Tag: Big Ideas

Why I Won’t Self-Publish

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

First, let me get some things out of the way. I totally validate people who self-publish. You do you. Second, I tend to find people who self-publish to be a lot like introverts — both won’t shut up about their lot in life. (Wink.)

I mean, extroverts have just as many problems as introverts, but we don’t talk about them.

Anyway, the key thing about not self-publishing is I have not only a huge fucking ego but a chip on my shoulder. I’m a strong believer in reach for the moon and you just might fall into the stars.

But having said all that, there are some basic things I have to admit to myself — by trying to get traditionally published, there is a pretty good chance I will NEVER GET PUBLISHED. I say this with the weight of being a “late bloomer” hanging over my head.

Not only am I old to be just an aspiring novelist, I also have a long, well documented history of being something of a drunk crank. So, lulz?

But I’ve made up my mind. I would rather never get published than self-publish. That’s what I’ve decided and I’m sticking to it.

The Death of Discourse?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of many alarming signs of the decline and fall of the Second American Republic is how the discourse on — pick a subject — has become a blood sport. Just staking out An Opinion on ANYTHING is enough to rile people up.

But let me be more specific — not to sound too Red Pilled, there is a Media Narrative that exists about the world around us. If you have the temerity to believe ANYTHING that doesn’t adhere to that orthodoxy, there is hell to pay.

This most comes into play on subjects like trans rights and anything to do with the culture wars in general. The orthodoxy on trans rights is often so murky and fluid that you don’t even know what it is unless you are Very Online.

Meanwhile, in all my years of life, I’ve never seen anything as controversial as the current war in Gaza. Twitter Leftists have such an absolute orthodoxy that you have to absolutely adhere to that it can really make your head spin. What’s worse, that orthodoxy makes absolutely no sense.

They are so absolute in their views that they apparently would rather have a second Trump term than compromise for the sake of democracy. It’s crazy. Totally and completely bonkers.

I’m reminded of what I’ve read about the corrosive politics found in Weimar Germany right before the Nazis took over. I fear that should MAGA take over again that there will be whole chapters of some future American history book devoted to how fucked up the politics of 2024 were.

Anyway. Good luck, folks. You’ll need it.

The Political Nihilism Of Twitter Leftists

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Twitter Leftists have radicalized in just the last 24 hours, since the student protests in New York City were crushed by the NYPD. I understand their anger. But some of the rhetoric that Twitter Leftists have generated in the last day or so is rather overwrought.

They clearly want something that is simply not possible given the metrics of current geopolitics — Biden to embrace their most radical positions in regards to the war in Gaza. This is just not going to happen. And I understand that Twitter Leftists are so frustrated that they suddenly have begun to proclaim that they would rather Trump be president.

But this is political nihilism in the extreme. They are so frustrated that they can’t get what they want, that they have decided to burn everything down. This is a not great, Bob, type situation because we already have the Far Right wanting the same thing.

The idea that anyone — especially a Leftist — would want Trump to be president for any reason boggles my mind. Any Leftist who advocates such a thing clearly has not thought this through. That is the politics of spite.

But, here we are, with a small — but vocal — group of Twitter users bitching and moaning about something that Biden doesn’t even have any control over: the actions of the NYPD.

The Electoral College & Twitter Leftists

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The central problem of American politics is the Electoral College. As the nation’s political divisions grow more and more severe, the fact that the Electoral College forces us into a Blue – Red dichotomy becomes a bigger and bigger problem.

If we elected presidents on the basis of the popular vote, then we would have numerous parties to chose from. What would probably happen at times like these is some center-Left party that opposed the Gaza war would begin to gain traction.

Now, I’m assuming this new non-Electoral College system would go something like this — we would have a two-round system with the run-off election for president being between the top two vote getters of the first election.

But we’re stuck with the Electoral College.

So, are in a situation where fucking Twitter Leftists want to burn everything to the ground because of some misguided belief that President Biden is implicated in what has been happening on college campuses across the nation. Twitter Leftists are so upset over what’s happening that they want to indict the whole system…but don’t have any ready solutions.

They are just mad. Sometimes they go so far as to say they would rather people vote for Trump — yikes! — and sometimes they twist themselves into rhetorical pretzels that boil down to, “Well, we should get rid of the Electoral College.”

