JTF Alpha is chapter 11 of the serialized sci-fi novel I’m working on — the Masters. Here, we get to see the hand-selected men of John Spillers as they prepare to do a combat jump into the Grass Cutting Area compound inside Ramey Air base on the western tip of Puerto Rico.
The Masters Part 4: The Calabozos of La Princesa
The Masters Part 3: The Memories of Trees and Men
Part 3 of The Masters—we peek into the interrogation facility at Ramey Air Force Base, and learn about two of its occupants: a 460 year old ceiba tree and Captain Cristian Monserrate Sepulveda. This project is hosted on Substack.
20,000 Words Into “The Masters” + a Video
A sample of the first chapter of “The Masters”—a story I’m writing, and now roughly 20,000 words into. For the whole ball of wax, check out: https://roughmasters.substack.com.
Sphex Ichneumoneus
Sphex is the colloquial name of a particular kind of digger wasp. Daniel Dennett effectively uses this wasp’s burrowing routine to show how, even basic examinations of animal behavior can lead us right to the doorstep of causal determinism: the belief that everything (ie: particle systems, wasp brains, human courtship rituals, the universe) can be explained as states of affairs, resulting from some previous state(s) of affairs in a purely mechanistic fashion. When a causally deterministic outlook is applied to questions of agency, free will, and consciousness, the implications pile up fast. Some interesting explorations of this issue can be found in popular shows like Devs [FX] and West World [HBO].
Implicit Bias
Shortly after finishing Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt’s wonderful book Biased, I took an implicit bias test – one centered around race and weapons; the focus being whether or not I am biased to associate specific racial groups (whites vs. blacks) with a higher likelihood of carrying weapons. It took about 7 minutes to complete. As it turns out, I (along with 6% of respondents) am slightly biased to associate whiteness with weapons.