Lots of research has been done on this topic. You say "let some science happen", and then two paragraphs later say "according to the research": so has or hasn't research taken place? (Last time I looked into this, I came away with the impression that most people considered pædophiles are not exclusively attracted to children: I reject your claim that the "no choice" claim is evidenced, and encourage you to show us the research you claim to have.)
I don't think you're engaging with this topic in good faith.
> Whether it is exclusive or not is not really relevant to the point.
Whether it's exclusive or not is very relevant to the point, because sexual fetishes and paraphilias are largely mutable. In much the same way that a bi woman can swear off men after a few bad experiences, or a monogamous person in a committed relationship can avoid lusting after other people they'd otherwise find attractive, someone with non-child sexual interests can avoid centring children in their sexuality, and thereby avoid developing further sexual interests related to children. (Note that operant conditioning, sometimes called "conversion therapy" in this context, does not achieve these outcomes.) I imagine it's not quite so easy for people exclusively sexually-attracted to children (though note that one's belief about their sexuality is not necessarily the same as one's actual sexuality – to the extent that "actual sexuality" is a meaningful notion).
> Can you link me to research on how AI generated CSAM consumption affects offending rates?
No, because "AI-generated" hasn't been a thing for long enough that I'd expect good research on the topic. However, there's no particular reason to believe it'd be different to consumption of similar material of other provenance.
It's a while since I researched this, but I've found you a student paper on this subject: https://openjournals.maastrichtuniversity.nl/Marble/article/.... This student has put more work into performing a literature review for their coursework than I'm willing to do for a HN comment. However, skimming the citations, I recognise some of these names as cranks (e.g. Ray Blanchard), and some papers seem to describe research based on the pseudoscientific theories of Sigmund Freud (another crank). Take this all with a large pinch of salt.
> For instance, virtual child pornography can cause a general decline in sexual child abuse, but the possibility still remains that in some cases it could lead to practicing behavior.
I remember reading research about the circumstances under which there is a positive relationship, which obviously didn't turn up in this student's literature review. My recent searches have been using the same sorts of keywords as this student, so I don't expect to find that research again any time soon.
None of the services dealing with actual research papers discovery/distribution block this. Don't expect AI to make up answers, start digging through https://www.connectedpapers.com/ or something similar.
I don't think you're engaging with this topic in good faith.
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Replying to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46504101 in an edit, due to rate-limiting.
> Whether it is exclusive or not is not really relevant to the point.
Whether it's exclusive or not is very relevant to the point, because sexual fetishes and paraphilias are largely mutable. In much the same way that a bi woman can swear off men after a few bad experiences, or a monogamous person in a committed relationship can avoid lusting after other people they'd otherwise find attractive, someone with non-child sexual interests can avoid centring children in their sexuality, and thereby avoid developing further sexual interests related to children. (Note that operant conditioning, sometimes called "conversion therapy" in this context, does not achieve these outcomes.) I imagine it's not quite so easy for people exclusively sexually-attracted to children (though note that one's belief about their sexuality is not necessarily the same as one's actual sexuality – to the extent that "actual sexuality" is a meaningful notion).
You may be interested in Age of Onset and Its Correlates in Men with Sexual Interest in Children (https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC6377...).
> Can you link me to research on how AI generated CSAM consumption affects offending rates?
No, because "AI-generated" hasn't been a thing for long enough that I'd expect good research on the topic. However, there's no particular reason to believe it'd be different to consumption of similar material of other provenance.
It's a while since I researched this, but I've found you a student paper on this subject: https://openjournals.maastrichtuniversity.nl/Marble/article/.... This student has put more work into performing a literature review for their coursework than I'm willing to do for a HN comment. However, skimming the citations, I recognise some of these names as cranks (e.g. Ray Blanchard), and some papers seem to describe research based on the pseudoscientific theories of Sigmund Freud (another crank). Take this all with a large pinch of salt.
> For instance, virtual child pornography can cause a general decline in sexual child abuse, but the possibility still remains that in some cases it could lead to practicing behavior.
I remember reading research about the circumstances under which there is a positive relationship, which obviously didn't turn up in this student's literature review. My recent searches have been using the same sorts of keywords as this student, so I don't expect to find that research again any time soon.
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I found a proper literature review: https://medcraveonline.com/AHOAJ/fifty-most-cited-research-p... Probably reading these papers will give you a good introduction to the field.