Commentary on Brandolini’s Law

~ Veselin

Brandolini defined the following law:

The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.

It normally applies to arguments and misinformation. Now that generating content with AI is so easy, the orders of magnitude have changed. Both the statement and the refutation can be forged very quickly and people believing stuff on the Internet just look more and more foolish.

So, while trying to figure out what to even think about this, I came up with the following commentary on Bardolini’s Law.

The probability that any new online content is AI, BS, or both increases over time.

With the growth of DC power, personal AI orchestrators, GEO, and SEO, this probability will eventually be trending towards 1. What would be the point to refute, or even read anything, if it’s one of a million clear BS pieces of information? So here’s my prediction:

The authenticity of content will become more important than its quality.

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Published by Veselin

I ❤️ WordPress

9 thoughts on “Commentary on Brandolini’s Law”

  1. I’m gonna try to keep up with both authenticity and quality. I believe you’re correct that both those things will become A) more important, and B) harder to find. So there’s opportunity there.

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      1. Yes. But how much? Enough to satisfy our need for beauty? Or will we always be able to spot the fakes? Or, to put it another way, will the next generation watch a hologram of Ozzy performing a concert and think it’s great just because they never got the chance to see the real thing?

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      3. I think there will always be something new that comes along and excites us. At times in history there’ve been extra factors that helped take art forms to new levels. For example, rich patronage for painters and sculptors, publishing houses that actively sought out writers and promoted their books, music labels that bankrolled rock stars’ careers, and movie producers who green lit Hollywood blockbusters. There’s a lot of money going towards AI today. It’s not silly to think it might invent a new form of art.

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      5. Oh by all that’s holy I hope that’s not how it’s going to be, but right now that sure looks like where it’s going.

        It’s our job to fight back. It’s our job to produce something worth consuming.

        My WordPress credo:

        With every post I am:

        1-Fighting for equality in the unequal world of publishing
        2-Combatting enshittification
        3-Demonstrating my right to self-expression
        4-It’s up to me and the quality of my work
        5-When one WordPress writer progresses, we all do

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      6. This is a very honorable credo. It touches some of what I do but I don’t have a creed that’s even remotely like that.

        – I support writers by buying printed books, not digital. Even if I later read the digital version because it’s easier to read that way. Or don’t read it at all.
        – I support writers by, you know, reading a ton of books 😀
        – I support humanity by blogging in an era where AI slop competes with TikTok and Google’s AI Overview acts like The One Above All.

        If I were to write a creed, it would be very local, about living a day one minute at a time. Eyeing the future but staying in the present.

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  2. I did all that as a mission statement when I started posting my novels on WordPress back in 2023. I’d made a decision to give up on traditional publishing and try a different avenue for my writing, which you’ve been kind enough to read. The last one, ‘when one WordPress writer progresses’ I just added with the new collection of short stories we’re working on right now, because I’m so impressed with the quality of writers I’ve found here. Maybe, just maybe, we’re on to something. Something other than slop. Something real.

    All of yours are honorable and good values too, Veselin! See? We need human beings!! And as human beings we need to know we’re still important, and that there will be a place for us in the future. It’s still up to us.

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