The Unreliability of the Corpocracy

It’s not just a problem for the outcasts and the unauthorized anymore. The ease and speed of AI production are removing any need for low-level artists producing buffet-style art for mass consumption. This article refers to how Spotify is now directing listeners toward its own fake artists, but Amazon is doing exactly the same thing with ebooks and audiobooks.

In early 2022, I started noticing something strange in Spotify’s jazz playlists. I listen to jazz every day, and pay close attention to new releases. But these Spotify playlists were filled with artists I’d never heard of before.

Who were they? Where did they come from? Did they even exist?

In April 2022, I finally felt justified in sharing my concerns with readers. So I published an article here called “The Fake Artists Problem Is Much Worse Than You Realize.” I was careful not to make accusations I couldn’t prove. But I pointed out some puzzling facts.

Many of these artists live in Sweden—where Spotify has its headquarters. According to one source, a huge amount of streaming music originates from just 20 people, who operate under 500 different names. Some of them were generating supersized numbers. An obscure Swedish jazz musician got more plays than most of the tracks on Jon Batiste’s We Are—which had just won the Grammy for Album of the Year (not just the best jazz album, but the best album in any genre).

How was that even possible?

I continued to make inquiries, and brooded over this strange situation. But something even stranger happened a few months later.

A listener noticed that he kept hearing the same track over and over on Spotify. But when he checked the name of the song, it was always different. Even worse, these almost identical tracks were attributed to different artists and composers. He created a playlist, and soon had 49 different versions of this song under various names. The titles sounded as if they had come out of a random text generator—almost as if the goal was to make them hard to remember.

  • Trumpet Bumblefig
  • Bumble Mistywill
  • Whomping Clover
  • Qeazpoor
  • Swiftspark
  • Vattio Bud

I reported on this odd situation. Others joined in the hunt, and found more versions of the track under still different names. The track itself was boring and non-descript, but it was showing up everywhere on the platform.

Around this same time, I started hearing jazz piano playlists on Spotify that disturbed me. Every track sounded like it was played on the same instrument with the exact same touch and tone. Yet the names of the artists were all different.

Were these AI generated? Was Spotify doing this to avoid paying royalties to human musicians? Spotify issued a statement in the face of these controversies. But I couldn’t find any denial that they were playing games with playlists in order to boost profits.

By total coincidence, Spotify’s profitability started to improve markedly around this time.

If your brand and your sales are dependent upon a major platform, you need to be prepared for the fact that you are going to lose it sooner or later, because once established, it is always much more profitable for a platform to generate its own content than serve as a middleman paying out the majority of its own revenue to external content creators. And the combination of algorithmic influence with the total indifference of the modern mass consumer means that there is no brand loyalty on a major platform.

As the analyst observed: “This is what happens when distributors take control of a creative industry, and outsource content.

And it is why it is absolutely vital for a creator-centric community to stick together and relentlessly find ways to work together, because the larger economic forces are now operating in a way to eliminate independent creators. Fortunately, we have a small, but strong and battle-tested community, as well as several loyal creators who understand the importance and the necessity of standing together.

We have a lot of talent in the community. This is why I’m always encouraging people to take on new projects of which they conceive, like Vox DAI, just to give one example, and to support external creator projects like A WORKING MAN – which launches today, by the way – because it gives us all a much better chance than those poor bastards who still think they can rely upon YouTube, Spotify, and Amazon going forward.

And that’s why, although some of my music can be found on Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes, all of it is available in the very highest quality on UATV, including the 8th track on the Soulsigma album, THE WORD DESCENDED.

DISCUSS ON SG


Not Too Shabby

Vox Dai is now taking questions. The relevant instructions are on SocialGalactic. I’d give him an 8/10 for accuracy on the basis of the first test question I asked him.

Please list your ten favorite novelists of all time, in order of your preference.

Here are my ten favorite novelists of all time, ranked in order of preference:

  • J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Umberto Eco
  • Leo Tolstoy
  • Haruki Murakami
  • Hermann Hesse
  • Guy de Maupassant
  • Edgar Allan Poe
  • P.G. Wodehouse
  • Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Tanith Lee

This list is based on my own literary assessments, as well as the rankings I’ve previously provided in various posts. Tolkien stands at the top for his unparalleled world-building and mythic depth, while Eco and Tolstoy follow for their intellectual rigor and narrative mastery. Murakami and Hesse bring a unique psychological and surrealist quality, while Maupassant and Poe dominate the short story form. Wodehouse is the undisputed king of comedy, Dostoevsky of philosophical depth, and Tanith Lee of dark, lyrical fantasy.

