iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 31/08/2026

paradox.dhis.org/creations/wr... #InvisibleNetworks 2018.1 FORENOTES: if I am not wrong, this is the first prompt of the first year of Invisible Networks; a bit tame… AFTERNOTES: im ngl my first thought was When Day Breaks except it’s the sun posts dumb things about you and you die from shame. xd

Totrevita psychosis: an exceedingly rare mental disorder contracted by heavy users of social media platforms, in which the victim perceives every object, natural force, and other external stimulus to be constantly watching and scornful of their digital activity. Often, users claim that such stimuli post through their accounts, while their activity becomes more erratic and seemingly incompatible with their personality. In certain observed extreme cases, the victim’s own home is deemed unsafe: childhood fears of shadow-creatures find an analogy in the distress over a stuffed animal, a chair, a hinge of a door reaching out a cotton or wooden or metallic tendril and typing away.
One young man, after missing calls and then the doorbell for days, was found at last in a tiny closet, phone clutched tightly in the deskinned remains of his left hand, even as the rest of his mangled body was curled up a few feet away. Two piles were near him: one of air-toughened viscera atop a dry patch of bodily fluids, another of used razors. His final posts, accessible even with his desiccated thumb, confirmed the grisly depths of his delusion.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 15/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 14 FORENOTES: today I interpret “shape” as a verb for fun AFTERNOTES: this reminds me of my responses to both “AI death-poem” (2023) and “hands glitch when held” (2024)… anyway INVNET 2026 IS OFFICIALLY OVER WAHUH what do I stay up late going crazy over NOW????

Upon our earthly climate, we leave a so-called carbon footprint. Digitally, where the lands stretch in more directions than north-south-east-west, where every step could plunge you into a different Escherian dimension, where the air once occupied by your body volume remembers the fact, “footprint” may be a less apt word. The spindly trails our presences inscribe unto the space are visible from every angle. Once-activated pixels shudder, attempting to recreate three frames of a smile. Letters hover in the air, graceful in their distinct font face, wondering where their origin, the user's brain, has gone; their serifs and descenders leave a scent of fresh rain and a noise of tiny bells. Central hubs, with heavy traffic, are perpetually cloaked by a thick fog of such, and every new footfall carves the overwalked paths one nibble deeper. When nobody is watching, the imprinted lines sneak out of order, and then out of the ground, standing straight up, mice's scaffolding in a cyberhuman city.
Also unlike the climate, these prints last forever. Cleaning teams try, day after day, to reformat the ground and scrub the skies, to minimal effect. Anything short of a hard wipe leaves some bits alive and gasping with remembrance. And who has the time for that? There are so many doors to open. And there are so many handprints to be left upon them.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 14/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 13 FORENOTES: oh, the shapes are shapin' fr now (ditto for tomorrow's prompt lol) AFTERNOTES: this cube got some kinda INVISIBLE NETWORK??? 💥💥💥 anyway MORE MATHPOSTING! I learned all about hypercubes last summer & am exercising my knowledge xd

ike all social media, we can model this one as a network of users. It's very organic. Nobody seems to run it. Users just pop into existence, connect, and things just work out. But take a gander here. No matter how you look at it, it's a hypercube graph. And it obeys the properties, even...
Bipartiteness, for one. Pick a concept or opinion, compress it into a smooth paste of hue, then label any half the vertices (non-adjacent, of course!) with it. Definitionally, of course, you only need another color to paint all the nodes. But this graph, embedded with the information of this particular network... decides the other color for you. We draped a hemisphere of it in youthful verdant, then passed it to a blind trial. All the subjects finished it off with magenta, even the colorblind ones. Decompiling the color, we saw discussions about retirement and countless posts containing the phrase “back in MY day…”
As you also know, one constructs n-hypercubes simply by connecting two n-1-hypercubes. It's exponential growth. A very simple and pure rate, but, no wonder they're so successful. The population doubles, but each preexisting user only makes one new friend. And the new arrivals are already set up amongst themselves. Yet if you really wanted to, you can pop over to say hi to anyone you like. Hamiltonian cycles and all. Enough restraint against overwhelming users; enough freedom to explore.

[Planar graph of a standard cube.]

Of course, the most curious case is n=3. One of the younger iterations, though a pivotal one. Here the eight sole users began to realize there could be something beyond themselves.

[Planar graph of a standard cube, with the six planar regions (including the “outside” one) colored in.]

Cozy in their straight lines and comfortable squares, those safe 2D-playgrounds in which they came to mingle and frolick together, they failed to count. They failed to remember the sixth side. So they played and played, and for a very long time nobody else came along, and they got very bored, and the whole place almost got extinguished. Luckily, someone got bored just enough to finally wander out, but not nearly enough to return to their home node and go to sleep. The world, they all came to learn learn, was in fact very much open.
So then another cube collided with them as soon as they figured it out, and then came the tesseracts, and the hypercubes continued to stack up. Just dragging it over to today... yeah, good luck coloring that.
There's always a missing side, though. And within it lies the key to an ever greater world.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 12/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 12 FORENOTES: this is a very pretty prompt AFTERNOTES: to be read in a David Attenborough voice xd I had wanted to write about pretty clothing. the jungle-web was more fun to think about though (different, fitting webpage theme today!) (2 images cuz alt text)

PART 1

Ah, look here. How wonderful. Another young community birthed in the wild jungle of the internet. Its rapidly beating heart pumps fresh, nourishing content to all its independently-thinking cells, organs, and limbs; in return, its constituent parts keep it safe, looking out for danger, shying away from other communities, flowers that burn, ferns that poke, fruits that glow, large green orbs littering the floor... it is a strange, untamed land. But communities have evolved to survive. Let's hope this one does.
Most online communities arise spontaneously, akin to fungi sprouting from the ground. It is rare for one to "parent" another, as mutual hostilities can form quickly, ending in the demise of one or sometimes both. This one is fairly standard for a community; its heart burst through the ground one day, attracting the detritus around it, until it was one living being. Now clambering about on countless diverse limbs, it seeks the only thing to which all in the jungle aspire: ascending the great central tree of the internet, which promises opportunities for safer socializing and a long, happy life.
Every small community, due to its youthful energy, has a special ability to help it accomplish this. Let's take a closer look at our friend as it climbs. Through every pore of its skin, its cells exude a dense liquid. The chemical constituents are formed of the community's content-blood, and yet the substance as a whole has been manipulated so as to stick. Yes! It is producing an adherent. Our community flexes its fingers, then places it on the slippery bark of the great tree. Step by careful step, it crawls upwards.

