Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
@sethcooke.bsky.social
filling noise with space
https://sethcooke.bandcamp.com
https://everycontactleavesatrace.bandcamp.com
speculation mine
Bristol, UK
https://sethcooke.bandcamp.com
https://everycontactleavesatrace.bandcamp.com
speculation mine
Bristol, UK
Pinned
COLDSTREAM EMPIRE - my new album, out today.
One 12'42" recording, subject to classifiers and erasure, repeated five times.
everycontactleavesatrace.bandcamp.com
One 12'42" recording, subject to classifiers and erasure, repeated five times.
everycontactleavesatrace.bandcamp.com
Every year I keep a listening list. If I like a record, it goes on; if I keep on liking it, it stays on. Random order, new & reissues jumbled. Three rules - it came out this year, no catch up via other people's lists, list ain't done until the year is done. Here's the list for 2025. Happy New Year!
December 31, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Every year I keep a listening list. If I like a record, it goes on; if I keep on liking it, it stays on. Random order, new & reissues jumbled. Three rules - it came out this year, no catch up via other people's lists, list ain't done until the year is done. Here's the list for 2025. Happy New Year!
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
nothing grounds me like the cuneiform spreadhseet. I often just look at it and space out
December 31, 2025 at 12:39 AM
nothing grounds me like the cuneiform spreadhseet. I often just look at it and space out
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
Most anticipated book of 2026:
Maintenance of Everything: Part One by Stewart Brand
Maintenance of Everything: Part One by Stewart Brand
December 30, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Most anticipated book of 2026:
Maintenance of Everything: Part One by Stewart Brand
Maintenance of Everything: Part One by Stewart Brand
Surely what's missing is the bit where "a shaken Mosley" turns down the job because he's 100% super uncomfortable with "his family's dark past" being paraded in a manner that feels somehow fundamental to the role? Otherwise wouldn't the story read like some kind of horrific homecoming?
December 29, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Surely what's missing is the bit where "a shaken Mosley" turns down the job because he's 100% super uncomfortable with "his family's dark past" being paraded in a manner that feels somehow fundamental to the role? Otherwise wouldn't the story read like some kind of horrific homecoming?
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
I remember all too little of the interviews I did with rock stars when I was briefly employed as the music critic for a national newspaper, but there is this.
December 29, 2025 at 9:33 PM
I remember all too little of the interviews I did with rock stars when I was briefly employed as the music critic for a national newspaper, but there is this.
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
Bluesky is the new place to go for high-level political discussions because half of the pundits, for lack of a better word, have credentials like "Guy who plays in a Portland post-punk band". "Professional video editor in San Diego". "Commodities trader in Nova Scotia". "Person named Sharon"
December 29, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Bluesky is the new place to go for high-level political discussions because half of the pundits, for lack of a better word, have credentials like "Guy who plays in a Portland post-punk band". "Professional video editor in San Diego". "Commodities trader in Nova Scotia". "Person named Sharon"
I feel as though Facebook has vertically integrated and automated @gailsimone.bsky.social. Endless genAI provocations prompting geeky guys to lecture and argue.
December 29, 2025 at 8:33 PM
I feel as though Facebook has vertically integrated and automated @gailsimone.bsky.social. Endless genAI provocations prompting geeky guys to lecture and argue.
FX Wizard in the streets, Alchemist in the sheets. This afternoon answered the most important question - can we make acid?
Yes we can. Patch pictured. #bastl
Yes we can. Patch pictured. #bastl
December 29, 2025 at 3:38 PM
FX Wizard in the streets, Alchemist in the sheets. This afternoon answered the most important question - can we make acid?
Yes we can. Patch pictured. #bastl
Yes we can. Patch pictured. #bastl
To honour the passing of MTV's music only channels, here are some life-changing music videos that I first saw at precisely the right impressionable age.
Wu-Tang Clan - Da Mystery Of Chessboxin' (Official HD Video)
YouTube video by WuTangClanVEVO
youtube.com
December 29, 2025 at 12:35 PM
To honour the passing of MTV's music only channels, here are some life-changing music videos that I first saw at precisely the right impressionable age.
Any minute now they'll find out about the NHS
So you're telling me that I've gone my entire adult life without knowing the Brits had safe outlets with switches on them and we've just been over here in the States spark-welding the vacuum cleaner into the wall and hoping for the best while occasionally shocking ourselves senseless?!
December 29, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Any minute now they'll find out about the NHS
Aware that this is a losing battle, but Microsoft has been around just three years longer than I have, Apple is two years my senior, and I already had a decent record collection by the time of Google's late entry. I still just fundamentally distrust the permanence of the big three cloud providers.
Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too. n.pr/49aDwVE
Memory loss: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise
Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too.
n.pr
December 28, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Aware that this is a losing battle, but Microsoft has been around just three years longer than I have, Apple is two years my senior, and I already had a decent record collection by the time of Google's late entry. I still just fundamentally distrust the permanence of the big three cloud providers.
Fairly sure that I still have many photos from this period, which spans Hunting Lodge, Defibrillators, the first few Bang the Bore shows, perhaps some UltraHumanitarian, and meeting my wife.
Why your early 2000s photos are probably lost forever
If you used a digital camera in the early 2000s, there's a good chance whole chapters of your life have been erased.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Fairly sure that I still have many photos from this period, which spans Hunting Lodge, Defibrillators, the first few Bang the Bore shows, perhaps some UltraHumanitarian, and meeting my wife.
A Sigil of Our Time
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 5:45 PM
A Sigil of Our Time
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
In conclusion, this should win Best Picture:
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 5:37 PM
In conclusion, this should win Best Picture:
Terrific when Peter Thiel's proxy VP talks straight past any semblance of reality, straight past the elected government, and straight to the ears of Yaxley-Lennonists, and it's a real thing that actually happened rather than a Russian troll farm sweatshop monkeying about with genAI.
This is complete insanity, made worse by how dangerous it is. "Vice-President JD Vance warned on Friday that France and the United Kingdom could pose a future security risk to the US if what he called “Islamist-adjacent” ideas were to gain political influence." www.euractiv.com/news/europes...
www.euractiv.com
December 27, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Terrific when Peter Thiel's proxy VP talks straight past any semblance of reality, straight past the elected government, and straight to the ears of Yaxley-Lennonists, and it's a real thing that actually happened rather than a Russian troll farm sweatshop monkeying about with genAI.
Redistributing wealth, improving social mobility and resolving pointless conflicts are great ways to generate new ideas. Educate people, let them feel safe and give them the means to deliver on their dreams. Plus mitigate the harms of climate change so they feel as though they have a future.
America, you have spoken loud and clear: You do not like AI. But what if AI is the way to restart the world’s idea machine?
We’re running out of good ideas. AI might be how we find new ones.
What if the best use of AI is restarting the world’s idea machine?
www.vox.com
December 26, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Redistributing wealth, improving social mobility and resolving pointless conflicts are great ways to generate new ideas. Educate people, let them feel safe and give them the means to deliver on their dreams. Plus mitigate the harms of climate change so they feel as though they have a future.
Merry Christmas everyone!
December 25, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Merry Christmas everyone!
boids
December 25, 2025 at 3:41 PM
boids
Christmas is totally rad.
December 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Christmas is totally rad.
Merry Christmas One & All
⋆꙳·❅*🎄*❆·꙳⋆
⋆꙳·❅*🎄*❆·꙳⋆
Pretty Paper, by Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom
from the album A Peace of Us
deanandbritta.bandcamp.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Merry Christmas One & All
⋆꙳·❅*🎄*❆·꙳⋆
⋆꙳·❅*🎄*❆·꙳⋆
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
The “free speech” and “cancel culture” panics have led to overt state censorship because that was always their purpose. (Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
December 23, 2025 at 4:54 PM
The “free speech” and “cancel culture” panics have led to overt state censorship because that was always their purpose. (Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
I'm reliably informed that "Blue Forty-Six" is a Christmas Album
It's pay-what-you-want on my Bandcamp for a bit. Grab it while it's cold!
thedanelaw.bandcamp.com/album/blue-f...
It's pay-what-you-want on my Bandcamp for a bit. Grab it while it's cold!
thedanelaw.bandcamp.com/album/blue-f...
Blue Forty-Six, by Dane Law
12 track album
thedanelaw.bandcamp.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I'm reliably informed that "Blue Forty-Six" is a Christmas Album
It's pay-what-you-want on my Bandcamp for a bit. Grab it while it's cold!
thedanelaw.bandcamp.com/album/blue-f...
It's pay-what-you-want on my Bandcamp for a bit. Grab it while it's cold!
thedanelaw.bandcamp.com/album/blue-f...
Reposted by Seth Cooke | Every Contact Leaves a Trace
another example of AI as tracer dye, exposing an already existing problem (and, of course, significantly worsening it)
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
December 21, 2025 at 7:11 AM
another example of AI as tracer dye, exposing an already existing problem (and, of course, significantly worsening it)
Herzog on Instagram is just the best
Werner Herzog on Instagram: "I was booked on a plane that crashed in the jungle only days before I started shooting Aguirre, the Wrath of God."
24K likes, 251 comments - wernerherzogofficial on December 19, 2025: "I was booked on a plane that crashed in the jungle only days before I started shooting Aguirre, the Wrath of God.".
www.instagram.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Herzog on Instagram is just the best