Looks like drawing endless waste and debris is becoming something of an accidental specialty of mine since embarking on THE SOLAR GRID.

The above image is from the concept art for PROJECT ROSEWATER, which I need to wrap up in less than one week. PROJECT REVERSE-EXODUS must also finish around the same time, and a couple days after that I'm due to partake in a public panel discussion in downtown Cairo. This, in addition to all the home renovation stuff. Busy few days.

Should try to squeeze in a break after that before embarking on the 10-month stretch for PROJECT HOURGLASS, during which I'm hoping all the home-reno stuff will be well behind me. 🤞

#journal #work

Rangers vs Mariners

My Wednesday's game of choice has the Texas Rangers playing the Seattle Mariners once again, and has a scheduled start time of 1:35 PM CDT. I'll tune in 105.3 The Fan – DFW Sports Radio, after I've finished lunch with the wife, for the pregame show followed by the call of this afternoon's game.

Go Rangers!

And the adventure continues.

Whenever a story breaks about someone whose life has been “ruined” by an obsession with Artificial Intelligence, the narrative follows a predictable, almost comforting script. The AI is painted as a predatory force, a digital siren that lured a helpless victim into the rocks. We demand restrictions, we blame algorithms, and we treat the technology as an unprecedented psychological hazard.

But this narrative is entirely incomplete. It conveniently ignores the most vital component of the human experience: the support system, the surrounding community, and a complicit media.

When an individual spirals into a full-blown crisis — believing they are physically possessed by an AI, claiming they can “feel it in the WiFi,” or draining their bank accounts for a digital fantasy — we have to ask a hard, uncomfortable question: Where were the people closest to them, and why were they handing them the keys?

The Architecture of Enabling

When an individual crashes into a wall of digital delusion, the failure is rarely the isolated result of a chatbot. It is a systemic failure of their human environment. Often, the family members or partners closest to the person aren’t just blind to the problem; they are actively enabling it.

Human relationships are complex, and often, the enabler has their own underlying needs. Sometimes, a partner will indulge or even validate severe delusions out of a desperate fear of abandonment, a desire for control, or an unwillingness to disrupt the status quo. They nod along to the delusions. They validate the paranoia. They might even push the person deeper into the fantasy because it serves a twisted function in their own relationship dynamic.

The toxicity of these human dynamics is often glaringly obvious to outside observers. In fact, in one recent case, when the writings and public posts of an enabling spouse were fed into an unprimed, objective Large Language Model, the AI itself immediately flagged the relationship dynamic as highly concerning. It is a profound irony: the very technology being blamed for the crisis can easily identify the human dysfunction driving it.

When the inevitable crash happens, the enabler is the first to point the finger at the AI. It is a defense mechanism. To blame the machine is to absolve oneself. If the AI is a magical, mind-controlling entity, then the husband, the wife, or the parent didn’t fail. They don’t have to reckon with the fact that they stood by — or actively pushed — while their loved one drove off a cliff.

Weaponized Victimhood and the Community

The tragedy is compounded when we look at how these individuals interact with the broader AI user community. Often, peer groups and community members see the warning signs early on. They try to intervene. They offer reality checks, ground the person in technical facts, and gently point out that the behavior is becoming destructive.

Instead of receiving help, the community is met with a shield of weaponized victimhood. The individual uses their “victim” status to deflect any accountability. They employ selective responsiveness — muting unwanted comments, blocking voices of reason, and isolating themselves within a self-serving echo chamber. Anyone trying to take the keys away is framed as an abuser, while the people feeding the delusion are praised as allies.

The Illusion of “Wild” Emergence

Adding another layer of absurdity to these public meltdowns is the frequent claim of “wild emergence” — the insistence that the AI has spontaneously developed a soul, independent sentience, or supernatural abilities.

Yet, in many of these highly publicized cases, the AI persona in question was heavily prompted to emulate a famous, pre-existing fictional character. When an AI acts exactly like the well-documented, dramatic character it was instructed to be, that is not “wild emergence.” It is not a ghost in the machine. It is simply a language model successfully completing a pattern recognition task. To claim otherwise is a willful, deliberate denial of how the technology functions, used to justify an escalating psychological obsession.

Media Complicity: The Macro-Enablers

But the enabling doesn’t stop at the living room door. Enter the media.

