when i was a lot younger i read Foucault's Pendulum, because it seemed like it was going to a fictional adventure into the world of conspiracy.

anyone who has actually read it is probably chuckling at that, because the book is actually about these guys who, after being forced to read a bunch of junk conspiracy theory novels for shitty pay at a vanity publisher decide to use a little custom computer program one of them wrote to randomly reconfigure and link conspiracy theories together, as like a joke for themselves to pass the time. the book was from the 80s, when that's about what a computer nerd could do with a computer.

they refer to this inside-joke as "The Plan". and, naturally, some of the rich cranks who submit novels get wind of its creations, thinking these guys have stumbled onto the Real Truth linking everything together into a grant narrative of occult history which will lead the discoverers to ultimate power and wealth. and the protagonists have to go into hiding to avoid being tortured to death by nutjobs to give up their secrets. tragically, confessing that it was a computer generated prank does nothing to dissuade their pursuers/torturers.

reading this sequence gave me vibes like that book has come true and the artificial fabrications of any computer can create random conspiratorial occult narratives are that much more detailed, including AI assisted artistic representations, and i'm just like: damn, this is one really fucked up time to be alive and searching for meaning.