oh stacey, firstly, i am so sorry for your loss of your mother. she was blessed to have you in her life. and death. your piece helps many who have had similar experiences feel comfort and confirmation in their pain...that they are not alone. especially if their mothers were wonderful. i too felt your pain and experience. this year...3 years?...has been such a confluence of shit; for you,the country and world. AI may become useful. Roses will still fill my lungs with joy. Mondavi cab will still satiate my tongue. my daughter's hug will still bring me touch, frangrance, heartbeats. i hope that and AI are not mutuallye xclusive. most of all, your amazing writing gives me such hope. and such confidence that good peopel will prevail and make right.
This post has a certain symmetry with my own life. As Erin and I are enjoying vacation in Toronto, my mother-in-law in in the end stages of dementia in a group foster home in Longview, WA. We were worried for a time that she might die while we're in Canada. While it doesn't appear that will happen, her demise is not far off. MIL is/was an amazing woman, and I'm glad I got to know her before her mind began its descent into its Dante-esque version of Hell. While one sharp as a tack, she's now a shell of her former self, physically and mentally.
I miss MIL, because though her body is still with us, her mind has long since departed the premises. It's sad watching someone you love being destroyed by something that robs them of every shred of their essence and leaves them an empty vessel waiting for death to claim them.
The end of a life well lived is often a grossly unfair and untidy process that leaves loved ones in a place of pain, sorrow, and intense, extended grief. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
I want to add that your writing about your mother's death and the redemption you experienced and so beautifully described and the comment on the statue as soulless resonated. The weaving together of the deeply personal and starkly impersonal makes AI that much more to be feared and rejected. I am sorry for your loss, Stacey and for the presence you brought to your mother, a gift for both of you. Betsy
Stacey, first-rate condemnation of AI. This week is Anti-Nuclear protest week across the nation (world?) and I turned up at a rally in front of the office of one of Washington State's Congresspersons, Adam Smith. He has a long track record and serves on these committees, hence he is a man to lobby. Tactical Air and Land Forces. ...
Military Personnel. ...
Seapower and Projection Forces. ...
Strategic Forces. ...
Intelligence and Special Operations. ...
Readiness. ...
Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems.
I was the last of three speakers. The first, an earnest University of Washington young employee activist whose talk brought well-crafted arguments and statistics to an audience of 11. He read his closely typed paper. The second speech was by a recently retired professor in Public Health who has taught courses like War and Health and sponsored many undergraduates in hands-on research quantifying the effects of all aspects of war on the health of people and whole communities. She asked AI to generate her 5-minute speech. It did a remarkable job, bringing the facts succinctly to the fore and targeting Adam Smith's record accurately. We were impressed.
When I was my turn to speak, I had no paper, no particular facts other than 'in the 80s a nuclear submarine with enough firepower to destroy most major cities in the world, steamed into Puget Sound. 45,000 people reacted by declaring Seattle to be a Target and asking what could we do about it. We now have 8 such submarines, the largest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world and we are 12 at this rally. Everyone knows this is terrible. No one is talking about it. We must care enough to talk to each other, to our children, our neighbors, our grandchildren. We vote. We are still a democracy. Action is the best antidote to despair.' No one remembers the other speeches. People thanked me for speaking truth from the heart. AI can never do that. Thanks for your article.
As humanity races towards AI with arms wide open, little does it realize that it's embracing it's enslavers.
Humanity will become the disposable automatons of "Metropolis" or the soulless bodies that go through the pretending of being human in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"
Your spot on, DEVO had it right. AI is a plastacism that seems to slowly creep into one’s soul and mind, eventually rendering it lazy and useless. It’s essentially like processed food that the body has to painstakingly digest. It tastes good until you feel it eating your insides.
Well, Stacey, one thing is for damn sure. No AI, even in its evolved state years from now will be able to write about your mother's dying, yours and your family's care for her, the profound impact it had on you, how forgiveness opens a door to a future that would not otherwise come into existence, and how your evocations generate the feelings that are evoked in others - all humans - who face such hard losses. That's Art.
As to AI, let me, with my own insufficient intelligence recall this line for Mr Shakespeare's Julius Caeser: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
AI, not being human, has no human responsibility for itself. No guilt. It produces and will produce ersatz stuff that will make it past the gates of discernment (or non-discernment) because the gates are wide-open. These past 60 years have prepared the human mind to accept non-Art as Art, especially the North American mind where everyone from the highest to the lowest have access to all media, even if the devices some people use are from a bargain basement and those with more money from the Apple Store.
The human population could NOTIONALLY save itself from extinction by AI, but we can't and won't. The hypercapitalist corporations who own the means of production AND the political apparatus, is already free-wheeling itself down the AI highway for market share and profit. Whose going to stop the them?
