Keep A.I. weird!

[pesco]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/25/keep-a-i-weird.html

…

[Mindysan33]

I’d rather go with the human weirdness rather than some fake AI weirdness that when you look at it more than a couple of times, just seems like the same kind of thing over and over… Like, the first couple of times you see an AI generated video, it’s kind of weird, but then after the second, third, or fourth, the sense of weirdness dissipates, and you realize it’s just like… a simulacra of genuine weirdness? If that makese sense.

[spetrovits]

How about they just keep AI out of everything? Until they create an actual use case for it? How about that? Ugh.

[smulder]

@pesco

San Francisco’s cyberdelic culture of the early 1990s

… was that really a thing?

Selling people dialup internet so they could check their email at home was “psychedelic”?

[Brainspore]

@pesco

These “edge states” in AI’s evolution are, to me, the most interesting, and human, expressions.

If you want interesting human expression then why look to AI at all?

[Mindysan33]

it’s the california ideology…

Let’s not forget how much of the internet has ended up fed through large corporations, many who benefited from Government programs, but find themselves now dedicated to tearing that same government down.

[bluehenbear]

I thought it was Portland, OR that was weird?

[audaxaxon]

@smulder

… was that really a thing?

Bart Nagel's Mondo 2000 collection on eBay

Yeah sure - totally, further back than the 90’s even, projects like S.R.L.

@Mindysan33

it’s the california ideology…

IDK, I associate the California ideology with a lot of the modern tech-bro capitalistic triumphilism, which there defintely has been present in the counter-culture. But then I also think of cyberpunk figures like William Gibson, John Shirley, Jude Milhoun (a founder of Mondo RIP) - who were all about critiquing the capitalistic aspects of tech.

@Mindysan33

Let’s not forget how much of the internet has ended up fed through large corporations, many who benefited from Government programs, but find themselves now dedicated to tearing that same government down.

Definitely agree that’s our current reality, but we should also not forget that was not always the vision of the underground. Or maybe you’re saying those dark visions were more causative than merely prophetic?

[MrShiv]

R U Sirius?

[MerelyGifted]

unforth

Y’all I know that when so-called AI generates ridiculous results it’s hilarious and I find it as funny as the next guy but I NEED y’all to remember that every single time an AI answer is generated it uses 5x as much energy as a conventional websearch and burns through 10 ml of water. FOR EVERY ANSWER. Each big llm is equal to 300,000 kiligrams of carbon dioxide emissions.

LLMs are killing the environment, and when we generate answers for the lolz we’re still contributing to it.

Stop using it. Stop using it for a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. We need to kill it.

Sources:
AI’s excessive water consumption threatens to drown out its environmental contributions
Artificial intelligence promises revolutionary solutions to global challenges, but the water costs to produce and power AI hardware and infr…
The Conversation

The carbon impact of artificial intelligence - Nature - Machine Intelligence
The part that artificial intelligence plays in climate change has come under scrutiny, including from tech workers themselves who joined the…
Nature

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.
nature.com

lawofcollage
can we talk about how this is even more annoying when websites start forcing AI on us even though we didn’t FUCKING ASK (@ meta)

like, you stole my art. you stole my writing. and now you’re making me fuck up the environment even though i DIDN’T FUCKING ASK

dduane
This. : /

muffinlevelchicanery

decolonize-the-left

Artificial intelligence technology behind ChatGPT was built in Iowa — with a lot of water
As they race to capitalize on a craze for generative AI, leading tech developers including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have acknowledged th…
AP News

AI’s Climate Impact Goes beyond Its Emissions
To understand how AI is contributing to climate change, look at the way it’s being used
Scientific American

TechScape: Turns out there’s another problem with AI – its environmental toll
AI uses huge amounts of electricity and water to work, and the problem is only going to get worse – what can be done?
the Guardian

[smulder]

[audaxaxon]

[Melizmatic]

@Mindysan33

I’d rather go with the human weirdness

[hecep]

@spetrovits

Until they create an actual use case for it?

So far, it’s been used to identify candidates for cancer-fighting drugs. I see AI as Taguchi Methodology on super-duper steroids, and, to that extent, helpful.

[KathyPartdeux]

Keep San Francisco weird lost years ago.

It’s an enclave of Wharton and Stanford grads looking for the next grift, far right billionaires and their serfs who can afford to live there. And bullshit machines of both the carbon and silicon varieties.

[danimagoo]

Also Austin, Texas. Austin had it first, I believe, followed by Portland. Since then, Louisville and Indianapolis have also tried to adopt the motto. It’s been stolen by marketing people, so really…having that motto today kind of proves that your city is anything but weird.

[EB01]

Weird AI agrees

Al Yankovic

[DasKleineTeilchen]

@MerelyGifted

Stop using it. Stop using it for a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. We need to kill it

this!

[Mindysan33]

@audaxaxon

I associate the California ideology with a lot of the modern tech-bro capitalistic triumphilism, which there defintely has been present in the counter-culture

Yes. This is very much doing that is my point. AI is very much in the interest of the tech-dude-bros and is pushing it as the solution to all the things… for their own benefit and in part to bypass government regulation. They treat cyberpunk as the inevitable future and as a positive, not as a critique.

@audaxaxon

but we should also not forget that was not always the vision of the underground

Did I say it was? Not sure where that’s coming from, actually and how you got that out of what I said… But Fred Turner did a good job of connecting the dots…

From Counterculture to Cyberculture

but there is nothing “counter-cultural” about AI and tech-dude-bros. This is like right wing nazis claiming to be the “real punks.” It’s all bullshit designed to make them look like they are not trying to drag us back to some state of fuedalism, where most of us lack rights.

@hecep

it’s been used to identify candidates for cancer-fighting drugs.

@danimagoo

Also Austin, Texas.

Asheville, NC? Athens, GA? I’m starting to think that the “keep ___________ weird” is just a marketing slogan?

[audaxaxon]

@Mindysan33

@audaxaxon

but we should also not forget that was not always the vision of the underground

Did I say it was? Not sure where that’s coming from, actually and how you got that out of what I said… But Fred Turner did a good job of connecting the dots…

I think the confusion arose from my considering the referent there to be what @smulder was talking about (the cyberdelic thing) - while you seem (to me now) to have meant more the topic of the OP.

Have considered picking up that book, I think it came out around the same time as the Dormouse one, both on the list.

Would be curious if they focus on Project One at all? That seemed like a real catalyst space for future cultural ripple effects.