Tag: Computer Facilitated Telepathy

Ok, Tik-Tok, I Get It, You’re Still Reading My Mind (Or Something): Alexa Chung Edition



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now, let me begin by saying because of a very strange set of circumstances a few years ago it’s at least possible that an FBI agent in Washington D.C. monitors this blog to see if I mention fashion It Girl Alexa Chung. This stems from a dumb misunderstanding.

Anyway, let me be clear: the conditions that caused me to briefly have a celebrity crush on Alexa Chung are now long gone. I still have an obsessive personality, but now I’m obsessed with the novel I’m working on.

The reason why I say all of this is today I was minding my own business, using Tik-Tok when I was served a video that was all these photos of Alexa Chung. I have long worried that maybe Tik-Tok is, I dunno, reading my mind, and the fact that I have not in any way do anything anywhere to indicate to Tik-Tok that I would be interested in Alexa Chung for any reason is very odd. I also got served Mighty Boosh videos today, as well, which is equally odd.

Now, I am well aware that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and so given how bonkers the idea that Tik-Tok is, in any way, reading my mind is, I’m leery of giving the idea too much credence. And, yet, I’m stumped how Tik-Tok’s “algorithms” could narrow down my personal interest in both Alexa Chung and the Mighty Boosh if I’ve done absolutely nothing of late online that would give them reason to believe that.

But I guess somehow they figured it out without reading my mind. But I am left with a lingering unease. Tik-Tok knows way too much about me and it’s a mystery how it happened.

PS: Dear FBI Agent — leave me alone!

The Implications Of A ‘Secret’ Soft Singularity, or ‘Where’s My $1,200 Mindcap?’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I struggle to figure out what’s going on right now with technology. On one hand, it definitely seems as though Big Tech is pulling a fast one on us with some some pretty fantastical technologies like “Digital Telepathy,” while at the same time…Silicon Valley seems obsessed with the modern equivalent of the old rural party lines.

I want my Mindcap.

So, it’s possible to imagine a rather Dark Mirror-like future where The Singularity arrives…and no one tells us. The power of the Singularity is used deep within the bowels of Big Tech (or an autocratic government) to leech money off of us or to two control us. The general population never knows that hard AI is here and is being used to control us.

Sure, the occasional cool thing may pop out like a “Her” like personal assistant, but the various Singularity-like technologies we’ve been promised will come no later than 2045 won’t be marketed as such. They just will arrive far earlier and be used in some unexpected ways to screw us all over.

The more I think about it, the more chilling it becomes.

Instead of a $1,200 Mindcap, we may simply get the Pompeo Administration using digital telepathy to monitor what’s going on in our minds and if we commit Thought Crime, then, sucks to be you. It’s just wild to imagine something as huge as The Singularity being hidden from us.

It’s like Columbus discovering the New World, then keeping it from everyone in an effort to control the path to Asia. Wow. Just wow.

But I’m a just a nobody. Absolutely no one listens to me.

How I Quit Worrying & Came To Love Big Tech’s ‘Digital Telepathy’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Whenever I think of how I’ve come to believe Big Tech is reading our minds (in some way) I think of that dude who figured out the Bernie Madoff scheme really never got any credit. In interviews he comes off as an acerbic, somewhat deranged guy. Just the type of guy that MSM wouldn’t give credit for breaking a huge story.

I feel for that guy.

I have no New York Times-level proof that Big Tech can read our minds, but there’s one specific thing that Big Tech (specifically Tik-Tok) is doing that is so specific that it definitely seems as though there’s some mind reading going on: they know shit about my body.

Now, as I keep saying, I hate conspiracy theories, so, yes, it’s very possible that through AI or algorithms they’ve somehow magically narrowed down specific issues with my body that I’ve told no one about. And if that’s the case I have two responses — then THAT needs to be regulated. And two, if that’s the case, they’ve managed to come up with an AI that has figured out very specific health issues for my specifically that make one think we’ve reached a Soft Singularity somewhere in the shadows.

But Big Tech (Tik-Tok) keeps pushing me very specific content for very specific health issues — down to virtually the same wording in my own Goddamn mind! — that something has got to be up. What’s going on right now, of course, is, I think, a Soft Singularity has happened and our poor old rummaged through minds can’t process that we’ve reach a point in technological development where Big Tech can actually READ OUR FUCKING MINDS.

We just can’t grok it. It just isn’t something we can process, so we dismiss it. And if only freaky weirdos like me are claiming this, then it’s very easy to dismiss it. There’s no proof. All I have is a direct link between my personal, internal monologue and the content I’m being pushed by Big Tech. I can’t PROVE THAT, now can I?

It’s Tik-Tok that seems to abuse their ability the most. They don’t just push me content for, say, “bathmat” without any obvious context, they push me content with some abstract analyzation to it. Now THAT is fucking spooky.

