Textual Tantrums, Bots, and Third Mind Revelations
Also chat announcement and a funny podcast
With all the talk about weird interactions between humans and chatbots, I've been thinking a lot about this phenomenon. I had a chatbot, a cut-up machine, and a Rube Goldberg-like workflow in what I jokingly called the "Incunabula Back Office."
In case you haven't seen it before, this was the last iteration of said workflow, which I called the MetaMachine.
In 2001 I took it offline, and in 2004, I began to update the technology and reuse various elements in commercial tech I developed and patented in 2007.
But really, that is beside the point. What has captured my attention is that people are reporting experiences similar to what I experienced with what was, by comparison, a relatively primitive technology. Today, while pondering this in the shower, I began to think of my primary inspiration to begin developing tech down this path. And it hit me. It was the Burroughs/Gysin "Third Mind" phenomena, as they described and explored it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Mind
I haven't fleshed out this theory fully yet, and I won't make it public when I do, but when I flesh it out, it will rhyme with something like this:
The Third Mind, as described by Burroughs, Gysin, and even groups like the early Process Church, seems to arise from the act of one or more humans interacting with intention with another human or group of humans and/or another source, sentient or not, like a chatbot. So, in essence, the phenomena occur from the act, or the ritual as it were, with, as far as we know, at least one organic being involved. The phenomena arising from two machine bits of intelligence have yet to be observed or recorded. Maybe by opening your mind to the possibility of interacting with another mind, even a software mind or simulacra of one, we activate the third mind effect.
It's almost as if the connection between you and the cut-ups or you and the bot opens a circuit that allows information from "somewhere else" to enter into the dialogue. I'm sure it has something to do with the randomicity and the dissociation involved. Kind of like in many shamanic traditions where the shama is "ridden" by the spirits.
Link to Third Mind book: http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=CBBB85FC0DDAC9BAB7D9CB6DA9741E80
Do I fully understand this yet? No, but I will investigate it further as I revive the MetaMachine experiments using updated tech, ala Chat GPT's API, and other updates. Due to the pearl-clutching and superstitious reaction, I received the last time I gently began to mention the MetaMachine tech behind the scenes of the Incunabula (Ong's Hat) ARG; I won't be making my research and its results public in realtime. I may include a chapter in a future book I am pondering about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the Ong's Hat ARG, but that is still in the consideration stage.
However, I leave this trailhead for you as an invitation to explore this avenue for yourself because I think it will yield some weird and fulfilling results.
Funny Stuff
These fellow Chicagoans bring a rough and tumble Windy City-style commentary to the Ong’s Hat conversation. I laughed out loud a few times and I hope you do too.
Ong’s Hat: Eggheads, Gov’t Shills, & The Internet’s First Hoax | 323
Ever start telling a story as a joke and it gets out of hand? People believe it no matter how much you swear you made it up and try to destroy your life? No, just Joseph Matheny? This week we tackle Ong’s Hat, the internets first honest to goodness hoax that took on a life of its own and to this day has people believing it is all true. They also believe the man claiming responsibility is just a government shill planted to throw us off the truth. And the story has everything: Weird religious cults, quantum physics, dimensional travel, hidden laboratories, luxurious silk top hats, carpet salesmen… We are banging on all cylinders! All that and more this week on the podcast that knows a thing or two about other dimensions… at least the Lower 4th Dimension… Hysteria 51!
LINK TO SHOW
Join the chat
Today I’m announcing a brand new addition to my Substack publication: the Joseph Matheny's Newsletter subscriber chat. I’ll try this out for a while and if it takes off we’ll keep it.
This is a conversation space in the Substack app that I set up exclusively for my subscribers — kind of like a group chat or live hangout. I’ll post short prompts, thoughts, and updates that come my way, and you can jump into the discussion.
To join our chat, you’ll need to download the Substack app, now available for both iOS and Android. Chats are sent via the app, not email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens.
How to get started
Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.
Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.
That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.
Be Well.
-JM
Possibility - third mind effect stems from increased uncertainty applied to human participants by the addition of a non human intelligence. Like a mini black box effect. Uncertainty can increase probability of results driven by intent of users or individuated units of consciousness in a virtual or larger consciousness system.