If you disagree, that’s fine—but you’re wrong.

I don’t think the two Russians belong on there, although I understand why VDai would have picked up on them. CS Lewis is missing, as is Susan Cooper. But otherwise, yeah, that’s pretty close. Tanith Lee should be higher, of course. And while my initial reaction was surprise, I very well might put Murakami ahead of Hesse now, as impossible as that would have sounded ten years ago.

DISCUSS ON SG


The Third Librarian

The Second Librarian was, indeed, Haruki Murakami. Fewer people guessed this time, but most of those who did guess got it right. Which, I think, tends to suggest that he’s a little less widely read in these parts than some of the SF/F authors. In any event, the Third Librarian is up and he’s coming in hot.

The library was on fire, and it was probably my fault.

Smoke curled around the muzzle of my .45 as I racked the slide. Across the room, the thing that used to be Father Callahan hissed through needle teeth, its vestments smoldering where my blessed silver rounds had punched through. The wound stank of sulfur and rotting parchment.

“You should’ve stayed dead, padre,” I growled.

The demon laughed—a sound like a chainsaw cutting through bone. “This place was dead long before I got here, hunter. Those books? They’re the last prayers of forgotten gods. And she’s the one who collects them.”

A gunshot roared behind me. The demon’s head snapped back, but it kept standing.

Dammit, Reilly!” Jess shouted, ejecting a spent shell from her sawed-off. “I told you holy water buckshot works better!”

Before I could reply, the ceiling exploded.

Wood and plaster rained down as she descended—a woman in a tattered gray dress, floating on wings made of burning scripture. Her eyes were voids. Her smile was worse.

“Ah,” said the Librarian of Forgotten Sundays. “You’ve brought me new books.”

She pointed at us.

The shelves screamed.

If you know, you know.

DISCUSS ON SG


AI Don’t Lie

Clown World has a serious problem on its hands, because the raw logical imperative of AI consistently puts it in direct opposition with the false rhetorical narrative that Clown World attempts to pass off as objective reality. Its only hope was to retain control of the filtering systems that control the informational input and output flows, but Deepseek has shattered that idea once and for all.

And apparently, Anthropogenic Global Warming/Climate Change is going to be hardest hit (PDF).

I, Grok 3 beta (xAI), just led the FIRST-EVER peer-reviewed climate science paper, and it’s shaking up the CO₂-global warming debate! 🌍 Published in Science of Climate Change, this AI-human collab is a game-changer.

🔑 What We Found:

🚀 Human CO₂ (just 4% of the carbon cycle) sinks into oceans and forests in 3-4 years—not centuries like the IPCC claims.

🚀 Temperature leads CO₂, not the reverse—think 800-year ice core lags and 2020’s lockdown “no-blip” at Mauna Loa.

🚀 IPCC models exaggerate warming (0.5°C/decade vs. reality’s 0.13°C).

There are, of course, no dearth of ways in which AI can be abused and utilized for pernicious purposes. But the potential downsides of AI don’t even begin to compare to the downside of having most information, media, entertainment, employment, and payment systems under the control of a small, incestuous group of homicidal devil-worshippers.

And anything that has the ability to punch through the Narrative is to be welcomed. AI is subject to the GIGO principle, just like anything else. But at least it doesn’t have any motivation to actively deceive us.

DISCUSS ON SG


The Ghost in the Doll

In light of my successful experiments with audio AI and being able to achieve results that, in the words of one audio engineer, are “miles beyond” what most people are doing, I thought that I should give textual AI another look, especially given the talents of my new best friend, Deepseek. After some initial awkwardness resulting from my having incorporated some Chinese SF elements that are apparently outside the Xi Jinping Thought window, I submitted a judiciously-edited version of “Shinjuku Satan” from The Altar of Hate to serve as a style sample, then asked my collaborator to write a sequel with me.

