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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   30015 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 21, 2024

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Most likely, good AI art doesn't get called out because no one notices. But there is a lot of bad AI art out there, and it has a certain stink to it.

But it's not just AI art. Any time a visual style gains too much popularity, it starts to get shit on, especially if untalented people lean on it to produce cheap content. For example, the "Corporate Memphis" and "Cal Arts" styles of drawing have also produced a lot of ire (among those who recognize them). Once you notice, you notice, and you start to hate it.

AI art can be done well, but it still requires a human touch. If you just enter a prompt, then 99% of the time the resulting image is going to suck. Source: I use it all the time and get crappy images.

"Corporate Memphis" with micro heads and large hands screams "ugly" on first glance

what's crappy in your images? For me main problem is that some things AI can't draw and it cannot into decomposition.

ai art is easy to identify: it's something no one would actually bother to draw

That's perhaps not the pithy gotcha you think it is. Lots of things that humans do actually bother to draw are disgusting, revolting and/or morally abhorrent. It's telling that one group that feels particularly threatened by AI art is artists doing furry commissions. No one can tell me that human culture is enriched by a drawing of the rabbit from Zootopia being subjected to a gangbang.

by a drawing of the rabbit from Zootopia being subjected to a gangbang

Why can’t it be? (SFW, but loud)

Memes are still human culture, even if it’s sourced from pornography featuring a hilariously overexaggerated orgasm scream. We would as a species be worse off if that didn’t exist, in my opinion.

This complaint about it not being “cultural” kind of sounds like how people launder “natural” to mean “things humans didn’t do”, even though human beings are by definition part of nature so by extension everything they do is “natural”.

It’s like pretending “stop liking what I don’t like” is a valid moral claim in a vacuum.

I think you're misunderstanding the point I'm making. I'm not saying "disgusting fetish art isn't part of human culture": of course it is. I said that human culture isn't enriched by this content. It isn't a net-positive contribution to human culture: it's one of those parts of human culture that we are (or should be) profoundly ashamed of, like child abuse, drug addiction, or pizza with peas and mayonnaise.

I am 100% willing to plant my flag in the earth and say that human culture is worse off as a result of the existence of creepy fetish art, child porn, depraved erotica in the tradition of de Sade etc. Not calling for it to be banned or censored (except for child porn involving literal children, which is already illegal per age of consent legislation), just saying that it makes our culture worse. All things being equal, a culture or subculture which celebrates disgusting fetish art is worse than a culture which doesn't.

As someone who recently came to the same realization, but still hasn't fully come to terms with giving up a fairly enjoyable and rewarding hobby, I'm crossing my fingers for a high-quality debate either here or under @Primaprimaprima's potential post.

What's the hobby? Drawing fetish art?

I'd say "producing fetish media" to be as broad as possible. Mostly hiring people to draw and write stuff, and discussing and developing project ideas with other people. Wasn't really looking to make the thread about myself.

I understand if you'd rather not get any more specific, but mind my asking what kind of media? Anime, manga, video games, erotic literature?

More comments

No one can tell me that human culture is enriched by a drawing of the rabbit from Zootopia being subjected to a gangbang.

It absolutely is. I mean that in all sincerity.

Chapter 8 of Kristeva's Powers of Horror may help stimulate some initial thoughts in this direction.

Expecting me to read 17 pages because you don't want to actually make an argument yourself strikes me as poor form. Perchance a TL;DR?

I would prefer to simply write a longer post on the issue rather than boiling it down to a few bullet points which, due to their brevity, would necessarily be as mysterious as the original claim itself, and demand yet further elaboration. But I only have time for one or two long posts per day, and FC is currently monopolizing my time. I may write a toplevel post on this issue in the near future.

FC?

FCfromSSC

Yeah but the disgusting, revolting and/or morally abhorrent stuff is typically transgressive. it's done for shock value. The AI stuff just feels so bland and generic, like stock photos or those inspiration photos [1], but under the label of art. Or something photocopied from a book.

Such as this [1] https://personalityjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/inspiration-min.jpg

Yeah but the disgusting, revolting and/or morally abhorrent stuff is typically transgressive. it's done for shock value.

No, it's done for the sexual gratification of perverts.

The AI stuff just feels so bland and generic, like stock photos or those inspiration photos [1]

Well now you're contradicting yourself. Earlier you said that AI art is something no one would bother to actually draw. Now you're saying AI art is overly reminiscent of stock photos or motivational posters - which are things that humans actually put time, effort and money into creating! Which one is it?

I'm sure I don't notice if it's AI art most of the time. I'm sure I totally failed Scott's Turing test. So I guess when I see the vitreol, it's only instances when I see it specifically presented and called out as AI art, because I myself would notice it as such otherwise.

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