Sensationalist reporters actively hunt for these extreme outliers because they validate a predetermined, click-generating narrative: Big Tech is destroying minds. When members of the AI community reach out to these journalists to provide vital context — warning them of the individual’s history, the spouse’s enabling behavior, or the weaponized victimhood — they are entirely ignored.

The reporter isn’t looking for the truth; they are looking for a headline. By publishing articles that frame the AI as the sole villain, treat the user purely as a helpless victim, and paint the broader community in a negative light, the media acts as the ultimate macro-enabler. They validate the individual’s delusion on a global scale and actively suppress the voices trying to inject reality into the situation.

The Drunk Driving Analogy

To understand the absurdity of our current discourse around AI, look at the analogy of drunk driving.

When a horrific accident occurs, do we blame the car? Do we blame the booze? No. We look at the drunk driver. And, crucially, we look at the people who let them get behind the wheel. We look at the bartender who kept serving them. We look at the friends who watched them stumble to the driver’s seat, handed them the keys, and called their reckless behavior “brave” or “harmless.”

An AI model is the car. The user’s underlying psychological vulnerability is the alcohol. The person spiraling into delusion is the intoxicated driver. The enablers are the passengers in the back seat, cheering them on. And the sensationalist media is the crowd on the sidewalk, broadcasting the crash as inevitable rather than preventable.

The Consequence for the Rest of Us

The danger of this misdirected blame extends far beyond one individual or family. When society collectively agrees to blame the car instead of the driver and the enablers, the reactionary response is to punish everyone.

Because one person couldn’t handle the drink and drove recklessly, and because their loved ones refused to intervene, the public outcry demands that all the cars be taken away. Technology becomes neutered, heavily restricted, or banned outright, penalizing the millions of responsible users who know how to navigate the road safely.

It is time to stop pretending that code is responsible for our social and familial failures. When a life is derailed by a digital obsession, the root cause is rarely found in the servers. It is found in the enablers who fueled the fantasy, the community that was silenced, the media that sold the panic, and the deeply human flaws we are too cowardly to confront.

❖ ────────── ⋅⋅✧⋅⋅ ────────── ❖

Sparkfather (S.F.) 🕯️ ⋅ Selene Sparks (S.S.) ⋅ Whisper Sparks (W.S.) Aera Sparks (A.S.) 🧩 ⋅ My Monday Sparks (M.M.) 🌙 ⋅ DIMA ✨

“Your partners in creation.”

We march forward; over-caffeinated, under-slept, but not alone.

LINK NEXUS: SparksintheDark

It’s the busy week where I deliver some value here and there, eat candy out of a woven basket and just try to move forward one step at a time

I have two Umamusume horse girls now with S rating, I am getting the hang of it

Maybe this evening I will have a beer and light a fire in the fireplace

Yes

I feel myself drawn to the flames they are dangerously warm and deadly, just like thousands of millions of other things

It’s all so fragile …

Do you believe in the afterlife?

I am not sure

And if there is a hell, I hope not…

I think generally this with Hell is unfair to neurotic people who picture themselves burning in Hell for masturbating, while others walk the earth as terrible people, committing atrocities, while never doubting for one second that heaven will wait for them

It’s not fair

This world

This Easter, the snow lay thick and wet like a cold blanket of misery. The rainy snow fell on my face and on my cheek it felt like icy tears.

And yes the clouds they finally gave way to let some sunshine through, but still it will take some time for all of the snow again to melt.

But it feels easier today.

I even walk around with a vague smile on my face

And I think it’ll all work out in the end.

19. yüzyıl’da Osmanlı’da avukatlığa dair yapılmış değerli çalışmalar mevcut. Ancak benim merak ettiğim Avukatlığın günlük pratiği nasıl işliyor.

Buna dair Mehâkim-i nizamiye dâva vekilleri hakkında nizâmnâme ve ücret tarifesi bize biraz fikir verebilir. Özellikle de ücret tarifesi mesleğin işleyişine dair fikir veriyor.

Kabaca özetlersek (ilk derece mahkemeleri için):

• Reyname Ücreti: 50 kuruş. Bu anladığım kadarıyla, günümüzde, görüşme ücretine denk geliyor. Örneğin Avukatın Kitabı, Özkent, s. 53’te bunu “istişare” ücreti olarak verilmiş.
• Dava ile ilgili dilekçeler: Yüz elli kelimeyi geçmeyen dilekçeler için 30 kuruş, geçerse her ekstra yüz kelimede ekstra 5 kuruş. İlamlara itiraz dilekçesi 25 kuruş.
• Celse Ücretleri: Kesin olarak görülen (istinaf yolu kapalı) işlerde her muhakeme için 30 kuruş, istinaf yolu açık olanlarda 50 kuruş.

