iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by J.W. Ricci

Various Small Flames @varioussmallflames.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Our new Weekly Listening ft. abijah, ADJENAI, Cameron Knowler, Cloudbelly, Eliza Edens, Jennah Barry, J.W. Ricci, The Male Pattern (@audioantihero.bandcamp.com), Sammy Weissberg, Sasha Adrian, Son Lux (@waxworkrecords.bsky.social), Stonefruit & Sweetbreads. varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/09/28/w...

varioussmallflames.co.uk

Weekly Listening: September 2026 #4

Various Small Flames share Weekly Listening: September 2026 #4 ft. Abijah, Adjenai, Jennah Barry, Son Lux, Sammy Weissberg and more.

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Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · 05/09/2026

It is cool to know what someone will be looking at when they run me over in the crosswalk

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 01/09/2026

I guess this is the difference between what we generally think of as a physical knot (tight, with friction etc), and what IS a knot, in the field of topology.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 14/08/2026

Steep enough people’s attention in recommendation algorithm soup long enough… a feedback loop / loss function emerges where people create content inspired by and for the recommendation algorithms, which converges on a stable aesthetic… some call it “flattening”, I call it AI generated culture.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 13/08/2026

I got a kick out of the ads in one of the Bart stations for a company that supposedly serves ads to smart tv subscribers with desired email domain (…@vercel.com etc etc). How to say your product doesn’t work without saying it doesn’t work..!

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char stiles @charstiles.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Computa, choose my hopes and dreams then achieve them

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

And it seems like everyone — especially the people I would least expect — loves this. 🤔🤷😵‍💫

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

But recommendations algorithms are generative AI for culture. Sure, it’s easy to hate ai generated art. But when real, human made art and artefacts are essentially next token predicted into someone’s awareness, and transmitted through them into our culture, we have… AI generated culture baby

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

The other day, a new DJ at the radio station said how much they loved discovering new music there — outside of an algorithm. I realized this was the first time I’d heard this sentiment in a very long time! Five years ago though, I remember that this was like THE thing. Now…we are converts.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

friends that are artists, craftspeople, farmers, musicians, etc. etc. are on and seem to be using instagram (a lot!). (This seems to be a uniquely American situation. It might not have been a lasting movement, but half of the Danish indie music scene joined Pixelfed in early 2025.)

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

A long time radio DJ I know was telling me about his friend who runs a successful record label that only does runs of re-releases. I asked how they find such obscure, amazing music. “Oh, he said he just rides the YouTube algorithm.” And even though it’s not as explicit, all of my

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

A musician friend relayed the most (only?) positive account of his experience with TikTok that I’d ever heard. “If you keep positing it shows your stuff to so many people!” (He’s blowing up…)

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

(for me, my farmer & musician friends) are also where I hear the most enthusiastic praise for recommendation algorithms. One farmer friend is an evangelist for algorithmic online clothes shopping. “If you just like things you think look cool, eventually it starts showing you SUCH cool stuff!”

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 24/07/2026

Ok I hate posting on the internet, especially when so heady, half baked and idea-guy-like, but this one’s been mulling about for a while and just needs to come out. One of the most beguiling trends I’ve been noticing lately is that it seems like the type of people who claim to be the most anti ai

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 09/07/2026

Can someone please post unimax.run on hacker news? I'm in the mood and ready to be ostracized by the silicon valley community.

unimax.run

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 02/07/2026

“Most of us don’t understand how [x]’s are made, and most of also don’t understand how [y] works either… that’s a dynamic that is ready made for creating an investment bubble”. (It’s a get rich quick scheme) @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 02/07/2026

See chapter 13 of “The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI” by @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy for another take: the “Byzantine Premium” … “the extra value investors place on an asset they don’t understand”.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 29/05/2026

Does anyone know of research on the resource consumption of algorithmic social media in comparison to LLMs?

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 22/05/2026

get this… after the interview finishes, the host has a post-interview wrap-up section in which they reflect on their conversation… WITH THE LLM! (And then they read more from it, verbatim) This was @michaelpollan.bsky.social on @onbeing.bsky.social with Krista Tippett. What is happening, yall…? 😵‍💫

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 22/05/2026

The host makes you answer questions the LLM generated. Then they abruptly pivot again and claim to be in touch with something called “pure awareness”. Then the interview ends. You pack up and head home — “that was weird!”, you think. Some time later, the podcast is published and you listen back…

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 22/05/2026

This LLM company happens to be the one you received a $3000 per book settlement from, for training illegally on your previous books. You try to mention that the LLM company stole your work, but the host talks over you dismissively, and continues to read her conversation with the LLM…

