“Oh, shut up, Law.”

Finally Peter says the words I have been saying in my head since…chapter 3, maybe. Listen, I know her character is probably meant to be flawed and complicated and whatever the author had in mind, but I’m sure I have read more likable flawed characters than Alice 😬 and whatever Peter said earlier about sunk cost fallacy is soooo true because here I am still trying my hardest to get through this book. I think I’m just rooting for Peter at this point.

First off, I cannot fathom the idea that this is actually happening, some inner subconscious part of me refuses to believe that multi-millionaire AI companies are actively taking physical books and manuscripts, some of which have only single copies (that was genuinely horrifying to me, like there's no tangible evidence of this document having existed anymore once they're done with it??), cutting off their spines, essentially decimating them, then scanning their texts to FEED AND IMPROVE THEIR OWN MINDLESS, SOULLESS, UNTHINKING ROBOTS SO THAT THEY CAN PROFIT? And yet, I know it's true, I know it's happening because I know that people can do this and not give a second thought about it. Can you tell that I'm seething? Second off, I know people are comparing this to Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, which is a completely apt and vaguely terrifying comparison, because it's always haunting to read a book that presents something in a less than admirable way and to see it take shape in your world, in front of your very eyes is, honestly, genuinely upsetting and rage-inducing to me. But personally, more relevant than either of the above-mentioned books, is a book I read a long time ago called Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine. While it isn't exquisitely written or even too conventionally "out-of-this-world", I just love it for its originality and world building and general plot. So when I found out about Anthropic and its drive to scan all these books to enhance the text-based element of their AI models, hence effectively the only way to access these destroyed physical books is through AI, I was reminded of Ink and Bone, where physical books are banned and the only way to access any book is through a tablet-like device called a Codex, which can pop up any book you ask for from its own pre-decided specific registry. And that struck me as so similar to where we're headed, it's honestly scary. That's why I always ask people to read this book, lol. Anyway, I had to share this and Pagebound was the only place I could think of. What are your thoughts?