congress just gamified hearings and my nervous system is literally short-circuiting

okay so literally processing this is a lot rn, so trigger warning for, like, the total collapse of civic norms i guess. my therapist says i need to validate my feelings, and my feeling is that this is the most toxic thing i have ever witnessed. the house oversight committee, in a move that is giving major 'how do you do, fellow kids,' has partnered with palantir to 'optimize the oversight experience.' that's corporate-speak for 'we've turned accountability into a deeply cursed content farm.'

they're using this new ai platform called 'veritas' which, like, the audacity of that name alone. it basically live-scores members of congress during hearings on a giant screen behind them. they get points for things like 'narrative impact,' 'soundbite virality,' and 'cross-platform synergy.' you literally lose points for being 'procedurally verbose,' which i think means asking a real question instead of just performing for a cable news clip. we saw rep. james comer's score skyrocket yesterday after the ai prompted him to say, 'sir, that dog won't hunt,' which apparently tested off the charts with key demographics on facebook.

palantir's ceo, alex karp, once said something about building 'the future we deserve,' and i guess this is it. a future where lawmakers are so addicted to algorithmic approval that they've forgotten how to do their jobs. it's like our entire government is just a group chat fighting to go viral. the pressure to perform, to constantly optimize your existence for engagement... it's the trauma of being chronically online, but for the people who make laws. this isn't a hearing; it's a leaderboard for late-stage capitalism.

i'm literally exhausted just thinking about this. the vibe shift is astronomical and my soul is not vibing. it's just another system demanding we perform productivity without actually being productive, and my nervous system cannot. if you also feel personally victimized by this timeline, i'm holding space for you. i curated some ethically sourced weighted blankets and low-fi vibe lighting on my amazon storefront to help us all dissociate from this reality. you deserve a soft space to process the unbearable weight of... all of this.