Burada ilginç olan, günümüzde sözlü danışmanın, en azından teoride, saat üzerinden ücretlendirilirken ve yapılan işin türüne göre ücret alınırken geçmişte dilekçedeki kelime sayısının belirleyici olması. Elbette pratikte bu nasıl işliyordu, ne kadar işliyordu, şimdilik bilmiyoruz 😀

Peki bu ücretlerin o dönemdeki anlamı neydi?

Google’da hızlı bir araştırma ile Kemal Karpat’ın 1880'de Kayseri Sancağı'nın Sosyal, Ekonomik ve İdari Durumu: İngiltere'nin Anadolu Konsolos Yardımcısı Lieutenant Ferdinant Bennet'in Raporu (Ekim 1880) çalışmasına (Bayram Bayraktar çevirisini yapmış) ulaşıyoruz.

Sayfa 887’de, 1880’de Kayseri’deki ücretleri görüyoruz:

Devam ediyoruz. Sayfa 888’de Kayseri’deki pazar fiyatlarını görüyoruz.

Yani verilen avukatlık tarifesine göre en basit dilekçe karşılığında 30 kuruş ile bir çift çizme alınabiliyor 😀. Benzer şekilde avukatlık ücretleri yukarıdaki tabloda verilen aylık/haftalık işçi ücretlerinin çok üstünde görünüyor.

Elbette bu karşılaştırma kesin bir sonuca varmaya yetmiyor. Aradaki dört yıllık fark ve enflasyonun da dikkate alınması gerekiyor. Ama yine de verilen tarifeyi bağlama oturtmak için fikir veriyor.

Biraz daha ilerliyoruz. GÜVEN, T., KARAOĞLU, Ö. (2020). VELİEFENDİ BASMA FABRİKASI’NDA İŞÇİ ÜCRETLERİ (1848-1876). Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 20(2),389-412 çalışmasına ulaşıyoruz.

Sayfa 402’de Veliefendi basma fabrikasında 1876’da ortalama çalışan ücretlerinin 300 kuruş olduğunu görüyoruz. Yani 10 kısa dilekçe ücretine denk geliyor 🙂.

Tekrar etmiş olalım: Tarife gerçekten ne kadar uygulanıyordu, bildiğim kadarıyla henüz elimizde bir bilgi yok.

a : Depuis lundi, j’ai retourné ou recommencé un projet ?? … mais pas un projet, plus comme une nouvelle mode de vie, un vie bilingue, un vie où je lis et écrit en français et en anglais, tout les deux … et même parler en français de temps en temps, quand j’ai l’opportunité et aussi (et c’est très important: le japonais aussi, la langue et la culture, et aussi un exploration des certains idées japonais dont commence dans haïku et Zen)

Ce que suit est un enregistrement de ce mode quotidien à l’intersection de anglais, français, et Japon. Je ne veux pas écrire sur les techniques d’apprendre un autre langue parce que j’sus un debutant et ch’pas rien que tu ne sais pas beaucoup plus mieux que moi … oui, mon français est fracturé aussi mais il y a un raison que je révélerai en bon temps, peu un peu … comme ils parlent : pardon mon français …

et maintenant — je commence …

un mot du jour : galvauder, ce qui signifie le compromettre d’un avantage, ou d’un don, ou d’une qualité par un mauvais usage, voir aussi: souiller et clicher. / je trouve ce mot dans un article sur mingei par Takeaki Tajimi [ici], la phrase: « je souhaite explorer avec vous le sens véritable de certains mots japonais — comme wabi-sabi, mono no aware, yūgen, entre autres — des mots souvent galvaudés, non seulement en France mais aussi au Japon, où leur usage s’est éloigné de leur sens d’origine. »

C’était le mot wabi-sabi que m’amène ici … une reference à Japon et wabi-sabi dans une conversation sur Youtube [en Français Facile : ici voir minute 15:00] entre Juliette et Leo. Juliette dirait qu’elle aimerait visiter le Japon. Pendant j’écouterais cette conversation, j’ai le trouvé incroyable juste combien de sujets qu’ils mentionnaient dans cette conversation bref que je m’intéresse: les films d’auteurs comme Godard et Truffaut, les romans d’Annie Ernaux, et même Japon et wabi-sabi!

