#apophenia — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #apophenia, aggregated by home.social.
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archive.org/details/the-... I take it this gobbldigoop is from the serial pest? He can't write for shit - has chronic apophenia, and untreated comorbid psych disorders by the looks. If his side wench is legit, she needs slappin for encouraging his horse shit, BB. #apophenia #autism
The Legacy of Totalitarianism ... -
archive.org/details/the-... I take it this gobbldigoop is from the serial pest? He can't write for shit - has chronic apophenia, and untreated comorbid psych disorders by the looks. If his side wench is legit, she needs slappin for encouraging his horse shit, BB. #apophenia #autism
The Legacy of Totalitarianism ... -
What's the opposite of apophenia?
Dispophenia?
Either way, some of the normies suffer from this & it's killing us.
They have a distinct inability to see when the patterns have changed & current events are atypical.
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What's the opposite of apophenia?
Dispophenia?
Either way, some of the normies suffer from this & it's killing us.
They have a distinct inability to see when the patterns have changed & current events are atypical.
-
What's the opposite of apophenia?
Dispophenia?
Either way, some of the normies suffer from this & it's killing us.
They have a distinct inability to see when the patterns have changed & current events are atypical.
-
What's the opposite of apophenia?
Dispophenia?
Either way, some of the normies suffer from this & it's killing us.
They have a distinct inability to see when the patterns have changed & current events are atypical.
-
What's the opposite of apophenia?
Dispophenia?
Either way, some of the normies suffer from this & it's killing us.
They have a distinct inability to see when the patterns have changed & current events are atypical.
-
Mordomo – Apophenia
#Apophenia #Experimental #Mordomo #Rock #ambient #ambientrock #electronic #experiemental #experimental #Lisboa
CC BY-NC-ND (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives) #ccmusic
https://mordomo.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia -
estuary..fragmentation – gallery of anonymous sentimentality
#Experimental #ambient #apophenia #compositememorymap #decomposition #deconstructed #disorientation #dissociation #feildrecordings #hypermaximalist #hypersurreal #hypnogogia #lofiheartmusic #morphism #noise #sounddesign #Denver
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike) #ccmusic
https://estuaryfragmentation.bandcamp.com/album/gallery-of-anonymous-sentimentality -
New Portuguese-Language pages created on #RationalWiki in July:
#Português #PortugueseApelo à fé #appealtofaith #logicalfallacy #FaláciaLógica
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Apelo_%C3%A0_f%C3%A9#TDK (acrônimo para Tirei Do Ku) #PIDOOMA
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TDKViés de sobrevivência #survivorshipbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sobreviv%C3%AAnciaViés de seleção #selectionbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sele%C3%A7%C3%A3oEvidência suprimida #cherrypicking
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evid%C3%AAncia_suprimidaFalácia do holofote #spotlightfallacy
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fal%C3%A1cia_do_holofoteTeoria da cegueira deliberada #willfulignorance #denialism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teoria_da_cegueira_deliberadaPost hoc, ergo propter hoc #posthocergopropterhoc
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Post_hoc,_ergo_propter_hoc_(portugu%C3%AAs)Superstição #Superstition
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Supersti%C3%A7%C3%A3o -
Suzanne Jackson, “Red over morning sea”, 2021, acrylic, curtain lace, shredded mail, produce bag netting and wood, 165 × 213 × 10 cm ★ USA ★ https://artviewer.org/whitney-biennial-2024-even-better-than-the-real-thing-at-whitney-museum-of-american-art/ #SuzanneJackson #contemporaryart #contemporarysculpture #abstractart #apophenia #neodada #mixedmedia #shreddedpaper #mails #prettymegalomania #biennials #WhitneyBiennial #2020s
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estuary..fragmentation – gallery of anonymous sentimentality
#Experimental #ambient #apophenia #compositememorymap #decomposition #deconstructed #disorientation #dissociation #feildrecordings #hypermaximalist #hypersurreal #hypnogogia #lofiheartmusic #morphism #noise #sounddesign #Denver
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike) #ccmusic
https://estuaryfragmentation.bandcamp.com/album/gallery-of-anonymous-sentimentality -
estuary..fragmentation – gallery of anonymous sentimentality
#Experimental #ambient #apophenia #compositememorymap #decomposition #deconstructed #disorientation #dissociation #feildrecordings #hypermaximalist #hypersurreal #hypnogogia #lofiheartmusic #morphism #noise #sounddesign #Denver
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike) #ccmusic
https://estuaryfragmentation.bandcamp.com/album/gallery-of-anonymous-sentimentality -
estuary..fragmentation – gallery of anonymous sentimentality
#Experimental #ambient #apophenia #compositememorymap #decomposition #deconstructed #disorientation #dissociation #feildrecordings #hypermaximalist #hypersurreal #hypnogogia #lofiheartmusic #morphism #noise #sounddesign #Denver
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike) #ccmusic
https://estuaryfragmentation.bandcamp.com/album/gallery-of-anonymous-sentimentality -
I had a religious experience, and I misinterpreted it. That was not a good time.
#apophenia -
“It’s Only a Game, Isn’t it?”
Forging academic connections across the Pennines, last week took me to Manchester Metropolitan University for “Rituals of Play”. An international conference deftly combining gaming (in both digital and tabletop forms) with magick and the occult. This uniquely compelling focus for Manchester Game Centre’s annual Multiplatform symposium was ratified in conjunction with MMU’s Dark Arts Research Kollective, DVRK.
Bringing Ludology to Ludovico, the first day took place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation just off campus. The show of horrors commenced with “Playful Occultism”, a fascinating keynote presented by Falmouth University’s Dr. Jeff Howard. Setting the tone immediately with the proposal that any sufficiently advanced simulation of ritual can function as ritual. Games have rules, and rites have structure. The Magic Circle becomes a place of play. A performance to an act apart.
