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Tag: art

fogday: 9mar26

Published March 9, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Big fog day. I remember a morning, not long after I started school – probably five years old, maybe six – blanketed in thick fog. Got to school, and my classroom was a couple of floors up. And everyone was at the windows. Because the top of the fogbank was lower than the height we were at, so we could look down on the roof of the fog, and it was like walking around above the clouds. I remember that sense of surreal altitude, and that we were seeing something rare. We just walked upstairs to look down at the tops of clouds.

Can’t remember where I came across this last night, but some guy had his OpenClaw lobster build him a live dashboard for news on the Iranian conflict.

A recent NATO report defined cognitive warfare as the “manipulation of the enemy’s cognition,” involving “the use of all knowledge, strategies, and available tools to impact human behavior…. with the end goal of manipulating and altering decision-making.” Under this definition, the systems associated with technological innovation offer ripe pickings for cognitive-style warfare. Now that humans have fashioned this highly vulnerable domain, defined by the ever-deepening and increasingly structured union of humans and machines, we can no longer ignore the opportunities and threats we have built into it.

Cognitive warfare. “The Innovation System as a Disruptive Battlespace,” sure, great title. But. COGNITIVE WARFARE.

Lu Yang.

(the fog of cognitive war)

OPERATIONS: Dev day
STATUS:


READING: THE BOOK OF COMMENTARY / UNQUIET GARDEN OF THE SOUL, Alexander Kluge (UK) (US+)

I suspect that there are various spirits within me. My sister and my father are two among many. They haunt me on different floors and almost never at the same moment.


LISTENING:

Previously: Philip Jeck


MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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same river: 11feb26

Published February 11, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Sorin Neamtu

Still sick. Still raining. Both conditions seem permanent.

TODAY:

Accessions:

Picked up a sample of this last year, it was on sale yesterday.

UNIT X: HOW THE PENTAGON AND SILICON VALLEY ARE TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF WAR, Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff (UK) (US+)

STATUS: deth
READING: A FIELD GUIDE TO REALITY, Joanna Kavenna (UK) (US+)
LISTENING:


MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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i left my soul in bed: 10feb26

Published February 10, 2026 by Warren Ellis

From a new Leonora Carrington retrospective.

Getting out of bed apparently used up all the calories I had remaining in my body.

David Lynch’s estate is now eBaying some of his items.

Solar flare:

New AAASMR music radio show from Angela Winter:

TODAY:

OPERATIONS: still zero energy, so today is for scriptment – that version of scripting where you just slap down dialogue and vague directions and then go back when you feel human to convert it up into full script.
STATUS: two steps from the boneyard
READING: A FIELD GUIDE TO REALITY, Joanna Kavenna (UK) (US+)

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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ded: 3feb26

Published February 3, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Still gripped by plague. The weather outside is dismal and has been for days – the garden has become an intractable bog and I have new plants sitting in buckets of water, waiting for the possibility of me having two days without rain and the ability to move without coughing or otherwise dripping.

TODAY:

I looked at my Instagram on desktop and saw they’ve finally wrestled the algo to the point where it didn’t show me anyone I’m actually following.

This is very Andy Goldsworthy:

New Kali Malone collaboration record:

(Previous Kali Malone notes)

OPERATIONS: work is for people not drowning in their own fluids
STATUS: ded. Less than 7hrs sleep. Inbox 150. Connecting the Retro Nano to the phone and doing podcasts all day.
READING: SPIES: THE EPIC INTELLIGENCE WAR BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, Calder Walton (UK) (US+)

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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Orbits: 28jan26

Published January 28, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Hugo Canoilas

I’ve been reading newsletters. Lots of different kinds. I did that awful thing last night where I disappeared into my phone for four hours, just reading and studying and appraising. I’ve been having to rejig my own newsletter a bit this month, due to a dose of Best Laid Plans being laughed at by the universe. Because the universe is mostly dark matter.

I have a feeling I’ve seen a few people comment that there is more writing out in the world than at any time in human history. And, of course, print literature now has to jostle for money with paid Substacks and the like, just as broadcast TV now has to wrestle with streamers for every eyeball. Lots of launches, lots of decaying orbits. Space is weird right now and I’m wondering what it looks like and what’s next.

TODAY:

I did a show about dark matter once and all that still fascinates me.

Accessions:

I have a feeling I briefly met Aleks Krotoski in Brighton once, when having coffee with Ben Hammersley? Anyway, this book seems to tie into some work I’m doing right now (which I am dreadfully late on).

What was once a wild west of experimentation has wormed its way into Washington’s corridors of power. Award-winning broadcaster and academic Aleks Krotoski journeys from cult fringes to the heartlands of government to meet the moguls, effective altruists, geroscientists and entrepreneurs who are disrupting death. Along the way she encounters radical life extensionists transfusing their teenage son’s blood, transhumanists who want to upload consciousness to the cloud, biohackers flogging AI-powered wellness apps and billionaire kingmakers building brand-new nations.

