All Activity

I think that's cool, but also I think it's somewhat problematic that a lot of these works are heavily derivative of existing artists to the point that they're copying. I don't know that that's how you're using this, mind you, but if you're producing something that has a ton of artwork that is in the similar vein of existing artists and those artists aren't getting any credit I think that's pretty immoral - especially if you're then making money off of that.

To paraphrase Barthes, a text is a tissue of quotations, drawn from innumerable centres of culture, rather than from one, individual experience. The essential meaning of a work depends on the impressions of the reader, rather than the passions or tastes of the writer; a text's unity lies not in its origins, or its creator, but in its destination, or its audience. Though Barthes writes about literature, I would think it's applicable to any other art. As we subject the theory of art as a purpose to the rigours of reality, it may encounter other problems. There are many works of art where the author or their intentions (whatever they may have been) are unknown to us. Some pieces of art may be serendipitous accidents, experimental uses of materials or technology, a collaborative conjunction of intentions (if you listen to a Mozart piano concerto, whose intentions or purpose are you experiencing? Mozart's? The conductor's? The pianist? The orchestra's?). Anyway, as I said, this is a complicated matter, I'm not really an expert and I don't entirely disagree with you. You may take all this as a diversion or food for thought rather than as a challenge to what you said.

I think you're not asking the question you actually want to ask. The question isn't whether AI produces art. In the common sense of the term (an artistic creation produces emotions) or in some scholarly perspective (art is reception of a work, which is an active and evolving process), AI does produce art. But this raises a few interconnected questions: - AI can reproduce the artistic processes of humans (copying while introducing variations). This is a big one, because on some level life itself is also generating copies with variations. - The pursuit/production of art is one of the few things that is considered to elevate the human -mortal- existence. On some level, it is sacred, because producing meaning is the domain common to humans and God(s). - In a socio-economic structure that seeks to extract profit/rent out of all activities, won't AI-generated art be used to reduce humans to mere consumers of art, in yet another example of economic liberalism cheapening/lessening the human existence/experience by merchandising it? - Will we be able to notice if the quality of art stagnates - because we rely on machines too much, and their capacity to innovate ends up being less than that of humans? [i.e. if the first point/question turns out wrong, we may not even notice - at first] Or, as this tweet says in simple terms: Humans doing the hard jobs on minimum wage while the robots write poetry and paint is not the future I wanted So Scot, I think you want to ask whether AI should produce art, or whether this shouldn't be a sacred domain reserved to humans (and God(s)). Or, to put it differently, whether AI-generated art is a form of blasphemy. And though I'm not a luddite, I'm inclined to think that it is. Recent history shows humans tend to misuse technology, and in the current socio-economic structure, this kind of tool crosses the line. It would be more sensible to introduce a moratorium on AI right fucking now, before it crosses the next line. But of course, we're not going to do that.

I am totally in agreement here. Just as I don't think ANYONE should be allowed to release "lost recordings" and demos from deceased recording artists, Hollywood shouldn't be able to use an actors likeness without coughing up the $$$. As I said upthread, studios abusing this isn't an AI issue, rather it's just another example of the extreme Late Stage Capitalism bullshit we're ALL suffering through at the moment.

There's also a question whether they want to focus their limited resources on a mostly symbolic target like the Crimean Bridge, rather than targets of far greater short-term importance, such as airports, major ammo warehouses, equipment storage depos, radars, etc.

They can be mistaken, sometimes. They seemed to love Renly because he dressed nice, after all

what is the percentage of trans women wining over cis women? i have seen trans women lose and win in competitions, dont see how thats particularly unfair. as other people said, sports is inherently unfair, you can have genetic advantage, or money advantage,etc. like if all people want is making sport fairer then focusing in trans people is ridiculous, makes no sense to me, given that they are a super small percentage. and there are currently in sports much more unfair things (and i dont think trans women in sports is unfair) that focusing in trans people has to have another explanation other than the suposed unfairness that they bring nobody is saying that michael phelps or usain bolt or serena williams wining is unfair, all of them have advantages (genetic or otherwise) over their competition.

It probably always will be that way, though the persons affected can't afford to be so sanguine about it. @Ser Scot A Ellison, I do worry about all the ways that artists these days are devalued and screwed over. But this was happening long before AI started pumping out art. With predatory contracts, media consolidation, torrents, streaming, cheap production software, general anti-art populism, and countless other factors, artists tend to be shafted. AI will likely make it worse (further down the road at least), but not all that much worse. Because it's been bad for a while!

In all sincerity… congratulations!

You could collapse multiple spans of the deck, which would knock the bridge out of commission for many months rather than a few weeks to a couple of months at a time, and both the rail and road sides. It depends how many ATACMs they have, how many they want to waste and the chances of intercept (though whether even S-400 can intercept ATACMs is a big question).

Soft southern shite.

Well, I disagree completely. But then again, it's probably fair to say I'm biased to some extent. Personally, without the assistance of ChatGPT, my invention would probably be stuck in my living room forever. It has literally changed my life. I have used this tool to help turn my idea into a company potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds. And directly because of assistance rendered by ChatGPT, I could be on the verge of doing something really good in the field of sustainable agriculture and crop security. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. People just have to accept that, as with most technological advances, some industries are going to be negatively affected. That's life. That's the way it's always been. And the way it always will be.

in what way?

