#and a REALLY gorgeous distinction between literal personification -- creating a person to serve as an interface --

[gynecologistmsfrizzle]

saw a vaguely positive recommendation of Some Desperate Glory by emily tesh from a couple of lesbians best known to me for objectifying fictional men on twitter so i went out and bought it (because i am not financially responsible and i trust the taste of these lesbians) and then i read the entire thing in two days and frankly i think i might not be able to carry on living after this. it was. well it was really good. like it was just. well. it was really good.

#like do you ever read a book and immediately go . i NEED to get high with an english major and a bisexual bioethicist RIGHT now #so we can have a DISCUSSION . about this book. #it's like. okay when i read catch 22 i NEEDED to lie on the floor of a high school hallway and stare into the fluorescent bulbs afterwards #(didn't get to. but it was what i NEEDED.) #when i finished little brother i needed to go wander around the basement of a home hardware. #and when i finished regeneration i needed to sit quietly and hold it in my hands like it was an EXTREMELY fragile bit of lead crystal #and when i finished enders game i needed to like. go write a novel that i had yet to conceptualize. again i didnt do this. but i needed to. #when i finished a marvellous light i needed to hug my kitty cat gently! #and now having finished this i need to smoke a fat blunt with an english major and a bioethicist. #to be clear i know those examples don't make sense and are a frankly hilarious bunch of books to have chosen. #but . Well. They were the ones i thought of. #it's just like!!!!! okay!!! so a computer cannot be held accountable and must therefore never make a management decision!!!!!! #so what does a computer that is smart enough to KNOW THAT #do when it is presented with a management decision???? HUH? #WHAT DOES IT DO??????????? #there's so much good SHIT in that book! there's so much!! #it's like that. You get it. #like it's a book about omnipotent AI but the AI is neither a hero nor a villain. it's not a character at all. #even when it IS personified that personification is done with a lot of complexity #and a REALLY gorgeous distinction between literal personification -- creating a person to serve as an interface -- #and the assignment of a person to serve as an agent -- #and even that latter category isn't treated simply. because of course an AI cannot assign a person to serve its will. #because it doesn't have a will. #OR DOES IT. etc. this question we will of course debate eternally. this is how they get you. BUT YOU GET THE IDEA. #AND THE AI STUFF LITERALLY ISN'T EVEN THE CENTRAL QUESTION OF THE PLOT!!!!!!!! #like it IS a book about AI but it's. actually not really. #the question is not 'does AI exist' or 'is AI right or wrong' #but rather 'what do the possibilities presented by AI force us to confront about the nature of ourselves and our desires?' #and the plot isn't about the AI. it's about that nature of ourselves. #it's about cults! it's about misogyny! it's about rape culture! it's about eugenics! it's about the creeping realization