Episode 645 - AI-cast
Jul 24, 2023
We're chatting about the current state of AI, it's use, abuse, and the moronic way it's typically being utalised by mid-level businesses to screw over creative people and save money in the short term.
Topics and Show Notes
“AI” is the current big thing on the market, specifically “generative” AI that's been illegally trained on copyrighted datasets like chat GTP, Mid-Journey, Stable-Diffusion and more. This sort of AI could be extremely useful IF used in the correct ways: things like sifting through masses of data to filter results in crucial and important ways, instead it's being criminally abused by completely untalented, uncreative, pathetic, greedy losers with nothing more than a business degree, to steal work from their creative superiors and produce mindless pablum in the form of copy-editing, scripts, illustrations and more. And that's just scratching the surface.
The biggest problem with the technology is that it can't actually create and it can't understand what it produces. It simply gives you a remix of existing data as an image, script, sound-file, or video. A moron might tell you that people do this as well, but they'd be completely wrong. The way humans create is far more complex and is never simply based on things that match a theme like it is with AI, but on things we actively WANT to represent. We have layers of intention, reasons, justifications, and even things like cultural background having a strong influence behind the sources we draw on. AI is the direct opposite of this as much as it's possible to be, there IS zero intent behind any of it, it's totally and absolutely mindless. The closest it gets is the human “prompter”, and their contribution is utterly laughable because the “prompts” are so limited, basic and stylised compared to the vastness of actual creative influence and skill.
What this means is that the “creative” possibility of AI is extremely limited since it HAS to draw on real creative work in order to fake its own. If it comes to dominate the market it will kill off genuine human creatives and then it won't have any new sources to steal from, which will be its downfall because it will be forced to draw from the crap it produces itself and we will get degenerated copies of copies of copies.
We're already seeing all sorts of interesting a terrible abuses. Production companies want to be able to digitise actors images and voices in order to keep them working forever but not have to pay them. They're doing the same with scripts from certain authors. This will kill off creative jobs, but it will also harm ALL of us as viewers. The harm this cheap, commerce driven garbage can do to culture is immeasurable and could be generational. There really need to be laws in place to govern the abuses of “generative” AI.
An idiot might say “the cat's out of the bag now, we can't go back”, but they'd be wrong and stupid: society always has the ability to correct for abuses. This is why we haven't had the use of a nuclear weapon in anger since 1945, people can't just use full auto machine guns willy-nilly whenever they feel like it, people aren't walking around nude in the cities and having sex where they feel like it, and you can't just steal what you want. When the internet became popular in the later half of the 90s, illegal downloading of music, movies and software was universal and endemic, but now none of that is a big issue anymore. The “cat” is never irreversibly “out of the bag”.
You can tell what side I'm on :)
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Domestic HellLand - Full of optimism and hope! Great things are jusssst around the corner. Life is amazing and wonderful things are about to happen. This is a very positive sounding piece, it’s all synth, piano and electric guitar. It’s full of happiness and light.
Topics and shownotes
Future cast: TRON and TRON 2
Links
Featured comic:
Eco Crew - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/jul/18/featured-comic-eco-crew/
Featured music:
Domestic HellLand - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Domestic_HellLand/ - by SheepSheket, rated M.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
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Episode 636 - The Cusscast
May 22, 2023
We're talking about swearing! Swearing in comics, types of swearing, the use of swearing, causing offense, taking offense, swearing used as a term of endearment, and some history behind various types of swearing. We barely even scratch the surface! We don't swear in the Quackcast if we can help it so we're talking around and about the language without using it, though we DO swear in our Patreon vid, which is free to all patrons, even the $1 level.
Episode 593 - Risky Business
Jul 25, 2022
The risks of online creative success We live in a wonderful time where you're able to turn your creative passion into a job that can support you just by using freely available online services like YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, Patreon, Ebay, Paypal, Etsy, Webtoons etc. You can start with nothing more than your computer or phone and end up with a thriving business based on your passion project. It's not easy, achieving enough success where you can quit your day job still tends to take a lot of work, but once you get there it can be amazing. However, that's not the end of the story unfortunately.
