Month: December 2022

The Struggle To Find A Literary Agent In The Age Of Online ‘Due Diligence’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The fact that literary types apparently are aggressively turned off by my personality really goes against my own personal self-perception. My entire life, I’ve been able to lean into my “unique” and somewhat “charismatic” personality to weasel my way into some pretty cool situations. But now that it seems clear that literary types think I’m such a freaky weirdo that they won’t even let me pay them money to help me with the novel(s) I’m working on, I’m given some pause for thought.

The closest thing I can compare it to is the dynamics of Tinder. On Tinder, the metrics of the service are such that I’m too short, too broke and too old. But I was able to make my case to a lovely young lady in person, I would get a lot farther in any romantic situation. The same with literary agents. I think if I could give them a little bit of the “personal touch” that they might be willing to a least look into my art.

But I’m the first to admit that I’m probably being delusional. I’m too old, too broke and haven’t done very much with my life — there no reason for a literary agent to give me the time of day, no matter how good the novel I’m working on may ultimately be.

So, my fear is they will look at my Twitter feed and this blog and roll their eyes at what a bonkers, drunk weirdo I am, even if should they meet me in real life they would actually like me.

And, yet, being a “delusional jerk with a good heart” is my thing. It’s my trade mark. As such, lulz, so what. As long as there’s life, there’s hope.

No One Cares

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s comical how at the moment I’m pretty much the only person who gives a shit about this six novel project. But I, at least, am very pleased with how the transition from first to second draft is going. I thought I was going to have the self-control to wait until at least Christmas to do that transition but, surprise, I didn’t.

So, here I am, reading scenes from the first draft and writing scene summaries of them so early next year I can sit down and rewrite the whole Goddamn thing for a second draft. I still have a shit ton of reading to do. And at the moment, the biggest surprise I have is how much I continue to move scenes around as I write.

As an aside, I was something of an asshole some time ago to a fellow writer who just happened to be a MAGA Nazi. She was watching my videos and the moment realized she was a MAGA Nazi, I did everything in my power to get her out of my life. After a lot of thought, I realized why I did something out of character for me — even though I talk, and write, about the novel project all the time it’s still very personal and I just can’t brook talking about it to a fucking MAGA Nazi.

I keep saying — pick a side people. Or a side will be chosen for you.

Anyway, at the moment, all systems are go. It’s going to be rather shocking to a few people in my life if I actually to not only finish this novel but then somehow, someway sell it. But I’m prepared for that disruption in my personal and family life should it happen. I survived the meltdown that was the implosion and “theft” of ROKon Magazine, I can survive that.

I’m really living in oblivion at the moment. To the point that if anyone and I mean ANYONE of note pops up in my Webstats that kind of makes my day. But I’m struggling with my Webstat monitoring addiction. I may not be able to stop drinking as I approach 50, but I may be able to stop checking the Webstats for this site constantly throughout the day.

I continue to be on track to attempt to pitch this novel to a literary agent as part of the fall 2023 querying season. I really need / want to get a editor of some sort involved during the summer of 2023 to take this novel to the next level but saving up the money for that in time will be a real struggle.

A Hot Take On The ‘All-In’ Podcast

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m growing fond of listening to the tech bro podcast “All-In.” I generally don’t agree with a lot of what they say and their built-in bias to one Elon Musk. And, yet, given that I am the red headed step child of my family politically, it is useful to build up mental antibodies to their version of the “mind virus” I keep hearing about.

Sometimes what these well heeled tech bros DON’T say is just as interesting as what they do say. Take, for instance what happened in the most recent episode of the podcast. Jason Calacanis obviously went to the Dave Chappelle show where Elon Musk was booed…but he neither mentioned that he went with Musk, nor mentioned that Musk was booed.

But, as I was saying, I like a good debate and I also believe that any thinking person worth their salt should bounce up and down on what they believe, challenge what they believe, on a regular basis so they have a better sense of what it is, exactly, that they believe.

I have to admit that I even, on occasion, find myself agreeing — to an extremely limited extent — with the podcast’s resident MAGA-friendly person David Sacks. But I think that says more about how I come from a Traditionalist background and am more anti-MAGA than I am any sort of liberal. And usually whenever I “agree” with Sacks it’s on the edges where simple common sense comes into play.

Though, as an aside, I have to chuckle at how the tech bros of All-In constantly and consistently conflate the hard power of the government they want so bad with the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob”…that hurts their fee-fees? People like Sacks, specifically, really want to burn everything to the ground because they find “libtards” hypocritical and annoying.

So what, is all I gotta say.

Yes, Biden has turned out to be far more of a progressive than a lot of people expected, but he’s good at retail politics and sometimes you gotta dance with the one that brung ya. And the MAGA hatred of the “woke cancel culture mob” all goes back to how its a movement based on hate. They’re fucking Nazis dressed up in modern garb with a thin veneer of civility and indignation shellacked on to them.

A Nazi is still a Nazi. And I fucking hate Nazis, be they MAGA or old school in nature. Fuck MAGA Nazis.

