Colophon

From Yuggothic Delusions Ogdo, out October 13th, 2025.

We at the Ogdo have been accused of many things. Good taste, domestic terrorism, unreasonable markup on air loom installation, all manner of things, not all of which are true (air loom design is bespoke and according to customer needs). One thing we cannot be accused of is failing to hear out all the sides of an issue; are our readers merely rendered insensate by the monotony of the trough of life, or are they malicious to their core? Are we the best at what we do, or is there simply no competition to which our successes might be compared? Knowing the light of brilliance, we recognize it even in the wild places of the world. In the interest of learning the truth no matter where it may lead (one of) us, we (heard that Colophon on their own initiative) sat down with prominent conservative philosopher, historian, and queer theorist The Cybersmith this past spring, at the dawn of Trump's second presidency, to discuss Western Civilization, structure in the age of the metaverse, and the possibility of a Geneva Protocol for pink spiral gifs.

Colophon: This isnt a question, I just want to say I'm sorry Keir Starmer got elected. Nobody deserves that.

The Cybersmith: Thank you. I just got banned on tumblr again :(

Colophon: I'm very sorry to hear that. What I have seen of Mullenweg's various tenures indicates a man bent upon petty tyranny and the mandatory stroking of his own ego, rather than the truth or encouraging thought. Not to be hypocritical here, but I must say it was a wise move of mine to reach out to you, given Tumblr's penchant for repeatedly burning its own libraries. Speaking of disastrous management, it seems fair to say that Europe is in political, and perhaps also cultural, crisis. Curbing immigration has not had especially dramatic results. What do you suppose might be needed to resolve it? If I'm being honest, specifically I'm curious about your project of unifying Britain by invading France and sorting out the whole “revolution” business once and for all. Are the French culturally worth saving? Their orthography is consistent but dreadful; I posit this is a sign of an intractable moral turpitude.

The Cybersmith: We need to undo many of the structural changes to our governmental systems, going back hundreds of years in some cases. Whether France is worth saving is not the issue: we aren't comparing France with nothing, we are comparing it with a hypothetical extended Algeria.

Colophon: You have such a unique posting style, between your colorful examples and your broad subject matter, both historical and timely. You've said before that you live honestly, openly and without the burden of shame, which I believe, but I'm curious about the extent to which you are aware of this gift and its rarity.

The Cybersmith: It's not common. Maybe it never was. Sincerity is a hard standard to live up to. But that's not a gift, that's a commitment.

Colophon: Valor grows in the soil of struggle, it's true. You have few contemporaries who are active in similar spaces in similar ways, but there is a strong sense that you see yourself in terms of your historical precedents, and much of your language use verges on or lapses into anachronism. Do you see this as in any way in tension with your forward thinking as an engineer?

The Cybersmith: No. Growth is iterative. Kylo Ren was wrong, that's the point of the Last Jedi, you don't move forwards by killing the past, any more than you heighten a tower by demolishing its foundations.

Colophon: You have become something of a fashion icon. Maybe fifteen years ago we really started to see a resurgence in looks from the turn of the 20th century, but very few men have managed to pull this look off daily, as you have. I notice yours has evolved from the bowler days in recent photos — the bowtie is more prominent, which complements the glasses nicely. How do you see your fashion journey over time, in the manner of someone like Dr. Peterson's suit evolution?

The Cybersmith: My aesthetic actually IS 20th century, just very early 20th century, honestly more Edwardian than Victorian. Well, part of it is that my body changed shape. I have gained a lot of weight, and I adjusted my style to that. If I manage to slim down, or if ai gain muscle, I may adjust the shape and outline again to match. I also have had more disposable income than I did when I was a student, so I have bought things I couldn't afford then.

Colophon: Could you describe which part of Western Civilization (however you may wish to parse it out) in particular is your favorite and why?

The Cybersmith: Someone, I'm not sure exactly who, once described Western Civilization as the three-way fusion of Greco-Roman Philosophy (this is where we get our scientific curiosity and unparalleled understanding of the universe from), Judeo-Christian Morality, (this is where we get our notion of universal rights from) and Anglo-Saxon Law (this is where we get our judicial system, with ideals such as the double-jeopardy principle). I think, in particular, our system of non-overlapping magisteria and limited government via checks and balances (IMO, originating in the ecclesiastical/temporal distinction during the medieval period) is excellent, I want to keep that.

Colophon: Naturally I think of Ben Shapiro's stressing of “Jerusalem and Athens,” and the inclusion of Anglo-Saxon legal principles would be familiar to him from his law school education. I can't be entirely certain this is the precise source you're describing, but it is certainly a topic he's discussed at length.

