There needs to be new laws within the USA to make sure this doesn't happen again. International laws would be nice as well to at least add pressure. Both would be best.

There needs to be laws put in place so that these atrocities will never happen again. Held and tortured without any vague concept of "due process" for decades. This is atrocious.

I thought that Gitmo had been closed years ago. I'm appalled that it's only being closed down now.

Please bear in mind that she has no choice about creating this construct. She is literally in prison and forced to do it. This is not at all the same as Frankenstein. She isn't making this construct for giggles. She is being oppressed by an immoral regime, and she has a chance to make that immoral regime better.

She makes extremely subtle tweaks to hopefully make the construct a better person, and wrestles continually with the issue.

Personally, if someone was making a construct of me to recreate me, I would personally prefer if they would make me a better person. Sounds awesome. Please include a better sense of humour!

One of the major points of the story is that she wrestles with the ethics of tweaking the personality. If she had no hesitations about changing the personality, she would have "programmed" him to do whatever she wanted.

That's pretty much the main point of the entire short story.

Audiobooks are books. I think that's important to state first. Some people want to be snobby about it, but they are still books. It's a different way to experience them, but they still "count".

Audiobooks suit some people extremely well. They suit other people not at all. Personal preference matters. The best time for audiobooks is probably long drives, but there are other times when they are good as well. Reading a paperback while driving would be a horrible idea.

Audiobooks are also fantastic for certain people with disabilities, eg visual problems or possibly severe dyslexia or something (I'm not an expert in those things, but hopefully you get the basic concept). If you're in a full body cast, you might have trouble turning pages.

I do not like listening to audiobooks myself. (They annoy me.) However, I'm glad that they exist and I think that people need to respect the people who experience their books via audiobook format. It expands the world of reading to more people. It adds more options. That's fantastic.

It's worth mentioning that ebooks can help fill in the gap. Sometimes you can get a library membership and get ebooks that way. There are also some ebooks that are freely available, like from Project Gutenberg or Standard eBooks. They are typically a bit older, but there are a lot of great older books.

There's nothing wrong with personal preference. It's somewhat silly how some people try to pretend that everyone has to like the same things. It makes no sense at all.

I started reading ebooks a decade ago, and now I have a hard time reading paper books. They just feel awkward and uncomfortable to me, even though I used to read them all the time. My preferences changed.

However, I also greatly prefer to read on my phone. I don't even like using a tablet or an eReader. They are fantastic devices, but I just don't prefer them. Reading on a computer screen is far worse. I respect audiobooks greatly, but I can't stand using them myself.

There's nothing wrong with having personal preferences. It's also good to try things and expand your options. On rare occasion I've read a book on my computer when forced to do so.

More options is good, but it's also perfectly fine to have your preferences. Just don't expect everyone to have the same ones.

heh Fear of AI is popular these days. Some of the logic involved is highly questionable, but it's certainly convincing for some people.

I think that it's important to realize that "AI Art" of all kinds aren't working alone. None of them are, on anything large scale.

• A human requests a specific thing that they are interested in. They instigate the process.
• The AI churns out a ton of different results, some awful, some mediocre, some good, because they don't know the difference.
• A human sifts through all the results, picking through the good and the bad to find something that they personally thing is worth using.
• (optional) A human might tweak the final result to make it better and more interesting.

Many new tools have changed industries, like the printing press or electric drill or overhead crane, often changing the number of workers needed and how they are used. AI is the same, and it's probably not going away.

Complaining about AI is like complaining about digital art vs physical painting. Yes, photoshop changed a ton of things. Does that mean that photoshop should be banned? Or is it just a tool?

AI will change a lot of things. However, all progress does that. I don't think that AI will simply "replace authors". They'll simply change part of the process in some situations.

I think that it's better to have a consistent minimum than a consistent maximum. This is because our time and energy levels aren't consistent.

Pick the smaller number for your "consistent" number. Something attainable, even on the bad days. Go for 25, if that feels good to you. However, if you feel like exceeding that, this is perfectly fine as well.

Consistent minimums are perfectly fine to encourage you to continue to read. I don't recommend consistent maximums, however. If you feel like reading more, then let it happen.

Unfortunately, I am not good enough to attempt this, but I've always thought that it would be interesting to do audiobook and written book at the same time when reading in another language.

The problem is that it hints at romance, which colours everything, especially when there is so much toxicity. It makes many men self conscious about it rather than just be natural.

It technically, officially is supposed to mean platonic, probably. The problem is the undertones. Many men avoid a "bromance" because of the label. It makes them uncomfortable because there are certain groups that obsess about homosexuality or anything vaguely resembling it.

