We. Are. Doomed.

[jdebp@mastodonapp.uk]

@raulmatias @megalodonnelly @drgoon

I just had a similar scout around two Amazons, which have a lot more than B&N lists. The really dumbfounding part is that there are a few actually fairly accurate '100000 Whys' books, sans illustrations, buried in the mix.

But those aren't 'bestsellers'. They're the people with the format, who are being copied by the #AIslop mongers. Even then, though, they appear to be pseudonyms, and regurgitating things like the old CIA World Factbook.

https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116788436560592117

@cstross
#astronomy

[holliek72@mastodonapp.uk]

@Ehay2k @cstross I suppose it doesn't claim to answer all 100,000 Whys, just 100 of them - the rest are to be answered by parents, teachers, etc.

[datenwolf@chaos.social]

@internetsdairy @ariels @cstross

Arrows, too. Looking along the axis from the Earth's north to south (which is roughly pointing in the same direction as the normal of the Moon's orbital plane), the Moon moves eastward, i.e. in the counterclock wise direction.

[ehay2k@mastodon.social]

@HollieK72 @cstross

And all of them will ask this question:

Why did we buy this book?

[jam123@mstdn.ca]

@cstross Behold my children, the sloppening is upon us.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@raulmatias Not without giving the slopmonger money. Which I am morally opposed to doing, on principle (they're thieves, recycling stolen content via an LLM that mangles it in transit).

[mainec@fromm.social]

@Lazarou @cstross and that is after those books were cut down in content already at least in Germany. The fact books I read as a child were a lot more detailed.

[nolsen311@infosec.exchange]

@Lazarou

Can I just jump in here with everyone freaking out about the moon diagram: that's probably the same diagram they've used since the 80s. Yes, there's several things wrong with it. Yes, it drops a 3D structure into 2D.

Does it capture the basics for children who aren't great at visualizing in 3D yet? Absolutely.

C'mon.
Not everything is AI slop.

@cstross @cstross

[glc@mastodon.online]

@Lazarou @cstross

"Giraffes control over 90 pecent of what we see in mirrors. "

Reference: https://store.mcsweeneys.net/products/giraffes-giraffes

[ivor@social.ivor.org]

@cstross christ... what a topic, page after page of slop generated titles...
Noticeable that they're all "copyright all rights reserved" by some person with simply multiple other 100000 books listed, and none have any "illustrations by" credit or anything else.

and I'm pretty sure that's not where the stomach is.

we're fucked.

[renard@equestria.social]

@ivor @cstross Gosh. Any decent librarian would remove that from their shelves.

[mshiltonj@mastodon.online]

@ivor @cstross shit like this is going to hurt amazon in the long run as their reputation tanks, but they'll take your money now.

[root42@chaos.social]

@ivor I'm all eyes and ears.

[bellinghman@wandering.shop]

@renard @ivor @cstross No decent librarian should need to, because no decent librarian would have let it onto them in the first place! But I'll allow that it's possible the titles could have been infiltrated by bad actors of one form or another

[holliek72@mastodonapp.uk]

@Ehay2k @cstross And WTF did we spend £28.23 on it?

[hoare_spitall@mastodon.world]

@ivor @cstross nor the heart.

[feijoa@mastodon.org.uk]

@ivor @cstross This is the logical conclusion of a culture that idolises passive (unearned) income through outsourcing, drop-shipping, etc. while avoiding any accountability. Who cares if this book gets 0-star reviews? There are 99,999 others by the same "author".

[datarama@hachyderm.io]

@ivor @cstross The thigh bone's connected to the ... large intestine?

[fgraver@hcommons.social]

@ivor @aslakr @cstross Hm. I’m sure this makes sense somewhere…. Kidney = kid knee, right?

Yeah. No. If anyone buys these books and thinks they’ll actually provide real knowledge we are, indeed, fucked.

[steveclough@metalhead.club]

@Lazarou @cstross Dorling Kindersley books were awesome. Yes, they were places you could go to find out about things that you were interested in, in a way that worked.

These days there is none of that youthful exploration that helps young minds grow.