I am a bit confused about what's so outrageous about this tool. It seems that both the book authors, and some of the people in the discussion here, conflate rudimentary statistics about a book (number of words of certain kind) with the latest wave of generative AI. They are very different in both what value they provide, and what risk they pose to book authors.
The tool that book authors got outraged about only provides basic metrics, not dissimilar from other metrics such as "page count", and can't be used to produce new content which could deprive the book authors from revenue.
If you read through the angry Twitter thread it's clear that almost everyone thinks that either a) the site is a pirate site that lets you download books or b) that the site lets you generate works in the style of an author. Neither of which is true of course.
There are a handful (like < 3 people) who seem to understand what the site actually does who were still angry because the creator seems to have pirated the books. I actually don't know about the legality of something like that. Surely providing pirated books is illegal, but IDK if acquiring pirated books actually is.
I think it's clear though that most of the outrage would still be there even if the author had purchased each and every book.
Having now looked up what the word priapism means, I'm now trying to imagine what moral priapism would be, and I can't think of a definition that makes sense. What is it? Is there a simpler word you can use?
GPT4 sez:
"This sentence uses figurative language, so it doesn't refer to literal meanings. "Fear" is a stressful emotion induced by perceived danger or threat. "Acute" suggests a sudden onset or intensity. "Moral priapism," a more abstract concept, suggests an abnormally extended or excessive fixated morality, much like the medical condition priapism refers to an unwanted, enduring erection.
Overall, the sentence means that fear can lead to an exaggerated or obsessive moral response. This implies that when someone is afraid, they might stick rigidly to their moral code or make moral judgments more extremely or rigidly than they would in a state of calmness."
seems fair
Edit: My gloss of the summary:
"Fear creates a hardon for scapegoats among the pitchfork wielders."
The tool that book authors got outraged about only provides basic metrics, not dissimilar from other metrics such as "page count", and can't be used to produce new content which could deprive the book authors from revenue.