The achilles heel of A.I. art is that a computer cannot create physical art, on physical paper, with real paints and pencils. This is one of the reasons why I've started drafting my stories with a foutain pen.
“Progress is inevitable.” Sure. But what are we progressing towards? Yes, industrialization and mass production has led to the lowering of costs and the increasing of our lifestyles (to what, though?) but we have lost precisely what we were warned about 200+ years ago.
I like your description of the demonic being the separation and desacrilization. The bean-counters refuse to see that. Maybe they lack the imagination to conceive of a different way, or maybe they’re just not able to see the water in which they swim. Either way, efficiency and mass production of art is pretty disgusting in many ways. Our museums of modern art are filled with expensive jokes. No one will care about it.
Here’s a question for you: to what degree do you think that culture actually matters to winning this ultimately spiritual battle? I ask because that’s an argument we see in our circles: “If we can lower the cost and get our books out,” etc. and so on. But will this even move the needle? I’ve come to think that the axiom “politics is downstream from culture” is a false cope. Everything is downstream from religion (or philosophy, if that’s your thing), and really power influences culture more than vice versa.
Perhaps the only thing I can imagine that will change the world, apart from an unexpected act of God, would be a genuine Luddite movement, and this is actually beginning among some teenagers. You're right to trace this AI business to a more extensive disease of society.
All ages of people sit in front of computers every day. I just saw an advertisement today for a program that writes essays for buyers, with options that give all the power to the AI and takes control away from the human, in the guise of convenience. We need to start normalize doing things "the old-fashioned way" or we will lose our way, period.
Maybe progress for humanity isn't meant to push us to the speed of light. Maybe we can find God in the life we still have around us.
The achilles heel of A.I. art is that a computer cannot create physical art, on physical paper, with real paints and pencils. This is one of the reasons why I've started drafting my stories with a foutain pen.
“Progress is inevitable.” Sure. But what are we progressing towards? Yes, industrialization and mass production has led to the lowering of costs and the increasing of our lifestyles (to what, though?) but we have lost precisely what we were warned about 200+ years ago.
I like your description of the demonic being the separation and desacrilization. The bean-counters refuse to see that. Maybe they lack the imagination to conceive of a different way, or maybe they’re just not able to see the water in which they swim. Either way, efficiency and mass production of art is pretty disgusting in many ways. Our museums of modern art are filled with expensive jokes. No one will care about it.
Here’s a question for you: to what degree do you think that culture actually matters to winning this ultimately spiritual battle? I ask because that’s an argument we see in our circles: “If we can lower the cost and get our books out,” etc. and so on. But will this even move the needle? I’ve come to think that the axiom “politics is downstream from culture” is a false cope. Everything is downstream from religion (or philosophy, if that’s your thing), and really power influences culture more than vice versa.
Great piece and a nice reflection on the "uncanny" I feel when looking at AI art. You might like this Penny-Arcade strip, which has a similar sentiment: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2022/12/26/sockrates
Perhaps the only thing I can imagine that will change the world, apart from an unexpected act of God, would be a genuine Luddite movement, and this is actually beginning among some teenagers. You're right to trace this AI business to a more extensive disease of society.
All ages of people sit in front of computers every day. I just saw an advertisement today for a program that writes essays for buyers, with options that give all the power to the AI and takes control away from the human, in the guise of convenience. We need to start normalize doing things "the old-fashioned way" or we will lose our way, period.
Maybe progress for humanity isn't meant to push us to the speed of light. Maybe we can find God in the life we still have around us.