iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Got my flu shot a few weeks ago through my employer. Just signed up for a COVID shot this afternoon. Anyone have the shingles vaccine? My doctor recommended it, but I am also told it can hit pretty hard.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 8h

One thing I think Buddhism gets profoundly right is the concept of anatman, or no-self. It is the idea that there is no persistent self (or soul). What we think of as the self is a mental construct. Interestingly relevant to the LLM consciousness debate.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 20h

New modular track! This one leans much more into the ambient. #modular #synth #vcv www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_7-...

youtube.com

Aardvark - an ambient modular perambulation

YouTube video by Modular Degenerate

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've been fascinated by philosophy of mind for decades. I've read lots of books. Also have done lots of meditation. I have some pretty strong views, but it never was an issue because up until about a year ago, it was a niche area that few people thought or cared about.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I maintain an open mind on whether Claude or other LLMs have some form of consciousness. I agree it is a very odd kind of consciousness, given the way the models are a series of static weights thrown against a set of siloed conversations. Yet I still maintain an open mind.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The shadow of a screen on a spider web in the morning sun.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I hit the Hegseth trifecta. I am a beardo, a weirdo, and a wimp. Proud of it too.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Hegseth is a stupid person's idea of a stupid person.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I really like the way this one turned out. The top melody does a kind of cool bell chiming thing every once in a while. I kept it short (5 beats) with longer lower melody. Modulated the pitch a bit to make it more interesting. Please consider liking or subscribing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCCs...

youtube.com

Nightingale - an ambient modular celebration

YouTube video by James Conant

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Took the plunge and started ordering eurorack modular synth components. Over 1K in the hole after an afternoon, but it will get worse.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Another modular synth patch. I got the visuals of this one aligned and turned off the mouse pointer, so it looks a bit better. Claude helped me write the java script that powers the visuals, but the music itself is entirely AI free. www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2yf...

youtube.com

Koch Hex - a modular synth exploration

YouTube video by James Conant

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Remember when Musk said Trump was in the Epstein files?

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Pet peeve: pet pee. Particularly outside the litter box. I'm looking at you Mr. Sugar!

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Tommaso Sciortino @sciortino.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Goalpost moving AI skeptics be like.

Meme of guy talking to a computer:

Guy: "You're not intelligent because you can't XYZ"

Computer: "[Does XYZ]"

Guy: "Actually, that doesn't require intelligence."

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I really like the way this one turned out musically. The visuals are unfortunately off center. I will have to be on the look out for that next upload. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAc7...

youtube.com

Bernoulli - A modular synth composition

YouTube video by James Conant

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

New composition just dropped. I added some mathematical animation to this one from a p5 sketch I made last year. I've been uploading my compositions to youtube and then listening to them in the car as I drive to work. youtu.be/BYizHgmdrgo

youtu.be

Laplace - A modular composition

YouTube video by James Conant

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I created several modular patches over the weekend. I am uploading slowly to YouTube. On my commute to work this morning I listened to the patch I uploaded yesterday. Pretty cool. This one is a lot simpler and more repetitive than the one I uploaded yesterday. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCXO...

youtube.com

Mister Sugar - A generative modular experience

YouTube video by James Conant

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

My new obsession if generative modular synth music. I plan to upload compositions of mine to my youtube channel. Musically, I am a complete newb, but I am just trying to have fun and make stuff that sounds interesting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv9W...

youtube.com

Archaeopteryx - Generative Modular

YouTube video by James Conant

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Just finished reading 1Q84 for the second time. Fascinating book.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

So many of the world's problems would not exist if Musk had watched Sesame Street as a kid.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Suddenly everyone's an expert on the philosophy of mind. I just read a post that admonishing people for anthropomorphizing LLMs because they have no persistent self. The thing is, humans also have no persistent self, although that fact is very difficult to recognize.

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Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

If you're one of these Democrats and you don't turn these attack ads into tying Musk and all his atrocities and billionaire out of state money to your Republican opponent, I don't know what the hell you're doing

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

If you are interested in taking a break from AI math doom and gloom, some of my GIA colleagues and I just published some mathematical analysis of what makes a diamond visually appealing. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

Virtual facet patterns and diamond design

Diamonds used in jewellery represent the quintessential fusion of aesthetic appeal and technical expertise. Not only does it require extreme skill to cut a diamond, analyzing and predicting a diamo...

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Trump's bizarre fixation on trade deficits continues unabated. I have a trade deficit with my barber. It's not a problem.

