Reposted by Dan Hassler-Forest
I think we underrate that JCO came up in 20th century New York literary circles where everyone said five most devastating insults before breakfast and as one of the last one standing, her competition is guys who get sad if their chatbot isn't sufficiently nice to them.
![To me, our economic system incentivizes cruelty to a degree that deeply upsets me. In any business negotiation, the party who cares less [about nonfinancial outcomes] holds all the leverage. That single dynamic demonstrates how brutal the system is. It chews people up and spits them out. I saw how harsh that system was on my parents. As an artist, my job isn’t to solve problems—a creative person can’t solve systemic issues, but we can point them out and transform the world’s pain into art. Corporate power has become so unassailable that people feel disconnected and alienated. When political systems and corporations fail, artists need to step into that void and speak out.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kckrl6l4tm7znzqphhridxnh/bafkreib3bwlnpouy7n5rgxilca6m3isdibeojh6xu3jumnba5h73jdhfqq)
