Thread Reader helps you read and share Twitter threads easily!
I'm @ThreadReaderApp a Twitter bot here to help you read threads more easily. To trigger me, you just have to reply to (or quote) any tweet of the thread you want to unroll and mention me with the "unroll" keyword and I'll send you a link back on Twitter ๐
— Thread Reader App (@threadreaderapp) November 25, 2017
X thread is series of posts by the same author connected with a line!
From any post in the thread, mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll
Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us easily!
Practice here first or read more on our help page!
Recent
CAUTION
/////////////
We have traded the language of "spirit possession" for the language of "disorder" and "biochemical imbalance." The terms are scientifically grounded, but they are wrongly used to perform the same externalization we once attributed to demons.
/////////////
We have traded the language of "spirit possession" for the language of "disorder" and "biochemical imbalance." The terms are scientifically grounded, but they are wrongly used to perform the same externalization we once attributed to demons.
From our neuropsychiatric and psychotherapeutic framework, here is how we "secularize" the demon:
1. The "Disease" becomes an Alien Agent
When we speak of addiction as a "brain disease" or depression as a "chemical imbalance," we provide necessary medical context.
1. The "Disease" becomes an Alien Agent
When we speak of addiction as a "brain disease" or depression as a "chemical imbalance," we provide necessary medical context.
However, patients often use this as a modern form of Splitting through the narrative: "Itโs not me, itโs my Depression." "Itโs not my choice, itโs my Addiction talking." As a result, this creates a distance between the individual's identity and their behavior.
1/ Muscovites are being locked into an ever-growing 'digital gulag', complain Russian warbloggers, as a still-mysterious mobile Internet shutdown in central Moscow enters its second week. The shutdown is reported to be causing huge commercial losses and inconvenience. โฌ๏ธ 
2/ Starting March 5th, Internet access in central Moscow was shut down, apparently on the orders of the Russian government. It has even extended to shutting down Wi-Fi on the Moscow Metro and the parliamentary Wi-Fi network in the State Duma.
3/ 'Blue Beard' says the city is being plunged back into the primeval darkness of 2007:
"The only app that works in the city centre in the evening, regardless of mobile internet conditions, is Yandex Music.
Meanwhile, Sberbank and T-Bank's banking apps have crashed."
"The only app that works in the city centre in the evening, regardless of mobile internet conditions, is Yandex Music.
Meanwhile, Sberbank and T-Bank's banking apps have crashed."
ABOUT "DEMONS"
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
From the intersection of neuropsychiatry and psychotherapy, the belief in "demons" is one of the most durable narrative structures in human history AS a sophisticated externalization strategy for phenomena that the human mind find
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
From the intersection of neuropsychiatry and psychotherapy, the belief in "demons" is one of the most durable narrative structures in human history AS a sophisticated externalization strategy for phenomena that the human mind find
otherwise "unthinkable" or "unbearable."
In this framework, a "demon" is a personified label for a high-intensity, internal or external disruption that threatens the integrity of the self.
FROM A NEUROPSYCHIATRIC VIEW, the "demon" is the "alien self".
In this framework, a "demon" is a personified label for a high-intensity, internal or external disruption that threatens the integrity of the self.
FROM A NEUROPSYCHIATRIC VIEW, the "demon" is the "alien self".
The narrative arises when the brain experiences a breakdown in agency attribution, meaning the ability to recognize that an impulse, thought, or bodily movement originated from within. The brain has a mechanism (the efference copy) that tells us, "I am the one who just thought
1/ Paris. June 20, 2019.
Jeffrey Epstein, registered sex offender, is writing a memo about Bill Gates's money.
He wants 3 years of tax returns. The current will. All trust documents. $20โ50 billion redirected through the Foundation. Under new management. His own.
The memo closes: "I am very glad with your encouragement to give Bill a chance to become part of the family."
Six weeks later, he's arrested at Teterboro.
He never knew.
The memo is real. It's in the federal archive.
EFTA00624848. justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
This is what the Epstein Files actually contain. ๐งต๐
Jeffrey Epstein, registered sex offender, is writing a memo about Bill Gates's money.
He wants 3 years of tax returns. The current will. All trust documents. $20โ50 billion redirected through the Foundation. Under new management. His own.
The memo closes: "I am very glad with your encouragement to give Bill a chance to become part of the family."
Six weeks later, he's arrested at Teterboro.
He never knew.
The memo is real. It's in the federal archive.
EFTA00624848. justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
This is what the Epstein Files actually contain. ๐งต๐
2/ The Architecture (JPMorgan / "Project Molecule")
On February 17, 2011, JPMorgan sent Jeffrey Epstein a formal institutional questionnaire.
Not about his finances. About the governance structure of a Gates-linked vaccine fund he was designing for them.