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 22/05/2026

Imagine you spend 7 years writing a book and now it’s out! You’re invited onto a podcast hosted by a “master of the art of conversation”. Wow! It’s going well, then halfway through, for no apparent reason, they start reading verbatim from an LLM — a summary of your work, questions about you, etc…

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 17/05/2026

I get what you’re trying to say but “people are better because you can threaten their livelihoods & reputations” is probably not the winning argument

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

Thank you so much to all my collaborators in this project for helping bring it to life Recorded at Anacortes Unknown by Nich Wilbur  Produced with Eli Moore Mixed by @willstratton.bsky.social  Mastered by Amy Dragon Music video and photo by @emmageiger.bsky.social youtu.be/OM4tb5ERncM

youtu.be

J.W. Ricci — Through a Frame

YouTube video by J.W. Ricci

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

, with pushes and pulls, calls and responses, and dynamic movement, all spawned from one source.  Listen at the link in my bio, and thank you for listening <3 🙏

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

We put acoustic guitars, tuned to resonate with my guitar, next to each of the four mics. I played without headphones hoping to catch some interplay with the various resonations, re-amps and effects — a true ensemble...

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

There are sounds from electric guitars that Eli and I layed on top of a turned-up amp, re-amping my acoustic guitar, resonating the electric guitars, and recording them through effects and pedals.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

“Through a Frame” is the second take, and “Pollen Drop” the first. Everything you hear is live, no overdubs, and sourced in different ways from the live acoustic guitar mics. There is live re-amped and re-recorded guitar into the big church room of the Unknown studio.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

but I feel a sense of spaciousness, ease and openness in these pieces, as if it has taken a decade for my musical expression to soften, ripen, settle in. And it has.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

Now it is 2026. Ten years after I quit school to pursue music. I’m living back in North Carolina. I pick up my guitar a couple times a week or month. I’ve written a humble handful instrumental guitar pieces... all much less than I used to...

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

In 2014, I moved from North Carolina to Copenhagen, Denmark to learn how to build windmills. I dropped out of school in 2016, convinced that the most important thing I could do was to play guitar all day every day.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 16/05/2026

Through a Frame / Pollen Drop is out now... musings on leaving and returning, on decade-long cycles of life, on stepping too far, and on gradually learning one’s way. lnkfi.re/through-a-fr...

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 03/05/2026

Sun May 10, Eno River at Dumont Dr Access (11a) 36°05'08.8"N 79°01'55.3"W Sun May 10, Live on WXDU (4p) wxdu.org Mon May 11, Confluence Natural Area River Crossing on Rocky Water Trail (if rain, shelter) (6p) 36°08'13.6"N 79°09'50.6"W

wxdu.org

WXDU 88.7 FM Durham - Duke University Radio

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 03/05/2026

Come for ~20 minutes of music. Stay for a walk. Hope to see you there :) Thu May 7, West Point on the Eno Dam (6p) 36°04'16.1"N 78°54'38.5"W Fri May 8, Brumley North Labyrinth (6p) 36°02'05.2"N 79°02'30.8"W Sat May 9, Occoneechee Speedway Grandstand (6p) 36°04'26.7"N 79°04'54.6"W

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 03/05/2026

On Friday May 8, I'll be releasing "Through a Frame / Pollen Drop", my first new music in 6 years. Around the release, I'll be performing Through a Frame, Pollen Drop, and a couple other instrumental guitar pieces at some of Durham/Hillsborough's natural/artificial areas.

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Reposted by J.W. Ricci

Anil Dash @anildash.com · 19/04/2026

One thing that's worth repeating: There is *zero* evidence that "substack helps you get readers". The only thing that we've ever seen that helps grow an audience is other authors mentioning your blog or newsletter, which is not the platform's doing. Substack just takes credit for that!

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Reposted by J.W. Ricci

Sam Lavigne @lav.io · 13/04/2026

A form which calculates an individual’s “income tax body count”, or the total number of conflict-related deaths they have caused through their income tax contributions to the U.S. government. income-tax-body-count.lav.io

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 03/04/2026

What is that instrument?

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Reposted by J.W. Ricci

spencer chang @spencer.place · 01/04/2026

made a weird device to draw graffiti on wifi networks in public

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 19/02/2026

Idk anything about this really, but it does look like you can export the email addresses of your substack subscribers. Kudos for getting of substack!

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Hildur Knútsdóttir @hildur.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland. And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 05/02/2026

Maybe some distant relatives. I didn't rescue Pickle but I'm so lucky that I get to live with him :)

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 05/02/2026

Their noses! I did a triple take. Rescued from the side of the road as a kitten in 2022 somewhere Raleigh I think.

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J.W. Ricci @resonance.tools · 05/02/2026

hi um I think our cats might be related

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