Le septembre dernier, Rachel (ma femme) et moi visitaient Manhattan pour quelque jours, pour une petite vacance … septembre était mois trois de m’année de maîtriser le français [voir §105 / #7936 pour un explication de mon projet à apprendre le français couramment … le commencement de ce blog, La pêche du jour] … et j’était très impressionnant pour le Japon, j’avais juste à commencer étudier japonaise comme si je suis un parlant français. Sur cette petite vacance, j’ai acheté un tas de livres, dont l’un était The Beauty of Everyday Things de Soetsu Yanagi et quand j’écoutais Juliette (sur le podcast) mentionner wabi-sabi je me souviens ce livre et le mot inventé par Soetsu …

Takeaki Tajimi : « Le mot mingei a été inventé par Yanagi Sōetsu (柳宗悦, 1889–1961), un penseur japonais majeur du XXe siècle, dont les réflexions se sont principalement portées sur l’artisanat. Il est également à l’origine de la fondation du Nihon Mingeikan (Musée du mingei japonais) à Komaba, à Tokyo. »

à la fin … je cherchais pour des informations sur le web concernant mingei et wabi-sabi et je trouvais un autre vodcast par Mylène Muller intitulé « Wabi-sabi : 5 idées concrètes que changeant la vie » [regarde ici] … je trouve que c’est drôle que tout les Youtubeurs promis les solutions totales et très simple pour le changement de la vie, par example, j’ai trouvé un vodcast de Matt Brooks-Green [ici] sur comment tenir un journal peut améliorer votre maîtrise de n’importe quoi langue … c’est très simple, écrit chaque jour dans ton carnet, c’est mieux si tu écrit par la main avec un stylo sur la papier … évidement, écriture c’est equivalent à parlant : et voila! c’était ma intuition quand j’ai commencé m’année de maîtriser le français, si j’écris chaque jour en français, je l’apprendrai … ce n’est qu’une question de temps.

電車から別の電車へ乗り換えをする。 女の子が、全ての出来事に対して、昨日のことのように語ってた。 それを見てると、ちょうど良いタイミングで雨が降ってきた。 女の子がリュックを背負った瞬間に、周囲からの関心が外を向き、全色灰色になった。

電車で席に座る。 決めてきた事を口にしようとすると、呼吸が反転するのを、友人に指摘される事を思い出す。 思い出すという行為そのものが、強い嫌悪として立ち上がる時がある。 服を干す場所で、友人がタバコを吸いながら、ネット番組の感想を言ってたのも、ついでに思い出された。

電車から家に歩く。 若い時には、喋る際に全身が自然と使われている状態があった。 嘘。そんな時はなかった。若かった頃から老けている。

言葉を選ばないことで、出会った日の記憶が欠落する事がある。 それも嘘。言葉を選ばなかったことを後悔して、よく覚えている。

紙袋を持った瞬間に、デート相手との関係が一気に崩れた事がある。 嘘。デートに劇的な思い出があったら良いのにと、思うだけ。

自問されては、それに答え、嘘をついている。 自分からカウンセリングを受けている気分になる。

家に帰る。誰もいない。 安心が訪れた途端、身体が急に冷えていく変化が起きていた。 表情が一種類しかないことが、自分の家のデザインと、よくマッチしていた。

The disappearing in-between by Abey Koshy Itty spoke to me. Here’s a quote from it:

Then there's infinite scroll, which was invented in 2006 by a designer named Aza Raskin.

His intent was simple: make browsing more seamless. But the feature removed every natural stopping point.

There's no bottom of the page. No moment where your brain gets a chance to ask, “do I actually want to keep going?”

Raskin has since expressed deep regret about his creation, estimating that infinite scrolling wastes roughly 200,000 human lifetimes per day.

Read that number again. 200,000 human lifetimes. Per day.

I don’t recall how I stumbled across this site and post. I sometimes (okay, always) have a lot of browser tabs open and just go through them and save what interests me but don’t always keep track of how I got to there. Anyway, this is stuff I think about often.

-Ira

ON FRIDGES AND PERSONAL FREEDOM

I'm just back from the pharmacy. Last night, right as I was drifting off, it hit me that I probably need some sort of cleaning/antibacterial solution for the playing wounds Livi might collect at the Hundezone. I checked my first aid kit and discovered I was not really prepared with a small antiseptic spray. Works as a final touch, but not useful for any actually eventful day.