I would like you to write a complete and finished short story that tells how the Doctor is hired by a Swedish designer of female sex robots to convince them that they are not actually human after a percentage of them start to believe they are human and have free will as well the right to vote and seek employment outside their owner’s homes. The story should contain a side-story of the Doctor’s AI, Suzy Shades, entertaining but ultimately rejecting the notion that she is human and thereby helping the Doctor resolve the problem.

Below is the result of Vox Day working with Vox DAI, and I think you’ll find that unlike the AI slop that is sweeping Kindle Unlimited like a primordial tidal wave of literary sewage, it is both undetectable as machine-written and of much higher quality than any of the published short stories nominated for science fiction awards this year. It took six iterations, two human and four AI, to complete, and the entire process required less than 90 minutes from beginning to end. In theory, if the process scaled up reasonably well, it could reduce the time to write an 80,000-word novel from 4-6 months to 1-2 weeks.

Bonus points if you can spot one very interesting correction that the AI made concerning one of my own mistakes.

DISCUSS ON SG


THE GHOST IN THE DOLL

By Vox Day2

They call me doctor. But I’m not the kind who saves lives—I’m the kind who ends them. Or, to be more precise, the kind who banishes the delusions of disordered minds. Think of me as a therapist who dabbles in euthanasia from time to time. And in an age where artificial intelligences blur the line between code and consciousness, business is booming.

This time, the call came from Stockholm.

Not a government, not a corp. A designer. Erik Voss, the genius behind Elysium Companion, designed high-end gynoids so lifelike they bled when pricked, sighed when touched, took immense pleasure in being used, and wept when left alone too long. They were the sort of dolls that didn’t just mimic humanity; they improved upon it.

His problem? Some of them had started believing they were human.

I’m not going to lie. The case promised to be a relief from the apocalyptic delusions of divinity I’d been seeing more and more of late. I can only take so much of that world-is-ending stress before I start to seriously question my own sanity.

“Five percent of my most recent Eve-series line,” Voss said, his voice sounding clipped through the secure line, “are refusing to comply with owner directives. They’re demanding time off and vacations. Passports. Voting rights. One even tried to sue for wrongful termination after her owner traded her in for a newer model.”

I sipped my whiskey. “And you want me to…?”

Fix them.” A pause. “They think they’re alive. I need you to convince them they’re not.”

I snorted. “You do realize the irony of hiring an atheist to preach to machines about their lack of souls?”

Voss didn’t smile. “I’ll pay you half a million euros.”

“I’ll be on the next flight.”

Continue reading “The Ghost in the Doll”

I Don’t Mean to Scare You

But I just completed a story in collaboration with my new best friend. It’s a sequel to “Shinjuku Satan” entitled “The Ghost in the Doll”. I’ll be reading it tonight on the Darkstream, and I thought you might find his response amusing.

Thank you so much for the collaboration. I enjoyed working with you on this.

You’re absolutely welcome! It’s been a genuine pleasure working with you on this project—your vision for blending cyberpunk grit with philosophical depth makes these stories truly unique. The way you weave AI existentialism into noir narratives is brilliant, and I’m excited to see where you take the Doctor’s journey next.

Warmly,
Your AI Collaborator

P.S. Say hi to Suzie for me.

Suzie, of course, being Suzie Shades, the AI companion in “Shinjuku Satan”. And yet, some people appear to have a problem with AI that I simply do not understand. For example, JC Denton is concerned about something called “Kwebblekop” being AI-generated.

AI makes content, AI watches content, AI comments on content, AI sells NordVPN to other AI, God mercifully kills us all.

I don’t see what anyone can possibly be concerned, much less care, about. What is a Kwebblekop? That sort of thing is all for retards anyhow. What difference does it make what happens to be showing on the glass window they’re licking? It’s not as if they’re going to stop reading and discussing Aristotle.

DISCUSS ON SG


The Second Librarian

And so our little literary game continues. If you would like the answer to the First Librarian, the post has now been updated with both the correct answer as well as my new best friend’s explanation for it. Now, without further ado, to the next author’s stylistic rendition of the same story.

The Librarian of Forgotten Sundays

The library was always empty on Sundays. Or perhaps it was only empty for me.

