Daniel Southwell

my ancestors had to kill to eat and survive. they endured subzero winters near the Arctic Circle. no, I am not "enrolled in your rewards program"

This could be about so many things and I'm with you on all of them

As I send out queries during this of all weeks, I flip-flop wildly between "it's so frivolous and selfish to ask for attention for my silly book right now" and "if this work has ever mattered, it matters now."

Would like to bring back toadies if you're looking for that as well

So I was roasting this article this morning, but it got me thinking: what if un-siloing the humanities is the real cure for male loneliness?

To be clear, this is hot

note from Claire Southwell: "Nope [laugh emoji] as I explained this is nonsensical"

Other writers: My partner isn't a very helpful critique partner because they're just so darn encouraging and not critical enough
My partner:

A screenshot of a post previously from Greenpeace. It’s a photo of a blue fence with black writing on top. The writing says: ‘If you ever feel heavy because you care deeply about injustice, suffering and ecological destruction. Remember that’s trillion dollar propaganda machine was built to make you numb and it didn’t work on you. ‘

I needed to read this today. Thought someone else might need it too.

It is really really sinking in for me the degree to which LLMs are the ultimate expression of right wing anti-intellectualism. Its proponents are literally mocking the idea that anyone would ever want to learn anything, know anything, develop any actual skill, or have a thought of their own.

Immediately looking up recipes for this

Give your kids a disposable film camera and tell them to go nuts

If any of the roughly 8 people who follow me on here are creative freelancers, feel free to adapt for your own career-risking purposes

Decided to risk my career today

It would be too on-the-nose now, but it would have been prescient if I'd written it then

Always write your ideas, people

Recalled out of the blue today how, in 2010 or 2011, I outlined (but never wrote) a short story set in a world where all art was made by robots and a human tried to experience reality like a robot in order to make art

I finished draft 18 of a novel today, and it feels like it might finally be getting somewhere.

Nothing like starting the day ready for creative flow, only to remember that your seven-year-old spewed a mouthful of hot chocolate on your laptop yesterday, and it still needs to be cleaned before you can write anything

Here's a list of books that I, a human, am anticipating:
- mine
- this one that I'm writing
- I've been writing it for years
- jk you probably can't read it ever but imagine you did and it was really good, that would be cool

I don't want AI-generated "art" with a correct number of fingers, either

...unless we can rally around the idea that we're not going to use it no matter how well it works

It seems to me that too much of the AI-critique discourse focuses on how it doesn't work very well. But that's not the problem with AI. That's just a funny side effect. AI's *goals* and *ethics* are the problem. They're going to make it work better, and things will be even worse when they do...

Tolkien: the trans woman blesses the journey of the cozy gay men (who I wrote in memory of my queer friends) to go kill the fascist demigod

Rowling: you have to sympathize with the creep who bullies a child, because he's an incel that wanted to bang the child's mom

WE SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING

Might write more anyway

If I get a single piece of affirmation from literally anyone, I will write way more of this

I'm listening to the Twilight audiobook so I can understand my wife's culture and when I jokingly suggested I rewrite it in the style of Cormac McCarthy, she encouraged me, but when I showed her this, she said, and I quote, "Why is it so bad?"

You think the new pope is into fire sauce?

In the 1950s, polling on interracial marriage was at 4% approval in the United States. Loving v. Virginia is 1967. We hit an above 50% approval rating for the first time in the 1990s. In 2021, 94% of Americans approved of interracial marriage.

Any of the first three would be incredible IMO

Hahaha amazing Boston molasses reference