The Ice Machine Manifesto: Politics for a System That Works
Written by Barry Hamilton Jr.
I. PREFACE: THE TRUTH DOESN’T SELL, BUT IT SINGS
I was born into a place where manners mattered more than truth, where history was a weapon sharpened by omission. In Hampton Roads, Virginia, I learned early how polite lies shape cruel systems, and how silence can do as much damage as violence.
I don’t believe in spectacle for its own sake. I believe in eudemony — in building systems that serve human well-being. Not in theory. Not in branding. In reality.
My politics are a reckoning: with capitalism, with conservatism, with the weakness of institutional liberalism, and with the failures of a left too often content to argue aesthetics while the planet burns. I’m not here to play nice. I’m here to make it work.
II. MATERIALISM WITHOUT APOLOGY
Reality matters more than rhetoric. Material outcomes matter more than intentions.
Every claim I make runs through this filter: Does it work? Can it be proven? Can it withstand the sabotage of the powerful? If not, it belongs in a faculty lounge, not in the struggle.
Capitalism works — not for people, but for capital. It rewards the worst behaviors with power, cloaks cruelty in “efficiency,” and turns profit into a religion.
We were told to hustle while wealth passed quietly down the bloodlines. We were told to dream while the architects locked every door.
I’m done waiting for the gatekeepers to hand us keys. I bring bolt cutters.
III. RIGHTISM IS A FAILURE OF THE IMAGINATION
Right-wing hierarchies are self-serving shells. Their success isn’t built on truth but on repetition, coercion, and the aesthetic of certainty. They thrive in chaos, flourish on grievance, and sell a poisoned nostalgia to the people they’re exploiting.
And yet, too many leftists fear being mocked more than they fear being conquered.
We can’t beat fascism with vibes. We beat it by building non-arbitrary, adaptable, materially-grounded systems that make life better for real people. Not just in cities. Not just in echo chambers. Everywhere.
IV. THE STAFFORD BEER PRINCIPLE: TECHNOLOGY FOR PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT
In recent work, I’ve revisited the ideas of cybernetician Stafford Beer, who believed that the true goal of any system should be eudemony — collective human flourishing.
Beer called money an epiphenomenon: a side effect of systems, not their purpose. Yet in our world, AI, data infrastructure, and governance itself have been twisted to maximize short-term gains for elites rather than long-term survival for everyone else.
His work informs my core principle: Design systems for humans, not shareholders.
AI isn’t evil. Capitalism is. Surveillance isn’t inevitable. Apathy is.
The tools we have today could liberate billions — or destroy everything. It depends on what we optimize for.
I choose eudemony.
V. ON SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF THE OPPRESSOR
I grew up with their accents, their justifications, their myths. I know how they think because I was taught to think like them.
That’s why I speak directly to Trump supporters, libertarians, fascist apologists. I meet them in their language not to join them, but to unravel them.
They call me angry. I call me accurate.
VI. ART AS STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE
My music isn’t an escape. It’s an indictment. Industrial post-punk, droning bass, haunted lyrics — this is the sound of the machine breaking down.
Albums like Then Nothing are soundtracks to collapse, but they’re also user manuals for building something better.
There is poetry in rage. There is strategy in sorrow.
VII. CONCLUSION: CUT THROUGH THE NOISE
I don’t sell hope. I sell clarity. I don’t ask you to follow me. I ask you to stop following liars.
The world isn’t ending because people gave up. It’s ending because people trusted systems that were never meant to help them.
My politics are simple:
- If it doesn’t serve people, it doesn’t deserve to exist.
- If it can’t be explained to a stranger, it can’t be implemented.
- If it doesn’t stand up under pressure, it doesn’t matter.
The Ice Machine isn’t just me. It’s a way of thinking. A refusal to settle. A commitment to reality.
Plug in. Tear down. Rebuild.