RE: That Thread Written by ChatGPT
May 14, 2023 at 12:21 am
(This post was last modified: May 14, 2023 at 12:22 am by Belacqua.)
(May 13, 2023 at 11:25 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote: I’d probably find some costume jewelry or maybe some cheaper versions of the jewels listed, either lookalikes, synthetics, or just smaller stones.
You know it occurs to me now...
The advice I got from the AI is quite cleaned-up, sort of made safe for the consumer. You are right to point out that Des Esseintes doesn't mind when he kills the turtle. And at the beginning of the book he pretty much ruins a young man's life -- just for fun -- by paying for him to develop all kind of expensive habits and then suddenly cutting him off, so the guy turns to crime. The Decadence in the book is much more than the luxury hedonism recommended by the AI.
The AI has pretty much made it safe for bourgeois aspirations -- if you make enough money you can buy this lifestyle and feel good about it. It ends up being compatible with Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand. The moral issues and the edginess involved in a full-on commitment to certain special pleasures are ignored.
It reminds me of the modern US brand of Satanism. Huysmans' Satanism, in Là-Bas, involved serious crime. Plus of course they actually believed in Satan, so they thought they were risking their immortal souls. In America these days it's all cos-play.
One time I read an American "sequel" to Histoire d'O. It so completely missed the point of the original that I couldn't believe it. It was all good clean fun, with a little consensual SM play, and safe words, and everyone wearing white tennis shoes and going out for a beer together afterwards. Least sexy thing I ever read.
Anyway, it seems clear that the AI is going to reinforce the Bourgeois Neoliberal morality of its programmers.
