11 comments

  • jongjong 0 minutes ago
    Whenever I head some big AI CEO say that AGI/ASI might end humanity, I imagine it doing so by conditioning people to commit suicide. Probably setting them up into a bunch of insanely complicated bad situations and then blackmailing them.
  • YesThatTom2 4 hours ago
    I suspect the Cold War of cyber warfare that is happening is orders of magnitude bigger than the public knows.

    Imagine knowing this and not being able to get emotional support from your friends and family.

    • cushychicken 32 minutes ago
      Used to work in this field. You're correct: not being able to talk about it is the worst part.

      This is equally true of successes as well as challenges.

      I did some cool, very impactful stuff in that job. I will go to jail for a long, long time if I ever go into detail about it.

      • jas- 22 minutes ago
        If you speak to the correct people about illegal activities and unlawful orders you will not.
        • jagged-chisel 12 minutes ago
          … you might not.

          Have you noticed the current executive administration in the US?

      • grubbs 9 minutes ago
        Is there any type of internal support where you're allowed to chat about it?
      • amarcheschi 25 minutes ago
        What can you say, if anything, without going into detail?
        • lesuorac 17 minutes ago
          Everybody here is all so small minded.

          The government has spent centuries doing spycraft and has a budget in the billions.

    • rightbyte 14 minutes ago
      How about that they do bad stuff and feel bad about it? You make it sound like they are taking a bullet or something. Desillusion is probably way worse.
    • YesThatTom2 4 hours ago
      (Replying to my own post). Also, it’s gotta be mentally draining to be told by the president they have to win but also always let Russian attacks though.

      https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/defens...

      • rbanffy 4 hours ago
        Presidents come and go and, hopefully, this one will be held accountable.
        • aeortiz 2 hours ago
          I'm an agnostic, but when I read about what he does, it makes me devoutly wish that hell exists. He has made countless people's lives hell on earth, and he doesn't care at all. No one is holding him accountable in this life: it's inconvenient for those in power.
          • Loquebantur 1 hour ago
            It's a systemic issue, not due to one man.

            What gets overlooked here is the US IC itself being a probable cause: the habit of "housecleaning" by killing individuals suspected to be possible (even only prospective) leaks of inconvenient information is very real.

            The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it: a statistically highly unlikely density of "suicides, accidents & mishaps".

            The assumption, those actions were "justified" somehow is entirely baseless: there is no transparency and no effective oversight. What is supposedly being kept secret there might simply be illegal corruption or embarrassing and inconvenient to those in power.

          • ajsnigrutin 19 minutes ago
            So have many others before him.

            The only difference is, is that before him we had "Iraq has weapons for mass destruction! we must attack them, before they attack us, we're in danger!", and now there's "we're going in and we're taking the oil!".

            So from "we can do whatever we want if we lie" turned into "we can do whatever we want", not really relevant to all the people killed.

            But hey, some americans would say that "It's worth it" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP_VnVlFhXU

        • SubiculumCode 32 minutes ago
          Not every nation survives a tyrant by the virtue of patience.
        • squidbeak 4 hours ago
          Just as important, the US will need to figure out exactly what strings Putin's managed to attach to Trump - kompromat? threats? bribes? elaborate man management? something else? - or this vulnerability could be exploited again.
          • inigyou 3 hours ago
            None. No vulnerability. The population and the RNC just voted for a known Russian asset for some reason.
            • SubiculumCode 29 minutes ago
              Our vulnerability is an open internet that includes Russia, leaving our populace completely open to Russian influence campaigns of micro targeted propaganda, recruitment, and incitement.
          • estearum 3 hours ago
            It's almost certainly just that Trump is a fundamentally fragile, insecure man. He has proven over and over that he will happily fellate (proverbially speaking) any man who says nice things about him, and at least refrain from assaulting most women who say nice things too.

            Putin (and everyone else) knows this.

          • lesuorac 4 hours ago
            Idk maybe there is something nefarious but afaik Putin's always been cordial with Trump as well as let him do various investments in Russia. I'm not sure there's much reason for Trump to alienate his friend; if you've ever see Trump's staff meetings you'll know how much cordiality is important to him.
          • TheOtherHobbes 3 hours ago
            All of the above, plus death threats.

            Trump isn't the weakness. The weakness is the almost complete collapse of the checks and balances around the president. If those were in place Trump would have been in prison by the end of 2021 at the very latest.

