AI gives me the ick. It's reminds me of how the Japanese created their version of whiskey. No matter how much the Japanese version may look, smell and taste like the best scotch - it's a dupe or counterfeit. Whilst drinking the Japanese version, your never going to imagine the rolling hills the grains were grown on, or the stag that walked amongst them, or think of the man who made the whiskey. The japanses version is is about the end product, not the process.
We are living in a time where we crave authenticity and no matter how amazing AI is, or becomes - process is important to people and doing things correctly. Taking pride in our creations.
That's a great analogy and I'm sure we, having lived and breathed authenticity all agree. But I fear the generation of children being born now (tablet in hand) will have no reference to this and unless raised in parallel societies like the Amish will mesh into the AI revolution as our ancestors did into the industrial one.
I have lived in a plain community for six years and still subscribe to the Amish Pathway Publications. They are experiencing a lot of trouble over smart phones and the attendant problems of pornography, etc. You are right that their children grow up free of these things but the latitude they have traditionally given to youth before they join church in their late teens has led some communities into trouble. The need to support large families by expanding businesses is also a temptation to allowing phones. They are still much better off as having grounded communities and a clear set of values but we have created the Hydra and it reaches everywhere.
I think post-WW2 modernity created hordes of people that are obese, lazy, talentless, and directionless. Smartphones, the Internet, and AI have just made it that much worse. I see people in polyster shorts, tank tops, and flip flops all around me in the US that have been completely putrified by ultra processed foods riding on mobility scooters. They can barely walk and I seriously doubt they are employed. What kind of life do these people have? I shudder to even think about it.
Most of the people I have worked with don't even read, unless it is their social media feed. I have worked with men in their forties and fifties who spend their breaks talking about Marvel super hero movies, comic books, and video games. I have worked with women who talked about being 'authentic' and 'speaking their truth' who wear identical black outfits, are covered with tattoos and piercings, and spend their breaks glued to Instagram.
None of these people have a future.
We are entering a time of severe deprivation and hardship. None of these people will survive.
I don't worry about a future filled with fat, listless, and lazy people; that age arived decades ago. What I see is a future minus billions of people that have been left by the wayside: the transgenders, the race grifters, the blue hairs, etc. You can't live off the fat of the land when all of the fat is gone.
I see the tech bros manuvering to let people die en masse. The store shelves will be empty. The online markets will shutdown. The local hospitals will close. The electricity will become spotty and unreliable, and then go out completely. I have lived in countries (Eastern Europe and Latin America) where electricity was only on for three hours in the morning and three hours at night. And I have lived without any electricty at all for months at a time--illuminated
in lamp and candle light. Do you see people in LA, New York, or London living like that?
Here is how I view AI: a great way to cull the population.
The dull witted and listless will simply die off like they did in the Ex-Soviet Union: through drugs and alcohol, and malnutrition through ultra processed foods wrapped in shiny paper foil or thin plastic wrapped cardboard boxes.
The ones smart enough to stay mentally and physically active will have a good chance at survival. The rest won't.
AI art is obvious to the naked eye. It has a certain look to it. AI text is also fairly easy to spot. AI novels would, most likely, be filled with cliches and recycled storylines and tropes. The average person doesn't read novels anymore, and those that do won't waste their time on AI
I completely agree with you on this. As for us in the UK I believe we are much further down the 'road to perdition'. I am a retired bus driver and now once a week travel to our local town on the bus to shop. I see the same people on the bus I first saw 20 years ago and have never worked in their lives. They are utterly dependent on the state and all have some form of illness they are struggling with. Coupled with the plans for this government to introduce assisted dying into the NHS, a part of thinks they won't be around for much longer.
I appreciate your comment but you can't compare the US to Russia, or even the Uk. They are historically blood and soil people who eventually will rediscover their ancient identities. The Russians already have. They rejected gay pride, BLM and pussy riot (i.e., feminism).
