Recent content by Pyroglyphian

I share your general concerns, Rath, though as Homer mentioned, manipulating history isn’t new. It’s arguably an innate tendency, rooted in how we think. If Freud et al. are to be believed, the mind is a sort of propaganda machine, constantly reshaping memories by repressing and distorting...

I sometimes start with the title, though I’ve been working more on non-fiction of late. Sometimes a title can capture a vibe and inspire what comes next, I find.

A poet picks up his pen… and, with nothing further to riddle, fiddles, twiddles the middle, lids its nib once again. But wait! He thinks he’s found inspiration! Oh... but no, he’s just rhyming "pen-masturbation."

I share the general sentiments here. Theory follows practice. It rationalises observations of practice and can serve as a useful pointer. Inevitably, growth leads the practitioner to do something unprecedented, at which point theory becomes restrictive. On the mystical side, I sympathise with...

A little while back, I went to the cinema to see a Batman film. One of our group was incensed that “in real life, there’s no way that somebody could jump from a building that high and survive”, so I think there’s something to be said for finding the right audience for your work. Perhaps it’s...

I’ve also been “vibe coding” recently. The parallels with the “author” Trish mentioned, who publishes an AI-produced book each day, are inescapable. That individual is an extreme example of a “vibe author”. It emphasises ends over means – getting the job done as quickly as possible because “time...

I think there’s a difference, but it arises from reframing the comparison you made. Namely, the “stigma” around the means of writing seems more apparent among writers than among readers, I suppose, in part because it’s the writer’s passion and potential livelihood that AI threatens to undermine...

This strikes me as a pragmatic approach. I like that it aids transparency and may help to build trust with an audience.

Great point. In addition to your example, an aspiring author may have a cognitive challenge where generative AI assistance could help them more accurately or conveniently express themselves.

One thing that’s less clear at present is, once working people – comprising 99% of the world’s population – are further impoverished by a technology that is plainly being deployed as a weapon against them, how will they afford to buy all the crap that AI will be producing in their stead?

Some of the most effective propaganda is sincere and factual; its effectiveness is founded on the way facts are selected to build a narrative that supports the propagandist's intent. Knowing the intent allows us to evaluate the morality behind the action, but objectively, understanding the...

I think you’re onto something there, but I see it the other way around. Notions of utopia involve an absence of hierarchy, and it so happens that examples exist in history (and in modernity, in small ways). There seems to be a general consensus that imagining a credible utopia could take...

The anthropologist David Graeber observed that societies throughout history exhibit a dialectic between the everyday life of a people and their mythology. Peoples who enjoy a relatively peaceful and free existence often develop mythologies that are quite the opposite – full of warring gods and...

Academics can’t help themselves. My take is that this particular academic has strayed too far from the ivory tower and accidentally glimpsed the ugly truth of things. Occupational hazard. Hope he manages to get through the poetry phase of his recovery okay.

As Naomasa pointed out, it depends on what kind of subversion we’re talking about. I like seeing subversion within the writing craft, as I think it keeps things fresh and prevents stagnation, even though – as Schism and Stuart Dren noted – the new eventually ossifies. One question I've...