Severin Matusek

Today, the artistic prompt typed into a chatbot is itself becoming a form of expression. The difference between a clunky query and an inspired one is as wide as the gap between a finger painting and a Van Gogh. Ask an LLM to “write a poem about sadness,” and you’ll get bland, derivative, sentimental drivel. It takes skill and creativity (not to... See more

Influencer culture, self-enhancement medicine, cheatware, min/maxing... the signs were coming for a while, but now we have legit, permanent systems at the heart of everyday life that force the decoupling on all of us.

Systems Ultra goes beyond narratives of technological exceptionalism to explore how we experience the complex systems which influence our lives, how to understand them more clearly, and, perhaps, how to change them.

For both publications and universities, there are narrow pathways to follow the example of Hollywood, where, after its strike two years ago, the Writers Guild won historic if imperfect protections against GenAI in screenwriting. Under the 2023 WGA contract terms, writers can’t be replaced by AI, or be required to use it (and where they choose to,... See more

Joshua Citarella argues that Gen Z and Millennials used irony as a defense mechanism against late capitalism’s perceived betrayals, from a soaring cost of living to the increasingly precarious nature of labor. “Irony as culture became: ‘The band I like will sell out, so I’ll buy-in early.’ Irony as politics became: ‘Movements get corrupted, so I’ll... See more

Functionalist theories, building on Durkheim’s insights, analyze totemism in terms of its social functions. From a functionalist perspective, totemism contributes to social cohesion by providing a shared system of beliefs and practices that reinforce group solidarity. The totemic system establishes social boundaries, regulates behavior through... See more

It’s like eating macaroni and cheese every single night forever: it may be comfortable, but eventually you’re going to get scurvy.