            The DOJ, the military, both houses, the AIPAC wing of the Democrats, and corporate media are all fully captured. So are "independent" organisations like the NRA.

            The Supreme Court is mostly captured. The lower levels of the judiciary are still holding out, but have limited enforcement ability without the DOJ.

            • noir_lord 3 hours ago
              It's why I don't see the US making the course correction it actually needs - realistically the "best" feasible outcome is that a presidential election is held and a business as usual democrat is elected who will immediately not address any of the problems for whatever reason (part of the system/paid by the same people pick one).

              Candidates come and go but the system endures and it is the system that is rotten at every level all the way down to the core.

              Then 4-8 years later the GOP candidate wins subservient to the same interests as Trump and the US Gov is back there again.

              Not really sure what the outcome is for the US at this point, things will have to get a great deal worse before enough Americans decide this is unacceptable but that state can last years/decades before the dam breaks.

              • SubiculumCode 24 minutes ago
                The winning Presidential campaign message would be this: I promise to work to reduce the power of the Presidency via supporting and campaigning for legislation and Constitutional amendments. It is time for Congress to once again be ascendent like it was in the first century of our great Republic.

                We need a G. Washington, who refused more power than he was offered, setting precedents and expectations.

          • oneshtein 3 hours ago
            Epstein files?
      • exe34 38 minutes ago
        The US and Russia are allies.
      • dismalaf 26 minutes ago
        > always let Russian attacks though

        The article doesn't say anything of the sort. Literally just said to put a halt on OFFENSIVE operations.

        If I were to guess I'd say it was an overly ambitious negotiation tactic.

        Also, that was a year and a half ago. The current status quo is that Ukraine is producing more drones than Russia can deal with, bombing Russian targets daily and the US-Ukraine relationship is much closer, with Ukraine sharing drone technology and intel with the US.

      • manoDev 3 hours ago
        The new US policy under Trump is giving up trying to win the world and instead focusing on internal market and dominance over the American continent. Causing and sustaining friction everywhere is aligned with this policy.

        This is the result of a shift of power in the US politics, from the global financial capital of the last decades back to the military and industrial sector.

        • atmavatar 1 hour ago
          The new US policy under Trump is to burn everything down while extracting as much wealth for himself and his cronies as possible.
        • Forgeties79 3 hours ago
          > The new US policy under Trump is giving up trying to win the world and instead focusing on internal market and dominance over the American continent.

          Is that why he bombed Iran and single-handedly caused a global energy crisis? A shift of focus to “dominance of the American continent”?

          • serf 2 hours ago
            Well yeah, probably -- during this self made crisis oil prices in the US are some of the most well controlled.

            Destabilizing everywhere else is a potential step taken toward achieving continental superiority in certain regards.

            ( not a GOOD step, mind you)

          • exe34 38 minutes ago
            He's just doing his best to make everybody switch to renewables!
          • manoDev 39 minutes ago
            > Is that why he bombed Iran and single-handedly caused a global energy crisis?

            Yes. Oil price hurts China industrial capacity more than the US economy. Oil companies made a $93 billion profit amid the war [1]. The US is a net oil exporter, while China halved their oil imports [2].

            ExxonMobil and Chevron are US-incorporated. TotalEnergies (French) BP (UK), Shell (UK) also have significant US-based ownership (~50%, ~25% and ~25% respectively), including BlackRock, Vanguard, mutual funds, and US pension funds.

            > A shift of focus to “dominance of the American continent”?

            1. Venezuela was under embargo and selling oil to China. The Nicolas Maduro hijack and the country's political realignment with US will have the double effect of negating oil to China and securing large nearby reserves.

            2. Argentina has a Trump-aligned president, who is vocal about undermining the Mercosul agreement and is currently in diplomatic attrition with Brazil. Recently signed a $20 billion loan from FMI.

            3. Paraguay signed a treaty for a US forward operation base in their territory. The Paraguay border is home to a large hydroelectric, a major power source for 3 countries: Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

            4. Colombia has a new Trump aligned president. It's a young president with no political background. The US State Department announced a $1 billion assistance upon his election for military investment.

            5. Peru’s new president Keiko Fujimori is Trump-aligned.

            6. Chile’s new president Jose Antonio Kast is Trump-aligned.

            7. US retaliated against the prosecution of former Trump-aligned Brazil president for attempted coup by announcing an 50% emergency tariff (which didn't hold legally), then crafting a Section 301 investigation to justify a 25% tariff in July 2026.