Drawing from Kenneth Grant’s Tangential Tantra, the prospect of surprise synchronicities is offered by bringing play to occult practice. Both tangent and tantrum to break the rigid conformity of ceremonial work. A critical hit to stately decorum, and counter to the agnostic conflict of prior magickal doctrine.
Practitioners of all denominations can enter flow state through play, encouraging flexible pattern-matching to attain a form of gnosis and consider possibilities otherwise unimagined. A state-shifting perspective somewhat looser than traditional dogmatic approach. The widdershins whirl of the Sufi.
With that heady opener a feast of thought, the fast-paced schedule soon moved along to papers and panels delivered from across the world. Researchers, writers, and game designers took the podium or dialled in from overseas. Discussing how faith and history may be viewed through the lens of gaming, Chthonic conspiracies carve through fact and figment, and how tools for both chance and divination find new purpose.
A common theme emerged from myriad minds across both days, that both gaming and the occult reasserted themselves through the dark years of lockdown. A cultural wound still bleeds into the present even as possibility bleeds into the real. Those disconnected try to find bonds through their endeavours – be they playful or greater. Putting creative ritual practices into their creative work, artists coped internally in their confined domestic spaces. Seeking transformative experiences through mundane acts, offering a sense of control and fun through uncertain times.
The first day culminated with an immersive installation by Newcastle’s fractals co-op. The Museum of Lost Futures presented a shattered nexus of possibilities, past and future. Narrative spontaneously weaved around scattered artefacts and photographs, with each player guided towards introspective storytelling from what they could gather.
It is no surprise that the dehumanising spectre of state surveillance arose from yesteryear’s enforced confinement.
The second day in the University proper began with the real reason I chose to attend. A Keynote by Berlin-based esoteric engineer, writer, industrial singer-songwriter and online acquaintance Karen Valis. I was first drawn to her work with Mercurial Minutes during my own dark-years dabbling in the occult aspects of AI and Machine Learning, and found her ‘Tarot of the Latent Spaces’ a parallel to my research.
“Simulation All The Way Down” presented the concept of Large Language Models (LLMs) as a feral entity, creating and collapsing the possibilities of branching reality. An unsupervised gestalt of all our stories – reflecting our narrative need for antagonist – and a shadow grimoire in dire demand of a warning label. Although these technologies can be fascinating toys, they are also terrifying in equal measure. But understand them we must for their potency to delude and destroy – lest they be weaponised against us.
Granting all a game of occultist bingo for the rest of the day, the chance to meet and converse off-schedule was eagerly indulged. Channelling Carroll with my own interpretations of Apophenia and Rumsfeld’s Paradox, I’m sure I filled a few lines by default.
Friendships were made and reinforced in these two short days. With post-lecture libations inspiring future cross-campus plans and a will to make things happen. Through the company of like-minded souls, I feel refreshed and reconnected with a specific wyrd long neglected.
Although I genuinely thought Disco Elysium was a rhythm game…
https://heathenstorm.com/2025/06/16/its-only-a-game-isnt-it/
#Blog #academia #ai #apophenia #evakadmon #gaming #karinvalis #machinelearning #magick #mercurialminutes #occult #occulture #ritual #ritualsofplay
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Things like: #Apophenia
"The tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.[17] The following are types of apophenia:
#ClusteringIllusion , the tendency to overestimate the importance of small runs, streaks, or clusters in large samples of random data (that is, seeing phantom patterns)."
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#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords
DEIVOS To Release Apophenia Album In October; "Sermon Of Hypocrisy" Streaming -
I am extremely suspicious of claims that particular #opticalIllusions reveal some aspect of your #personality. Humans are #pattenRecognition machines with tendencies for #apophenia and #pareidolia. It is in our nature to seek out patterns in noise, and to recognize faces in random data. I'd be interested in actual studies that establish a link between these phenomena, and an individual's personality, but I suspect they don't exist.
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/1870456/optical-illusion-kindhearted-or-goal-orientated/
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This week’s column…Do you find patterns in randomness? You may be suffering from apopheinia. Why your career may be more random than you care to think #work #career #psychology #hr #coaching #apophenia #luck
https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/are-you-actually-good-at-your-job-or-are-you-just-lucky-20231130-p5eo36.html -
I’m currently reading The Three-body Problem and all I’m seeing everywhere are people posting about Rachel Carson and the raft of book’s coming out about the rise of anti-science.
Anyone out there got a cure for #apophenia? -
The famous so-called face on #Mars isn't actually a face. It's a mountain with features and shadows that make it look like a face from certain perspectives. Our interpretation of it as a face is an example of #pareidolia—a form of #apophenia—which is a phenomenon in which we perceive faces in otherwise abstract features. It's a quirk of the human mind based on our tendency to seek out patterns in chaos.
https://www.unilad.com/community/face-on-mars-photo-nasa-life-existed-planet-181868-20230725
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I didn't realize that Stable Diffusion literally starts from random noise and refines to meet the prompt from there. That does make the notion that what it creates is a "hallucination" definitionally somewhat true, given that it mirrors how apophenia works in humans. #apophenia #ai
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In a neat example of the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon a leonine young woman at the Flying M Coffee House inspired the fanciful thought "Her name is a lion". Couldn't manage a #Lojban translation. Later, looking at Lojban t-shirts... mi fetsi cinfo... Furthermore, I have ~7% Hungarian ancestry, and lo! a MAGYAR license plate appears in front of me. #apophenia #synchronicity
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well this is odd:
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LOL Just noticed this fish skeleton pattern in a wood flooring plank we installed about six years ago. An example of #Pareidolia ?
