Ionathus's Random Banter #249 -- Directionless Rambling Is Now Mandatory

[Coppercloud]

To quote Belkar 'eh, the bear's probably fine'.

It was actually a quote from Durkon while in the afterlife.

Also, I echo Zodi's appreciation: those posters are cool. (...something something, as per my signature I've got to end my sentence with a word with an odd number of letters).

[Peelee]

It was actually a quote from Durkon while in the afterlife.

Also, I echo Zodi's appreciation: those posters are cool. (...something something, as per my signature I've got to end my sentence with a word with an odd number of letters).

Could always go out on "Carthago delenda est".

[Form]

Could always go out on "Carthago delenda est".

Yeah, but Carthage has already been destroyed, so you'd have to substitute another city for it.

[Peelee]

Yeah, but Carthage has already been destroyed, so you'd have to substitute another city for it.

Well, you're Dutch, so you're a bit spoiled for choice.

[Coppercloud]

Could always go out on "Carthago delenda est".

Thank you! From now on, when I can't find a good reformulation in Xykonspeech, I might just do that. ...very thing.

[Peelee]

Thank you! From now on, when I can't find a good reformulation in Xykonspeech, I might just do that. ...very thing.

I'm not sure about French, but it even works in English, and Carthage must be destroyed.

[Bartmanhomer]

I don't believe in perfection. No one is perfect, not even me.

[halfeye]

I don't believe in perfection. No one is perfect, not even me.

Not even I!

[Anonymouswizard]

I don't believe in perfection. No one is perfect, not even me.

Blasphemy! Clearly Abigail Thorn has no faults!

For everynody else though you're spot on. Even Peelee seems to have the issue of liking Star Wars more than Star Trek.

[Rater202]

I don't believe in perfection. No one is perfect, not even me.

Give me some time: I'll make you believe.

[halfeye]

Blasphemy! Clearly Abigail Thorn has no faults!

I feel that on film Munroe definitely exceeded Bo Derek.

[Coppercloud]

I'm not sure about French, but it even works in English, and Carthage must be destroyed.

It doesn't work in French ("Carthage doit être détruite") but... Did you get the impression that I abided to this language rule outside of this very forum? I certainly have issues, but this is not among those.

Actually the reasoning behind my self-imposed restriction is similar to the Quinton's explanation. It forces me to consider my words before writing, and to keep quiet when I wouldn't have anything of value to add to the conversation - if my post isn't worth the hassle of finding a rephrasing, it probably isn't worth reading in the first place. Plus it forces me to look up synonyms and such, which is good since I'm much more used to reading English.

Also it was an impulsive idea I had while in sleep debt almost two years ago.

[Form]

I don't believe in perfection. No one is perfect, not even me.

Nonsense, for I am perfect! Feast your eyes on my divine form! Bask in my sublime radiance! Be in awe of my grand magnificence! And I'm so very modest too!

For everynody else though you're spot on. Even Peelee seems to have the issue of liking Star Wars more than Star Trek.

... y'all don't give Babylon 5 enough love.

[Mx.Silver]

... y'all don't give Babylon 5 enough love.

Just take the Farscape approach and assume that's because it's too good for them anyway

[LaZodiac]

I alluded to this elsewhere but I'm bored so I'm going to tell you the story of how I was made an accessory to kidnapping a dog.

A friend of my mom's lived in one of the more run-down corners of our suburban sprawl of houses (this is not an admonishment, even the fanciest houses in this suburbs were shipped up on trailer-trucks) and as a result, was forced to interact with her neighbors frequently. One pair of neighbors had a dog, Tucker, a little ****zu baby that they clearly just did not care for. She cared, in the way most people would, about the poor animal... and then learned said neighbors were leaving town, and just gonna let the dog stay in their now abandoned house.

Said friend of my mom's then did the most natural and normal thing ever; during one instance of the two leaving to go get some stuff, she hopped the fence, scooped up the dog, hopped back over, and drove all the way to the bar my mom owned at the time, and was like "Aya's Mom, Aya's Mom, I have stolen this dog but cannot take care of it myself."

My Mom, who hates animals of all sorts and despises her partner's ****zu Gizmo, who at this point was getting on in years, was like "oh sure I love dogs" and took him in. And so he was ours for the rest of his life, which was the normal amount for a well loved dog. Being around the old man helped him recover from his abuses, and he was a very loving and kind dog.

I bring up this final fact about the normal happy life Tucker had because Gizmo would die a few years later, but since he was a grouchy old man and very anti-social no one actually TOLD him that, so instead he lived for ten or so more years despite being about 12 when Tucker arrived. Tucker was not taught the secrets to necromancy and thus did not live an abnormally long life.

