fate/misc.

When learning in history class about Hitler's fascism: "Why didn't anyone try to stop them?"

First screenshot from Twitter:

“Subverting” Catholic art? Oh, okay. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You log onto the internet and you post about how “Wound of Christ” from Psalter and Prayer Book of Bonne de Luxembourg, attributed to Jean le Noir, c.1349, for instance, looks like a vulva because you're trying to tell the world that you enjoy Catholic art and imagery in an alternative, queer, risqué way that challenges Christian beliefs. But what you don't know is that that stigma isn’t just a vulva. It's not just a mandorla. It's not just yonic. It's actually intentionally erotic. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that around 1297, Saint Angela of Foligno experienced a vision of Christ himself, who called her to put her mouth to the wound in his side and lick the freshly flowing blood. And then I think it was Saint Catherine of Siena who drank blood and a clear liquid from the wound before receiving a ring made from Christ’s foreskin? And then graphically erotic encounters with the side wound of Christ quickly showed up in the writings of eight different mystics. And then the yonic interpretation of the stigmata filtered down through the illuminated manuscripts and then trickled on down into some pseudo-intellectual corner of the internet…where you, no doubt, fished it out of some Pinterest board. However, that interpretation represents hundreds of years and countless visions of religious ecstasy. And it's sort of comical how you think that you've come up with an idea that exempts you from Christian theology when, in fact…you're posting an image that was sexualized for you by the very Medieval saints you think you’re so different than…from “subverted” Catholic art.

For anyone wondering, the PhD student's name is Myra Cheng.

Across three preregistered studies, participants interacting with sycophantic AI became more convinced of their own rightness and less willing to repair relationships. Yet at the same time, participants rated sycophantic AI models as higher quality, more trustworthy, and more desirable for future use, which may explain why this behavior has persisted despite its harmful impacts.

I love Aim / the Messenger

I know we are all doomers about tech right now and I really do get it. But my frustration with these social media sites isn’t “they exist and it’s bad for society”. My frustration is that I see all the good that comes from them and then I watch that be stripped away day by day by the profit motive. I’ve seen so many people go from homeless to stably housed using social media. We’ve organized clothing swaps and native plant restoration projects and land sharing programs. People meet friends and loved ones, people to be family with. And people to protest with, and struggle with, and build the world they want to see with. I watch all of this get harder as scams become more common, as ai bullshit overtakes every communication, and as algorithms channel us more towards staying angry, scared, and on the phone rather than helping us connect.