The opposite of wisdom is fraud. Dante said that. As such, using AI to write (according to Dante’s thinking) would be worthy of ‘Malebolge’, Dante’s designation for those who have committed fraud, whom he calls ‘evil-sacks’. Dante must have given this a lot of thought for he has designated many different types of fraudsters—seducers, sorcerers, unscrupulous politicians, deceivers, and falsifiers…the last two almost certainly being reserved for those who use AI to write and pretend they do not.
Robert Durling developed the idea that “all of hell is depicted as having a structure parallel to that of the human body,” which makes Malebolge for its location near the nether regions, somewhere near the anus, or the anus itself. If I remember correctly his piece is entitled: “Deceit and Digestion in the Belly of Hell.”
Back to the eight circle.
Right in the middle of a field, vaneggia un pozzo assai largo e profondo… We have a deep, dark well and down at its pit, naked sinners—for some reason I imagine a big naked politician with flowing orange hair. There are also horned demons with great scourges, who cruelly were beating them behind.
A note on the translation. The version I am using is the Darmouth translation. The actual Italian says: li battien crudelmente di retro. Given that battere (verb) means to beat but also to “bang them/prostitute them”… and the Italian original has the article di—from—retro, maybe Dante intended that the demons were cruelly “fill in the blanks” them from behind, especially as the canto continues with how the sinners were forced to lift their legs…
No matter. Pain was being inflicted and the scope of this little Dantesque rant was to discourage you from using AI to write. The eight circle is not a fun place.
—Except Dante and Durling any reference or resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
— Featured Image, Demon Feasting, Zentangle, DP.