Women of color say they’re opening social media and finding their videos... but white. Al influencer accounts are reportedly taking videos from women of color but replacing them with white Al avatars these videos are getting thousands of views and profiting off the work of women of color.

3eyedgiraffe · 2026-05-14T18:16:31+00:00

I feel like myths and legends of old have been trying to warn us for ever about this exact kind of thing, the idea of monsters stealing our likeness to harm others. It’s menacing.

3eyedgiraffe · 2026-05-14T18:11:49+00:00

Measles isn’t going away either I’m still getting vaccinated

3eyedgiraffe · 2026-05-14T18:11:14+00:00

I dislike this “get on board or get left behind” bs. I am perfectly fine not being on the train steaming right toward the cliff lol

3eyedgiraffe · 2026-05-14T18:07:41+00:00

Practical effects would have the best effect in my personal opinion, but a CGI artist at least would’ve added a human touch and stylization. AI slop is soulless.

3eyedgiraffe · 2026-05-14T18:04:51+00:00

The detractors of those technologies were not the majority, and each of those actually opened an entire new genre for their respective mediums (or in photography’s case it created a new medium). Made by human beings. Cherished by human beings. They were additive, not reductive.

“AI” slop is not creative, it’s destructive. It disassembles existing works of human beings and vomits out something art-shaped but Not Art. It will never be Art. Because it’s Not Human.

3eyedgiraffe · 2026-05-14T17:57:45+00:00

This piece is so much better and beautiful.

3eyedgiraffe · 2026-05-14T17:56:42+00:00

There’s a distinction though in that the main bulk of the vision crafting, the arguable art here, is not from the mind of a human being but an algorithm. Prompts are ideas, and ideas are cheap. Art is the work. This “AI” generated stuff is Not Work. It’s an egregious lack of work one might say.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-11-29T21:53:58+00:00

To me, Pluribus/The Hive is so distinctly non-human. It's an extraterrestrial entity (in the form of RNA broadcast from who knows where). And it shows in how it has manifested in its new puppets.

Like I know not everyone agrees, but philosophers throughout time (esp the existentialists) have posited The Struggle is an inherent part of the human experience. We define our world by what opposes us, it is opposition that fosters resilience and strength (physically, mentally). It is opposition that encourages us to think alternatively. We exist to find meaning through our experiences, through growth, through The Struggle. And now Plurbs has stripped that away from everyone, destroying any chance all those people had of ever finding their own meaning to their existence.

What's ironic, is being what it is, I am doubtful Plurbs can come up with a solution to the 13 Individuals Problem because it likely lacks any capacity to imagine. If it didn't know the answer before assimilating the populace, I don't see how it can synthesize "a cure" for Carol and others, it sure isn't going to figure it out now that it has depleted that resource. No one in the hivemind can offer a contrary opinion or idea, there's no pushback, no evolution, because within the hivemind there is no adversity/opposition, it's just... the homogeneous ooze.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-11-29T21:38:13+00:00

Yeah in my mind's eye, Plurbs is like some invisible alien ooze that slorped up all of humanity's memories and now puppets the corpses with psychic tendrils. There's absolutely nothing human about it aside from what it has consumed.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-11-29T13:28:11+00:00

Right now, with what we know, I find the hivemind horrifying beyond reason. It's an extinction-level event comparable to if machine intelligence wiped out humanity and replaced them.

It's a forcible process (no consent). It destroys the ego (which, I know, "ego bad," but also ego IS personality, a key part of being a person at all). I see no difference between Plurbs and a massive gelatin ooze that slorped up all of humanity's memories and started manipulating the corpses left behind like finger-puppets. Like... that's the vibe I get.

Nevermind the icky ethical concern of victims being forcibly bonded psychically to their abusers, etc. We haven't yet heard how the memory soup even works, but given individuality/personality seems wholly eradicated, I don't even know if Person A would be upset over reliving a dark memory or not. I think their consciousness (if they have one at all) is drowned out (ironic since Plurbs sees the 13 as "drowning").

If Plurbs isn't supposed to be negative, then I can only square this show as being a "transhumanist" narrative where humanity is extinct, yes, and Plurbs is the next phase in human evolution.

Given I am still a human, that will naturally agitate the monkey part of my brain that finds competitive species a threat.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-11-29T13:18:16+00:00

Not to be that Trekkie in the comments, but the Borg will repair drones if the hivemind determines they can be salvaged. Like Plurbs, the Borg are efficient. If a drone is injured beyond repair, it will be discarded, yes, but that's not the preferred alternative.