Uh-oh! TIL (via Wikipedia) #Apophenia was coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in his 1958 publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia 🤷🏻♂️
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New Portuguese-Language pages created on #RationalWiki in July:
#Português #PortugueseApelo à fé #appealtofaith #logicalfallacy #FaláciaLógica
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Apelo_%C3%A0_f%C3%A9#TDK (acrônimo para Tirei Do Ku) #PIDOOMA
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TDKViés de sobrevivência #survivorshipbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sobreviv%C3%AAnciaViés de seleção #selectionbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sele%C3%A7%C3%A3oEvidência suprimida #cherrypicking
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evid%C3%AAncia_suprimidaFalácia do holofote #spotlightfallacy
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fal%C3%A1cia_do_holofoteTeoria da cegueira deliberada #willfulignorance #denialism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teoria_da_cegueira_deliberadaPost hoc, ergo propter hoc #posthocergopropterhoc
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Post_hoc,_ergo_propter_hoc_(portugu%C3%AAs)Superstição #Superstition
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Supersti%C3%A7%C3%A3o -
New Portuguese-Language pages created on #RationalWiki in July:
#Português #PortugueseApelo à fé #appealtofaith #logicalfallacy #FaláciaLógica
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Apelo_%C3%A0_f%C3%A9#TDK (acrônimo para Tirei Do Ku) #PIDOOMA
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TDKViés de sobrevivência #survivorshipbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sobreviv%C3%AAnciaViés de seleção #selectionbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sele%C3%A7%C3%A3oEvidência suprimida #cherrypicking
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evid%C3%AAncia_suprimidaFalácia do holofote #spotlightfallacy
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fal%C3%A1cia_do_holofoteTeoria da cegueira deliberada #willfulignorance #denialism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teoria_da_cegueira_deliberadaPost hoc, ergo propter hoc #posthocergopropterhoc
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Post_hoc,_ergo_propter_hoc_(portugu%C3%AAs)Superstição #Superstition
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Supersti%C3%A7%C3%A3o -
New Portuguese-Language pages created on #RationalWiki in July:
#Português #PortugueseApelo à fé #appealtofaith #logicalfallacy #FaláciaLógica
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Apelo_%C3%A0_f%C3%A9#TDK (acrônimo para Tirei Do Ku) #PIDOOMA
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TDKViés de sobrevivência #survivorshipbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sobreviv%C3%AAnciaViés de seleção #selectionbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sele%C3%A7%C3%A3oEvidência suprimida #cherrypicking
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evid%C3%AAncia_suprimidaFalácia do holofote #spotlightfallacy
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fal%C3%A1cia_do_holofoteTeoria da cegueira deliberada #willfulignorance #denialism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teoria_da_cegueira_deliberadaPost hoc, ergo propter hoc #posthocergopropterhoc
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Post_hoc,_ergo_propter_hoc_(portugu%C3%AAs)Superstição #Superstition
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Supersti%C3%A7%C3%A3o -
New Portuguese-Language pages created on #RationalWiki in July:
#Português #PortugueseApelo à fé #appealtofaith #logicalfallacy #FaláciaLógica
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Apelo_%C3%A0_f%C3%A9#TDK (acrônimo para Tirei Do Ku) #PIDOOMA
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TDKViés de sobrevivência #survivorshipbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sobreviv%C3%AAnciaViés de seleção #selectionbias
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sele%C3%A7%C3%A3oEvidência suprimida #cherrypicking
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evid%C3%AAncia_suprimidaFalácia do holofote #spotlightfallacy
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fal%C3%A1cia_do_holofoteTeoria da cegueira deliberada #willfulignorance #denialism
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teoria_da_cegueira_deliberadaPost hoc, ergo propter hoc #posthocergopropterhoc
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Post_hoc,_ergo_propter_hoc_(portugu%C3%AAs)Superstição #Superstition
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Supersti%C3%A7%C3%A3o -
Anyone holding up a sign of a cop killer (who'll never be able to look his wife & kids in the eyes again, after singlehandedly destroying the lives of so many through the inability to connect the dots properly), only highlights their total lack of cognitive abilities too. #Auspol #Apophenia #Psych
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qgya3h4glbuzkwvod4vjshsm/post/3lxoobozytk2g -
Mordomo – Apophenia
#Apophenia #Experimental #Mordomo #Rock #ambient #ambientrock #electronic #experiemental #experimental #Lisboa
CC BY-NC-ND (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives) #ccmusic
https://mordomo.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia -
Mordomo – Apophenia
#Apophenia #Experimental #Mordomo #Rock #ambient #ambientrock #electronic #experiemental #experimental #Lisboa
CC BY-NC-ND (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives) #ccmusic
https://mordomo.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia -
Mordomo – Apophenia
#Apophenia #Experimental #Mordomo #Rock #ambient #ambientrock #electronic #experiemental #experimental #Lisboa
CC BY-NC-ND (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives) #ccmusic
https://mordomo.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia -
I had a religious experience, and I misinterpreted it. That was not a good time.
#apophenia -
I had a religious experience, and I misinterpreted it. That was not a good time.
#apophenia -
I had a religious experience, and I misinterpreted it. That was not a good time.
#apophenia -
I had a religious experience, and I misinterpreted it. That was not a good time.
#apophenia -
“It’s Only a Game, Isn’t it?”
Forging academic connections across the Pennines, last week took me to Manchester Metropolitan University for “Rituals of Play”. An international conference deftly combining gaming (in both digital and tabletop forms) with magick and the occult. This uniquely compelling focus for Manchester Game Centre’s annual Multiplatform symposium was ratified in conjunction with MMU’s Dark Arts Research Kollective, DVRK.
