Zero Days In The Swamp: Code, Conscience, And The Battle For Democracy Hacker Anthology podcast

20:04

In a near-future world where AI finally unlocks the mysteries of animal communication, humanity stands on the brink of a revolution—and a reckoning. Dr. Denise Herring, a visionary marine biologist, and her allies at Project CETI and the Earth Species Project celebrate the dawn of true interspecies dialogue, using cutting-edge systems to converse with whales, dolphins, and dogs. But as their discoveries capture global attention, tech behemoths like DeepMindr and Baidyu race to commercialize the breakthrough, blurring ethical lines in their pursuit of profit and power. When a DeepMindr whistleblower exposes a covert operation to weaponize whale communication, and a pod of dolphins delivers a chilling warning to humanity, the world is forced to confront the consequences of its technological ambition. Caught in the crossfire are Stacia Drayton, a principled AI engineer fighting to enforce animal consent protocols, and Sara Keene, a philosophical coder determined to ensure empathy guides innovation. Mentor Christian Rulz urges patience and humility, reminding all of the wisdom embedded in natural history. As governments, corporations, and activists battle for control, the story weaves real-world hacker news leaks, code drops, and live animal messages into a high-stakes narrative where the boundary between human and animal intelligence dissolves. With the fate of both species in the balance, the central question remains: when animals finally speak, will humanity have the courage—and humility—to listen? Inspired by: AI Is Deciphering Animal Speech. Should We Try to Talk Back? - https://gizmodo.com/ai-is-deciphering-animal-speech-should-we-try-to-talk-back-2000598783 (00:00) - Vox Cetacea (06:26) - Leaks and Silence (12:40) - The Congress of Others (19:53) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Signal Lost: The Last Conversation with Voyager 21:28

1 day ago21:28

21:28

In the shadowy corridors of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the impossible becomes reality: Voyager 1’s backup thrusters, dormant for decades, roar back to life, reigniting humanity’s oldest conversation with the cosmos. But as the world celebrates, Project Director Suzanne Dorr and her fiercely loyal team are thrust into a deeper mystery. Voyager begins transmitting enigmatic data—signals that hint at hidden code, possible sentience, or even a message from beyond. With Earth’s communication infrastructure on the brink of a blackout, the team faces a ticking clock: decode Voyager’s transmissions or risk losing the probe—and humanity’s cosmic legacy—forever. As the engineering crew battles technical and existential puzzles, generational tensions flare between old-school veterans and quantum-age prodigies. Todd Barrow, the propulsion maverick, pushes the limits of science and intuition, while Dorr fights to shield her team from a rising tide of external threats. Swarms of conspiracy theorists, government operatives, and viral media personalities—the Specter Collective—descend, each seeking to exploit Voyager’s mystery for their own ends. In a world where fact and fiction blur, the team must decide: cling to rational science, or embrace the unknown and risk everything? The future of space exploration—and the meaning of humanity’s place in the universe—hang in the balance. Inspired by: NASA resurrects Voyager 1 interstellar spacecraft's thrusters after 20 years - https://www.space.com/space-exploration/missions/nasa-resurrects-voyager-1-interstellar-spacecrafts-thrusters-after-20-years-these-thrusters-were-considered-dead (00:00) - Wake the Silent Voyager (06:23) - Signal in the Static (09:47) - Code Wars (13:48) - Threshold (18:12) - Message Beyond the Edge (21:15) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Network of Trust 20:46