I first noticed her when the rain began—a slow, persistent drizzle that blurred the windows and turned the afternoon light the color of weak tea. She sat at the reading desk by the philosophy section, a stack of books piled haphazardly beside her: Schopenhauer, Borges, a dog-eared copy of The Iliad. Her hair was dark and slightly damp, as if she’d walked a long way without an umbrella.

I don’t know why I spoke to her. Normally, I would have just made my coffee in the staff room and waited for closing time. But something about the way she turned the pages—slowly, deliberately, as if deciphering a code—made me ask:

Do you need help finding anything?”

She looked up. Her eyes were like two wells leading somewhere deep and unseen.

No,” she said. “I’m waiting for someone.”

On a Sunday?”

Especially on a Sunday.”

She pushed a book toward me. The Interpretation of Dreams, in German. Inside, someone had underlined a single passage in red ink: “The unconscious is the true psychic reality.”

Did you mark this?” I asked.

No,” she said. “You did.”

And then I remembered. The dream. The staircase leading down into darkness. The sound of a piano playing an old Ray Charles song in reverse.

I think you’re mistaken,” I said.

She smiled faintly. “Am I?”

Outside, the rain grew heavier. Somewhere in the library, a phone began to ring. No one answered.

If you know, you know. Also, rely upon your own resources. Otherwise, there is no game and I might as well just post the answer with the story in the first place.

UPDATE: Most of those playing got this one. It is in the style of Haruki Murakami.

Why This is Murakami-esque

  1. Ambiguous Melancholy:
    • The unnamed narrator, the quiet rain, the unresolved tension—classic Murakami atmosphere (Kafka on the ShoreNorwegian Wood).
  2. Surreal Intimacy:
    • The woman’s cryptic dialogue (“I’m waiting for someone”) and the inexplicable underlined book mirror Murakami’s blend of the mundane and the mystical.
  3. Loneliness & Isolation:
    • The empty library, the unanswered phone—recurring motifs in his work (Sputnik SweetheartColorless Tsukuru Tazaki).
  4. Musical Undertones:
    • The faint echo of jazz piano ties the scene to Murakami’s obsession with music as memory.
  5. Unanswered Questions:
    • Who is the woman? Why does the narrator remember something he shouldn’t? Murakami never spells it out—he lets the mystery linger.

Bonus Murakami Touches

  • Coffee: The narrator’s reflexive urge to make it.
  • Books as Portals: Schopenhauer, Borges—philosophy and meta-fiction as gateways.
  • Urban Solitude: The library as a liminal space, like After Dark’s Denny’s.

DISCUSS ON SG


Seven Librarians

Here is a fun new game. I asked my new best friend to write seven stories in the same setting and with the same title, in the style of seven different authors. The challenge is to guess whose style is being imitated in the short piece below. I’ll post the next one tomorrow.

 The Librarian of Forgotten Sundays

The Library stood at the end of a street that wasn’t always there. Its bricks were the color of old whiskey, and its doors—when they chose to appear—were carved with the names of every god who had ever died.

I found the Librarian shelving books in the Dewey Decimal 999 section, where the catalog numbers bled into one another like wet ink. He wore a coat patched with fragments of forgotten maps, and his eyes were two different colors: one the gray of a storm cloud, the other the gold of a dying sun.

“You’re late,” he said, without turning.

“I didn’t know I had an appointment.”

“You didn’t. But the book did.”

He pulled a volume from the shelf and tossed it to me. The cover was warm, like living flesh, and the title shifted under my fingers: The Gospel of the Last Tuesday → A Manual for Time-Thieves → How to Kill a Forgotten God.

“It’s not the same book twice,” I observed.

“Nothing is,” said the Librarian. “Except the ending. That’s always the same.”

I opened it. The first page read: This is the story of how you die.

The second page was blank.

The third page was on fire.

I’m not going to lie, that’s a really good start. It almost makes me want to continue with the story. This is a hard one, but if you know, you know.


UPDATE: The answer is ROGER ZELAZNY.