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Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

NEW ESSAY on last week's deluge of Dems embracing anti-trans positions. let's stop fixating on trans ppl & instead recognize that Dems have a cisgender problem. pls share! Medium (friend link): juliaserano.medium.com/on-democrats... & Substack (no paywall): juliaserano.substack.com/p/on-democra...

juliaserano.medium.com

On Democrats Who Cave in Response to Anti-Trans Attack Ads

and more importantly: a response to all the cis people responding to the way that trans people are responding to said Democrats’ responses

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Just waiting for the Justice Dept to open a mortgage fraud against Warsh.

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Congressman Greg Landsman @repgreglandsman.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Haitians living legally in Ohio have built families, careers, and churches here. Ending their protections and treating them like criminals serves neither justice nor humanity.

cincinnati.com

Don't send Ohio's Haitian neighbors 'back to hell' | Opinion

Opinion: Haitians found safety in Ohio. America shouldn't send them back.

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Reposted by Jim C

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 14/09/2026

Cis people do not understand how much trans people's rights have regressed in just 5 years. 5 years ago, there were none of these restrictions. 19 states banned legal recognition 21 states have bathroom bans 8 states ban gender marker changes on DLs 25 ban gender affirming care for trans youth

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Trump's childish AI tweet filled me with a profound sense of sadness at the state of our country.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The threat of AI causing an extreme catastrophe is not that it might turn sentient and pull a SkyNet. It is much more banal than that. I keep thinking of the guy who had his hard drive erased by accident. An innocent unconscious error by a powerful system could have serious consequences.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

“And we were tired of being called racists for noticing that our country was becoming dirtier and poorer and less safe and less prosperous,” Vance said. Could the word choice "dirtier" be any more of a dog whistle? "Dirty immigrants" is a slur as old as time.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Donated blood this afternoon. Last year I got turned down for an elevated heart rate after I'd been walking in the heat. My cardiovascular health is much improved since then, so I feel validated.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Three and a half hours to solve.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I had a High School English teacher who also expressed surprise that people liked the song Imagine. For her as well, the only explanation was that people weren't paying attention to the lyrics. For me religion is a net negative.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I once failed a polygraph, I am assuming because I drank a cup of coffee right before I took it, and I felt like shit afterwards, like my self-worth had taken a big hit. I can only imagine the humiliation from being forced to wear an ankle monitor.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This makes me so mad and despondent for our country. The Trump admin has been targeting the Ohio Haitian community ever since Vance slandered them with the dog-eating bullshit. Meanwhile Vance claims to be doing God's work while doing monstrous evil. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

nbcnews.com

Haitian student dies by suicide after ICE issued him an ankle monitor

Pierre Damas Bel, 20, of Springfield, Ohio, expressed feeling “shame and humiliation” at having to wear an ankle monitor. The college student died by suicide days later.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Damn, Walt Whitman really didn't like that astronomy lecture he attended.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

In my binary poetry comparisons, I've set it up so the author is not revealed until after I judge the poems. This has led to some surprises. I would not have expected to rank Frost and Dickinson so highly. Also, though I like Thomas Hardy as a novelist, his poems don't do that much for me.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Poetry Duel underway! This will probably take longer to get a good sample.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

In my Genesis song rankings, one finding that came up is that I consistently rank hit singles lower than other songs on the album. So my favorite material of theirs is stuff that 99 percent of people haven't ever heard.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Dolly Parton was true class.

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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

These people had protected status. They lived here legally. They worked, they paid taxes. They made lives. Raised families. Now we’ve dehumanized them. Ripped away that protection and told them to get out. This is a stain on the soul of this Nation.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Can Congress please pass a law stopping a President from randomly renaming major geographical features.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Tracing out a continous line with curvature bounded away from 0 that approximates a photo. This is a picture of my mom as a young girl.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I had Claude build me a laptop app for doing binary comparison trials of every Genesis song from every studio album. It plays 45 second snippets of two random songs and then I vote on my favorite. In a couple of months I think I'll have enough data to do a meaningful album ranking. The story so far:

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

RIP Dolly Parton. One of the best things to come out of East Tennessee.

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Jim C @jimconant.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

1. Toilet leaking 2. Problem is cast iron drain 3. Need to jackhammer into concrete. 4. Put kitty litter box outside to get it out of the way. 5. Discover litter box filled with sprinkler water several days later. 6. Dispose of sodden litter, the texture of wet heavy clay, in the 104 degree heat.

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