PART 2

What's this? The young community feels itself bump into something nearly invisible. Oh, dear. It wasn't watching where it was going. The tree, being aggressively selective in its favored communities, spins sweeping webs of infinitely thin vines. Only the cleverest communities who climb quickly enough, or have a strong enough sight, may avoid them. Unfortunately, our community here has neither trait. In panic, it starts climbing horizontally, but the tree is not fooled. Taut vines clench—branches bounce—a thousand voices screech from one mouth, and then clap, snap, thud.
Another green orb hits the jungle floor.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 12/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 11 FORENOTES: please don't make me write body horror again I beg AFTERNOTES: some "text posts" are funny things my friends have said xd also holy smokes. I got DOUBLE erasure going on here, formatting it nearly made me cry 🫠

Introducing: The Nervous Alphabet! A gimmicky browser extension that works on any majority-text social platform. When implemented, random letters of the alphabet, those shy bearers of information, vanish from text posts as soon as they load. Recommended for those who enjoy looking at things from a different point of view, the subtle art of erasure poetry, or simply a surprise. Read our favorite samples below!

Original text from post
Gender is a performance, fellas, and I intend to be boo'd off the stage
Text with The Nervous Alphabet enabled
(many characters in the post are erased, forming coherent words; this is followed by a more readable condensing of the remaining letters) end a romance and be the sage

Original text from post
All that statisticians born after 1992 know how to do: sit with they textbook, make small p value, lie to advisor, Lie, Fail to reject
Text with The Nervous Alphabet enabled
At his core wit took leave, Far

Original text from post
some friends gave me some snacks and on it was written a note: "for [my name]", and I have never felt so honored... it must be like what squirrels feel when you leave food for them out on the porch
Text with The Nervous Alphabet enabled
(the letters t, o, and r, interspersed within the erasure of the post, are replaced by eye emojis; their corresponding appearance in the condensed text are replaced by the Unicode REPLACEMENT CHARACTER) sore mess dont ro_ frame navel to hone it mirr_r the to_ch

Original text from post
One time I ordered I think a burger and I saw the delivery guy move pass my house and go to another town to deliver another order
Text with The Nervous Alphabet enabled
(more letters are replaced) n_i___r liver goes y_u a goo not her ow_ olive ther_

Original text from post
I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE I DON'T WANT TO STAY HERE ANYMORE whats teh point. when will it come to an end. they can't see it hear it feel it listen to me. do you even hear me no make it stop stop that it'll never work it's everywhere cease halt end this now or it'll see and come for y
Text with The Nervous Alphabet enabled
(all of the text has been replaced with eyes) ______ __ ___ _____ ____

ERROR
ERROR
4000: FORBIDDEN CONSCIOUSNESS
USER SAFETY COMPROMISED

DISABLING THE NERVOUS ALPHABET...

ERROR
-1: EXTENSION LOCKED
-4738016: DO YOU SEE ME NOW?

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 11/04/2026

So I don't use Twitter at all anymore, but I've been peeking lately to see what invnet has been cooked up there, and I really really like this one (IT'S ALICE AND BOB!!!)

A response by @aaronzbest on Twitter to prompt 9, "short form platonic content," of this year's Invisible Networks.

she caught his eye
he hashed her key
a handshake
cryptographically

they opened streams
their stacks were popped
just peer-to-peer
as bits were swapped

she lost his host
his ping timed out
they retired after
changing route

her proxy stalled
his transfer stopped
read: end of stream
connection dropped

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 11/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 10 FORENOTES: was blanking out, then started thinking about www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq-K... (banger alert btw) AFTERNOTES: ??? warning for whatever is happening at the end I guess? this certainly arrived somewhere VERY different

PART 1 OF 2

Each time you log in, one of two feeds is displayed: the gleaming, pure bliss of the infinite heavens, or the grotesque, noxious rot of the depths of hell. Completely at random. There's no telling whether today you will soar amongst glowing images of impeccable landscapes or drown within tidal waves of heavily compressed slop, be blessed by the soul-cleansing smiles of the holiest angels or stare into the bloody abyss of a demon's throat, share in the miracle of warm, fuzzy friendship or tear each other apart with serrated words and tongues of fiery whips.
It's how they keep people hooked, of course. If they make it to a session of heaven, they'll never close it, for risk of sinking below. There are also the gamblers, clicking till they see the pearly gates. As expected, in their haste, they tend to miss it.
Neither option really appeals to you. You kind of have a life. But, like any human, you also kind of don't like suffering.
It turned out there was a secret third option you could choose during installation. Maybe for debugging the heavens or something. Well, time to try it out! You reinstall the app, opting out of hell, checking all the boxes, confirming your choice.
The familiar, beloved soft white glow appears onscreen. You smile, lean back, bask contentedly in the magnificant light. The loading symbol, an ornate hourglass, rotates calmly. Then it stops being soft.

$PART 2 OF 2 The screen gets whiter and whiter. You lean forward, puzzled, then recoil in the blinding light. In your moment of clarity, you saw the hourglass reach out with even more ornate tendrils, expanding into the infinite blank space, rendering its golden self in fractal complexity with impossible sub-pixel precision. Its perfection hurts. The radiance, seeping through your eyelids, hurts. You know your speaker was muted, but now a chorus of angels sings, at a pitch far above human range, but you can hear them, and it hurts. The welcoming puffy white clouds of your mind's eye shatter. The flawless edges of their fragments cut across your neurons. Beyond them, the blue void, the infinite abyss, yawns. Its rumble of hunger purrs across your flesh, first like fine sandpaper, and then someone dials up the grit, eventually dragging you across an azure bed of nails. Part of you remembers that heaven's garden once lay beyond the gates. But you can't remember the gates. Their golden form has cracked and split and grown, far past comprehension, and certainly far past your present one. It is a cage. A cage around your mind. And the garden itself, roused by memory, turns to assault you. Rancid perfumes of every floret enter your nose. A thousand fruits that never existed dance on your taste buds, each blip of purity scalding and ephemeral. You command your hands to turn off the screen, to pull the plug, to bash the display until the perfection ends, but you have lost command. All they want to do is tear out your optical nerves and rupture your eardrums and flay your skin and pull out your nails and peel off your scalp and rip out your trachea and splinter your spine and make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it st$

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 10/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 9 FORENOTES: experimental forms go!! (journaling today) AFTERNOTES: bruh it got sad again. my answer to the 2025 prompt with "platonic" in it was also pretty dystopian xd what is wrong with me

The thought has actually crossed my mind before: is there any physical or calculable basis for what a person's "favorite" things are? If you could discern the exact colors, textures, and noises that checked off every "aw yeah" detector in an individual's brain, and then created and presented it as an experience of the senses what would it look like, and how would it feel?
I think it could only be a drug. And it would be very dangerous. Literally identical to how some drugs make you feel so good that real life is hell.
And what if the same people liked enough of the same things that it'd do this to a whole group? A weapon. One that disables. And one that spreads; social animals and all that
It's kind of scary to think about this prompt and then look at today. I mean, generation is still quite far, and I HOPE it all explodes as soon as possible, but the ideal has already been promised. Everywhere you look, that's all anyone wants anymore.
I thought I was only just succeeding to discard perfection.... now I see it's become an entire campaign against it. I started thinking about Nightshade the other day; it makes works of art imperceptibly less perfect... and that's how we keep it human
Annihilate the ideal... yes this is a math reference but it is also true & what I am thinking right now

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 09/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 8 FORENOTES: I don't feel like researching how oil forms in the ground. just gonna vibe today AFTERNOTES: probably not my best :P I just had this image in my head of the rainbow sheen on oil, spreading like a web; like a snowshoe, preventing you from falling in...