The US is more like a mining colony on a moon somewhere. I could easily see Americans electing someone yet again playing the race/sex card and offering more free stuff and quotas. Trump's great but there will be a reaction, possibly violent, and the sacred-victim, entitled parasite culture will return and drag us all down to a sort of Brazil-like level of brown-grey sludge, as you suggest. But this will take time. I predict a managed decline over many decades.
The reason is that this is baked into the cake. The sacred-victim, entitled parasite culture is founded on the concept of human rights. Human rights meaning privilege without obligation. It guarantees the entitled parasite culture, status-markiing elite whites and all.
Having lived in Russia, I see them breaking down completely soon. There are more grandparents than teenagers in Russia. The Russians are the most drug addled and alcoholic people on the face of the Earth. You might find attractive girls walking around Moscow and German luxury cars in the city center, but that is far from the reality that is Russia. Moscow is a concentration of wealth, population, and what remains of the youth. Most of the countryside and outer cities have been largely abandoned. The most promising of the young depart for North America, Western Europe, or Australia.
Back in the 1990s, the Russians had a saying: Moscow is not Russia.
The whole blood and soil thing is tiny. I would like to see Europeans reconnecting with their ancestral roots, but most have no interest in it. I wish they did.
Save yourself, if you can. What is in the offing will be brutal.
I’ve never been to Russia so you have an advantage. They are pretty resilient, though, post Ukraine war. The stupid, degenerate West misjudged them bigly.
Most European peoples (yes, 'peoples') are resilient.
Russia will not avoid the breakdown crisis the West has already entered. They have been in one since 1992.
I'm American, and I have lived half my life in foreign countries. I'm good at adjusting to new environments and cultures--many are not. Most 3rd world migrants lack the ability; most don't even try; that is why they live in ethnic ghettos.
Visiting a country is far different from living in one.
No country is perfect.
You have to find the place and situation that best suits you. I don't know anything about you or your situation, so I can't really give you any advice on where to go (or not go), and even if I did know a lot about you, I wouldn't really want to advise you what to do. I will say this much: live clean, work hard, and stay in the grace of God. I don't drink, smoke, or take drugs. I'm not judging you as good or bad if you do, I have just seen what addiction does to people. In a breakdown crisis, addicts and alcoholics are abandoned. If you don't believe in God, so be it. Avoid vice. You don't have to be Christian to know that unhealthy habits get you no where.
I don't know if I will survive what is coming. I am simply trying to increase the odds in my favor.
Thanks for your reply. I’m American and lived in Asia and Europe many years. I don’t think we have any real disagreement. I just think Russians, like most of the world, reject gay pride, worship of blacks, mass non-white migration and feminism. And I think this is to their advantage.
Basically, Russians, like the rest of the world, don’t believe in the weird abstract god Human Rights.
The decline has already been managed for decades. We are about to enter free fall. I don't take any joy in what is about to befall us. It will be horrible.
Nailed it. Superb article. There IS still hope. Apparently - and despite input from some of the greatest tecchie minds - AI has not yet been able to create an intelligent version of David Lammy.
Great comment James. When the 'slop' as Morgoth so eloquently describes it starts to get under your skin, I turn to music. Music preceded language I'm told. So it's old and resonates with your soul, (without getting too....). For me personally, to be able to step outside and recharge, I go to Morten Lauridsen's Oh Magnum Mysterium. Just sublime.
Your mention of slop violin music made me think of my grandson, a middle child of five boys with a baby sister, he is intellectually gifted but has poor impulse control. I suggested violin lessons as he had an interest and needed a consuming challenge. He started at 5. The noises a five year old can get out of a violin unless he is Mozart are horrible. His practices were barely endurable, though he was placed in a prominent place at recitals because of the immense cuteness of a small child with a tiny violin. Now at 7 1/2 he is a pleasure to listen to, and can get the pure high notes one expects from a violin. It is sad that this will be a challenge and a pleasure reserved to the well off, but status seeking has patronized and maintained the arts in more times than these, the days when Shakespeare was attended and applauded by the common rabble are long gone.