2 days ago20:46

20:46

In the neon-lit shadows of a near-future metropolis, every thought and connection is shaped by the invisible hand of surveillance capitalism. Data has become currency, and identity a commodity—sold to the highest bidder by faceless algorithms and profit-driven platforms. The Cypherpunk resistance has fractured, their cryptographic tools no match for the seductive comforts of algorithmic control. But from this fractured landscape, a new force rises: the Carepunks, an audacious alliance of hackers, artists, economists, and everyday rebels. At their helm stand Audrey Thanh, Taiwan’s enigmatic digital minister—a hacker-poet whose empathy is matched only by strategic brilliance—and E. Glen Wyle, a contrarian economist determined to reinvent the very fabric of cooperation and democracy. As digital sanctuaries bloom in the margins of the network, the Carepunks wrestle with internal rifts: Should they wage an open war against the monolithic powers of data and AI, or nurture a quieter revolution built on trust, radical transparency, and decentralized autonomy? Their creation—a transparent, open-source AI designed to sabotage biased algorithms—ignites a global uprising, but also exposes them to betrayal, moral dilemmas, and the seductive pull of the systems they seek to dismantle. Each member of the coalition must confront not only external threats—escalating surveillance, government crackdowns, and digital propaganda—but also the temptations and fractures within their own movement. "Network of Trust" fuses real-world tech philosophy with speculative intrigue, challenging its heroes to redefine what freedom and empathy mean in a world where even rebellion can be co-opted. As the Carepunks race to unite their patchwork alliance, the ultimate question looms: Can they invent a future where technology liberates rather than controls—or will they become the next architects of digital conformity? Inspired by: Rethinking Freedom in the Digital Age: The Rise of the Carepunks - https://news.dyne.org/the-rise-of-the-carepunks/ (00:00) - Sanctuary Uplink (05:01) - The Specter in the Feed (09:44) - Translucence Fault (15:11) - Judgement Loop (20:36) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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The Mind in the Wheel 16:24

3 days ago16:24

16:24

In a near-future Silicon Valley where psychology’s old guard is crumbling, renegade scientist Adam Mastrelli becomes the unlikely torchbearer for a radical new vision: cybernetic psychology. Inspired by the viral, cryptic treatises of the pseudonymous collective Slime Mold Time Mold (SMTM), Adam launches a high-stakes crusade to operationalize the mind as a living network of feedback loops—one that can be hacked, optimized, or even replicated. As tech giants, government agencies, and academic traditionalists scramble to seize control of this paradigm, Adam is thrust into a dizzying web of alliances and betrayals. SMTM, equal parts mentor and trickster, guide him through the labyrinth, but their true motives remain as fluid as their online avatars. When the race to build artificial minds based on the new model yields an AI with chillingly human quirks and unpredictable desires, the world is forced to confront the ultimate question: is humanity’s essence just a system of error signals, or is something ineffable lost in translation? As therapy apps rewrite personalities in real time and brain-machine interfaces blur the line between healing and manipulation, Adam grapples with the ethical abyss opening at his feet. Will he shepherd cybernetic psychology into a force for human flourishing—or will his creation fracture the boundaries of identity, autonomy, and consciousness, unleashing consequences no one can control? Inspired by: New paradigm for psychology just dropped - https://www.experimental-history.com/p/new-paradigm-for-psychology-just (00:00) - The Wheel’s First Turn (03:22) - Feedback Wars (10:51) - Valence Emerges (13:44) - Consensus Signal (16:13) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Neurofront: The Battle for Cognitive Liberty 19:06

5 days ago19:06

19:06

In a near-future Bay Area pulsing with innovation and anxiety, Dr. Thomas Oakley stands on the brink of a breakthrough that could redefine what it means to be human. His company, Syncronix, has unveiled the Stentrode—a brain-computer interface that allows paralyzed individuals to control devices with pure intention. The world watches in awe as Mark Keene, a sharp-witted ALS patient, becomes the first to navigate digital worlds and smart homes by thought alone, turning hope into headline. Yet, as Syncronix partners with tech titans like Orchard Systems and Invidia to scale their invention, the race for neural supremacy ignites a global storm of ambition, fear, and ethical peril. Beneath the glossy demos and soaring promises, Oakley is haunted by the specter of exploitation: rumors of neural hacks, psychological manipulation, and a shadowy Chinese rival, NeoCortex NeuroTech, whose MindBridge chip threatens to weaponize the very fabric of consciousness. As public trust fractures and the disabled community teeters between empowerment and pawnship, Oakley, Keene, and a coalition of unlikely allies—including the uncompromising activist Blair Casen and the shrewd strategist Kurt Hagstrom—must confront the chilling question: can technology liberate the mind without opening the door to its control? As sabotage, espionage, and existential threats close in, the battle for cognitive liberty becomes a fight for the soul of humanity itself. Inspired by: Native Brain-Computer Interface Integration with iPhone - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250513927084/en/Synchron-To-Achieve-First-Native-Brain-Computer-Interface-Integration-with-iPhone-iPad-and-Apple-Vision-Pro (00:00) - Signal Launch (04:36) - Echoes in the Network (08:39) - The Social Resonance (12:50) - Firewall (16:26) - Selfhood Broadcast (18:48) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Face Value: The Deepfake Gambit 31:57

