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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   35889 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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The ultimate triumph of a field is self-destruction.

Sublimation, surely.

Tomato, tomato. The ultimate triumph of medicine would eliminate doctors. The ultimate triumph of creation would eliminate creators. If we could all be our own little Gods, speaking worlds into being, it'd take a real odd sort to gnash his teeth over all the construction workers and carpenters put out of business.

Tomato, tomato.

mm.

If we could all be our own little Gods, speaking worlds into being, it'd take a real odd sort to gnash his teeth over all the construction workers and carpenters put out of business.

I'm inclined to agree, but it seems to me that this line of thinking butts up against some pretty serious philosophical questions about what we actually value. I'm not an atomic individualist, so a future where humans cocoon themselves away into perfect solipsistic selfishness doesn't actually sound all that hot. Making things easier is a good thing if the things in question are themselves good, but it seems to me that connection to others is something I'd miss if it were gone.

You don't need to be an individualist to see the value in trivializing the creation of luxury goods. Bond with people over a shared appreciation of the art, rather than the making of it -- which is typically a private and boring affair, anyway.

no disagreement there.

All of those are basically engineering to serve a purpose. Picture engineering exists, which is why AI art is even used. Picture engineering is how you obtain company logos and silly images for ads and presentations.

Art is a status competition. It sounds like what you're saying is art is dumb.

Art isn't dumb at all. I have plenty of pictures on my walls that I find aesthetically pleasing. They're not high status, they were free, gifts from a friend who liked Bos Ross landscapes, would smoke, and paint his heart out.

Art as an elite status competition is stupid, but I don't really care. Let the elites posture.

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