Tag: Petite Singularity

A Hot Take On AI & Fiction

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One thing about the rise of AI and its impact on the arts is there is going to come a point where we’re going to know who who creates for the sake of creation and who doesn’t. It definitely SEEMS as though no part of the creative arts will be spared from the transformative power of AI.

As such, I think as early as 18 months from now, the first popular AI movies, songs, TV shows and…gulp…novels…will begin to appear. It could be even sooner, the way things are going. So, just as I’m in the middle of the querying process, it could be that the whole endeavor will be mooted by AI. And that doesn’t even begin to address the issue of how the fucking Fourth Turning might be happening at just about the same time.

Sometimes, you just can’t win.

I say all of this because I think a lot of creative people are deluding themselves when they think they can’t avoid the implications of AI by removing all their writing from Google Docs, or whatever. AI is careening towards us at an astonishing speed and we all have to manage our expectations. Either you feel compelled to create — despite the dangers of AI — or you don’t.

If you stop creating because of some abstract fear of AI, I believe you maybe weren’t all that creative in the first place.

Could Elon Musk Pull ‘X’ Off?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that Elon Musk has changed Twitter’s name, I can begin to imagine a scenario whereby he might manage to turn “X” into the “everything app.” He has vision, if nothing else.

But there is a huge obstacle to this particular situation — AI.

All this talk of turning X into the “everything app” seems very 2012, very passe. The AI era is careening towards us at an alarming rate and I would suggest that by late 2024 the effects of AI will start to be seen in the economy. All this talk of social media will be rather moot.

There was a moment in time when if Musk was doing what he’s doing now with Twitter / X that it really could put a “dent in the universe” but, lulz, I have my doubts now. In fact, if Musk really wants to do something interesting with X, I would propose he made an AI prompt native to the service. Now THAT would be a way to propel X to next-level status.

It definitely will be interesting to see how things play out. It’s at least possible that there really is a -very narrow – window of opportunity for Musk to transform Twitter / X into an “everything app.”

I still have my doubts, however.

AI-Generated Celebrity Images Are Getting Good Enough That We May Soon Seen A Deluge Of AI Celebrity Porn

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

They say that every new technological advancement is always used to make porn first and I think we’re careening towards a moment when we’re going to be flooded by AI-generated celebrity porn. We aren’t quite there yet — AI still can’t handle fingers — but I would say in about 18 months AI-generated celebrity porn will be every fucking where.

It is interesting that Emma Watson seems to be someone that all the horny nerds want to see with realistic, yet exaggerated proportions. In fact, to date, that has been one way I have been able to tell for sure that celebrity porn is fake — they all look like what some fucking horny nerd would like this or that female celebrity to look like.

A lot of female celebrities are popular because of their personality, just as much as they are for the size of of their bosom. And, yet, I keep seeing image after image on Twitter of Gal Gadot far more voluptuous than she is in real life. It will be interesting to see if, in 18 months when there is an obscene amount of AI-generated celebrity porn online, if the people generating it even try to stick to the actual dimensions of the women they so admire.

I have my doubts. Horny nerds can’t be stopped.

Of course, at some point in the near future, the law is going to step in. It seems clear that what to do about AI-generated celebrity porn is going to be one of the biggest tests of the courts. It definitely seems as though we’re careening towards a Petite Singularity just as The Fourth Turning is about to happen to us as well.

Good luck.

I’m At A Loss As To What To Think About Google Scraping Google Docs To Train AI

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There is nothing short of panic on Tik-Tok from writers like me who use Google Docs. A number of people have Tik-Tok have urgently suggested that all writers take all of their writing off of Google Docs immediately and use Word instead (or whatever.)

I find this very curious for a number of reasons.

I understand where these writers are coming from, and, yet, I’ve actually looked into the scraping Google is doing and it seems a little too late to worry about such things. Now only is AI everywhere now, but I just don’t know how much my writing is going to make a difference if Google is scraping the entirety of Google Docs to train their LLMs.

Some of the hysterical talk on Tik-Tok seems just that — hysterical doom shit that assumes there’s some way to prevent, completely one’s words from somehow, someway being used to train LLMs.

