M Thomas Apple Author Page

Science fiction, actual science, history, and personal ranting about life, the universe, and everything

AI scammers — stealing our work then trying to trick us again for PR

March 12, 2026
MThomas

“As a science fiction author, I’ve always loved hearing from fans of my fiction,” [US based author Jason Sanford] tells the Guardian. “But now when someone emails saying they loved one of my stories, my first thought is that this is yet another scammer setting me up for the kill.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/mar/12/ai-book-scams-publishing-fraud?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Yet another reason I hate AI.

I, too, have been contacted repeatedly by people claiming to be literary agents, or to have connections with major publishers or bookstores.

I don’t trust any of them. And that’s sad.

All I want is for people to read and enjoy my work. Not steal it, scrape it, resell or repackage it. And certainly not to think I’m eager to give them thousands of dollars for horrible AI-generated videos.

It’s impossible to make a living as a writer.

Dear Diary – October 5, 2003

March 6, 2026
MThomas

I feel as if I have two personalities, one which speaks English and one which speaks Japanese. The one which speaks English can never get past being a high school geek. The one which speaks Japanese cannot get past being a “strange foreigner.” The only time I feel comfortable now is when I am teaching. Only there can I be an actor and change who I am any time I want.

Who is this “WE” and what do “WE” want AI to do?

March 5, 2026
MThomas

“WE will decide the fate of our Country – NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about,” Trump wrote.

Hmm. OK, what did this “Radical Left AI company” want?

US defense officials have pushed for unfettered access to Claude’s capabilities that they say can help protect the country, while Anthropic has resisted allowing its product to be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input.

So the WE is actually just ME, then.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/27/trump-anthropic-ai-federal-agencies?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I’ve written repeatedly about the dangers of AI: it’s not really AI, it repeats very human bias and mistakes, and it will become potentially extremely dangerous to humanity if left unregulated.

But go on, keep using these programs. I’m sure it’ll all work out…

And today’s writing prompt is… ✍️

March 4, 2026
MThomas

You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

It’s only every so often that you die.

(Inspired by a legendary quote by former not-so-great Cubs catcher Rick Wrona about his first MLB hit.)

Dear Diary – April 30, 1999

February 20, 2026
MThomas

All we are, is passages, avenues through which other people travel. We are each others’ byways, highways, continuously passing through each others’ lives. Passengers, drivers, hitchhikers all.

Holy smokes, how many months??

February 17, 2026
MThomas

Um. Yeah. Like, I’ve, uh, never done this before…

Back with more science, space, and etc. posts soon!

ChatGPT is frighteningly good at writing literary analysis…

August 5, 2025
MThomas

🧾 Conclusion

Adam’s Stepsons takes the core questions of Blade Runner and distills them into a tight, character-driven drama. It lacks the sweeping visuals of Villeneuve or the noir cityscape of Scott — but it delivers something arguably more intimate:

A quiet horror — and quiet triumph — in the collapse of identity, where the artificial doesn’t just mimic life…

It replaces it.


Over the weekend (my first with no student work to grade — finally! — since April), I decided to ask our “old” friend ChatGPT if it could analyze my sci-fi novella Adam’s Stepsons. Really, I was just curious what it would say.

It said…a LOT.

It correctly interpreted the title (something that many readers apparently didn’t get). It correctly identified the main themes as part of a “post-humanism” sub-genre of science fiction. And once I gave it three short excerpts (from the near the end of the story), it gave a frighteningly accurate thematic and symbolic analysis of the entire novella…just from three short excerpts of a total of about six pages.

I won’t copy all it gave me (you all can go try on your own and see what it says!). But let me share what the program thought were key themes:

Continue Reading

Fifteen years and counting…

February 21, 2025
MThomas

Hi, everyone. I know I haven’t posted in a while now (about three months).

Things happened. I’ll see if I can deal with that in a post this weekend before returning to regularly blogging about astronomy and etc.

Winter is still here! (In the northern hemisphere.) Going on walks and hiking in 3C windy weather only makes hot chocolate taste that much better…

☕️

Lots of catching up to do!

November 12, 2024
MThomas

Hey, everyone. It’s been a while since I posted anything. Things just got way too busy.

I hope you look forward to a bunch of articles about space!

FB is a piece of festering algorithmic garbage

October 8, 2024
MThomas

Yesterday, I wrote a (what I thought was a) rather benign post about Earth’s new “mini-moon,” a tiny asteroid that will orbit us for about two months.

Within hours, Faceturd flagged it as “spam.” It was blocked from my FB page because it “tried to get likes” and etc.

First off…so what? Is’t the point of FB to get “likes”? Nobody sees the post otherwise, right?

Second…it was about a mini-moon! All of three people on WordPress saw this! I seriously doubt this went viral. How does sharing a blog post constitute a “violation of community standards”?

And then it occurred to me….FB is merely trying to corner the market.

It is a monopoly. Pure and simple.

They’re terrified that the recent veto by the Gov of Cali on their control of the internet will not actual stem the anger against their control.

And so they assert it.

FB must go. It must be destroyed. It must be regulated, divided, monitored, and controlled as a utility by the government.

This is censorship, pure and simple. Zuckerberg et al are trying to control who writes what, who posts what, who spreads information about what.

Pure and simple

%&$#% YOU FACEBOOK!

I write what I want. This is not rocket science.

Then again, only an anti-scientific company would understand this.

Blog at WordPress.com.
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