The Cybersmith: I think it might have been Bill Whittle.

Colophon: Jung seemingly has much more in common than Freud does with older thinkers, Freud being more of a valueless modern, I think you'd say. However, I wonder precisely because it does go back to mythology, which you're on record as seeing as of one kind with history and philosophy, what you suppose the relevance of Oedipus might have for us today. It was taboo, naturally, but it was also a royal marriage.

The Cybersmith: I think people misunderstand the marriage's role in the myth. Oedipus didn't want to marry his mother, he went to extreme lengths to AVOID it. However, it was fated, his efforts to avoid the inevitable ultimately made the inevitable worse. It's not really a story about incest, it's a story about mankind's relationship to the unavoidable.

Colophon: In Greek mythology, we have the example of Zeus turning into a swan and seducing Leda. in Norse mythology we have the example of Loki turning into a mare and becoming pregnant by way of the stallion Svadilfari. Māyādevī dreamed of a white elephant disappearing into the right side of her womb, and just as with white elephants today, this one turned out to be an awkward gift, the infant Buddha, who was a blessing in some ways, but de facto ended his royal line because all his family members (including his son) joined the monastic sangha and renounced reproduction. At the same time, pizzled animals are very important in heraldry, and rulers are typically associated with virile animals. You yourself use terms like “land of the dragon” and “land of the eagle.” Might we then consider “furries” in line with Indo-Aryan mythological motifs? I'm curious how you see the concept of animal aspects in modern culture.

The Cybersmith: I think you definitely could make that connection, but we have to remember that modern-day people's relationship to animals is often mostly theoretical, and the associations we draw are different. A horse meant something different to someone who relies on it for food, transportation, and clothing than it does to someone who sees it as a rich person's status symbol.

Colophon: It is quite true that horses most especially played a very different role in society up until extremely recently, and I note that there are certain figures associated with animals such as horses which get either outsized artistic representation, high degrees of veneration, or both, for example, centaurs in Greece, Hayagriva in both India and Tibet, etc. At the same time, the first figurines we've found with animal traits apparently depict lions, and frequently the heavens end up sending figures with the features of rarer beasts. Do you suppose this changing dynamic plays into the distribution of animal forms people select for today?

The Cybersmith: Quite possibly. The human population becoming more urbanised has definitely affected this, as has the reduction in the relative populations of some of these creatures... take bears, for instance. They were often taboo. Certain cultures that live near the North Pole once wouldn't even speak of polar bears. In ancient Europe it was nearly a curse. Now, bears are less of a danger to most people, they don't evoke that sense of fear.

Colophon: Useful context when considering the semiotics of incidents like Appenzell, Switzerland nearly going to war with its neighbor St. Gallen over forgetting the pizzle from the bear on its coat of arms, and that was in 1579, relatively recently given the urbanization of central Europe I'd say. We could go on (I think of how, say, common prey species like mice end up depicted as predatory in works like Krazy Kat or the protagonists in, say, Mickey Mouse or Warner Brothers cartoons), though of course I don't want to pull you from the other questions.

The Cybersmith: Relatively recently in industrial terms, but Europe's wildlife and plants had been managed and cultivated for centuries.

Colophon: You are strongly in favor of hereditary monarchies (and sorry about the Queen’s recent passing by the way, I know it was some years back but of course countries must take sufficient time to grieve). Let's say that countries agree to hereditary monarchy but only on condition that their succession is elective gavelkind. Would this be a deal you would willingly take, or would the inevitable balkanization reverse its theoretical gains?

The Cybersmith: Honestly, I think the balkanisation isn't inevitable, this just heavily incentivises having only one viable heir. The counter-incentives that prevented this when elective gavelkind was more common don't exist as much any more, the Late Queen Elizabeth II didn't have very many sons, nor does Charles II, and one of his sons has functionally disinherited himself. It might vary in some other cultures, but in practice, I think this [would] just become Agnatic-Cognatic Primogeniture nowadays.

Colophon: It's been proposed that Elon Musk receive a region of the US as his personal holding as a sort of reverse sanctuary city, in which his word would be law. This would represent the return of landed nobility in all but name. With that said, there's also the risk that a left-leaning demagogue such as AOC or George Soros could not only become landed, but start arming levies. A heroic life involves risk, of course. Is this risk worth it for Elon? Relatedly, let’s suppose AOC invited you to her redoubt as her guest in a sharp but motherly way. How might you respond?

