What’s in the unmarked boxes? Haptic buttocks, perhaps?

Don’t read my mind, just tell me what to think

Photo © 2025 Alistair Dabbs

Hey, kids! Guess what I’m thinking about right now!

That’s right! I’m thinking that you won’t be able to guess what I’m thinking about! Uncanny or what?

Reading my mind is what big tech and data rapists are into at the moment, just as it was for SEO specialists and programmatic ad agencies before them. You may have read how generative Artificial Intelligence is often referred to as “advanced autofill” but even such a dumbed-down description as this contains an essential spark of clarity. LLM-based slop generators literally try to guess what I want them to say next.

Good luck with reading my mind, I say. My mind is not particularly interesting reading material. The plot doesn’t make any sense. Too many adverbs have been frivolously inserted. The main character is unconvincing. Go ahead autofill that if you dare.

If you are a paying subscriber to [Autosave is for Wimps] – thank you – it is likely that you suffer from the same affliction. That is, you comport yourself as an integral member of society but deep down you believe everyone else is bonkers; and that the IT industry you work in is dangerously bonkers. You do not perceive the world in the same way as those around you.

Let’s consider this gentleman’s urinal in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens:

Photo © 2025 Alistair Dabbs

Naturally I didn’t express any observations straight away. People do not like to be engaged in conversation with strangers standing next to them in a urinal. I have learnt this from experience. To avoid potential nuisance or embarrassment in this most private of public spaces, I took a photo instead.

So it was only while washing my hands that I asked my fellow strangers the obvious question: “What are the handles for?”