Bringing Ludology to Ludovico, the first day took place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation just off campus. The show of horrors commenced with “Playful Occultism”, a fascinating keynote presented by Falmouth University’s Dr. Jeff Howard. Setting the tone immediately with the proposal that any sufficiently advanced simulation of ritual can function as ritual. Games have rules, and rites have structure. The Magic Circle becomes a place of play. A performance to an act apart.
Drawing from Kenneth Grant’s Tangential Tantra, the prospect of surprise synchronicities is offered by bringing play to occult practice. Both tangent and tantrum to break the rigid conformity of ceremonial work. A critical hit to stately decorum, and counter to the agnostic conflict of prior magickal doctrine.
Practitioners of all denominations can enter flow state through play, encouraging flexible pattern-matching to attain a form of gnosis and consider possibilities otherwise unimagined. A state-shifting perspective somewhat looser than traditional dogmatic approach. The widdershins whirl of the Sufi.
With that heady opener a feast of thought, the fast-paced schedule soon moved along to papers and panels delivered from across the world. Researchers, writers, and game designers took the podium or dialled in from overseas. Discussing how faith and history may be viewed through the lens of gaming, Chthonic conspiracies carve through fact and figment, and how tools for both chance and divination find new purpose.
A common theme emerged from myriad minds across both days, that both gaming and the occult reasserted themselves through the dark years of lockdown. A cultural wound still bleeds into the present even as possibility bleeds into the real. Those disconnected try to find bonds through their endeavours – be they playful or greater. Putting creative ritual practices into their creative work, artists coped internally in their confined domestic spaces. Seeking transformative experiences through mundane acts, offering a sense of control and fun through uncertain times.
The first day culminated with an immersive installation by Newcastle’s fractals co-op. The Museum of Lost Futures presented a shattered nexus of possibilities, past and future. Narrative spontaneously weaved around scattered artefacts and photographs, with each player guided towards introspective storytelling from what they could gather.
It is no surprise that the dehumanising spectre of state surveillance arose from yesteryear’s enforced confinement.
The second day in the University proper began with the real reason I chose to attend. A Keynote by Berlin-based esoteric engineer, writer, industrial singer-songwriter and online acquaintance Karen Valis. I was first drawn to her work with Mercurial Minutes during my own dark-years dabbling in the occult aspects of AI and Machine Learning, and found her ‘Tarot of the Latent Spaces’ a parallel to my research.
“Simulation All The Way Down” presented the concept of Large Language Models (LLMs) as a feral entity, creating and collapsing the possibilities of branching reality. An unsupervised gestalt of all our stories – reflecting our narrative need for antagonist – and a shadow grimoire in dire demand of a warning label. Although these technologies can be fascinating toys, they are also terrifying in equal measure. But understand them we must for their potency to delude and destroy – lest they be weaponised against us.
Granting all a game of occultist bingo for the rest of the day, the chance to meet and converse off-schedule was eagerly indulged. Channelling Carroll with my own interpretations of Apophenia and Rumsfeld’s Paradox, I’m sure I filled a few lines by default.
Friendships were made and reinforced in these two short days. With post-lecture libations inspiring future cross-campus plans and a will to make things happen. Through the company of like-minded souls, I feel refreshed and reconnected with a specific wyrd long neglected.
Although I genuinely thought Disco Elysium was a rhythm game…
https://heathenstorm.com/2025/06/16/its-only-a-game-isnt-it/
#Blog #academia #ai #apophenia #evakadmon #gaming #karinvalis #machinelearning #magick #mercurialminutes #occult #occulture #ritual #ritualsofplay
-
“It’s Only a Game, Isn’t it?”
Forging academic connections across the Pennines, last week took me to Manchester Metropolitan University for “Rituals of Play”. An international conference deftly combining gaming (in both digital and tabletop forms) with magick and the occult. This uniquely compelling focus for Manchester Game Centre’s annual Multiplatform symposium was ratified in conjunction with MMU’s Dark Arts Research Kollective, DVRK.
Bringing Ludology to Ludovico, the first day took place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation just off campus. The show of horrors commenced with “Playful Occultism”, a fascinating keynote presented by Falmouth University’s Dr. Jeff Howard. Setting the tone immediately with the proposal that any sufficiently advanced simulation of ritual can function as ritual. Games have rules, and rites have structure. The Magic Circle becomes a place of play. A performance to an act apart.
Drawing from Kenneth Grant’s Tangential Tantra, the prospect of surprise synchronicities is offered by bringing play to occult practice. Both tangent and tantrum to break the rigid conformity of ceremonial work. A critical hit to stately decorum, and counter to the agnostic conflict of prior magickal doctrine.
Practitioners of all denominations can enter flow state through play, encouraging flexible pattern-matching to attain a form of gnosis and consider possibilities otherwise unimagined. A state-shifting perspective somewhat looser than traditional dogmatic approach. The widdershins whirl of the Sufi.
With that heady opener a feast of thought, the fast-paced schedule soon moved along to papers and panels delivered from across the world. Researchers, writers, and game designers took the podium or dialled in from overseas. Discussing how faith and history may be viewed through the lens of gaming, Chthonic conspiracies carve through fact and figment, and how tools for both chance and divination find new purpose.
A common theme emerged from myriad minds across both days, that both gaming and the occult reasserted themselves through the dark years of lockdown. A cultural wound still bleeds into the present even as possibility bleeds into the real. Those disconnected try to find bonds through their endeavours – be they playful or greater. Putting creative ritual practices into their creative work, artists coped internally in their confined domestic spaces. Seeking transformative experiences through mundane acts, offering a sense of control and fun through uncertain times.
