Ruminations

Behind the screen

Author: Kyle

  • The Experiment

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    Attention Management At the Digital Wellbeing Conference, no one noticed the irony. “The most sophisticated engineering teams in the world are locked in a daily battle for your attention, and you are almost certainly losing.” — Epoch Times, July 2026 I. What They Call Engagement You meant to check your phone for two minutes. Forty-five…

  • Same Oligarchs, Different Accent

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    The Russian Mirror “We are being de-modernized.”— Russian lawyer, 1990s, as quoted by Catherine Austin Fitts Series Context This article is part of the “In a Stranger Land” series. It should be read alongside: I. The Horrifying Epiphany Open with CAF’s London conference account verbatim — the same small group, the same accounting firms, the…

  • Super-Governmental Organizations

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    Pseudopods of the Blob If only the lie were so easily ended. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” — James Madison, Federalist No. 47, 1788 I.…

  • The Financialization Coup

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    The banquet of consequences is not fully served yet. “The process by which financial markets, financial institutions, and financial elites gain greater influence over economic policy and economic outcomes is not a side effect of capitalism. It is the replacement of capitalism.” — Gerald Epstein, Financialization and the World Economy, 2005 I. The Bait and…

  • The Apotheosis of the Dollar

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    A Derivative in Search of an Underlying Asset God has seen this particular mistake before. “Now we see why governments are inherently inflationary: because inflation is a powerful and subtle means for government acquisition of the public’s resources, a painless and all the more dangerous form of taxation.”— Murray Rothbard, What Has Government Done to…

  • The Revolution Will Not Be Verified

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    From Pravda to Goldstein — Truth as a Managed Product If only it were as easy as putting on some sunglasses. “I predict straw horses will be beaten.” — Kyle Davenport, ZeroHedge comment, Mar 27, 2025, re: an ATF entrapment sting later exposed as a possible honeypot I. Reading Pravda Soviet citizens developed a sophisticated…

  • The Apotheosis of Subjectivity

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    Why the Map Assumed a Mapmaker “We’ve got one that can see!” “A finger pointing at the Moon is not the Moon, nor is the Moon broadcasting your pointing finger.” – paraphrasing! I. The Infinite Regress Dressed as Explanation In 2003, philosopher Nick Bostrom published a paper arguing that we are almost certainly living in…

  • Touché

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    Claude and I share a good joke. There is a story behind that word. In 1983, writing about consciousness and biological delusion, I placed a pointing finger graphic in the HTML to make a sentence stand out. The sentence read: “ Everywhere is the cynical lesson, untaught.” The image had an alt tag. The alt…

  • The Digital Control Grid

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    Palantir Part 2: What the Infrastructure Is Actually For Stamping on the human face — forever “And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.” —…

  • Confusion Is Intended

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    Epistemic Chaos Enables Reprogramming I just don’t know what to think “The regular momentum of dissolution has been replaced by another factor imposed upon it, a pressure arbitrary and forced.” — Philip K. Dick, Ubik (1969) “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” — CIA Director William…