But let me be clear — I bounce back and forth between believing I’ve figured this out and saying this is just another one of my kooky ideas I’ve had since I’ve left South Korea.

The only reason why I keep bringing it up is…Big Tech keeps trying to pull a Soft Singularity fast one on me and it’s beginning to bug the shit out of me.

Think Big: Silicon Valley & The Soft Singularity of ‘Digital Telepathy’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A long time ago, when dinosaurs still walked the earth, I was in college and obsessed with this thing called the Internet. This was before the World Wide Web. This was back when having an email address was, in itself, something of a future shock.

Flash forward to the present day and, meh, we’ve been in a technological holding pattern for about a decade now. Sure, a lot of apps have been designed, but the basic thing that powers it all hasn’t changed in over a decade: the smartphone.

Now, here’s where things get tricky.

I think Big Tech has figured out a way to read our minds. And, what’s more, they’re getting kind of brazen about it because, I mean, who’s going to believe that our phones are reading our minds? And, let me be clear, I absolutely hate conspiracy theories. I think they’re the last refuge of the intellectually dishonest. So, I’m very reluctant to think what I’m saying I think: that Big Tech can read or minds and they’re using that ability on the DL to sell us ads.

And, really, this would not be that big a deal real terms — at least not now — but for one thing: Tik-Tok. It’s at least possible that the Chinese government, through Tik-Tok is rummaging around in the minds of American’s youth via Tik-Tok. I say this because of all the services I suspect can read our minds, Tik-Tok is the absolute most brazen.

They really push it. I think about something once without telling anyone else and lo and behold, I get a pushed a video or ad about that subject the next time I log on to the service. This is not to say there aren’t plenty of other ways they’re figuring me out. They’re probably listening to me via my phone. They’re probably monitoring every way I use my phone and using algorithms to figure me out. I get all that. THAT makes sense.

It’s when I get pushed something on Tik-Tok that seems to not only reference something from within my internal monologue, but takes it to the next level of referencing, say, the appetence of a lost love that is floating around in my mind all the time. How does an algorithm figure THAT out?

And, if you want to got that route, if “algorithms” have gotten that advanced, then that, in itself, is a serious issue. That’s not an algorithm, that’s AI and that needs to be discussed and, if necessary, regulated.

Or, put another way, I’m beginning to think we’ve already reached a “Soft Singularity.” A combination of oligarchy, greed and fear of the public’s reaction is causing Big Tech to keep this fact away from the average person. But it seems that if they keep fucking leaning into their ability to Black Mirror shit that there will, at some point, come a moment of reckoning.

But I’m a nobody. No one listens to me.

Silicon Valley’s Next Frontier: The Mind


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

First, I’m a nobody and no one listens to me. But I’m old enough to notice something — the last time Silicon Valley changed the average person’s life on a practical level was the smart phone.

Since then, Silicon Valley’s been resting on is loreals by designing apps.

Now, Elon Musk is apparently trying to take things to the next level by doing a some sort of neural link. But, fuck, man, I’m not drilling into my skull. It seems like there’s a pretty obvious way to avoid giving someone a lobotomy during the development process of such an invention. If you want to know what I’m alluding to, read Arthur C. Clarke’s 3001: Final Odyssey. There’s a pretty obvious way to allow us to do the obvious — skip the goggle phase of MX (VR / AR) and get plugged directly into our minds wetware.

If you could use your own mind’s processing ability, then you don’t have much need for googles that no one will wear. It’s the most intuitive — and logical — next step in media: use your own mind as your media player.

I still think Big Tech can read our minds (to some extent) via our phones. And, to that extent, I think we’ve reached something akin to a “soft Singularity.” The Singularity is here, but it’s so subtle in nature that not everyone realizes it’s happened.

Those who do know, are making a shit ton of money off of it.

The Implications Of Big Tech Concealing A ‘Soft Singularity’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me qualify what I’m proposing — I’m simply looking at what appears to be happening (Big Tech can read our minds via our phones) and then playing out the implications of such a theory.

I could be totally wrong. It’s very possible. But some of Tik-Tok’s apparent abuses of digital telepathy have made it seem so obvious to me that some sort of Soft Singularity has happened without anyone telling us that I have to talk about it.

Let’s review the evidence as to why I think a Soft Singularity has happened. First, Facebook some time ago patented mind-reading technology. Second, repeatedly over the last year or so, I’ve noticed being pushed ads that are so specific to what I’ve been THINKING about that no possible algorithmic explanation makes any sense.

What’s more, especially with Tik-Tok, there is an abstract nature to some of the things I’ve been pushed that is alarming. If you work on the assumption that my mind is being read by my phone, it’s not like they know the word “GIRL” is at the forefront of my mind, it’s as if they actually are rooting around my mind to the extent that they can push videos of “GIRL WHO LOOKS LIKE ANNIE SHAPIRO.”

