James Aylett
@james.tartarus.org
He/him. Thinking about books & art & narrative & drama ... and the future. Previously professionally worried about privacy and AI (now only in a personal capacity). If I don't follow you it doesn't mean I don't like you. https://tartarus.org/james/
If you'd like something even more dangerous, our archive is so old that we don't use these fancy modern rolling stacks. Ours are attached to a motorised chain that runs the length of the room. This means sometimes they like to move by themselves just a little, enough to keep you on edge.
alix e. harrow@alixeharrow.bsky.social · yesterdayi don't like to police genre, but it's not dark academia unless somebody gets squished in one of these bad boys
My answer is LOL ROFL (dickbrain) The terminally AI-pilled can't even *imagine* some people have *never* asked stochastic parrots to cheat at their job for them.
I’m sorry who and why and for what reason have I re-engaged online and the Discourse is about whether wealthy people can afford quality and is that classist Also ORWELL DID NOT ONLY WRITE 1984 READ DOWN AND OUT FFS Twists of tea. What I won’t do is quote Sam Jackson on this. He doesn’t deserve it
I need to start an art thread of Weird Little Guys (gender/species inclusive) because I love them so much.
Kate Compton@galaxykate.bsky.social · 2d agoWait did i show yall the worlds best cow painting?
Fae: “Tell us your true name.” Me: “…Just my name? No birthdate, no SSN, no fingerprint scan, no address, no mother’s maiden name? Are you sure you’ve even got the right Olivia Waite? There’s like six.” Fae: “What the hell kind of bargains have you been making?” Me: “They call it health insurance.”
It's Textile Tuesday, and you know what that means: a piece by artist Faig Ahmed called "The Dragons of Karabakh" that's woven to look like an antique Central Asian carpet is melting off the wall into a puddle. More about the artist here: faigahmed.com
The most terrifying enshittification I've discovered has been learning that Microsoft Word documents no longer auto-save if you are not saving them to one of their own proprietary cloud services. I'm slapping control-S like it's 1999.
Having to click confirm to close a chat on the UPS website that I didn't ask for or want seems like peak AI Age bullshit, but I'm sure at some point they'll replace it with having to type the words "piss off you cancerous swag" to juice their engagement numbers.
Oh, hey! Got an email from Terry Gross, who apparently does NPR business from a gmail account. She wants to interview me about Radiant Star! At this point if you want me to visit your book club or do an interview, you need to contact my agent or publisher cause I'm deleting requests in my inbox.
The day that Ray Bradbury died I was on book tour and that night I read "There Will Come Soft Rains" to my audience instead of the usual reading.
Adam Rawnsley@arawnsley.bsky.social · 2d agoToday, August 4, 2026, is the setting of Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” about a fully automated house continuing on after the family who lived there and the world around it died in a nuclear blast.
AHAHAHAHAHA who has ever met an author who would SHUT UP about writing That said I am guessing the complainers are not seeking "How do I write" -- of which there are REAMS of advice -- but "How do I get published" And are not satisfied with the answers received
Antony Johnston@antonyjohnston.bsky.social · 3d agoSeeing complaints online that authors 'gatekeep' information…! Absolute nonsense. There is no industry or craft in the world which is so comprehensively written about, studied, and discussed as fiction writing, and every author I know welcomes new writers who are serious about giving it a go.
Every now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude
If this was true I wouldn't have a career. Every step of the way other authors offered guidance and advice, with generosity and kindness. But I would add a caveat. If you spend a lot of time being a dick to other people, the amount of guidance and advice you get will be....less.
Antony Johnston@antonyjohnston.bsky.social · 3d agoSeeing complaints online that authors 'gatekeep' information…! Absolute nonsense. There is no industry or craft in the world which is so comprehensively written about, studied, and discussed as fiction writing, and every author I know welcomes new writers who are serious about giving it a go.
Another day, another attempt to search for a quote I know exists. Try DDG (my default), it provides bullshit content farm nonsense, try Google (puke), it's no better and adds an AI summary that functions as gaslighting by including the words "is not a recognised or famous quote".
First they came for the people who understood the poem, and after that it really didn't matter.