But I will at amit that I just don’t know. Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe if I just turn to Word I can somehow, magically, prevent anything I write from finding itself in the maw of AI.

At the moment, I’m taking a very measured wait-and-see approach. While I understand that if I keep my writing on Google Docs that it may, in some way, influence Google’s LLMs, it’s not like my, specific writing and ideas are going to magically pop up somewhere and be produced by Google Movies.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s exactly what is going to happen. I just don’t know at the moment.

A Hot Take On ‘Barbie’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was quite pleased with the Barbie movie for a number of reasons. It was pretty much the political sweetspot of what I generally believe about gender politics. I can see why conservatives might consider the movie “woke,” but, in general, it seemed like just a a good movie that told a good story.

That is what struck me about the nature of the movie — it was really good. I was impressed with Greta Gerwig’s storytelling ability. I have been a fan of hers since “Frances Ha” and I knew going into the movie that it was probably going to tell a silly story in an interesting way.

As an aside, I do think that the success of Barbie may — possibly — suggest that we’re about to have something to the mythical “vibe shift” that everyone was talking about in the recent past. It’s just a short jaunt to a more gritty mainstream movie. Though, I’ve given this a lot of thought and I just don’t think our society is at a point for the legendary type of movies of the early 70s to come back.

But it is at least possible that superhero movies are on their way out. We’ve had them dominate the box office for about 20 years and so it’s inevitable that something will replace them at some point. But what? And when? I just don’t know the answer to that question.

I still think it’s at least possible that AI is going to make all these musings moot when at some point — probably after we sort things out in a Fourth Turning — the very notion of “mass media” will seem rather quaint. We’ll just sit down in front of our TVs, have our faces scanned and out will pop a movie or TV show directly tailored to how we’re feeling at that specific moment.

That seems nearly an immutable force of history and technology at this point.

But back to Barbie — the movie, in my opinion, did what a good movie is supposed to do — tell an interesting story in a way that left you mulling what you’ve just seen once it was over. How the movie dealt with the issue of “the patriarchy” was really amusing to me and, what’s more, it was presented in such a way that young women might take heart.

Which, of course, is why that very element of the movie freaks conservative so much.

Does ‘Barbenheimer’ Portend Our Long-Awaited ‘Vibe Shift?’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely FEELS like we’ve reached the absolute end of one pop culture era and we’re waiting for a new one to arise from the ashes. And, yet, given that we may face a perfect storm of Petite Singularity and The Fourth Turning in late 2024, early 2025, these months leading up that era in time may be nothing more than wasted time.

We may just drift through cultural time without any sort of clear idea of where things stand until we make up our minds about if we’re going to continue to be a democracy or not. And, at the same time, we also have to decide if AI is going to completely and totally take over huge swaths of the human experience or not. I’m very weary about both of these events, given that they’re going to take place at the same time.

So, I don’t know. It could go either way. It could be that we just slide into autocracy and we let AI write and produce all our entertainment and we live in a permanent Black Mirror episode. Or, it could be that we have some sort of sharp, violent political event starting in late 2024, early 2025 and not until that’s settled we make any big decisions about AI.

It just seems like we’re lurching towards Something New in a rather abrupt manner and it will be interesting to see when exactly this happens. I suspect we may continue to be in something of a cultural vacuum for a few more months. We really haven’t reached a tipping point, I don’t think. It’s definitely one of those — you know it when you see it kind of things.

I look forward to what’s next, though. We’ve been suck in the post-911 cultural era for way, way too long.

Where’s Our Vibe Shift?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It used to be that culture could change a lot just within the course of one decade. As late as the 1980s, early 80s was very different than mid or late 80s. And, yet, it definitely seems as though since 2001, cultural shifts haven’t happened as rapidly.

I’m old enough that if I look back over the last 20 years, I struggle to see how there has been any sort of major vibe shift. Yes, there have been blips of change here and there since 2001, but, in general any cultural changes have been rather subtle.

At some point over the last 20 years, something changed.

Could it have been the advent of social media because of the smartphone? Is that what caused everything to change? It’s all very curious. Or is it possible that we’re really, really overdue for a severe vibe shift.