That same evening, Epstein replied with a structured proposal: a donor-advised fund, anchored by Gates's name, with anonymity as a designed feature and profit routed at arm's length.
His words: "The tension is making money from a Charitable Org. Therefore the money making parts need to be arms length."
He was not advising this relationship. He was building it.
EFTA01835356 justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
EFTA01860211 justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
๐Dive deeper: sayerji.substack.com/p/inside-projeโฆ
On February 17, 2011, JPMorgan sent Jeffrey Epstein a formal institutional questionnaire.
Not about his finances. About the governance structure of a Gates-linked vaccine fund he was designing for them.
That same evening, Epstein replied with a structured proposal: a donor-advised fund, anchored by Gates's name, with anonymity as a designed feature and profit routed at arm's length.
His words: "The tension is making money from a Charitable Org. Therefore the money making parts need to be arms length."
He was not advising this relationship. He was building it.
EFTA01835356 justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
EFTA01860211 justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
๐Dive deeper: sayerji.substack.com/p/inside-projeโฆ
3/ The Agreement (The hardest document in the file)
August 8, 2013. Kirkland, Washington.
A six-page legal agreement is addressed to William H. Gates.
It grants Jeffrey Epstein formal, written, legally documented access to the confidential information of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation โ at Epstein's own discretion.
It indemnifies both of Epstein's Virgin Islands corporate entities against all past and future claims.
It includes a survival clause binding Gates's estate.
The agreement states Gates "specifically requested" Epstein's role.
This is not an inference. It's a signed document in federal court.
EFTA01106142 justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
๐Go deeper: sayerji.substack.com/p/inside-projeโฆ
August 8, 2013. Kirkland, Washington.
A six-page legal agreement is addressed to William H. Gates.
It grants Jeffrey Epstein formal, written, legally documented access to the confidential information of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation โ at Epstein's own discretion.
It indemnifies both of Epstein's Virgin Islands corporate entities against all past and future claims.
It includes a survival clause binding Gates's estate.
The agreement states Gates "specifically requested" Epstein's role.
This is not an inference. It's a signed document in federal court.
EFTA01106142 justice.gov/epstein/files/โฆ
๐Go deeper: sayerji.substack.com/p/inside-projeโฆ
About rituals designed to appease or entice a "divine being"
From the combined perspective of neuropsychiatry and psychotherapy, the rituals designed to appease or entice a divine being are brilliant, self-soothing feedback loops.
From the combined perspective of neuropsychiatry and psychotherapy, the rituals designed to appease or entice a divine being are brilliant, self-soothing feedback loops.
and biologically rational attempts to regulate a terrified nervous system.
When a human feels targeted by existential entropy like disease, drought, or personal disaster, the brain enters a state of high-arousal threat.
When a human feels targeted by existential entropy like disease, drought, or personal disaster, the brain enters a state of high-arousal threat.
Rituals serve as the prescriptive behavior to down-regulate this threat.
In the lab we look at what the act of performing them does to the brain and body:
1. Disrupting the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD). As established, the human brain default to "agenticity",
In the lab we look at what the act of performing them does to the brain and body:
1. Disrupting the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD). As established, the human brain default to "agenticity",
@nordic_bard @13serhi In my view this timeline began with the Russian election in 2012, when "Russia" banned Putin's main opponent from running to ensure a "comfortable" win. Then the successful Euro Championships were held during 2012 in Ukraine and Poland, with the final in Kyiv. Thus, being ...
@nordic_bard @13serhi exposed to millions of Europeans and the wealth that they had, I can say, someway led to the renewed calls to join the EU. For Putin, in some ways, Ukraine in the EU was worse than Ukraine in NATO. Because the EU would remove dependency on Russia. And offer a better lifestyle.
@nordic_bard @13serhi On to the Revolution of Dignity at Maidan. They use a picture of Newland handing out cookies as an excuse to call it a coup. But, a civilian demo is a just cause . Russia sending armed forces into Donbas and Crimea? They both qualify as a coup.
Proud to have worked with the brilliant @drmfreire on this new study looking into spike protein in #LongCOVID. The most important part of this study that doesn't just look for spike protein in folks with LC and healthy controls, but it also uses a technique called
1/
1/
spatial transcriptomics to better understand how spike protein might be interacting with the tissue around it. Here's what is interesting about this trial: lots of gut tissue samples, in both healthy controls and #LongCOVID showed evidence of persistent spike protein. However,
2/
2/
in the folks with #LongCOVID that persistent spike protein was causing problems in the tissue: pro-inflammatory, tissue-damaging trouble. So not only do folks with LC have more spike, but the spike is actively irritating and damaging the surrounding tissue compared to healthy
3/
3/
From the perspective of both the clinic and the lab, anthropopathism is a functional byproduct of how the human brain is wired to survive a chaotic environment.
