The above image was made with stable diffusion using the prompt 'Breakaway Culture.'
So far today I've been troubleshooting code instead of writing. The code in question processes csv files, and a new process of generating those files has introduced changes into the data that broke the code. Now when I load the files into Pandas, two-thirds of the dataset is missing critical values, even after correcting for encoding errors. So I spent four hours troubleshooting without finding a solution. I'll get there eventually.
In the back of my mind, I've been trying to put together my next newsletter article. Or essay. I'm still not sure what to call the documents. The last one covered a lot of territory. The next one may not be so ambitious.
It is crystal clear who I'm writing for, which makes things easier. When I consider my audience, I pretty much know them all by name. A lot of what I have to say might not be new information for this group. One of my challenges is to organize this information in more interesting and engaging ways.
The next piece will begin with the rise of fake nice and include some stuff from yesterday's financial system corruption post. After talking about the deteriorating quality of everything and the uncomfortable fact that crooks are in charge of our money supply, I may move the conversation into the realm of stories. The stories we tell ourselves and each other about ourselves and each other.
Too often, these stories focus only on the economic dimension of identity. Yet our places in the economy are largely determined by a corrupt regime, so maybe our stories should start reflecting that. Decades ago, Changing Images of Man called for replacing the "technological extrapolist" image of humankind with the "evolutionary transformationalist" image. While the ideas in Changing Images are worth exploring, I feel like they may be a little too wishy washy for our present circumstance.
An idea I keep coming back to is breakaway culture. At this point, there are crowds of people trying to flee the mainstream in all sorts of ways. Some seek a more ethical economics. At the same time, an alternative financial system is within our grasp. Making that a reality would require only one crypto exchange willing to serve US customers while ignoring the US government.
Regardless of economics, about half the population has already abandoned legacy media. They're ready for a new story. I should say we're ready for a new story. Maybe one that doesn't define us primarily by race or gender or sexuality.
Realistically, our nascent breakaway culture is already fragmenting again and again into micro-communities, each with their own story about being a person in society. Many of these stories are partisan nonsense, and some are just plain nonsense. Even so, I feel like there's an opportunity here to begin getting at a larger shared story about who we are and what we're doing.
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