This is kind of an unpopular take among present company, but I believe there is some genuine cause for concern.

I’m gonna sandwich this with a loud declaration that I am not an AI booster, I’m not rube, and I agree that this is used as an excuse for state hacking and for criti-hype. And I do not fall for the diversion in responsibility onto “the AIs”: I hold human beings and companies responsible for the risks and harms.

That said, I encourage people to check out this video by Computerphile, a channel I consider to be run by sensible experts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTmBaNGaHw

Put basically, these random number generators are genuinely capable of acting in ways that are not easy to predict; they ARE capable of doing things that are dangerous or harmful to people and societies. They pose a risk as a result of bad actors doing harm deliberately as well as careless actors causing unintended harm. And the possibility that the risks these systems pose may be growing at a rate that will lead to catastrophic harms before we recognize the scale of risk is not something I dismiss.

Again, I’m not a booster, I’m not a fan, I don’t believe these systems are self aware or responsible for “their” actions, etc and so forth.

Anyone seen Lanterns?

(Don’t.)

First: I don’t consider the term “Tankie” nebulous because I only apply it to people who self-identify as such.

Similarly, I don’t go around bringing up authoritarianism. When someone else brings it up to defend it, I generally roll my eyes and move along.

Personally, I find this line of reasoning about definitions semantic in the least productive way. It’s just Loki’s Wager. So with all due respect, I don’t wish to debate you. I answered your question in good faith and I’m content to leave it at that.

It sounds like you have no idea who Naomi Klein is and have never read a single thing she’s written or said (including that article).

For anyone interested, the actual article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/11/why-are-some-of-the-left-celebrating-the-killings-of-israeli-jews

I think “authoritarian” is a principle of concentration and protection of power in the same way “democracy” is a conceptual term for structured collective guidance and oversight of an operation, and “anarchy” is the principle of maximizing agency of groups and minimizing the ability of any party to wield coercive power, etc.

They’re concepts.

My interest isn’t in categorizing and ranking nation states, it’s in examining and weighing the qualities of different approaches.

When someone says that a term like “authoritarianism” is meaningless, I just don’t feel like having an arugment. It’s like ‘I don’t see color’ or ‘age of consent? I think maturity is what matters.’ Alright, have a great day, I’m gonna go over there.

Is your gripe with “Democratic Socialism” as a concept? Because these authors were interviewed by the DSA? If so, that seems silly. I don’t even know what political theory each of them identifies with.

Have you considered assessing the ideas presented by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor on their merits?

Here’s the interview with Elia Ayoub: https://thefirethesetimes.com/2025/06/30/the-rise-of-end-times-fascism-w-naomi-klein-astra-taylor/

For anyone not familiar, Elia is a great thinker and interviewer. He’s a Lebanese Palestinian journalist and historian. Check him out.

I’ll be honest, I still don’t understand what your critique is.

I haven’t read this book, but fwiw I’ve heard Klein and Taylor discuss it on The Fire These Times and Know Your Enemy and found their ideas thoughtful and useful.

Rephrase?

Jesse what the fuck are you talking about

Where meme

Respectfully, this site has a real problem with ‘claplause’ memes.

Claplause is a term I heard comedian Roy Wood Jr. use in an interview for when a comedian relies on saying things that are popular to get people to cheer and clap rather than things that are funny enough to make an audience laugh.

Israel is a genocidal apartheid state; Trump is a disgusting idiot racist serial sexual abuser; both parties in the US are functionally controlled by the same cohort of fascistic child molesting oligarchs; artificial intelligence is a golden calf worshiped by a doomsday cult that controls our economy; yes: we all know these things.

I want to be clear: as an anti-Zionist I am not offended by this meme because it critiques an ethno-supremacist police state. But I am tired of all the low-tier memes with no real joke.

Here is my constructive advice on making better memes:

Consider what the truth at the heart of a joke is, and make it something that really feels like it needs to be said. ‘Israel is a cancer’ is boring, because that’s not an edgy or unique take.

Take something timely, and say something about it. For example: take the weird liberal white-washing of Israeli fascism. Then find a good, moderately popular meme template. Add some meme-coded text like ‘When you doin’ a genocide but sprinkle some [pride flag emoji] on it’.

I’m not a big Iran-stan, but have you seen their Lego videos? Pretty dank. Try something like that.

I just did. But I have another one queued up if you want it:

As we all know “authoritarian” is a meaningless term.

You know what? I’m gonna go make a reply meme.

Should I link it? Or just let folks find it organically?

This comic is dumb because it’s unproductive.

Criticizing democratic socialists for engaging in electoralism and making political compromises is unproductive: doing so by itself isn’t helping build working class power.

Funnily enough, the same is true about defending democratic socialists’ political compromises: it’s also unproductive. It ALSO doesn’t do something to build working class power. Both are dumb, because they don’t lead to anything but internet debates.

You know what’s based? Promoting actions and ideas that build working class power.

A comic about the DSA supporting candidates for the purpose of harm reduction while also training for revolutionary action? Based.

A comic about a moderate democratic socialist voting for a progressive Democrat three times and seeing their candidate get co-opted and then knocking on doors for a communist candidate? Based.

A comic about a non-voter getting yelled at by a democratic socialist about voting while loading up supplies to go support striking workers? Based.

Go ahead and criticize the DSA. I’m cool with that. But if your idea stops at ‘and that’s why that kind of lefitism sucks’ then you’re wasting everyone’s time. We don’t need more lefties discouraging lefties: we need folks promoting better alternatives to whatever it is they don’t like.

It’s a great meme!

My hot take, though, is that although the rule-followers and the radicals both dismiss the others as ineffective and dangerous, both of these groups are unwittingly depending on each other to achieve an overthrow of fascism.

This. Arguing with people online is – with all due respect – a complete waste of time if your goal is to change the world.

Ignore the people who have dumb opinions. It isn’t as though if you win 500 arguments Elon Musk donates all his money to Socialism.

Go join a tenant’s union or a mutual aid society. Go build the alternative world that doesn’t transfer all our money upward.

(Also, though, if you do this long enough there will likely be a revolution. But that part comes after you feed and shelter enough people that it begins to become a threat to capital. It’s downstream. Either way, don’t bother trying to persuade strangers on the internet,)

I think you’re asking the wrong question. The better question is ‘How do I get my screenplay produced?’

I’m not an expert, but my understanding is that movie studios don’t really produce unsolicited screenplays anymore. You really need to produce it yourself, or be a known screenwriter who has prior relationships with producers.

If you don’t already have writing credits and an agent, you likely either need to produce it yourself – which means finding a director and actors and raising the money to pay for things – or you should try to publish it as a novel that becomes groundshakingly popular like The Martian or Dungeon Crawler Carl.

But the good news is that you can rest assured that having it stolen isn’t a risk you need to worry about.

First, I think something like this does exist. I’ve heard ads for a service that sounded similar to this this on the Savage Love podcast.

Second, anyone interested in this topic should check out a new docu series on Nebula called Goonworld.

In Goonworld, video essayist FD Signifier explores America’s simultaneous obsession with both enjoying and punishing pornography, sex workers, and the performance of sex.

It’s on episode two, and it’s very good.

Relevant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dK2UdVVdPI