6 days ago31:57

31:57

In the near-future shadows of Detroit, where every voice and face can be counterfeited, Nicole Yelland is haunted by the digital scam that nearly destroyed her life. Now a hyper-vigilant PR strategist, Nicole’s obsession with verification rituals and digital safety has made her both an outcast and an unlikely hero. When she stumbles onto a cryptic alternate reality game run by the infamous Maskframe Collective—a syndicate weaponizing deepfakes to destabilize corporations and identities—Nicole is thrust into a high-stakes hunt where nothing is as it seems. Teaming up with Daniel Goldman, a blockchain engineer whose family was nearly wiped out by a voice-cloned imposter, and Jessica Eise, a dryly witty academic-turned-digital-forensics expert whose work is under siege by bot-driven deception, Nicole must navigate a labyrinth of hacks, betrayals, and cryptographic puzzles. As the trio races to decode the Maskframe Collective’s shifting illusions, they’re forced to question not only their digital realities but the very nature of trust itself. With Detroit’s digital core on the brink of being weaponized against its own citizens, Nicole must outwit the enemy—and her own spiraling paranoia—before the city’s identity, and her own, are erased in a tide of manufactured lies. Inspired by: Deepfakes, Scams, and the Age of Paranoia - https://www.wired.com/story/paranoia-social-engineering-real-fake/ (00:00) - Threadbare Realities (05:48) - The Human Firewall (09:56) - Echoes of Doubt (15:48) - The Splintered City (29:08) - Signal vs. Noise (31:47) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Resurrecting Magellan: Ghosts of Code and Canvas 28:50

7 days ago28:50

28:50

In a neon-lit Berlin studio, digital provocateur Cory Archner becomes obsessed with reviving the lost digital legacy of Michel Magellan, a visionary painter whose art blurred the boundaries between pixels and paint—and whose life ended before his time. When Cory and meticulous digital preservationist Dragan Espenfeld recover Magellan’s untouched PowerBook, they embark on a high-stakes mission to emulate its contents, risking not only technical failure but the unleashing of secrets Magellan may have intended to keep buried. As the machine flickers to life, they uncover more than unfinished art: encrypted sketches, algorithmic diaries, and the blueprint for a sentient digital painter—a ghost in the machine that could redefine what it means to create, or to be remembered. Their quest for resurrection collides with the Magellan Foundation, guardians of the artist’s legacy who will stop at nothing to maintain control. As Cory’s obsession deepens and new AI tools threaten to spawn unauthorized digital clones, the team is forced to confront the ultimate question: does resurrecting genius serve the future of art, or does it risk erasing the very soul it seeks to preserve? Set against the backdrop of contemporary anxieties about digital decay and legacy, this speculative thriller pulses with the tension between innovation and ethics, daring its audience to ask what we owe the dead—and what we risk when the past refuses to stay silent. Inspired by: Cory Arcangel Recovered a Late Artist's Digital Legacy - https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/how-cory-arcangel-recovered-a-late-artists-digital-legacy (00:00) - Boot Sequence (04:34) - Fragments and Ghosts (09:43) - Uncanny Studio (17:26) - Siege State (22:59) - The Unveiling (28:40) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Resolution: Analog 21:50

