Human Computers is a media archaeology research that aims to unravel the intricate entanglement between computing and capitalism through the prism of labor. It is an attempt to analyze the historical bonds that tie together labor division with mechanized computing, and, by extent, with what is nowadays called “Artificial Intelligence”.

I am supposed to be writing the third and final chapter of my thesis, which is about nostalgia, so instead of starting it, I made this video 🙃

Here are some decent resources on the topic, as a lot of people seem interested:

Ghosts of my life: writings on hauntology and depression by Mark Fisher (there’s a chapter called the slow cancellation of the future, which is pretty good description of how culture becomes stuck)

Babbling corpse: retrowave and the commodification of ghosts by @graftontanner (Foreverism and The Hours have lost their clocks are two other great books he wrote)

Retrotopia by Zygmunt Bauman (there’s a chapter on nostalgia)

Svetlana Boym - Nostalgia and its Discontents (not a book an essay, but deals with the different types of nostalgia and how they can be politicised.)

sono
A soft monospace (or proportional!) variable font by ty

(rather cute!)

A lovingly crafted handwriting-style monospace font

Welcome to the 88x31 archive on hellnet.work! This site contains 31,119 unique* 88x31 buttons that I scraped from the GeoCities archives compiled by the incredible ARCHIVE TEAM before GeoCities' demise in late 2009.

“The myth of technological and political and social inevitability is a powerful tranquilizer of the conscience. Its service is to remove responsibility from the shoulders of everyone who truly believes it. But, in fact, there are actors!” – Joseph Weizenbaum (1976)

This thread blew the fuck up. So here’s a no-bullshit breakdown of all the projects and ideas y’all dropped, so it’s easier to digest than a 300-reply tech rave. But yo—don’t let the thread die. Keep sharing, building, prepping.

Some of my personal favs?
📦 Internet in a Box – Doesn’t fix comms but is clutch for info sharing when it all goes to hell.
📡 Cantenna – Because it's cheap, DIY, and let’s be real, it’s fucking funny.

🎛 INTERNET BLACKOUT SURVIVAL: DIY COMMS FOR WHEN SHIT GOES DARK
🔌 1. Mesh Networks
Local WiFi/radio nodes talk directly.

Tools: Meshtastic, People’s Open WiFi, Reticulum

Good for: cities, tight communities.

📡 2. Ham & Packet Radio
Long-distance, text/image data over radio.

Gear: Baofeng, Quansheng UV-K5

Apps: AndFLMsg, Rattlegram

Learn: IAF Radio Guide

🔐 3. Secure Scuttlebutt & Briar
Off-grid social media & messaging via USB/Bluetooth.

Sites: scuttlebutt.nz, briarproject.org

📦 4. Internet in a Box
Local, offline servers with Wikipedia, books, and more.

Site: internet-in-a-box.org

🧠 5. Reticulum Network Stack
Encrypted, multi-channel, async networking protocol.

Site: reticulum.network

🛰 6. Old-School Hacks
📻 AM/SW radios

📡 Long-range WiFi with cantennas

🗺 Paper maps, encyclopedias, zines

🐌 Sneakernet (USB drops, printouts)

🤝 7. Internet Resiliency Clubs
Community organizing for tech survival.

Start one: bowshock.nl/irc

I wrote this Q&A to help me prepare for a TV interview about AI and disability. I tried to include concrete examples and I steered clear of theory (not my usual approach!). The questions were what I imagined might come up, the answers are my attempt to challenge those assumptions. The answers are disjointed because they're a collection of talking points for a conversation. They boil down quite a lot of background research, and if I get the time I'll add links to the sources. I'm posting them here in case they're helpful for anyone else who wants to challenge the disability-washing of AI.

A terminal prompt roulette to make your panel moderation more exciting.

Cyan collection

Cyan is the developer of the Myst adventure game series. Based in the Spokane, WA area, the company has been continuously producing games since 1987. Cyan are active custodians of their own history: A significant amount of production materials from the making of their games has been retained at Cyan's headquarters in a storage room known internally as the "Cyan Vault," including hundreds of videotapes from the production and promotion of their games, particularly Riven: The Sequel to Myst from 1997.

In "A Large Inscription", a microphone stand is dragged over a field of gravel; an indispensable instrument of the modern demagogue is knocked over like an overrun statue. Rotating slowly, it leaves behind an evolving elegant trace with no beginning or end.

