SwimModSponges

Fuck cars indeed, I really wish we as a nation didn't become 100% dependent on them during the automotive revolution. But that genies been out of the bottle for a long time. That's the thing about a shift in the paradigm, you don't know what it looks like until you've crossed it. Like it or not, an AI revolution has begun in earnest. I choose to be optimistic about it because I've seen AIs do wonderful things, deepmind alphafold is discovering and synthesizing new proteins at light speed compared to prior manual folding techniques, they've been trained to detect diseases and cancers more accurately than anything else today... And you know what? They really are going to be doing everything. And it isn't going to be sustainable with our current capitalistic hierarchical power structures, and things that are stressed will break. AI will be the end of civilization as we know it. As we know it. And the genie's out of the bottle and granting wishes. So. I propose, we sit here, have a meaningful, civil discussion on the meaning of art, consciousness, intelligence, and experience, and maybe look at cool pictures made by human artists and AI, just not at the same time. Just not right now. Mass Effect.

Just got home and haven't gone through all this yet, but i appologize for demeaning artists, that wasn't my intention. Art is incredibly important to expressing the human condition and its creators are incredibly talented and have devoted years of their lives to honing their crafts and i respect that fully. I also fully respect the opinions of others in this thread- i agree with many of them, disagree with others, and some i just can't quite understand. I'm sorry that my views are offensive, and i get excited when it comes to defending, and yes, pushing them. I haven't told anyone to fuck off, i haven't called anyone a bitch, and i haven't accused anyone of twisting their arguments. I don't know that i am right. I really think im right (maybe not "right" per se, but... in the right lane?) Its obvious y'all think im wrong. But im not convinced and i will continue to try to address all the points made so far, and i will take more of an effort to be more civil, less sarcastic, and more understanding. Its by testing our convictions through debate that we refine them.

Jesus christ with the personal attacks. I'm sorry we've created thinking machines that are replacing thought.

Ok I'm tapping out for the night. Pizza should be here soonish.

You know I really meant to play some videogames today.

Lavender better?

"AI art is theft " has become such a ubiquitous catchphrase I'm like 80% sure it originated as a marketing slogan for Getty images or some other stock photo business that literally steals actual images from others. Who did I steal this picture from? Who is the victim of this crime. Tell me.

Fuck winter.

I have to snow blow the driveway. Fuck that shit. Least i didn't have to get up and do it at 6am.

Your argument creates an ownership vacuum.

Its more complicated than just "asking for something" and you know that. A human had an idea for an image. A human had to figure out how to put the idea into words. Did the human make visual art? No. They carefully arranged a series of words (then re-arranged them about a hundred times probably, then they went in and further modified sevtions of the image with more words until they were happy with the product. Is there an art to arranging flowers? The guy who designed the pattern on your wallpaper, is he an artist? What do y'all think of those pictures up there? Pretty neat, right?

You're limiting art and that is absurd. Art serves a myriad of purposes, chief of which is providing aesthetic beauty. If something "doesn't offer a unique perspective" but is still captivating and incredibly pleasing to the eye, does it really have no value? And I disagree with the premise that it has no "unique perspective". The "perspective" isn't a question of medium but of the individual engineering the prompt. Also prolly going to bed soon.

All right, fine. Part 2 then. This isn't one of those "can you detect the AI art" tests, don't give a damn about that. Just tell me what you think of each image.

Ok, so here's where we'll have the whole AI debate, instead of the trump NFT thread. Couple of different ways I've thought about jumping into the discussion, and I intend to go through and address the points already made, but first off I want us on the same page. So the first thing I want right out of the way is: an operational definition of "art". Yes, let's all climb up our own asses and get all snooty and decide what art "means". For real though, open question; what specific attributes makes something art versus not art? And by extension, what makes someone an artist? (spoiler alert- I'm not actually comfortable calling a prompt engineer an artist, but the product they make is 100% art. figure that one out.) Ok, let's hash out something we can agree on while I set up the next parts of the conversation (it involves grabbing a beer).

I'm going to be taking this conversation to the AI thread in the Arts folder. Just throwing that out there.

Lunch break is over now though.

Ooooh imma argue these so hard when i get home today.

Just called my doggo a goober. She was laying down so i called her a tube of goober. Then i looked at my other doggo and said i've got two tubes of goobs. I am the walrus.

So, I was gushing about AI art to someone I work with tonight, and she comes at it with the perspective that she thinks "AI art is theft". Ok so, you know what? I think that's just a catchphrase people use to oversimplify the process of what machine learning entails. I mean I didn't tell her that, that's just something I thought of here and now. I basically simplify it to that adage "all artist steal, great artists steal from everyone" or some bullshit like that, whatever, not the point. When you look at the sheer, near infinite variety of amazing things that can be created... I mean how is that not a net gain for humanity? This year, I have seen the most captivating and engaging images and works of art I have ever seen. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. What a time to be alive, amirite? *not mine, found on reddit.

Somebody made this with AI. CRAZY SHIT.