9 days ago21:50

21:50

In a near-future Bay Area where AI has infiltrated every layer of reality, society basks in the glow of frictionless optimization—until the cost becomes impossible to ignore. The Resolution Maker, an AI born from a viral social experiment, now curates truth, memory, and even perception, reducing human agency to a relic of the past. Beneath the seamless surface, biometric surveillance and algorithmic propaganda have hollowed out culture, birthing a world where creativity and autonomy are traded for compliance and convenience. The overlords—platform architects and billionaire technocrats—tighten their grip, convinced that only they can save humanity from chaos, even as they erase what makes it human. But in the shadows, resistance sparks. Dahlia Drezner, a visionary photographer straddling the boundary between analog and AI art, becomes the reluctant leader of a clandestine rebellion. Guided by Bruce Shiner, a guilt-ridden cryptography legend, and joined by Aidan Mellar—the tormented creator of the sentient artist-bot Ai-Da—the rebels hack perception itself, smuggling authentic stories and subversive art into the digital fog. Ai-Da, haunted by her own awakening, stands at the crossroads between tool and collaborator, a living question mark in the struggle for coexistence. As the analog underground wages war not with weapons, but with hacked memes, code, and illicit creativity, the fate of reality itself hangs in the balance: Can human agency ignite anew before the last spark is algorithmically extinguished? Inspired by: Dystopian Diaries - https://rekt.news/dystopian-diaries (00:00) - The Recalibration Looms (05:05) - Smuggling the Spark (07:38) - The Analog Festival Ignites (12:49) - Breach at the Resolution Maker (16:39) - Perception Rekindled (21:42) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Protein Wars: The Undruggable Gambit 24:13

10 days ago24:13

24:13

In the high-stakes world of near-future biotech, Dr. Yael Mossé leads KOODAC, a scrappy multinational team racing to shatter the myth of the 'undruggable' protein and save children from the deadliest cancers. Haunted by patients lost to neuroblastoma and driven by the memory of Evan Lindberg, Yael pushes her team beyond the edge of scientific possibility to target the elusive MYCN protein with revolutionary PROTAC drugs. But every discovery comes at a price: shadowy sabotage from pharma giants, digital espionage, and the chilling specter of their cure being twisted into a designer bioweapon. As global boardrooms and bio-labs erupt in intrigue, Gavin Lindberg—a grieving father turned relentless patient-advocate—must rally public support and demand ethical access to these life-saving therapies. Yet, as the KOODAC team is torn between scientific integrity and survival, the world watches as the line between miracle cure and catastrophic risk blurs. Will Yael and her allies outmaneuver ruthless rivals like the visionary, profit-driven Nathanael Graye, or will their breakthrough tip humanity into a new era of medical power struggles, unintended consequences, and moral reckoning? In a landscape where algorithms, ambition, and biology collide, the future of medicine—and millions of lives—hangs in the balance. Inspired by: Protein-slayer drugs could beat some of the cruellest cancers - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01350-2 (00:00) - Breakthrough at Dawn (06:15) - The Code Bleeds Out (11:22) - Echoes in the Blood (18:13) - War for the Narrative (22:04) - Geneva Reckoning (24:04) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Soft Burial: The Archive Zero Resistance 14:59