[Bartmanhomer]

I support A.I. and I stand by what I said. Sorry, not sorry.

[DataNinja]

I support A.I. and I stand by what I said. Sorry, not sorry.

Generative AI is built off the theft of peoples' work - whether that's written, visual, or audio - and is being used to attempt to push those same creators out of their own spaces.

You can support it, sure, but if you do, you're effectively saying "I don't believe writers/artists/voice actors deserve to be compensated fairly - or at all - for their work."

[Bartmanhomer]

Generative AI is built off the theft of peoples' work - whether that's written, visual, or audio - and is being used to attempt to push those same creators out of their own spaces.

You can support it, sure, but if you do, you're effectively saying "I don't believe writers/artists/voice actors deserve to be compensated fairly - or at all - for their work."

I understand people have their opinion about A.I. but this is 2024. Times have changed and so is technology and I have nothing against human writers/artist/voice actors and etc. Everyone have a voice to do their work and I strongly support technology by way including A.I.

[enderlord99]

Generative AI is built off the theft of peoples' work - whether that's written, visual, or audio - and is being used to attempt to push those same creators out of their own spaces.

You can support it, sure, but if you do, you're effectively saying "I don't believe writers/artists/voice actors deserve to be compensated fairly - or at all - for their work."

Bartmanhomer has long had a habit of spontaneously expressing opinions that somehow seem (treading as lightly as I am able, here) to both arbitrarily add unneeded compromise and resist any at all.

This isn't new. One time he just said "I believe in the lie-detector test."

[LaZodiac]

Bartmanhomer has long had a habit of spontaneously expressing opinions that somehow seem (treading as lightly as I am able, here) to both arbitrarily add unneeded compromise and resist any at all.

This isn't new. One time he just said "I believe in the lie-detector test."

With respect if I didn't like, fundamentally know he is a true, real, existent person who I have physically seen pictures of due to looking at the thumbnails of his videos, my instinct that he's actually a highly advanced markov bot would completely override every single solitary interaction I've ever seen of him. I know SOME people set those up on forums as testing, so it wouldn't be impossible.

He's not of course, he's a real flesh and blood human who exists and is real. Sometimes he just says random things and whatever the purpose of said things is to be determined on a later date.

Anyway **** art thieves and the idiots who use machine learning to amplify their theft. All my homies hate art thieves.

[Bartmanhomer]

Bartmanhomer has long had a habit of spontaneously expressing opinions that somehow seem (treading as lightly as I am able, here) to both arbitrarily add unneeded compromise and resist any at all.

This isn't new. One time he just said "I believe in the lie-detector test."

That opinion has changed about the lie detector test though.

[enderlord99]

That opinion has changed about the lie detector test though.

Good to hear. Hopefully we'll be able to convince you to change this one too.

[Lord Raziere]

With respect if I didn't like, fundamentally know he is a true, real, existent person who I have physically seen pictures of due to looking at the thumbnails of his videos, my instinct that he's actually a highly advanced markov bot would completely override every single solitary interaction I've ever seen of him. I know SOME people set those up on forums as testing, so it wouldn't be impossible.

He's not of course, he's a real flesh and blood human who exists and is real. Sometimes he just says random things and whatever the purpose of said things is to be determined on a later date.

Anyway **** art thieves and the idiots who use machine learning to amplify their theft. All my homies hate art thieves.

I'mma be honest, I thought he was a bot who had fooled everyone for the longest time and if you hadn't confirmed that he was a flesh and blood human I would've still suspected it, but I guess he's real?

However, I am one of Zodi's homies and I do hate art thieves, so this is definitely a true statement I can confirm.

[Bohandas]

I support A.I. and I stand by what I said. Sorry, not sorry.

I support AI as well. And no, I don't care if it jepordizes people's livelihoods. Every great invention in the history of mankind, and even major refinements of existing technologies, has either made some profession obsolete or else driven it into a limited niche market.

We no longer have or need the iceman or the lamplighter or the coachman or the elevator operator or the cornjerker or the village blacksmith or the guy who makes tools out of animal bones, and we're better off for it.

And as for intellectual property, intellectual property is just as much of a deplorable scam as any other form of artificial scarcity.

EDIT:
That said, I don't think AI even really threatens the art and writing industries. It will likely do no more than bring us back to the state of the industry as it existed in the 20th century and earlier before the combination of online monetization and the spirit of Mammon rising up from the third circle of Hell enabled any random Tom, ****, or Harriet to slap together a bunch of shovelware and expect to make a profit

EDIT:
Arrrgh! Lousy S****horpe problem!

