary life, how aggressively ugly, how microwaved.
A ghost(ing) story
Boo! Spooky szn arrived early this year. I recently got ghosted and it sucked.
We all know this by now. Ghosting is when someone suddenly withdraws contact from another person - usually without explanation, leaving the ghosted person surprised and confused, or perhaps even indifferent. It’s absolutely rife in the dating scene but it’s now more regularly talked about in terms of friendships. It’s not a new phenomenon - it just now has a name.
Why Millennials Are Drawn to Manifestation
$2,000 workshops and 'co-creating' with the universe? Inside the world of manifestation coaches–and why their messaging resonates
Dressed like fashion bloggers, these new leaders speak of “calling in” unseen powers to materialize new homes, jobs, or maybe just that perfect pair of jeans. On the To Be Magnetic website, one happy customer detailed manifesting a discounted white Le Creuset tea kettle. “Niche manifestation” has take off on TikTok, where influencers and followers get hyper-specific: requesting the universe help them find their lost vape, make their cat stop vomiting on the rug, and even help them recover from UTIs.
"Never Give Up" is Terrible Advice
Garbage from the gurus.
Giving up might be the best thing you’ll ever do.
Abandoning our unhelpful habits, behaviors, and beliefs leads to success. The dogged idea that it’s heinous to be “a quitter” isn’t helpful. Instead of suggesting that someone doesn’t give up, help them see the things that would be useful to stop.
Scary Stuff: An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you ef you don't watch out!
This 1917 record makes me lose sleep.
In 1885, a poem innocently titled “Little Orphant Annie” began giving nightmares to children everywhere. Written by James Whitcomb Riley (mostly known for publishing adult fare in newspapers) in a “19th century Hoosier dialect”, the story is pretty simple: Apparently, creatures watch you sleep and wait until you misbehave to steal you from your bed in the middle of the night and…I guess send you to a nice family farm upstate.
Make yourself weird again
Destiny, kismet, karma, and chance.
A coincidence is weird. Also, deja vu. Luck. Love at first sight. Having a crush. The way that a scent can spark a memory. Inspiration. Talent. Recurring dreams. The sense that you’ve known someone before. Creativity. Charisma. Time standing still. A certain song playing when you walk into the room. Thinking about a friend right before they call.
Before you go…
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