Ancient little guys of the day! These prehistoric baby bottles in the shape of little creatures were found were found in Bronze and Iron Age graves in Vösendorf (Austria). Actually, a study was conducted on these bottles around 2019 and they found traces of ruminant milk!
[Rebekah] Brooks added that "he challenged conventional thinking and left an indelible mark on British journalism." An indelible mark is a stain, Rebekah.
Slight Substack discourse today, and I get it's painful (maybe financially ruinous) to move off but unless you've been there almost since the beginning, their content moderation approach and the issues they had around trans suppression has been a tell for much longer than most people acknowledge.
Congrats to the B&Q web team who (a) outsourced the ecommerce cart which (b) 403s and (c) implemented it only via Javascript. Double congrats to the comms manager who wrote the message "Sorry, one or more of your items could not be added to the basket. Please check your connection and try again."
This piece addresses an aspect of "AI" that is so difficult for me, besides the products themselves: the devastation inflicted on my communities by smug, paternalistic "leadership" who abuse their power and make others responsible for their own insecurity and lack of professional/ethical judgment
Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 4d agoIf useful, here's my attempt to process my feelings about how I feel sadly kinda — or rather very — sick from all this AI fascist nonsense as an academic. 😶🌫️ I'd be pleased if even one person finds something useful because there's something to be said for processing this all together, so, um, enjoy?
I feel incredibly strongly that if a government agency tells you something - about your immigration status, or your taxes, or whatever! - that turns out to be wrong because they made a mistake, and that mistake benefited you, that’s very much a ‘sucks to be the government’ problem.
the3million@the3million.bsky.social · 4d agoMonique Hawkins, acting chief executive of the3million, said the impact of the Home Office’s retrospective review was devastating for many. "People applied to the EU settlement scheme in good faith...by building their lives in the UK and putting down roots." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
This nonsense about the printing press and universities is simply a different form of the "the Church enforced thought control in the Middle Ages" canard and says quite a bit more about what the speaker thinks about modern institutional surveillance and control than about history.
Sonja Drimmer@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 4d agoI’ve seen in two culture /higher ed magazines recently the claim that the printing press engendered a crisis of authority at universities bc anyone could publish what they wanted and people could learn things without universities. This is not true.
This is very wise advice that could save your life, but you're not going to listen to them, are you? No, you think your spaceship's force field is strong enough to withstand everything. Well, fine. You just remember this conversation, and when you're trapped in the disc, don't call me for help.
em@foremphasis.bsky.social · 4d agoIve learned a bit about black hole accretion disks now and my recommendation is that you should stay away from black hole accretion disks if possible.
Naming the little robot that spews shit all over the workplace after the company's beloved founder
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4d ago“The AI assistant, which Kinney Drugs named Burt, after its founder, was built by a third-party AI pharmaceutical company, Synerio. In the pharmacy’s terms, Kinney Drugs states that ‘Burt may not be accurate, complete or up-to-date and may be misleading or contain errors and omissions.’”
While I have your attention, due to the portrait of Turing on them, I have been trying to nickname £50 notes 'an Alan' for a while now. Please help me to get this to catch on. 'They're £20 each,' you could say, 'or, special offer, I can do you three for an Alan.' Thanks in advance.
To those who post AI slop with the Peanuts characters, please watch this video of Charles M. Schulz drawing this comic strip by hand which he did for 50 years and then go fuck yourselves afterwards.
How Charles M Schulz created Charlie Brown and Snoopy | BBC Global
YouTube video by BBC Global
youtu.be
In 2023 (the dawn of AI?), the Minnesota State Fair went the other direction and commissioned a crop-art piece by Liz Schreiber as that year’s commemorative art. Entirely created by hand, from real seeds, the work was so impressive the Fair stopped commissioning commemorative art.
Jacqueline Antonovich@jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 4d agoThe Ohio State Fair had a poster contest. The winner was awarded $1000. I present to you, the winner:
ALIEN 1: whats that species over there ALIEN 2: oh thats a human, dont talk to them, they love to domesticate things HUMAN: (waving a piece of bacon) 😃 ALIEN 1: they do seem friendly ALIEN 2: i am consumed by an urge to live indoors