The Cybersmith: George Soros will be dead soon, but this is the principle of competition. Let the best fiefdom win.

Colophon: Do you see “technofeudalism” (perhaps a clunky term, though readily understood) taking off in America, and, if so, how might this intersect with European aristocracy, old or new?

The Cybersmith: Well, I think if the laws around company towns are relaxed, and local currencies/scrip can be used (with crypto, this would be simple) the USA's geography already lends itself to allowing some degree of technofeudalism. There's no reason that UK aristocrats, some of whom live in the USA, like Prince Harry, couldn't get in on this. A hapsburg company town in the rockies would be a good start.

Colophon: Without overly burdening you with a term you may not completely agree with, undoubtedly you are the most prominent public ‘chaser’ (of trans women and others) in the modern era. HalimedeMF lacks your breadth and Vaush lacks your depth, besides which I have never seen him willing to go the distance financially for sex workers, so how much does he really respect working women? You definitely are willing to go the financial distance, and this is commendable, we might even say noble. Chasers, by whatever name, have few role models. At the same time, this openness of yours gets a lot of pushback socially, which is common for people ahead of their time. I wonder how you conceive of the role you end up playing, given that you are something of a skeptic of identity labels as they’ve been conceived. How would you conceive of your role this way?

The Cybersmith: I've used the term “transfemininity enthusiast” in the past, I prefer that to “chaser”.

Colophon: Speaking of trans women, your plan for a milk-for-benefits scheme seems especially relevant today between increasing institutional barriers to transition in multiple countries, and a changing milk market, including pushes to make raw milk more widely available to consumers. Dr. Peterson even went as far as to suggest that the government in China has been milking men, which is quite a claim, but does suggest there might be interest in proposals such as yours. Bodybuilders already prize grey-market human milk for being a complete food, nutritionally speaking. Do you see a future for the human milk market?

The Cybersmith: Having analysed the situation, probably not. It just doesn't scale effectively. Unfortunate, but true.

Colophon: You seem especially forward-thinking about the need for prophylaxis on this front, but for our less vigilant readers, some of whom may already be struggling to stay cis, what is sissy hypno? Why is it such a dangerous weapon in unregulated hands?

The Cybersmith: It's a form of cognitohazard that seems to alter the brain's sense of identity and purpose. An unknown number of men have already been affected. It's dangerous for the same reason any cognitohazard is dangerous: we use our minds to solve problems, we are ill-equipped to handle problems that alter our minds.

The Cybersmith: In much the same way that the best way to protect your PC from a rootkit is not to let the rootkit get installed, and the best way for photosensitive epileptics to avoid seizures is not to see flashing lights, the best way to protect against Sissy Hypno is simply not to see or hear it. For that reason, it should be illegal to expose people unless it's clearly marked as such with an explicit opt-out facility. If something autoplays or auto-displays, using it to transmit sissy hypnosis to an unsuspecting, unconsenting person should be a crime. In Britain, we have “Zach's Law”. Similar wording could apply to this, for example:

“It is an offence for a person to send an electronic communication consisting of or including visual or auditory hypnotic patterns, without reasonable excuse, where either condition 1 or condition 2 is met: • Condition 1 is that at the time the communication is sent, it was reasonably foreseeable that a biologically male person who identifies as a man would be among the individuals who would view it and the sender intended that such an individual would undergo a change of gendered behaviour or expression as a result of viewing the visual or auditory hypnotic patterns. • Condition 2 is that when sending the communication, the sender believed that an individual whom the sender knew or suspected to be a biologically male person who identifies as a man would, or might, view it and the sender intended that individual would undergo a change of gendered behaviour or expression as a result of viewing the visual or auditory hypnotic patterns.”

Colophon: Do you suppose its emergence was intentional, or do you suppose it escaped a well-meaning initial containment between enthusiasts for whom its contents were already true? Much of MKUltra took place—that we know of—before the advent of gifs.

The Cybersmith: Gifs are just a convenient delivery mechanism, in theory, one could use an old fashioned shadow-projector from the 1800s.

Colophon: Still, the conditioning aspect of sissy hypno seems to also be the means by which it replicates, prion-like. It seems difficult to imagine that it could be deployed as a weapon without exposure to the wielder. I suppose that could be elided via femdoms, but only in certain cases, especially more modern fare where programming seems to be highly sophisticated.

The Cybersmith: That only requires one person to “take one for the team” so to speak.

Colophon: Both good points. Its efficacy does show a remarkable level of engineering.

The Cybersmith: Some people engage with [sissy hypno] recreationally or therapeutically, I am not trying to ban that.

