HEYY! Let me ask you, do you always read one book and that book only at a time, or multiple (like me)? Even if I tried, I really just can't stick to only one reading option. I tend to have a few books of different genres in my "currently reading" pile at once (3-5) and that keeps me motivated and consistent, because I can just pick up the book I'm the most in the mood for. Though I haven't met or seen that many other people like this, I've even had friends say that they cannot do that because they would lose focus, but for me it's just so natural, like doing multiple projects at once (sure it takes way longer to finish them all haha). I don't really have a problem with this habit of mine, I just wonder if there's people like me out there!

I’m just looking for more people to follow who hold this belief. I recently made a comment on here on a quest that we as a community shouldn’t platform HP because of the harm JKR is doing to trans people like me and I’m being called a book burner for this when I never called for book burning. JKR enacts politically violence and has assaulted a trans woman (took upskirt photos of this woman) and I’m tired of being told I’m a book burner when I ask people not to platform for that. Her money she earns from HP is being used to hurt trans people like me. I just need other people to follow on here with the same beliefs because I’m tired and feeling ostracized in the book community for believing Trans lives matter more than a stupid book

In the last week, I've seen a couple comments/reviews/etc that have noted the use of AI on PB, which feels so weird to me because PB advertises itself as an anti-AI site very specifically, so it just seems to clash against the very basic tenants of this app to begin with - especially when most people come here because we don't want AI driven recommendations or reviews.

So just as a very general reminder, the use of AI is destroying the environment at an unprecedented rate because of the electrical and water demands needed to manage the data centers (🔗article from MIT), and that impact is felt unevenly and in many countries that are not actually making up the lion's share of the usage (🔗article from UN). Additionally, AI has been found to lead to lower cognitive ability like critical thinking skill and brain development (🔗article from The Times) and psychosis in individuals who haven't displayed similar symptoms before (🔗NLM research article). Given that some of the benefits of reading are to develop cognitive ability and critical thinking, and since we all sort of need to live on this Earth to survive, all of this really seems maybe a little bit important and alarming to me!

To be honest, I know that posting this isn't going to stop people who are still using AI for basic everyday tasks or change their minds, but I just wanted to get it off my chest after seeing it several times recently. I know that a lot of companies are forcing people to use AI in their work, but when it comes to our hobbies, we have a choice to say no to AI, and PB especially has been a haven from the ubiquitous use of AI everywhere else.

EDIT: if you’re going through and downvoting all the anti-AI comments, how about you look at the links above and educate yourself on AI usage instead? Would be a better use of your time!!

EDIT 2: @vulpix also pointed out several very important points about AI use. This is my paraphrasing, but these are all @vulpix's research btw! First, research has shown how AI has encouraged violence against women and girls (🔗research here) by allowing for roleplaying of these scenarios, literally advising people to commit these acts, and agreeing with misogynistic stereotypes. Second, AI is actively racist in that it's built into the algorithms behind AI (🔗UN article), so when using it to make decisions, it's all based on human stereotypes, biases, and yes, racism, which obviously has real life implications. (This makes me think of that thing that happened when the Fable AI made a very racist comment that essentially blew up Fable...last year? The year before? I forget now.)