The first day culminated with an immersive installation by Newcastle’s fractals co-op. The Museum of Lost Futures presented a shattered nexus of possibilities, past and future. Narrative spontaneously weaved around scattered artefacts and photographs, with each player guided towards introspective storytelling from what they could gather.
It is no surprise that the dehumanising spectre of state surveillance arose from yesteryear’s enforced confinement.
The second day in the University proper began with the real reason I chose to attend. A Keynote by Berlin-based esoteric engineer, writer, industrial singer-songwriter and online acquaintance Karen Valis. I was first drawn to her work with Mercurial Minutes during my own dark-years dabbling in the occult aspects of AI and Machine Learning, and found her ‘Tarot of the Latent Spaces’ a parallel to my research.
“Simulation All The Way Down” presented the concept of Large Language Models (LLMs) as a feral entity, creating and collapsing the possibilities of branching reality. An unsupervised gestalt of all our stories – reflecting our narrative need for antagonist – and a shadow grimoire in dire demand of a warning label. Although these technologies can be fascinating toys, they are also terrifying in equal measure. But understand them we must for their potency to delude and destroy – lest they be weaponised against us.
Granting all a game of occultist bingo for the rest of the day, the chance to meet and converse off-schedule was eagerly indulged. Channelling Carroll with my own interpretations of Apophenia and Rumsfeld’s Paradox, I’m sure I filled a few lines by default.
Friendships were made and reinforced in these two short days. With post-lecture libations inspiring future cross-campus plans and a will to make things happen. Through the company of like-minded souls, I feel refreshed and reconnected with a specific wyrd long neglected.
Although I genuinely thought Disco Elysium was a rhythm game…
https://heathenstorm.com/2025/06/16/its-only-a-game-isnt-it/
#Blog #academia #ai #apophenia #evakadmon #gaming #karinvalis #machinelearning #magick #mercurialminutes #occult #occulture #ritual #ritualsofplay
-
“It’s Only a Game, Isn’t it?”
Forging academic connections across the Pennines, last week took me to Manchester Metropolitan University for “Rituals of Play”. An international conference deftly combining gaming (in both digital and tabletop forms) with magick and the occult. This uniquely compelling focus for Manchester Game Centre’s annual Multiplatform symposium was ratified in conjunction with MMU’s Dark Arts Research Kollective, DVRK.
Bringing Ludology to Ludovico, the first day took place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation just off campus. The show of horrors commenced with “Playful Occultism”, a fascinating keynote presented by Falmouth University’s Dr. Jeff Howard. Setting the tone immediately with the proposal that any sufficiently advanced simulation of ritual can function as ritual. Games have rules, and rites have structure. The Magic Circle becomes a place of play. A performance to an act apart.
Drawing from Kenneth Grant’s Tangential Tantra, the prospect of surprise synchronicities is offered by bringing play to occult practice. Both tangent and tantrum to break the rigid conformity of ceremonial work. A critical hit to stately decorum, and counter to the agnostic conflict of prior magickal doctrine.
Practitioners of all denominations can enter flow state through play, encouraging flexible pattern-matching to attain a form of gnosis and consider possibilities otherwise unimagined. A state-shifting perspective somewhat looser than traditional dogmatic approach. The widdershins whirl of the Sufi.
With that heady opener a feast of thought, the fast-paced schedule soon moved along to papers and panels delivered from across the world. Researchers, writers, and game designers took the podium or dialled in from overseas. Discussing how faith and history may be viewed through the lens of gaming, Chthonic conspiracies carve through fact and figment, and how tools for both chance and divination find new purpose.
A common theme emerged from myriad minds across both days, that both gaming and the occult reasserted themselves through the dark years of lockdown. A cultural wound still bleeds into the present even as possibility bleeds into the real. Those disconnected try to find bonds through their endeavours – be they playful or greater. Putting creative ritual practices into their creative work, artists coped internally in their confined domestic spaces. Seeking transformative experiences through mundane acts, offering a sense of control and fun through uncertain times.
The first day culminated with an immersive installation by Newcastle’s fractals co-op. The Museum of Lost Futures presented a shattered nexus of possibilities, past and future. Narrative spontaneously weaved around scattered artefacts and photographs, with each player guided towards introspective storytelling from what they could gather.
It is no surprise that the dehumanising spectre of state surveillance arose from yesteryear’s enforced confinement.
The second day in the University proper began with the real reason I chose to attend. A Keynote by Berlin-based esoteric engineer, writer, industrial singer-songwriter and online acquaintance Karen Valis. I was first drawn to her work with Mercurial Minutes during my own dark-years dabbling in the occult aspects of AI and Machine Learning, and found her ‘Tarot of the Latent Spaces’ a parallel to my research.
“Simulation All The Way Down” presented the concept of Large Language Models (LLMs) as a feral entity, creating and collapsing the possibilities of branching reality. An unsupervised gestalt of all our stories – reflecting our narrative need for antagonist – and a shadow grimoire in dire demand of a warning label. Although these technologies can be fascinating toys, they are also terrifying in equal measure. But understand them we must for their potency to delude and destroy – lest they be weaponised against us.
Granting all a game of occultist bingo for the rest of the day, the chance to meet and converse off-schedule was eagerly indulged. Channelling Carroll with my own interpretations of Apophenia and Rumsfeld’s Paradox, I’m sure I filled a few lines by default.
Friendships were made and reinforced in these two short days. With post-lecture libations inspiring future cross-campus plans and a will to make things happen. Through the company of like-minded souls, I feel refreshed and reconnected with a specific wyrd long neglected.
Although I genuinely thought Disco Elysium was a rhythm game…
https://heathenstorm.com/2025/06/16/its-only-a-game-isnt-it/
#Blog #academia #ai #apophenia #evakadmon #gaming #karinvalis #machinelearning #magick #mercurialminutes #occult #occulture #ritual #ritualsofplay
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“It’s Only a Game, Isn’t it?”
