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AI companies are now destroying warehouses full of rare books
(gardinerbryant.com)
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this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2026
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Not nice to see books being destroyed, but this part, I'm sure, will upset people:
For some people the choice to use a bot or not is a choice of having the job, or not.
I don't know that that's a bad thing. If you use these models, you are complicit; you're part of creating the "need" for these models. You don't necessarily have a choice (because realistically losing your job and all the stuff that entails isn't a real choice, and that's fully part of how the system is intended to work), but you're still complicit.
We as individuals don't have a lot of power, because power is mostly tied to some kind of capital. That's why working together is so important, because it's only by working together we'll have any real power to impact things.
I don't think being upset is a bad thing. Recognise it, and do something about it. It could be something small like talking to colleagues about it, or contacting a union representative, or a politician. Or go big, no shame in that either.
It’s complicity under duress, essentially. Which is shitty in a few different directions.
Exactly, it's built on systemic violence, in that when you don't have a job you're rendered more or less useless to society and left to wither by the wayside. Thus it is in the individuals immediate best interest to keep working with, thus enforcing these systems.
Worrying about anything beyond the immediate is for those with means, unfortunately.
I live in Sweden. I grew up a povvo bitch, but I've managed to do well for myself over the years. Even so, I don't have anything to fall back on. If I lost my job I'd luckily have unemployment, through my union and various labour rights, but that too has a limit.
I get why people wouldn't want to fight back, which is what leads to doomerism and wishes to just burn the entire system to the ground in the hopes of building something better next time. Which I get too, I feel that all the time; improvement seems unlikely given the perpetual decline I've witnessed my entire life. Even so, I contact politicians, and I engage with my union.
That would be Gardiner's side of the article. I contributed by wroting two sections on this one:
Just to explain whose take is whose for this little article, at least.
its silly, i use a phone but i dont want it made with child labor. there is no need to destroy the books.
Going to work for yourself is always an option. Ask any street busker. Insinuating it isn't is your complicity.
I'm sure people with dependents, a mortgage , rent to pay, debt to clear, etc. would be thrilled with your suggestion.
Oh dear. The consequences of ones own choices. It's almost like you're trying to dictate the creature comforts of your cell, not eliminate the imprisonment entirely.
Maybe you should think real hard about the asymmetry in your position.
“Daddy, why can’t we eat dinner this week?”
Listen up sweetie, Daddy had to leave his job because they wanted him to use Claude to generate a spreadsheet. It was the only way to destroy our billionaire overlords from the inside. You’ll thank me when you’re older, now keep packing your things, we have until Friday before the landlord calls the police to forcibly evict us.
"Daddy, why does everyone work until they die? Why is the sky filled with satellite debris? Why is the water poison? Why are there no more winters?"
"Well, Daddy needs a paycheck because Daddy was prioritizing creature comforts and sold himself into wage slavery. Daddy's been voting in favor of Corporatist entrenchment for decades. Daddy would rather have his Amazon Prime than be uncomfortable living without his consumerist devices to distract him from what his choices are doing to the planet."
"Daddy's also been selling your eyeballs to advertisers since before you could form coherent thoughts because he'd rather let the iPad babysit you than be a real parent. Daddy's too busy doomscrolling Pornhub."