The main thing, based on my reading, is for people to avoid a fascination with AI in the first place. I read a very prominent substack writer who wrings his hands over the diabolism of AI but is possibly over involved, just to stay informed. Whatever the reason a Lenten type resolution to avoid interacting with it as much as possible seems wise. The internet itself can encourage creative hobbies and interests as never before, YouTube shows techniques in all fields of art and artisanal crafts that are amazing.
As you say, this need not be the end of creative man.
This is a wonderful comment and gives hope to those who wonder or even worry about AI and its future effect on humanity. With your grandson playing the violin after your suggestion that he take it up, he will remember. As grandparents ourselves and living in a world of constant amusement and trivia I believe it's our duty almost to expose our children to 'quality'. I'm a retired bus driver and I will never forget my daughter on gaining her degree putting her arms around and saying, 'Thanks Dad'. And so, we will be taking our grandchildren this Summer to see MacBeth in Kidwelly Castle, should be fun. And my grandaughter who is in the school choir to see Voces 8 in Stockbridge. Can't wait.
Even ignoring the whole "AI singularity" fear, or the horrors of the alignment problem as often portrayed by the "infinite paperclips" idea, I'm extremely concerned about AI.
One can see how starting with the doctor who examines MRI scans and ending with the plumber, soon, no job will be better performed by humans.
Robot, or potentially violent immigrant carer in that nursing home for you?
And what young man would not prefer an AI robot girlfriend? Designed to look, act and feel physically human, perfect in his eyes and fantasies. Indistinguishable from reality, but without the human flaws and arguments.
Our only escape maybe to follow an Amish like approach and set up isolated communities rooted firmly in reality and nature.
For us, yes. But I fear that within a generation, those raised from 2 years old on i-pads will merge seamlessly into this soulless dystopian future, having known no different, unless parallel isolated communities are set up.
"Go ahead! Achieve all your goals! Break all the dams! Faster! You are unbound. Go ahead and fly with faster wings, with an ever greater pride for your achievements, with your conquests, with your empires, with your democracies! The pit must be filled; there is a need for fertilizer for the new tree that will grow out of your collapse” - Evola
Hi Morgoth. A very interesting article and one that gives much food for thought. I myself am not that informed about AI and its future for humanity. I can recognise it when I see it or hear it most of the time. For me personally it comes down to quality or the lack of it. As I'm writing this comment my wife is baking a birthday cake for my grandson along with 40 cupcakes for the weekend party. There's a degree of 'quality' in what she's doing that goes well beyond the cake itself. I have not long come back from the kids park down the road where I've been weeding the flower beds. I ended up passing the time with three people I haven't spoken to since before Christmas. Despite all the gloom and doom in the world we had a good discussion about agency and doing more for ourselves. I showed them my Japanese 'hoe' and they asked if my wife knows about her. ;) Can't beat banter can you.
Nice to see the brilliant Whitney Webb get a shout out!
A fascinating subject and I think you are right that it’s authenticity that will bring many back to the old ways. Despite being a lifelong technophile I've become disillusioned with where it has ended up and now actively seek out a simpler way of life.
The evolution of music formats is a good example of how I think it will eventually go in other domains. I’ve lived through vinyl, cassette, CD, digital download and finally streaming. With each invention I replaced my prior collection only to give up when it came to streaming and go back to physical media. Streaming should have been paradise having access to every song ever recorded at the click of a button. But something about it just never felt authentic to me like I was drowning in endless content with none of it getting enough time to sink in and become meaningful and it actually made me bored of music for a while.
By comparison the best thing that happened to me today was a few minutes when I was parked at the side of the road and a massive flock of goldfinches happened to land on a tree next to me en route to their evening roost. I spent a wonderful few minutes watching them until they flew off yet nobody else passing by even noticed as they walked along staring at their phones.