Forging academic connections across the Pennines, last week took me to Manchester Metropolitan University for “Rituals of Play”. An international conference deftly combining gaming (in both digital and tabletop forms) with magick and the occult. This uniquely compelling focus for Manchester Game Centre’s annual Multiplatform symposium was ratified in conjunction with MMU’s Dark Arts Research Kollective, DVRK.
Bringing Ludology to Ludovico, the first day took place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation just off campus. The show of horrors commenced with “Playful Occultism”, a fascinating keynote presented by Falmouth University’s Dr. Jeff Howard. Setting the tone immediately with the proposal that any sufficiently advanced simulation of ritual can function as ritual. Games have rules, and rites have structure. The Magic Circle becomes a place of play. A performance to an act apart.
Drawing from Kenneth Grant’s Tangential Tantra, the prospect of surprise synchronicities is offered by bringing play to occult practice. Both tangent and tantrum to break the rigid conformity of ceremonial work. A critical hit to stately decorum, and counter to the agnostic conflict of prior magickal doctrine.
Practitioners of all denominations can enter flow state through play, encouraging flexible pattern-matching to attain a form of gnosis and consider possibilities otherwise unimagined. A state-shifting perspective somewhat looser than traditional dogmatic approach. The widdershins whirl of the Sufi.
With that heady opener a feast of thought, the fast-paced schedule soon moved along to papers and panels delivered from across the world. Researchers, writers, and game designers took the podium or dialled in from overseas. Discussing how faith and history may be viewed through the lens of gaming, Chthonic conspiracies carve through fact and figment, and how tools for both chance and divination find new purpose.
A common theme emerged from myriad minds across both days, that both gaming and the occult reasserted themselves through the dark years of lockdown. A cultural wound still bleeds into the present even as possibility bleeds into the real. Those disconnected try to find bonds through their endeavours – be they playful or greater. Putting creative ritual practices into their creative work, artists coped internally in their confined domestic spaces. Seeking transformative experiences through mundane acts, offering a sense of control and fun through uncertain times.
The first day culminated with an immersive installation by Newcastle’s fractals co-op. The Museum of Lost Futures presented a shattered nexus of possibilities, past and future. Narrative spontaneously weaved around scattered artefacts and photographs, with each player guided towards introspective storytelling from what they could gather.
It is no surprise that the dehumanising spectre of state surveillance arose from yesteryear’s enforced confinement.
The second day in the University proper began with the real reason I chose to attend. A Keynote by Berlin-based esoteric engineer, writer, industrial singer-songwriter and online acquaintance Karen Valis. I was first drawn to her work with Mercurial Minutes during my own dark-years dabbling in the occult aspects of AI and Machine Learning, and found her ‘Tarot of the Latent Spaces’ a parallel to my research.
“Simulation All The Way Down” presented the concept of Large Language Models (LLMs) as a feral entity, creating and collapsing the possibilities of branching reality. An unsupervised gestalt of all our stories – reflecting our narrative need for antagonist – and a shadow grimoire in dire demand of a warning label. Although these technologies can be fascinating toys, they are also terrifying in equal measure. But understand them we must for their potency to delude and destroy – lest they be weaponised against us.
Granting all a game of occultist bingo for the rest of the day, the chance to meet and converse off-schedule was eagerly indulged. Channelling Carroll with my own interpretations of Apophenia and Rumsfeld’s Paradox, I’m sure I filled a few lines by default.
Friendships were made and reinforced in these two short days. With post-lecture libations inspiring future cross-campus plans and a will to make things happen. Through the company of like-minded souls, I feel refreshed and reconnected with a specific wyrd long neglected.
Although I genuinely thought Disco Elysium was a rhythm game…
https://heathenstorm.com/2025/06/16/its-only-a-game-isnt-it/
#Blog #academia #ai #apophenia #evakadmon #gaming #karinvalis #machinelearning #magick #mercurialminutes #occult #occulture #ritual #ritualsofplay
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By Ferox
Written by: Nameless_N00b_89
Deivos is probably not the band you think of first when it comes to the vibrant Polish death metal scene. Vader? Sure. Behemoth?? Of course! Decapitated?! Absolutely–Winds of Creation is one of the best death metal debuts on record. I was surprised, then, to discover that Deivos has also stalked the scene for over 25 years, starting in 1997–and that Apophenia is the band’s seventh album since debuting Emanation from Below in 2006. Deivos is not a stranger to AMG, however. The mighty and missed Kronos reviewed their 2015 release, Theodicy, with little to say about any positive aspect of the album. Amply warned, and with six previous efforts from which to draw comparisons, I dove into Deivos’ catalog to see if Apophenia signaled a sign of evolution.
Deivos plays a form of death metal rife with rote brutality, which might explain their tenured anonymity. Tomasz Kołcoń’s and Piotr Bajus’ combined guitar assault, which drinks from the fount of headless brethren Decapitated, provides the requisite palm-muted chugs, infernally speedy riffs, frenetic soloing and squeaky pinch harmonics to warrant Deivos’ genre tag. Hubert Banach’s brutally gruff growls channel his inner Corpsegrinder effectively, while Stadnicki’s bass lurks beneath, surfacing with Obscura-like, low-end melodicism. Both complement the capable drum work of Krzysztof Saran, who blasts, bashes, and crashes his way through the nine tracks. While Apophenia doesn’t push the envelope or test any boundaries, there are some interesting glimmers within.