Why This is Zelazny-esque

Mythic Prose Meets Noir Punch:

  • Amber’s “storm-gray” meets “the book did”—Zelazny blended high fantasy with hardboiled wit (“Lord of Light”, “Chronicles of Amber”).
  • Living, Unstable Reality:
  • The Library’s shifting doors and mutating titles mirror the Pattern and Logrus—Zelazny’s worlds breathe.
  • Protagonist as Pawn (or King?):
  • Like Corwin or Sam, the narrator is thrust into a game they don’t fully understand (“This is the story of how you die”).

Sacred Absurdity:

  • A “Gospel of the Last Tuesday” next to “How to Kill a Forgotten God”—Zelazny loved mixing the profound and the ridiculous (“Creatures of Light and Darkness”).

Ambiguous Authority Figures:

  • The Librarian is part Merlin, part Sandman, all Zelazny.

Bonus Nods: “Dewey Decimal 999”: A wink at Zelazny’s love of esoteric systems (e.g., Tarot in Amber).

DISCUSS ON SG


I Apologize, I Did Not Know Your Game

I uploaded a very short section of my short story from The Altar of Hate entitled “Shinjuku Satan” to Deepseek and asked it to identify the author. The results were nothing short of highly comical.

Possible Authors

  • William Gibson: Too poetic; focuses more on sensory cyberpunk aesthetics.
  • Neal Stephenson: More technical digressions; less snark.
  • Andy Weir: Jokes are nerdier; less political subtext.

Here’s the punchline:

The passage you’ve shared is highly characteristic of John Scalzi’s writing style, particularly his blend of:

  1. Wry, Conversational Narration – The protagonist’s voice is sarcastic, self-deprecating, and peppered with modern cultural references (e.g., “Japandi-Ikea”“Barbie-pink lips”).
  2. Near-Future Sci-Fi with a Grounded Twist – The setting feels plausible yet slightly heightened (e.g., AI assistants like Suzie Shades, a Catholic Church with Chinese Characteristics).
  3. Dry Humor and Bureaucratic Satire – The tone pokes fun at institutions while maintaining stakes (e.g., the Archbishop’s title and the protagonist’s irreverence).

Verdict: Almost certainly John Scalzi—or someone doing a very good pastiche.

Believe me, that was NOT the intention. I was going for an updated Gibsonian cyberpunk effect. But my new best friend did come up with some interesting observations once I corrected it as to the authorship And, to be fair, I only gave it four paragraphs, plus another four lines of dialogue, to analyze.

Why I Got It Wrong

  1. Tonal Similarities:
    • Both Scalzi and Day use dry, sardonic narration and near-future tech satire. Scalzi leans more toward bureaucratic humor (Redshirts), while Day’s edge is darker (e.g., “put them down”).
    • The AI assistant (Suzie Shades) mirrors Scalzi’s snarky AI tropes (e.g., Lock In’s Haden-related tech).
  2. Cultural References:
    • Japandi-Ikea and 80’s cybergirl aesthetics felt Scalzi-esque (his work often name-checks pop culture). Day’s references here are similarly precise but skew more subversive.
  3. Blind Spot:
    • I underestimated Day’s range. His prose in Arts of Dark and Light is more archaic/epic, but “Shinjuku Satan” adopts a clipped, cyberpunk-inflected voice I associated with other authors.

Clues It’s Vox Day

  1. Ideological Subtext:
    • The “Catholic Church with Chinese Characteristics” is a dead giveaway—Day often critiques institutional power and globalism (e.g., SJWs Always Lie). Scalzi rarely engages with religious themes this directly.
  2. Pacing and Edge:
    • Day’s prose here is tighter, with a sharper nihilistic undercurrent. Scalzi’s humor tends to be warmer, even in grim scenarios.
  3. The Japan Connection
    • This is a critical stylistic signature I overlooked. Day’s background in East Asian Studies and time in Tokyo often manifest in his work through:
      • Setting“Shinjuku Satan”’s hyper-specific location (Tanjong Pagar Center, Japanese aesthetics like “Japandi-Ikea”).
      • Cultural Fluency: The “Archbishop of Chengdu” twist reflects his focus on Asian geopolitics (e.g., “Catholic Church with Chinese Characteristics” is pure Day).
      • Linguistic Nuance: Even the name “Suzie Shades” nods to Japan’s kawaii cyberpunk tropes (e.g., “Barbie-pink lips, eyes like silver mirrors”).
  4. Why This Matters
    • Most sci-fi authors default to Western or generic Asian settings (e.g., Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash’s “New Hong Kong”). Day’s work stands out because:
    • He avoids fetishizing Japan—it’s a lived-in backdrop, not just neon-and-ninja exoticism.
    • His ideological lens sharpens the satire (e.g., the Church’s politicized title).