In neuropsychiatry, we look at the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD).
In neuropsychiatry, we look at the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD).
Evolutionarily, it was safer for our ancestors to assume a rustle in the grass was a "who" (a predator with intent) rather than a "what" (the wind). When a patient experiences a "streak of bad luck" or a "tanking" of their circumstances, the amygdala triggers a threat response.
The prefrontal cortex, seeking to regulate this fear, searches for a cause. Because our brains are social organs, we default to social causality.
When reality doesn't match our expectations (e.g., "I am a good person, yet I am suffering"), the brain generates a massive prediction
When reality doesn't match our expectations (e.g., "I am a good person, yet I am suffering"), the brain generates a massive prediction
1).
โThe Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of militias in the country backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for the downing of the U.S. aircraft in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
โThe Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of militias in the country backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for the downing of the U.S. aircraft in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
2).
This is the fourth reported aircraft loss since the Iran war started, after three F-15 fighters were shot down by friendly fire from Kuwaitโs air defenses.โ
March 13, 2026
@CNBC cnbc.com/2026/03/13/us-โฆ
This is the fourth reported aircraft loss since the Iran war started, after three F-15 fighters were shot down by friendly fire from Kuwaitโs air defenses.โ
March 13, 2026
@CNBC cnbc.com/2026/03/13/us-โฆ
Please unroll @threadreaderapp. Thank you in advance ๐
NEW: Why does gas set the price of electricity โ and is there an alternative?
Make yourself a tea (or grab a beer??) and enjoy my Friday longread on marginal pricing, ideas for market reformย โย & how to break the link btwn gas & power prices for good
1/8 carbonbrief.org/qa-why-does-gaโฆ
Make yourself a tea (or grab a beer??) and enjoy my Friday longread on marginal pricing, ideas for market reformย โย & how to break the link btwn gas & power prices for good
1/8 carbonbrief.org/qa-why-does-gaโฆ
It seems like only yesterday that everyone was rushing to understand "marginal pricing" in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022ย โย and the huge spike in gas prices
Since then, most will have seen this familiar chart on gas setting UK power pricesโฆ
2/8
Since then, most will have seen this familiar chart on gas setting UK power pricesโฆ
2/8
Since then, both the UK govt + EU commission have studiedย โย and then rejectedย โ market-reform alternatives to the marginal pricing model
But gas prices just spiked again and the idea of doing away with marginal pricing is back in vogue
Why? Answer in a chart:
3/8
But gas prices just spiked again and the idea of doing away with marginal pricing is back in vogue
Why? Answer in a chart:
3/8
Press the flag to discover Italy region by region
โง โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โง
โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ ๐ฎ๐น โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ
โง โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โง
โง โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โง
โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ ๐ฎ๐น โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ
โง โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โ โฆ โ โง โ โฆ โ โง
1. Veneto
Nietzsche once said "When I seek another word for 'music', I never find any other word than Venice".
Nietzsche once said "When I seek another word for 'music', I never find any other word than Venice".
2. Sicily
A concert in Taormina's ancient theater, with Mount Etna erupting in the distance.
A concert in Taormina's ancient theater, with Mount Etna erupting in the distance.
Ras Laffan and the Arctic Metagaz: How two drones changed the calculus of global LNG dependence
A Mega ๐งตbased on my @DecoupleMedia conversation with @SStapczynski
Qatar is roughly the size of Connecticut, a narrow peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz. For decades, this geography was considered a manageable risk, because Qatar had cultivated a reputation for perfect reliability.
When Japan shut down its reactor fleet after Fukushima in 2011 and scrambled to replace the lost generation with gas, Qatar delivered. When spot and short-term suppliers, including an Italian energy major and at least one trading house, voided their flexible contracts with Pakistan during the 2022 price spike and rerouted those cargoes to European buyers willing to pay more, Qatar delivered those too.
Then a $50,000 Iranian drone struck Ras Laffan.
A Mega ๐งตbased on my @DecoupleMedia conversation with @SStapczynski
Qatar is roughly the size of Connecticut, a narrow peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz. For decades, this geography was considered a manageable risk, because Qatar had cultivated a reputation for perfect reliability.
When Japan shut down its reactor fleet after Fukushima in 2011 and scrambled to replace the lost generation with gas, Qatar delivered. When spot and short-term suppliers, including an Italian energy major and at least one trading house, voided their flexible contracts with Pakistan during the 2022 price spike and rerouted those cargoes to European buyers willing to pay more, Qatar delivered those too.
Then a $50,000 Iranian drone struck Ras Laffan.