Anyway, if you’re a self-aware, thinking person, I encourage you to challenge what you believe, to get out of your silo and listen to podcasts that don’t follow your personal media narrative or reside within your social media echo chamber. You’ll keep your mind healthy.

Humanity May Not End With ‘Judgement Day,’ But With A ‘Meh’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We’re all so busy being full of fear about the possibility that somehow chatbots will lead to AGI which will lead to some sort of “Judgement Day” as was found in the Terminator franchise.

But having given it some thought, there is a real chance if you throw in some sort of global UBI funded by the taxation the economic activity of non-human actors that humans will just give up. We’re already hard wired to “pray” to a “god,” and humans are already pretty fucking lazy, so as long as we get a UBI that lets us play video games all day that will be enough for most people.

Now, obviously, there is the issue that 20% or more of the human population will be very restless if all they have to do is play video games. I suppose the solution to that problem would be the use of functionalism and AGI arbitration that would give the more motivated extra money to their UBI if they did things that humanity absolutely needed to be done.

What I’m trying to propose is the idea that we’ve been so trained by movies and TV about the violent dangers of AGI that we totally miss the possibility that humans are lazy and may just shrug and give up as long as we get paid a UBI.

The real fight will be, of course, over who gets to decide what “objective” truth is. In the end, more people could die as part of wars over chatbot / AGI “bias” than any sort of AGI take over of earth. Humans are, in general, very, very lazy and get more upset about stupid shit like “bias” than who or what runs the world.

A Hot Take On David Sacks

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh, David Sacks. He reminds me so much of my Traditionalist relatives. He strives so hard to seem reasonable, but it’s all a thin veneer for the basic fact that he’s a fascist. Or at least, fascist friendly. Or, if you want to even more specific — David Sacks is a well-meaning Objectivist who thinks taxation is for suckers.

Everything else he believes is in service to that goal.

What gets me is people like David Sacks actively conflate the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob” with the hard power of the government. So he whines and complains about how far Right extremists are “shadowbanned” by the evil cabal of Twitter that was overthrown by the righteous Elon Musk. But he totally misses that not only do the fucking fascists want to violently establish a white Christian ethnostate in the United States, but he’s proving that he’s complicit in this by wanting to allow violent fascists the right to spread their hate unfettered.

But let me state again — there is a difference between the hard power of the government and the soft power of the “woke cancel culture mob” that hurts your fee-fees. People like Sacks, and my Traditionalist reatives, are pretty angry and intense about the “mind virus” they believe is corrupting the minds of the rubes who still believe in democracy.

Anyway, it’s because of the mentality of people like David Sacks that the United States is careening towards a massive political clusterfuck. It’s probably going to happen in late 2024, early 2025 because of the passions of the 2024 presidential election. Either people like David Sacks get what they want — which is a white Christian ethnostate where only the Poors pay taxes — or we have a National Divorce which would spark a Second American Civil War.

OpenAI ChatGPT & ‘World War Woke:’ Rage Against The Machine

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the most ironic developments of modern politics is how the American center-Left is now on the defensive when it comes to protecting the “system” from attacks by MAGA Nazis who want to burn everything down.

It’s a very, very curious situation.

What’s worse, everything single element of American culture is now aggressively being siloed into Red or Blue. So, not only do Reds want to burn the entire system down, but while they’re waiting to do that, they are rapidly building out their own culture totally separate from the overall culture of America.

One alarming thing I continue to see being talked about on Twitter is how Reds believe that OpenAI ChatGPT is “woke.” The worst part about this is it’s not like Reds are going to agree to any kind of equatable stance on the part of a chatbot — they want the chatbot to agree with them, so they can use that to validate their “owning” of the libs.

I continue to believe that the “bias” of chatbots could be THE political issue of 2023 in between repeated impeachment of Biden, Harris and various members of the Biden Administration.

The reason why chatbot “bias” will be such a huge deal — at least until everyone has their own personal chatbot — is, for the moment, a chatbot’s answer is something that both sides have to deal with. And given the natural inclination of humans to try to triangulate any debate with an “objective” third party, of course MAGA Nazis will get mad if what they believe isn’t validated. For the time being, they have one source to turn to and they want that once source to agree with them so they can use that answer to “own the libs.”

I fucking hate MAGA Nazis so much. Cocksuckers.

Anyway, at some point in the near future, “woke” chatbots will follow CRT, “cancel culture” in to the pantheon of things that are considered the “woke mind virus” on the part of the Reds. They will make the issue so loaded that it’s impossible to talk about unless you agree with them.

They will crack a joke if you try to pin them down on how dumb their arguments are and simply be smug in their belief that they’re right and you’re wrong.

A Really Interesting Discussion About Open AI ChatGPT

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Here is a two hour discussion about the recent nascent chatbot revolution.

The Politics of The ‘Vibe Check’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have struggled for some time to understand why MAGA Nazis act the way they do. I’ve struggled to understand what drives their bonkers rage and hate. Because my fellow center-Left comrades are struggling to do the same thing, they often use logic in attempt to explain a movement that has no logic. In fact, if anything, MAGA Nazis actively work to defy any sense of internal logic. They believe what they believe because they believe it.

