It makes no sense whatsoever that anyone from Automattic would give a shit about me. Why would the people who run my publishing software care about what I’m writing on this obscure Website? So, let’s go through the theories.
1.) I’m Going To Be Deplatformed Soon This theory is that all my drunk ranting has caught the attention of someone at Automattic (or maybe Mueller, She Wrote) and they’re going to deplatform me because of it. All my drunk ranting got me deplatformed from Facebook, so I guess it’s possible it could happen here, too. 2) I’m Going To Be Featured Somehow With this theory it’s the opposite — all my ranting is interesting and, as such, I’m going to be praised somehow by Automattic for using their platform to be thought provoking.
3) I’m Looking At Things Wrong The last theory is it isn’t anyone from Automattic at all, but rather someone is simply accessing my content in such a way that it registers with my Webstat software as the Automattic domain name being the point of access. This is the most interesting of the theories. Who could it be? I don’t know. NSA? CIA? Someone from Hollywood interested in my ramblings about my novel now that I’m getting closer to wrapping up the first draft of the first novel?
I have a very, very, VERY active imagination. As such, I often spin tales using very little information that often, or should I say, almost always, turn out to be total bullshit.
But I will note something interesting.
Last night, I talked to someone on the phone about the novels I’m working on. What’s of note about this is we went back and forth between me talking to her about the novels and my lingering existential dread about the United States having a civil war or slipping peacefully into autocracy at some point between now at 2025.
I looked at my Webstats this morning and…someone from D.C. seemed to have searched for something to do with my novel? I don’t know what they were searching for, but they landed on a specific link on this site where I talked at length about my vision for the novels I’m working on.
At first, I didn’t think much about it. But, gradually, over the course of the day, I began to imagine a scenario where, I don’t know, the fucking NSA or something, noticed my use of certain watchlist keywords and they started to listen directly to the conversation.
Then…they found what I was saying about the novels interesting enough that they — or someone they talked to — later decided to check me out on their home PC.
Like I said, I have a very active imagination. But it is an interesting little fairy tale.
Now, before I continue, let me be clear that I don’t think Tik-Tok can read my mind. But it IS entertaining to think about various aspects of a scenario whereby it is. Also, let me also be clear — the vast majority of how Tik-Tok has me (and everyone else) figured out is using the FYP really is algorithms. They really do have the ability to figure me out using nothing more than algorithms. What I’m going to talk about is those few times when Tik-Tok has pushed me something that is so specific to me that I struggle to understand how it’s possible that nothing more than scanning all my Internet use, etc. would explain things.
Ok. Here’s what I’ve managed to glean from my study of Tik-Tok which is totally not reading my mind.
Tik-Tok gets itself in trouble when it seems to latch on to something that has flashed through my mind for a moment or two with intensity. So, I futz with my headphones, thinking really intensely about my headphones and their different features.
Then, next thing you know, I get pushed a video on Tik-Tok about, you guessed — headphones.
I suppose you could say that in that specific situation Tik-Tok is so deep even into my computer usage that they somehow figured that out. I’ll give you that one.
But, then again, how do you explain the “But I’m A Cheerleader” incident I mentioned a bit ago. That is something was exclusive to my mind. That’s just eerie. And, as I keep saying, I’m totally willing to accept that all of what I’m noticing can be explained via algorithms.
I guess, I’d just like someone with the technological know-how to explain things that are very specific to my mind that Tik-Tok has decided to push me videos about.
Even though I KNOW that Tik-Tok isn’t reading my mind — that’s just crazy talk, right — I continue to be at a loss as to how it figures out the phenotypes of girls I like or even more weird, their personalities.
Then I start to think about if Tik-Tok has even the slightest practical ability to read my mind and use that information to push me information, who else has it and what are they doing with it?
I’ve already had once instance where I fucking swear Tik-Tok pulled a fast on me by nudging me into what it felt was the best “second track” creative option for me — photography. That starts to make you think maybe we’re not just talking about digital telepathy but some combination of digital telepathy hooked up to AI.
That’s enough to make you stop cold in your tracks.
You know if Tik-Tok has such ability then Big Tech in America damn well has similar technology that’s probably far more advanced. Then there’s the NSA and CIA that probably has something far more advanced than even that. I’ve often idly wondered if maybe “Havana Syndrome” is some sort of extreme form of digital telepathy whereby the attack is about “downloading” as much of someone’s mind as possible.
That’s extremely fantastical and bonkers, but, again, I’m just running a scenario.
Anyway. All of this has got to be bullshit. There’s no way the technology exists to read our minds exists. We would know if it existed. Right? Right?
It’s taken about two years, but I finally come up with method of development that works for me — I have an outline that I obsessively update as my July 4th weekend deadline approaches.
The main thing is balance character, plot and, like, uhhh, an investigation? If I can have those three things in equal measure, I’m going to be ok. I have no idea what I’m doing with the police procedural aspect of the story, but I can learn. I can, read, after all.
I talked to an FBI PR guy recently and he helped a huge amount. I’m probably going to give him a shoutout in the Author’s Note. He didn’t like it much when I asked about The Company, though. But that’s a crucial (in a sense) aspect of the story I’m developing. I like flipping the script and it seems it would be fun if, in a James Bond kind of way, The Company and its affiliate spooky eyes were “the Good Guys,” given how much fucking Trump rants about them.
Anyway.
I can feel myself itching to get back to writing. But I have some slack still in my development timeline, so I can hopefully with a rather clear head go through the outline and get myself where I need to be before my deadline.
I really liked Crooked Media’s podcast “Wind of Change.” But I must confess, I didn’t listen to the last episode because I was so engaged by the mystery that I didn’t want to be let down by finding out a downer truth. (If it was a downer.)
But listening to that podcast has, however influenced the novel I’m developing in the sense that it confirmed my general belief that spooky stuff is a far more human endeavor than you might think. The surreal scenario I’ve come up with for why spooks might be interested in my Heroine isn’t all that surreal, afterall.
Or, put another way, I’m within shouting distance of there being little, if any suspension of disbelief about what happened and why. I first came up with the spooky angle to this concept out of laziness — I had a problem I couldn’t solve without some high tech gadgets.
The rest took care of itself because it helped with the over-arching motive of my heroine.
But I don’t know. I have no idea what I’m doing.
I’m just trying my best, working in a vacuum and seeing how things work out.
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