For those like me who grew up before the internet the memories of the older times will eventually bring many back to reality. But I do fear for younger people who have never experienced that, and I think in a decades time we will be living in parallel societies with some living the old way and others lost to a digital gulag. And the world of each will be totally alien to the other.
I've also come to appreciate the radio over playlists because I like not knowing what's next, the random, none algorithmic selection, even if there's an occasional dud.
Agreed, on the rare occasions I do stream these days its usually an online radio station.
Humans aren't designed to have constant dopamine hits like modern tech serves up. The odd dud on the radio or filler track on an album is essential to make us appreciate the good ones.
An excellent piece of writing, Morgoth, despite it probably having been written on a keyboard rather than a quill, your pen is as sharp as always.
I am an artist by trade, and the emergence of AI slop has been a very interesting dilemma for me for quite a while now. In regards to AI art specifically: It creates best what has been created a million times. It's an absolute master at creating shiny, glamorous, utterly soulless depictions of chicks with bright hair, they share the same facial features, are framed in similar ways - you get it. It is kind of shit at recreating the style of Bosch, though, or even someone like Matisse is a challenge for it. It can only imitate the surface, never innovate in content. Additionally - and I will send some of my paintings as a reference - I always paint with the idea that whoever sees my art will take his time, look at the details, appreciate the little hidden jokes, tiny characters on the fringes, small texture differences, etc. AI art thrives on the opposite. It thrives on the superficial, it has only the power of a first-glance allure, because the longer you look at it, the less it becomes. Can the same be said of any true art, is any masterpiece ever diminished by scrutiny?
Lastly. Before AI, we were in a cultural miasma. Capeshit, TV slop, news slop - all supposedly produced by human or near-human intelligence. And yet there was a sense of complacency. The sort of questions the AI raises are crucial - at least for creatives - because at the end of the day, the AI is a mass producer of that which has already been mass produced. A new, urgent incentive for originality could be a push for some artists to do more and better - at least it is for me.
The question of AI is going to be a question for our society. As Decker said in in Blade Runners it is a tool for good or bad. Our technology is coming way too fast to be dealt with the ethics.
As we all get a bit older, it is natural for the next generation to look alien to us. Recently, I have been listening to remastered interviews with WW1 soldiers. These were filmed in 1964 for the BBC series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of the war. I wonder what those men thought of the boomer generation. They suffered so much in Flanders, what for?
The AI thing scares me, the power wielded by its programmers is frightening and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. But there will be those who use it to explore the genius of their own creativity. We will be in the early age of new an art form. As with novel writing people will soon learn the difference between Charles Dickens and Jeffrey Archer.
The example I would like to provide is a beautiful reimagining of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. There must be 1000s of AI versions by now but this one intrigued me, as the AI creator took her out of the painting to gaze at people, gazing at her. I could never have imagined such a scene, it is both clever and sublime.
There is going to be a lot more slop in the future, so independently minded people are going to have to up their game and be more creative. It will be a challenge, as it always is!
As Irish Rose says above, AI gives me the ick. I have an instinctive aversion to it. The result returned is always flat, no matter what you point it at.
Nothing like a hand written letter through the post to stir one’s soul.
I suspect we’re not far from Substack offering you the option of uploading your own voice sample so an ai version of you can read us the article.
I notice on this one it’s a well spoken English chap, previously it’s been an American man and women before that, is the voice playback something you’ve got control of?
I’m firmly in camp authenticity but I do wonder on the occasions I listen to the articles, would I prefer ai well-to-do bot or Morgbot?
AI gives me the ick. It's reminds me of how the Japanese created their version of whiskey. No matter how much the Japanese version may look, smell and taste like the best scotch - it's a dupe or counterfeit. Whilst drinking the Japanese version, your never going to imagine the rolling hills the grains were grown on, or the stag that walked amongst them, or think of the man who made the whiskey. The japanses version is is about the end product, not the process.
