#I mean I know crypto is a fucking grift

[cognitiveinequality]

So... a bunch of NFT grifters threw a party in Hong Kong this weekend and reportedly a bunch of attendees are now at risk of permanent eyesight damage because the promoters used unsafe lighting, and people are going to the ER...

#jfc #I mean I know crypto is a fucking grift #but I kind of didn't think it would PHYSICALLY harm the idiots who invested in it #literally can't believe the last poster #like.... at what point DO you stop sucking these guys' dicks??!? #AFTER they blind you?!? WTF

[josiebelladonna]

okay, pro-ai people, what you got for me.

do your worst-

mmmkay, keep going

true, and you know, this was something that i believed would happen with merely the natural progression of technology and everything, as a building off digital art. but that’s not what’s happening, though—it’s also not ���replicating” human-made art, it’s straight-up taking the data around it and storing it in algorithms. biggest missed opportunity i’ve seen… ever. in my whole life.

that’s beside the point, though—something tells me this guy has never done a speed drawing or speed paint before. but again, beside the point. what’s happening is typing into the algorithm to make whatever and then boom, done. absolutely zero effort.

let’s be real: i don’t care about engagement. sometime last year i decided i just wasn’t going to give a shit about it anymore because it doesn’t mean anything when you think about it. but my instagram likes have steadily fallen off a cliff since september: my reach has been phenomenal, though, i get at least 1000 people looking at me on a monthly basis and that’s on a weak month like december, too; but likes have been utterly abysmal lately. things i thought would be huge like my erotic drawings and yet people hardly bat an eye at them. it’d be easy to assume that “huh, there’s no place for this girl, especially since her art doesn’t look like anything else i’ve seen before. where do you place her?”

it’s something that has nagged at me for years, my place in the art world that is. it’s not anime because a.) it just isn’t—greatly influenced by it, but that’s not what it is, though; b.) that’s incorrect terminology anyway: anime is animation, manga is printed work; and c.) it just isn’t. i don’t fit in manga/anime circles for this reason, and i also don’t fit into cartoonist circles for this reason, too—cartoonists have gotten alarmingly cutthroat as of late, too, going on about their politics instead of making stuff that moves me. it’s really weird, and tragic, too, like you can only talk about that stuff before it gets exhausting and you’re wishing for your own alex skolnick.

i’m also seeing things like “it’s being framed as a crypto grift when it’s being done by actual artists” to which i say you’re probably looking at straight digital art for all we know—which tells me we’ve passed the point of no return there.

apparently, this guy started out as a traditional artist (account was started in 2017) and then switched to ai and—  you’re going to buy into an illusion because it’s the latest thing at the expense of your own roots and call it “ludditism”. god, that’s upsetting.

wait, wait, wait… did you miss something here? i feel like that above tweet should’ve led into something.

also, “there’s no need to hate something simply because it’s different.” there you go again with the “anti-ai is ableist” horseshit. i read about this when it started coming forth into the foray, and i always do, too: as an artist and someone who reads and has an extensive scientific background so i literally think like a scientist, this shit should sound off alarm bells everywhere.

i love how this guy just says “don’t be afraid because you’re wrong” and then does fuck all to back it up. paramount signs of blind leading the blind—it’s really weird because once you sift through the playground insults and the sense of entitlement, that’s really all what the pro-ai argument boils down to. seriously, go on twitter or the ai tag here on tumblr right now and see the pro-arguments that are meant to be mediating: they all have that air of “because i said so” and they don’t tell you anything—or they’re like mike portnoy and they’re like “but it’s so cool though!!”

worse, these people are so far gone in it that there’s no convincing them otherwise, even if you back it up and follow the research and show them the truth. they’re quickly reaching the level of trumpers and pro-lifers. they are just so convinced that they’re the ones telling the truth that they get all misty-eyed about it and yet you get absolutely nothing from them when you approach them logically. you learn nothing… except how they are as people, of course, and you find that it was nothing more than emotionally manipulative propaganda.

abortion is healthcare, not ~murder of babies~ (and being anti-abortion has roots in antisemitism and rape apology, too, so pro-life feminists can stop lying to us) trump is hitler 2.0 and magats (idk what they’re called, there’s about 12 different names for them) are the new nazis and ai is an existential threat whether you want to believe it or not.

too bad. IT’S NOT ART. IT’S THEFT AND ANTIHUMAN.

you didn’t say anything??

also, fuck twitter for making the most-replied tweets the most visible now, god, i’m glad i don’t have an account on there anymore.

by the way, i checked the replies under that thread, and—

did no one learn from 2016? i mean, jesus christ, it wasn’t even that long ago. “oh, the pandemic! the pandemic has warped my perception of time! wah wah wah!”  listen, when you close yourself off to a vacuum like this, you only receive feedback that backs you up and kisses your ass rather than challenge you and help you grow and learn and bust down your own pretenses… god forbid. fake news was actually a thing (until it wasn’t), and there still is hordes upon hordes of misinformation about covid and the vaccines, and it all comes down to not questioning and going, “maybe this isn’t the truth, maybe the truth is somewhere else or maybe it’s inside me. maybe the vaccine does work after all. maybe there is something that does resonate with me from the other side of the aisle. maybe this cool thing really is pernicious and i’m only believing my own bullshit because i’m the one who’s actually afraid.” also, hot take: memes contribute to propaganda because they’re based on punchlines and specific context rather than tell you something you should know. i can’t say how many times i see a meme anywhere and i have no idea what the hell it’s supposed to mean.

i like how that top tweet—nice touch with the “nft” in the username, too. yeah, people still take crypto seriously after the bottom dropped out on the market and i haven’t seen a commercial for it since last march—just reinforces the doom mindset that i’m seeing a lot of legit artists resign to (please don’t, i’m begging you, you are letting them win by undertaking this mindset)… as if there’s no such thing as legislation or artists banning together against this. they think no one can write petitions or get the ball rolling and make someone in a position of authority really look at the ethical implications of ai.

really, i want someone to look into starting a petition, do something to get the ball rolling to their congressman or whoever to really look at the ethics behind ai to expose the truth about it and maybe do something about it because it’s only a matter of time before the hollow propaganda wins. yeah, congress is what it is, but it’s something, though. it’s called making use of the tools that you have at your disposal, even if they don’t function at the ideal level, something that’s been with us from the first time our ancestors created fire. unlike h.r. puff n stuff here^, i actually want art to go places. and not because i said so.