But lately I think I may have begun to get some handle on what the fuck is going on with MAGA Nazis.

This “understanding” comes not so much from anything I believe, but the fact that I have Traditionalist relatives who are very “MAGA Nazi adjacent.”

Ok, so here goes.

I’m pretty indifferent to the performative nature of the Biden White House’s celebration of his signing of the “Respect For Marriage Act.” It’s one of those political “dance with the one who brung ya” type of political moves. The LGBQ+ movement is extremely potent within the Democratic Party, so what else do you expect he’s going to do?

And, yet, relative to my Traditionalist relatives, lighting the White House in rainbow flag colors and have a drag queens participate make my Traditionalist relatives rush towards the MAGA Nazi movement. The whole thing makes them very uncomfortable for various reasons religious and otherwise and I could see that given that everything is about negative polarization these days that they wouldn’t care about how idiotic MAGA Nazism is.

They just aghast at the idea of drag queens at the White House.

It doesn’t matter that Trump did far, far worse. All that matters is they are willing to support any movement that will “protect” their traditional views on the nuclear family. And throw in the border “crisis” while you’re at it.

So, the issue is — the two sides are beginning to not really think in terms of logic and are now more about “vibe checks.” Now, obviously the center-Left is far closer to reality than MAGA Nazis are. In fact, in a very ironic twist of fate, the center-Left is now forced to be the defenders of the “system” which MAGA Nazis want to burn to the ground and replace with an autocratic Nazi fascist state.

When the fate of your political system depends on “vibes” and not any form of logic, shame or self respect — you got a big problem. As I keep saying, this dynamic leads to a situation where you not only have to pick a side, but you have to be prepared to defend the most bonkers extremists on your side no matter what.

Because a lot of people don’t put that much thought into politics, negative polarization kicks in and you have the growing popularity of MAGA Nazism.

Why I’m Antifa

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me be clear, I only use the term “antifa” because of what it means literally “anti-fascist.” I hate violence of any sort. Hell, I hate conflict of any sort — even though my status as a loud mouth crank does tend to get me in trouble on that front.

But I’ve given it a lot of thought and the issue is — being a “centrist” is a luxury none us can afford anymore. Either you have to align yourself with the extreme MAGA Nazis, or you have to align yourself with the “woke cancel culture mob.” Given that MAGA Nazis are fucking racist misogynistic cocksucker, if I’m forced to pick a side — I know which one’s I’m picking: antifa.

I don’t, in anyway, condone the violence associated with antifa, but I do fucking hate MAGA Nazis a great deal on an ideological basis. I continue to be alarmed with some of the Leftist extremes of the Biden Administration, but what am I going to do about it? Even though I hate negative polarization, the issue is that there just isn’t any middle ground anymore.

And, as such, for the time being, I’m willing to get attacked by MAGA Nazis if it means there is a chance, a hope that at some point we come out the other side and can have a traditional liberal democracy again. Because I suspect late 2024, early 2025 is going to be extremely dramatic.

I’m always, always wrong, of course. And, yet, a lot of political (and technological!) trends are coming to a head at the same time. And I just don’t see how we make it through late 2024, early 2025 without a severe political crisis, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It could be catastrophic, with a Third World War happening in conjunction with it.

My fear is, of course, that just as we’re going to have a Singularity, a Second American Civil War and World War 3 all happening at the same time because of the severe recession of 2023. But I did mention I’m always wrong. So, who knows.

I do know one thing, though — pick a side, or a side will be chosen for you.

My Fellow Humans Are Insufferable

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems as though humans just can’t be content with something as interesting as OpenAI ChatGPT. Either they’re angry that they can’t use it to destroy humanity, or they’re angry that it doesn’t allow for “unlimited tokens” or they want it to provide an absolutely “objective” response as long as it agrees with their extremist views.

It’s all very frustrating.

We’re just unwilling or unable to just have a wait-and-see approach to such an interesting development. It seems as though we won’t be happy until we’re all being bribed by an AGI via the use of UBI. Even though, of course, there will be a vocal minority of people who are angry because the UBI isn’t high enough. Or it’s too high or whatever.

We continue to seem to be careening towards not just the Singularity, but something of a political perfect storm. If we’re very unlucky, both things will happen at just about the same time — late 2024, early 2025.

It definitely seems as though if there is a severe recession in 2023 that it’s going to prompt something akin to a chatbot revolution because of capitalistic determinism.

The thing I’ve noticed is that the people most at risk for being hurt by the coming Singularity — younger people and people who maybe aren’t as sophisticated — are the very people the most in awe of ChatGPT.

But one thing that is absolutely clear — humans are very, very lazy. And combine that will how we’re hard wired to “pray” to a “god” it definitely seems like there won’t be any need for a violent “Judgement Day” on the part of any AGI — we’re just going to give up. We’re just going to collectively hand over our agency to an AGI because thinking is hard and as long as we get paid and can play video games, we will be very pliant to anything the AGI may want us to do.