Deivos differentiate themselves by employing a sonic anomaly—the cowbell. No genre staple, this quirky bit of percussion features prominently on “Maelstrom of Decay” yet never disappears entirely, popping up here (“My Sacrifice”) and there (“Revelations,” “Persecutor”) throughout Apophenia. It’s an endearing aspect of the Deivos sound. The guitar work on opener “Feretory” sounds like an inverted take on Brodequin’s main riff from “Diabolical Edict” and makes for a compelling listen. At the same time, the bendy riff work, echoey solos, and background synths give “Sermon of Hypocrisy” a Morbid Angel feel. All things coalesce on the title track, “Apophenia,” with its sludgy, crunchy mid-section brutally bookended by pounding riffs, crushing drums, bestial vocals and two of the album’s better solos, which shred-fully shepherd the track through its pace changes.
If death metal was made of moist dough, Deivos would be the tool that cuts the cookies. Their career-encompassing aversion to adaptation and strict adherence to formula casts an “All-these-albums-sound-the-same” shadow on the catalog. Long-form songwriting is not where Deivos shines, but even when honing compositions within their three-to-five-minute wheelhouse, Deivos struggles to provide satisfying song arcs. Lackluster solos that feel tacked on (“My Sacrifice,” “De Materia Turpi”) or do nothing to move the song forward (“The Great Day of His Wrath”) further frustrate. Writing solid finishes is also something Deivos wrestles with. Tracks with abrupt endings conjure strong ‘this-seems-unresolved’ feelings (“Maelstrom of Decay,” “My Sacrifice”). At the same time, several tracks lean on the dreaded ambiently industrial outro to bring resolution (“De Materia Turpi,” “The Great Day of His Wrath,” “Persecutor”). These outros are my biggest nit to pick, not only because they take up two of the scant thirty-three minutes of the album but because they murder much of Apophenia’s momentum in the process.
Diehard Deivos fans may crown Apophenia as the band’s masterwork, and they might even be correct based on everything I’ve listened to. Deivos has certainly upped their game on Apophenia, even incorporating Lewandowski’s fantastic Angel of Death III painting as the cover art. Ironically, this decision aesthetically fits those pesky outros more than the band’s music, which still delivers a tight, brutally performed death metal package, rote as it may be. While I probably won’t return to it after I’m done here, I appreciated my time with Apophenia. I certainly enjoyed this more than Kronos did Theodicy. Two things I’d impart to Deivos: drop the superfluous industrial ambiance and, per the wise words of Christopher Walken, “I gotta have MOAR cowbell, baby!”
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Selfmadegod Records
Website: deivos.bandcamp.com|facebook.com/Deivos
Releases Worldwide: October 18, 2024#25 #2024 #Apophenia #Behemoth #Brodequin #DeathMetal #Decapitated #Deivos #MOARCowbell #MorbidAngel #Obscura #Oct24 #PolishMetal #SelfmadegodRecords #Vader
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By Ferox
Written by: Nameless_N00b_89
Deivos is probably not the band you think of first when it comes to the vibrant Polish death metal scene. Vader? Sure. Behemoth?? Of course! Decapitated?! Absolutely–Winds of Creation is one of the best death metal debuts on record. I was surprised, then, to discover that Deivos has also stalked the scene for over 25 years, starting in 1997–and that Apophenia is the band’s seventh album since debuting Emanation from Below in 2006. Deivos is not a stranger to AMG, however. The mighty and missed Kronos reviewed their 2015 release, Theodicy, with little to say about any positive aspect of the album. Amply warned, and with six previous efforts from which to draw comparisons, I dove into Deivos’ catalog to see if Apophenia signaled a sign of evolution.
Deivos plays a form of death metal rife with rote brutality, which might explain their tenured anonymity. Tomasz Kołcoń’s and Piotr Bajus’ combined guitar assault, which drinks from the fount of headless brethren Decapitated, provides the requisite palm-muted chugs, infernally speedy riffs, frenetic soloing and squeaky pinch harmonics to warrant Deivos’ genre tag. Hubert Banach’s brutally gruff growls channel his inner Corpsegrinder effectively, while Stadnicki’s bass lurks beneath, surfacing with Obscura-like, low-end melodicism. Both complement the capable drum work of Krzysztof Saran, who blasts, bashes, and crashes his way through the nine tracks. While Apophenia doesn’t push the envelope or test any boundaries, there are some interesting glimmers within.
Deivos differentiate themselves by employing a sonic anomaly—the cowbell. No genre staple, this quirky bit of percussion features prominently on “Maelstrom of Decay” yet never disappears entirely, popping up here (“My Sacrifice”) and there (“Revelations,” “Persecutor”) throughout Apophenia. It’s an endearing aspect of the Deivos sound. The guitar work on opener “Feretory” sounds like an inverted take on Brodequin’s main riff from “Diabolical Edict” and makes for a compelling listen. At the same time, the bendy riff work, echoey solos, and background synths give “Sermon of Hypocrisy” a Morbid Angel feel. All things coalesce on the title track, “Apophenia,” with its sludgy, crunchy mid-section brutally bookended by pounding riffs, crushing drums, bestial vocals and two of the album’s better solos, which shred-fully shepherd the track through its pace changes.
If death metal was made of moist dough, Deivos would be the tool that cuts the cookies. Their career-encompassing aversion to adaptation and strict adherence to formula casts an “All-these-albums-sound-the-same” shadow on the catalog. Long-form songwriting is not where Deivos shines, but even when honing compositions within their three-to-five-minute wheelhouse, Deivos struggles to provide satisfying song arcs. Lackluster solos that feel tacked on (“My Sacrifice,” “De Materia Turpi”) or do nothing to move the song forward (“The Great Day of His Wrath”) further frustrate. Writing solid finishes is also something Deivos wrestles with. Tracks with abrupt endings conjure strong ‘this-seems-unresolved’ feelings (“Maelstrom of Decay,” “My Sacrifice”). At the same time, several tracks lean on the dreaded ambiently industrial outro to bring resolution (“De Materia Turpi,” “The Great Day of His Wrath,” “Persecutor”). These outros are my biggest nit to pick, not only because they take up two of the scant thirty-three minutes of the album but because they murder much of Apophenia’s momentum in the process.
