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this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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Fuck AI
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AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
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Fight Club was ahead of its time
Unironically, Popular Science suggested that you pour used motor oil into a gravel filled hole along your back property line in the '50s or '60s. That may actually be what that Fight Club billboard was referencing.
Uh... What?
In Fight Club this was a prank, among many others, to mess with people. It was called Project Mayhem.
The Popular Science tips are akin to things like using old motor oil to keep termites out of a fence post. In an era when paint amd gasoline had lead in it, you could use oil to kill things! The gravel -filled hole was just to keep it from clumping, and putting it at the back of a property would be to keep the property line clear of growth.
I still remember helping my father creosote our fence in the 70's-80's. We used to do some pretty awful things.
See? You know!
And they wonder why we're all bring all the cancers.
respirator? nah that's just for paint. don't want paint in your lungs, that'd be bad!
"Only girls 'n' queers use a mask"
in my case it was my dad, and he owned a respriator for painting, just didn't think creosote was a bad thing
Yes, and when FC was written we had figured out how bad just pouring oil out was for the water table. I'm saying that the author may have been referencing the real PS tips that were severely outdated, when he made up this prank in FC.
Also, I'm pretty sure oil can still kill things, lead in the gas and paint notwithstanding.
Yes, I've read most of not all of Chuck Palahniuk's novels. This isn't in the novel.
This is the late 90s/early 2000s Hollywood toxic masculinity version of a line from the book (I looked just now):
So, when the movie was made, it struck a hard nerve with Douchbag guys who totally didn't get the point of the movie. In that vein, the era of late 1990s environmentalism came up against newly forming toxic male tropes. Prior to 9/11, even. After that, time changed dramatically, leaning towards the toxic masculinity side. What you're seeing is the seeds of this like rolling coal.