This article is based on this Dutch article of Martijn Benders
AI is Taking Over the World of Books at Lightning Speed
Over the leaden purple heath / The dropping. Poems I just wrote, which I believe are very good. The dropping will be recognizable to most of my generation—I don’t know if they still do it these days. If not, I would reintroduce it, because disillusionment is an essential part of youth. By the way, during her drop, Veronique called a taxi at the first ANWB pole she encountered. I still don’t understand what you were supposed to do with that watch and compass.
I’m on a roll again, that’s how it feels.
In the world of black lacquer, it’s meanwhile chaotic. I can hardly keep up with that torture chamber with an X on it. Mister Musk is also becoming increasingly… Christian.
Wherever you move politically, the ‘sentries’ of this informal circuit move with you. Everything mainstream and everything that could be an alternative is flooded by emissaries of Jesus. In the Netherlands, this ranges from Thierry Baudet to the Party for the Animals: everyone believes in the same ‘core values’ which, according to Nietzsche, are purely nihilistic. But even that fight against nihilism is extremely dangerous—think of Heidegger. Before you know it, you’re shouting alongside something monstrous. As Nietzsche stated: “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”
The relationship with the world? Complicated.
With communism, you saw the same story: how religion clung to Stalin. He first banned it throughout the country (as Zelensky is doing now), but after millions of deaths, the soothing forgiveness was back: God forgives everything. For perpetrators of genocide, that’s a convenient reality model.
Meanwhile, Ted Gioia noticed that Amazon’s bestseller lists almost entirely consist of children’s books. Here is Amazon’s top ten bestselling books in full:
1. *Be Brave Little One* by Marianne Richmond (picture book, 40 pages)
2. *How to Catch a Dinosaur* by Adam Wallace (picture book, 40 pages)
3. *Spooky Pookie* by Sandra Boynton (picture book, 18 pages)
4. *How to Catch an Elf* by Adam Wallace (picture book, 32 pages)
5. *The Message* by Ta-Nehisi Coates (non-fiction for adults, 256 pages)
6. *Eight Little Planets* by Chris Ferrie (picture book, 18 pages)
7. *I Love You Like No Otter* by Rose Rossner (picture book, 24 pages)
8. *Melania* by Melania Trump (non-fiction for adults, 256 pages)
9. *The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science* by Kate McKinnon (youth fiction, 256 pages)
10. *Spooky Cutie* by Coko Wyo (coloring book, 88 pages)
Adult fiction has completely disappeared from the bestseller list. This practically means that no one can make a living from writing novels anymore. (And this is precisely the phenomenon I call ‘kinderreich’.)
70% of young people in the USA have never read a book. Ted Gioia spoke to 33 professors about the reading skills of students, and their judgment is grim.
A professor from Berkeley admits that she has halved the required reading material and no longer expects students to read entire books, just fragments.
A professor from Georgetown complains that students nowadays lose their focus when reading a sonnet—a poem of just 14 lines.
A professor from the University of Virginia says students “check out” when confronted with new ideas.
A Columbia professor summarizes the crisis: “It’s not that they don’t want to read. They simply don’t know how.”
In short, the phenomenon I discuss in my philosophy books is becoming increasingly severe. Like racism, war readiness, stupidity—everything seems to be accelerating.
We live in a time where the majority of people are no longer capable of reading a book. And for writing their books, they use ChatGPT. More than 20% of all books on Amazon or Bol are now written by ChatGPT. After just one year of AI.
In 50 years, searching for books written by humans will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. 50 years? I think it will already be like this in 5 years. And it’s already the case that no one buys books anymore—the idea that a machine might have written them does not exactly encourage purchasing. The entire scenario is being thoroughly sabotaged. As a writer, you are now by definition suspect. As an artist too. As a musician.
“Did you make that yourself?” now hangs like the sword of Damocles over your head for life.
No, fortunately ChatGPT still can’t write poetry very well. But that might change, or maybe it won’t. It requires feeling, something a machine might not be able to possess. In the past, that last statement wouldn’t even have contained a ‘might.’
Martijn, 05-10-2024