Diehard Deivos fans may crown Apophenia as the band’s masterwork, and they might even be correct based on everything I’ve listened to. Deivos has certainly upped their game on Apophenia, even incorporating Lewandowski’s fantastic Angel of Death III painting as the cover art. Ironically, this decision aesthetically fits those pesky outros more than the band’s music, which still delivers a tight, brutally performed death metal package, rote as it may be. While I probably won’t return to it after I’m done here, I appreciated my time with Apophenia. I certainly enjoyed this more than Kronos did Theodicy. Two things I’d impart to Deivos: drop the superfluous industrial ambiance and, per the wise words of Christopher Walken, “I gotta have MOAR cowbell, baby!”
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Selfmadegod Records
Website: deivos.bandcamp.com|facebook.com/Deivos
Releases Worldwide: October 18, 2024#25 #2024 #Apophenia #Behemoth #Brodequin #DeathMetal #Decapitated #Deivos #MOARCowbell #MorbidAngel #Obscura #Oct24 #PolishMetal #SelfmadegodRecords #Vader
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By Ferox
Written by: Nameless_N00b_89
Deivos is probably not the band you think of first when it comes to the vibrant Polish death metal scene. Vader? Sure. Behemoth?? Of course! Decapitated?! Absolutely–Winds of Creation is one of the best death metal debuts on record. I was surprised, then, to discover that Deivos has also stalked the scene for over 25 years, starting in 1997–and that Apophenia is the band’s seventh album since debuting Emanation from Below in 2006. Deivos is not a stranger to AMG, however. The mighty and missed Kronos reviewed their 2015 release, Theodicy, with little to say about any positive aspect of the album. Amply warned, and with six previous efforts from which to draw comparisons, I dove into Deivos’ catalog to see if Apophenia signaled a sign of evolution.
Deivos plays a form of death metal rife with rote brutality, which might explain their tenured anonymity. Tomasz Kołcoń’s and Piotr Bajus’ combined guitar assault, which drinks from the fount of headless brethren Decapitated, provides the requisite palm-muted chugs, infernally speedy riffs, frenetic soloing and squeaky pinch harmonics to warrant Deivos’ genre tag. Hubert Banach’s brutally gruff growls channel his inner Corpsegrinder effectively, while Stadnicki’s bass lurks beneath, surfacing with Obscura-like, low-end melodicism. Both complement the capable drum work of Krzysztof Saran, who blasts, bashes, and crashes his way through the nine tracks. While Apophenia doesn’t push the envelope or test any boundaries, there are some interesting glimmers within.
Deivos differentiate themselves by employing a sonic anomaly—the cowbell. No genre staple, this quirky bit of percussion features prominently on “Maelstrom of Decay” yet never disappears entirely, popping up here (“My Sacrifice”) and there (“Revelations,” “Persecutor”) throughout Apophenia. It’s an endearing aspect of the Deivos sound. The guitar work on opener “Feretory” sounds like an inverted take on Brodequin’s main riff from “Diabolical Edict” and makes for a compelling listen. At the same time, the bendy riff work, echoey solos, and background synths give “Sermon of Hypocrisy” a Morbid Angel feel. All things coalesce on the title track, “Apophenia,” with its sludgy, crunchy mid-section brutally bookended by pounding riffs, crushing drums, bestial vocals and two of the album’s better solos, which shred-fully shepherd the track through its pace changes.
If death metal was made of moist dough, Deivos would be the tool that cuts the cookies. Their career-encompassing aversion to adaptation and strict adherence to formula casts an “All-these-albums-sound-the-same” shadow on the catalog. Long-form songwriting is not where Deivos shines, but even when honing compositions within their three-to-five-minute wheelhouse, Deivos struggles to provide satisfying song arcs. Lackluster solos that feel tacked on (“My Sacrifice,” “De Materia Turpi”) or do nothing to move the song forward (“The Great Day of His Wrath”) further frustrate. Writing solid finishes is also something Deivos wrestles with. Tracks with abrupt endings conjure strong ‘this-seems-unresolved’ feelings (“Maelstrom of Decay,” “My Sacrifice”). At the same time, several tracks lean on the dreaded ambiently industrial outro to bring resolution (“De Materia Turpi,” “The Great Day of His Wrath,” “Persecutor”). These outros are my biggest nit to pick, not only because they take up two of the scant thirty-three minutes of the album but because they murder much of Apophenia’s momentum in the process.
Diehard Deivos fans may crown Apophenia as the band’s masterwork, and they might even be correct based on everything I’ve listened to. Deivos has certainly upped their game on Apophenia, even incorporating Lewandowski’s fantastic Angel of Death III painting as the cover art. Ironically, this decision aesthetically fits those pesky outros more than the band’s music, which still delivers a tight, brutally performed death metal package, rote as it may be. While I probably won’t return to it after I’m done here, I appreciated my time with Apophenia. I certainly enjoyed this more than Kronos did Theodicy. Two things I’d impart to Deivos: drop the superfluous industrial ambiance and, per the wise words of Christopher Walken, “I gotta have MOAR cowbell, baby!”
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Selfmadegod Records
Website: deivos.bandcamp.com|facebook.com/Deivos
Releases Worldwide: October 18, 2024#25 #2024 #Apophenia #Behemoth #Brodequin #DeathMetal #Decapitated #Deivos #MOARCowbell #MorbidAngel #Obscura #Oct24 #PolishMetal #SelfmadegodRecords #Vader