Colophon: I take it as a given you don't intend to intrude on legitimate use. A powerful technology always presents some promise of proper use.

(The Cybersmith gives a thumbs up response)

Colophon: Didn't they try something like shadow projector feminization in Revolutionary Girl Utena?

The Cybersmith: ?

Colophon: Personal musing, sorry. Anyway!

Colophon: You've talked about the obsolescence of physical proximity in the modern age, but you also stress the importance of historical forms of social organization and the potential fallout from their erosion. For example, in your discussions about the benefits of Roman architecture and aesthetics, you highlight the disastrous consequences of the urban rearing of large volumes of farm animals in the 14th century which gave rise to plague conditions which may not have been present at such a scale in the prevailing material and architectural conditions of antiquity. You might agree that the rulers of the modern world have “stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe.” Does the vernacular—any vernacular—have a future in a world where the flesh is increasingly a relic or mere vessel?

The Cybersmith: Digital structures are still structures, they still shape how we interact and live. Digital relation structures are not all intrinsically identical. New vernaculars will form, new means of relating to and organising, as distinct from one another as the difference between urban and rural living was in previous generations. Even if we are all just brains in jars by 2200, the network architectures and software protocols and applications we use will still stru ture our societies. Flesh was one platform, and there were different paradigms within that platform. A new platform brings new paradigms, not total homogeneity. As an example, consider that tumblr, reddit, and X are all social media websites, but they fundamentally encourage different types of interaction.

Colophon: Would you consider yourself a transhumanist? Your apparent adherence to an idea of historical yuga-like cycles to human development leaves the door open to those cycles varying perhaps rather wildly depending on initial conditions; restoring humanity from North Sentinel Island looks very different from restoring it based on a Martian enclave, and if by then most of humanity exists in digital form and everyone looks sort of like the posthumans in Batman Beyond, our very ideas of what collapse looks like might be unrecognizable. Do you suppose there’s a telos, somewhere these cycles are going?

The Cybersmith: There MIGHT be a Telos, but I don't think, in practice, we can know it from within the process. I am a transhumanist, but I have issues with some major aspects of the most dominant Transhumanist paradigms.

Colophon: On multiple occasions, you have indicated that there is something in science fiction works which mirrors the material truth of history, such as elements of Dr. Who and Star Wars being historically plausible. Is there a mechanism by which these truths become embedded in these works?

The Cybersmith: Less “embedded” and more “reflected”. Truth, real Truth, is platonic. It's like a circle. You can define one, but you can't show me a circle, you can just show me approximations of a circle, if I zoom in close enough, I'll realise it's not a real circle. Draw, it, paint it, sculpt it, it doesn't mater. Even if I have to zoom in to the atomic level, I'll see that it's not a circle, it just reflects the platonic ideal of circle-ness. This material reality is a distorted reflection of Truth. Doctor who is a distorted reflection of Truth. Star Wars is a distorted reflection of Truth. None of them are the Truth. None of them are entirely NOT the Truth. The only way to get the best possible view of the Truth, because you can't directly look at it, is to look at different reflections, different distortions, and try to sort out what's connecting them. This is Modal Realism.

Colophon: I take you to mean worlds of fiction are no more unreal than the sensory realm, both equally capable of reflecting truth, without direct access thereto, excepting that we recognize reflected truths by noting resonance between distortions and proceeding at first by induction. The way you use “modal realism” implies that possible worlds are not merely real in some independent sense but accessible, and that this inductive process is a means to approach a form. Is that about right?

The Cybersmith: Not necessarily. It means that possible worlds are no more or less intrinsically capable of telling us the truth than impossible or confirmed worlds.

Colophon: What are other transhumanists getting wrong about this?

The Cybersmith: My issue with most transhumanists is different, it's more that I don't believe in the idea of a “singularity”. Change is almost always incremental. Honestly, even if we do create AGI soon, I think you could argue that it was a less important inflection point than antiseptics or antibiotics. both of which gave us far more practical control over our physical natures than AGI. People SERIOUSLY underestimate how bad post-operative infection used to be as a source of death, and how many medical procedures nowadays are literally only possible because cutting people open is no longer more dangerous than russian roulette.

Colophon: Before we conclude, I'm perfectly happy to hear any parting thoughts or advice you might have for our readers, who certainly need it, low though their capacity to understand it or put it to practice may be.

The Cybersmith: Things are, in many ways, bad. They will, in many ways, worsen. But they've been worse before. Get a sense of historical perspective, and remember what those before you overcame.

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