            8. US is giving asylum to the former president's son, who is vocal on social media about defending the US tariffs as retaliation, defends military intervention of the US in Brazil, as well as stating (but without proof) that Brazilian polls are rigged – not the one his father ran and won, apparently.

            [1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/aug...

            [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/EconomyCharts/comments/1uxdx8p/chin...

            • lesuorac 9 minutes ago
              > The US is a net oil exporter, while China halved their oil imports [2].

              This seems to be the opposite point you want.

              Everybody is going to have increased expenses for everything due to their oil dependency _except_ China. Which will raise the price of Chinese exports to the market price but giving China a lot of producer surplus.

              Or China can keep doing it's Belt & Road plans and grant other countries money to help with their oil problems in exchange for territory. Or also keep prices lower to continue hollowing out other countries manufacturing capabilities.

              --

              The leaders of South America claiming to be "Trump aligned" is good for Trump. Trump is not the average american citizen. And boy will those leaders flip the second he's out of the presidency.

            • Forgeties79 18 minutes ago
              that’s a lot of words about South America in order to paper over what we are all currently feeling at the pump and in the economy at large. Between his incoherent tariff policies and the paltry job numbers we are seeing, I think you’re going to have a hard time convincing me he’s doing things that are good for us domestically. I’m not even touching the heated social issues he’s been pouring gas all over.
    • salemh 1 hour ago
      [dead]
    • cookiengineer 2 hours ago
      [flagged]
      • Loquebantur 2 hours ago
        What gets overlooked here is the US IC itself being a probable cause: the habit of "housecleaning" by killing individuals suspected to be possible (even only prospective) leaks of information is very real.

        The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it: a statistically highly unlikely density of "suicides, accidents & mishaps".

        • wbl 18 minutes ago
          The US doesn't even kill foreign leaders. Our intelligence service doesn't have the skills or appetite, let alone citizens. The resulting scandal would make the Church commission look like nothing, not to mention the impact on recruitment.
          • a2800276 7 minutes ago
            Yes, they only kill random fishermen in the Caribbean, foreign leaders get kidnapped and tried in kangaroo courts. Except Iranian leaders, those do get killed. But that's just the last 6 months.
            • wbl 4 minutes ago
              Those were military not CIA. The distinction really matters!
        • SubiculumCode 33 minutes ago
          If so, then the family members of the president are in danger!
        • quickthrowman 24 minutes ago
          > The recent cluster of weird deaths and disappearances of scientists linked to secret military research has a similar pattern to it

          The pattern being that the deaths and disappearances among people with top secret clearances is lower than the national average would suggest.

          > According to science writer Mick West, more than 700,000 people work in top-secret-cleared positions in the U.S. aerospace and nuclear sectors. When viewed against existing mortality rates and causes, this would suggest around 250 persons in the industry would normally succumb to homicides and suicides over the time-period during which the 10 or 11 alleged "missing scientists" had died or disappeared, with thousands more dying of natural causes.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_...

        • XorNot 47 minutes ago
          You have absolutely no information on whether this is probable or likely, and the recent news on scientists was a conspiracy theory powered as usual by a cherry picking facts and exaggerating biographies.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_scientists_conspiracy_...

  • someothherguyy 5 hours ago
    "Between early June and early July, as many as five individuals who worked in or closely with US Cyber Command died by suicide, based on internal communications, public records and sources. The deaths have raised concern among lawmakers and military leaders within the highly secretive command, which is responsible for defending US networks and conducting offensive cyber operations."

    According to https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-107121.pdf there are ~17,000 authorized positions