Another recommendation from an online source included T.R. Napper's Neon Leviathan. This sort of cyberpunk collection of short stories is in the vein of William Gibson's Burning Chrome, but instead of The Sprawl and Tokyo from the perspective of the 1980s, most of the collection of Leviathan take place in Southeast Asia and Australia with much more modern sensibilities. Greg Patmore reads the audiobook, and he does a fine job. T.R. Napper is an Australian social worker of some variety in Vietnam, so he writes whereof he knows in terms of the scenery and worldbuilding, and his critique of the misuse of power by governments and corporations is very cyberpunk - I doubt very much that China is going to enjoy their portrayal here, for example. None of the stories is very long, but Napper handles the short story / novella form with expertise. Anyone who enjoys an action-packed short story that skewers the government or corporations of the near future will enjoy cyberpunk in general, and these stories in particular. Good stuff.

no, your emotions are valid, its just not art, if everything is art then nothing is. and im with scott in this one, art must be created by a sentient being, art is purposeful. to me art is more than a colection of random things that happend to be configured in something beautifull or awe inspiring

Thinking about it, Cheick Doucoure at Palace might be an answer. Though I think more likely if you don't get Bruno G you'll probably look out of the league.

Callum Turner (from Masters of the Air) cast as Case for Neuromancer. https://tvline.com/casting-news/callum-turner-neuromancer-cast-apple-tv-plus-adaptation-1235203839/

All of it. edit: I mean...

OK. Tell me what's been stolen in my whimsical desktops. The likeness of a cloud? Or a Border Terrier?

Got back on a reading streak in the past few weeks and enjoyed the following reads and listens: The Twist of a Knife - this is, I think, the penultimate installment of the Hawthorn series with the last novel coming out some time this autumn. A lovely, reliable, funny whodunnit that pretends to be real on a masterful level. I love Anthony Horowitz. Tales from the Cafe - I bought this 200 pages book in Italy for €15. Not mad, because I love to buy physical books on holiday, but ouch nonetheless. Especially at this exchange rate. * moan-moan * I loved the first novel of this series, and had the same experience with this one. It’s a slow burn, it’s a slight culture shock just because it’s so different from the western literature I grew up on and read (I guess I should branch out more toward Japanese authors and their works). But then it arrives and it hits hard and before I know it I’m crying even though I was thinking hmm it’s kinda dry, it’s kinda dull just half an hour ago. Beautiful beautiful storytelling. Worth every cent I spent on the copy. Poor Things - I bought this one on the trip too. It was an impulse buy because the selection was huge, I was short on time. I saw it, I recognized the title and Emma Stone’s face, I recalled that it was something unconventional, I committed and paid. I don’t even know when was the last time I was this happy with a purchase. The book is delightfully creative (yes I’m 100% sold on the fiction masquerading as fact genre), unpredictable, endearing but also macabre (and I’m 100% not sold on Victorian gothic) in the best way possible. I wholeheartedly recommend it and I couldn’t have chosen better in that odd 10 minutes I spent in the bookshop. Empire - I listened to this because the Ascent of Money is only available in an abridged version on audible, so I thought, let’s try this one. I learned a lot, I enjoyed the style. So I went on a Niall Ferguson bender and listened to… The Square and The Tower - this one was a bit convoluted for my brain, and I did get lost on his train of thought more often than not. The basic concept of hierarchies v networks was interesting enough though. Still determined to find a full version of Ascent of Money to listen to. So after all this, Audible recommended to me… Centuries of Change and Ian Mortimer instantly became my resident favorite historian. I loved this so much. Learned so much, was so happy with perspective, the structured, methodical approach, the style, the myth debunking. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Which led me to… Medieval Horizons - which is a slightly different arch and structure but mostly the same perspective, trivia, message, etc. enjoyed this one a lot too. I do thing centuries of change is a better written book if one goes down the rabbit hole, and doubles down on the topic, this one’s worth the listen as well.

Well stated.

I’m saying three things… I support living artists and their work. I oppose stealing from them via LLMs. I don’t believe LLMs create anything but output. Disagree all you like.

Sigh https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/18/24133870/us-air-force-ai-dogfight-test-x-62a

The problem is that the experience with the Kherson Bridges demonstrated that bringing down a bridge semi-permanently is actually pretty hard. It's easy if you can plant explosives on it, but otherwise whatever you send has the potential to just go right through and cause only modest damage. You can attack the supports, but those are both fairly small and very solid so you need a lot of explosives to bring one down. So you need a strike that is: 1. Capable of covering the ~100 miles of distance to the bridge 2. Is accurate enough to hit individual supports 3. Carries a large enough warhead to destroy said support 4. Can evade Russian defenses concentrated around the bridge Putting all those things together is a pretty challenging task. Back in 2022 a truck with hundreds of kilos of explosives went off on the bridge, and that knocked traffic out for a few months, but didn't do significant damage to any of the supports. So you're talking about needing a bigger explosion than that, which limits your options pretty significantly.