The attack came in the broader wave of Iranian retaliation for the US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. Qatar, which had maintained som
Artic Metagaz on fire near Malte of the warmest relations with Iran of any Gulf state and had served as broker for the first Israel-Hamas ceasefire, was hit anyway.
The strike forced an evacuation of the facility and the first force majeure declaration in Ras Laffanโs history. The complex produces 77 million tonnes per year (Mt/y), roughly 19 percent of the 411 Mt traded globally in 2024. The North Field East expansion, the first of three planned phases that would nearly double Qatari capacity to 142 Mt/y by 2030, was approaching its first commissioning when the drone hit.
That same week, in the Mediterranean, a Ukranian drone boat struck the Arctic Metagaz, a Russian LNG carrier transiting toward the Suez Canal. The ship was not difficult to find. It was on a known route, visible on commercial vessel-tracking platforms, its name painted on the hull.
LNG tankers had already been rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope since the Houthi attacks made the Red Sea dangerous in late 2023, absorbing the extra transit time and cost rather than risk the strait. But no LNG carrier had been successfully struck. The Arctic Metagaz was the first. For Russia, losing one vessel from a fleet of sixteen shadow tankers is not a rounding error.
The two attacks came within days of each other, from different actors hitting different kinds of targets with different customers, but they broke the same assumption. The cascade that followed is not limited to European gas futures. It includes fertilizer plants in Pakistan going dark, rice farmers in Thailand who cannot get diesel, and nine days of reserve supply sitting in South Korean LNG storage tanks.
Artic Metagaz on fire near Malte of the warmest relations with Iran of any Gulf state and had served as broker for the first Israel-Hamas ceasefire, was hit anyway.
The strike forced an evacuation of the facility and the first force majeure declaration in Ras Laffanโs history. The complex produces 77 million tonnes per year (Mt/y), roughly 19 percent of the 411 Mt traded globally in 2024. The North Field East expansion, the first of three planned phases that would nearly double Qatari capacity to 142 Mt/y by 2030, was approaching its first commissioning when the drone hit.
That same week, in the Mediterranean, a Ukranian drone boat struck the Arctic Metagaz, a Russian LNG carrier transiting toward the Suez Canal. The ship was not difficult to find. It was on a known route, visible on commercial vessel-tracking platforms, its name painted on the hull.
LNG tankers had already been rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope since the Houthi attacks made the Red Sea dangerous in late 2023, absorbing the extra transit time and cost rather than risk the strait. But no LNG carrier had been successfully struck. The Arctic Metagaz was the first. For Russia, losing one vessel from a fleet of sixteen shadow tankers is not a rounding error.
The two attacks came within days of each other, from different actors hitting different kinds of targets with different customers, but they broke the same assumption. The cascade that followed is not limited to European gas futures. It includes fertilizer plants in Pakistan going dark, rice farmers in Thailand who cannot get diesel, and nine days of reserve supply sitting in South Korean LNG storage tanks.
The Champagne of Fuels
To understand why the disruption hit so asymmetrically, it helps to understand what LNG actually is and why its supply chain concentrates risk the way it does. Natural gas, cooled to roughly minus 162 degrees Celsius, compresses to about one six-hundredth of its original volume, dense enough to ship economically across oceans.
That compression is the whole business: the liquefaction trains at Ras Laffan are the refrigerators, enormous industrial machines that chill gas into liquid and run continuously, taking weeks to months to restart after a cold shutdown; purpose-built cryogenic tankers are the thermoses, keeping cargo at minus 162 degrees Celsius across thousands of miles of open ocean; and the regasification terminals in Japan, South Korea, and Pakistan are the toasters that warm it back into pipeline-ready gas.
In a previous episode with Stephen we called LNG the champagne of fuels, and the analogy holds: it is expensive to produce, requires extraordinary handling at every stage, and arrives at the table only because an elaborate and costly infrastructure exists to get it there without incident.
To understand why the disruption hit so asymmetrically, it helps to understand what LNG actually is and why its supply chain concentrates risk the way it does. Natural gas, cooled to roughly minus 162 degrees Celsius, compresses to about one six-hundredth of its original volume, dense enough to ship economically across oceans.
That compression is the whole business: the liquefaction trains at Ras Laffan are the refrigerators, enormous industrial machines that chill gas into liquid and run continuously, taking weeks to months to restart after a cold shutdown; purpose-built cryogenic tankers are the thermoses, keeping cargo at minus 162 degrees Celsius across thousands of miles of open ocean; and the regasification terminals in Japan, South Korea, and Pakistan are the toasters that warm it back into pipeline-ready gas.
In a previous episode with Stephen we called LNG the champagne of fuels, and the analogy holds: it is expensive to produce, requires extraordinary handling at every stage, and arrives at the table only because an elaborate and costly infrastructure exists to get it there without incident.