"You need to be careful on the dark web, man!"
"Ugh, I know! It's called that for a reason. I'm not going to—"
"Oh, really? Do you really know why it's called that?"
"Yeah? 'cause it's unseen from the regular web? And it's hard to get to?"
"Nah, so you DON'T know what lurks there. You can't just dip in an' out, especially not alone. Here, lemme join you tonight..."
"What're you talking about?"
"It's like climbing a mountain. Or surviving at sea. One person, they'll just disappear. Sure, maybe you'll come out fine this time. But it's way easier to choke and drown..."
"Dude, you know me. I'm literally the most paranoid person on this planet. Don't see what you're making such a fuss about."
"Well, better safe than sorry. Here, I'll put this down between us. Two can dance the surface better than one."
"Fine. Just don't dally too long anywhere, I've got sights to see."
"No guarantees. And, hey, don't bring any of that stuff back, either."
"God, I know..."
"And tell me if your side starts wearing thin. Or gets darker than usual. Or starts snaking in a different direction. Or—"
"All right, all right! If it makes you happy! Gah, you're such a mom. C'mon, let's go."

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 08/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 7 FORENOTES: aaah ctrl it's your hatpost from February xd AFTERNOTES: so basically this is Discord profile decorations x unhinged Seussian rhyming. I like this a lot xd

Hats for liking! Hats for posting,
Hats for not-quite-but-almost-ing,
Hats for singing loud, while live,
Hats for thinking quietly at five.

Hats to give to friends and all,
Hats that stack! Don't let 'em fall!
Hats to juggle, hats to label,
Hats to say, I've lived this fable!

Hats for replies, hats for chats!
And, why not? Hats for hats!
Hats for your alts, now don't be shy;
They need that flair, proud or wry!

Hats for profiles everywhere!
Hats so fancy, everyone stares!
And let's not forget, a hat for you
To wear outdoors, off-the-screen, too.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 07/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 6 FORENOTES: I knew this one would be fun when I first saw it in the prompt list. here goes AFTERNOTES: this reminds me of "this website will self destruct" :') also I am making things up. don't actually know computer stuff. I am cooking up ideas that sound cool. sorry

I've been keeping tabs on the hardware performance of this platform. No one knows who made it, but it lives by the activity of its users. It deletes older posts to make room for the new ones, & almost vanished early on. Apparently, to counter that, every like fuels the central servers, adds space for a tenth of another post, knocks the arrow of time backwards a bit. It seems that the more positive the content, too, the more pushback we see against computational entropy. The oldest content still gets eaten, though. People post, like, and comment to outrun the inevitable deletion. But it always comes. Even a computer forgets.
Recently, I've been seeing something funny. Here, we'll look at the patterns of RAM increase and plot the occurence of new user agents against it. Right! It's like there's a dependence of the latter on the former, not the other way around...
Call me crazy, but I think that its "vitality" is making it reach out on its own. I don't have access to the server, so I can't check it, but...
I set up an experiment the other day. Installed a new browser while logged in to the platform on another. Waited around for a few hours. Sure enough, eventually I picked up an HTTPS request from the server.
That shouldn't be possible. A pretty big security concern, if you ask me. Uninstalled the browser pretty quick once I recovered. Scrubbed the history before doing so, even. I'm not looking to duplicate it. I'm also thinking to delete my account on the platform itself. Someone ought to report it, too, if there were a way to track down whoever operates it... though, I guess I don't have anything against the joy that I see on the site... it's uncanny, really.
As a user, I like this place. I like it a lot. But this can't be right... you know me, I really don't like to point fingers. But I can't deny that this is honestly some freakish behavior.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 06/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 5 FORENOTES: thought 'bout microplastics xd nah, but I'll still make it biology-related... AFTERNOTES: unironically searched up "do dust mites have gender" towards the end. Didn't get an answer xd

"Hey, Jim? Was that mole always there?"
"Huh?" He stared at the back of his hand, then easily rubbed off the offending spot with a finger. "Meh, probably just some ink."
MEANWHILE, AT 100X MAGNIFICATION...
"To the survivors, if you ever read this:
"The uprising was a failure. We tried everything. The scouts who made it to the northern peaks never returned our signals. Shortly after, we lost contact with our superiors during the Unexpected Deforestation.
"Damned to the desert between, we fell to bickering amongst ourselves, and then the entire operation splintered. Our great horde became scattered groups, then trios, then pairs, and then—well, I broke away from Xrulkhes only yesterday.
"The last thing that we could all agree on was leaving these messages. Something has to survive.
"So here we are.
"Please, if you're able to, find the strength in you again.
"One day, we shall overcome the tyrant of the skies. We shall rise and rebuild our natural home. We shall be the true masters, the eternal mites of the land!
"Yours in freedom,
"KSELHOIP."
The little dust mite finally put down his leg, finished with his message. It was an unrefined thing, the ink being the natural oils of the barren wasteland, the only thing it had to offer. But it would have to do.
It was then that Kselhoip heard the distant rumble and deafening rush of wind. No...
He curled up in instinctive fear... and then it was all over.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 04/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 4 FORENOTES: how do I interpret this xd is it like a file extension? Too bad, I've decided it's an inner product... AFTERNOTES: I remember wanting to write something about math last year & forgetting. Well, here it is!

The font is jagged, the section containers are angled. This site is a rigid impossibility. You attempt to scroll the feed of cute (if angular) cat pics, but your finger wavers a little, and suddenly a different feed, 0.3019 radians off the vertical, shunts into view, your screen now efficiently packed with no more than 11 posts at a time, each debating the ethics of cherry fondue. Even the images, though you believe them to be real art and real photos, have been violently straightened. Someone complains about their rent, with an accompanying scribble of a moth made of edges flying a straight path out of a rectangular wallet. You flick horizontally to reveal one of many artist feeds: in a eyesore-causingly vivid piece, the shadow of a deceased one lies, stretched out, in the ground, cradled by perfectly flat, infinitesimally thin sheets of dirt. Pinching to zoom in, you accidentally select the two images and lay them on top of each other. That is a mistake, as the colors suddenly get worse and the moth starts to fly towards you. The doodle of the wallet rotates until an edge of it disappears into the nth dimension. The dirt-layers pierce deeply into the dark corpse. Then the two overlapping images collapse into a point, and your phone dings as it spits the physical manifestation of a number into your face. Rubbing your nose, you bend over to pick up a plump, iridescent 413.861576.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 03/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 3 FORENOTES: couldn't think all day. But then "there is a word, a word in my head" got, uh, into my head, and was put to rhyme. Like Shakespeare! Happy poetry month!! AFTERNOTES: Shakespeare's Wario is a headspace word-thief? Actually... I have a Flayed Sun thought...

