The Consortium, the Quorum, the alien interface, depicted in 'romantic' fiction - what the heck?!

[nature]

Now, please, what does this kind of butchering of the language that occurs so consistently and repeatedly across the works of dozens of different authors of a particular genre suggest to you? It is so bizarre, and so prevalent that it is really staggering.

This malapropism reminds me about the automatic subtitles in YT videos.
Just a hypothesis: a super-computer or a very advanced AI inside an android/humanoid robot who begins to have its own autonomy/consciousness, at the point he is capable of inventing stories.
Many authors because there are many of these models of androids; an author's name is assigned to each of them. Having each its own consciousness/particularities, the stories and type of malapropism differ each from the other.

Just an idea.

 

[Laura]

I'll have to think about some (many?) of these books being written by bots. Any more good samples of robots/AI critters writing stuff?

 

[Mari]

Here is the whole book written by AI

1 the Road - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

When I searched online, looks like it’s a thing: AI programs help design plays for theater and books and so on.
I.e.

First full-length Korean novel written by AI published | Yonhap News Agency

By Lee Haye-ah SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- The first full-length Korean novel written by ...

en.yna.co.kr

Um, A Novel Written By A Computer Actually Beat Human-Made Novels In Japan…

Is this a boon or an abomination?

blog.theliteracysite.greatergood.com

 

[Bluegazer]

Now, please, what does this kind of butchering of the language that occurs so consistently and repeatedly across the works of dozens of different authors of a particular genre suggest to you? It is so bizarre, and so prevalent that it is really staggering.

The manipulation of language, whether intentional or unintentional, misuse or change in meaning contributes to the modification of the perception of reality. And it is not only seen in these books. How many times are we exposed to euphemisms and words adjusted from the centers of power? Newspeak.

 

[Bluegazer]

Just a hypothesis: a super-computer or a very advanced AI inside an android/humanoid robot who begins to have its own autonomy/consciousness, at the point he is capable of inventing stories.

Not only stories...

@ZivaDynamics presented a machine learning-based system that converts character head meshes into real-time puppets capable of expressing over 72,000 facial shapes within an hour. The video is a real-time demo running in UE5

https://twitter.com/x/status/1462836062368284672

Only with a detailed observation can you tell the difference.

 

[Bluegazer]

• when the reading of large amounts of written fiction is no longer a priority,
• when papers with just a few pictures have been replaced by TV, radio, and papers and news sites having little text and many pictures,
• when visual media occupies a greater share of the market and people spend more time on it,

Homo Videns:

Amazon.com

A classic on the constant transformation of man in the face of the image society.

We are in the midst of a multimedia revolution. Homo sapiens, a product of written culture, is being transformed into a homo videns for whom the word has been dethroned by the image. And television plays a decisive role in all this. The primacy of the visible over the intelligible leads to a seeing without understanding that has put an end to abstract thinking, to clear and distinct ideas.

This is the fundamental premise from which the great Italian thinker Giovanni Sartori examines in this work - already a classic and yet more topical than ever - video-politics and the political power of television; the conversion of the video-child into an adult deaf for life to the stimuli of reading and knowledge transmitted by written culture; the formation of public opinion, and the amount of knowledge that passes - and does not pass - through the channels of mass communication.

In the face of the unstoppable advance of the multimedia age, will a new way of thinking emerge, a post-thinking in accordance with the new audiovisual culture?

 

[Keit]

I agree: psychopathy appears to be at the root of this sort of literature. And the aim appears to be to normalize, or even glorify, psychopathy, and excuse it too. Another aim appears to be normalizing ideas of total anarchy and to make killing others just "all in a day's work".

What you wrote reminded me of what neuroscientist Andrew Huberman had to say about "Up-speak". It's also called "The Valley girl speak". And how it is an indication of brain damage.

Take a look at the following video and be warned that it is a snippet from Joe Rogan show.

Before watching it I actually had no idea what the "Up speak" is, so also watched some other videos to understand what it is.

Apparently this kind of style is popular among the young in certain areas, because it creates the necessary level of ambiguity and basically abdicates responsibility, because the person that speaks like this is in a perpetual "question mode". And apparently this kind of communicating is very annoying and confusing for "normal speaking" people, and as Huberman says, it could be an indication of a brain damage.

Also notice that they call it "tech speak". It did make me wonder if being too immersed in technology results in such brain damage.

Obviously it is different than malapropism, but it's possible that what we are seeing is just another example of the same symptom. That current culture causes structural changes in the brain.

So knowing how "priming" language can be, it's quite possible that the style of writing that you mentioned can not only act as proof that something is wrong with the author's mind, but can also influence the readers. In effect they "fall in confluence" with whatever influences the author.

 

[Bluegazer]

@Keit I was very surprised by your comment about the Upspeak. I found this other video, because at the beginning I didn't understand what upspeak was.

