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Epic chilling lines
Inez Aponte (https://www.linkedin.com/in/inezaponte/) wrote this, not me.
The Machine Stops is a short story written by EM Forster in 1909.
It depicts a future society in which the Earth’s surface is no longer habitable, forcing people to live underground in separate pods. Real-life experiences have been replaced by mere imitations via the Machine, a complex technological system that can producing anything - air, food, water, music, literature - but each is only an artificial or simulated version of the real thing.
It seems strikingly prophetic, as we move towards an increasingly disembodied existence, where our lives are automated and tech-assisted at every turn.
"The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world."
Are we going to stop the machine before it stops us?
Some quotes below, but I recommend reading it in full.
It will chill you to the bone.
"Then she generated the light, and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance and studded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everywhere – buttons to call for food for music, for clothing. There was the hot-bath button, by pressure of which a basin of (imitation) marble rose out of the floor, filled to the brim with a warm deodorized liquid. There was the cold-bath button. There was the button that produced literature. And there were of course the buttons by which she communicated with her friends. The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world."
"And so with the mouldy artificial fruit, so with the bath water that began to stink, so with the defective rhymes that the poetry machine had taken to emit. All were bitterly complained of at first, and then acquiesced in and forgotten.:
"Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it."
"By these days it was a demerit to be muscular. Each infant was examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed. Humanitarians may protest, but it would have been no true kindness to let an athlete live; he would never have been happy in that state of life to which the Machine had called him; he would have yearned for trees to climb, rivers to bathe in, meadows and hills against which he might measure his body. Man must be adapted to his surroundings, must he not?"
The Machine Stops is a short story written by EM Forster in 1909.
It depicts a future society in which the Earth’s surface is no longer habitable, forcing people to live underground in separate pods. Real-life experiences have been replaced by mere imitations via the Machine, a complex technological system that can producing anything - air, food, water, music, literature - but each is only an artificial or simulated version of the real thing.
It seems strikingly prophetic, as we move towards an increasingly disembodied existence, where our lives are automated and tech-assisted at every turn.
"The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world."
Are we going to stop the machine before it stops us?
Some quotes below, but I recommend reading it in full.
It will chill you to the bone.
"Then she generated the light, and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance and studded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everywhere – buttons to call for food for music, for clothing. There was the hot-bath button, by pressure of which a basin of (imitation) marble rose out of the floor, filled to the brim with a warm deodorized liquid. There was the cold-bath button. There was the button that produced literature. And there were of course the buttons by which she communicated with her friends. The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world."
"And so with the mouldy artificial fruit, so with the bath water that began to stink, so with the defective rhymes that the poetry machine had taken to emit. All were bitterly complained of at first, and then acquiesced in and forgotten.:
"Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it."
"By these days it was a demerit to be muscular. Each infant was examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed. Humanitarians may protest, but it would have been no true kindness to let an athlete live; he would never have been happy in that state of life to which the Machine had called him; he would have yearned for trees to climb, rivers to bathe in, meadows and hills against which he might measure his body. Man must be adapted to his surroundings, must he not?"
More Emails to the World
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Gemini's retention data is out, and it looks better than even ChatGPT!
3 month retention is consistently >90% from <70% since April 2025, either driven by 2.5 Pro or the 1yr free trials for students.
With a 6mo retention of ~85%, it almost feels too good to be true!
Source: YipitData which bases its retention off emails for new signups and cancellations.
With a 6mo retention of ~85%, it almost feels too good to be true!
Source: YipitData which bases its retention off emails for new signups and cancellations.
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Think chess is just a board game?
Think again. Scientists say the number of possible chess games is greater than the number of atoms in the entire universe — and that’s not an exaggeration. Known as the Shannon Number, this mind-melting figure (around 10¹²⁰) means that every move you make could open a new universe of possibilities — literally!
That’s what makes chess so endlessly fascinating. Even after centuries of play, no two games have ever been the same. From ancient kings to modern AIs, everyone’s still trying to master this infinite puzzle. It’s not just a game of strategy — it’s a glimpse into the boundless complexity of human thought.
That’s what makes chess so endlessly fascinating. Even after centuries of play, no two games have ever been the same. From ancient kings to modern AIs, everyone’s still trying to master this infinite puzzle. It’s not just a game of strategy — it’s a glimpse into the boundless complexity of human thought.
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was the coolest graphics
but everyone knows you can't get by on looks alone. gotta be form AND function.
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Marina Abramović: "Rhythm 0."
In 1974, Marina Abramović staged a performance in Naples that still resonates today: "Rhythm 0."
At the Galleria Morra, she placed 72 objects on a table – flowers, honey, wine, bread, feathers, chains, scissors, knives, whips, and even a gun with a single bullet – and told the audience:
“For six hours, you can do whatever you want to me. I will not resist.”
At first, people approached gently: offering flowers, light touches, small gestures of care.
Slowly, things changed. They tore her clothes, cut her skin with rose thorns. Someone picked up the gun, and one person even tried to load it. Others attempted to intervene, creating tension in the room.
The performance lasted from 8 PM to 2 AM. When Abramović finally moved and reclaimed her body, the audience fled – unable to meet the gaze of a living person, no longer a passive object.
This was more than art. It was a stark demonstration: when responsibility disappears, the veneer of civilization cracks.
Inside each of us coexist two possibilities – care and destruction.
The true choice is not what we CAN do, but what we DECIDE to do.
And today, in the hidden corridors of social media, the same experiment plays out every day. Behind screens, consequences vanish, and masks slip. We can mock, attack, manipulate – or we can act with care. The question remains the same: the power is there, but what we choose defines us.
At the Galleria Morra, she placed 72 objects on a table – flowers, honey, wine, bread, feathers, chains, scissors, knives, whips, and even a gun with a single bullet – and told the audience:
“For six hours, you can do whatever you want to me. I will not resist.”
At first, people approached gently: offering flowers, light touches, small gestures of care.
Slowly, things changed. They tore her clothes, cut her skin with rose thorns. Someone picked up the gun, and one person even tried to load it. Others attempted to intervene, creating tension in the room.
The performance lasted from 8 PM to 2 AM. When Abramović finally moved and reclaimed her body, the audience fled – unable to meet the gaze of a living person, no longer a passive object.
This was more than art. It was a stark demonstration: when responsibility disappears, the veneer of civilization cracks.
Inside each of us coexist two possibilities – care and destruction.
The true choice is not what we CAN do, but what we DECIDE to do.
And today, in the hidden corridors of social media, the same experiment plays out every day. Behind screens, consequences vanish, and masks slip. We can mock, attack, manipulate – or we can act with care. The question remains the same: the power is there, but what we choose defines us.
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hello again
happy testing
express, not stress