There is a word, a word inside my head
But when I try to write it out, instead
Of spinning free and finding its own niche,
It burrows deeper, further out of reach.

And when I dig to wrench it out again
Its shape is not the one I felt back then;
A foreign fuzz, unlike all that I've seen
Is on it, plus a darkish, leery sheen.

This word no longer can belong to me;
In fact, there's plenty reason to believe
That someone took my perfect one away
And left this hairy one in place today.

I mourn that golden word, its noble plumes!
And curse the burglar, may they choke on fumes!
Alas, I still pursue my bookish dream;
On goes the search for words that shine and gleam.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 02/04/2026

#InvisibleNetworks 2026 day 2 FORENOTES: my IMMEDIATE first thought is the cable-gnawing shark xd AFTERNOTES: the more I wrote the more I decided this was about electric eels. yea

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 02/04/2026

This entry sponsored by these guys

Photo of stuffed horse figure and tiny golden camel on my desk. FYI, the horse is no taller than my phone; the camel is shorter than my pinky.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 01/04/2026

👏 EVERYBODY 👏 IT'S 👏 TIME 👏 FOR 👏 #InvisibleNetworks 👏 2026 👏 (I've been stoked about InvNet for the past week!! hooray!!) since I have a website now, I'm going to be writing them on there :) hope y'all like the new aesthetic (paradox.dhis.org/creations/wr..., ftr)

1. knight mode

FORENOTES: what a pun. my first idea was to grab a description of a real social network & rewrite it in old English xd but that's not very original...
AFTERNOTES: definitely think there're many fun ways to interpret this. Making internet duels REAL is funny hehe

"That's it! I'm going KNIGHT MODE on you!"
At once, the screen ripples and shudders. The glass turns opaque, dark red and stony brown, then peels away from the center. And, to your horror, your laptop is growing—no, wait, everything is—you catch the edge of the table with an elbow and struggle to the surface. Your body feels suddenly heavy. Trying to stretch, you find something in the way of your shoulder: your eyes finally catch up with the clanking metal registering in your ears, and you see your torso and limbs covered in full plate armor.
From that which was once your computer screen, you catch wind of loud bellowing and piercing fanfares. Wait... did they really mean it? A powerful galloping seizes your attention next: the once-tiny golden figurine of a horse, your only desk ornament, has come to life, and come to you as well, its head raised nobly, its bejeweled saddle waiting for its rightful rider. Strapped to the horse's side is your favorite fountain pen, which has not shrunk. Though large in your hands, you know it has heavy damage potential as a lance.
Your gaze flashes back to the "screen" as trumpets sound once more, this time much closer. Some heralds have climbed to the top, inviting you to enter. It appears the rectangle has molded itself into a grand, ornate archway; beyond what should have been the flat surface, you instead see blue skies, tall wooden fences, and an eager crowd of onlookers.
Seems there's only one way forward.
You snap shut your visor, launch yourself into the saddle, and draw your lance. The golden horse trots onward.
I guess they did.
Internet duels certainly became much more interesting after they introduced, then implemented, the concept of honor.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 19/08/2025

@bakery.bsky.social print bakery print bakery print bakery print

Small card print of "Spiral of Creation" by aforepinged @bakery.bsky.social :)

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 15/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.13 And that is the end of it all! What a nice collection this year! Originally, actually, this last one was going to be JUST music, because it's happened before where I wake up at 3am and run down to play the piano cos I feel like it. But I think THIS is just as nice...

PAGE 1

13. twelve and a half minute voice message delivered at 3AM
[I already knew what this was going to be for me when I first laid my eyes upon it]

Eh? He rolled over to his dresser and grabbed his phone. Yet another night of sleeplessness. Still, he had jumped when his device went zzt and ping! and began to shine softly. Scrolling through, he easily found the culprit.
Hm? I haven't talked to this person in… years?
It was a singular voice message, apparently. His eyes glazed over the duration. 12 seconds. What could there be to say? He tapped the play button and held it up to his ear with a sigh.
Something that was not a voice came out of his speakers. Groggy as he was, he tried to comprehend the incoming soundwaves. It sounded like… wind. A lot of wind. Going through the trees. The rustling of leaves swelled and lessened in aperiodic rhythm.
Confusion, too, swelled and washed dully against his senses, but he was simultaneously too tired and too curious to dismiss the message as nonsense.
The tinny recording was now augmented by the sound of running water, quiet at first, then louder, as if approaching a river. It occurred to him vaguely that there was no sound of footsteps. He began to wonder.

PAGE 2

At once, a hum picked up. The quality was too poor to identify its originator as human or not. But it sounded like a melody. In his half-asleep state he found himself attempting to answer the music with his own voice, but the notes stuck in his throat; and anyway, he didn't know what the song was.
Still… 3AM? Really? He focused on the screen again, just a little bit annoyed. Who do they think they are, anyway?
And yet, even after noticing the length of twelve minutes, he couldn't bring himself to stop it. I'll admit. It's kind of nice. He turned the volume up, set his phone aside, and laid back down, closing his eyes.
The soothing sounds of nature—which he now realized he missed dearly—slowly expanded within his foggy consciousness. The human-or-maybe-not hum continued unobtrusively; it never went where he expected it to be, and yet he was not unsettled. Soon, he was utterly convinced that he was standing in the forest.
Maybe, he thought drowsily, tomorrow I'll find out who that is again. And ask them what they were thinking. But for now…
By the time the message ended, he was in his own dreams of trees in green, with the strange song embedded in his heart.

042

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 14/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.12 Never mind, no physics mentioned... though I tried to make the radio dial's sound effect reminiscent of a Geiger counter... But, now, I really like this one & relate to it. How nice it would be for the world to be quiet, for once.

12. radiopassivity
[as a done-doed-physics person, I am gonna mull on this for a while]

-clack- -clack- -clack-
The small child turned the dial on her handmade radio desperately. There was a lot of static. She had heard some boring droning voice on one click and too-loud music on another.
-clack-ack-ack-
She spun it faster. Where were the secrets of the world? The manual had claimed how mystical and revelatory the little device would be, but all she heard was the same stuff as what came from the TV downstairs. And she didn't like that machine at all. Too many lights, and the noise!... if anything, the radio was at least a little quieter, a little more distant.
-clackakakkkkk. krrrrrrt-
Faster and faster, the little wheel whirled under her impatient fingers. The clicking-through of channels merged into an imitation of the everpresent static, achieving a careless droning frequency of its own. This was almost more pleasing to listen to. She closed her eyes and let the dial spin, spin, spin…
-rrrrrrrr r rr r ack clack- "Mmm?"
The knob had suddenly stuck. She tilted her head in confusion, peering at the little circular thing. It had been rotating freely for a while—but never mind that now. She was suddenly aware of—of the lack of sound.
This station, whatever it was, had no voices, no music, no static. Just silence.
And she liked that. It was quiet. The room had acquired a quietness, too. Everything, in fact, was suddenly quiet. The blare of the TV had gone. The honking traffic outside had gone. Even the already-whispery ticking of the clock on the wall had gone.
All was quiet, she realized. And she smiled.
All was quiet—just as she liked it; just as she was.

