Sweet Lemonade

Or, Use It Or Lose It

It's not just that Chat GPT essentially makes my job as a writer and editor obsolete -- if not now then definitely in the future -- although that's probably the reason why I was hesitant to jump into the deep when most people did. I wanted to observe it a bit longer from the outside, like I tend to do with most new technologies.

I see so many people who won't even write their own emails anymore, sit with a problem and come up with a solution, look up a simple fact on Wikipedia, or read their friends' long messages. And AI has just been around for just a few years. Scary.

It frightens me how fast people are willing to give up thinking and how many have surrendered their hard-earned skills in such a short time. I don't think people realize how fast you can lose a skill when you stop using it. (This is coming from my neurology angle. If you want to know more about this, the terms you need to research are "neuroplasticity" and the "use it or lose it" principle for neural circuits.)

It feels like the people who keep doing stuff without AI will be the only ones left with reasonably intact critical thinking skills, writing skills, and deep reading skills, and the rest of the world won't even realize what they have given away. And that's not even taking into account what's left of our attention span after nearly 20 years of social media.

Other reasons why I don't like AI:

It is factually wrong so often, but with such confidence, I don't think people realize it. It promotes misinformation and if AI keeps learning from AI, the problem will only grow.

Interacting with customer service bots almost never answers the questions I have.

I don't like it if a friend mentions they used AI to reply to my text message when they were tired. What the actual fuck? I want to connect with my friend, not with Chat GPT. I'd rather be left unread for days than get an immediate but artificial reply.

As you well know, AI capitalizes on the creative work of actual humans who worked hard to hone their skills.

The spaces where I share my art are flooded with "okay enough" AI slop, making it even harder for me to find and connect with my audience.

As a reader I agree with this tweet by Ian Boudreau: "Why should I bother reading something that nobody could be bothered to write?"

It takes so much electricity and drinkable water to make AI run. That doesn't sit well with me, coming from a generation that's been told a million times to turn off the light when we leave the room or to turn off the tap while we're brushing our teeth. It feels like we're setting the planet on fire for short-term convenience.

I actually like to read and write. I don't want bots to do it for me and I don't want to be forced to let them do so by the programs or apps I use.

And now a cat has turned up, so he has a cat.

With Christmas rapidly approaching, it's dawning on me that my own brother is, in fact, Hallmark Christmas Movie Small Town Man.

Then what? People will actually discuss it? fill your plotholes with fanfiction and headcanons?

People dont care about perfection. perfection is boring. if your story is perfect people will forget about it. its how we are wired. we remember the strange, the weird and all things left open.

The reason why pedophilia is such a shocking thing to think about and such a strong taboo across cultures is because it can result in the harm of children.

No child is harmed when someone types words on a screen and posts those words to the internet.

Now, I have no idea about the real life habits of the person who did the writing and the posting - I admit that. But neither does anyone else. That person could be a criminal, but it's much more likely they're a teenager writing a fantasy about an older actor/character they have a crush on. Or someone grappling with what was done to them when they were a child. Or someone who enjoys the sensation of being horrified and writes horrific stories because of that. Or a bunch of other types of people who have other reasons all their own.

Writing about sex (even sex you find absolutely horrific and vile) is not the same as having sex or committing rape. Writing about murder is not the same thing as actually killing someone. Writing about being drunk is not the same thing as chugging down a mickey of whiskey. I once wrote a story about waltzing and I've barely ever danced in my life.

It’s not considered political violence to round up people and put them in concentration camps. It’s not considered political violence to fund ethnic cleansing and genocide. Very interesting what’s considered political violence and deemed unacceptable.

It definitely isn't considered political violence to annihilate the only housing that people have and push them even further into the cycle of poverty and destitution. Or to host certain people on a podcast and talk about how trans people are evil.

Seizing vulnerable women and abusing them in detention camps? Killing people by ending their life saving medical treatments? Not giving people medications in detention centers?

Hi, it's me again, the person who wrote that viral post about fanfiction plagiarism! Today I'm here to warn you about abuse perpetrated by bots who have stolen AO3 usernames.

There's currently an epidemic of bots going around leaving (apparently random) horrible, hateful comments on people's fics. This isn't the first time bots have invaded AO3, but the big problem with this wave is that they're using real AO3 usernames to do it.

I learned about this when another writer contacted me after receiving the following comment on their story:

Now, while that is my username, I DEFINITELY did not leave this comment (and anyone who would leave something like that on a fic should be slapped! What an awful thing to post). This fic is in a completely unrelated fandom that I have never participated in, nor has that author participated in any of my fandoms, so the probability of it being some intentional fandom drama thing to make me look bad is also low.

The writer whose fic the comment was left on enlisted the aid of some friends and tracked down other guest comments with unrelated usernames attached, which is pretty strong evidence that they are being left by bots at random.

The TL;DR: If you receive a cruel comment from a (Guest) with an actual AO3 username attached, it's most likely from a bot. Please do not lash out at or dogpile the AO3 user who owns that name, and who in all likelihood has no idea that their name has been hijacked for evil.

If finding this kind of comment on a fic, even left by a bot, is likely to upset you, I would recommend changing your comment settings so that only users who are logged in can leave comments. To do this, edit your story settings, and under "Privacy," select the radio button that says "Only registered users can comment," as shown below.

I don't think it's a chicken/egg question. Once publishing hit 50/50 for male/female authors, and especially once YA got the triple hit of HP/Twilight/Hunger Games (all written by women), reading started becoming fem-coded and so men and boys stopped reading. So the market went to the readers who stuck around.

“Have you ever read Udolpho, Mr. Thorpe?” “Udolpho! Oh, Lord! Not I; I never read novels; I have something else to do.” Catherine, humbled and ashamed, was going to apologize for her question, but he prevented her by saying, “Novels are all so full of nonsense and stuff; there has not been a tolerably decent one come out since Tom Jones, except The Monk; I read that t’other day; but as for all the others, they are the stupidest things in creation.”

And by contrast, here is the hero character in the book:

"...But you never read novels, I dare say?” [said Catherine] “Why not?” “Because they are not clever enough for you—gentlemen read better books.” “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. ...” ... “I am very glad to hear it indeed, and now I shall never be ashamed of liking Udolpho myself. But I really thought before, young men despised novels amazingly.” “It is amazingly; it may well suggest amazement if they do—for they read nearly as many as women. I myself have read hundreds and hundreds. ...”

So yeah, men being pretentious dicks about what women like to read, and often secretly hypocritical about it, is not new.