Five Friday Finds
This Week: Reclaiming your attention from the mf's that stole it, a "renaissance of domestic manufacturing", and Pirate Enlightenment.
Hey all, in my efforts to experiment with new formats for TTSE, I present to you, Five Friday Finds, a new weekly feature where I share five things that I came across and engaged with this week, published every Friday morning.
This Week’s Five Friday Finds
Johann Hari on the Upstream podcast,
Hari talks with host Della Duncan about how your attention has been stolen(and not just by Big Tech).
I have mentioned Hari’s book on depression, Lost Connections, on TTSE before. For me, it’s been the only book on depression that’s been helpful–I recommend it if you also experience depression and are looking for more effective ways to heal and manage it. You can support this newsletter by purchasing the book via this affiliate link.
Here’s a quote from the episode:
”We live in such an individualistic culture, that presented with problems, we usually blame ourselves as individuals. And certainly even someone with a more ‘left’ analysis like mine, when my attention got worse, I’d blame myself. I’d say, ‘you’re not strong enough’, ‘you’re willpower is not strong enough’, ‘you’ve been weak’, ‘you’ve been undisciplined’.
But actually, what I learned, is that your attention didn’t collapse. Your attention has been stolen by very big and powerful forces, and I really think that we have to shift our psychology in this. We are the free citizens of democracies. We own our own minds, and we can take them back from the motherfuckers who’ve stolen them from us.”From the Doomer Optimism blog: “Mini-Manifestos Part One”
Back in November, Doomer Optimism invited members of their community to contribute "mini-manifestos”, where they clearly state the vision for the future they are working toward.
There are five Mini-Manifestos posts, and the manifestos contributed showcase an array of perspectives, representative of the DO community.
Here’s one tweet that resonated with me, which Tara Ann Thieke included in her manifesto.What about a renaissance of domestic manufacturing, of a mass rejection of the administrative culture for a return to trades? To make cities and small towns hum again, not with throwaway culture, but with the art of making lasting beauty?
Also, I will be appearing on the Doomer Optimism podcast soon with @awarenesss and @helioscomm, to talk about living community, “tools for conviviality”, and doing the damn dishes.
Stay tuned! Will post about it here.Default Friend’s post, “Confessions of a Gorean Slave”
Found this post fascinating and intense. Maybe NSFW? On her Substack, Katherine Dee(aka Default Friend) writes a weekly column commemorating Catherine Hermosillo’s(aka Humdog) writing on the internet.
Humdog is notable for writing about her lived experience as a willing participant in the Second Life BDSM community. Dee claims, ‘I believe it’s Gor that mainstreamed BDSM, not 50 Shades’.David Graeber has a new book, Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
I haven’t read the late David Graeber’s new book, but I’m excited to. In it, Graeber explores the question, “Did pirates advance the spread and adoption democracy in the world?”, using the Madagascar pirate colony of Libertalia as a lens. Libertalia thrived as sort of a “pirate utopia” in the 1700’s and captured the imagination of Europeans and Americans, inspiring writers like Daniel Defoe, who wrote Robinson Crusoe.
Here’s a review from the Guardian. You can buy the book here.Lastly, I thought this tweet was fun.
Other Things
I’ve been watching a lot of Joni Mitchell interviews. This one from 2019 is particularly good. The interviewer has a great familiarity with her work and asks her thoughtful questions, giving her space to speak expansively. I also dug this interview from 1988, where Joni is a little more edgy and confrontational.
Ted Gioia’s piece on Miles Davis, and what it takes for a single person to change culture. He uses the word “culture” to mean “corporate culture” in this instance, as Gioia does consulting work with corporate clients. Still, an enjoyable read. Nobody writes like Gioia does about music, and his familiarity with business only enriches the contexts he’s able to communicate in his writing.
Music AI a Decade Before ChatGPT: Microsoft Songsmith. After playing with ChatGPT this week to write a song with my buddy, Will, I’m reminded of Microsoft’s Songsmith software, which used AI to provide chords and accompaniment to any melody you threw at it. There’s a playlist on Youtube called “Songsmith Hellscapes”, where people have taken acapellas of popular songs and fed them into Songsmith. Also, this commercial for the product is a fascinating document of the early 2000’s.
Here’s Nirvana’s “In Bloom”, twisted and dement-ified by Songsmith:
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