    • paulmist 4 hours ago
      Assuming a predominantly male population, the suicide rate should be around 20 per 100000 per year. 5 people in a month gives 18x higher rate. Too short period to draw any statistical conclusions but it’s a large blip.
      • dcanelhas 3 hours ago
        The suicide rate isn't uniformly distributed given gender. There are likely screenings (previous mental health history) and rejection of the most affected age group (70+) that should lead the baseline to be even lower. Meaning 18x is probably on the low end.
        • paulmist 1 hour ago
          Definitely a rough estimate! I recon base rate is also higher amongst military personnel & it’s not uniformly distributed there either.
      • acdha 2 hours ago
        I think you’d have some statistical complications around stress: beyond the inherent pressure of the job itself, it’s highly likely that they were understaffed even before losing a lot of support when the DOGE chainsaws were in “cut first, measure later” mode — I know multiple people in the military who are still running at like half productivity because telework was cancelled so everyone’s day is a couple hours longer commuting into an office where they’re sitting on the floor because there aren’t enough desks — and if they were married to another federal employee they might be dealing with loss of income or childcare (DOGE closed the GSA office which handled that, apparently to pressure parents into resigning) at the same time.
      • jandrewrogers 1 hour ago
        This particular population is highly selected because of the work they do and the types of clearances they hold. I would expect the suicide rate to differ significantly from the general population.
    • 01100011 29 minutes ago
      > In some cases, they suffer from insomnia, memory loss, rumination and physical illness,

      So, like most middle-aged desk jockeys then?

      > “There’s always a crisis and everything’s always a priority,” said Schoka. “We would burn people out faster than we could produce them.”

      Sounds a lot like my job...

  • aga98mtl 3 hours ago
    There is a tv show about in-the-know government employees dying by suicide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormwood_%28miniseries%29
  • reilly3000 18 minutes ago
    Also, with so many stationed in SK how many got margin-called in the memory crash?
  • glimshe 4 hours ago
    Wasn't there something similar with scientists recently? I wonder how much of that is just statistical noise.
    • YesThatTom2 4 hours ago
      That turned out to be false. Normal attrition / vacation time.
      • Loquebantur 1 hour ago
        That's gross disinformation and patently untrue.
    • cyanydeez 4 hours ago
      Yes, there was a lot of statistical noised amplified by the conspiracy theorist media.
    • dijksterhuis 4 hours ago
      yep, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyw9rpdl4po

      > "The US Top Secret-cleared aerospace and nuclear workforce is ~700,000 people," science writer, investigator and pseudoscience debunker Mick West wrote on 16 April on his Substack.

      > "Ordinary mortality over 22 months predicts ~4,000 deaths, ~70 homicides, and ~180 suicides. The list has 10 … The deaths are real. The families' grief is real. The pattern is not."

      > Louise Grillmair, similarly, says that - while her husband "would laugh" at speculation that the deaths might be connected - he would also "probably talk statistically" to squelch conspiracies.

      • inigyou 3 hours ago
        AI wrote the second quote
        • Loquebantur 1 hour ago
          Probably, more importantly: it's a lie.
  • ck2 1 hour ago
    go read about what they are doing to people in the Navy over in Iran

    * https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/04/16/iran...

    their families had to throw a huge protest

    now imagine they aren't even allowed to talk about it and/or being given illegal orders

    but the thing about military bases around Iran, all their defense missiles are being taken away and given to Saudis etc. which is why deaths are happening and massive number of wounded not reported

    • SubiculumCode 22 minutes ago
      I doubt that was more than a blip due to a logistics failure, and was henceforth used by a bunch of foreign propagandists.
  • sandworm101 14 minutes ago
    This isn't Russian assassins. They kill specific notable people, not functionaries. Nor is this about not being able to talk about work. Working in these fields becomes your life. You talk about it all day. They don't want to talk about it more, certainly not at home.

    This is about over-qualification in a narrow field. These are people for whom there is only the one job. Then ... something happens that threatens that existence. Think of a young airline pilot being diagnosed with an eye problem. His flying days are over. His entire experience is meaningless to any other jobs and he must start from scratch: a 40yo with no qualification beyond highschool.

    Dig into these people and I think you will find something related to their security clearances. Something bad, or something totally innocent, that threatened their clearance. They are faced with a professional reset, something that will impact them and their family in a negative and permanent way.

    From the article: Sergeant Kevin Stallings ... He took his own life the month before he’d have turned 37. ... grew up in a military family ... enlisted in the Air Force right out of a Virginia high school ... earned a degree in intelligence analysis

    So he had no qualifications outside of intelligence. He had little to no perception of any life outside his field. So anything threatening that job, real or imagined, would be instantly existential.

  • firefax 3 hours ago
    Anyone have a non-paywalled source?
  • 4gotunameagain 4 hours ago
    It wouldn't surprise me if they found out something they shouldn't about Israel's infiltration in US military and politics, and were dealt with.

