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Exercise 1

Imagine you are a product designer for a large corporation. You are tasked with designing the bottle for a new line of concentrated liquid laundry detergent. The Research and Development team has determined that 20 mL of the detergent is the ideal amount to clean a standard load of laundry.

However, your employer is seeking every opportunity to maximize profits and you know you will be rewarded if you work towards that goal. When you design the cap for the detergent bottle, do you put the fill line for a standard load at:

a. 20mL

b. 30mL

c. 50mL

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RPM Challenge is complete! Ana went through and polished up the mix yesterday, and I uploaded all the songs to YouTube this morning.

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Song 8 on RPM Challenge. “When He Comes In”

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The current state of the internet is what happens when you give a lot of people very little influence but a lot of voice.

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Fifth track finished.

the Desired Constellation - The Sedative

TW: spoken word part uses common hypnosis induction banter.

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Fourth track of our RPM Challenge album is done.

the Desired Constellation - The Death of the Author

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The email I wrote vs. the email I actually sent

I apologize for missing the appointment, I dropped the ball and failed to put it into my calendar. I know that your time is important and I appreciate that you're willing to reschedule. I meant no disrespect.

I called the number as you suggested and rebooked for *** at ****. The person I spoke to pointed out that I had missed an appointment.

I try to make it a policy to just take responsibility and not offer excuses, but she did not seem happy with that. She told me that I was wasting your time.

The truth is, I struggle with my mental health and with keeping things like appointments organized. I have a system now and I rarely miss appointments. Whenever I do, I feel awful, and battle with a lot of negative self-talk about wasting people's time and not being worth it. I have been fighting depression lately and things like that can be a setback.

If you feel that I am wasting your time please feel free to cancel the appointment.

(select, delete.)

I apologize for missing the appointment, I dropped the ball and failed to put it into my calendar. I know that your time is important and I appreciate that you're willing to reschedule. I meant no disrespect.

I called the number as you suggested and rebooked for *** at ****.

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“the Desired Constellation - The Fix”

New song up, this one by Ronin. Track 3 of our RPM Challenge. (RPM Challenge is like NaNoWriMo, but you have the 28 days of February to create a musical album.)

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We made a song and I quite like how it turned out.

the Desired Constellation - Obsolescence Nostalgia

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I love when my inner monologue spontaneously spoonerizes

Today’s gem: “This is like pulling cats from a herd of teeth.”

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Somebody help, what is this

I stumbled by pure accident on these memes about lithium pills and June 16. I can’t find ANYTHING by googling, what is this about? Help me tumblr you’re my only hope

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Today's conceptual AI experiment: who owns the copyright to these images? And, a different question: who created them? I had six different AI generators tackle the text of e. e. cumming's beautiful but complicated poem "A Man Who Had Fallen Among Thieves" which is itself based on a parable from the New Testament.

(long-winded explanation follows, skip if you like)

The works of e. e. cummings fell into public domain last year, so there is no copyright on the original poem. The copyright on AI-generated works is still being worked out, but it's generally recognized that if a human being starts a non-human process in motion that results in a creative work, that human being holds the copyright on the result. In other words, if you input some text into an AI art generator, you set the process in motion and you hold the copyright on the final image. This makes a sort of sense; if you throw a bucket of paint on a canvas, you had no control over the physical processes that resulted in the final image, but we generally recognize that you are responsible for the result.

But these AI art generators are not random processes, they are "taught" using the works of human artists. Again, this isn't really a problem. All artists learn from studying other artists, and incorporate styles and techniques they've learned. Nevertheless, the artists that the AI learned from have some hand in the final product here. Similarly, you can't critique "A Man Who Had Fallen Among Thieves" without talking about the biblical parable from which it borrows its story, and many of its words.

I was the one who copy-pasted the text of the poem and entered it into the AI. I pushed the button to start the process. Do I own the copyright on these images? Did I create them? They would not exist if I hadn't done that. I had a concept, an idea, and I used a tool to bring that idea into existence. But I also did the least work of anyone involved in the process. Of course, in large studios under the supervision of artists like Damien Hirst, very little of the work but all of the glory goes to the person generating the ideas and giving the orders.

