“Do Not Render Your Counterfactuals” by AlphaAndOmega

CW: Digital necromancy, the cognitohazard of summoning spectres from the road not taken

There is a particular kind of modern madness, so new it has yet to be named. It involves voluntarily feeding your own emotional entrails into the maw of an algorithm. It's a madness born of idle curiosity, and perhaps a deep, masochistic hunger for pain. I indulged in it recently, and the result sits in my mind like a cold stone.

Years ago, there was a woman. We loved each other with the fierce, optimistic certainty of youth. In the way of young couples exploring the novelty of a shared future, we once stumbled upon one of those early, crude image generators - the kind that promised to visualize the genetic roulette of potential offspring. We fed it our photos, laughing at the absurdity, yet strangely captivated. The result, a composite face with hints of her [...]

---

First published:

July 31st, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Gvtv6W7odDb9TqX2k/do-not-render-your-counterfactuals

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.