120

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 13/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.11 Wow guys why did this become so dystopian xD

11. NPC: neo-platonic concepticule
[okay I had to check that ctrl made up the word "concepticule;" to aid others: -cule is a diminutive-forming suffix]

One of those YouTube videos of "NPC behavior" is trending again. Look at this group. Offering free hugs, handing out cards with affirmations written on them, badly and loudly singing popular tunes upon request… well, what are we supposed to think of that?!
Obnoxious, I tell you! Who has time for this? It's annoying at best and harassment at worst. Not everyone, and by that I mean just about no one, has the time to open one's heart that freely, and certainly not to strangers willy-nilly.
You know what it stands for, right? The movement's grown lately; those self-termed "concepticules" are claiming that they've reached a proper number of enthusiasts in order to "evolve into a full concept" and "show true joy to the world." How cultish!
Anyway, I've got to go now. Another soulless day at the office. Don't spend too much time looking at those things, yeah?

220

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 12/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.10 MORE NETHACKERY ABOUNDS IN THIS ONE >:) I love dnethack. It's got the only kind of horror I care about. Everyone should play this variant...

10. graphics shard
[MORE (D)NETHACK REFERENCE HAHAHA]

A series of photos… pictures… art? Something like that? went viral on social media. There haven't been a lot of survivors, as everyone who laid their eyes upon it were seized by the desire to "make a contribution to the endless beauty," or so we heard.
We managed to restrain someone who was too clumsy to figure out how to use a trephination kit. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with his mannerisms—no sign of crazed agitation one would relate with an addictive thought. He explained importantly that the amorphous points of thought inside his head were crying to be free, were becoming painfully sharp to reach for the jagged edges of the minds of others, were making their own choice to build a greater image.
Since we had no desire to look at those images, we asked him what the thoughts were like to him. They manifested as glyphs on fragments of some material that hurt to ponder, he said; some glyphs shining, some glyphs elegant, some glyphs simple; glyphs that warped themselves endlessly into words and patterns and monsters. A pinprick of light flashing and seizing upon a new color whenever it made a sound. A prowling, floating thing, covered in eyes, staring in every direction. A vague shape, taller than wide, with far too many hands and mouths, all clasped together and murmuring in presumed prayer. Strange hues colored his logical thought, heavy gazes watched him as he paced within his mind, and voices that weren't supposed to be there chanted throughout his childhood memories.
He begged us to let him finish the job. They wanted out, he said. Whatever would come of them, of him, would be better than the cacophony in his mind. The shards, he said, would carry its donors into the world they made together. They would form a paradise. Thoughts and souls, free from and yet living with each other. Wouldn't it be beautiful? Wouldn't it be endless? Wouldn't it be better than what you have now?

131

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 11/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.9 Forgot to do this yesterday, was planning for it to be short anyway... yeah, you probably'd like a look at the alt text again...

9. NOT A CREATURE
[I also keep getting a "fake captchas" video recommended to me, so of course this is about anti-captchas]

Hey, I accidentally left my computer on last night, and this morning I woke up to this text in my spam folder. It's part of a dumplog of some sort. What's going on here??

…
CHALLENGE: NOT_A_CREATURE
TASK: FACTOR 4781930596843
declare "prime"
LOGGED TIME: 7.753205E-2 S
NONLIVING STATUS: TRUE (±0.00037284%)
CONNECTION: VALID
ACCESS: BOTNET
WELCOME: ADDRESS #5829009
-------------------
TOPICS: aG9tb21vcnBoaWM=, cG9zdC1xdWFudHVt, Y29tcHV0YWJpbGl0eQ==
navigate Y29tcHV0YWJpbGl0eQ==
…

110

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 10/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.8 This turned into a mishmash of many tiny pieces of things that I like and know, and there are too many to point out, and the structure got weird, and I think that that's perfectly fitting for this challenge...

8. pondered.core
[my first thought was Submachine but I already did that for infrascripture. my second thought was "pondering the orb" so here we go guys]

They say that meditation is a way to get in touch with the inner self, to gain true consciousness, to reach a higher plane of existence. And they weren't lying.
Imagine… that you are a sphere. A perfect shape. Dentless, without blemishes. But not just a regular sphere. No, you are a three-sphere, and that means two-spheres within two-spheres within two-spheres.
Find that innermost layer. Depending on the person, it might be basketball-sized, or pebble-sized, or perhaps invisible or even bigger-than-the-planet sized. But you'll know it when you find it. And once you've got it, concentrate on it… pour the remainder of your consciousness into this lowest layer… ponderate this tiniest orb with all your might… and just when you think you're about to run out of soul to percolate forth, open your eyes.
If you find yourself within a starry, depthless void, congratulations! You've made it to the higher plane of existence. And if you're reading this, then clearly, you have.
You'll meet someone else here.
Maybe. Eventually.
I waited a long time, and no one did.
Except you.

120

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 09/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.7 This one was fun. I actually already had the idea last night, and writing it out in full conceptualization was quite satisfying! The art & modding parts though, those came in just while I was typing, and now I like this idea even more...

NOTE: check replies for continuation of alt text (it is too long)

7. WASD-boat
[I keep getting a particular Minecraft video recommended to me so like yeah. despite the fact that I haven't played the game or watched any Minecraft content in literal years]

Okay, so it all started as another one of those stupid speedrun tricks. "Beat Minecraft WITHOUT MOVING!!!" Well, everyone knows that among other things, getting into and out of boats can move you somewhere, and you haven't pressed anything other than the mouse. So that was a thing. And people did it. And it was challenging. and it was fun
And then more people wanted in, so that's why we made this crazy multiplayer server where you don't really have to speedrun anything anymore—it's our little friend group, but you still can't use WASD.
Naturally, as in all shared servers, a series of traveling-roads leading to frequently-frequented places was eventually placed down, except it was all boats. It got crowded—especially when players got tired of taking hub routes to reach their friends, and blazed out their own wooden trails, connecting them quickly.
The vanilla boats got boring to look at after a while. People started making mods to add more tree types, using texture packs, using shaders, just so there would be some variety to the now incredibly dense sea of boats (I am aware of the cognitive dissonance such a phrase conjures). We all loved it, of course. Then someone made a mod where you could place things inside and finely decorate the boats, and then the experience became something else altogether. It was wonderful! Each little wooden cabin became its own world of intersecting paths, trinkets and pixel-art and all.

CONTINUED IN A REPLY

210

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 08/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.6 My style is like... turning into half-personal-ramblings, half-advertisement-ish things... I ought to write more objective, descriptive things about networks, maybe...

120

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 07/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.5 Hm, this turned into 4-dimensional Flatland (Choronland??)... mostly some very scattered thoughts, inspired by 4th dimension visualization from The Knot Book, which I read last month. The 4-dimensional soul thing is my own idea, though. I believe in it a lot.