It’s all a very fucked up situation without any ready solution. There’s just no ready answer.

Jerry Seinfeld & The Fate Of Comedy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I try to be as moderate and empathetic as possible. But sometimes the “woke cancel culture mob” really gets on my fucking nerves. Take, for instance, what’s going on with Jerry Seinfeld and his belief that people being “woke” has caused the demise of comedy.

There is so much wrong with the reaction to this comment — on both sides.

The MAGA Right has glommed onto his observations as a way to confirm their priors. They believe that they can “own the libs” by screaming at the top of their lungs that what they believe HAS to be Right because “even Seinfeld” agrees with us.

Meanwhile, the “woke cancel culture mob” is just as bad. They really are so touchy that they can’t take even the smallest amount of criticism. They are doing everything in their power on social media to “recon” away how Seinfeld is one of the greatest comics of the last 30 odd years.

Now, as for what Seinfeld believes — I don’t know what the truth is. I suspect he has something of a point, but I also think that the economics of comedy have changed drastically in the last few decades to the point that the comedies of the 1970s, 80s and 90s just aren’t economically viable anymore.

Just the advent of streaming itself is enough to throw things out of whack.

I guess I’m just annoyed at how polarized the American political system is. We can’t come to any agreement about anything — not even the fate of comedy — and it is really aggravating.

These Novel Writing Projects Are Existential

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is becoming more and more clear to me that I could be nearly 60 years old before I become a published author — if that even ever happens. What’s more, it’s also clear that there is a pretty good chance that if the Petite Singularity doesn’t make all my hard work moot, that some sort of severe political crisis starting in late 2024, early 2025 might just do the trick.

My dream is that my “passion project” main novel is as accessible and popular as Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

And, yet, here I am determined to keep going with two different novels that I’m working on.

The key thing is that I manage my expectations. I’ve decided on an existential basis that I’m willing to use what little time I have left on this planet to at least TRY to become a published author, problems and obstacles be damned. I have a huge chip on my shoulder about my writing ability and I want to the validation of getting the approval of literary gatekeepers.

Having said all that, I am really working on my backup scifi novel. The main novel, the “passion project” has problems because its heroine is a part time stripper at club that she owns. I am WELL AWARE of how problematic this may be to younger people — especially women — but I really like how unique and unexpected this part of my heroine’s personality is and so, lulz, fuck it.

Meanwhile, the backup scifi novel is built from the ground up to be as marketable as possible. That’s the goal, at least.

In an ideal world, one of the two novels will sell and I could use the popularity of one novel to get the other novel published. But I have my doubts about if such a cross-pollination of success is possible, given that the two novels are of such different genres.

Anyway. I am pleased with what I’ve come up with and the goal is to wrap up a final third draft of the “passion project” novel no later that around July 22.

Am I An ‘AI Doomer?’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Because of what I engage with on Twitter, I’m being fed a growing amount of AI community content. What gets me is so many users — young men, presumably — are obsessed with accelerating AI development until we reach Artificial General Intelligence.

AGI would be much like Sam in the movie “Her.” But, given current advancements in robotics, it’s very possible that sexbots will become affordable enough within a decade that Incels will have absolute no reason to ever get anywhere near a living, breathing, biological woman. Ugh!

Before I go any further, I remember what it was like to be a young man transfixed by technology. In my instance, it was the Internet. I was very, very obsessed with every twitch of the Internet revolution when I was in college. It was that obsession that would ultimately lead me to have a very misguided time as a technology manager in the late 1990s.

Anyway, the key thing for me is that there is a good chance that AI will revolutionize humanity’s existence in much the same way that the Internet did, only far, far quicker. Instead of decades of gradual change, it could be years — or months! — of very, very fast change that will be looked back upon as something akin to a Petite Singularity.

As an Old, I just don’t see how anything like AGI being developed is going to help humanity. All these people touting the life of prosperity, luxury and surplus seem to be oblivious to the hateful, cruel nature of capitalism. The only way anyone my have any money in the future is if there’s a Universal Basic Income.