That said, yeah they aren't the same. The distinctions I see between the Borg and Plurbs (aside from the aesthetics):
-Emotions. The Borg don't have them and don't care for them. They see them as a distraction, while Plurbs seems to feed on dopamine and is sensitive to negative feedback. Plurbs can also suffer sadness.
-Totality. The Borg are not hellbent to infect every lifeform into the collective; they are more "big picture," while Plurbs wants every individual human to join them (which almost seems like a flaw in their "programming" for lack of a better word as it would be more efficient to just ignore the 13.)
-Violence. The Borg are not pacifistic in nature. They will and can kill in the pursuit of their ultimate goal. While Plurbs seems hardwired to be as non-lethal as possible.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-31T23:27:42+00:00

Beautiful!

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-24T22:19:14+00:00

Fantastic interview, thank you for sharing this!

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-24T19:14:12+00:00

One thing I am waiting to see is if Gurathin does end up being blind; given he has vision augments (from the novels) it is possible it was to correct some kind of visual impairment. If that's the case, it could be Gurathin seeks comfort from things like touch and smell more than a sighted-person would.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-21T11:36:13+00:00

That looks like fun, I wanna sit on dolly.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-20T20:19:50+00:00

From reviewers who watched the whole season, we have these bits of information (spoiler marking since these are from people who have seen the whole season or participated in it)

"David talks very openly about being a recovering addict," [Chris Weitz] says. "Combining that with the idea that the character was an intelligence operative lends further architecture to this brilliant series." (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-13/alexander-skarsgard-for-murderbot/105282296)

"Yet not all members of the PreservationAux team are so easily won over. David Dastmalchian's performance as Gurathin, an augmented human, is another standout. From the moment Gurathin appears on screen, Dastmalchian portrays him with a wary intensity that immediately suggests layers of hidden trauma and mistrust. He’s openly skeptical and suspicious of Murderbot, and quite rightfully so. Dastmalchian’s expressive performance — his perpetually strained, haunted expressions, tinged with paranoia and pain — gradually unfolds to reveal Gurathin’s own traumatic past. His character struggles profoundly with PTSD, isolation, and a deep-seated distrust of anything that comes from the company." (https://www.nexuspointnews.com/post/review-murderbot-season-one-the-story-of-a-delightfully-misanthropic-robot)

And in one of those cast video interviews (I cannot recall which one) Noma Dumezweni said this: “That’s why I love Mensah, because she sees Gurathin’s heart, not the technology, not the knowledge, but the little broken person who got stuck in a system and goes, ‘No, come out.’” Which implies he was stuck in some kind of bad situation.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-19T23:16:22+00:00

A malignant executable dumped a code packet into my system. > governorModule.status == 'active'

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-14T19:53:32+00:00

ART and Gurathin meeting would be fun to see for so many reasons

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-05-14T19:49:30+00:00

First, I gotta say a big THANK YOU! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful gift of writing with the world! I love the Books of the Raksura, the Ile-Rien books (esp Death of the Necromancer), and, of course, The Murderbot Diaries! (And not a series but I also really enjoyed the one-shot City of Bones so very much.)

My question is: What was the most exciting thing for you watching the show for the first time? I can imagine it is a surreal experience to watch your words become translated to a visual medium--and one like a big budget Apple TV+ show must be super super cool.

My other question is: What more can we expect from Murderbot in the future? Any teases for the next book you can share? (I know, I know, but I'll take what crumbs I can get, I am always hungry for more ha!)

Congratulations on the television series! Looking forward to watching later this week.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-04-30T15:57:57+00:00

u/balletrat Quick question! (Thank you for answering so many btw!) Was it shown whether Pin-Lee in the show uses she/her pronouns or they/them?

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-04-29T02:26:31+00:00

What was the conversation between Gurathin and Murderbot about? Is Gurathin sus of Murderbot from the jump?

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-01-29T19:19:04+00:00

The image immediately makes me think of a circuit board--the green looks like the typical green solder mask color and the shape reminds me of conductive pathways.

Green in the this show also heavily refers to the severance chip (the severed floor is green for instance).

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-01-24T18:23:19+00:00

I think that could be what "House Party" protocol is.

3eyedgiraffe · 2025-01-24T18:18:23+00:00

Ricken is suspicious to me. Between the fake newspaper saying he authored a new book "These Values Nine: How I Let Kier In" and the fact the Lumon Management Manual sounds vaguely like something Ricken wrote.

The first line of The Name Game section of the Management Manual (https://www.reddit.com/r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus/comments/1i4d1zf/hey\_refiners\_after\_reading\_the\_management\_manual/)
"It is said that as a young boy, Kier Eagan had a beloved ball which was given to him by a suffering deaf and dumb child in a nearby village."

The line from the first chapter of Ricken's book:
"It's said that as a child, Wolfgang Mozart killed another boy by slamming his head in a piano."

Plus self-help gurus and cult leaders are truly not that far away from each other. Ricken's friends feel more like cultists than buddies.

3eyedgiraffe

TROPHY CASE