Humanity may not be at the death rattle stage now, but the cancer has set in and it will get us someday. Well, not me. My due date is not that far off.
The whole thing is a source of considerable despair for me. Real creators, real artists, will get pushed aside for "content" that can be ginned up without having to pay anyone for it.
The other thing that distresses me is how it is entrenching Descartes' error into our culture -- that there are two fundamentally different kinds of "stuff" in the world, mind "stuff" and body "stuff," and never the twain shall meet. We'd been making a little progress against this nonsense (which, by the way, I don't fault Descartes for; I fault the people who ought, by now, know better.) Feminist philosophers have worked especially hard at getting people to recognize the *embodiedness* of our existence. Much can also be attributed to John Dewey as well (many feminist scholars mention him explicitly.) I suppose I could mention the fat Nazi fuck as well, but I won't.
AI, of course, has no body. It is not integrated into the world in anything even remotely like an organism in an environment. It is this latter that is absolutely essential for the *real*ization of genuine intelligence.
(By the bye, I can imagine an argument making the point that there are analogous grounds for why rightwing extremists who attended Harvard are themselves failing to manifest any genuine intelligence: the mere *schooling* they've acquired (as opposed to genuine *education*) is all fragmented, siloed, dis-integrated, existing externally to the world rather than organically embedded in it. Hence, the vicious imposition of mindless, savage ideology decoupled from the person and the personal.)
Good news though on AI and art the recent SCOTUS Warhol decision is going to rise up and bite it where it dòes hurt. Its creator's wallets. There is no way AI can argue it is creating art it is onky creating commerce. As a result? The original artists? Can sue their ass. Its copyright infringement.
Good news though on AI and art the recent SCOTUS Warhol decision is going to rise up and bite it where it dòes hurt. Its creator's wallets. There is no way AI can argue it is creating art it is onky creating commerce. As a result? The original artists? Can sue their ass. Its copyright infringement.
oh stacey, firstly, i am so sorry for your loss of your mother. she was blessed to have you in her life. and death. your piece helps many who have had similar experiences feel comfort and confirmation in their pain...that they are not alone. especially if their mothers were wonderful. i too felt your pain and experience. this year...3 years?...has been such a confluence of shit; for you,the country and world. AI may become useful. Roses will still fill my lungs with joy. Mondavi cab will still satiate my tongue. my daughter's hug will still bring me touch, frangrance, heartbeats. i hope that and AI are not mutuallye xclusive. most of all, your amazing writing gives me such hope. and such confidence that good peopel will prevail and make right.
This post has a certain symmetry with my own life. As Erin and I are enjoying vacation in Toronto, my mother-in-law in in the end stages of dementia in a group foster home in Longview, WA. We were worried for a time that she might die while we're in Canada. While it doesn't appear that will happen, her demise is not far off. MIL is/was an amazing woman, and I'm glad I got to know her before her mind began its descent into its Dante-esque version of Hell. While one sharp as a tack, she's now a shell of her former self, physically and mentally.
I miss MIL, because though her body is still with us, her mind has long since departed the premises. It's sad watching someone you love being destroyed by something that robs them of every shred of their essence and leaves them an empty vessel waiting for death to claim them.
The end of a life well lived is often a grossly unfair and untidy process that leaves loved ones in a place of pain, sorrow, and intense, extended grief. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
I feel your pain.
Beautifully done, Stacey. You're a great f'in writer. I am taking bets on when AI will, like Skynet, become self-aware. God help us all.
I want to add that your writing about your mother's death and the redemption you experienced and so beautifully described and the comment on the statue as soulless resonated. The weaving together of the deeply personal and starkly impersonal makes AI that much more to be feared and rejected. I am sorry for your loss, Stacey and for the presence you brought to your mother, a gift for both of you. Betsy
Stacey, first-rate condemnation of AI. This week is Anti-Nuclear protest week across the nation (world?) and I turned up at a rally in front of the office of one of Washington State's Congresspersons, Adam Smith. He has a long track record and serves on these committees, hence he is a man to lobby. Tactical Air and Land Forces. ...
Military Personnel. ...
Seapower and Projection Forces. ...
Strategic Forces. ...
Intelligence and Special Operations. ...
Readiness. ...
Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems.
I was the last of three speakers. The first, an earnest University of Washington young employee activist whose talk brought well-crafted arguments and statistics to an audience of 11. He read his closely typed paper. The second speech was by a recently retired professor in Public Health who has taught courses like War and Health and sponsored many undergraduates in hands-on research quantifying the effects of all aspects of war on the health of people and whole communities. She asked AI to generate her 5-minute speech. It did a remarkable job, bringing the facts succinctly to the fore and targeting Adam Smith's record accurately. We were impressed.