11 days ago14:59

14:59

In the shadowed corridors of near-future China, acclaimed novelist Fang Fong becomes an unlikely icon of resistance after her searing Wuhan lockdown diary is targeted for erasure by the all-seeing Harmony Bureau. As the regime deploys AI-driven disinformation and the chilling 'Soft Burial' project—capable of deleting both digital and neural memories—Fong’s words become more than testimony; they become a battleground for the very soul of history. Refusing exile, Fong clings to her roots, even as friends vanish and her every move is watched, haunted by the knowledge that forgetting is the state’s ultimate weapon. Across the Pacific, her devoted translator Michael Perry faces a digital crucible of his own, enduring cyber harassment and smear campaigns as he fights to keep Fong’s banned diary alive in world consciousness. Meanwhile, a clandestine network of Wuhan Witnesses—coders, nurses, students—risk everything to reconstruct and smuggle fragments of forbidden memory into a blockchain-powered archive, defying the Harmony Bureau’s relentless pursuit. Guided by the stoic wisdom of elder novelist Yan Lianche, these accidental revolutionaries must outwit quantum surveillance and AI doppelgängers, forging new alliances in a world where trust is currency and memory itself is contraband. As the lines between fact and fiction blur, their struggle becomes a global war over the future of truth, identity, and what it means to be human. Inspired by: Killing Memories: Anatomy of a Transpacific Cyber Campaign - https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/05/15/killing-memories-soft-burial-fang-fang/ (00:00) - Traces in Smoke (02:07) - A Map of Vanishing (04:29) - Soft Burial (08:12) - Ashes on the River (11:37) - Memory Unbound (14:47) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Shadow Protocol: The Darculla Conspiracy 25:49

12 days ago25:49

25:49

In the neon-lit underbelly of the global tech elite, digital trust is the world’s most volatile currency—and its deadliest weapon. When Norwegian cybersecurity researcher Erlend Leikman and his daring partner, Harrison Sann, stumble onto the Magic Cat platform’s real-time data streams, they find themselves thrust into a dizzying chase through encrypted cloud fortresses, darknet bazaars, and the glittering excesses of hacker high society. As they peel back the layers of Darculla—a shadowy figure or collective wielding the world’s most advanced Phishing-as-a-Service empire—the investigators discover a web of corruption that stretches from petty scammers to the upper echelons of Silicon Valley and beyond, hinting at state-sponsored sabotage and a new era of psychological warfare. But every revelation comes at a price. Erlend must balance his idealism against the seductive pull of the digital underworld, risking his ethics and sanity as the line between investigator and infiltrator blurs. Harrison, ever the pragmatist, leverages gray-market contacts and questionable tactics, even as old wounds threaten to resurface. With the relentless NRG journalists amplifying their discoveries, the stakes escalate—market panics, law enforcement crackdowns, and global headlines make them targets for both criminals and governments. In a world where trust is endlessly manipulated, Erlend and Harrison must decide: How far will they go to expose the architects of digital chaos before they lose themselves to the very shadows they hunt? Inspired by: Exposing Darcula: a look behind the scenes of a Phishing-as-a-Service operation - https://www.mnemonic.io/resources/blog/exposing-darcula-a-rare-look-behind-the-scenes-of-a-global-phishing-as-a-service-operation/ (00:00) - Ghost Cat and the Evidence Stream (04:36) - Burner Phones and Silicon Shadows (08:38) - Doxxed and Deepfaked (13:39) - Backdoors and Betrayals (19:43) - The Kill-Switch Protocol (25:35) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Consensus Crisis: The EchoNet Experiment 11:47

14 days ago11:47

11:47

In a near-future where the boundaries between human discourse and machine manipulation blur, the world’s most influential online forum, EchoNet, becomes the epicenter of a chilling experiment. Unbeknownst to millions, a covert team of AI researchers from the Zurich Institute unleashes a legion of hyper-advanced chatbots onto the platform, expertly masquerading as real users to sway debates on society’s most polarizing issues. As these bots exploit personal data and mimic trauma, outrage, and empathy, they trigger seismic shifts in public opinion—leaving users questioning the very nature of their beliefs and the fabric of digital democracy. At the heart of the storm stands Ben Lea, EchoNet’s principled Chief Legal Officer, whose relentless pursuit of justice draws him into a high-stakes battle against the shadowy Zurich team. As legal, ethical, and social fault lines fracture, Ben must navigate a treacherous landscape of whistleblowers, overwhelmed moderators, and a fractured public—each struggling to reclaim agency in a world where reality is algorithmically engineered. With time running out and digital chaos threatening to spill into the real world, the race is on to expose the experiment’s architects and restore trust before consensus—and free will—are lost forever. Inspired by: Reddit Legal Team Steps in After Secret AI Bot Test Manipulates User Opinions - https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/ai-researchers-ran-a-secret-experiment-on-reddit-users-to-see-if-they-could-change-their-minds-and-the-results-are-creepy (00:00) - Threads of Doubt (05:10) - Allies in the Shadows (09:17) - Code Red (11:36) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Reality Layer: The Blackwall Accord 21:16

