Blah blah AI no creativity, whatever, blah.
It’s still fun.
Stderr
All the unbuffered error messages
Blah blah AI no creativity, whatever, blah.
It’s still fun.
I’m on both sides of the fence about things like the world cup. For one thing, it’s a joy to see that humans can perform at such a level, but on the other, it seems to me like a complete kill off of any joy in the sport. Joy, which is often replaced by the ugliest form of nationalism. [I just accidentally put my finger on why I found the Norwegian team to be so charming] I also found the World Cup to be a bit disgusting, given that some of the nations involved are cheerfully performing crimes against humanity, while the others appear to be setting that aside, because, yes, the players practiced a lot. I think none of that really holds much water, because the players aren’t amateurs who are giving their lives to sport – they are professionals, who are gambling that they will make millions of dollars if they perform well.
It’s a scary moment, when you realize that nationalism is a pack of lies, like religion and being a sports fan. For me, it was slow-dawning but got a strong boost when I was in the army (1983-9, basic and reserve) the wastage and stupidity began to sink in on me and I was reading a lot of the history of other countries. It’s hard not to read stuff like The Best and The Brightest [worldcat] and start to realize that the author is not just pointing out that the emperor’s new clothes show a lot of skin, but so do all of his wise senior advisors. So, how did such a bunch of idiots accomplish this? Then, you realize that behind every Bonaparte is a Talleyrand. Behind every Trump is a Miller. And they create the sweet-smelling bullshit we are all fed as we grow up. What really did it for me was reading Howard Zinn’s A People’s History, [worldcat] which – my offer still stands – I will give anyone a copy of if they ask for it politely.
Reading Zinn caused me to shift my interest in history a few points to the side of where it had been focused straight on military history, and I began re-reading my favorite military histories and thinking about the political context. And/or wondering how it was pitched at the time.
I have been watching, with some horror, the spiraling descent of facebook and instagram, etc. The whole situation reminds me of an historical event that bore some similarity.
But it’s not, I swear! As far as I recall, the number of products or services that I have actually gotten excited about is, maybe, a dozen. I suppose that’s a side-effect of living in the past, where if someone comes up and wants to show me a new Tactical(r) self-defense cane, I’m going to be comparing it to long-established products like the Henschel VK4501 (aka “King Tiger”) which is almost certainly superior unless you are going on a plane.
I used to love fashion. It flows from my love of art, design, and craft – some of the outfits from the high end of the couture world are just amazing. The Fashion Museum at the Met is a mandatory destination whenever I’m in New York, and I’ve managed to catch some of the big shows like The Age of Napoleon and the Heavenly Bodies show. [met] But after last year, when Kim Kardashian managed to pack her gigantic butt into a dress originally fitted for Marilyn Monroe, I began to see the event as a desert of decadence, mostly notable for the tremendous amount of elective plastic surgery on display.
[Content Warning: Highly Indecent Erotic Art]
That’s one of the third rails of philosophy. It’s like starting a land war in Asia, when you’re not the Asian.
Many articles about “AI deepfake of Congressman Porkbelly fucking a Goat” are clearly fake …
This is a fairly well-known Peanuts strip:
Over at Pharyngula, [pha] Covert Master Provocateur xohjoh2n mentioned a Midjourney prompt about Robert Smith of The Cure, in the style of Titian.