When I was my turn to speak, I had no paper, no particular facts other than 'in the 80s a nuclear submarine with enough firepower to destroy most major cities in the world, steamed into Puget Sound. 45,000 people reacted by declaring Seattle to be a Target and asking what could we do about it. We now have 8 such submarines, the largest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world and we are 12 at this rally. Everyone knows this is terrible. No one is talking about it. We must care enough to talk to each other, to our children, our neighbors, our grandchildren. We vote. We are still a democracy. Action is the best antidote to despair.' No one remembers the other speeches. People thanked me for speaking truth from the heart. AI can never do that. Thanks for your article.
As humanity races towards AI with arms wide open, little does it realize that it's embracing it's enslavers.
Humanity will become the disposable automatons of "Metropolis" or the soulless bodies that go through the pretending of being human in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"
Your spot on, DEVO had it right. AI is a plastacism that seems to slowly creep into one’s soul and mind, eventually rendering it lazy and useless. It’s essentially like processed food that the body has to painstakingly digest. It tastes good until you feel it eating your insides.
Well, Stacey, one thing is for damn sure. No AI, even in its evolved state years from now will be able to write about your mother's dying, yours and your family's care for her, the profound impact it had on you, how forgiveness opens a door to a future that would not otherwise come into existence, and how your evocations generate the feelings that are evoked in others - all humans - who face such hard losses. That's Art.
As to AI, let me, with my own insufficient intelligence recall this line for Mr Shakespeare's Julius Caeser: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
AI, not being human, has no human responsibility for itself. No guilt. It produces and will produce ersatz stuff that will make it past the gates of discernment (or non-discernment) because the gates are wide-open. These past 60 years have prepared the human mind to accept non-Art as Art, especially the North American mind where everyone from the highest to the lowest have access to all media, even if the devices some people use are from a bargain basement and those with more money from the Apple Store.
The human population could NOTIONALLY save itself from extinction by AI, but we can't and won't. The hypercapitalist corporations who own the means of production AND the political apparatus, is already free-wheeling itself down the AI highway for market share and profit. Whose going to stop the them?
Humanity may not be at the death rattle stage now, but the cancer has set in and it will get us someday. Well, not me. My due date is not that far off.
What the statue reminded me of most was the Terminator T-1000 https://wallpapercave.com/wp/wp8008021.jpg
The whole thing is a source of considerable despair for me. Real creators, real artists, will get pushed aside for "content" that can be ginned up without having to pay anyone for it.
The other thing that distresses me is how it is entrenching Descartes' error into our culture -- that there are two fundamentally different kinds of "stuff" in the world, mind "stuff" and body "stuff," and never the twain shall meet. We'd been making a little progress against this nonsense (which, by the way, I don't fault Descartes for; I fault the people who ought, by now, know better.) Feminist philosophers have worked especially hard at getting people to recognize the *embodiedness* of our existence. Much can also be attributed to John Dewey as well (many feminist scholars mention him explicitly.) I suppose I could mention the fat Nazi fuck as well, but I won't.
AI, of course, has no body. It is not integrated into the world in anything even remotely like an organism in an environment. It is this latter that is absolutely essential for the *real*ization of genuine intelligence.
(By the bye, I can imagine an argument making the point that there are analogous grounds for why rightwing extremists who attended Harvard are themselves failing to manifest any genuine intelligence: the mere *schooling* they've acquired (as opposed to genuine *education*) is all fragmented, siloed, dis-integrated, existing externally to the world rather than organically embedded in it. Hence, the vicious imposition of mindless, savage ideology decoupled from the person and the personal.)
Good news though on AI and art the recent SCOTUS Warhol decision is going to rise up and bite it where it dòes hurt. Its creator's wallets. There is no way AI can argue it is creating art it is onky creating commerce. As a result? The original artists? Can sue their ass. Its copyright infringement.
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/05/1197609729/prince-warhol-goldsmith-supreme-court?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20230926&utm_term=8979601&utm_campaign=money&utm_id=39434457&orgid=&utm_att1=
Good news though on AI and art the recent SCOTUS Warhol decision is going to rise up and bite it where it dòes hurt. Its creator's wallets. There is no way AI can argue it is creating art it is onky creating commerce. As a result? The original artists? Can sue their ass. Its copyright infringement.
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/05/1197609729/prince-warhol-goldsmith-supreme-court?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20230926&utm_term=8979601&utm_campaign=money&utm_id=39434457&orgid=&utm_att1=