@To the Substitute Art Teacher: Once when I was young and very into 3D graphics, I saw an impressive render of a dilapidated store, and thought "If I was actually there I would consider this ugly." Since then, whenever I want to see beauty in mundane settings, I imagine I'm looking at a fancy 3D render. This makes random details like garbage thrown around, patches of weeds and irregularities of construction feel like deliberate artistic choices that infuse the scene with life.
generally: the publishing article was written by a non-expert reviewing trial testimony where the witnesses were all heavily incentivized to make their industry look like an unprofitable trash fire. There's nothing quite as pointed as the Naomi Wolf "death recorded" debacle but the whole thrust is similar.
I've been somewhat frustrated by that publishing article, because the "vanity project" framing is how it presents the information, but then what it actually describes is something more like VC — investing in a bunch of books that mostly don't pan out, and then making it all back and then some on the one that becomes a bestseller. There are problems with that as a business model but it's not the same thing as new book deals being some kind of charity.
1. Worms (species 975): A life of the mind that may go on for millennia? Sign me up! Taste is my favourite sense, too. Being a prey species is a big downside, but I should be able to avoid the early bird by burrowing deep enough. I'd be tempted by the offer even if staying human was an option, really.
2. Argument (species 2562): Also a life of the mind. Longevity is guaranteed, but I can't do anything useful to anyone, just a bunch of sophistry, which reduces the appeal. I'd like more detail about what life as this species is like, day to day; with the information presented, it seems worse than being human but not by much.
3. Butterflies (species 1427): The other extreme of the trade-off; a short (and cacophonous) life to be sure, but filled with joy and beauty. I'm sure I could live a full life by the standards of the species, and it's one of the very few circumstances where I'd want to have children.
4. Olympians (species 9998): They won't have me regardless, but no harm in asking. Immortality and powers and whatnot are obviously great, but most likely I'll spend eternity being harshly punished for missing a spot of pegasus shit or retelling a joke I already used a million years ago. Kind of a pain.
5. Dolphins (species 8883): Straightforwardly a worse version of the above. Dolphins are nasty, and being their punching bag doesn't sound fun, but I do love to swim — it's not the worst option.
6. Stains (species 7712): It's odd that this species evolved to mind the dark, cold, and boredom, instead of thriving on them, but okay. I'd find ways to kill time (regale others with stories of humans? observe the stars?) but the boredom would be excruciating.
7. Moss (species 3712): I would regret it. But I'm curious: I want to try human techniques for coming to terms with the self-disgust, I want to see what makes this species seem more acceptable to the commission than the species they eliminated, I want to provide scientific value.
8. Pig (species 1036): Frankly, I'm already angry all the time and I want less of that. Constant walloping admittedly would be fun, more than being a stain or moss, but it's just not for me.
The worms really are the overpowered option. Even the robins are encouraging, since it means the worms didn't hunt their planet's apex predators to near extinction.
@To the Substitute Art Teacher: Once when I was young and very into 3D graphics, I saw an impressive render of a dilapidated store, and thought "If I was actually there I would consider this ugly." Since then, whenever I want to see beauty in mundane settings, I imagine I'm looking at a fancy 3D render. This makes random details like garbage thrown around, patches of weeds and irregularities of construction feel like deliberate artistic choices that infuse the scene with life.
If there were impressive 3D graphics of dilapidated stores when you were young, then you're still young. ;-)
There are a couple rebuttals to the publishing article that I found pretty compelling, e.g. https://countercraft.substack.com/p/yes-people-do-buy-books
generally: the publishing article was written by a non-expert reviewing trial testimony where the witnesses were all heavily incentivized to make their industry look like an unprofitable trash fire. There's nothing quite as pointed as the Naomi Wolf "death recorded" debacle but the whole thrust is similar.
I've been somewhat frustrated by that publishing article, because the "vanity project" framing is how it presents the information, but then what it actually describes is something more like VC — investing in a bunch of books that mostly don't pan out, and then making it all back and then some on the one that becomes a bestseller. There are problems with that as a business model but it's not the same thing as new book deals being some kind of charity.
My preference ordering goes:
1. Worms (species 975): A life of the mind that may go on for millennia? Sign me up! Taste is my favourite sense, too. Being a prey species is a big downside, but I should be able to avoid the early bird by burrowing deep enough. I'd be tempted by the offer even if staying human was an option, really.
2. Argument (species 2562): Also a life of the mind. Longevity is guaranteed, but I can't do anything useful to anyone, just a bunch of sophistry, which reduces the appeal. I'd like more detail about what life as this species is like, day to day; with the information presented, it seems worse than being human but not by much.
3. Butterflies (species 1427): The other extreme of the trade-off; a short (and cacophonous) life to be sure, but filled with joy and beauty. I'm sure I could live a full life by the standards of the species, and it's one of the very few circumstances where I'd want to have children.
4. Olympians (species 9998): They won't have me regardless, but no harm in asking. Immortality and powers and whatnot are obviously great, but most likely I'll spend eternity being harshly punished for missing a spot of pegasus shit or retelling a joke I already used a million years ago. Kind of a pain.
5. Dolphins (species 8883): Straightforwardly a worse version of the above. Dolphins are nasty, and being their punching bag doesn't sound fun, but I do love to swim — it's not the worst option.
6. Stains (species 7712): It's odd that this species evolved to mind the dark, cold, and boredom, instead of thriving on them, but okay. I'd find ways to kill time (regale others with stories of humans? observe the stars?) but the boredom would be excruciating.
7. Moss (species 3712): I would regret it. But I'm curious: I want to try human techniques for coming to terms with the self-disgust, I want to see what makes this species seem more acceptable to the commission than the species they eliminated, I want to provide scientific value.
8. Pig (species 1036): Frankly, I'm already angry all the time and I want less of that. Constant walloping admittedly would be fun, more than being a stain or moss, but it's just not for me.
The worms really are the overpowered option. Even the robins are encouraging, since it means the worms didn't hunt their planet's apex predators to near extinction.
The link for the soy milk thing is broken, due to a missing e at the end of the url
The link for "The demise of the teen babysitter" goes to the farmanimalwelfareresearch substack.