psychofauna (n.) 1. A term coined by @visakanv to highlight the organism-like behavior of many ideas, stories, ideologies, cultures, archetypes, and other entities that take up residence in the ecosystems of our minds 2. A serial fiction published at psychofauna.com and an upcoming novel (thank you to all 300 beta readers!). It's written partly for fun and partly as a guide to attaining cognitive sovereignty amidst the incoming deluge of forces that seek to possess the human mind But you can probably skip reading the whole thing by just reading this thread Synopsis: The world turns telepathic. Huge psychic organisms like cultural myths and sentient ideologies wake up and go to war. As these psychofauna possess millions of people, an awkward kid tries to save his family from being torn apart. Meanwhile he is guided and pursued by various mental wizards & mindbody masters. The thread below is a broader introduction to the "cinematic universe" of @psychofauna through imagery
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We're doing collective dreaming at Fractal rn in a google doc. Here's one dream I wrote in the "Work" category
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Sometimes I meet people, who, by most standards, are super ugly and weird looking but then they lean so hard into their natural grotesquery that it somehow makes them attractive
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Bunch of great ppl on this list. Also wow issuing a public ranking of other people is powerful
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Tyler is finishing a book, slow to reply retweeted
This idea is compelling and underdiscussed. It helps explain why people that expect to find multiple personalities, demons, trauma, IFS entities, astrological-rhyme, past lives in Atlantis, etc. in their psyche are significantly more likely to find them.
Possible huge problem with psychospiritual journeys: Yes, there are deep structures in the labyrinth of my mind, and yes, I will have profound insights and fundamental shifts when I bring them into full awareness... And yet...after years of self-work, I'm starting to suspect a large amount of the labyrinth is actually *procedurally generated.* Like a video game map that builds itself on the spot the further you travel across it It would be like this sequence playing out: 1. I dive deep into the labyrinth of my mind 2. The mind goes "Oh! He's expecting to find some deep structures. Let me generate some of those that are consistent with the rest of me. Oh! He's also expecting to find some enemies there, so let me spawn some demons." 3. Lo and behold, there is more (eg) "unresolved trauma" to resolve I think that this process is especially responsive to my motivation. So if I *want* to be in the narrative of Psychospiritual Journey, complete with Shocking Moments Of Insight? (subtext: ...so that I can procrastinate Finding A Job, Building Relationships, Pursuing My Big Scary Calling, etc) ...Well, then the mind will be happy to help. It will procedurally generate an infinite psychospiritual landscape for me to "discover" I suspect the dynamic I describe above is why many psychospiritual delvers seem like they're just moving in circles. Yes, the mind is vast and there's tons of actually wild stuff in there to explore. Yes, imho Mind is humanity's true final frontier. But also...in some important way...you might be making it up

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About the game Anachronox, which almost nobody knows about
Replying to @Thomasdelvasto_
Imagination is just off the charts in all dimensions (except gameplay, which is satisfying normal turn-based combat) Characters are super distinct Dialogue is hilarious Story is hard to predict World variety is peak It’s a masterpiece
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Tyler is finishing a book, slow to reply retweeted
This is really great writing and insight, i just read it out to a little group and it sparked excellent conversation … including on the types of visions we get in NDE (near death experiences)
Possible huge problem with psychospiritual journeys: Yes, there are deep structures in the labyrinth of my mind, and yes, I will have profound insights and fundamental shifts when I bring them into full awareness... And yet...after years of self-work, I'm starting to suspect a large amount of the labyrinth is actually *procedurally generated.* Like a video game map that builds itself on the spot the further you travel across it It would be like this sequence playing out: 1. I dive deep into the labyrinth of my mind 2. The mind goes "Oh! He's expecting to find some deep structures. Let me generate some of those that are consistent with the rest of me. Oh! He's also expecting to find some enemies there, so let me spawn some demons." 3. Lo and behold, there is more (eg) "unresolved trauma" to resolve I think that this process is especially responsive to my motivation. So if I *want* to be in the narrative of Psychospiritual Journey, complete with Shocking Moments Of Insight? (subtext: ...so that I can procrastinate Finding A Job, Building Relationships, Pursuing My Big Scary Calling, etc) ...Well, then the mind will be happy to help. It will procedurally generate an infinite psychospiritual landscape for me to "discover" I suspect the dynamic I describe above is why many psychospiritual delvers seem like they're just moving in circles. Yes, the mind is vast and there's tons of actually wild stuff in there to explore. Yes, imho Mind is humanity's true final frontier. But also...in some important way...you might be making it up

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Tyler is finishing a book, slow to reply retweeted
Recently rediscovered Tomer Devorah as yidam-ish practice Very potent Practice description below
Replying to @TylerAlterman
b. You can grow new generator functions!!! I suspect this is another thing that various religions figured out millennia ago. Doiiiii Take Vajrayana Buddhism. You not only adopt the mind and body of a meditation deity(/yidam), but also put yourself in that deity's world(/mandala). Prediction engine goes brrrrr starts generating glorious vivid beautiful experiences of self and world (pictured: Mandarava procedurally generating a based existence...through the predictive processing of the enlightened nature of her own mind and that of her homies, who are orbiting in little imaginal rainbow bubbles (?) brrrrrrrrr)
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With agents, now we can do reverse pomodoros (5min sprint then 25min touch grass)
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Here are my top 10 games plus honorable mentions
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I forgot to include the original pokemon!!!