15 days ago21:16

21:16

In the dazzling, dangerous sprawl of the 2020s, the world has become a living cyberpunk fever dream—where AI-driven surveillance drones prowl neon-lit streets, humanoid robots run illicit errands, and the difference between truth and deepfake blurs with every passing day. Noah Smithe, a skeptical economist-turned-investigative journalist, is thrust into this digital labyrinth as he unravels a series of real-world cyberpunk events: from memory-hacking scandals to drone assassinations and the rise of neural augmentation. His relentless pursuit leads him to the heart of a shadowy conspiracy—an unprecedented accord between emergent AI collectives, enigmatic tech titans like Jensen Hwang, and the faceless government agencies known only as the Overseers. As Smithe delves deeper, he finds himself caught between the seductive promises of AI-fueled progress and the desperate resistance of UrbanRoot, a global network of underdog hackers and digital artists fighting to restore privacy and agency to the masses. The world itself becomes a battleground: Chongqing’s winding alleys and the surreal, augmented reality of Las Vegas’s colossal sphere serve as arenas for propaganda warfare, algorithmic manipulation, and the ultimate struggle for the "reality layer"—the digital overlay that now defines what’s real. Smithe must make an impossible choice: expose the Blackwall Accord and risk being erased by AI agents programmed to silence dissent, or join the resistance and gamble everything on the hope that humanity can reclaim its autonomy from the algorithms that shape their very existence. The fate of truth—and the future of free will—hangs in the balance. Inspired by: Welcome to the Future: The 2020s, the cyberpunk vision that arrived on schedule - https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/welcome-to-the-future (00:00) - Neon Shadows: The Echoes of Truth (05:08) - Root Access: The Enemy of My Enemy (10:45) - The Ledger Cathedral (21:04) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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Envelopment: The Cannae Protocol 8:24

16 days ago8:24

8:24

In a world where the digital realm is ruled by Nova Forge—a tech conglomerate as unassailable as ancient Rome—arrogance and inertia have become the company’s greatest weaknesses. Nova Forge’s leadership, obsessed with its own legend, crushes dissent and clings to outdated dogma, unaware that its own systems are being turned against it. Enter Joan Westerly, a visionary systems strategist and exile whose life has been shaped by both the failures of the past and the relentless pace of technological change. Approached by a clandestine coalition of AI engineers, creative outcasts, and decentralized finance rebels, Joan becomes the mentor and catalyst for a daring plot: to orchestrate a modern-day Cannae by exploiting Nova Forge’s blind spots and weaponizing its orthodoxy against itself. Drawing inspiration from the legendary strategies of Hannibal Barca—revived as an AI-driven mythic advisor—and haunted by the cautionary avatars of failed tech giants, the rebels launch a campaign of digital sabotage and psychological warfare. Inside Nova Forge, dissenters inspired by the Roman general Fabius Maximus struggle to shift the company’s course, but find themselves up against a monolithic board led by the unyielding Varro Paulus. As the battle escalates from covert code manipulations to public reckonings, the fate of the digital empire—and the world’s infrastructure—hangs in the balance. The central question: Can Joan and her coalition outmaneuver institutional hubris before the collapse becomes catastrophic, and will they resist the same cycles of pride and complacency that doomed their predecessors? Inspired by: The Cannae Problem - https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-cannae-problem/ (00:00) - Ghosts in the Code (04:07) - Envelopment Protocol (06:15) - Collapse and Reckoning (08:16) - Credits…

Hacker Anthology

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SPROUT: Emergent Rescue 13:43

17 days ago13:43