@Heather Tobin 

https://victoriamakris.com/...

Are we asking useful questions about instant, art-creating, AI tools?

By VM/  March 28, 2023

I just saw a story in a Facebook group about how one man lost everything that made him love his job through Midjourney, overnight. I suspect we are going to see many more stories like this, yet I’m excited about the meaningful questions that will emerge in this special kind of pressure-cooker, the HI vs. AI container. Maybe we can utilize these types of stories to evoke effective, but not all-consuming use of these tools?

In a way I don’t want to even entertain the use of instant artistic AI and instead support developing groups of people whose art comes from the programming of their hearts, souls and skills, rather than the soul-less tool slowly making large amounts of people and the connection with creation, irrelevant; Create new businesses that want to support people like the guy in the post because of the inherent knowing and principle that the deep growth that occurs in the manual process enriches the character and utility of a person across many metrics, and adds a depth to the creation process, capacity of the brain and personal consciousness that makes us so uniquely human.

It’s such a double-edge sword and makes me question that even though we (as a collective) CAN use end-to-end AI art design tools, are we better-off, happier, more evolved humans and society by doing so? Maybe we are in some ways, maybe not. This almost feels like a test.

We have the tool. People are using Midjourney and similar, and some people are not. Will society break out into smaller sub-groups and clicks, ultimately favoring those creators that use Midjourney and the like because of its ease, speed, and profitability? Will this make that group among the most successful, happy and thriving? Maybe, maybe not.

What happens when you take away manual processes? What happened when fewer people gardened and grew their own food due to industrial agriculture? What happened to human health when people started driving to get their food, rather than engage in the process and physical activity, themselves? What types of connections to nature (which humans are a part of) do we forfeit, and does it matter?  To whom do these things matter?

What happened when the industrial revolution was introduced as a new model of production? What happens when we outsource the bright thoughts of our creativity to a clever, quick, cunning tool? Do we become more fulfilled humans and lead better-quality lives, more tapped into what matters most to us?

Do we follow suit with our normal human trends of instant gratification knowing others are using it and potentially gaining higher and better short-term profits? I don’t have the answer for myself yet. What is the cost/benefit comparison between manual art and auto art? I will work on this.

I know that when I take short cuts on key learning’s, creations, and tasks, I feel relief and sometimes thrill in the moment, but after taking many shortcuts, I begin to wonder if it is I and my capacity to organically create, think, and process that is depleting in lieu of my time. Does incorporating more and more tools of convenience so I can accomplish more in less time, and make my personal shortcomings irrelevant, solve a greater problem for me and others, or add to the problems that I will one day need to face and work to solve later on?

@Heather Tobin 

Conceptualization of The Tesseract

I recommend listening to this soundtrack as you read on: https://youtu.be/zm2F3R-aMk8

The Tesseract as seen in the movie Interstellar, may be the best possible multi-sensory simulation of reality outside of this 3-D world – you know that scene in the bedroom on the other side of the bookshelf? Maybe there is a game or virtual reality data set that will place reality into the constructs of various complex shapes in order to make visual, the unknown. 

The Tesseract unfolds into 8 cubes. What if we were to explore a visualization of our reality into other shapes? What about the hexagon, the ‘best-agon’ or 10 or 12 sided shapes? What shapes and visualizations bring us closer to a fuller explanation of what is happening here? 

As we continue to inhabit a landscape of countless perceptions, and cautiously move forward with AI, the frontiers of my heart and mind search for meaning with a new-to-me-intensity; almost as if the life of my very being depends upon it. And as so poetically shared in Interstellar soundtrack, “Do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Do not go gentle into that good night

Dylan Thomas - 1914-1953

Do not go gentle into that good night,
 Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
 Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
 
 Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
 Because their words had forked no lightning they
 Do not go gentle into that good night.
 
 Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
 Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
 Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
 
 Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
 And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
 Do not go gentle into that good night.
 
 Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
 Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
 Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
 
 And you, my father, there on the sad height,
 Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
 Do not go gentle into that good night.
 Rage, rage against the dying of the light.