Luddites vs. Loom Machines —
There’s a lot to be worried about in this late-stage of capitalism and humans.. AI infiltrating art itself, for example.
What humans need is a universal agreement that technology != art. We need to separate art and technology. We’ve got to understand again that the value of art is that it is created by humans as a self-expression; something to relate to as a species, something to ponder, to digest, to appreciate.
AI is a creation of humans, yes. So in a way it may be seen as an extension of a human’s artistic expression. I guess I can see it as something similar to creating an algorithm that generates fractal style artwork based on mathematical equations. It’s nice to look at.
But on the other hand, my example above is far removed from generative AI based art. Mathematical equations != calculating a mean/average of what has been fed as input, from human-based art, and outputting an approximation which is *technically* unique, but 100% derivative… and not only derivative, but a derivative generated by a non-human. I don’t agree with this. It is timely taboo. I’m uncomfortable with it. We humans haven’t grasped or fleshed-out (no pun intended) the psychological differences between digesting art made by a human vs. software.
Of course, there are similar situations of past – let’s take drum machines, or perhaps Luddites vs. loom machines for example. Technology has always tread upon the shores of art and craftsmanship. This time it’s a bit more interesting as it’s the art itself that’s generated by non-humans, not just augmented or simplified by it.
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