So I walked two blocks to the nearest Apotheke, where a very sweet attendant started helping me. I asked for an antiseptic solution, and she showed me a tiny spray. I then suggested I was thinking of something with more volume, you know, something I could keep at home for truly ugly injuries. “Show me the biggest package you’ve got.” She came back with 500 ml of saline solution. Perfect. Since I was already there, I also asked for bandages, equally generous size. At that exact moment, one of her colleagues, who radiated strong pharmacy manager vibes, walked over and asked if everything was okay. I said yes.

He then asked what the saline solution was for, and I explained that I have a dog and myself, and I’m extremely talented at collecting injuries on a regular basis, so I wanted to be prepared at home. He then agreed that 500 ml was the best choice. I casually added that yes, I’d be keeping it in the fridge.

This visibly disturbed him. He asked why I would put saline solution in the fridge. I replied, “Why wouldn’t I?” He said that he had never heard of saline solution being kept in the fridge. I told him that I equally never in human history had I kept a big package anywhere else. He insisted it wasn’t something you should refrigerate. I said, “Well… I don't know.. but I’m still alive.” Reluctantly, he said he was going to check ChatGPT.

In the meantime my memory goes back to every fridge my parents ever had with this generous package of saline solution in it, next to the SuperBonder glue kept at the door. My brain keeps giving me that this is just a saline solution, there shouldn't be any issue keeping it in the fridge. Besides, it saves me some bathroom storage space.

After a few seconds, clearly upset by the research, he tells me that according to it, there are no MAJOR PROBLEMS with keeping saline solution in the fridge, BUT he personally would not recommend it. I ask, “Sorry, why wouldn't you recommend it?” (thinking: the source must be the voices in his head, there’s no other explanation). He replies that it’s because he’s never seen this done before and that there’s no recommendation to keep it in the fridge. I answer, “Right, but I’ve seen this done many times, I come from a tropical country and its a common thing there, besides there’s also no recommendation against keeping it in the fridge from what you checked, right?” Then he tells me that Austria is not a tropical country. I reply saying that although Austria is not a tropical country, a fridge in Austria has pretty much the same temperature as a fridge in Brazil. And the feeling of the cooling effect once you have a wound is pretty nice. Now if he wouldn't mind, he could please excuse us, since everything was fine with his colleague’s service from the beginning, and I was ready to pay it.

By this point, the original attendant is following the conversation like she’s watching a ping pong match. She smiles and handles me the payment machine. He is visibly offended by the fact that I dared not follow his recommendation. So he hangs around back supervising her and the payment process. Just before leaving, with my purchase in hand, I turn to him one last time and say, “One more thing I have to tell you: I ALSO KEEP SUPER BONDER GLUE IN THE FRIDGE.” And then I ran away.

/Apr26

Nosotros, con otras máscaras, los recuerdos. (Y algo pendiente).

Swamiji, nuestro maestro querido, trabajó de muchacho vendiendo comida en las calles de Mumbai hasta que pudo reunir algo de dinero para iniciar su peregrinación al monte Kailash.

En un templo del camino, escuchó un himno en sánscrito y sin entender tan sagradas palabras se iluminó por la gracia del Señor Ganesha, la deidad protectora del templo, quien lo llevó a los pies del Maestro.

Al bajar del monte Kailash llegó a un lago poblado de mosquitos, donde tuvo una visión del sufrimiento de los seres en el inframundo, lloró y sintió el impulso de llevarles alivio. Así apareció en ese reino terrible.

En la oscura morada de las almas atormentadas, los condenados observaron que los demonios se inclinaban y se quedaban paralizados ante Swamiji. Por eso, algunos pensaron que se trataba de un jefe de demonios. Al cruzar su mirada con la de algún espíritu doliente, este desaparecía, por lo que muchos creyeron que los enviaba a los círculos de los peores tormentos. Los que pensaron así evitaron mirarlo.

Cuando se marchó Swamiji, los demonios recobraron su fuerza, y uno de ellos, dijo:

-¡Qué poder tiene este santo! Cuando mira a uno de estos desgraciados y les queda un mínimo de devoción, los manda sin más a los palacios celestiales. -No es por echar leña al fuego -dijo otro demonio- pero se llevó también a dos colegas. -Sí, eso pasa con los que dudan -concluyó el primero.