For example, in Britain having actors in casual drag (eg Monty Python) is completely no big deal, while in America you'll get lynched in some places.

I am not saying anything at all negative about the Paperwhite. I have great respect for eReaders. It's simply a different experience using your phone.

I started reading on a 7" tablet. I found that I preferred my small smartphone. Everyone prefers different things. It's good to find out what you prefer. I'm glad you found your device!

I wasn't talking about homosexuality. That wasn't the topic of this post. It was about men being able to hug or show affection towards one another, which has absolutely nothing at all to do about homosexuality.

That's the problem. If you have two male friends, they talk about it being a "bromance". As if "romance" is a factor. Bloody hell, how stupid is that. There's no wonder to many are so toxic.

It's not about sex. It's about affection and emotion. Not homosexuality.

Personally, I read my ebooks on my phone. I prefer the smaller screen size for one handed reading. It's also cheaper because I don't need another device, plus I usually have my phone with me so I always have my books.

One thing that you might want to test is to see if the ads disappear if you turn off wifi. That's how many other ad supported apps work, and it changes the question a bit. There are certain apps that won't even work on my cheap phone if I have wifi on because the ads consume too much processing power.

There are a few select apps that I have paid money for. I've probably bought 6 in the past decade, for something like $2-5 each. That's remarkably cheap, all things considered. I haven't regretted any of them. Sometimes it's worth paying to get rid of the ads if you take that perspective.

Humour is very personal and subjective. Never feel bad if a series doesn't hit you like it hits others.

When it comes to the HHGTTG trilogy, the books are in order of quality. The first is the best, second is second best, third is third best, fourth is fourth best, and the fifth one was mostly written because he wanted to destroy any request to make sequels and he destroys all realities at the end of it.

I love the series, but f the first one doesn't grab you, it isn't worth continuing.

Little known fact, Tolkien was genuinely a half-elf who had lived through the fall of Mordor...

I don't think that "Write what you know" means that you cannot use your imagination. Otherwise fantasy and sci fi couldn't exist at all, because no one has experienced them.

I have always viewed it more as a general concept to give you a starting point. It's not a rule. It's not a restriction. It's an encouragement to include things that you know into what you write, because they are things that you understand more deeply.

Also, if it's your first book then it's totally okay if it's not any good either! It's a learning experience. Most first books aren't! Just dive in and tell the story that is grabbing you and see where it leads. I think it's better if you don't overthink it.

I've known a few people who have tried to write and they just self-edited their entire story out of existence before they hardly started. Write first, edit later.

It's one thing that I often think about when people go off saying, "All men/women like (thing) because that's just how they have always been wired."

Okay, that would only be true if it was true across all cultures, for all of history. Typically it's something only present in a small number of cultures that has been true for less than a century, therefore there's no way it's just part of human nature.

I remember this strongly from War and Peace as well. They didn't have the same stigmas as are popular these days.

There's a Youtuber named Elizabeth Filips that covers topics like this a lot. She has some interesting ideas about note taking and organization that sound a lot like what you're asking.

While I appreciate and encourage personal expression, it's also frustrating to me when people make things difficult to read for others. One of my biggest complaints is when there isn't enough contrast between letters and their background. Why write something that can barely be read? It happens a lot.

It's good to express your personality. However, when you make people struggle to read something, it comes across as... arrogant? inconsiderate? I'm not sure the right word, but I find it irritating.

Hindering comprehension is beyond mere aesthetics.

I have zero faith in myself as a good director. None whatsoever! I have no doubt that I would be absolutely atrocious at the job. I don't think it would even be funny watching me try. It would just be painful.

However, I'm not directing for others. I'm simply entertaining myself. If I'm entertained, then I'm succeeding. If I'm learning something or expanding my perspectives, that's success as well. That's all that matters when privately reading a book.

How I enjoy a novel might be completely different from the next person. It probably is. It's not a competition, thankfully, and I have no interest in worrying about their expectations.

I'm not a purist. I don't get too fussy about "being true to the author's vision", etc etc. That's important when adapting a work for others, but I read for myself. If I'm enjoying the story, then I'm doing it right, however I'm doing it.

I suppose if I was reading it publicly for other people then I might need to do more research, maybe? Since it's never happened, I've never worried about it.

Both are inherently good, but they have their advantages and disadvantages. There are also some benefits to having some cherished and beautiful physical books, but also a large ebook collection.

One of the beautiful things about ebooks is that they don't fill up shelves. I've got well over 500 ebooks on my phone, mostly fantasy or sci-fi.