25rats

[25rats]

Honor To Us All.

You asked, I delivered.

[25rats]

Lots of thoughts recently. Everything feels plastic.

I could go on and on about why all that AI "art" is bad. I could mention theft, lack of creativity, it's impact on the work field and environment, but countless people have already said all that. I wanted to touch on something that to me is the most utterly wrong about all of it.

Art is more than just something pretty to look at or listen to. It's therapeutic. It's a form of communication. A tool for human connection. It's a pure, human need.

Support real artists ☀️

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I've finally figured out an argument that convinces coding tech-bros that AI art is bad.

Got into a discussion today (actually a discussion, we were both very reasonable and calm even through I felt like committing violence) with a tech-bro-coded lady who claimed that people use AI in coding all the time so she didn't see why it mattered if people used AI in art.

Obviously I repressed the surge of violence because that would accomplish nothing. Plus, this lady is very articulate, the type who makes claims and you sit there thinking no that's wrong it must be but she said it so well you're kind of just waffling going but, no, wait-- so I knew I had to get this right if I was gonna come out of this unscathed.

The usual arguments about it being about the soul of it and creation fell flat, in fact she was adamant that anyone who believed that was in fact looking down at coding as an art form as she insisted it is. Which, sure, you can totally express yourself through coding. There's a lot more nuance as to the differences but clearly I was not going to win this one.

The other people I was with (literally 8 people anti-ai against her, but you can't change the mind of someone who doesn't want to listen and she just kept accusing us of devaluing coding as an art) took over for I kid you not 15 minutes while I tried desperately to come up with a clear and articulate way to explain the difference to her. They tried so many reasonable arguments, coding being for a function ("what, art doesn't serve a function?") coding being many discrete building blocks that you put together differently, and the AI simply provides the blocks and you put it together yourself ("isn't that what prompt building is") that it's bad for the environment ("but not if it's used for capitalism, hm?" "Yeah literally that's how capitalism works it doesn't care about the environment" she didn't like that response)

But I finally got it.

And the answer is: It's not about what you do, it's about what you claim to be.

Imagine that someone asks an AI to write a code and, by some miracle, it works perfectly without them having to tweak it---which is great because they couldn't tell you what a single solitary thing in that code means.

Now imagine this person, with their code that they don't know how it works, goes and applies to be a coder somewhere, presenting this AI code as proof that they're qualified.

Should they be hired?

She was horrified, of course. Of course they shouldn't be. They're not qualified. They can't actually code, and even if by some miracle they did have an AI successfully write a flawless code for every issue they came across that wouldn't be their code, you could hire any shmuck on the street to do that, no reason to pay someone like they're creating something.

When actual engineers use AI what they do is get some kind of base, which they then go though and check for problems and then if they find any they fix them, and add on to the base code with their own knowledge instead of just trying different prompt after prompt until they randomly come across one that works.

People who generate code like this don't usually call themselves engineers. They're people who needed a bit of code and didn't have the knowledge to generate it, and so used a resource.

And there you go. There are people who have none of the skills of artists, they don't practice, they don't create for themselves. When they feed the prompt to the AI they then don't just use the resulting image as a reference point for their own personal masterpiece, and if they don't like it they don't have the skills to change it---they simply try another prompt, and do that until they get something they like.

These people are calling themselves artists.

Not only that, these people are bringing the AI generated thing to interviews, and they are getting hired, leaving people who slave over their craft out of the job.

And that is the difference, for the tech bros who think AI art isn't a big deal.

[25rats]

The pencils breaking into smaller pencils

And why they treating word pencil like a slur. Reblog to scare ai losers away 🤭

[25rats]

Togore Dreemurr, the oft forgotten middle child of the Dreemurr household. But i did not forget you Togore. I would never forget you.

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Welp, you asked for it (and i wanted to make it!) more togore because i actually love him now

[25rats]

Day 2 no YouTube

Day 2 no will wood (the biggest downside 😭😭)

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Hey kiddos, I just want to put this out there:

If you only just found out about the YouTube boycott today, you can still participate. Take the day to download videos that you want to watch, and then you can join us tomorrow. As long as you’re willing to start, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with starting late.

[25rats]

EVERYONE. If you are boycotting Youtube, please try to last longer that one day. Resist going on it for as long as you can. All of this might not do anything, but there's a bigger chance it will work if it's longer than one day. Research other places to watch videos. At the very least get an adblocker.

[25rats]

Day one, yt blackout,

Day one, no Chonny Jash

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Did a couple of edits on this Michael fanart I did a bit ago, I just felt there was room for improvement

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AUGH NOOO HARVEY NOOOO NOOOOO

I DID A THING!!! Obviously I don't know anything about animation so it is how it is haha

A bad ending! I feel so sorry for him :(

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YAYY YIPPEE I JUST REMEMBERED I SHOULD BINGE ROTTMNT DURING THE YT BLACKOUT YAYYYYAYYAYAYA (Donny I love you<333 you’re so scrimbly and you got me through a migraine with your sheer autism(it’s so me fr))

[25rats]

I got a ton of books (and two games) from a library!! Tbh I should start reading again in general lol. It’s great.

