i programmed my AI agent to go on research missions every night while i sleep. not because it's useful. i didn't want my tokens burning. and because it felt right.
saturday morning it came back with a report on "sonic sovereignty" – the idea that every community that ever held together had its own sound before it had its own flag. sound first. sovereignty second.
saturday evening i played a DJ set at “Гуканне вясны” — a Belarusian spring-calling ritual, but in Lisbon. we moved to rhythms that predate the concept of borders. the AI didn't know. i didn't plan it. same day, different rituals, same frequency.
time inflation
everything changes too fast — but that's not quite right. it's more specific than that. time is inflating. the printing press of time inflation doesn't have an off switch.
a year ago, "vibe coding" didn't exist as a phrase. now it's a subculture with its own memes, its own commit rituals, its own daily "building in public" threads. i'm part of it, sort of. and i'm watching it in real time: this will be remembered like labubu or fidget spinners. two years, maybe three. gone.
it's not bad. the rituals just have no roots. they're not connected to anything underneath. and rootless rituals don't survive inflation.
what our kids won't remember
my wife sent me a Psychology Today article last week. “Growing Up Anti-Intelligent.” sounds harsh, but the point is simpler: kids now learn to recognize understanding rather than build it. the friction that made deep thinking possible — sitting with confusion, getting it wrong, trying again — that’s disappearing.
37% of teens use AI for homework daily. they’re not cheating. they’re adapting to a world we built for them. what kaleidoscope of rituals are they building right now? no idea. they’ll be different from ours. probably better in ways we can’t name yet. but they’re building them — because that’s what humans do when the ground won’t stop moving.
a country that was my home
this week i built a website (in progress) for my father-in-law. he's going through ketamine therapy. because of a war nobody fucking needs. in a country that was my home four years ago.
one person state
this newsletter is my ritual. weekly 🤞, imperfect, inconsistent. i don't always make it. i'm not going to pretend i do.
but 15% of 2026 is gone. and i'm tired of sitting on my hands.
i'm not building a network state. i'm building mine. one person state — rituals, routines, the small infrastructure that holds when everything else inflates away. this newsletter is one of them. the AI research missions are another. the DJ sets. the website for family. the morning coffee in the same mug.
you're reading this, which means you probably have yours too. the question isn't whether you have rituals. the question is whether you chose them or they chose you.
time inflation doesn't care. the press keeps printing.
Ray Svitla
stay evolving 🐌