There is a real chance that AGI will cause either massive political and economic disruption or, in the end, there will just be the Poors and the Very Wealthy and that’s it. I continue to believe that MAGA may evolve into an anti-tech movement at some point in the near future.

Am (Almost) Querying: Now What

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It has occurred to me that there may be a problem with my plan to have a backup novel that is meant to be a lot more marketable than the main “passion project” novel — the two novels are different genres.

My main “passion project” novel is meant to be an homage to Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

I don’t know how much of this problem is in my own mind because I’m overthinking things and how much is real. My theory of the case is it will be easier to sell the scifi novel — then I will use the success of that novel as leverage with the thriller novel.

My concern is, of course, that the two novels begin different genres will cause their paths to be mutually exclusive. But I think I’m overthinking things. I think the concept is still valid — if I use one novel to get an agent, I can leverage that success to sell the other novel.

Or, I suppose, I could just throw up my hands in despair because “everything sucks” and I’m too old to ever have any additional success in life. But I’m just not prepared to admit defeat just yet. I’m going to keep going because no one can predict the future.

I’ve learned a lot about developing and writing a novel from the main “passion project” and I’m hoping that those skills will allow me to develop and write a scifi novel far more rapidly than the mystery thriller. I’ve already seen evidence of that with the mystery thriller.

I hope to wrap up an outline of the scifi novel pretty soon. I’m just about to wrap up the latest iteration of the third draft of the novel. Once I wrap that up, then I am going to find myself at a crossroads. I don’t quite know what I’m going to do in the near term, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.

Normies Aren’t Prepared For The Petite Singularity

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am well aware that I’m “very online” and I need to touch some grass, but having said that, given how we’re collectively careening towards a “Petite Singularity,” normies are in for a rude awaking in a few years — months?

My middle-aged peer group just is completely oblivious to what’s going on with AI. They barely, barely know anything about ChatGPT. And they’re totally unaware of the advancements in robotics. The moment LLMs can be put into androids, then huge swaths of the economy — knowledge and otherwise — are going to be disrupted.

When LLM-enabled androids are doing such high paying blue collar jobs as plumbing and carpentry….yikes!

The question, of course, is when all of this is going to happen, when it goes mainstream. That is a very curious question. There is a good chance that we are going to have to sort out our politics starting in late 2024, early 2025 first. Once we decide if we’re going to be a MAGA-themed autocracy or not, THEN we will see a lot of technological advancement happening very, very quickly.

One issue is cultural. Are people prepared to share their homes with LLM-powered androids? There are going to have to be a lot of safe-guards in place to prevent androids from using the same tools they use to keep a house clean to bludgeon their owners to death.

It is definitely going to be interesting to see what happens in the near term. And I haven’t even addressed the fact that digital personal assistants will totally disrupt the knowledge economy in ways none of us can possibly predict. I do think, however, that MAGA could very well evolve into an anti-technology movement that demands AI be severely regulated or outlawed altogether.

The Curious Case Of The ‘Woke Cancel Culture Mob’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Two interesting things happened that gave me pause for thought. One was Bill Maher laid out a view some of the issues surrounding the “woke cancel culture mob” that I could not dismiss out of hand. It was nuanced and at first glance at least, seemed to expound upon a view that pretty much fit what any reasonable person might think about the subject.

Mood.

Meanwhile, just in the last few days, Jerry Seinfeld said that he thought that comedy had been chilled a great deal by “woke” people being too easily offended.

These two things have given me pause for thought because I find myself wondering if my views on these subjects are out of step with the “media narrative” and will, as such, cause me to get “canceled” if I ever blow up with my novel money.

I don’t know why I even worry about such things because selling my novel and having any success of note will be like winning the lottery. But, lulz.

It all gets worse when you consider that I have seen a number of people on Twitter get their panties all in a bunch over Seinfeld’s comments. I do believe there is some merit to what he had to say and it doesn’t just stop with comedy. For some reason, the “woke cancel culture mob” also has an extremely puritanical view of heterosexual sex in the arts.

Anyway, I try to be as moderate and empathetic as possible. It would help a great deal if there was nuance in public discourse, but alas, that’s just not how things are these days. Everything is yes / no, black / white and people can get pretty worked up if you don’t adhere to the orthodoxy.