She argues, and rightly so, that an image, a diagram, cannot convince anyone, both because there are always many interpretations possible, and, above all, because the diagram does not force the dissenter to look at it. She sees the interest in inscription devices as an exaggeration of the power of semiotics (and a French one at that!). But such a position misses the point of my argument. It is precisely because the dissenter can always escape and try out another interpretation, that so much energy and time is devoted by scientists to cornerhim and surround him with ever more dramatic visual effects.

Much of our digital lives occur within slop infrastructure. Slop merits deeper engagement because it is a by-product of the same information system it is now clogging up.

I don't see AI slop as disinformation, but about the reality that information of any kind, in enough quantities, becomes noise. It is, I argue, a symptom of information exhaustion, and an increased human dependency on algorithmic filters to sort the world on our behalf.

"low quality media, including writing and images, made using generative AI technology" used as "filler content that prioritizes speed and quantity over substance and quality."

Shrimp Jesus

On an internet without hyperlinks, where every post must be completely digestible in someone’s feed within microseconds of a user seeing it, your face, your physical body, is the last thing left that can connect across platforms. And creators like Cho have figured out that that’s one of the last reliable ways to keep their personas consistent across every platform they have to post on. It just so happens to turn out that the only impulse strong enough to still reliably motivate someone to figure out how to find your website is horniness.

this breakdown between porn world and not-porn world is having strange side effects on culture.