In the late naughties I remember a lady in a bar (Indo in Whitechapel, for superfluous context) singing the praises of an alarm clock that woke her up with gentle whispers and buzzings and a light that oh so slowly intensified as though the sun had entered the room and tenderly kissed your eyelids (she didn't put it quite that way). She was incredulous when I said I appreciated the brutal, institutionalised intensity of my wind up alarm clock's thrackadingalinging tearing me out of a dream, straight into the embodied world.
My point is, if the benefits of time saving are unreflectively embraced by the designers of our lives, heaven help us when they come for our last lingering shreds precious discomfort.
I wonder where the Lady From The Bar is today. I like to think she's in the stock photo illustration for your article.
More time to pick up a pencil and draw Presumably that would be the case for me but I’m a Luddite, working on growing a tomato with great anticipation that part of the worldly wonders still operate in a different time clock. 70 days from seed to a delectable treat, sun ripened and all that. Are we addicted to having instant gratification- you have hit the nail on the head!
I’ve been picky about which tech to keep up on and AI hasn’t been one of them. I had a co-worker always showing me AI-generated art. He was obsessed and I still don’t get it. And another co-worker’s obsession with AI chat. No, thanks. I think I’m the dumb one here and should do more research about it all, but it’s nice to live in oblivion sometimes.
You may be surprised to hear I actually think generative "AI" is pretty neat. What I don't think is neat, is that we're trying to automate something nobody had a problem with doing in the first place.
How about instead of making a robot that makes "art", why don't we invent robots that pay an artists' rent (and maybe makes paintbrushes too)?
The truth is I'm actually not too worried about it "stealing our souls". Generative AI can make copy, but it cannot by definition make content, let alone "high" art. What bothers me is that making art is something people y'know, enjoy, and we're spending billions on inventing machines that make it harder, not easier, to do that and also survive in society.
Like- if the goal was truly "more, cheaper, art" they could have just taken those gazillion bucks and given all the artists working crappy minimum wage jobs a modest living stipend and some paintbrushes and told them to go to town. They'd be happy as clams. But instead they're moving those entry-level art career paths to machines who don't even enjoy it.
In some ways, I think "AI" will increase demand for (and the value of) 100% pure high-grade organic Human Made™ art, but at the cost of fewer artists in society. What worries me is not AI outperforming us in general, but outperforming us at the things that give life meaning, which for some reason seems to be where the money often gets invested.
THANK YOU!
In the late naughties I remember a lady in a bar (Indo in Whitechapel, for superfluous context) singing the praises of an alarm clock that woke her up with gentle whispers and buzzings and a light that oh so slowly intensified as though the sun had entered the room and tenderly kissed your eyelids (she didn't put it quite that way). She was incredulous when I said I appreciated the brutal, institutionalised intensity of my wind up alarm clock's thrackadingalinging tearing me out of a dream, straight into the embodied world.
My point is, if the benefits of time saving are unreflectively embraced by the designers of our lives, heaven help us when they come for our last lingering shreds precious discomfort.
I wonder where the Lady From The Bar is today. I like to think she's in the stock photo illustration for your article.
Keep your alarm clocks, I want a machine that handles for me whatever it is that necessitates waking at a rigid schedule in the first place!
Yeah! "Alexa, dig my grave!"
More time to pick up a pencil and draw Presumably that would be the case for me but I’m a Luddite, working on growing a tomato with great anticipation that part of the worldly wonders still operate in a different time clock. 70 days from seed to a delectable treat, sun ripened and all that. Are we addicted to having instant gratification- you have hit the nail on the head!
That's a lot of saved time, I'm sure we'll do something good with it and not be on our phones the whole time!
I’ve been picky about which tech to keep up on and AI hasn’t been one of them. I had a co-worker always showing me AI-generated art. He was obsessed and I still don’t get it. And another co-worker’s obsession with AI chat. No, thanks. I think I’m the dumb one here and should do more research about it all, but it’s nice to live in oblivion sometimes.
God I miss the vibe of dial-up and blockbusters.
You may be surprised to hear I actually think generative "AI" is pretty neat. What I don't think is neat, is that we're trying to automate something nobody had a problem with doing in the first place.
How about instead of making a robot that makes "art", why don't we invent robots that pay an artists' rent (and maybe makes paintbrushes too)?
I agree that it’s neat, but the obsession this guy has, idk. But exactly like you say, there was no problem before, so why push it to take over?
That would be a pretty neat robot indeed. I can see people investing in one.
The truth is I'm actually not too worried about it "stealing our souls". Generative AI can make copy, but it cannot by definition make content, let alone "high" art. What bothers me is that making art is something people y'know, enjoy, and we're spending billions on inventing machines that make it harder, not easier, to do that and also survive in society.
Like- if the goal was truly "more, cheaper, art" they could have just taken those gazillion bucks and given all the artists working crappy minimum wage jobs a modest living stipend and some paintbrushes and told them to go to town. They'd be happy as clams. But instead they're moving those entry-level art career paths to machines who don't even enjoy it.
In some ways, I think "AI" will increase demand for (and the value of) 100% pure high-grade organic Human Made™ art, but at the cost of fewer artists in society. What worries me is not AI outperforming us in general, but outperforming us at the things that give life meaning, which for some reason seems to be where the money often gets invested.