Just by listening to the difference in intonation at the end of the sentence I could understand what this is all about. I may be wrong but listening to it what I see is a way to open a quasi-hypnotic state where the one receiving the message/intonation is put in a situation of being on the fence. You have to add to this that if the one issuing the message is an EM vector, it can produce an effect on your FRV.

Another thing I noticed is that the intonation is directed to the ego of the person receiving the message. A way to inflate the ego, to inject pride. It is seductive.

Curious note: The video mentions Argentines... I'm going to check my way of speaking.

 

[Michael B-C]

Laura's question makes me wonder about a possible connection between persistent lying, resultant desensitization of the amygdala and the increasing evidence that the amygdala plays a more complex role in language than previously recognized.

From a 2008 study:

Based on these results and previous studies, the researchers speculate that during early development, neuronal connections are strengthened between the amygdala and known language processing centers in the brain.

Though a key human survival skill in small doses, persistent lying and deceit changes the brain over time and specifically the amygdala, the brain's integrative center for emotions, emotional behavior, and motivation. There is also a strong connection between the amygdala and memory.

There have been a number of studies that suggest that linguistic idiosyncrasies are often associated with psychopathy. Think George W. Bush and his infamous 'slips' of the tongue and these seem to be associated with where more normal human emotional memory responses should be activated. Just a thought.

 

[Joe]

Apparently this kind of style is popular among the young in certain areas, because it creates the necessary level of ambiguity and basically abdicates responsibility, because the person that speaks like this is in a perpetual "question mode". And apparently this kind of communicating is very annoying and confusing for "normal speaking" people, and as Huberman says, it could be an indication of a brain damage.

I've noticed this in some people, and at least one forum member. So yeah, I'm inclined to think of it as "brain damage", but it's also something that telemarketers are taught to use with potential customers. Basically, you make a statement, and then turn it into a pseudo question by adding "ok?" at the end, that way you supposedly get more compliance with the statement you made by phrasing it as a positive question (ok?). So while it may be brain damage, it also may have a manipulative quality.

 

[Joe]

There are dozens of different authors, but they all seem to have the same problem: their grasp of the English language is very weird and twisted. The MAIN issues are: 1) verb/adverb/adjective reconciliation; 2) pure out and out bizarre malapropism. This last is so prevalent that there are probably 3 or 4 examples on nearly every page. In order to read the darn things, you have to constantly mentally correct. One example that comes to mind is one author's use of "lauded". She wrote something like "The statue of Mary Magdalene lauded over the chapel." Now, obviously, what she meant was that the statue was prominent and dominated the chapel. But "lauded"? Then, she used that same word numerous times in places where it was clear that she meant that something dominated the scene.

I blame amazon for allowing anyone, literally, to publish books, and also amazon for promoting them!

 

[Sybil]

I blame amazon for allowing anyone, literally, to publish books, and also amazon for promoting them!

Khmmmm..... I'm trying to self-publish my novel on Amazon.... Nevermind. I shall use a pseudo name!

 

[mkrnhr]

I'm not convinced that the problem is related to non-native speakers. Non-native speakers usually make mistakes in the structure of the sentence while being careful in the choice of the words (or use the simplest of words). I remember a professor correcting exam copies telling me that foreigners in general tend to write a better French than then natives. Also, if these are human writers, they should be careful about what they write, even if they aren't English native speakers. There are speech patterns that can be linked to damaged minds, and so far that's the most plausible possibility imho.

 

[sid]

I am generally the quietest when around the "valley talkers" because I don't know what to say and how to say it. Its a bit like talking to a zombie and taxes the mind greatly. You can't event talk about the weather because the idiots don't know what it is and never look up at the skies. Plus, I get put off from seeing grammatical errors in literature. It upsets the reading-rhythm and the train of thoughts that form during reading.

Also, I would deduce that the problem of "Upspeak" exists in all languages and cultures. English is not my mother tongue but I can now relate to how a few adults around me were conversing when I was growing up. Often a sentence would be said which would generally be an answer to a question but it would come out as if the person was chiding someone and/or asking a leading question by controlling the volume and emphasis on a key word.

 

[flashgordonv]

I am generally the quietest when around the "valley talkers" because I don't know what to say and how to say it. Its a bit like talking to a zombie and taxes the mind greatly. You can't event talk about the weather because the idiots don't know what it is and never look up at the skies. Plus, I get put off from seeing grammatical errors in literature. It upsets the reading-rhythm and the train of thoughts that form during reading.

Also, I would deduce that the problem of "Upspeak" exists in all languages and cultures. English is not my mother tongue but I can now relate to how a few adults around me were conversing when I was growing up. Often a sentence would be said which would generally be an answer to a question but it would come out as if the person was chiding someone and/or asking a leading question by controlling the volume and emphasis on a key word.

It is very common in New Zealand. After living in Australia for 20 years it was one of the first things I noticed when we returned. Statements that turned into questions and /or ended with Eh? "The government is pretty crap, eh?"