[Form]

I support AI as well. And no, I don't care if it jepordizes people's livelihoods. Every great invention in the history of mankind, and even major refinements of existing technologies, has either made some profession obsolete or else driven it into a limited niche market.

We no longer have or need the iceman or the lamplighter or the coachman or the elevator operator or the cornjerker or the village blacksmith or the guy who makes tools out of animal bones, and we're better off for it.

And as for intellectual property, intellectual property is just as much of a deplorable scam as any other form of artificial scarcity.

Easy for you to say if it's not your livelihood that's threatened by it, but excuse me if some of us are less than enthusiastic about being made obsolete and forced into poverty for the sake of corporate greed. And with artists' own work being used to do so even! It's not so simple as AI = bad/good. It's that this is just another cycle of corporate executives maximizing profit at the expense of both workers, who will be left with less pay or without employment, and consumers, who now likely have to make do with a lesser version of a product.

A.I. tools used by artists to enable them to do their work is fine. Generative A.I. fed by artists' work to churn out large quantities of uninspired and regurgitated pieces of 'art' is a different matter.

[Rynjin]

The issue to me is more the drawbacks outweigh the positives. AI technology as it currently stands has a few interesting ethical applications...all of which have already been in use for years.

Anything the "art" provides is niche enough for me not to care. Sure, AI voice memes are funny and art generators are useful for making character tokens for RPGs...but that's about it. In terms of entertainment it's a novelty I can live without.

The societal impacts of how AI impersonations are accelerating the already critical levels of misinformation we're constantly inundated with aren't worth a couple of chuckles every now and then. AI sucks for any practical purpose at the moment, but every industry is already trying to force it into the role to save money. People are losing their jobs and livelihoods to tools that don't even work right and while I'm fine holding out until a year or so from now when these dumbass companies are in shambles and I have to come in and fix their documentation just like I did a few years back after they tried outsourcing the work to the lowest bidders in Nigeria and India, it doesn't help in the here and now, and not everybody is in as good of a position as I am. And mine's precarious at the moment as it is.

Every conversation I've had with you on the subject Bohandas has always started with an "I don't care about XYZ" remark from you which makes me wonder why I should give a fat flying **** about your own opinion on the subject. If you've got no dog in this race your opinion on the subject is easily the least relevant.

[Bohandas]

Also, the art and writing sites, as well as the internet in general, were better before they were invaded by professionals. I liked things better when it was just communities of people looking to share their projects and creativity.

But somewhere in the past decade or so it seems like everybody developed the mentality of a villain:

The societal impacts of how AI impersonations are accelerating the already critical levels of misinformation we're constantly inundated with aren't worth a couple of chuckles every now and then. AI sucks for any practical purpose at the moment, but every industry is already trying to force it into the role to save money. People are losing their jobs and livelihoods to tools that don't even work right and while I'm fine holding out until a year or so from now when these dumbass companies are in shambles and I have to come in and fix their documentation just like I did a few years back after they tried outsourcing the work to the lowest bidders in Nigeria and India, it doesn't help in the here and now, and not everybody is in as good of a position as I am. And mine's precarious at the moment as it is.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that It shouldn't be used for information. I was talking in an art and writing context.

AI as it exists now and for the forseeable near future is highly prone to extreme flights of fancy which make it terrible at any thing factual but quite functional at fiction

[Rynjin]

So why is it that you think you're entitled to the sweat of somebody's brow without compensating them for it? Free art is a gift, not an expectation.

If we're quoting random things out of context: [Artists are] not your bitch.

[Bohandas]

And that's why a machine had been built for it. So that it can be produced without human effort.

I wish that we had Star Trek style replicators. Then we could produce everything without the the sweat of someone's brow. (edit: especially food. I want to live to see the day when agriculture becomes obsolete. I probably won't, but one can dream) (Edit: With recent advances in fusion research and increasing adoption of electric cars maybe I can at least live to see fire become obsolete)

[Lord Raziere]

the only good use for AI generated art stuff I've seen is helping Dougdoug make funny videos. and he is a streamer/youtuber whose entire tagline is "we solve problems nobody has", is incredibly niche and a bit of an anomaly in terms of how streaming and content creators work. half the humor comes from how insane his chat is anyways, AI is just this third element that adds a different kind of insanity to the mix but honestly isn't vital for what he does, since he's a programmer and can just make a new silly bit of code for whatever project he has in mind next and his chat will patiently wait for him to get it working for hours on stream.

so.....yeah not seeing how all this AI nonsense is improving anything else.