Incoherent musings on artificial intelligence

I've been thnking about AI again, like I often do.

I think my continued ruminations come from a pretty deep desire to see the good in the current situation, to feel like there's a lot to love in what ever current moment we're in. And so I contstantly reevaluate AI, hoping there's SOMETHING I'm missing.

But I don't really think there is.

I don't know what to call myself, but I'm some sort of artist. I am constantly emersed in the worlds of other people, and often times trying to make my own. I've always been this way. But what always stuck out to me was the people who made the stuff I love. I was 7 years old watching Dave Filoni talk about the production process on my Star Wars: Clone Wars DVDs. And I think it's because, deep down, I knew I wanted to do that when I grew up.

And here we are now.

Not to evoke Haoyo Miyazaki at every turn, but I do genuinely agree with his sentiment that we humans are losing faith in ourself. We're becoming so caught up in this one creation that we don't see the need to make anymore. We don't see the beauty in the ways we work, but instead simply with to do things in the most efficient, money saving way as possible.

I don't feel qualified to give definitive statements here, but I know for myself, I really care about how something is made. The tools used, the reasons why those tools were chosen, the reason someone made that in the first place. You lose a lot of that when making stuff with AI. I won't say there aren't valid usecases, I can understand why people would use AI for some stuff, like brainstorming or organization. But I feel like when you outsource your proccess to these things, a lot of the beauty is lost. The humanity is gone.

For example, this post right here. I think part of what makes it fun and cool is the way I'm making it. I had forgotten to post something today, and ALMOST didn't. But I decided to sit down and type out what's on the mind. However, I didn't want to boot my computer back up. So, I'm writing this all on my iPad, using an app called A-Shell, which mimics the command line enviroment I would write this in normally. I used this program a good bit in the past, sometimes to mess around with coding stuff, but also just as a writing tool. I really like vim, the program I learned to write code in. I actually journaled in it for awhile. I've thought about doing that again now, or even writing full drafts in here. but I feel like that's me purposfully clinging onto worse technology. But at the end of the day, does that matter?

If the way I make art doesn't reflect myself, my own humanity, what's the point? I don't mean to sound snobby or elitist, but I think this is what seperates the artists from the creators. Everything I make, I want to reflect me. Not because I think I'm SOOOO AWESOME or anything. But I'm a human, and I think humans are a damn cool thing, and I want to reflect that coolness in everything I do. The more religiously minded might say I'm made in the image of God, and am trying to shine that light on others. I think those both work.

all this said, I don't know what I'll do if all creatives push themselves to adopt AI and forget their archaic ways. I don't know who I'll look up to anymore, or more importantly, who the next generation will aspire to be. All I know is that, if I wasn't dying to make cool stuff like Dave Filoni when I was a kid, I probably wouldn't be writing this right now. Instead I'd be a garbage person, or maybe a pastor? Those don't sound too bad. But they're not the person who's writing this post right now, and that's what matters.


....


Damn, I dunno if that was readible or not. Maybe I got a little off track? Either way, thank you for reading these sloppy thoughts on what might end up being the coolest thing since sliced bread. Hmm, what thing? I dunno....

Until next time,

MJ

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