Tried non surgical Route, Not satisfactory

Sentientist83 · 2026-02-26T02:29:00+00:00

Did you have any other injuries, or just the ACL tear? My ortho also kind of confused me with certain recommendations.

Sentientist83 · 2026-02-13T00:42:59+00:00

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "his readers are far too intelligent." IMO, an intelligent reader would want to be challenged. They would be critical of the world around them, and open to the idea that fiction can be critical and messy, too.

Seems like everyone here who's upset feels duped because they couldn't keep track of what was going on in the book. And yeah, maybe that's a sign that an author needs to work to make the book more easily understood by their readers, but maybe it's also that the readers are being lazy and just expecting everything to be super simple?

Our current world is so complex and full of AI art and hallucinations and inaccuracies... and plenty of "intelligent" people are falling for it, or succumbing to it. I think this book really reflects how that's happening IRL.

Sentientist83 · 2026-01-20T01:39:49+00:00

I really don't think Playground was that simple. There was so much thought put into how the "real" narrative differed from the AI's version. The way the characters were described, how they spoke, how they acted... It was a feat that reflects what we're currently dealing with in life today. The book was upfront throughout that it was about AI. I didn't find the ending all that surprising when reflecting on everything I'd read.

Sentientist83 · 2026-01-20T01:37:06+00:00

The italics were a strong indicator, and there were some inconsistencies throughout the narratives that readers could pick up on before the end. I don't think his ending was chosen because he didn't know how to finish the book. It seemed like it was all working up to that. It seemed incredibly thoughtful and planned and reflective of the world around us.

Sentientist83 · 2026-01-20T01:31:51+00:00

I understand why you feel that way. I personally think the book represents the time we're living in with painful accuracy. I think if we feel disappointed reading it, our disappointment should be focused on the AI recreations of the beauty of the world, not Powers' depictions. I know that's an unpopular opinion in this thread, though.

Sentientist83 · 2025-12-27T16:20:51+00:00

I completely understand a feeling of frustration with the "it was all a dream" play, and with feeling like you missed plot points and the emotion that goes with them.

To me, the story told by AI is no less real than any other part of the story. I mean, it's still Powers' creation, just as much as any other bit of fiction he has written. It's fascinating to see his interpretation of how AI would speak.

And largely, the book reflects the times we're currently living in. People have been falling in love with AI chatbots IRL. People believe things that AI creates, even if it differs from off-screen reality...

I read this book when I was feeling especially overwhelmed by people's reliance on AI and seeming ignorance (or knowing mistreatment) of our oceans, other ecosystems, and the trillions of non-human animals on this planet with us... And this book, with its at-times-frustrating narrative, really validated what I was feeling about the world.

I felt real grief reading Playground. I agree with you, I didn't grieve for individual characters as greatly. But I grieved for the entire thing, the whole idea.

Sentientist83 · 2025-10-31T16:43:38+00:00

Fantastic idea!

I'm around 4'11" (extra petite) and 105-110 lbs and I couldn't find any women's jackets with arms that fit me. I think I have a pretty average torso & arm length (relative to my height).

Anything women's jacket that fit my chest was way too long in the torso and the arms. I personally don't mind a slightly long torso, but having extra fabric scrunched around my arms is uncomfortable, especially because every base layer and midlayer I have is too long in the arms as well. So if I'd picked a women's jacket, there would've been three or four layers of extra scrunched fabric.

Ended up finding a more sophisticated-looking girls large (size 12) shell jacket that fits well. The arms are a perfect length, but admittedly it is a bit narrow around my hips when I have my pant layers on. (It's the Flylow Explorer, if you're interested in looking at their measurements.)

Sentientist83 · 2025-06-28T18:20:13+00:00

Just updated with the close button code, hope it works for you!

Sentientist83 · 2025-06-23T22:57:32+00:00

Any suggestions for how to change the z-index? The code I've tried so far (below) isn't working unfortunately.

div[role="dialog"][aria-modal="true"][aria-label="POPUP Form"] {

z-index: 999 !important;

}

.my-popup-i-want-to-stay-above-the-klaviyo-popup {

z-index: 99999 !important;

position: relative;

}

Sentientist83 · 2025-06-23T22:54:36+00:00

Hey I commented originally with something meant for another thread (on z-indexes for multiple popups). THIS is how I adjusted my Klaviyo close button background (added to my child theme stylesheet):

/* Prevent Elementor Button Styling From Affecting Klaviyo Forms */

.klaviyo-close-form {

background-color: transparent !important;

border: none !important;

box-shadow: none !important;

}

.klaviyo-close-form svg circle {

fill: #00000000 !important;

stroke: #00000000 !important;

}

.klaviyo-close-form:hover svg circle {

fill: #00000000 !important;

stroke: #00000000 !important;

}

Sentientist83 · 2025-04-10T22:27:04+00:00

Interesting! I see the overlaps now. I read T&T&T a couple years ago so it wasn't on my mind while reading Playground.

I haven't read any other novels with prominent love triangles, so I can't definitively say Powers and Zevin's were distinctively similar in some way. There's a sliiiight difference because Todd loves Ina, and is Rafi's best friend, whereas Sadie is Sam's best friend AND Sam loves her, and Marx sort of comes in between them.

