A Grab Bag
Yeah, so this is me this week. I have a bunch of things to muse on, but not anything in particular detail and not sure how it all fits together. But here you have it, a spread of hors d’ouvres rather than an entree.
First, let’s start with the biggest surprise in the news this week.
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At least for me. It was such a shock when I saw the story of Trump and Mamdani visiting at the White House and watching the press conference later.
In the name of objectivity I must say that I was impressed by Trump’s ability to be swayed by not only the charm of Mamdani’s personality but the obvious political sense of what he was proposing, which was to work together on initiatives that would win back some of Trump’s supporters on containing the cost of living in NYC.
But aside from the obvious shock value of their apparent rapport, it spoke to how Trump has evolved as a President in terms of not sounding like a complete asshole and actually choosing his words carefully and showing particular grace, let’s be honest, when for example he tells Mamdani to go ahead and admit to the reporter that he still thinks of him as a fascist.
The obvious explanation of this turn of Trump’s is that his larger authoritarian project is unwinding in complete abject failure, and he has the good sense, or survival instinct now of displaying a kinder, gentler, or at least sane face to the world on the occasion of Mamdani’s triumphal visit to DC.
At the very least, the occasion was a little window on the way that people in real time will let all the words and meaningless garbage reproduced in print and in the virtual mediums that dominate “communications” go in the name of actual interpersonal reality. But it is a tribute to Trump and his confidence as a leader that he allows this mode of thought to come to the fore instead of sticking to some pre-arranged script, letting Mamdani do the same in that moment, as most politicians would.
It works for him and is why I think his supporters love him. In my opinion he should have stuck to being a reality TV host where that malleable sort of persona works really well. Because when it’s him being played by Putin or Xi Jinping on the world stage it’s not so good for us.
Next up, my visit to Commonwealth Fusion in Devens, Massachusetts as part of a delegation of NH legislators, members of the bipartisan Emerging Technologies Caucus on Friday.
It turns out I was the only Democrat in the bunch, but our shared hope in the future of clean energy was such that we got along like a bunch of kindergarteners at the zoo. I was proud to be there representing Nah Hampshuh.
The young woman who showed us around the amazing, futuristic facility that has sprung up just across the state line in north central Mass, Kristin Cullan, was an exemplar of skill in presentation and engagement. She was hired as employee number eight at the company straight out of MIT, and that attention on Commonwealth’s part to public engagement should pay off for them.
I want to say now I’m a believer, but the fact that should be put out there right at the bat, so to speak, is that they have yet to go Q>1, or net energy out equalling more than energy going in. But the pace and robustness of their approach has put Commonwealth clearly in the lead for scaling and commercializing fusion energy in a visible window of time.
That fact is reflected in the amount of money raised, over $2 billion, and also in the actual contract with Google for the electricity produced by their first plant to be built in Virginia starting in 2028. They expect to be Q>10 and exporting to the PJM grid by mid 2030s, said Kristin, and I give them a decent chance of hitting that milestone, which would be mind bogglingly amazing.
With fusion within humanity’s grasp, we truly would stand at the threshold of an age of energy abundance opening the doors to the next level of global civilization, whatever that shapes up to be.
Which brings me to the threat of AI and neurocognitive technology as potential tools of totalitarian enslavement.
That sounds frightening and futuristic and for transparency’s sake I should say that I am the author of several science fiction novels explicitly dealing with mind controlling societies of the future that use neural implants to engineer compliance.
But it’s no longer science fiction, it’s here and actually as frightening as I made it out to be in those books.
The way that AI right now degrades human ability to distinguish between fact and fantasy is undeniable and dangerous, especially as we have seen the havoc played on democracy by bad actors with the tools of social media already at hand in recent elections around the world.
Serious commentators are questioning whether democratic governance will survive in our technological future, or whether it would be preferable to just give ourselves over to a Chinese model of molding people’s behavior through social control.
When you add the predictive capabilities and the speed of AI to the invasive and rapidly developing, unregulated field of neurocognitive devices, that totalitarian world is well within a visible window of time, with tools that would allow it to be stood up just around the corner.
Is there an appetite for such among investors? The Epstein class anyone? The economic potential alone could be staggering.
And so that leaves us to retreat, or maybe advance, to the world of dreams. Here’s a selection of seven of mine from a dream journal. I hope you like.
10/3/25
A woman is planning or already grilling either her own two children or the corpses of some other two people on the grill. The grill is able to somehow collect or manufacture its own gas, so it is completely self contained and therefore it’s a new process and the woman is showing it off as she prepares to also cook the people.
10/8
There is a white ellipse made out of plastic tubes? I am tasked with identifying or becoming familiar with. I’m part of a group, a family, tribe? I go up a hill after a man I recognize and call out to him. He turns around in recognition, he is weary from working, a farmer. A boar rushes down the hill past him, he warns me. I square up to the boar to block it. He charges me and we tumble through the air. I concentrate on landing as I can see that I am going to fall but the grass is soft and I am ok. The boar takes a great spill, rolls on its back and is knocked out dead.
10/21
The dream was happening in script. The dream was being written while it was happening. Don’t remember the contents of the dream, only that it was happening in writing and the feeling was eerie, like it was as real as any dream, a real dream but it was being narrated through written words at the same time as it was happening.
11/5
I am in a war and am in charge of a banner that has gotten very dirty, illegible. I clean it thoroughly but cannot get it clean. But the leaders, a man and woman, are happy with it and when they unfurl it the words are legible. I don’t know what they say just black letters on canvas. Then I am on a ledge again with my team including my wife. But I only have three of the pistols from the previous battle. Am I the quartermaster? The team is okay and will make do with just 3 pistols. Then I am wandering through the castle, bombed out ruins and jagged twisted metal. In one room with a carpeted moldy floor sit the pundits on their laptops. The room is soundproofed, very still. The pundits look up from their work deep in reflection. I have to get out.
11/9
I was looking through the plate glass. My sister had my baby daughter in her arms and was showing her to me through the glass. Many of the other babies and many of the adults, one woman in particular, had no strength and were not able to stand up. But my daughter could pull herself up higher on my sister’s body. She looked at me in wordless recognition. Then I was on a plane sitting next to Sinead O’Connor and we were flying low over a coast and the pilot was showing off his skill flipping and soaring over the beach and the ledges.
11/19
We were in a new town, it was called Newbury. I found out through a post I saw on FB. There was a war going on. We were charged with finding the right candidates for a prize, don’t remember what the prize was now. The girls had identified local kids who were good at doing something, don’t remember what. My son and I followed somebody outside. He was a local kid. It was night. In the sky you could see the path of a rocket as it made its way through the dark and dipped down whoosh over the horizon on its way beyond and out of sight, flaring in yellow and red bursts. Then today I read about drone warfare and the Ukrainian side perfecting cheap drones that can fly thousand miles behind enemy lines.
11/22
There is an electricity generation device that emits the electricity that then needs to be chased down by an animal like a horse, but in space. You can ride the horse and then it brings you along with the electrical charge back to a gathering like a party. A man there knew my father and remembered the parties thrown by him and my mother when I was a child. There was always chewing tobacco set out on a corner of the table, he told me. Even in the dream I was surprised.
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