Episode 578 - Punching toys in the boobs
Apr 11, 2022
BANES RETURNS! …to talk about boobs with the rest of us. The topic of the discussion this week was brought to us by Tantz's newspost on the 2nd of April about bosoms and how their shape and size doesn't matter. In the crusade against “sexualisation” in comics people tend to focus too much on big or “unnaturally shaped” boobs, but the truth is that any type of boobs can be fetishized and by reacting against one type you just cause a new form of exclusion.
Episode 563 - Merry Christmas
Dec 27, 2021
Merry Xmas from everyone here at DD, but most especially Tantz, Banes and me, Ozoneocean! Pitzy is away for a while on family business, it's the time of year and family comes first. Tantz is at home with her pretty Christmas tree in cold Athens, Banes is snug and warm in his place in snowy Canada, and I'm sweating my bum off in Perth Western Australia as the temperature gets close to 44C (110.66F), but I dressed up like an exotic santa anyway hahaha! Which I tried to draw but lost confidence in my skills because it's SOOOO bloody hot and I can't concentrate so I posted screenshotted pics from our Patreon video instead. I AM MELTING!!!!!! We have no particular topic this time, just a Christmas chat. It's mostly Tantz and I because Banes had to rush off to work, dedicated fellow he is. How did you spend Christmas? Was it hot there too? Cold? Did you actually get a white Christmas? I would LOVE a winter Christmas.
Episode 451 - Fans who criticise are are good fans
Nov 4, 2019
“Toxic fans” is a bit of a catch cry now and that has seemed to turn into the idea that any fan who is critical of something or doesn't like it isn't a “true fan”, fans must should love everything. I find this a dangerously silly notion and one clearly driven by business interests with only a limited relationship to reality. It's quite similar to the idea that you're “either for us or against us”, the twisted idea of “patriotism” that says you must agree with and love everything your country and your leader does no matter what or you're a traitor.
Episode 417 - Can we be better?
Mar 11, 2019
What is Social Marketing? Basically its word-of-mouth and viral marketing smashed together and weaponised: Marketing companies hijack hot-button social issues and hitch their client's brand to them in clever campaigns (“We can be better”, etc). The purpose isn't really to make a brand seem progressive, modern or new, rather it's another way of getting it trending on social media that's guaranteed to work, unlike the legion of hit or miss but mostly failed “Viral” campaigns. Whether people say negative or positive things about this issue is irrelevant to the marketer, as long as people are talking about the brand is all that matters. Free advertising is the goal, but it has a social cost.
Episode 272 - DD electric people, community meetup
May 22, 2016
State your business! Venerable Drunkducker Ayesinback suggested we have an open electronic meetup of DD people, so that's exactly what we did! We all met up in a long Skype session that lasted 10 hours- various DDers dropped in and out over that time and we chatted away about everything and nothing on videochat, meanwhile I tried on a never ending series of antique and novelty hats, one after another… It was really lovely to see old and new DDers all together, to see their faces and hear their voices. A big thankyou to everyone who took part! It was a big success! We will try it again and again in the coming months. The proposed date is the 3rd Saturday of every month, so the next one will be the 18th of June. The session starts at 11am New York time and runs for 10 hours until 9 pm New York time, so you can drop in any time during that! You can get Skype for free here: www.skype.com. It works on all computers, phones and tablets. It can even work just in your web browser alone! You just sign up and install it. Then make sure you add “ozoneocean” as a friend. Gunwallace's track this week was for Darklings. It's nice and long one with a good progressive rhythm. Some of the genius things we discussed: The measure of distance is time. Inbreeding leads to contagious genetic deformity. Direct democracy VS Harkovast. We beet the sugar! Pineapple and artichoke, why eat them?