THE IMMORTALISTS: THE DEATH OF DEATH AND THE RACE FOR ETERNAL LIFE, Aleks Krotoski (UK) (US+)

OPERATIONS: yesterday was a clusterfuck so today I am all in until midnight
STATUS: I am well aware that I am behind on a hundred emails
READING: SPIES: THE EPIC INTELLIGENCE WAR BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, Calder Walton (UK) (US+)
LISTENING:

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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23jan26

Published January 23, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Ay-O, “Rainbow Volcano”

Everything seems to be happening a lot, doesn’t it? I’ve barely even left the house this week because of work and weather, and yet there doesn’t seem to be enough time to either get the work done or keep up with anything else. Instagram was my last footprint in social media and I’ve hardly even looked at it lately, let alone used it. I’m supposed to be disconnecting and reading books and watching films and writing in my notebook at night and I find myself buried in news apps and newsletters and search engines (often while watching Bloomberg with one eye) until 1130pm while also writing material directly on to my phone because it’s in my hand which is the WORST habit. (IA Writer is great for that. DON’T DO IT.)

Onwards.

TODAY:

The Economist excels themselves with this haunted image:

OPERATIONS: script, foreword, prose series development, outline, newsletter,
STATUS: the girl cat is fine – apparently she’s just lost weight and assumed her ultimate form. Less overnight email than at any time in probably the last ten years.
READING: SPIES: THE EPIC INTELLIGENCE WAR BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, Calder Walton (UK) (US+)

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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16jan26

Published January 16, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Hello from out here in the Thames Delta. I haven’t written here in a few days, so I’m attempting to make a fresh start with a single daily note for a while.

TODAY:

TELEMETRY:

Accessions:

I was bad at the start of the year and bought myself a few books in Kindle sales. I presume they both do what it says on the tins.

  • THE REVOLUTIONISTS, Jason Burke (UK) (US+)
  • THE VISIONARIES, Wolfram Eilenburger (UK) (US+)

OPERATIONS: production has been, frankly, fucked this week. I have a script to land and I still need to rebuild the template for the newsletter. Two weeks into the new year and I’m at least four weeks behind.
STATUS: Haven’t been feeling my best and it’s been one of those weeks here where nobody seems to want to allow me the sole uninterrupted use of my own (very tired) brain. Best night’s sleep in a week – 8hrs 7m.
READING: SPIES: THE EPIC INTELLIGENCE WAR BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, Calder Walton (UK) (US+)
LISTENING:


MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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telemetry 15dec25

Published December 15, 2025 by Warren Ellis

pharmacopeia

Watched two episodes of LANDMAN, which were actually pretty good. I have a lot of time for Taylor Sheridan. YELLOWSTONE never quite landed with me, though I appreciate its craft and also that a part finally fits Kelly Reilly’s weird energy, but LANDMAN hits right for me, and the scripting is fascinating. Also seeing Colm Feore climbing inside a new skin was nice.

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morning computer bearish

Published December 3, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Martin Wittfooth.

OpenAI is seemingly allowing the company behind a teddy bear that engaged in wildly inappropriate conversations to use its AI models again.

In response to researchers at a safety group finding that the toymaker’s AI-powered teddy bear “Kumma” gave dangerous responses for children, OpenAI said in mid-November it had suspended FoloToy’s access to its large language models. The teddy bear was running the ChatGPT maker’s older GPT-4o as its default option when it gave some of its most egregious replies, which included in-depth explanations of sexual fetishes.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer mood swings

Published December 2, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Bea Scaccia: Mood Swings

When the combination of inside temperature, outside temperature, number of plays, distance travelled, the moon & the mood is right the car will eat the tape, as it should; it is foretold.

So true, and why I will not entertain this “tape cassette revival” bullshit. Been there done that lost too much.

The internet encourages a form of assemblage, where users collect images, memes, and bits of information under particular themes. In the Tumblr era, this practice was referred to as a user’s “aesthetic”; more recently, on TikTok, this indexing is marked by the suffix “-core” (as in cottagecore). This impulse finds its outlet on every social media platform, from Instagram’s “saved” tab to platforms dedicated to such collections, like Are.na or Pinterest. To see someone else’s curated hoard is a very personal kind of poetry. It’s also a kind of folk art: There are recognizable forms, a movement for a certain kind of reference. And yet, these aesthetic assemblages aren’t often critically examined. Few, if any, are questioning the message embedded in a mood board. What is its history, context, medium, or intent? 

If you’re heading into a haunted site with a historical story attached, ask three simple questions:

  1. Which parts of this tale are documented history, and which are tour-script lore?

  2. What here might be stagecraft, mood, or expectation at work?

  3. Am I treating someone’s tragedy with dignity while I investigate?

If your answers stay honest, your methods will too. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy ghost stories – but this is a way to enjoy them responsibly, while honouring the dead.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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