iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 12h

I know enough context to understand what's going on, but I thought you were just mocking Scott for making a crass religious joke as it wasn't clear what the tweet was in response to

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

There's nothing Trump loves more than sycophants who pretend to be smart and effective, so of course he thinks Grok is a genius.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I’ve known many other defense secretaries, starting with Cap Weinberger, who served as defense secretary under Reagan. I can say without fear of contradiction that Pete Hegseth is the stupidest and least qualified of them all. He is a danger to the entire world. He must be impeached.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Wordpress is still a totally fine option, but I've never liked working with it as a programmer so I'm going to try to do things "the new way" and see how that goes

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I was also looking into Ghost and have decided against it, their focus is really on multi-user newsletters to replace Substack and not more general web publishing stuff. I would take a look at one of the CMS platforms you can hook into Astro like EmDash: docs.astro.build/en/guides/cms/

docs.astro.build

Use a CMS with Astro

How to use a CMS to add content to Astro

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Both of these games are really well made and perfect for October! I haven't finished Galley House yet but it seems to be heading in some very interesting directions

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yeah I'm working through this now. It's hard to get comfortable with the fact that the world is full of broken shit that can't really be fixed, but that's actually totally fine because there's also a ton of stuff that CAN be fixed. Learning more about history has helped me with that

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Control: Resonant is pretty great so far. The combat is good but the best part is definitely the city exploration where you stumble on cursed object sidequests or just a random PC playing a sweet FM synth track. I'm really curious what else is in this game.

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Jim Shepard @madjackmcmad.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

So happy with how this came out. Been in my head for about a decade. Five minutes, free, in-browser, requires audio you can hear. It's a bit of what you expect, and so much of what you absolutely do not. skiesoffight.com Don't spoil it, just play! #indiedev #gamedev #retrogaming

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

If a company actively trains a human or animal to do harmful things and fails to keep them safely contained, that company is clearly at fault. But apparently if it's an AI agent the authorities just shrug their shoulders.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Is Google suddenly so desperate for money that they need to force my phone to support two brands I hate? What is going on over there.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Today in pointless and arbitrary attempts to rename things...

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This is a ton of organizational changes, moving Halo to Activision and Obsidian to Bethesda has made their intentions clear for the future. Good luck to everyone impacted by the changes: www.theverge.com/news/998586/...

theverge.com

Activision is taking over Halo as part of a massive Xbox shake-up

The Xbox reset continues with major studio changes, layoffs, and more.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

After researching current web site development options, I have decided to use Astro for the main site because it's easy to setup with plugins and uses normal html and javascript. I was able to get a site published (on Cloudflare Workers) in an about an hour using docs.astro.build/en/tutorial/...

docs.astro.build

Build your first Astro Blog

Learn the basics of Astro with a project-based tutorial. All the background knowledge you need to get started!

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 18/09/2026

So about that batshit insane AI millenarian Silicon Valley sex cult running much of big tech….from Sonia Joseph: siliconvalleynotes.substack.com/p/agi-cnc-an...

Sonia Joseph y @soniajoseph_
To the journalists contacting me about the AGI consensual non-consensual (cnc) sex parties—
During my twenties in Silicon Valley, I ran among elite tech/Al circles through the community house scene. I have seen some troubling things around social circles of early OpenAl employees, their friends, and adjacent entrepreneurs, which I have not previously spoken about publicly.
It is not my place to speak as to why Jan Leike and the superalignment team resigned. I have no idea why and cannot make any claims.
However, I do believe my cultural observations of the SF Al scene are more broadly relevant to the Al industry.
I don't think events like the consensual non-consensual (cnc) sex parties and heavy LSD use of some elite Al researchers have been good for women. They create a climate that can be very bad for female Al researchers, with broader implications relevant to X-risk and AGI safety. I believe they are somewhat emblematic of broader problems: a coercive climate that normalizes recklessness and crossing boundaries, which we are seeing playing out more broadly in the industry today. Move fast and break things, applied to people.
There is nothing wrong imo with sex parties and heavy LSD use in theory, but combined with the shadow of 100B+ interest groups, leads to some of the most coercive and fucked up social dynamics that I have ever seen. The climate was like a fratty LSD version of 2008 Wall Street bankers, which bodes ill for Al safety.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

How are you storing it? I've tried to use Obsidian for this which mostly works but then I get lazy and put it in dozens of random google docs instead

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yeah the Rationalists have killed that word entirely for me even though I do agree with many of the core ideas that started that community

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Like everyone else this week, I wrote a thing about the prophesized AI apocalypse (and how it relates to religious history and social psychology): medium.com/@jzig/ai-is-...

medium.com

AI Is Not the End of the World

Over the last week, lots of powerful people (like Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon) have suddenly started talking about how AI will take…

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

What are people using these days to build self hosted substack-like websites for publishing text heavy articles? I did some experimentation with React a few years ago but I think I want to modify an existing system instead of building one from scratch

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Good question! I haven't built a website in about 2 decades so I need to get more familiar with current workflows. I'm probably going to build a prototype before looking for graphic design help

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

When will the VGHF implement skill-based matchmaking?