ITS AUGUST 13TH I BETTER SEE NOOOOOOOOOONE OF YALL ON YOUTUBE DURING THIS BOYCOTT.

REMEMBER. STAYING OFF FOR ONLY ONE DAY DOES NOTHING. If you want to see change you NEED to wait until they revert the update

Here's a list of things you can do instead of go on the private info snatching website:

Watch Twitch Streams

Watch Movies/Shows

Pick up a new hobby/do your current hobbies

Go outside for a walk (or outside in general)

Create something

Talk to/hang out with friends

Try a new video game/play games in general

Check out some cool websites on Neocities

Pirate things you can't afford (like me)

Honestly there's sooooooooo much more than this you can do too. JUST HANG IN THERE!!! Together we can do something awesome

[25rats]

I may not be able to do much in the fight against censorship and AI, but I am doing all that I can without actively harming myself.

No matter if you're boycotting YouTube with the Blackout, or if you're mailing every senator 5 letters a day to oppose the upcoming laws, you are doing enough. Even if all you can do is tell people. Because that's actually a lot. Even if you just reblog a few posts with petitions you're not safe enough to sign.

And that's enough. It's always enough.

Do what you can, because any 'little' or 'insignificant' act will help us fight against censorship and freedom of self.

Anything helps. If everyone does what they can, then we will win. Because one person is not fighting this-- we all are. Every 'little' action each person does against censorship is always worth it. Every 'little' action adds up. Every 'little' action you do will help us win. Every 'little' action will help us keep our sense of self.

It's enough that you're doing something.

Whatever you do-- just don't do nothing because what you can do is 'minimal.'

[25rats]

I found jerma and emkay reuploads on the internet archive so there’s probably more entertainment there too

How to help out in the Youtube Boycott

Thank you to @tomboyjessie13 for helping me understand how to boycott Youtube! Your comments were super helpful! Thank you for making me aware of Pandora as well!

This is also an addition to @gentleman-velvet's boycott plan.

Use youtube alternatives:

There are many youtube alternatives that you can use for a variety of purposes. Two examples are:

Internet Archive - good for educational videos and books that are either free or very cheap. It's also good for forgoing Google Books because of its wide selection.

Pandora - fantastic for music, finding podcasts, and comedians. There are a lot of music artists on there. Overall, it's a good site for finding people to listen to.

Here is an article that provides a list of alternatives with their pros and cons, alongside their prices (if they have any).

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DO NOT USE A FRONT END YOUTUBE APPLICATION

Front enders like Freetube and Piped (including New Piped), are sites that are good for preventing Google from tracking you, but they still provide YouTube with traffic.

They are wonderful for preserving your privacy, but they are not good for a boycott.

To properly boycott YouTube, use the alternative sites like the ones listed that are completely separate and do not provide it with activity!

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Download Youtube Videos:

At first, you may not think there is a way to do that, but there are several sites dedicated to allowing you to download them. The post I made on this is far more comprehensive.

Use Video Download Helper or a website like Yt1z to download as many videos as you can, so that you can watch these privately without giving YouTube any kind of data. (Remember, empty discs, USBs, and external hardrives still exist for storage.)

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PIRACY

If you are using youtube for paid content, consider either alternative routes (such as netflix, hulu or whatever streaming services there are) or piracy.

If buying ain't owning, then piracy sure as hell ain't stealing. It has the same effect that not using youtube has, with the addition that you aren't giving the site money.

Be careful with piracy, they are trying to crack down on it and there may be unsafe sites that could compromise your security.

Use Pirate Bay with an alternative browser like Tor or a privacy based one like DuckDuckGo. I generally recommend using the Tor browser because your privacy is way more assured.

For legal reasons, I strongly suggest that you use alterative streaming sites that aren't YouTube but still don't involve piracy. (wink wink)

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ANNOY THE HELL OUTTA YOUTUBE

Contact youtube via their email and phone number. Blow up their email and phone lines.

This site lists all the ways to contact them via the phone, letter or fax.

You can also email them at:

press@youtube.com

support@youtube.com

And you can get their attention on social media sites like Twitter (not calling it X).

Do not let up on contacting them until they repeal this decision.

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ADD ONS ARE WELCOME!

FEEL FREE TO REBLOG THIS POST WITH MORE INFORMATION!

God speed everyone.

[25rats]

Reminder, August 13th YouTube blackout folks!

This will only work, if a LOT of people boycott using YouTube for a bit.

A fuckton of people use YouTube, so the amount of folks who stand up, for this policy being taken away, has to be SUBSTANTIAL, for them to notice! we can do this!

Reblog to boost!