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Black Butterflies

Robert Rackley
Robert Rackley

Kupajo warns us to beware of black butterflies.

Male grayling butterflies prefer to mate with darker female graylings. When caged with a female grayling and a cardboard cutout of a grayling painted black, the male will choose the cardboard cutout over the female. Beyond being an example of bro falling for an unrealistic standard of beauty, such a preference reveals that even in matters fundamental to survival and reproduction, these creatures can be seduced by artificial models they’d never encounter in nature.

The analogy holds up when you read about people falling in love with LLMs and being rewired by impossible standards of beauty. Basic humanity is now subordinate to machine slick simulacrums.

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Robert Rackley

Robert Rackley

Mere Christian, aspiring minimalist, inveterate notetaker, budget audiophile and paper airplane mechanic. Self-publishing since 1994. Fan of the open web.

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