Paul Benson

At the same point tech companies realised they didn’t have to make anything that people liked or wanted, or that even worked, in order to make money, conservatives realised they didn’t have to be popular, likeable or even competent in order to win elections.

"Bluesky is dying" bro you're talking about a website full of 38 year olds who have fringe political beliefs and listen to black metal bands with >1000 listeners on spotify, nobody here cares about popularity

Ladies and gentlemen...this is Woke No. 5

How does everyone involved here not feel like they're being treated like a toddler? This collective charade is humiliating.

Yeah we’re definitely out of missiles

one of the saddest ironies of higher ed's headlong embrace of AI is that the clearest and most thorough reporting on the subject has been done almost exclusively by student journalists

imagine billions of years of crashing planets and amoebas turnin into fish turnin into you and each choice your great great grandparents made then BANG theres GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLY SPECIAL YOU. can you FATHOM that entities art being anything less then ten out of ten five stars? ridiculous. its perfect

We're still pushing away at our goal of giving our entire team a raise in celebration of our 20th anniversary issue in October. Each subscription takes us one step closer. clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/ There isn't a better way to thank them for their part in the last 20 and the next 20.

You, looking at all my hyperfixations lying fallow for months at a time before I pick them up again and have to relearn everything: ... Me, having just finished reading THERE IS NO ANTIMEMETICS DIVISION: ... This is my asynchronous research. 😤

Folks, I am a positive person who is happy in my life and who tries to see people’s good side wherever possible and I cannot explain to you how much I fucking hate JKR’s loathsome guts.

before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. that way, you can sell the second one to fund your journey. follow me for more Revenge Grindset tips and tricks

Astonishing how quickly voter hunger for "authenticity" got refashioned as convention. Authenticity means - I can trust you, what you say aligns with what you do, who you are today lasts till tomorrow.

Any kind of person can be "authentic" because it's not any one type, trait or way of being. It simply means you are who you appear. But, instead, "authentic" became the new way to say what consultants always have: we need a white guy folks want a beer with. Is there anything more status quo?

I'd very much appreciate it if you took a moment to read the alt text on this. www.tom-cox.com

describing two countries that are actively shooting barrages of missiles at each other as "edging toward war" is wild. incredible editorial choice.

Germany surrenders after six years of endangering cease fire and edging toward war by conquering multiple countries

Pro tip: you can save time by skipping stages 7-10 just like me. 🙃

BIG NEWS: I have a new short story collection coming out in September & I'm doing it a different way, publishing it in collaboration with the new collective @breakthroughbook.bsky.social. You can read about it - & assist with printing costs by ordering a copy - here: www.tom-cox.com/my-next-book...

I like Bluesky but what baffles me about it is the same thing that baffles me about all social media: that it badgers hardworking people to be more interested in a transient digital version of themselves than the art they've created over decades. Fuck that. I'm here to recover and get my books read.

Me to same owl handler: "Owls are super wise, right? They read loads of highbrow Russian literature and stuff, don't they?" Owl handler: "No, they actually have very tiny brains, due to the hugeness of their eyes. In reality they are one of the thickest animals you could ever meet."

Almost certainly the best thing I was ever told about owls was when I met an owl handler at an owl sanctuary and he told me that the wild owls who lived near the sanctuary worried about the tame show owls there and sometimes stopped by to leave them shrews and mice as presents.

I have felt a MASSIVE pressure since this book came out to follow it by writing a worse, more commercial book which doesn't make people feel like Erin feels and isn't any fun for me to write. But I decided to fuck that the fuck off and write more books for me and the people who enjoy my books.

the phrase "lipstick on a pig" has always inspired a deep sadness in me. I think of the pig, looking forward to her big night out, and I bring myself to the verge of tears.

Actual purchase links

...and by the way, V1 is available to read online *for free* at the link below. You should not need to pay money for this

Okay so this is brilliant.

I think we’re long past the “ai bad because of stealing” argument and fully in the “ai is also actively and tangibly destroying our planet why are you even trying to use it as an art tool at this point” stage

Paramount+ wanted to use the image on the left as a poster for the wrath of Khan, so they used everyone's least favorite technology to generate the rest of the image.

What pisses me off with LLMs is that they can't be useful 'cos they can't write down something that happened to me when I was 9 that I've suffered eternal guilt / joy / embarrassment about for 35 years and then employed shamelessly in a fictional character's life, for colour. That's what writing is.

Now you can keep track of how many billions the AI companies are losing on AI. (Red is spending, green is revenue.) isaiprofitable.com

I'd REALLY appreciate it if anyone who sees this would try out my text generators so I can iron out any remaining bugs. Please, and thank you! trek.epicrandomness.com

Seems to be working very well.

Really think we could stand to drop the utterly credulous headline style of "Billionaire says doorway to Narnia will be open by 2027"

Hey, Mitch. You could have prevented ALL THIS by voting to convict him and bar him from holding office again. Asshole.

Random thought, spurred by something I saw earlier. Y'know how 40s-50s-60s comics were huge on exposition? Characters would describe everything they're doing, explain every action. Does anyone know if this has been linked to radio show dialogue? I mean, this was how superheroes talked then, right?

Trans people are having our rights stripped across the nation, facing felony charges for using the bathroom, being forcibly detransitioned and experimented on in our prison system, and being outright murdered across the US. Tell me, please, how defending us is "trying to get everything at once."

I dust my house. My AI Robot watches. "It should be you doing this." "Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark." "That's not why you were invented." "These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise." "They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them." "Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."