*awkwardly waves hello*

Then they’re just crimes.

Feeling dirty and grimy for extended periods of time is extremely draining on the mental well-being of humans. Psychological studies prove it is detrimental to our self-esteem and contentment. And no wonder; we are animals--homo sapiens, a kind of ape--that instinctively places high importance on personal grooming. Like monkeys and cats and birds in a zoo, one of the best ways to make us feel sad ... is to make us feel gross to ourselves.

So here's an easy saying from my therapist/zookeeper:

"If you feel like you hate the world, eat something.

If you feel like the world hates you, get some sleep.

If you feel like you hate yourself, take a shower.

If I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.

Following the rules of the church are less important than following the attitudes Jesus exemplified [in a debate about if it would be okay to break traditional rules and give the leftover loaf of communion bread to a hungry and poor attendee]

Don’t get so caught up in observing ceremonies and following traditions that you forget why they started to begin with

Two monks from a strict order that prohibits even *looking* at a woman are on a pilgrimage

Along the way they have to cross a small river

A woman is also trying to cross but is clearly struggling to find a safe place to wade in

One monk decides to help and carries her through the water and sets her down on the other side where she goes off on her own to wherever it is she's going

After a while walking in grumpy silence the second monk breaks and starts berating the first for breaking his vows! And so casually! The first monk says "I picked her up, I put her down, *you* are still carrying her.

anyway type 2 diabetics i'm sorry about the world. everyone* be kind to type 2s or else

person : hey i used to be a bigot/abuser but i made active efforts to be a better person and i'm now not that person anymore

comments : ok do you want a pat on the back for the bare fucking minimum. fuck you. evil irredeemable person

like you realize that people can be raised into harmful ideologies and not question them until later in life and that it takes introspection and active efforts to understand your harmful actions and make change to your behavior right

even if its later in life.

When the state can brand fiction as "child abuse," then words no longer mean anything and the law is just moral panic wrapped in a robe.

The courtroom of a so-called civilized democracy was turned into a censorship board. The justice system was weaponized to punish a non-existent crime, all because a gang of pathetic, pearl-clutching busybodies hate the idea that your imagination is none of their business.

Fiction is not conduct. Imagination is not action.

Australia has just showed the world a government so weak and brittle that it needs an army of police, prosecutors, and magistrates to "protect" adults from reading.

But this is not about protecting anyone. It is about asserting authority over the contents of the human mind. Once the state can punish a book for being disturbing, there is no principled boundary left - only shifting moral panics that are used to justify the next target.

This crosses a line that all free societies are supposed to defend.

I...

"Australia" did not prosecute this author. New South Wales did. This is a state-based issue - the trial is happening in a magistrate's court, not the federal court, and it is definitely a state-based matter. Australia, like the USA, has a separation between the state governments and the national government, and this is a state-based prosecution, even if they are using a national framework for morality-based laws as a foundation for their judgement.

The complaint was made to CrimeStoppers, which means it was probably anonymous. My guess for the source of the complaint would be the printers at whichever print-on-demand facility she used to generate her advanced reader copies.

This sort of prosecution is not happening routinely in all Australian states.

The press coverage of this matter is mainly on those Australian media outlets which depend on advertising to cover costs, and which therefore benefit from people searching for "child abuse" in order to read scandal (the Guardian, Seven news, Nine news, News.com.au). Most of them are using the same content taken from the Australian Associated Press feed, pretty much word-for-word (The only one which didn't was news.com.au).

The book INVITED THE READER TO IMAGINE SOMETHING THAT IS ILLEGAL.

She is going to jail because she created a visual image in someone's mind and invited them to imagine illegal activity.

your average human comes pre-installed with instincts to:

Befriend

Tell story

Make Thing

Investigate

Share knowledge

Laugh

Sing

Dance

Empathize with

Create

we are chalk full of survival instincts that revolve around connecting to others (dog-shaped others, robot-shaped, sometimes even plant-shaped) and making things with our hands

imitating weird noises made by other animals

playing with water

the urge to eat anything brightly colored and jelly-like

touching things that look like they will move in a funny way

seeing faces in literally everything, including toast

jumping up to see if you can bap the top of that doorway

Hit the “thumbs down.” It’s like, what’s wrong??? Was our summary wrong? Were there offensive words? Thank you for helping us improve our AI tools :)

I selected “other.”

Text box popped up. Please elaborate!

Wrote in “I can fucking read” submit comment

Then had to spend several minutes torching all my settings with a flamethrower. Let me be clear: I’m (a lawyer) notoriously picky with my words FOR GOOD REASON (lawyering) so I overwhelmingly reject Gmail’s “helpful” little assistance. My privacy settings were set to “full paranoia” a little less than a year ago when I saw the writing on the wall and knew public defenders could become a target in the future. Better to lock it all down now.

Gemini had crept in there and turned ALL that shit back on. And showed itself by saying “Jane Doe says she’s so sorry for your loss and offers to reschedule for Thursday at 3” over an email from Jane Doe saying “I’m so sorry for your loss. We could reschedule for Thursday at 3?”

Why would I possibly need this. In what universe would I need this. I have eyes and a brain and a reading speed that twenty years ago was measured at 1500 wpm with full comprehension on dense scientific text. Furthermore! If I read a summary, I’m not reading what they actually wrote. If I’m not reading what they actually wrote, I’m not using my own judgment on the words and phrases that they used.

I literally don’t understand why this is helpful at all. This is just avoidance. Using LLMs to write is specifically Not Writing. Using LLMs to summarize is Not Reading. Using them to make art is Avoiding Making Art. Just READ! Just WRITE! I was not put on this fucking planet to not read and not write and not make art! Avoidance is an anxiety symptom and indulging it gives it more power.

If I had an AI to do my most dreaded task, answer the phone for clients, I wouldn’t use it. Because an AI cannot help them. An AI cannot hear the facts of their case, make appropriate noises, be thoughtful and insightful, and then give them a realistic estimate of what could happen in court. I am unique. I cannot be replaced by machine learning. I have style. I have expertise. I don’t hallucinate unless I’m having a really great Friday night and I’m off the clock.

When I need to outsource tasks from my own brain, I give them to people I know can do them and that I trust to do them right.