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Yeah it seems like all tech/creative industries are running into similar problems as gamedev right now. And most tech startups have fallen all the way down the vibecoding hole. I know that a lot of other good people are not able to leave right now, but I have the opportunity to try it.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm not totally sure what I want the site to be yet (and probably need to find an artist to collaborate with) so I'm going to post my hopefully-interesting thoughts here. I can at least promise they will be 100% human-origin words unlike most tech commentary these days.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

My first project will be a website where I can post articles about tech, culture, psychology, and politics. I definitely have some Strong Opinions about how things are going right now in the US and I need to try to change things. We cannot let Trump and the tech oligarchs get what they want.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Today is my last day at Epic. I decided to leave (again) so I can focus on larger issues in the world, and to help with some family stuff. I am not looking for fulltime employment right now and am taking a break from active game dev.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Some people care about it because of the work ethic implication, but I think the bigger deal is that a solo (or small team) dev game is a lot easier to market via personality. And personality-driven marketing is king right now. Fans seem to really want figureheads they can identify with

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I remember seeing some research showing that this gets worse when the boundaries are vague and confusing. This is part of why initiation rituals can be useful for group unity, since it's clear who is actually in the group

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

New: An "expert witness" in a $61 million lawsuit over an industrial explosion that killed three people and destroyed 200 homes used ChatGPT to write his report for the court. He prompted ChatGPT to "show how 3M is 0% at fault for the explosion at Watson Grinding" www.404media.co/show-how-3m-...

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Hmm you can either read this email subject as "GDC was great this year and you should have been there!" or as "GDC used to be great but is no longer relevant" #gamedev

Email subject saying "Benjamin, the games industry gathered here" sent by GDC Festival of Gaming

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Someone reminded me about the PIE 3D Game Creation System so I had to look up this classic ad. This is what you had access to as a hobbyist in the 90s #gamedev

A magazine ad for pie in the sky software with a lot of text including "Make 3D action games with NO programming! Sell them for $$$ No Royalties or Fees!"

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/08/2026

Suresh reports on his experience talking with hundreds of executives (and, more importantly, their subordinates) about what (if anything) AI is doing for business in an essay entitled "AI Mania Is Eviscerating Global Decisionmaking": hermit-tech.com/blog/ai-mani... 11/

hermit-tech.com

AI Mania Is Eviscerating Global Decisionmaking

The reality of how much damage AI mania is doing to our ability to run institutions effectively.

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Dominic Tarason @dominictarason.com · 11/07/2026

Yep, basically my feelings at this point. I am 110% for game preservation, even if it skirts the law. The broad strokes of what SKG are pushing for is great on paper. But the moment they try to push for any real policy it's an incoherent, unworkable mess that'd kneecap indie and small/mid studios.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Time for that Darkspore remake everyone has been clamoring for!

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Eric Neustadter (e) @thevowel.com · 06/07/2026

Budgets are intentionally unrealistic on the low side to get projects approved in the first place. Sales targets are intentionally unrealistic on the high side to get projects approved in the first place. This guarantees an unhealthy ecosystem. It's bogus numbers all the way down.

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Joan Zahra Dark 🔥 جون زهر درك @joandark.com · 29/06/2026

If you're on psychatric meds, there's a pretty good chance you're also dealing with some extra heat intolerance, don't overexert yourself when there's a heat wave! You might not think you need water, but you probably do!

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

This is apparently a huge problem for professional wrestlers specifically, which I know is relevant here because of the t-shirt. I think other celebrities tend to be meaner

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Hah okay then you're aware of most of them probably. Idle Wizard on steam was fun but a bit basic, and I'm sure you know about NGU idle. I was going to recommend Crafting Idle Clicker for mechanics but apparently it's now full of ai slop based on recent reviews

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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Live updates: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exu1...

ALLIANCE BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN ANNOUNCED

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

There is no way to make a complicated game event/update diagram and not look insane

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Those of us in the pro-democracy movement can and should hold both of these positions. 1. We unequivocally reject violence. 2. We will unequivocally oppose efforts by this administration to use last night as an excuse to try to suppress criticism and criminalize dissent.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Yeah, I know that feeling. I have to remind myself that I am almost never too impulsive (unless I have had too much alcohol) so I can't use the same standards

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I'm currently struggling with this, but it's related to my anxiety and spectrumy brain as I tend to overthink everything including my own thoughts. Based on everything I've read many people can decide to experience raw enjoyment, but my brain fights against that as being "fake"

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Chris Person @papapishu.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Not everything that breaks is technically the fault of vibe coding but the kind of culture that would foster vibe coding is the kind that produces a lot of shit that breaks.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Yes, that is exactly the audience I am going for here. Software engineers (like myself) who see the actual potential of AI but also see the ways in which it fails. Basically every software engineer I've talked to about this is afraid that AI will replace juniors and kill the talent pipeline

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Is anyone writing good commentary saying "AI is actually good for some things but much less than is hyped and should not replace human jobs and creativity"? I find myself 90% agreeing with the "never use AI" folk but I don't think the hardline stance is convincing or technically accurate.

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Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

While playing Clair Obscur it really felt like the devs used the Unreal Engine to the fullest, and it was nice to see this discussion of how they depended on a lot of the tools I worked on personally. Glad they went into some detail!

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