Connor O’Leary

The joy of reading isn't just in following an interesting narrative or collecting useful information. Nor is it just in the technical quality of the writing. It's in the intimacy of entering into a dialogue with another living soul. The twisting and turning of his mind as he works out the details of an argument, the whole constellation of subconscious premises and feelings--built up over the course of a life--that leads to this choice of phrase over that one, the struggle and joy of turning the material of his mind into a coherent assemblage of words--all of that living and breathing humanity is on the page, and that's half the pleasure of it. So it doesn't matter how well your AI mimics your thought process or style; it's only mimicry, not the real thing. There is a page full of words, maybe good ones, maybe interesting ones! But YOU are not really there. Do you not care enough about your subject to sit and write about it for a couple hours? Do you not care enough about your readers to sit and talk to them? Do you not care enough about your own soul to sharpen and define it through the act of self-expression? If your friend purchased a perfect robotic copy of themselves--with the same body, the same mannerisms, way of speaking, habits, etc--and sent it in his stead to have dinner with you, is that friendship? Are you getting to know each other? Learning the art of friendship? Growing through the act of relating to another person? Of course, maybe you also hire your own robot copy. Now your robot and his robot are having dinner and sending you an AI summary of the conversation. Maybe the author's AI writes the essay, and our AI reads it and give you a summary. Maybe my AI matches with her AI on Hinge and they go on our first date to see if we're a good fit--I wouldn't want to "waste time" on the wrong person, after all. Maybe we'll have a whole world of this sort of thing: AIs living our lives for us and sending a summary for our impoverished souls to consume secondhand. And maybe we'll all be ok with that. More time to bed rot. Technologists have an obsession with giving us an easier world, a "frictionless" world. And this is certainly all much easier, much more frictionless. But friction is a metaphysical property of life. A perfectly frictionless world is a dead world. And it seems that’s where we’re heading.

It is now totally normal in large sectors of the right to just flat out lie. Not tell half-lies, or lie by omission, or evade--just completely fabricate stuff. Your audience doesn't actually read or watch anything besides social media, so they don't actually know what's going on--or, worse, they don't care.

@chaoticIars I think the success of assimilation depends heavily on the character of the host country. The vast majority of immigrants to the United States, both historically and at present, assimilate extremely well.

@Connorpoleary For any given particular individual sure, for the majority of people if they were given the option? Different question.

The United States has never been an ethnostate. And while to 21st century Americans the differences between most of these white groups are negligible, to the people of the 18th century,they were not.

When you visit Miami, Latin America feels very close, and Europe/Asia feel very far away When you’re in California, Asia and Mexico feel very close, and Europe feels far away In NYC and DC, Europe feels very close, and Asia very distant In the Midwest, the rest of the world might as well exist on another planet

Another former close friend apparently writes a virulently white nationalist Substack newsletter now.

Surreal to me that a former close friend from Kansas City is now a Kremlin propagandist living in Moscow and doing fawning interviews with convicted Russian spies.

Don't let the internet rot your brains, guys

@ShawnNirappil @chaoticIars

@Connorpoleary @chaoticIars Actually Connor, this is not possible due to genetics

@chaoticIars There is clearly a larger difference, but assimilation into a common culture is still possible, especially in the 21st century.

@Connorpoleary Do you think there is no notable difference in the degree of similarity and thus compatability between a Brit and a German compared to either of these and a Pakistani or a Somalian?

in a blue state they might demand a study. in texas, you just do things...

Not sure why southerners think they own the pronunciation of "Appalachians". The mountains go all the way up to Newfoundland. I spent half my youth in the "app-uh-LAY-shuns" of northeastern PA, and you don't get to correct my pronunciation because you're from Tennessee.

@colejaczko These guys think of women as mysterious algorithms that output love and sex if you just input the right code instead of people you can connect with.

When did men lose absolutely all ability to talk to women? You guys have zero confidence which makes you try way too hard. They feel that. They don’t like it. You don’t do well. It’s really not hard nor is it complicated. Dress nicely, be fit, present yourself well, and simply walk up to them say hi ask them their name and start a conversation Just as you would do with literally anyone else…. If you come up to me and use this line on me I’d give you a wet willy. Women feel the same…

What is really disheartening is that a plurality (perhaps a majority) of people actually seem to like the insipid, formulaic slop churned out by AI. Perhaps human writing will be a niche art form enjoyed by the tasteful few.

12k likes for this AI-generated pap?

@Empty_America This seems partially true in Austin, but with an east-west divide—far-out western suburbs in the hills are expensive, far-out eastern suburbs on the prairie are cheap.

As cities gentrify and become safer, I think that the "European" or "Western" pattern is spreading into new parts of the USA. Meaning central cities and inner semi-suburbs are often very highly esteemed, while the lower status "drive till you quality" and live in outer rings.

My parents were not, but I get the impression my grandparents were. The idea that your social life ends or dramatically contracts with marriage and children seems to have started with the Boomers.

He can’t unsee what he’s seeing

I have never regretted a purchase as much as switching from an Android to an iPhone.

“The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need?…Is it beauty and genius they want to see? Do they seek a sense of the sublime? Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel.”