The Society of the Spectacle but with each person in their own pod, not watching the collective spectacle but taking part in generating it. Thanks Stephen
I agree with most of the diagnosis of SotS. It was a huge influence. But these days, within technocapitalism even Debord seems stuck in the 19th century belief in 'use value'. Still, I love his films too and the second wave situationist film made by the Americans - "Call It Sleep". It has an amazing section on the modern consumer-leftist called "The Cadre". https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/isaac-cronin-and-terrel-seltzer-call-it-sleep
Oh,I haven't heard of 'Call it Sleep'. I'll check that out,thanks Ewan. Guy Debord is a major influence on my ideas. Great talk in Paisley BTW. It was me who asked for more Notes to Self after talk. Lol.
"One of the unforeseen results of this liberatory technology is that there are now no unifying cultural products"
Nice! I have written about this as a potential consequence as well. I don't think hardly anyone perceives it. A trend toward isolation and disconnection from other human beings.
Yes, thanks for your comment btw. This has been troubling me. If everyone uses Gen AI to make their little film clips, then everyone enters the long tail market, a million people with a product each and one viewer - the collective experience of art vanishes - which was the very opposite - a million people taking in one art work.
Yes, there are so many non-obvious ramifications. It is not clear exactly what will be the response. People want to feel connection, are they really going to feel it just from machines? Some may fall for that illusion, but I think many will feel it is hollow.
But the mass generation of everything makes it harder to connect. It is just so much noise. Nobody can consume it all. We can now produce orders of magnitude more than anyone could ever consume.
You forgot to add that if any artist or ai "artist" post something vaguely valuable it will be directly ingested into the Machine and imlediately devaluated. As art is devaluated, human mind is having a life meaning crisis too.
I am haunted by thoughts of early cinema built on the back of a commedia tradition via vaudeville and music hall wherein success was based on craft yes and relationships. Relationships of performer to audience, of ensuring that special effects were choreographed in real time and there was an interdependence between performer and crew - and the sharing of the outcome was a community event when people’s living conditions were too crowded for socialising. Now we just plug in.
AI art and music embody hyperreality, crafting simulations that blur authenticity, creativity, and reality. As simulations dominate cultural expression, they redefine how we experience art in a tech-driven world.
AI art and music reflect the abolition of referents by severing the traditional link between creative works and their grounding in human experience or reality. This phenomenon exemplifies hyperreality, where simulations dominate cultural production, raising critical questions about authenticity, creativity, and the future role of humans in artistic expression.
The Society of the Spectacle but with each person in their own pod, not watching the collective spectacle but taking part in generating it. Thanks Stephen
it is hyperreal
It truly will be the Society of the Spectacle. Art finally will be dead.
I agree with most of the diagnosis of SotS. It was a huge influence. But these days, within technocapitalism even Debord seems stuck in the 19th century belief in 'use value'. Still, I love his films too and the second wave situationist film made by the Americans - "Call It Sleep". It has an amazing section on the modern consumer-leftist called "The Cadre". https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/isaac-cronin-and-terrel-seltzer-call-it-sleep
Oh,I haven't heard of 'Call it Sleep'. I'll check that out,thanks Ewan. Guy Debord is a major influence on my ideas. Great talk in Paisley BTW. It was me who asked for more Notes to Self after talk. Lol.
"One of the unforeseen results of this liberatory technology is that there are now no unifying cultural products"
Nice! I have written about this as a potential consequence as well. I don't think hardly anyone perceives it. A trend toward isolation and disconnection from other human beings.
Yes, thanks for your comment btw. This has been troubling me. If everyone uses Gen AI to make their little film clips, then everyone enters the long tail market, a million people with a product each and one viewer - the collective experience of art vanishes - which was the very opposite - a million people taking in one art work.
Yes, there are so many non-obvious ramifications. It is not clear exactly what will be the response. People want to feel connection, are they really going to feel it just from machines? Some may fall for that illusion, but I think many will feel it is hollow.
But the mass generation of everything makes it harder to connect. It is just so much noise. Nobody can consume it all. We can now produce orders of magnitude more than anyone could ever consume.
A very brief thought I capture in the following "There has never been more being said than right now. However, nobody is listening." - https://www.mindprison.cc/p/when-we-can-hear-nothing-amidst-the-noise
many thanks, I'll read this right away.
You forgot to add that if any artist or ai "artist" post something vaguely valuable it will be directly ingested into the Machine and imlediately devaluated. As art is devaluated, human mind is having a life meaning crisis too.
yes, agreed, meaning collapses with Generative AI. We move from making art to just consuming it, and it becomes temporary
. Next, next, next. indifference takes over.
I am haunted by thoughts of early cinema built on the back of a commedia tradition via vaudeville and music hall wherein success was based on craft yes and relationships. Relationships of performer to audience, of ensuring that special effects were choreographed in real time and there was an interdependence between performer and crew - and the sharing of the outcome was a community event when people’s living conditions were too crowded for socialising. Now we just plug in.
Excellent post Ewan, excited for the copy of latest buddy 🤌
Cheers, Keith. Things are gathering speed, culture wise. It feels like we're coming to a big showdown or even a bubble burst.
AI art and music embody hyperreality, crafting simulations that blur authenticity, creativity, and reality. As simulations dominate cultural expression, they redefine how we experience art in a tech-driven world.
AI art and music reflect the abolition of referents by severing the traditional link between creative works and their grounding in human experience or reality. This phenomenon exemplifies hyperreality, where simulations dominate cultural production, raising critical questions about authenticity, creativity, and the future role of humans in artistic expression.
You’re spot on - this is Baudrillard land, the original is lost and the frenzy of simulation and hybridisation becomes the new source material.