Comment by Aloisius
15 hours ago
> Every book in a bookstore can be verified because the content can be known and audited
A bookstore with a single employee can no more verify the content of every new book or periodical put up for sale than Apple can verify all new content on the internet.
Books and periodicals come out far, far too quickly for an independently owned bookstore to read first. Never mind new books which have set release dates where bookstores might not get advanced copies for books sold on consignment.
That’s an argument that sounds convincing in principle, but in reality I can walk into any independent bookstore and find it’s not filled with porn and AI slop, so clearly there is a successful vetting process going on. Namely, the publishers vet the books then the bookstore owner only has to vet the publishers. A proof of concept internet equivalent is if I scrape a bunch of trusted YouTube channels onto a NAS and give my kids access to that NAS but block YouTube access otherwise.
This hypothetical independent shop you walk into is not filled with slop because it's curated; the store is intentionally keeping its inventory to a manageable level so that it can be screened first.
If the owner stopped caring and just decided to let any book that passed through the automated "does this book immediately and actively harm the customer?" screening machine then you'd have something that approximates the app stores.
Hello, it's me, your billionaire friend, Broizoz, take a look at my book store.
[Image with a bookstore filled with AI slop]