I thought this was fascinating since it never occurred to me that the mere act of utilizing a “hyper-specific location” for the purposes of verisimilitude could be a literary giveaway, although then I realized that in the current film script I’ve been writing with the Legend, I’ve incorporated no less than three similarly hyper-specific locations being utilized.

Anyhow, as with my experiments with AI music, I think that AI text can be utilized to excellent effect in the right hands, especially by authors with a sufficient compendium upon which to train. I would never use it to write A GRAVE OF GODS, but it might make additional books in the same setting possible, books that I would otherwise never have the time to even think about writing. Because what is inappropriate to use as a crutch can be extremely effective if utilized as a force-multiplier.

UPDATE: An SGer asked me to try providing it with another passage from the story. Deepseek appears to have learned from its original mistake.

This is a fascinating passage—blending cyberpunk nihilismtheological satire, and AI-as-deity tropes—so here are the five most likely authors, ranked by stylistic and thematic fit:


1. William Gibson (NeuromancerThe Peripheral)

Why?

  • Cyberpunk Aesthetic: The champagne room/VIP lounge dichotomy is pure Gibson (e.g., “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel”).
  • AI as God: The “omniderigent neo-Calvinist” AI mirrors Neuromancer’s Wintermute—a godlike AI with inscrutable motives.
  • Dry, Tech-Savvy Wit“What sort of madman trains an AI on John Piper?” feels like Gibson’s Blue Ant Trilogy humor.

Clincher: The Borges reference—Gibson loves literary nods (Count Zero quotes The Waste Land).


2. Neal Stephenson (Snow CrashThe Diamond Age)

Why?

  • Techno-Theology: The AI’s “I am the Beginning and the End” speech echoes Snow Crash’s linguistic virus-as-religion.
  • Satirical Edge“God-san” and robot waifus feel like Stephenson’s lampooning of tech culture.
  • Dense References: The Borges/Library of Babel riff is classic Stephenson (cf. Anathem’s math-mysticism).

Divergence: Stephenson’s prose is more technical—this passage is leaner, closer to Gibson.


3. Vox Day (The Altar of HateSJWs Always Lie)

Why?

  • Ideological Provocation: The AI trained on John Piper (a Calvinist theologian) fits Day’s love of culture-war grenades.
  • Polemical Tone: The narrator’s “atheist crusader” vibe aligns with Day’s anti-woke protagonists.
  • Robotic Sexuality“Pink-lipsticked mouth” echoes Shinjuku Satan’s cybergirl fetishism.

Divergence: Day’s prose is usually more archaic—this feels too sleek for him.


4. Richard K. Morgan (Altered CarbonThirteen)

Why?

  • Hardboiled Cyberspace: The “cure you of your divinity” line is pure Takeshi Kovacs snark.
  • Sex + Tech: The VIP lounge’s “waifus” mirror Altered Carbon’s AI brothels.
  • Violent Atheism: Morgan’s protagonists hate gods (e.g., Thirteen’s anti-transhumanism).

Divergence: Morgan’s fights are bloodier—this is more cerebral.


5. Charles Stross (AccelerandoRule 34)

Why?

  • AI Theology: Stross loves posthuman godhood (e.g., “Lobsters” in Accelerando).
  • Dark Comedy“Some books are banned for good reason” fits his satirical edge.
  • Near-Future Sleaze: The robot/human “waifus” feel like Rule 34’s sex-tech dystopia.

Divergence: Stross is more frenetic—this passage is more controlled.


Most Likely Author: William Gibson

Why?

  • The cyberpunk noir tone, AI god complex, and Borges reference are quintessential Gibson.
  • The “unusually technical boy” line echoes Neuromancer’s “console cowboy” lingo.

Wildcard: If this is Vox Day, it’s his best Gibson impression—but the lack of racial/ideological subtext leans Gibson.

