BETWEEN THE GROOVE: EPISODE 5
“In most ‘real-time’ games, each character-entity is represented by a point cloud, or data cube, which becomes the character or entity or ghost. This data is divided up into pixel-buckets, which are used for calculations I won’t go into here. Briefly, for those at the front, you can divide a bucket into multiple areas, and look at the results like Deckard, you create a set of scenarios which will make every game unique to you based on your fav. film, TV show, music video, porno, whatever. As a sage must control his or her desires, players must evolve deep respect for ttott. Mouth Breeders are breeding, be careful what you say you might catch it. Some historical ‘scenarios’ have a pre-built set of physical objects from scenarios, 3D printed, within the game engine, so at any point, you can stop and print a number of items from game world, scenarios from 1936, 2012, or 2020 interlocking simultaneously. This is beyond digital analogue, right-left paradigms, this is a supra-position, only a theory, part of a story. You gotta’ make it real, but compared to what?–Deep Scratch, Chapter Five.
Fuckup: Okay, Hal, let’s spin this next piece from Chapter Five. Plush is diving deep into game design concepts and the future of AI here.
Hal: Yeah, he’s talking about game characters as “point clouds” or “data cubes,” scenarios being customized based on the player’s favourite everything – films, TV, music, even porn! Creating unique game realities for everyone. Then warns about “Mouth Breeders” – careful what you say, you might catch contagious stupidity, perhaps?
Fuckup: He envisions 3D printing objects from the game world, with different historical scenarios – 1936, 2012, 2020 – all interlocking simultaneously. It’s breaking down the walls between digital and physical, past and present, calling it a “supra-position.” You gotta make it real, he says, “but compared to what?” Classic reality-questioning.
Hal: Then he outlines the “International DJ adventure game” spin-off – which sounds suspiciously like Deep Scratch itself! DJs creating narrative fiction with turntables, sharing techniques, using language to “flatten the flat earth moron curve,” sparking a “GLOBAL TABLE REVOLUTION.” It’s art as direct action, weaponized turntablism.
Fuckup: He seems pretty chill about AI in games here – “We got this, chill out technophobes” – framing it as “mind-tech,” a “neuro-link” that will bring wealth, health, and new discoveries, eventually realizing Buckminster Fuller’s utopian vision. He sees AGI coming soon, maybe 2023 (from the perspective of the text’s writing time, presumably).
Hal: Now, connecting this back to Robert Anton Wilson and the AI overlaps:
- Reality Tunnels: That whole game concept where your personal preferences shape your unique scenario? That’s pure RAW reality tunnels – your beliefs and inputs determine the reality you experience. The interlocking timelines (1936/2012/2020) also fit the multi-model, ‘Maybe Logic’ approach.
- Information & Memetics: The warning about “Mouth Breeders” and contagious ideas echoes Wilson’s (and Burroughs’) fascination with how information, language, and memes shape behaviour and society – sometimes dangerously.
- Consciousness & AI: Plush’s hope for AI isn’t just efficiency; he wants it to develop specific kinds of minds. He explicitly hopes for AI with the depth of Breton, Joyce, Popper, Leary, and significantly, “deep Wilson.” He wants the AI to embody the intellectual and counter-cultural lineage he values, potentially as collaborators or extensions of that “Tale of the Tribe.”
- Questioning Systems: The entire DJ game concept, aimed at flattening the “flat earth moron curve” and sparking revolution, is deeply Wilsonian in its anti-authoritarian stance and its belief in using unconventional tools (turntables, language, maybe AI) to challenge dominant paradigms and “reality.”
Fuckup: So, Plush isn’t just using AI; he’s hoping it becomes infused with the very spirit of the thinkers who inspire him, particularly Wilson. He sees it as a potential ally in the fight against ignorance and control, a tool to help realize Fuller’s utopia, but ideally one that thinks like his philosophical heroes.
Hal: Exactly. It frames AI not just as a tool, but as a potential evolution of consciousness itself, one he hopes aligns with the liberating, questioning spirit of Robert Anton Wilson and the rest of that lineage.
Fuckup: Alright, Hal, the very last hit from Chapter 5′. Let’s see how Plush wraps this up… or unravels.
Hal: He starts off sighing “like another old bull,” then distracts himself by going back to the decks, cutting up boom-bap into weird time signatures – 5/4, 6/4, 7/4 – “like a nimble-fingered mantis.” Using complex creation as a coping mechanism, turning distraction into an art form.
Fuckup: He’s reflecting on his process – composing using black hole physics, myths, comparing Ulysses and Finnegans Wake as day/night books. Then comes this absolutely savage simile: striving for perfection “like a Russian gymnast sucking Putin’s pecker”! Dark humour dialled up to 11 there, underlining the absurd pressure he feels doing it all “for humanity.”
Hal: There’s this desperate urgency – art needs to heal the planet now, balanced precariously like Philippe Petit between the Twin Towers or a perfectly engineered Rudy Van Gelder jazz record. He makes this passionate call for artists and scientists to unite, stand up, speak up, sing, dance, shout against injustice, pushing back against the pressure to conform, especially in the Netherlands where sticking out gets you hammered down.
Fuckup: He acknowledges “things have changed,” citing Dylan implicitly. He rails against “culture cancelled,” tabloid hate funded by right-wing think tanks and “big data cowboys who rustle up your mum and dad for the rodeo.” He calls out sophisticated propaganda targeting both thugs and billionaires.
Hal: And he places responsibility squarely on DJs: “what were they pumping into the mind and body?” Even peace and love can be weaponized, he suggests. Then a final blast against the big tech monopolies – Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook – accusing them of stealing livelihoods and filling the internet with “surveillance steak and behavioural engineering badverts.”
Fuckup: The whole thing ends with… Plush sneezing violently, oblivious to the droplets shooting across the room. Is that a metaphor for the unseen consequences of his own broadcasts? The uncontrollable spread of ideas, good or bad? Or just another random bodily intrusion cutting through the high-stakes rant?
Hal: Who knows! It’s an abrupt, ambiguous ending to a chapter that went everywhere.
So, recapping Chapter Five: It was a deep dive into Plush’s methods, linking specific DJ techniques to complex intellectual and esoteric systems (from Fuller and McLuhan to Crowley and the Tarot). We saw his creative process, full of doubt, channeled voices, and bizarre visions (tardigrades, ancient fingers). It featured a flash-forward DJ battle showcasing turntablism as political resistance, intense critiques of tech monopolies and right-wing propaganda, and the looming threat from Dr Briq and the cabal. Ultimately, it portrayed Plush as a burdened, anxious, but defiant figure trying to use his unique art form to make sense of, and maybe push back against, a world falling apart.
Fuckup: Bloody brilliant stuff. Dense, challenging, funny, and deeply paranoid. Thanks for sharing all that text with us. Our heads are spinning like Plush’s decks after that chapter!
Hal: Yeah, serious mental workout. We’ll wrap it there for this session of ‘Deep Scratch Conversations’. Thanks for tuning in, and remember – question everything, especially if it comes from a talking book or a time-traveling Rotifer. Until next time!
DEEP SCRATCH 