The prospect of that going on with millions of Tik-Tok users, not just me, is extremely dark and surreal. It starts to make you think about the moral implications of Big Tech (especially a Big Tech company so close to the Chinese government) knowing that much about a big chunk of the American population.

Not, at this point, let me be absolutely clear — if I’m missing some way that they can simply figure out that I like girls who look like a specific woman that I think about a lot via algorithmic assumptions, then, so be it. I will feel a lot better. But, even then, the algorithms would be so good at their job, that that, in itself, would be cause for alarm.

So, I guess what I’m suggesting is it’s at least possible that technology has advanced a lot further than we think.

‘Strange Days’ of Digital Telepathy


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The smartphone was the last technology that changed lives for the average person in a big way. I propose that if what I believe to be true, is true, that Big Tech can read our minds in some way, then a “soft Singularity” may already be here.

There is technology described in Arthur C. Clarke’s “3001: The Final Odyssey” and the movie “Strange Days” which could probably be implemented in a primitive fashion far, far, sooner than you realize — digital telepathy. Imagine instead of having a cellphone or MX goggles, you could interact directly with your mind.

I’m not going to tell you exactly what I’m suggesting for my own reasons, but in general, there’s one way you could do all of this without accidently giving yourself a lobotomy during the development process. You’re smart, you can figure it out. It would be a lot less intrusive than a Neural Link, that’s for sure. Jesus.

But the point is, all this talk of MX (VR / AR) misses the point. What if the “AR” was a different type of augmented reality. You could record memories recorded via your own eyes — no goggles involved — then zap those same memories to other people wirelessly? But if you hooked MX up to digital telepathy, it sure does make a lot more sense on the adoption front as well. You could watch movies natively within your own mind’s wetwear. Listen to music in your mind, the list goes on.

If you believe — like I do — that Big Tech can read your mind RIGHT NOW, then it makes a lot of sense that the solution to the MX social adaption problem will be solved in a rather unexpected fashion.

I’m not suggesting this will happen anytime soon, but I am suggesting we’re asking some wrong questions about What’s Next. It could be that by 2030 that a big chunk of our economy — and the way we live on a practical basis — will be controlled via digital telepathy.

Read ‘3001: The Final Odyssey’ For Inspiration For A $1 Trillion Industry


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If I was Elon Musk, I would flip through Arthur C. Clarke’s “3001: The Final Odyssey” for some inspiration.

As I recall, the book has a very specific plot point that could change the world rather rapidly, given existing technology.

I’m Telling You, Folks, Big Tech Can Read Our Minds


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A number of things have happened recently that lead me to believe Big Tech can read our minds via our electronic devices — specifically our cellphones. The most conspicuous abuser of this technology is Tik-Tok.

Now, let me be very specific — I’m talking about instances where my For You Page on Tik-Tok presents me information fits a very specific metric: information that no one but me knows. So, we can dismiss any instances where I’ve spoken to someone about something, or texted, or messaged, or posted about some bit of personal information. I’m talking about a very specific type of information.

So, I’ve written before about Tik-Tok presenting me with information about women who have a very specific phenotype. So specific, in fact, as to be down to that of an individual woman. It’s beyond spooky. The most recent instance of this happening is with something gross — ear gunk.

I’ve been having an excess of ear wax recently and, until now, absolutely no one knew this about me. But, lo and behold, Tik-Tok was serving me ads about how to reduce ear wax. I’m well aware that such niche ads are everywhere these days and correlation is not causation.

But it is, if nothing else….spooky.

One day, when MAGA becomes technology-hating Patriot Party– it’s possible it’s mind-reading technology that they will really get worked up about.

It’s The Abstract Aspect Of Big Tech’s Use Of Digital Telepathy That Tipped Me Off


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

You know why I know Big Tech is using Digital Telepathy on us without our knowledge or consent — they know abstract things about me.

That’s the tip off.

A lot of the spooky things I see on my For You Page on Tik-Tok can easily be explained by them somehow having access to everything on my phone. Ok, I get it. They could maybe be listening to me via my phone. Or reading any text I input into my phone.

But that doesn’t explain the more abstract things I’m seeing on my For You Page. Or the videos about things I’ve briefly thought about without telling anyone about it.

It reminds me of how my YouTube account suddenly started showing me videos about lockboxes, WW2 and The End Of The World. I was at a loss as to how this was possible until I remembered that my phone was in my car between my dad and myself.

It definitely seems as though whatever Digital Telepathy Google has was picking up what was on my DAD’s MIND, not mine. (My dad is elderly.) I will give you a way to test my theory — let someone else use your phone to use your Tik-Tok account for, say 20 minutes.

Then take your phone back and see what your For You Page’s recommendations are.