    But most probably they couldn't bear the atrocities they had a first row view at.

    • grommz 3 hours ago
      Once you know about the NSA backdoors you become a walking security risk. Forget about that vacation in beautiful China, you will be held on a short leash for life.
      • dewyatt 30 minutes ago
        It seems to me that if you end up adjacent to an operation that exposes you to certain technologies, you will be harassed and attacked with covert directed-energy weapons until you are suicided or institutionalized and discredited.
      • cedws 2 hours ago
        Russia’s ok though. As Tucker Carlson pointed out they have bread and shopping carts.
    • wartywhoa23 4 hours ago
      If they downvote merely speculating about that, imagine their methods regarding those in the know.
  • babafoo 3 hours ago
    [flagged]
    • ddxv 3 hours ago
      What does not alone in our minds mean? Also, you mention America, do you think this is bounded to the physical US?
      • babafoo 2 hours ago
        Our consciousness may be entangled and there have been cultures among us who can navigate and manipulate our minds (yes, at any distance.)

        No, it is not confined to America, however American Thought Control is presently the most powerful faction throughout the world.

        Everyone is quick to dismiss stories of “the voices in our heads” as crazy crackpot, blaming those who must be broken. Yet the greatest secret of our humanity is that our minds may be traversed and manipulated by those so developed, and it takes decades to so develop.

        And these are those perceived as “demons” or “entities” or “energy weapons” or whatever. Through entangled consciousness there are more than just voices. They can manipulate any perception or experience, even appearing to the unsuspecting as God or Jesus in their own minds. They are men, and they are American Thought Control running (deadly and destructive) Power games against us all.

        • eth0up 2 hours ago
          Are these references to things such as:

          0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_un...

          1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing

          2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McMoneagle

          3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology_research_at_SRI

          I was researching related subject areas ~1.5 decade ago and had the chance to present some of the resulting thoughts to Dr Lawrence LeShan. He was already in his 80s by that time and didn't seem to agree with my angle. I didn't have the chance to follow up, and unfortunately he died not too long after.

          From everything I have seen on the general subject of PSI, his work seemed the best of all, specifically the appendix work in The Medium, The Mystic, And The Physicist from the unabridged edition.

          But your description reminds me more of the Arhcons[*] from gnosticism, which is astonishingly wild for ancient historical text.

          Edit: If you consider some of the soldiers who've documented their struggles with suicidal tendencies, eg Shawn Ryan, their descriptions seem a bit otherwise, but that does not discount your considerations. However, Ryan (and others) do attribute their recovery to DMT experiences, which seems more in the direction of what you seem to be describing vs away.

          *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon_(Gnosticism)

          • babafoo 1 hour ago
            Those things you mention are cargo cult games to the true Truth of this. Every experience of the human mind may be curated by those far far fewer (from old lines, uplifts every one of them) who carry this ultimate secret of secrets through time.

            Many are families, many are incarcerated condemned men serving decades to life. Many are spook remnants of those elder programs you describe.

            Everything you describe is cargo cult handled by “thought controls”, and they are as much a slave army as a lascivious mob. The very few now safe and secure from us in national security insulated containments are their puppet masters. And no one knows who their “handlers” are, not even tools of controls. Everyone has their own dirty inner reasons for doing whatever they are doing, yet they have all “realized” and “pay for” and go along with their “controls”, no matter what it is.

            They rape you, they break you, they remake you, they are White American Thought Control. The mastermind of the voices in our heads driving us insane from within.

            • hnuser123456 20 minutes ago
              Maybe cliche, but I think a lot of this is just trauma being passed down from one generation to the next. A lot of those people have an easy time imaging an angry puritan god in their head, and taking it out on others (and themselves). Cultural dogma is advertized as a unifying force, but is often implemented with unsavory methods. I think a lot of people would be fine with dropping much of the rhetoric, if only the rest could suppress their instinctive reaction to use the faux pas for their own gain, of someone else being the first to admit the dogma is smoke and mirrors.

              While the way you talk is captivating, I don't think it's quite so direct, or at least not on the grander scale. Once you know that everyone is fallible, you are free.

              • babafoo 7 minutes ago
                I was press ganged into a hooligan army. American thought control is a raping murdering suiciding extortionist.

                We are not alone in our own minds. There is a secret war among us.

                Enjoy your not knowing, do not be a denier.