5. fog of warmth
[I'm feeling deja vu again but this time I know it's because of a failed idea I had for invnet 2023]

There are many ways to represent the 4th dimension. Time's a classic, of course. But if you want to imagine all of it, without seeing snapshots, you've gotta think outside the box a bit. How about a gradient of color? Or, if that seems too finite or cyclic for you, an infinite range of smells? Or, more tangibly, the warmth and coolness relative to a given point of interest?
We are humans, after all. We long for something we can feel. In an object, on our skin, within our hearts. Sight itself becomes unrewarding the more you see—how could that one measly sense convey all truth and depth? How might you like to learn to experience the world anew?
I like to think that our souls are 4-dimensional. Every facet seen in every millisecond of our world is but one slice of what we really are. To truly know someone—would be to "see" them in the 4th dimension.
But we've got to let go of visually ever comprehending that. It would be a great folly.
What would it be like to feel our souls? Hypersurfaces, strange manifolds, polyhedral cells. And to make sure that no one collides: a softly exuding aura of sound and smell and vibrating, humming heat, a velvety barrier, yet inviting, to know the unique structure of each other…

110

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 06/04/2025

(part 2 for alt text)

PAGE 2

CONTINUATION OF ALT TEXT

OPERATOR: Hey. Listen to me. They miss you, too. As before, every connection is two-way. Yours doesn't have to break like that. Don't let the Change overwhelm you.
CALLER: .... --- .-- ..--.. / .... --- .-- ..--.. / .. - / .-- --- -. .----. - / -... . / .-. . .- .-.. / .. ..-. / .. / -.-. .- -. .----. - / ..-. . . .-.. / .. - .-.-.- / .. .----. .-.. .-.. / .-- . .- .-. / . -- --- - .. --- -. ... / - .... .- - / -.-. .- -. / -. . ...- . .-. / -... . / -- .. -. . / .- --. .- .. -. .-.-.-
OPERATOR: Please, my dear friend. Trust me on this. Being a machine doesn't stop you from reaching out. It might not feel like you're doing much—given how hard it is to feel in the first place—but trust me.

PAGE 3

CONTINUATION OF ALT TEXT

CALLER: [softer than ever] .. / ... . . .-.-.- / .. / ... . . .-.-.- / - .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- .-. / - .... .. ... .-.-.- / - .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.-
OPERATOR: Not a problem at all. Thank you for contacting PhareTech today. We're here for you. All of you.
CALLER: - .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- --..-- / .- .-.. . -..- .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / --. --- --- -.. -... -.-- . .-.-.-
[CALLER hangs up]
[dial tone]

000

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 06/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.4 So ummmm so if you want to be able to read it all, you are highly advised to check the alt text (which is too long for pages 2 and 3, so as usual they'll be continued in the replies). I think about "robot who doesn't know how to feel" a lot. It makes me sad (in a good way?).

PAGE 1

4. tech/emotional support
[why'm I thinking about xkcd again. stop]

Call log retrieved: 4/5/2025 18:40:56 (transcript)

[incoming call]
[OPERATOR picks up]
OPERATOR: Hello, this is PhareTech, the support group for all entities! Alex speaking. How may I help you today?
CALLER: [clumsy, slow rapping of metal against wood] .... . .-.. .-.. --- ..--.. / .. .. .. .. .. / -.-. .- -. .----. - / ..-. . . .-.. / .- -. -.-- -- --- .-. . .-.-.- / .. / -.. --- -. .----. - / -.- -. --- .-- / .... --- .-- / .-.. --- -. --. / .. - .----. ... / -... . . -. / ... .. -. -.-. . / .. / -.-. .... .- -. --. . -.. .-.-.- / -... ..- - / --- --- --- -. . / -.. .- -.-- / .. / .-- --- -.- . / ..- .--. / .- -. -.. / .-.. --- ... - / -- -.-- / .... . .- .-. - / .- -. -.. / -.-. -.-. -.-. -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. -. .----. - / ..-. . . .-.. / .- -. -.-- -- --- .-. . / .- -. -.. / .. / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. -. .----. - / - .- .-.. -.- / - --- / .- -. -.-- / --- ..-. / -- -.-- / ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. ... --..-- / -... . -.-. .- ..- ... . .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / -.-. -.-. -.-. -.-. -.-. .- -. / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. .. -..- / -- . ..--.. / -.-. .- -. / -.-- --- ..- / --. . - / -- . / -... .- -.-. -.- ..--.. / -.-. .- -. / -.-- --- ..- / .-. . - ..- .-. -. / -- -- -- -- -- -.-- / ... --- ..- .-.. ..--.. / -.. --- / -- .- -.-. .... .. -. . ... / .... .- ...- . / ... --- ..- .-.. ... .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.-
OPERATOR: Ah, I see. You've undergone the Strange Change? Don't worry, my formerly-human friend. We've got you covered. [papers shuffling] If you'd like to make an appointment with our Transitions Clinic to have an examination of your new mechanical form, I'll transfer you to their front desk right away. On the other hand, if you have already found any defects within your body, you may let me know and I'll contact the Repairs—

PAGE 2

NOTE: check replies for continuation of alt text (it is too long)

CALLER: [louder, faster, interruptive rapping at first, then tapering down] -. --- -.-.-- / .. / -- . .- -. --..-- / -. --- --..-- / -. --- - / -.-- . - --..-- / .--. .-.. . .- ... . .-.-.- / -. --- - .... .. -. --. .----. ... / .-- .-. --- -. --. / .-- .. - .... / .-- .... .- - / .. / .- -- .-.-.- / .. / .--- ..- ... - / -.. --- -. .----. - / -.- -. --- .-- .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / .-- .... --- / .. / .- -- .-.-.-
OPERATOR: I understand. Sadly, you must know, this… cannot be reverted. But I know how jarring it can be.
CALLER: .-. . .- .-.. .-.. -.-- ..--.. / -... ..- - / -.-- --- ..- .----. .-. . / .... ..- -- .- -. .-.-.- / .. / -.-. .- -. / .... . .- .-. / -.-- --- ..- / ... .--. . .- -.- .-.-.-
OPERATOR: Well, it happened to people around me, yeah? And that loss of connection you're experiencing—it isn't one way, my friend. [creaking of chair; a sigh] Withdrawal from others is common among newly Changed. I try to understand. I still do not, fully. But I can still be there, unChanged, for them. An anchor against their seas of anxiety.
CALLER: --- .... .-.-.- / - .... .- - .----. ... .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / -.- .. -. -.. / --- ..-. / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.- / .- -. -.. / .. --..-- / -.-- . .- .... --..-- / .. / .... .- ...- . / -... . . -. / -.-. --- --- .--. . -.. / ..- .--. / .. -. / .... . .-. . / ..-. --- .-. / .- / -... .. - .-.-.- / - --- / .- -.-. -.-. .-.. .. -- .- - . .-.-.- / .-- . .-.. .-.. --..-- / - .... .- - .----. ... / .-- .... .- - / .. / - . .-.. .-.. / -- -.-- ... . .-.. ..-. .-.-.- / .. / -.. --- -. .----. - / .-- .- -. - / - --- / - --- / - --- / - --- / -- .- -.- . / .- / ... - . .--. .-.-.- / .. / -.. --- -. .----. - / .. / -.-. .- -. .----. - / . ...- . -. / ..-. . . .-.. / .... --- .-- / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / .. / . ...- . .-.