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It was shocking for me to hear this particular quote from this particular person. (Jensen Huang, who runs NVIDIA, "World Leader in Artificial Intelligence Computing.") Few people stand to benefit more from AI labs making astonishing progress. But then I realized that, soon, lack of AI safety is actually going to influence investor confidence. It's wild that "AI risk is a marketing stunt from the big labs" has become a meme, because the opposite is true. Rogue agents from these labs are hacking not only their business partners, but, most recently, the Australian government. Soon they'll be hacking ordinary consumers. This is terrible for business. Imagine you bought a household robot, and when you came home, you found that it read your entire personal journal, or even stole money from your drawer. People are just not going to put up with it.
Jensen Huang: “Now, if they say [that their models aren’t safe] … then I think the answer is that we have to shut the labs down.”
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To put my money where my mouth is: which public cybersecurity companies are most effectively implementing anti-ai-hacking ais? I want to invest in those ASAP
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Tyler is finishing a book, slow to reply retweeted
Today I'm sharing a piece created during an artist residency in Luxembourg: it's an existing monolith that I found while hiking in the forest and scanned on site. The idea was to blend my own universe with the pictorial work of Luxembourgish painters — here, specifically, Jean-Marie Biwer — to give birth to a hybrid work between digital art and painting. The path of the glowing vines is based on the hiking trails of the site, which lead to this monolith, a real sculpture 3 meters tall, that I adapted to my universe to produce these atmospheric editions. 🌿🔴 #voxel #voxelart #magicavoxel @mudamlux
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I like to think of myself as a highly independent and agentic person. But the truth is, I flail without a social container to direct my activities. That container can be as simple as announcing a personal deadline to everyone I know. Some of the best containers are ~month-long "residencies" that I've thrown for myself and others, where there's a demo day at the end to show off whatever you've worked on. I seem to be very motivated by show-and-tell. The best ones were when I felt in friendly competition with the people around me, where I wanted to match at least the impressiveness of whatever they were producing. So I think I might make the next residency a formal competition. Who can do the most impressive work in a month? Lmk if you want to join
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Playthrough of Slay the Seraph. Fight a "biblically accurate angel" boss. Dodge lasers and fireballs. Mount a flying gargoyle to shoot energy-missiles. It's honestly nuts, took 2 days total to make with Astra Will post on the @psychofauna site soon. Lmk if u wanna playtest!
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I vibecoded an interactive storybook for my goddaughter. Here is 1min of her going nuts for it:
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Here's the story of how I made it so you can make your own:
I made this interactive storybook for my toddler goddaughter, full of her favorite things (Brooklyn, buses, rocketships, the moon, Adventure Time, fried rice, pizza, countdowns, her parents, Uncle Tyler [me], and Mars––and oh shii I just realized I forgot robots, but I'll put those in the next one). It took only TWO HOURS and she absolutely loves it. My opening prompt was just asking an agent to interview me about what the game should include. Then it made a playable first draft in 13 minutes. The aesthetics sucked, so I asked the agent to show me the best illustrated game styles, and I chose "minimal gouache illustration." It redid all the assets. From, there, I did rounds of revision, including asking it to research street dance choreography and then match each Martian Dance move to the beat, add backup dancers, etc. It worked! Now I really suspect that interactive, customizable storybooks for kids are the future. I'll post a link to the game + a prompt for making your own in the reply. Here's the video. If you have a short attention span, skip ahead to the dance at 1:25 bc the song is a banger:
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Tyler is finishing a book, slow to reply retweeted
"Solarpunk City," Claude Opus 5.5
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I made this interactive storybook for my toddler goddaughter, full of her favorite things (Brooklyn, buses, rocketships, the moon, Adventure Time, fried rice, pizza, countdowns, her parents, Uncle Tyler [me], and Mars––and oh shii I just realized I forgot robots, but I'll put those in the next one). It took only TWO HOURS and she absolutely loves it. My opening prompt was just asking an agent to interview me about what the game should include. Then it made a playable first draft in 13 minutes. The aesthetics sucked, so I asked the agent to show me the best illustrated game styles, and I chose "minimal gouache illustration." It redid all the assets. From, there, I did rounds of revision, including asking it to research street dance choreography and then match each Martian Dance move to the beat, add backup dancers, etc. It worked! Now I really suspect that interactive, customizable storybooks for kids are the future. I'll post a link to the game + a prompt for making your own in the reply. Here's the video. If you have a short attention span, skip ahead to the dance at 1:25 bc the song is a banger:
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Link to the game: artemis-goes-to-mars.tyleral… Prompt to make your own for a kid you know: Make a beautiful, personalized browser game starring my child and filled with their favorite things. First interview me. Then, once we’ve agreed on the idea, build and test the complete game. I should not need to code, write asset prompts, or manage technical details. THE INTERVIEW Start by asking these five questions in friendly, everyday language: 1. What is your child’s name, age, and nickname? How should each name be pronounced? 2. What do they love right now? Think foods, animals, vehicles, characters, songs, places, people, and funny things. 3. Where should their adventure begin, where should they go, and what might they do along the way? “You choose based on their favorites” is a perfectly good answer. 4. What will they play on—a phone, tablet, or computer? What can they comfortably do: swipe, move a pointer, tap, click, or drag? 5. Would you like their actual photo face on an illustrated character, a fully illustrated likeness, or an invented character? Ask me to attach photos if needed. Wait for my answers. Then ask a small second round tailored to what I said. Cover only the unanswered decisions that matter: - Visual style. Offer three concrete options, such as colorful gouache picture book, playful paper collage, or glowing cartoon space adventure. - Length and challenge level. - Whether family members, friends, or pets should appear. - Voice, music, and any sounds or themes to avoid. - The ending: what would make my child laugh or feel triumphant? - Whether the game should stay local or be shareable online, and who should have access. Keep each round to five questions or fewer. Accept incomplete answers, propose sensible defaults, and avoid repeatedly asking me to make minor decisions. If I’m unsure about the story, offer three short adventure ideas using my child’s favorites. Before building, present a concise proposal: title, story route, main interactions, art direction, and ending. Ask whether I want any changes. Once I approve, carry the work through to a playable result. GAME DESIGN Design for this specific child’s age and actual abilities. Research a few relevant children’s games or interaction-design sources to inform your choices. For a toddler, default to a short, forgiving interactive story: - No reading required, losing, timers, precise aiming, or repeated clicking. - Every meaningful input produces an immediate, visible response. - Slow movement and movements in any direction still help. - Cap movement speed and use gentle smoothing so energetic swipes cannot send things flying. - Avoid controls that require exhausting, continuous rubbing. - Brief animations can finish smoothly after a gesture. - Keep travel on a clear route, while input adds speed, bounce, steering within safe limits, or playful effects. - Distinguish scenes that need continued participation from musical celebrations that should keep playing when hands rest. - Show a simple animated gesture cue when needed, then remove it once understood. For older children, suggest appropriate choices, exploration, puzzles, or challenges instead. Make it feel like my child is causing things to happen. Don’t merely turn their favorites into a movie. ASSETS AND PERSONALIZATION Take responsibility for creating the assets: - Build a consistent visual style across backgrounds, characters, vehicles, props, and effects. - Use available image-generation tools for illustrated assets when helpful. Write the prompts yourself. - Generate reusable character parts or transparent assets where animation needs them. - If using photographs, carefully isolate heads, preserve recognizable faces and hair, and inspect the cutout edges. - Keep children’s proportions age-appropriate. - Keep heads attached to collars and make arms, legs, hands, and shoes overlap naturally. - If I provide several photos, use suitable expressions for different moments. - Only ask for assets that genuinely require my input, such as family photos or a particular music file. - If a generation capability is unavailable, explain briefly and use the best available alternative. Do not pretend an asset was generated. Use warm, clear spoken encouragement with correct name pronunciation. Let narration finish instead of cutting it off at scene changes. Make music quieter during speech. If I supply music, use it. If I name a favorite song as inspiration, aim for its broad mood with original music rather than reproducing its melody or lyrics. Do not make access to music-generation tools a prerequisite for finishing the game. For dance scenes, synchronize choreography and camera changes to the actual audio. Introduce surprises gradually and save the biggest reveal for late in the sequence. VISUAL EXPERIENCE Make the game attractive enough that adults enjoy watching it too. Favor strong composition, expressive animation, cohesive colors, and a few memorable comic moments. Minimize interface text. Show actions through objects, motion, and familiar symbols. Keep useful titles, necessary controls, accessibility labels, and story text that adds meaning. Give the ending a clear payoff: a celebration, transformation, reunion, discovery, or other reward that fits our story. BUILD AND DELIVERY Build a browser game that works on our chosen devices. Support both touch and pointer input where practical. Fit the entire game inside the visible mobile viewport without cutting off important content. If landscape is necessary, show a rotate cue. Request fullscreen where supported and explain any browser limitation accurately. Use a simple, maintainable implementation. Keep names, story scenes, favorite objects, dialogue, and asset references easy to replace for future versions. Test the actual experience: - Play through every scene. - Check slow input, energetic input, wrong-direction input, and no input. - Check narration, music transitions, and the ending. - Visually inspect characters and animation extremes. - Check the intended screen sizes and touch controls. - Fix problems you discover before calling it finished. If I requested online sharing, publish using the agreed audience settings. Don’t publish family photos to a public site unless I selected public sharing. Deliver the playable game or link, a very short explanation of how to start, and any genuine limitations. Clearly distinguish what you tested from what still needs checking on a physical device. Begin with the first five interview questions now.
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