We are living in a time where we crave authenticity and no matter how amazing AI is, or becomes - process is important to people and doing things correctly. Taking pride in our creations.
Exactly.
That's a great analogy and I'm sure we, having lived and breathed authenticity all agree. But I fear the generation of children being born now (tablet in hand) will have no reference to this and unless raised in parallel societies like the Amish will mesh into the AI revolution as our ancestors did into the industrial one.
I have lived in a plain community for six years and still subscribe to the Amish Pathway Publications. They are experiencing a lot of trouble over smart phones and the attendant problems of pornography, etc. You are right that their children grow up free of these things but the latitude they have traditionally given to youth before they join church in their late teens has led some communities into trouble. The need to support large families by expanding businesses is also a temptation to allowing phones. They are still much better off as having grounded communities and a clear set of values but we have created the Hydra and it reaches everywhere.
I think post-WW2 modernity created hordes of people that are obese, lazy, talentless, and directionless. Smartphones, the Internet, and AI have just made it that much worse. I see people in polyster shorts, tank tops, and flip flops all around me in the US that have been completely putrified by ultra processed foods riding on mobility scooters. They can barely walk and I seriously doubt they are employed. What kind of life do these people have? I shudder to even think about it.
Most of the people I have worked with don't even read, unless it is their social media feed. I have worked with men in their forties and fifties who spend their breaks talking about Marvel super hero movies, comic books, and video games. I have worked with women who talked about being 'authentic' and 'speaking their truth' who wear identical black outfits, are covered with tattoos and piercings, and spend their breaks glued to Instagram.
None of these people have a future.
We are entering a time of severe deprivation and hardship. None of these people will survive.
I don't worry about a future filled with fat, listless, and lazy people; that age arived decades ago. What I see is a future minus billions of people that have been left by the wayside: the transgenders, the race grifters, the blue hairs, etc. You can't live off the fat of the land when all of the fat is gone.
I see the tech bros manuvering to let people die en masse. The store shelves will be empty. The online markets will shutdown. The local hospitals will close. The electricity will become spotty and unreliable, and then go out completely. I have lived in countries (Eastern Europe and Latin America) where electricity was only on for three hours in the morning and three hours at night. And I have lived without any electricty at all for months at a time--illuminated
in lamp and candle light. Do you see people in LA, New York, or London living like that?
Here is how I view AI: a great way to cull the population.
The dull witted and listless will simply die off like they did in the Ex-Soviet Union: through drugs and alcohol, and malnutrition through ultra processed foods wrapped in shiny paper foil or thin plastic wrapped cardboard boxes.
The ones smart enough to stay mentally and physically active will have a good chance at survival. The rest won't.
AI art is obvious to the naked eye. It has a certain look to it. AI text is also fairly easy to spot. AI novels would, most likely, be filled with cliches and recycled storylines and tropes. The average person doesn't read novels anymore, and those that do won't waste their time on AI
literature. How many people will buy AI art?
You are what eat.
I completely agree with you on this. As for us in the UK I believe we are much further down the 'road to perdition'. I am a retired bus driver and now once a week travel to our local town on the bus to shop. I see the same people on the bus I first saw 20 years ago and have never worked in their lives. They are utterly dependent on the state and all have some form of illness they are struggling with. Coupled with the plans for this government to introduce assisted dying into the NHS, a part of thinks they won't be around for much longer.
I appreciate your comment but you can't compare the US to Russia, or even the Uk. They are historically blood and soil people who eventually will rediscover their ancient identities. The Russians already have. They rejected gay pride, BLM and pussy riot (i.e., feminism).
The US is more like a mining colony on a moon somewhere. I could easily see Americans electing someone yet again playing the race/sex card and offering more free stuff and quotas. Trump's great but there will be a reaction, possibly violent, and the sacred-victim, entitled parasite culture will return and drag us all down to a sort of Brazil-like level of brown-grey sludge, as you suggest. But this will take time. I predict a managed decline over many decades.