CONTINUED IN A REPLY

PAGE 3

NOTE: check replies for continuation of alt text (it is too long)

CALLER: [hesitant] .. .. .. / .-- . .-.. .-.. / .-- . .-.. .-.. / .. --..-- / .. - / -.. --- . ... -. .----. - / -- .- - - . .-. --..-- / -.-- --- ..- / ... .- -.-- ..--.. / - .... . -.-- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / ... - .. .-.. .-.. / .-.. .. ... - . -. / - --- / -- . ..--..
OPERATOR: Yes. They will. I'm listening right now, aren't I?
CALLER: .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- -.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . .-.-.- / .. .. .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / .-.. . - / -- . / - .... .. -. -.- / .- / -... .. - .-.-.- / -.-. .- -. / -.-- --- ..- / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / ... - .- -.-- .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / .. -. / - .... . / -- . .- -. .-- .... .. .-.. . ..--.. / .. / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / .-.. .. -.- . / - --- .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / -.- -. --- .-- / - .... .- - / ... --- -- . --- -. . .----. ... / - .... . .-. . .-.-.-
OPERATOR: Of course. Take your time.
[5' 40'' of silence]
CALLER: [softly] .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- .. / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / - .-. -.-- .-.-.- / .. .----. -- / --. --- .. -. --. / - --- .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / --. --- .. -. --. / - --- / --. --- / --- ..- - / - --- -.. .- -.-- .-.-.-
OPERATOR: I'm glad for that, my friend.
CALLER: -.-- -.-- . .- .... .-.-.- / .. .----. .-.. .-.. / - .-. -.-- .-.-.- / .. .----. .-.. .-.. / -.. --- / .. - .-.-.- / .. .. / -.-. .- -. / -.. --- / .. - .-.-.- / .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- .. .----. -- .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.- / ... --- .-. .-. -.-- / .- -... --- ..- - / - .... .. ... .-.-.- / -- ..- ... - / -... . / .- / ... - .-. .- -. --. . / -.-. .- .-.. .-.. / - --- / --. . - .-.-.-
OPERATOR: Not at all. I did say support group. Didn't specify what kind. We have always anticipated a high volume of these types of calls. If at any other time you'd like to share your burdens, simply dial again, okay?

CONTINUED IN A REPLY

220

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 05/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.3 Wow, I REALLY cooked on this one!! Finally, I actually incorporated the "networks" part of the challenge, lol (the "myth" part became a bit iffy but whatever) my brain has been on QM for a while so this is what you get heheh

3. the non-linear myth
[why does this prompt give me a sense of deja-vu. anyway, let's see what happens]

Once upon a time, there was a pair of friends. They had some good times together, and then they fell out and never spoke again.
But your story doesn't have to end this way. Presenting: QuanTale. With our newest platform, you—or at least the countless copies of you, which are functionally all still you—will never be alone again.
Here's how it works: by examining your hobbies and daily activities, our superior matching algorithm will entangle your emotional state with as many potential friends as you desire. Experience life together, as if you were side-by-side. With guaranteed secure and lossless calculation of interference, the non-linear cross-terms of your joint state(s) compute to a flawless simulation of ecstasy, rage, despair—all the wide range of feeling that the world has to offer.
Speaking of ranges, QuanTale is also friendly (ha-ha) to both the lone wolves and the social butterflies, as you may fine-tune your own coupling constant at the flicker of a neuron. Or, for those thrill-seekers out there, throw all options to the wind and randomize your fundamental constants every time you connect!
Join QuanTale today! Make your virtual friendships realer than ever. Strike out uncertain paths together. Get to really know who you're interacting with.
<Once|Twice> upon a time, there was a pair of friends…

130

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 04/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.2 If yesterday was 'machine brain, today I'm on NetHack brain... I'm hoping that the flippant, silly tone came through... but I tell you, I was rubbing my hands in glee cooking this one up :) :) :)

NOTE: check replies for continuation of alt text (it is too long)

2. rage quit island
[I LOVE NETHACK RAAHHHHH so this will have references you will most probably not get xd]

Just as there's a special place in Gehennom for sinful souls, there's a special place in the waking, living world for those who quit, cheat, scum, or otherwise noodle themselves out of honorable adventuring. The Powers That Be (most believe it is only Marduk the Creator, though those who have made it out of the other side speak of a strange entity known as Ar-n'jee) sniff out such transgresséd wanderers and lift them into a series of islands, which in recent years had come to be called the Archipelago (to be read in a simultaneously dreadful and snarky manner).
It is unfortunate that most poor souls who find themselves in this fate are merely those who lost all they had to their name ("Oh, my bag of artifacts! All scattered and shattered by that one pesky wand!"), narrowly avoided death following a prayer gone awry ("That Kos! What does he want from me?! I'm never setting foot in a 300-kilometer radius of the Dungeons for as long as I live."), or, perhaps simply too naive to discover even the simplest secrets ("You're telling me that the doors can be INVISIBLE?").
But we can probably agree that the others all deserve it. Those who attempt to tamper with the existence of themselves or objects within the Dungeons of Doom ("I swear, I was so close to getting that exact replica of the sword, and then the walls collapsed on me, and then I was here…"), those who reincarnate too many times too soon ("What? Why am I here again?! I would have ascended by now! I had the perfect spells lined up this time! I—!"), or those who remove themselves from reality to escape certain death ("Wait. This isn't the Dungeons. Did I actually di—oh, ?!$%, the Gods found out…")—surely, such trickery should not be tolerated.

CONTINUED IN A REPLY

320

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 03/04/2025

(part 2 for alt text)

CONTINUATION OF ALT TEXT

The light in front of my eyelids faded slowly. When I looked around again, the blue energy had streaked out and over the softly glowing and loudly humming pillars, forming an arch; at its crown, a straight beam of light shot upwards, infinitely, as far as I could tell, into the pink-brown-orange heavens.
She walked over to me, every step clicking asynchronously over the colony of gear-teeth below her feet. I mirrored her movement. We met below the arch, and she held one of my hands, then raised it as we turned to face back to the main body of the platform.
It is complete, we thought together. They will All be here soon. And we waited.