All those questions aside, I think these images are very captivating and interesting. Many of the results evoke the same feeling for me that the poem does. Regardless of who really made the images, I think they're worth looking at.

Original text:

a man who had fallen among thieves lay by the roadside on his back dressed in fifteenthrate ideas wearing a round jeer for a hat

fate per a somewhat more than less emancipated evening had in return for consciousness endowed him with a changeless grin

whereon a dozen staunch and leal citizens did graze at pause then fired by hypercivic zeal sought newer pastures or because

swaddled with a frozen brook of pinkest vomit out of eyes which noticed nobody he looked as if he did not care to rise

one hand did nothing on the vest its wideflung friend clenched weakly dirt while the mute trouserfly confessed a button solemnly inert.

Brushing from whom the stiffened puke i put him all into my arms and staggered banged with terror through a million billion trillion stars.

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Disney will not be saving anyone

I love the meme about feeding Disney art into AI engines so they’re forced to step in and defend their copyright, and stop AI from ruining the art industry. But it’s hilariously naïve. Disney has a long history of underpaying, overworking, and undervaluing artists. If they had the capability to cut human artists out of the process completely, they would not hesitate, and probably will be doing so soon.

Disney will not “save us” from AI generated art. They’ve already chosen which side of the fence they’re on. On mage.space you can even play with an engine based on the Pixar art style.

As for traditional, non-digital artists, we will produce our best art when we no longer have to compete for the scraps. AI art isn’t the enemy, capitalism is.

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One of the arguments I've seen for why AI-generated art is legitimate is that it's actually still made by an artist, the AI is just a tool. The artist still carefully crafts the description that the image is based on.

As a counter-argument, I asked an AI to generate a description for a painting and then fed that description into another AI that generated the image.

My prompt, to ChatGPT: "Please imagine a traditional oil painting and describe it to me in detail.

"The response, which I fed into Mage.Space:

In this traditional oil painting, a large and stately mansion sits in the center of the composition. The mansion is made of red brick and has white columns along the front, giving it a grand and imposing appearance. The front door is a deep, rich mahogany and is slightly ajar, as if inviting the viewer in for a visit. The windows are tall and arched, with white shutters framing them. The lawn is well-manicured, with a cobblestone path leading up to the front door.

The sky is a beautiful shade of blue, with fluffy white clouds scattered throughout. A few trees can be seen in the background, their autumn leaves a riot of oranges and yellows. The sun is setting, casting a warm and golden light over the scene.

In the foreground, there are a few people milling about. A couple is sitting on a bench, holding hands and looking contentedly at the mansion. A maid is sweeping the front steps, and a young girl is playing with a ball on the lawn. All of the figures are finely detailed, with realistic facial expressions and clothing.

The painting has a very classic and timeless feel to it, with a focus on the grandeur and elegance of the mansion, and the idyllic nature of the scene. The colors used are muted and rich, with a lot of earth tones, such as deep reds, greens, and yellows, and the brushstrokes are visible, adding a sense of movement and energy to the painting.

Overall, the painting gives off an atmosphere of warmth, comfort and wealth, with a touch of nostalgia and longing.

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AI art generators are notoriously bad with hands, so I'm taking this one down a notch by making it show me men playing cat's cradle in public bathrooms

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I think we’re wrong

about A.I. art. I think it’s a good thing.

A.I. isn’t the villain, it didn't choose to be in competition with us.

The problem is that we all just want to make art, and the human artists need to eat. Capitalism isn’t the solution and won’t save us, it’s the reason we can’t just make art and eat in the first place.

The ideal outcome would be human artists and A.I. artists both making art and nobody going hungry.

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Me: "Astrology is nonsense, our moods and personalities can't be influenced by the stars." The sun, rising long after my alarm clock, making me feel like I'm being ripped from a peaceful sleep in the middle of the night even though it's actually 8AM: "Hold my beer"