The reason is that this is baked into the cake. The sacred-victim, entitled parasite culture is founded on the concept of human rights. Human rights meaning privilege without obligation. It guarantees the entitled parasite culture, status-markiing elite whites and all.
Having lived in Russia, I see them breaking down completely soon. There are more grandparents than teenagers in Russia. The Russians are the most drug addled and alcoholic people on the face of the Earth. You might find attractive girls walking around Moscow and German luxury cars in the city center, but that is far from the reality that is Russia. Moscow is a concentration of wealth, population, and what remains of the youth. Most of the countryside and outer cities have been largely abandoned. The most promising of the young depart for North America, Western Europe, or Australia.
Back in the 1990s, the Russians had a saying: Moscow is not Russia.
The whole blood and soil thing is tiny. I would like to see Europeans reconnecting with their ancestral roots, but most have no interest in it. I wish they did.
Save yourself, if you can. What is in the offing will be brutal.
I’ve never been to Russia so you have an advantage. They are pretty resilient, though, post Ukraine war. The stupid, degenerate West misjudged them bigly.
Most European peoples (yes, 'peoples') are resilient.
Russia will not avoid the breakdown crisis the West has already entered. They have been in one since 1992.
I'm American, and I have lived half my life in foreign countries. I'm good at adjusting to new environments and cultures--many are not. Most 3rd world migrants lack the ability; most don't even try; that is why they live in ethnic ghettos.
Visiting a country is far different from living in one.
No country is perfect.
You have to find the place and situation that best suits you. I don't know anything about you or your situation, so I can't really give you any advice on where to go (or not go), and even if I did know a lot about you, I wouldn't really want to advise you what to do. I will say this much: live clean, work hard, and stay in the grace of God. I don't drink, smoke, or take drugs. I'm not judging you as good or bad if you do, I have just seen what addiction does to people. In a breakdown crisis, addicts and alcoholics are abandoned. If you don't believe in God, so be it. Avoid vice. You don't have to be Christian to know that unhealthy habits get you no where.
I don't know if I will survive what is coming. I am simply trying to increase the odds in my favor.
Thanks for your reply. I’m American and lived in Asia and Europe many years. I don’t think we have any real disagreement. I just think Russians, like most of the world, reject gay pride, worship of blacks, mass non-white migration and feminism. And I think this is to their advantage.
Basically, Russians, like the rest of the world, don’t believe in the weird abstract god Human Rights.
The decline has already been managed for decades. We are about to enter free fall. I don't take any joy in what is about to befall us. It will be horrible.
I don’t think we are in “free fall.” The helots are actually fighting back.
Nailed it. Superb article. There IS still hope. Apparently - and despite input from some of the greatest tecchie minds - AI has not yet been able to create an intelligent version of David Lammy.
Ha thanks.
Great comment James. When the 'slop' as Morgoth so eloquently describes it starts to get under your skin, I turn to music. Music preceded language I'm told. So it's old and resonates with your soul, (without getting too....). For me personally, to be able to step outside and recharge, I go to Morten Lauridsen's Oh Magnum Mysterium. Just sublime.
yes that is sublime indeed..... great recommendation..... 🔥
Your mention of slop violin music made me think of my grandson, a middle child of five boys with a baby sister, he is intellectually gifted but has poor impulse control. I suggested violin lessons as he had an interest and needed a consuming challenge. He started at 5. The noises a five year old can get out of a violin unless he is Mozart are horrible. His practices were barely endurable, though he was placed in a prominent place at recitals because of the immense cuteness of a small child with a tiny violin. Now at 7 1/2 he is a pleasure to listen to, and can get the pure high notes one expects from a violin. It is sad that this will be a challenge and a pleasure reserved to the well off, but status seeking has patronized and maintained the arts in more times than these, the days when Shakespeare was attended and applauded by the common rabble are long gone.