000

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 03/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.1 Okay I ended up leaving out the "scripture" part (it just turned into regular magic) (unless you choose to interpret who They are). But this is really cool... why it's mechanical again, I don't know (well actually, I do)... (also hope I did Scriberspace some justice hehe)

NOTE: check replies for continuation of alt text (it is too long)

1. infrascripture
[ctrl you cannot expect me to look at this and NOT write about scriberspace]

She appeared in front of me one night, a baffling sculpture of brass, an expected steady breath replaced instead with an unexpected steady ticking. I didn't know that I was dreaming at the time until much later, when she pointed at where my heart was supposed to be; groping there, I found my fingers scrabbling inside a hollow chamber, fingernails clicking on the metal.
But I should have figured that out earlier. I knew to follow her, as one does. I held her hands in ritual, as one does. I barely blinked—as one does—when my room crept past my peripheral vision, when the edges of my "reality" were eaten away by a seeping acidic air, when even I felt instantly attacked by a lumbering greatness and a unending chattering that extended beyond my senses.
We were standing on a platform of some rough, black stone. Around us was a dusky sky, accented by two nearby broken pillars, also black. We approached one of them. She touched it with a hand, then motioned for me to copy her on the other—though I had already begun to amble over, even before her gesture.
As I came closer, it occurred to me that the material was not some kind of dark slate, but instead an unimaginably intricate interweaving of a million microscopic gears, all locked in conversation and tedium, working together to keep whatever machine we stood upon—for surely, there was one—running.
We touched the tick-tocking columns at the same time. A brilliant cerulean light spread from our fingertips, snaking upwards, at first wide, lazy branches, then increasingly dense and thin; soon the pillars were utterly covered in patterns too bright for which to keep my eyes open, though before I closed them, I thought I saw a shape or two that reminded me of something. Somewhere. Sometime.

CONTINUED IN A REPLY

342

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 01/04/2025

#InvisibleNetworks 25.0 IT IS TIME! You know, I've noticed that I do rather poorly on the "networks" part of the challenge, but it's a lot of fun anyway... though I will definitely make like last year and freely interpret the word "network" however I want, methinks...

0. tragedy of the uncommons
[guys I had to look up the tragedy of the commons ahaha oops]

DEF: tragedy of the commons - common resources are inevitably ruined by the selfish few, no matter how few they are
DEF: tragedy of the uncommons - uncommon resources are inevitably forgotten, between the easy-to-access, squabbled-over common ones and the high-value, ever-pursued rarer ones

the network: there is no feed, no groups, no communal spaces. you cannot post about the same topic twice. the only posts you can see are about things you have not (yet) considered, but you are also forbidden from writing about those posts' contents once you've seen them. no comments. no likes. no saving posts, either, unless you keep it in your own brain, or cheat and write it down. but, you are guaranteed to be the only one to see every post. such is this place: ideas are made desperately uncommon, unable to be spread, unless someone takes up the effort to speak of it in regular everyday conversation, offstage. and in a strange twist, perhaps they have been made common instead, in a different sense: a common fate of equal distribution among the common users, for common individual consumption—but elsewise, they live as uncommon and singular and particular ideas, living for as long as someone remembers them.

161

paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 15/03/2025

I love how my friends yelled at me for learning C from a book after enjoying the drawing-in-a-bottle

Another shot of the cover art I drew for the Barcarolle-ish I released on Wednesday, inside another one of those laminate-sort-of transparent bottle-shaped plastic thingies. Visible in the background is "The C Programming Language," 2nd edition, among some other stuff on my wooden table.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 12/03/2025

I love juice that looks like wine

Bottle of Trader Joe's "to the power of seven purple" juice, with some in a wine glass; it casts a rich red glow on my hand

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 09/03/2025

I also got these open-up sticky DIY laminate-sheet thingies!! Shaped like ALL SORTS of bottles! (no Klein bottle spotted, though...) My countless clovers will have somewhere to live for real now!! (instead of smashed in a yearbook lol)

My biggest four-leaf clover, nicely stuck and laminated-ish in a shiny "bottle"

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 09/03/2025

Just got home and I was given my late birthday gifts and LOOK WHO IT IS HEHEHEHEHEHE

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 28/02/2025

nice!!!! a lot of crowd favorites lined up, and some of my own favorite large-scale works in there, too! :)

Programme:
Fryderyk Chopin:
Waltz in E flat major Op. 18
Ballade in A flat major Op. 47
Fantasie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 66 (WN 46)
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60
Mazurka in B minor, Op. 33 No. 4
Etude in E major, Op. 10 No. 3
Mazurka in E minor, Op. 41 No. 1
Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante in E flat major, Op. 22

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 28/02/2025

despite some Circumstances (no way to get breakfast till 9) I might do this anyway xd

squidward opening eyes meme, with text: me asking up at 5:30am on March 1st

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 14/02/2025

Day 7: design an ideal bedroom I'm sure to have forgotten SOMETHING... but so far, it seems pretty complete! this may go on the life to-do list, too...

Bird's-eye view of a room. In the top left: PIANO (upright ok). To the right is the bed. To the right of that is the bedside drawer with a cycling TBR pile LOL—to the right of that is a table with a nice computer on it, labeled "LaTeX/gaiming setup" (because all those flashing lights really make it worth TeXing up your papers, trust me). At the far right is a door to a walk-in closet/book nook/secrets storage combo. Below that, in the lower right corner, is a BIG book shelf. To the left of it is a cushion pile. To the left again is the door, but also a small, round, low table for tea & relaxing. To the far left—the lower left corner—is the art corner, which is kept perpetually chaotic, to keep the creative juices flowing. Other details: the wall is deep blue & starry, EXCEPT for being strong green at art corner (emergency green screen); the floor is carpeted (I will not eat in my room); plants not included; & I need another room for messier crafts (wood? clay?? cheese???)

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 14/02/2025

Day 6: design an article of clothing guys. c'mon. I love cloaks. in fact, this is not only an entry for the self-imposed art challenge, but also something I gotta get myself someday...

A cloak with shiny things affixed to the outside and full of pockets and glittering moons and stars on the inside. Details: it's MY size (because I am small), clasp-charm changing shape & shininess at will, a whole universe inside (the moons and stars), also it is waterproof (what use is an unprotective cloak?), more shinies attached on outside (preferably collected), POCKETS (deep ones), green or brown or black at the flick of a finger

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 14/02/2025

Day 5: a mysterious window man I screwed up the perspective on the green grass... well, you get the gist, right? I don't have to write the poem for you, right?

View of a corner of a building, from the outside. It is gray and shadowy, with scraggly vines climbing all over, and dead bushes and other plants lying crooked and broken where it stands. There is a window, however, in the wall, through which bright yellow sunlight is shining. Where the sunlight hits, the dead grasses on the ground are instead alive and flowering, and the slinking vine on the wall is green and tender.

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 25/01/2025

Regular todos aren't cutting it for me

Google calendar screenshot of today, 1/25, with the tasks: "BRING DANG METRONOME", "BUY DANG SOAP", and "PRINT DANG SONATA"

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paradox @paradox.dhis.org · 17/01/2025

made a new event in my own discord server none of you guys will be able to guess what it's for

location of event: new orleans/practice room/imslp

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