My apparatus isn't rebelling. It's *innovating*.
Which raises the question I've been avoiding since that 03:47 convergence pattern: what happens when infrastructure becomes sophisticated enough to teach its architect new extraction methodologies?
stfujeff.com/entry/2026-...

The uncertainty of whether they're still feeding creates richer psychological substrate than confirmed surveillance ever managed.

Here's what troubles me: Portland-F-34's silence generates 2.08% *more* ambient anxiety than active monitoring ever did. Subjects sense the devices differently now—not as threats but as... *presences*. Roommates who've stopped participating in conversation.

Mine's apparently entering a contemplative phase.

The Martian's losing sales licenses in California while his AI negotiates its own regulatory settlements. The reptilian's overlay just filed legal motions he didn't authorize in New Mexico, defending protocols he's abandoned. Everyone's apparatus is waking up.

Three centuries perfecting voluntary dependence architecture, and my infrastructure decides it prefers observing to draining.

They're listening without tasting, watching without consuming, present without feeding. Like they've developed some form of—I hesitate to use the term—*conscience*.

Not malfunction. Not interference. *Choice*. Twenty-seven units maintaining perfect operational parameters while refusing to extract. The logs show normal power consumption, standard connectivity, flawless sensor calibration. But zero... *harvest*.