And as such, maybe 2024 really is it?

Could it be that because of both the Petite Singularity and The Fourth Turning may happen at the same time in late 2024, early 2025 that, unto itself, could be the Vibe Shift that we’ve all been expecting. Maybe?

But it is very curious. Someone should write a 10,000 word New Yorker piece about this shit.

2024: A Perfect Storm

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems like everything is going to come to a head in 2024. Developments in AI will combine with the put up or shut up political moment of late 2024 – early 2025 and the fate of the entire world — of all of humanity — could be decided starting in 2024.

I say this because if the US collapses — or even simply peacefully transitions into an America First autocracy — everything is going to be upended. Talk about a New World Order! If the US leaves NATO and aligns itself with other autocratic states like Russia, Hungary and Turkey, then, that, unto itself could prompt WW3 to happen — killing about 1 billion people one way or another.

If America collapses into the chaos of civil war (Reds) or revolution (Blues) the same thing will happen — a billion people will die (at least.) If all of this happens, then the issue of AI will be punted down the road until America figures out of it’s going to become Trumplandia or if we’re going to establish the Third American Republic.

At the moment, it really could go either way. It really the fuck could. No fate but what we make and all that.

But if a Third American Republic is established, THEN the issues of global climate change and AI could be addressed collectively by humans as a species. That, at least, would be the idea endgame.

And, yet, humans are dumb and it could be that not even a New World Order after WW3 could get us to get our act together enough to address, collectively some Big Issues that face Humans.

But, I guess, we’ll see, huh?

A.I. Is Probably Going To ‘Moneyball’ Traditional Hollywood Within 18 Months

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Given the advancements in MidJourney, I just don’t see how human Hollywood escapes being “Moneyballed” by A.I. and the suits within about 18 months. That’s why I think — barring something I can’t predict — the Hollywood strikes currently happening are going to linger far, far longer than any of us are prepared to game out.

All the suits have to do is just sit things out for about 18 months and they endup on top with all of human Hollywood — other than them — being moot. Hollywood will be transformed into suits and programmers.

And that will be just the beginning. Soon enough, you’ll flop down in front of your TV and it will scan your face to produce a TV show or a movie specifically designed for your mood at that particular moment. There will be no mass media at all. No shared reality. No water cooler discussion of the latest binge worthy TV show.

We’ll all have “personal media” tailored to our specific desires at a specific moment. And, if it’s a “Her” like future, it may all be something of a black box. We humans will have no clue as to how it all works.

I’m all for the union’s of Hollywood fighting The Man, but I fear that, in the end, the transformation will be too sudden, too swift for them to do anything about it in real terms.

The humans who actually produce movies in Hollywood at the moment are fucked. And I say this as someone who is trying to write a novel. It could be that soon enough, even novels are all written by A.I.

I dunno. It’s all going to be interesting to see how things unfold.

Tik-Tok Can Be So Spooky Sometimes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t remember what it was, but I thought about some subject really intensely out of the blue and then, what do you know, within 24 hours I was pushed a video on Tik-Tok on that very specific topic.

Man, is that weird.

And it happens all the fucking time! Usually, it happens when I think really intensely about a specific subject briefly. But I also find some very strange — but similar — things happen as well. Like, I was getting pushed a lot of Jane Birkin videos and then the moment there were any Alexa Chung videos I got pushed those, too. I had a really weird — even for me — and intense celebrity crush on Ms. Chung for a bit there several years ago.

So, weird that Tik-Tok would know that much about me.

The question, of course, is, is this just AI I’m seeing or something far more ominous? I really have to be careful talking about the idea that Big Tech can read our minds because people think I’m fucking crazy whenever I do. The only reason why I even suggest such a thing is how often some very, very strange things happen in regards to Tik-Tok pushing me videos that seem very, very specific to what I’ve been thinking about in the last 24 hours.

You think people in America would want to band Tik-Tok just because of how close their are to the CCP, just imagine if they were close to the CCP AND they could read our minds! Wow. Just wow.

I refuse to believe that Big Tech can read our minds. But it is a very interesting thing to at least entertain. It’s all very curious.