In contrast to this continuous gesture, "A Great Noise" punctuates the passage of time with a Sisyphean physicality: a microphone encased in a cement block is lifted and dropped, slamming against a larger base. Like mechanically-operated durational performance art, the visceral force evokes tension of the microphone’s inevitable fate, whether that means succumbing to a violent end or breaking free of its shackles.

les LLM (plus généralement les IAG) sont des produits stimulants addictogènes au service du fascisme. Stimulants, car ils provoquent une sensation de surproductivité, d'hyper-performance. D'autant plus addictogènes que leur facilité d'accès, leur simplicité d'usage et leur faible coût personnel facilitent leur recours à tout un chacun. Au service du fascisme car c'est lui qui cherche à trier, standardiser et exploiter les humains au mépris de la diversité de la vie.

I go looking at these kinds of objects when I am feeling unmoored because they help center me in a continuum of time, without making me feel voiceless or aggregate or disposable. Especially now, dealing with the conditions under which we see so much of our work gathered and trained on as data, which is then used to argue for the inessential nature of our field, or that our work could continue unpeopled.

But the hedgehog gestures at, instead… specific hands that made it, specific streets in which it was played with. The toy-making still recognizable as a practice all these millennia later. Legible through a changed world. Important because of its specificity.

Dans le champ de l’art ou du design, on veut « explorer les possibles de l’IA », considérant que la charge critique des productions sera suffisante pour équilibrer le discours. LOL. On se rue sur les mots-clés du moment en espérant recueillir quelques financements (les écoles d’art, on vous voit). On critique vertement, vertueusement, en même temps qu’on produit des discours fatalistes, on se désole, on râle un peu et on se résigne doucement. Le refus pur et simple est réputé impossible, inadéquat, inutile, naïf.

Faisant mine de ne pas voir ou de ne pas comprendre, perdu·es en plein FOMO**, on valide l’agenda, on souscrit au programme. On est d’accord.

Si l’on s’attaquait aux structures du technopouvoir avec ne serait-ce qu’une infime parcelle de la violence avec laquelle il s’attaque aux conditions de la vie, nous nous verrions incarcérés ou exécutés – selon le bord du monde où l’on se tient. Alors, nos critiques équilibrées, nos bien-pensances social-démocrates, nos contorsions vaguement accusatoires depuis le frais des centres d’art, leur en touche une. Non, même pas.

On ne joue pas avec des alumettes et un bidon d’essence fournis par des psychopates dans une forêt dessechée.

Si l’on considère l’urgence et le drame des enjeux – la montée des eaux et celle du fascisme, l’effondrement du vivant et du progrès social – on se doit d’y faire face. La compromission confortable, la lâcheté commode, la résignation face à l’air nauséabond du temps qu’on nous vend, ne peuvent rester des options acceptables. Il n’y a pas d’alternative.

Making Instagram such a central part of my practice was taking its toll on my head. I knew I was basing much of my self-esteem on positive reactions and keeping myself relevant to a growing audience that weren’t even the audience I was trying to speak to. I was mainlining dopamine through my phone and it was turning me into a twat. I couldn’t post freely anymore, couldn’t share mistakes or messy momemts or failed experiments, for fear of backlash and shattering the illusion I was trying to build. Everything had to be glossy and perfect and ready-to-ship. That’s what I’m grappling with, above.

(...)

The second iteration of Blobshop launched in October 2022 with minimal fanfare and little response. Years of slow posting and a severely reduced level of engagement with Instagram meant I was greeted with a punishingly low-priority place in the new algorithm-driven feeds. I could not - would not - put in the level of effort required to claw my way back to the top. I cringed at the thought of making a reel or using a trending audio. It felt humiliating and my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t need to make them to survive anymore, having succumbed to full-time work in web development, so there was no need to force myself to play the game. I wasn’t willing to manipulate algorithms for attention I no longer craved. I really only wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and make it feel like mine again, rather than an idea that had been co-opted or diffused into something else.

But know that this is effectively purity testing. “I’m not going to listen to your words until you’ve solved the problem you are talking about”. It is a way to refuse to engage with the story. It is lazy.

Now, I know places that have finally managed to rid themselves of proprietary platforms, but it did take them a few years. But I’m happy that in the meantime I already listened to what they had to say, and attended their events.

download web fonts (WOFF/TTF/WOFF2/OTF) present on the page.

Our Lady of the Sphere (1968) - Larry Jordan

Adding battery charger to ESP8266 and ESP32 (well done)

BotAlgorithme is a project that aims at making plant computational models accessible to an audience as large as possible. We are convinced that plant models are unique tools for teaching complex plant processes. Currently, our preferred process is the regulation of the root water intake.

Half-Life: Anti-Climax is my take on the "battle you have no chance of winning" the G-Man offers you once you decline his job offer at the end of the Half-Life campaign. Is there truely no chance to win or can you lead Gordon to victory and freedom?

Cool Text is a FREE graphics generator for web pages and anywhere else you need an impressive logo without a lot of design work. Simply choose what kind of image you would like. Then fill out a form and you'll have your own custom image created on the fly.