I love that "Reddit is selling its data to OpenAI" didn't actually seem to train the algorithm in some meaningful way by a monkey reading a millionty-billion arbitrary words and then writing Shakespeare. It just added generic database responses that are 1:1 as factual as any other. That's such a negative value-add that I bet this will really fuck reddit.

It it weird that I find a giant company making money off of strangers words without consent a little rapacious?

This is exactly what I've been harping on about: all the buzz about AI training "stealing" from rightful property holders has always just meant that the enclosure of the commons with AI will be legitimized and secured with token licensing fees paid out to huge corporations, the content hosts, social media sites, and media companies, without the actual creators of the content seeing a cent or having a say in it. After all, they don't own what they've produced, some huge corporation claims to own it instead.

pizza alla elmer isn't made with garlic powder?!

Today I was the victim of Bassism.

I'm honestly still shaking right now. Let me tell you what went down.

I was rehearsing with my band this afternoon and everything was going as well as usual, except for the fact that our lead guitarist (my big brother and also my best friend) wasn't around this time. He'd announced to us a few weeks ago that he was quitting the band in order to go work as a political consultant for Corey Feldman (keep an eye out for that in 2024). We'd been looking for a replacement ever since and I was finally starting to build enough confidence to play without my pacifier again.

Then this guy showed up to audition with us about an hour in­. He barged into the room with his headless 7 string Kiesel guitar already strapped around his shoulders and requested to be plugged in immediately. As soon as he had a signal he started playing Eruption by Eddie Van Halen, which caused our rhythm guitarist to faint after a dozen seconds or so. When he was done, the lead singer (who is also the leader of the band by right of Highest Social Aptitude) declared that he was accepted into the band.

The lead guitarist said "let us jam then", and we began playing shitty improvised blues over E minor as is the cultural norm. I was shredding through those root notes when, a few bars in, the lead guitarist abruptly stopped and said "what is this awful, awful sound that I'm hearing!?". Everybody went quiet. He then looked straight at me, pulled down his sunglasses to reveal a smaller, slightly less tinted pair of shades and simply said "Bass player."

I was taken aback, and too flustered to respond. He walked over to me and started counting the strings on my Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo bass. "One... two... three... four strings!", he said. "What are you, a baby? A wittle baby moron?" Before I could answer that I have a 7 string Yamaha bass at home (which I will get around to playing eventually), he just slapped the pacifier out of my mouth and turned to the lead singer.

"Everyone knows that you're supposed to grow out of the bass guitar at age 7.", he said. "It's a silly instrument for babies. Everyone knows that. I suggest that we get rid of him and replace him with a third guitar player, or a metronome." The lead singer nodded in response. Before I could pull out my notebook of r/bass arguments (and turn to the Jaco Pastorious section) he turned to me and started saying these cruel things.

"I agree with Lead Guitarist here. Bass guitar is indeed an instrument for babies as evidenced by the fact that it has only four strings, as opposed to six. Also, the frets are so much longer, which reminds me of those toy phones they give to children, with the big ass buttons that have drawings on them instead of numbers. You are a truly pathetic individual. Now, despite the fact that I've had absolutely no issues with your playing these past few years, and that it will most likely take months to find someone to fill your spot in this completely unpaid gig, I now pronounce thee banned from this studio for life." The rhythm guitarist and the drummer, the only people who might have defended me, did not say anything because the former had fainted earlier and the latter was only capable of saying his own name.

Overwhelmed by the relentless, callous attacks on my ego and the fact that this was the first time the lead singer had ever deigned to speak to me directly, I simply said "Okay" and called the truck rental company so that I could bring both my Ampeg 8x10 cabinets back home with me. In the process of carrying them I also sprained my back, which is icing on the cake.

So that's all of it. I honestly just wanted to vent. Life can be quite difficult when you've chosen to be the under-appreciated foundation of the band. All I have to say is, stay hopeful, and keep not practicing. One day progressive rock and funk will be popular again.