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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025

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Boys at her school shared AI-generated, nude images of her.

Which is it? Either it's an image of her, or it's an AI generated image.

It seems like as a society we're going to have to learn how to distinguish photos of actual people and AI generated images that are amalgamations of many different people. Just like literature always had thinly-veiled fictional accounts of recognizable people we're going have synthetic images that resemble real people.

Which is it? Either it's an image of her, or it's an AI generated image.

Disingenuous, unless you think the concept of, say, drawing a picture of Taylor Swift is incoherent. You can generally tell whether a picture is of Taylor Swift, and among people who know her the same is presumably true of this girl.

I don't see how having an AI do it instead of a human changes anything morally relevant; at the very least you need to make the case that it does. You seem to just assume it as a default, but I see no reason for doing this.

Disingenuous, unless you think the concept of, say, drawing a picture of Taylor Swift is incoherent. You can generally tell whether a picture is of Taylor Swift, and among people who know her the same is presumably true of this girl.

Sure. Just like Devil Wears Prada is a fictional work that is nevertheless unmistakably about Anna Wintour.

Drawing a picture of Taylor Swift isn't a photograph. It's is not a depiction of something that really happened. You can draw a picture of Taylor Swift wearing a swastika-emblazoned sombrero while she drowns a puppy. Also fictional.

Just like Devil Wears Prada is a fictional work that is nevertheless unmistakably about Anna Wintour.

This seems totally different because no one could mistake it for real footage of Anna Wintour, whereas the whole reason the AI-generated image controversy is a thing now is that there is no longer any (easy) way to tell if an image is fake or not.

This seems totally different because no one could mistake it for real footage of Anna Wintour, whereas the whole reason the AI-generated image controversy is a thing now is that there is no longer any (easy) way to tell if an image is fake or not.

Yeah, perhaps our culture will get to a point where a nude image of someone will be assumed to be fake. In which case creating a fake nude image of someone won't particularly harm them and therefore won't be treated as a serious wrong.

At a minimum, cultural (and legal) norms are going to have to catch up with these technological advances.

At a minimum, cultural (and legal) norms are going to have to catch up with these technological advances.

Rape was "worse than murder" crime because genetic testing, pregnancy testing and contraception did not exist. It still is, because of norms did not update.

Rape was "worse than murder" crime because genetic testing, pregnancy testing and contraception did not exist. It still is, because of norms did not update.

I see your point, but I'm not sure I agree. Arguably the potential sentences for murder are, generally speaking, more severe. I agree that people often get more upset about rape, but part of this is because rape is perceived as a crime that men commit on women.

Here's a thought experiment: Suppose a man tortures and kills a random woman without raping her in any way. Would it have been perceived as worse if he had only raped her?

Last time I read about case of real rape when a soldier raped a woman killing her husband's first. Femininsts were be like how it again tells how mysogynistic our society is. To my knowledge, when "socioeconomic factors" lead to woman being murdered, few people are worried.

The very case that original post is about fake images of nudity and not about fake images of murders, is telling.

Last time I read about case of real rape when a soldier raped a woman killing her husband's first. Femininsts were be like how it again tells how mysogynistic our society is. To my knowledge, when "socioeconomic factors" lead to woman being murdered, few people are worried.

I'm not sure I understand your point here. Can you give me an example of a "socioeconomic factor" murder you are referring to?

Also, what's your take on my thought experiment:

Suppose a man tortures and kills a random woman without raping her in any way. Would it have been perceived as worse if he had only raped her?