The main thing, based on my reading, is for people to avoid a fascination with AI in the first place. I read a very prominent substack writer who wrings his hands over the diabolism of AI but is possibly over involved, just to stay informed. Whatever the reason a Lenten type resolution to avoid interacting with it as much as possible seems wise. The internet itself can encourage creative hobbies and interests as never before, YouTube shows techniques in all fields of art and artisanal crafts that are amazing.
As you say, this need not be the end of creative man.
This is a wonderful comment and gives hope to those who wonder or even worry about AI and its future effect on humanity. With your grandson playing the violin after your suggestion that he take it up, he will remember. As grandparents ourselves and living in a world of constant amusement and trivia I believe it's our duty almost to expose our children to 'quality'. I'm a retired bus driver and I will never forget my daughter on gaining her degree putting her arms around and saying, 'Thanks Dad'. And so, we will be taking our grandchildren this Summer to see MacBeth in Kidwelly Castle, should be fun. And my grandaughter who is in the school choir to see Voces 8 in Stockbridge. Can't wait.
Even ignoring the whole "AI singularity" fear, or the horrors of the alignment problem as often portrayed by the "infinite paperclips" idea, I'm extremely concerned about AI.
One can see how starting with the doctor who examines MRI scans and ending with the plumber, soon, no job will be better performed by humans.
Robot, or potentially violent immigrant carer in that nursing home for you?
And what young man would not prefer an AI robot girlfriend? Designed to look, act and feel physically human, perfect in his eyes and fantasies. Indistinguishable from reality, but without the human flaws and arguments.
Our only escape maybe to follow an Amish like approach and set up isolated communities rooted firmly in reality and nature.
I think, as I wrote, it has to come from within as something life-affirming and positive rather than a rebellion that has to be endured.
For us, yes. But I fear that within a generation, those raised from 2 years old on i-pads will merge seamlessly into this soulless dystopian future, having known no different, unless parallel isolated communities are set up.
"Go ahead! Achieve all your goals! Break all the dams! Faster! You are unbound. Go ahead and fly with faster wings, with an ever greater pride for your achievements, with your conquests, with your empires, with your democracies! The pit must be filled; there is a need for fertilizer for the new tree that will grow out of your collapse” - Evola
P.S. Eager to see your work of fiction published.
Thanks, I keep it in the background so I don’t feel pressure. Hopefully one day.
Hi Morgoth. A very interesting article and one that gives much food for thought. I myself am not that informed about AI and its future for humanity. I can recognise it when I see it or hear it most of the time. For me personally it comes down to quality or the lack of it. As I'm writing this comment my wife is baking a birthday cake for my grandson along with 40 cupcakes for the weekend party. There's a degree of 'quality' in what she's doing that goes well beyond the cake itself. I have not long come back from the kids park down the road where I've been weeding the flower beds. I ended up passing the time with three people I haven't spoken to since before Christmas. Despite all the gloom and doom in the world we had a good discussion about agency and doing more for ourselves. I showed them my Japanese 'hoe' and they asked if my wife knows about her. ;) Can't beat banter can you.
Yes, time invested in the thing adds worth. This is why, I think, a flower you planted and tended means more than one just bought.
Yes absolutely, with a garden develops a story which gives life meaning.
Nice to see the brilliant Whitney Webb get a shout out!
A fascinating subject and I think you are right that it’s authenticity that will bring many back to the old ways. Despite being a lifelong technophile I've become disillusioned with where it has ended up and now actively seek out a simpler way of life.
The evolution of music formats is a good example of how I think it will eventually go in other domains. I’ve lived through vinyl, cassette, CD, digital download and finally streaming. With each invention I replaced my prior collection only to give up when it came to streaming and go back to physical media. Streaming should have been paradise having access to every song ever recorded at the click of a button. But something about it just never felt authentic to me like I was drowning in endless content with none of it getting enough time to sink in and become meaningful and it actually made me bored of music for a while.