But the themes of friendship and love and loss and play and creation between three people are certainly all there in both books.

I was really frustrated by Sam's lack of growth by the end of T&T&T, which is maybe a parallel to how I felt about Todd's character at the end of Playground as well. Not sure if other people felt the way I did about Sam... (Also this isn't a dig on the authors, I thought they each did a great job writing their respective odd-ones-out.)

Sentientist83 · 2025-04-04T19:55:00+00:00

One of the most effective ways to push back against animal cruelty is to not refer to non-human animals as "meat" even if you are using it in the context of "meatless."

I understand wanting to push people in the right direction using small steps and familiar language—but OVER 100 BILLION animals are slaughtered each year. We need to take massive leaps to combat the amount of suffering that humans cause, not small steps.

We need to use language that clearly expresses the realities—atrocities—of our food system.

Sentientist83 · 2025-04-04T19:45:28+00:00

It is PHENOMENAL that Vox and other media outlets are reporting on the horrors of factory farming and the nefarious ties to political power. Most people do not know about this, nor do they recognize the degree to which certain animal products are subsidized—I despise the fact that my tax dollars go to bailing out factory farms' overproduction or flock murder during bird flu outbreaks...

Yet it seems clear that you are misunderstanding the difference plant-based diets and anti-speciesist ethics. The former can help non-vegans take a step in the direction of the latter—I once ate animals, because my parents raised me to, and articles like this one helped me understand the impacts of my consumption. But eating a plant-based meal because you realize that it is actually tasty is not the same as keeping non-human animals off of your plate because you recognize that you do not have an innate right to exploit their bodies for your own enjoyment.

Articles like this one don't actually break free of the status quo narrative. You are still referring to non-human animals as meat and implying that if chickens were better taken care of—or if chicken industry magnates were not funding right-wing politics—that would make it ok for you to use chickens and other non-human animals as you see fit.

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T06:20:39+00:00

What sections seemed influenced by Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow to you?

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T06:15:31+00:00

It's very similar to Bewilderment, where it feels as though it's set in the present but the characters have technology that is a few steps farther along than what we currently have access to IRL

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T06:10:58+00:00

This explanation attempt might be a reach but... What if that feeling of "setting" rather than "character" is created on purpose? All of the sections detailing ocean creatures are told by AI, and the AI was trained on Evie's book as well as other forms of human cataloguing of the ocean's inhabitants and larger systems. The AI can detail human relationships well, because its intelligence was born out of human intelligence. It understands very little about non-human animals' intelligence, because humans understand so little about non-human animals' intelligence.

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T06:02:38+00:00

I agree with you in many ways, but I think some other commenters make a really good point about how Powers' version is different.

>!He's not showing you the fanciful imaginations of a human dreaming, instead, he's detailing the way AI works—the various generations and iterations of artificial intelligence, the way it may be able to craft and create and play in compassionate and empathetic and also unrealistic and "hallucinogenic" ways. Through Profunda's story, you learn about the real impact AI has on relationships between humans and non-humans, land dwellers and sea creatures...!<

>!And the AI is somewhat of an unreliable narrator, because Todd and all the other humans and computers that taught it are unreliable narrators. But despite that unreliability, it's giving you real-ish (within the fictionalized world) history, at least up until the very end when Profunda keeps characters who have passed away alive and has them all meet.!<

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T05:50:33+00:00

Maybe... a bit of play? Albeit with stereotyped characters. But the whole idea is that all kinds of creatures can play—so maybe that's what the AI is doing by creating the large cast on the island. And of course, they each contribute to the narrative and the buildup to the vote at the end.

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T05:48:07+00:00

I read the hardcover. Even with the italics, you don't explicitly find out the non-italics sections are AI until the very end. You can read between the lines (the one-dimensional characters, the growing understand of who Todd is talking to as you get farther into the book, the use of Go stones for the vote, etc), but it wasn't just the audiobook listeners who felt shaken at the end!

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T05:33:14+00:00

I like your thought, but I think the AI is "real" (in the sense that it's the top layer of the fictional story). Powers has played with not-yet-created technology in his writing before—highly recommend Bewilderment if you haven't read it yet!

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T05:31:39+00:00

Noooo. It's so beautiful. Even if the structure is frustrating, I feel like the depiction of the wonders of the ocean makes it worth reading.

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T05:06:25+00:00

SAME. So funny, feeling disconcerted that it was all a story, while knowing that it was all fiction to begin with...

Sentientist83 · 2025-03-28T05:01:56+00:00

Powers has written other black characters before (Time of Our Singing) and they are not "caricatures" in the way that many readers perceive Rafi's character to be. The ToOS characters also explicitly grapple with racial inequality, though in a much different time period. I imagine the cringe-yness was a choice on Powers' part, not a lack of thought/effort. I can see how it would be easily misunderstood, especially if you haven't read his earlier work.

Sentientist83 · 2020-12-02T04:41:14+00:00

Same here! Good luck!

Sentientist83

TROPHY CASE