when i first heard about the male loneliness epidemic i was like oh yeah close camaraderie and bonding between men is often discouraged in favor of competition or, if not discouraged, at least filtered through a lens of individualism that precludes deep connections. and then i learned what people meant by it (men arent getting laid) to which i say skill issue

to all the men out there not getting laid: try less hard to get laid and try more hard to be an enjoyable and relaxing presence

Screenshot of a Bluesky quote chain.

The first post, by @DKThomp on Twitter, says: "Fascinating @benthompson vision of the future of the Internet—i.e., 'The Agentic Web' Scenario: Before I go to sleep, I tell ChatGPT 'Plan my 5-year-old's birthday next Saturday, budget $500. When you've made the reservation, email these 20 ppl a printable invitation to attend. Also my wife wants to go to England in mid-July. Find 5 plausible flights for the family and make several distinct itineraries. Finally, pls edit this work memo.'

When I go to sleep, the Al agent negotiates slots with two bowling alleys, buys a cake, emails printable invites, plans the trip, copy-edits, etc."

It is quoted by Drew Harwell on Bluesky: "Wouldn't do this in a million years".

This quote is then quoted by @cinemashoebox.bsky.social: "Waking up to 20 angry parents of my son's friends wondering why they've been sent an invitation to a BRITOTHDYA PRRRYT featuring a picture of Elsa with three eyes and tits bigger than her head. meanhile my wife is boarding a plane for her 176 hour flight to England via four layovers in Antarctica"

Screenshot of a Tumblr post by imsobadatnicknames2:

"A couple years later it's still amazing what a perfect distillation the original 'anonymized people of the global south' tweet is of the absolute callousness of yankee liberals;

(Screenshot of a Twitter post by @loudpenitent: "An anonymized 'people of the global south' is not worth more than domestic queer citizens or any other member of any other marginalized community - or, bluntly, any fellow citizen at all. Real-ass human beings matter more than rhetorical constructs.") (end of Twitter screenshot, back to imsobadatnicknames2’s commentary);

If I wrote a character saying this into a piece of media about how much americans suck it'd be too on the nose."

the framing of generative ai as “theft” in popular discourse has really set us back so far like not only should we not consider copyright infringement theft we shouldn’t even consider generative ai copyright infringement

who do you think benefits from redefining “theft” to include “making something indirectly derivative of something created by someone else”? because I can assure you it’s not artists

okay I’m going to mute this post, I’ll just say,

if your gut reaction to this is that you think this is a pro-ai post, that you think “not theft” means “not bad”, I want you to think very carefully about what exactly “theft” is to you and what it is about ai that you consider “stealing”.

do you also consider other derivative works to be “stealing”? (fanfiction, youtube poops, gifsets) if not, why not? what’s the difference? because if the difference is actually just “well it’s fine when a person does it” then you really should try to find a better way to articulate the problems you have with ai than just saying it’s “stealing from artists”.

I dislike ai too, I’m probably on your side. I just want people to stop shooting themselves in the foot by making anti-ai arguments that have broader anti-art implications. I believe in you. you can come up with a better argument than just calling it “theft”.

Screenshot of a Tumblr post by indigosfindings:

imagine if someone just like started addressing you as Dipshit, like youre just talking about your day & they say "no way Dipshit, that's crazy." and then maybe you say to them that you would prefer not to be addressed as Dipshit & their response is "well in my major metropolitan area 'Dipshit' is not considered an insult. im not saying i think youre stupid when i call you Dipshit, i call my mom dipshit all the time" so you say Thats cool but please dont call Me that. and then they just repeat that it's something they say daily, they call all of their best friends & lovers dipshits & are called dipshit in return. "my grandma calls me dipshit at the dinner table, it doesnt mean anything." so you say Yes i understand that your friends & grandma arent bothered by being called Dipshit but i am, & i would prefer if you didnt address me as that. and they say "it's literally not possible for me to stop calling you dipshit, and it's not reasonable for you to ask me to, dipshit." anyway this post is about nothing in particular