Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2025 09:11:47 +0000
From: marc.garrett via NetBehaviour <netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org>
To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
<netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org>
Cc: marc.garrett <marc.garr...@protonmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] Moar AI
Hi Alan,
What you're saying highlights an immense amount of waste driven by
uncaring forms of imperialist-driven capitalism. And yes, we all
know the self-appointed, pretentious "gods of the future" not only
intend to keep polluting the Earth for their own gains ? they're
already polluting space as we speak. So, living with trouble and
swilling in their shit will be the future chosen for everyone by
the overlords.
However, as I'm sure you agree, we need to continue exploring old
and new ways and hybrid notions and ventures to be who we are both
independently and together.
We have all been living in territories dominated by dumbasses and
their hegemonic needs for a long time now and have grown
accustomed (grudgingly) to adapt in some way even though it is
bleak and despairing to have to change in accordance their whims
all of the time.
Furtherfield's not disappearing for a while, we're 'stubborn and
pigheaded and cute' enough to know what's valuable and tangible.
While others pay lip service and bow to the (pretend) gods of
top-down tedium, we'll always be confusing them and annoying them
and their accepted forms of structural nihilism.
We need to remind ourselves that not everyone is a zombie; we're
the solution.
Wishing you well
Marc
++++++++++
On Tuesday, 1 April 2025 at 15:34, Alan Sondheim via NetBehaviour
<netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote:
Just to add a note - rust. I'm from the anthracite
region of Pennsylvania, and have watched the
deterioration of mines, communities, environments,
etc. over decades.
Things rust, fall apart; the streets in my neighborhood
collapse at times as a result of the underground structures
giving away. That's another model, not objects and
processes, but runoffs and piles (some of which have been
burning for over a century). So a geological model, not
artworks but sludge, not networks but breaking points, no
matter what the networks are. There are ruins everywhere and
the amount for example of toxic electronic debris in the
U.S. is enormous -
On Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 6:29?AM marc.garrett via NetBehaviour
<netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote:
Hi Rhea,
I enjoyed reading 'Complaint in the Age of its
Operationalization. '
I am encouraged that you find much of anything related
to Musk cringeworthy.
"They are cringe because everything Musk does is
cringe. They are yet another product of a needy,
try-hard, middle-aged man-child nerd?s desperation for
love and attention, to be one of the popular kids,
even and especially as a de facto dictator. If the gap
between power and the expression of desire defines
cringe, Musk is the
Black-Scholes-being-hit-by-negative-prices of cringe."
The man-child's power to demolish anything he fancies
is a harsh reminder that people and communities online
are vulnerable when they rely on the master's tools to
build shared values on platforms built by
corporations. It's a warning that if we rely too
heavily on these corporate platforms and tools, we
risk cultural erosion and the loss of years of
hard-earned, mutually beneficial relationships with
others.
"When considering the problem of fakes in art, Goodman
uses examples of forged paintings being revealed in
order to argue that we cannot know which features of
an artwork will affect its authenticity in the future.
These aren?t a matter of chemical or radiological
analysis of images, although these developments have
certainly revealed an increasing number of fakes in
recent years. Rather it is a matter of looking at the
artwork and considering it in a different light."
Social media platforms have been flooded with the
AI-generated trend dubbed the ?Ghiblification? "with
people transforming personal photos, memes and even
historical images into visuals reminiscent of Studio
Ghibli?s art style. Users also generated and shared
other iconic visual aesthetics ? from Disney, Pixar,
Lego, The Simpsons, and Dr. Seuss, as well as vintage
styles such as those of Rankin/Bass (Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer) [...]. The real danger of current
AI trends lies not just in fakes, ethics or automation
but in the silent heat rising from countless
overworked servers. As AI use skyrockets, so does its
environmental impact, and that's a growing concern we
can no longer afford to ignore.
"We are not entitled to live off the epistemic passive
income from our investment in a romantic understanding
of human uniqueness."
Completely agree. Deals with the nature of our
knowledge in its own right is 'probably' as akin as
anything in its own right, art, technology, sex, war,
food, etc. Everything is attached to a set of other
elements, never in the singular. That purity died
along with the romanticism of genius propped up by
deluded visions of post-modernity and colonial
defaults. However, these romanticisms still exist in
our everyday lives and networked forms, rebuilding
from the top down and reproducing the backward,
masculine defaults and structures promoted, funded,
and maintained through technological protocols and
their underlying elite systems.
"It is a failure of critical imagination to simply
object to a product?s fulfilment of the limited terms
chosen for its initial promotion. It is like a cat
chasing a red dot on the floor and feeling pleased
with themself when they catch it. While screaming at
anyone who points out that the dot is coming from
somewhere and that lasers have other more interesting
uses."
My position is not as a puritan or an absolutist. I
know that if we?re going to be using networked
technology these days, AI will be involved in some
way. However, I see AI's massive shift in our culture
worldwide as a political form of digital colonialism.
Still, it would be disingenuous to ignore that
technology has always been used to exploit others,
simultaneously bringing positive benefits. My job here
is to identify the positives, negatives, and grey
areas of this accelerating, ubiquitous medium, which
many people use daily in various life activities.
My guide or critical palette for assessing and
navigating through all this is an assemblage of chosen
methodologies that help me understand where the works
I?m examining sit within a broader cultural context. For
example, I view these artworks from a permacultural,
political, ethical, class, and intersectional
perspective. Alongside these key elements, I bring
years of working with art, technology, and social
change to the table.
My focus is: What are these artworks doing, and are
they doing what they claim to do? And if they are
doing what they say, what does this mean, and is this
enough? What would the work look like if the artists
took their propositions and intentions towards a more
critical awareness, openness and ethical standing?
This isn?t to suggest that by critiquing this work, my
peers, allies, and I hold all the answers. At what
cost are these artworks made? By examining the
function, aesthetics, technology, motives, and
narratives (abstract, conceptual, or not) of these
artworks more deeply, we can better understand where
the artists stand creatively, ecologically,
politically, and culturally. This will help me reflect
on my and others' relationship with art and AI and
what that relationship truly means.
Wishing you well.
Marc
On Friday, 28 March 2025 at 03:52, Rhea Myers via
NetBehaviour <netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org>
wrote:
Slop, ghibliization, and the cringe of the
Musk administration -
https://rhea.art/2025/03/27/complaint-in-the-age-of-its-operation
alization/
_______________________________________________
NetBehaviour mailing list
NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org
https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
--
=====================================================
directory http://www.alansondheim.org tel 347-383-8552
email sondheim ut panix.com, sondheim ut gmail.com
=====================================================
