"Fake Deeply": adjust transphobia strategy

The slur usage had me feeling shy about publishing. Coach thought it
was inconsistent with the pronouns. (A viewpoint character that uses
the slur, should also misgender.) Demoting the slur (to just "trans")
and inserting one quieted scare
(http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2012/10/the-quieted-scare-convention/)
makes the characterization more consistent and will probably land
better.

diff --git a/content/drafts/fake-deeply.md b/content/drafts/fake-deeply.md
index 5cff775..462d593 100644 (file)
--- a/content/drafts/fake-deeply.md
+++ b/content/drafts/fake-deeply.md
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Elaine, probably, would object, if she knew. But if she didn't know that Jake _s
 
 Just as he was about to come, he was interrupted by an instant messenger notification. It was from someone named Chloë Lemoine, saying she'd like to discuss an issue in the Multigen codebase at his earliest convenience.
 
-_Tranny or real?_ Jake wondered, clicking on her profile.
+_Trans or real?_ Jake wondered, clicking on her profile.
 
 The profile text indicated that Chloë was on the newly formed capability risk evaluations team. Jake groaned. _Yuddites._ Fears of artificial intelligence destroying humanity had been trending recently. In response, Magma had commissioned a team with the purpose to monitor and audit the company's AI projects for the emergence of unforeseen and potentially dangerous capabilities, although the exact scope of the new team's power was unclear and probably subject to the outcome of future intra-company political battles.
 
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ It was because of his skepticism rather than in spite of it that he had voluntee
 
 Well, now he would find out. He washed his hands and messaged Chloë back, offering to hop on a quick video call.
 
-_Definitely a tranny_, thought Jake, as Chloë's face appeared on screen.
+_Definitely trans_, thought Jake, as Chloë's face appeared on screen.
 
 "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important," she said.
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ But now his precaution had been discovered. So much for his career at Magma. But
 
 Chloë was explaining the bug. "... and so, if a client were to send a request starting with the ASCII bell character—I know, right?—then the request wouldn't be logged."
 
-"I see," said Jake, his blood thawing. Chloë's tone wasn't accusatory. If she wasn't here to tell him his career was over, he'd better not let anything on. "Well, thanks for telling me. I'll fix that right after this call." He forced a chuckle. "Language models hallucinate weird things sometimes. Who knows what it was 'thinking'?"
+"I see," said Jake, his blood thawing. Chloë's tone wasn't accusatory. If she ("she") wasn't here to tell him his career was over, he'd better not let anything on. "Well, thanks for telling me. I'll fix that right after this call." He forced a chuckle. "Language models hallucinate weird things sometimes. Who knows what it was 'thinking'?"
 
 "Exactly!" said Chloë. "_Who knows what it was thinking?_ That's what I wanted to talk to you about!"