I have, on two occasions, actually tossed a book in the trash rather than have someone else stumble upon it. Arguably worse than physical mutilation and I consider myself a book lover.
And, for several others, I have physically cut out and disposed of offending chapters or introductions using the same physical technique as the article suggests. Deeply emotionally satisfying, and not an option available for DRM e-books, as far as I know. And again, a book lover.
I too have come across few things in my life that were so useless/junk as to wipe from the face of the earth. Few though.
> not an option available for DRM e-books
One such instance for me was a computer game. I uninstalled it and ensured the offending files were securely written over. Such things were possible with spinning rust storage.
Nowadays with solid state drives I don't know how to target my vindication to that degree.
When considering such foundational challenges to Mathematical Research and plagiarism as discussed here, we should turn to that elder prophet of our age, Tom Lehrer.
Who made me the genius I am today
The mathematician that others all quote?
Who's the professor that made me that way
The greatest that ever got chalk on his coat?
[Chorus]
One man deserves the credit
One man deserves the blame
And Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name
Oy, Nicolai Ivanovich Lobach—
[Interlude]
I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky
In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics:
Plagiarize
[Verse 1]
Plagiarize
Let no one else's work evade your eyes
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes
So don't shade your eyes
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize
Only be sure always to call it please, "research"
[Chorus]
And ever since I meet this man
My life is not the same
And Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name
Oy, Nicolai Ivanovich Lobach—
[Interlude]
I am never forget the day
I am given first original paper to write
It was on analytic and algebraic topology
Of locally Euclidean metrizations
Of infinitely differentiable Riemannian manifolds
Боже мой
This I know, from nothing
What I'm going to do
I think of great Lobachevsky and get idea, haha
[Verse 2]
I have a friend in Minsk
Who has a friend in Pinsk
Whose friend in Omsk
Has friend in Tomsk
With friend in Akmolinsk
His friend in Alexandrovsk
Has friend in Petropavlovsk
Whose friend somehow is solving now
The problem in Dnepropetrovsk
And when his work is done
Haha, begins the fun
From Dnepropetrovsk to Petropavlovsk
By way of Iliysk and over Novorossiysk
To Alexandrovsk to Akmolinsk
To Tomsk to Omsk
To Pinsk to Minsk
To me the news will run
Yes, to me the news will run
[Verse 3]
And then I write by morning, night
And afternoon, and pretty soon
My name in Dnepropetrovsk is cursed
When he finds out I published first
[Chorus]
And who made me a big success
And brought me wealth and fame?
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name
Oy, Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachev—
[Interlude]
I am never forget the day my first book is published
Every chapter I stole from somewhere else
Index I copy from old Vladivostok telephone directory
This book was sensational!
Pravda—well, Pravda—Pravda said:
"Жил-был король когда-то, при нём блоха жила”…it stinks
But Izvestia! Izvestia said:
"Я иду туда, куда сам царь идёт пешком”…it stinks
Metro-Goldwyn-Moskva buys the movie rights for six million rubles
Changing title to 'The Eternal Triangle'
With Ingrid Bergman playing part of hypotenuse
[Chorus]
And who deserves the credit?
And who deserves the blame?
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name
Oy
(Tom Lehrer put all of his work in the public domain prior to his passing. Find versions of his performances on YouTube.)
That sort of “smarter than thou” attitude resulted in the Republican victories in the Eisenhower/Stevenson US Presidential elections of 1952 and 1956. Maybe Nixon too, with the “silent majority”.
Superficially smart, smug, supercilious and (ironic, eh) emotionally satisfying…but ultimately very foolish.
Playing around with AI (not using, playing), I didn’t see much issue with the AI danger aspect. I am entering my eighth decade, so the emotional/intellectual developmental aspect isn’t in play for me. In fact, gen AI art creation would be a great engagement option for elderly in their slow go/no go years…active rather than passive (TV, doomscrolling) engagement.
Until I played around with AI companions. Ugh. Bells went off in my head immediately and dropped any engagement after a few minutes. Burn it with fire.
If you are prepared to go down a very deep rabbit hole, you should start with the Monroe Institute, who have been studying binaural beats for 50 years or so. It’s legitimate, bought CDs from them 30+ years ago, and they are still around.
And, for several others, I have physically cut out and disposed of offending chapters or introductions using the same physical technique as the article suggests. Deeply emotionally satisfying, and not an option available for DRM e-books, as far as I know. And again, a book lover.