We're Building Something Different (Panoptica.ai Pop-Up Announcement)

Politics. Markets. Thanksgiving dinner.

There are so many stories, so many angles, so many ways we're supposed to think or feel scared to think.

That problem's not going away. I can't help you fix it. I'm swimming in overwhelm too.

But, I have found some hope, and it's growing.

Panoptica.ai - a joint creative project I've been working on with Ben Hunt, the Epsilon Theory crew, and a growing number of pirates, misfits, and ridiculously smart people - is almost ready for our official launch. Almost. We’re so close.

For now, a preview.

Think of it as farm-to-table content.

We know our writers, we've cultivated these relationships, and everything here is sourced with intention rather than mass-produced.

You get to come to Panoptica.ai and have a taste of voices you won't find on a menu anywhere else.

We’re showing works in all sorts of formats too - from narrative fiction, to traditional ET notes, to podcasts, poetry, and probably performance art at some point - we want Panoptica to be a place you come to find new takes on timeless stories.

I can only describe this from here with examples.

Think of these as farmers, with the best creations their house can offer.

Curated for people like us.

Aaron Gwyn, who I respect the hell out of as a writer ("Dog on the Cross" kicked my butt when I found it), we asked him behind the scenes about modern America. He came back with a (then unpublished) story about conscience and consequence called “Last of the Cowboys.”

Read it for what it is, feel it for how it sits today.

Aleichia Celestina put together a serialized exploration of human-AI relationships called "My AI Bestie." It's a deep look at digital intimacy with a post-HER commonality that anybody who's asked a personal question to a chatbot will immediately feel shaken by.

Listen to it for where it goes, and feel how it floats around you today.

Ben Hunt is back with a very Epsilon Theory stylized note called "Welcome to the Continental. We do hope you enjoy your stay." It's about systems of control and the awakenings they inevitably create - starting from the premise that the singularity already happened the moment media became irreversibly manipulated.

Work through the logic for how we got here, play it 10 steps forward to envision where this is going next.

I wrote a new essay for this too called "The Compression of America." If you think life feels inauthentic, too globalized, and smashed into too few soundbites - I have a musical story or three to tell you about, and I am brimming with hope over it. Music has the stories. Music has some solutions.

On top of that, we have a soulful look at Texas sports from Jeremy Radcliffe in "Luv Ya Blue," a pair of existential poems from Rusty Guinn, and some oldies but goodies that are on point with the Panoptica theme of "it's all in sight."

And if you look closer, yes, you'll see my podcast about introducing strangers to each other getting the headline treatment too.

This isn't reheated takes from the content industrial complex. These are stories that couldn't come from anywhere else, sourced from writers and thinkers who care more about authenticity than scale.

Come check it out.

Don't worry if you don't get it yet.

You're not supposed to.

You're just supposed to hear the stories.

And then go tell your own.