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Sam

@blerf.ca

Reading fiction, knitting, sewing, having a job I guess, kinda okay at stuff some of the time

71 Posts324 Follower227 Folgt
lauren@lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · yesterday

we've identified another vulnerability leak. now hackers on the dark web have identified your bad knee and that weird thing your shoulder does if you sleep on it wrong. there's no patch available for this, they're now just keenly aware you feel like your career has stalled out

Vajra Chandrasekera@vajra.me · last wk.

Simba Kundizeza's statement on his Caine Prize-winning story "The Blue Fighter" is also worth reading—keep in mind, the evidence-free article slandering him was published in The Atlantic to a mass readership and his defense is a tweet to his eight hundred followers

Simba Kundizeza @S_S_Kundizeza Statement on The Atlantic article concerning “The Blue Fighter” I would like to say at the outset that this statement is not in any way a proffer of an explanation or a defense against the allegations levelled against me in the article published by The Atlantic, because I don’t believe the article warrants either. I am however writing because of the level of public interest generated in its aftermath, and out of respect for the people who have supported and championed my writing, as well as my fellow shortlisted writers for the Caine Prize. I want to set the record straight. For the avoidance of doubt, I wrote "The Blue Fighter." I did not use generative AI to write it. It is entirely my own work. This story did not appear out of nowhere; it has a concrete, documented history. Its genesis was during my LOATAD Black Atlantic Residency in Ghana. While there‚ I read a poem by vangile gantsho titled “my father's hands․” I was inspired by this poem to write a story about my family's experiences in Zimbabwe‚ including my father leaving his accounting profession and the hardships my family faced as a result․ Other aspects of the story‚ including characters and the setting‚ are drawn from events in my own life․There is also a clear chronology to the story's development. I sent the completed first draft of the story to vangile for feedback on May 15‚ 2025․ I then submitted the story to The Shallow Tales Review on May 27‚ 2025․ Fiction editor Nzube Nlebedim accepted the story on June 10‚ 2025‚ and it went through the standard editorial process. vangile then provided her feedback to me on June 25‚ 2025․ On the same day Nzube also provided editorial feedback to me․ In an email dated June 27‚ 2025‚ I sent the final draft and requested that the editor preserve the formatting of an epigraph in the story as originally submitted by vangile as a courtesy to her․ The story was published on June 30‚ 2025․ The Atlantic article seems to question the story's authorship by comparing its style to my other writing. As writers we develop recurring interests, but we don’t produce work from a single fixed template. My debut novel, “Freelance”, and the story titled "The Whistleblower" published in Transition Magazine in 2021 which is referenced by Ms. Vara, are thrillers dealing with political intrigue. "The Blue Fighter," however, is a deeply personal story about economic collapse and familial relationships. The voice shifts because the subject matter demands it. To suggest that a writer cannot write in different styles or genres, or improve his writing substantially after five or more years fundamentally misunderstands the craft of writing.The motive for my supposedly using AI to generate the story is equally difficult to understand. I was under no obligation to write “The Blue Fighter”. I was not commissioned to produce it, nor was I paid a fee for its publication. The decision to submit the piece for consideration for the Caine Prize was made by the editor of The Shallow Tales Review months after its publication. I therefore didn’t write the story with any guarantee that it would be submitted, let alone win anything. The idea that I would have somehow written the story with the express intention of entering and winning the Caine Prize, despite the inherently competitive and uncertain nature of the prize, conjures up a motive that simply did not exist. "The Blue Fighter" is my work, and I stand by it completely. I'm grateful to vangile for her inspiration, to The Shallow Tales Review for giving the story a home, and to the Caine Prize judges for recognizing the work on its merits. I’m also heartened by the numerous messages of solidarity from fellow writers and readers, and to Adrienne Ingrum and Regina Brooks at Serendipity Literary Agency for their support throughout. I look forward to continuing to work with the Caine Prize team, and to celebrating this recognition with the people who helped bring this story into the world. Most importantly, I will continue to write.
Vajra Chandrasekera@vajra.me · 2w ago

Yeah. And if you don't care what Pangram says—it's just another AI company, and I don't care how good they are at hyping themselves—I also don't see what's so "AI" about this story at all. I don't think "trust me, it's bad" is meaningful (and that is quite literally what the article says.)

Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · 2w ago

Sam Altman said people are just gonna have to die in order to implement AI. In the very same week, Anthropic claimed it’s a human rights violation to be mean to the computer. These people need to be held accountable. They think lines of code are a person with rights but living people are debris.

The Verge@theverge.com · 2w ago

Over the past year, Anthropic has repeatedly flirted with the idea that its AI models could be conscious in some way. In February, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said on a podcast, “We don’t know if the models are conscious.”

mcc@dryad.technology · 3w ago

Have you noticed, lately, or noticed people around you commenting, that there just seems to be no money anymore. There's no money for companies to make the tv shows you like, the video games you like, the local diner you like shut down, no one you know can find a job. Think about that in context of

Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 3w ago

AI is now the biggest investment in all of US history as a percentage of GDP. Datacenter construction is up, all other construction is down. "AI Is Squeezing Out the Rest of the Stock Market," reported WSJ 2 days ago. We basically bet the whole economy on the most optimistic visions panning out.

John Woodside@woodsideful.bsky.social · 4w ago

This government simply hasn’t justified why it needs to gut environmental assessments, weaken labour protections or abandon emissions reductions to build big things given the data shows hundreds of major projects worth hundreds of billions were already underway.

Seanan McGuire@seananmcguire.bsky.social · last mo.

SILVER AND LEAD, the nineteenth full-length October Daye adventure, releases in paperback tomorrow. This was my first Toby book with Tor; I was very fortunate both to find a new home for such a long-running series, and to be able to retain my cover artist.

ℳatt@matttomic.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I've seen everyone sharing that US Dialect Quiz so I decided to make my own, much crappier, CANADIAN DIALECT QUIZ to guess where in Canada you're from

A flow chart I have created with multiple questions and the answers determine where you're from. Question 1 is do you call it a hydro bill (which then branches down to ON, QC, BC, MB) or an electric bill (which then branches down to SK, AB, NS, NB, PEI, NL) Question 2 is do you call it a cabin (BC, MB, AB, SK) cottage (ON and atlantic) camp (northern Ontario) chalet (QC) or bungalow (Cape Breton) To delineate BC from MB: do you call it dinner or supper To delineate southern Ontario rural or big city: have you heard of a stag & doe To delineate SK from AB: do you call a hoodie a bunnyhug And finally to delineate NL from the other atlantic provinces: whaddayat? (Correct answer: dis is it b'y)
Kness@kness.bsky.social · 2mo ago

And the good news in all this ? 🍁 My fellow Canadian customers now have a 25% discount + free shipping until the end of the year. Support Canadian Artists and Small Businesses, emphasis on minority owned ones, share this and support each other. www.kness.net is where the cute stuff is.

I mean we don't tax the possums here. Do we ? No we don't. Possums are free.