Likely many other, I’ve been grossed out by some of the shit getting churned out with generative ai. But it’s also made me notice some of the existing things that give me the same feeling.
Poorly translated stuff, as often seen on cheap Chinese imports, has the same uncanny valley awkwardness. It sounds like English, but it isn’t what an actual human who spoke English would say. And if we want to talk about an algorithm that’s gone rogue and is destroying the world while trying to fulfill some arbitary metrics, there’s always late-stage capitalism…
Anyone else notice things like this?
He didn’t ghostwrite that, his name is on it. He also worked closely with Harriet, and had access to Robert’s notes including whole sections already written. See also Brian Henson making Muppet Christmas Carol and Treasure Island, or Christopher Tolkien publishing supplements to the Silmarillion. Care, authorship, and intimacy abound. Not slop.
Compare with “New Hardy Boys” or the Dune prequels (which may have Brian Herbert’s name on the cover but was clearly ghostwritten in large part). Slop.
Fair enough
Weren’t the original Hardy Boys slop from the start? It’s been a while since I read about it, but I think I remember reading that they were kind of cynically churned out by some paid hack, and occasionally revised to keep them from getting too dated. (Human slop generating practices have gotten worse over the years, tho)