Another possible discussion inoculant:
I just did my first read (listen through of Audiobook) of Neal
Stephenson's latest: Polostan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polosta
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polostan>n
as the first in another Epic series it promises to match his System of
the World <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle>historical
fiction series... in this case explicating a different era of science,
technology and culture.
Juxtaposed with a more proper *alternate* history via the Difference
Engine <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Difference_Engine>, it is in
it's own way much more fascinating for it's clever framing as a fully
plausible (yet dramatized) description of real-world events of an
acutely pivotal time in our (semi-recent) history (1930s). I look
forward to the continuation of the "Bomb Light" series it apparently
kicks off.
On 2/3/26 6:54 pm, Steve Smith wrote:
JZ -
I'm glad you asked, though I doubt I can do much to relight the flame
myself...
I've been noticing this as well. I happen to (also) be in the midst
of doing lots of Springtime refresh (cleaning chimney, blacking stove,
restarting Kombucha jar, re-starting a yogurt-batch method, pruning
fruit trees, pre-preparing garden beds, etc. This is not (just)
virtue signalling for all my DIY projects, it is also to reflect the
tone of engaging in lots of things as "re-inoculating/culturing of
living batches"... and FriAM (+ the constellation) does feel like a
living batch that has weakened and drifted (as did my Kombucha and
Yogurt cultures).
I will admit to preferring (not exclusively) the company of LLMs over
various social engagements, and especially those with more technical
spine than not. FriAM has been from time to time such for me. I
still appreciate the meso-tech discussions that arise here from time
to time... the roots of the weeds are a bit much, but I suppose that
is all relative?
I assume some of our more active posters/innoculators here (yourself
included) DO have greener forums for many/some purposes. I do not. I
do *read* a lot to feed some of the same thirst. I also dream vividly.
I'm definitely distracted by "current events" and/but avoid thrashing
those dead horses here very often.
I've never been an active in-person member of FriAM proper (though I
made an effort 20 years ago to attend every month or three) nor of the
vFriAM version... really not my mode. I am sad if/that there is
not still a core in-person group, I have been assuming (e.g. my recent
introduction of a new potential participant). I've moslty been more
available for WedTech or SimTable-adjacent activities or as you know
Salon's at Jenny's when she is in town.
I don't find myself particularly adept at seeding interesting
conversations here. I think Glen has been the most effective at
this. I'm assuming he is suffering/enjoying his own weighted vector
in your 1-N basis space of possible reasons for suppressed/depressed
activity.
I've been feeling a general sense of decoherence across many aspects
of my life which I will blame on A) MAGA 2.0; B) AI tech-topic
acceleration; C) my own aging brain and body (69 next week).
I've pinged a couple of (semi)regulars here offList "recently" and got
no response, so maybe that is another data point?
On 2/3/26 5:45 pm, Jon Zingale wrote:
I know I came to this group in what appears to be its twilight. The
in-person meetups are weirdly sad. I feel pressed to ask if it is the
case that everyone is either:
1. on vacation/ too busy
2. too depressed / failing to find inspiration
3. moved on to greener forums
4. preferring the company of LLMs
...
N. waiting for someone frail to post
Sometimes I trawl reddit or whatever discord, but I cannot help but
feel like beacons of inspiration are becoming fewer and further
between. This group has managed to inspire me, keep my interest, for
over a decade. In that time, I pushed myself to understand
perspectives that I would never have dreamed existed. I hope there is
still something to talk about.
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