brthrx

[brthrx]

Shifty: The Land of Make Believe Adam Curtis 2025

 

[brthrx]

Orien McNeill, Artist Who Made Mischief on the Water, Dies at 45

He was the pied piper of a loose community of DIY artists homesteading on New York City’s waterways, which he used as his canvas and stage. Orien McNeill in New York Harbor in 2020. An early pioneer of New York’s fetid waterways, he was among the first artists to homestead on the Gowanus Canal, which he did two decades ago in a 1953 Chris-Craft.Credit…Duke Riley   Read the article  

[brthrx]

Elon Musk Built an Al Super Computer in our Backyard

Elon Musk’s massive xAI data center is poisoning Memphis. It’s burning enough gas to power a small city, with no permits and no pollution controls. Residents tell us they can’t breathe and they’re getting sicker.

[brthrx]

The exegesis of Philip K. Dick - hacking the hero's journey: Richard Doyle at TEDxLowerEastSide

 

[brthrx]

Professors Are Using A.I., Too. Now What?

Colleges and universities have been trying to fight against students using tools like ChatGPT to do class assignments and communicate. But here’s a twist: Professors and educators are now turning to A.I. to prepare lessons, teach, and even grade students’ work. We talk with NYT tech reporter Kashmir Hill about these conflicts on campus. Also, she shares what she learned after giving over her life…

[brthrx]

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…

[brthrx]

The Death of an Innocent

sources: Into the Wild, by John Krakauer The Journal of Chris McCandless The Wild Truth, by Carine McCandless

[brthrx]

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…

[brthrx]

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,…

[brthrx]

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…

[brthrx]

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. NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak before a news conference at the Health and Human Services Department on April 22.Andrew…

[brthrx]

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…

[brthrx]

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…

[brthrx]

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…

[brthrx]

A Climate Warning From the Fertile Crescent

As the Middle East braces for another year of extreme heat, climate change is turning the soil to dust in the landscape that has long been known as the fertile crescent — and water has become a new source of conflict. Alissa J. Rubin, who covers the Middle East, tells the story of Iraq’s water crisis and what it means for the world. Guest: Alissa J. Rubin, a senior Middle East correspondent for…

[brthrx]

Downtown San Francisco retail is dying. What's replacing it is so much worse.

Features reporter Ariana Bindman visits SF’s depressing new locale in this column Sam Altman’s new human verification system, the Orb, was put to the test in downtown San Francisco on May 1, 2025.Ariana Bindman/SFGATE It’s a cool Thursday morning in downtown San Francisco, and I’m walking up Powell Street through a once-familiar-looking Union Square. As I stroll past the bones of retail giants,…

[brthrx]

Jamie on Libraries

Live Like the World is Dying ·S1 Jamie on Libraries