By comparison the best thing that happened to me today was a few minutes when I was parked at the side of the road and a massive flock of goldfinches happened to land on a tree next to me en route to their evening roost. I spent a wonderful few minutes watching them until they flew off yet nobody else passing by even noticed as they walked along staring at their phones.
For those like me who grew up before the internet the memories of the older times will eventually bring many back to reality. But I do fear for younger people who have never experienced that, and I think in a decades time we will be living in parallel societies with some living the old way and others lost to a digital gulag. And the world of each will be totally alien to the other.
I've also come to appreciate the radio over playlists because I like not knowing what's next, the random, none algorithmic selection, even if there's an occasional dud.
Agreed, on the rare occasions I do stream these days its usually an online radio station.
Humans aren't designed to have constant dopamine hits like modern tech serves up. The odd dud on the radio or filler track on an album is essential to make us appreciate the good ones.
An excellent piece of writing, Morgoth, despite it probably having been written on a keyboard rather than a quill, your pen is as sharp as always.
I am an artist by trade, and the emergence of AI slop has been a very interesting dilemma for me for quite a while now. In regards to AI art specifically: It creates best what has been created a million times. It's an absolute master at creating shiny, glamorous, utterly soulless depictions of chicks with bright hair, they share the same facial features, are framed in similar ways - you get it. It is kind of shit at recreating the style of Bosch, though, or even someone like Matisse is a challenge for it. It can only imitate the surface, never innovate in content. Additionally - and I will send some of my paintings as a reference - I always paint with the idea that whoever sees my art will take his time, look at the details, appreciate the little hidden jokes, tiny characters on the fringes, small texture differences, etc. AI art thrives on the opposite. It thrives on the superficial, it has only the power of a first-glance allure, because the longer you look at it, the less it becomes. Can the same be said of any true art, is any masterpiece ever diminished by scrutiny?
Lastly. Before AI, we were in a cultural miasma. Capeshit, TV slop, news slop - all supposedly produced by human or near-human intelligence. And yet there was a sense of complacency. The sort of questions the AI raises are crucial - at least for creatives - because at the end of the day, the AI is a mass producer of that which has already been mass produced. A new, urgent incentive for originality could be a push for some artists to do more and better - at least it is for me.
The question of AI is going to be a question for our society. As Decker said in in Blade Runners it is a tool for good or bad. Our technology is coming way too fast to be dealt with the ethics.
As we all get a bit older, it is natural for the next generation to look alien to us. Recently, I have been listening to remastered interviews with WW1 soldiers. These were filmed in 1964 for the BBC series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of the war. I wonder what those men thought of the boomer generation. They suffered so much in Flanders, what for?
The AI thing scares me, the power wielded by its programmers is frightening and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. But there will be those who use it to explore the genius of their own creativity. We will be in the early age of new an art form. As with novel writing people will soon learn the difference between Charles Dickens and Jeffrey Archer.
The example I would like to provide is a beautiful reimagining of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. There must be 1000s of AI versions by now but this one intrigued me, as the AI creator took her out of the painting to gaze at people, gazing at her. I could never have imagined such a scene, it is both clever and sublime.
There is going to be a lot more slop in the future, so independently minded people are going to have to up their game and be more creative. It will be a challenge, as it always is!
https://x.com/MartinMcAvoy_/status/1748559604756181460/photo/1
Beautifully written and observed.
As Irish Rose says above, AI gives me the ick. I have an instinctive aversion to it. The result returned is always flat, no matter what you point it at.
Nothing like a hand written letter through the post to stir one’s soul.
I suspect we’re not far from Substack offering you the option of uploading your own voice sample so an ai version of you can read us the article.
I notice on this one it’s a well spoken English chap, previously it’s been an American man and women before that, is the voice playback something you’ve got control of?
I’m firmly in camp authenticity but I do wonder on the occasions I listen to the articles, would I prefer ai well-to-do bot or Morgbot?
I'd like to hear a Morgoth article on Oswald Spengler, read by Joanna Lumley. I'm sure it will happen! 😀