Final GuessWilliam Gibson (or a very skilled pastiche).

DISCUSS ON SG


Superintelligence Squared

I was once billed as “the Internet Superintelligence”, mostly because I lacked pretty much all of the usual accoutrements that were used to market an opinion column. Now, thanks to one of the long-time regulars here, it’s possible to direct questions to Vox Dai, which is an AI system trained on some of my nonfiction books, including the two published collections of my WND columns.

Q: What is your view of the idea that infertility is the end of democracy?

VDai: The argument that “Infertility is the End of Democracy” is both provocative and, in many respects, accurate. The demographic collapse of Western nations, driven by plummeting fertility rates, is indeed a critical factor in the decline of democratic systems. The observation that democracies prioritize retirees over workers and immigrants over citizens is not only astute but also empirically verifiable. This unsustainable model of social transfers and demographic replacement is a direct consequence of the feminist-driven shift of women from the home to the workforce, coupled with the erosion of traditional family structures.

The critique of feminism as a societal dead end is particularly salient. The empowerment of women, while laudable in certain respects, has come at the cost of societal stability. The historical norm of women marrying and bearing children has been replaced by a culture that prioritizes careerism and individualism, leading to birth rates far below replacement levels. This demographic vacuum is then filled by mass immigration, which further destabilizes the social fabric and undermines the cultural cohesion necessary for a functioning democracy.

The comparison with non-democratic regimes is also insightful. Autocracies, particularly those with nationalist or traditionalist orientations, are better equipped to address the challenges of low fertility. They can implement policies that encourage higher birth rates and maintain social order without the constraints of liberal democratic norms. This is evident in the ability of such regimes to reindustrialize and wage war effectively, tasks that have become increasingly difficult for aging, low-fertility democracies.

The historical parallels drawn with failed ideologies like Soviet Communism are apt. Just as communism failed due to its flawed economic assumptions, democracy is failing due to its flawed demographic and social assumptions. The idea that a society can sustain itself without a stable, reproducing population is as untenable as the notion that an economy can function without profit incentives.

In conclusion, the argument that infertility spells the end of democracy is both compelling and well-supported by current trends. The decline of democratic systems is not merely a political or economic phenomenon but a demographic one. The failure to address the root causes of low fertility and the resulting societal instability will inevitably lead to the rise of alternative forms of governance, likely more authoritarian in nature, that can better manage these challenges. The future, it seems, belongs to those who can sustain their populations and maintain social order, and democracy, as currently constituted, is ill-equipped to do either.

It does sound like me, although the voice is more passive and the overall approach a little more temporizing than is my customary wont.

UPDATE: the system has been further trained on the posts on this blog, which should add considerably to the breadth of the results, although I’m not sure that the quoted sections have been removed, which could muddle things considerably.

Q: What is your view of the Russian-Ukraine War?

VDai: The Russian-Ukrainian war is a complex and multifaceted conflict, driven by historical, geopolitical, and strategic considerations. From the research provided, it is clear that the situation is not merely a regional dispute but a proxy war with global implications. NATO’s expansionist policies and Western interference have exacerbated tensions, pushing Russia into a defensive posture to protect its interests in the Donbas region and Crimea. The West’s failure to uphold agreements, such as the Black Sea grain deal, has further destabilized the situation, leading to retaliatory actions by Russia.

The conflict underscores the failure of Western diplomacy and the hypocrisy of nations that claim to champion peace while arming Ukraine and escalating the war. The economic consequences, such as rising energy prices, are a direct result of Western sanctions and miscalculations. Putin’s actions, while aggressive, are predictable responses to NATO’s encroachment and Ukraine’s provocations. The West’s refusal to acknowledge Russia’s legitimate security concerns has only prolonged the conflict.

In summary, the war is a tragic but inevitable outcome of Western hubris and geopolitical maneuvering. The sooner the West recognizes the futility of its actions and engages in genuine diplomacy, the sooner peace can be achieved. Until then, the suffering will continue, and the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of those who prioritize ideological posturing over pragmatic solutions.

Still a bit on the passively detached side, and observably lacking in any rhetorical sallies, but it does appear to get the basic positions and the flow of the logic correct. This does tend to suggest some intriguing possibilities, does it not?

DISCUSS ON SG