#i should be writing #just needed to say this #ai art #ai art theft #ai art community #ai art is fake art #ai art is stolen art #ai art is art theft #ai art is theft #ai art isn't real art #fuck ai art #fuck ai writing #support human artists #twitter #text

[imustbenuts]

Different anon, reading your Delicious in FE asks had me and my partner wondering how you'd cook Mila because of her weird hair wings. So I guess: Mila and Duma? Can't have one without the other.

felt a little under the weather sorry for the late reply!!

i have in fact answers for this.

mila

id imagine tastes a lot like mossy chewy veggies and vermicelli and tofu. she looks almost like what i would think of dryad if less leafy and woody, and is responsible for her people never going hungry ever again (tm). so mila probably touches the ground and an apple tree grows, touches a person wishing they have a pair of mega melons instantly have a pair of mega melons

but bc she technically isnt a dryad and more of a dragon, parts of her are going to taste like meat even though its veggies. which is. cool actually! that means its vegan time!! 🍽️🍽️

i actually have a cooler idea than lab grown meat though: mianjin! or seitan. mila is probably just full of this. dont even have to wash or pound her to get this labor intensive vegan food.

so these things are actually gluten, processed from wheat and the likes. their texture is super duper close to chicken, and are extremely good at soaking up whatever juices you throw at it. fry it, steam it, they can take it. monastic buddhist monks have been munching on these things since 6th century in china, and ive even eaten once prepped to look exactly like sashimi

its fucking play dough faux meat.

anyway! so with parts of her being mianjin, her hair part would probably be like long beans or even moss. theres one particular Black Moss that i ate a lot as a kid being served it, but apparently have been over harvested due to. dumb shit culture reasons. (eating it is believed to bring fortune and money. they kept feeding me that shit.)

so! my recommended milla prep method is vegetable stir fry, actually! make sure to grab all the veggies like carrots and brocolli and mushrooms and plenty of oyster sauce, mirin, vinegar, and ginger and go to fucking town mixing her in. :3

shit so good it can be eaten as finger food >:333

Duma

id imagine duma would be some creature thats really hardy and built to survive in places with lots of prairie and plains. but hes ripped as hell, strong as a tank and has the mentally of strongest means bestest

so. maybe hes like. a bison. the king of bisons. the biggest beefiest gym bro who somehow converts his gains from fats and protein non-existent.

i know the duma we know in fe:echoes is a dippy sad mess but imagine if that was bc he lost his way in the mountains without cell reception bc he made a bad investment, lost his house, drank too much, got into a couple of fights with cars and trains, lost, and mila took off with his $60,000 car he paid off by running some crypto grift and got mega cancelled for it

regular duma is a bona fide bison. the duma we saw is not.

step 1: get his ass. step 2: shred his ass into thin slices. step 3: dry his thin ass and then grab a bunch of berries and then recook his ass in his own fat. BAP BAPABAPABABBABABABP done.

with regards to regular duma, the only way to pay proper respects and follow his path imo is to become one with him so thoroughly even nature shakes upon our footstep as we train in the wild. see what he saw. fend of cars with our bare hands and pecs. eating him. slowly. bit by bit....

because duma has become... the ultimate survival food.

Pemmican. ✌️

combined together they are a force of nature. we shall become as gods. can't go wrong with ultimate survival meat and ultimate veggies

#delicious in fire emblem #duma #mila

[drdubz]

Authorblues chose Violence, now so do I.

These past couple of years have been weird for artists. Some saw productivity rise as they had to rely on art (like me, weirdly got way more traction). We had to then battle with the obvious NFT grift that is now collapsing while most of the winners of it walk away with undeserved money. Now that crypto and Web3 bullshit has died down we're onto the next weird tech scheme: AI art.

As a person who has used AI art generators in the past for a Lancer game, I feel I should apologise for my ignorance. I've felt the power I have at my hands, and I certainly understand that it's kind of addictive, and unfortunately inevitable. That said there absolutely SHOULD be a pushback on the commodification of it. It SHOULD be vilified and it SHOULD be regulated on artist consent.

So, the one argument I see is that it empowers non artists to create. Like.. sure, I guess, it's still art. It's a soulless sludge, but it's still art. It doesn't deserve the praise though because there was no story behind it. Even the objectively worst art in history at least has an interesting story that reveals the humanity within. It is true however that those without the equipment or skill is empowered to create with a few keystrokes.

The problem arises however when we know that higher ups in big production companies are also, in as much as we can stretch the definition of the term, human. In a tweet that makes so much sense it made me sit back in my chair and ponder for way too long, it was noted that artists in the future would expect to use these tools to boost productivity. As such, this means that art sectors in companies can then be reduced, since AI will provide tools to speed up generation of product.

So while the chosen few watch their coworkers get laid off, they are then saddled with the simple fact that yes, they're providing more productivity, but their salary doesn't change. Their job becomes less meaningful, in both the volume of work that is expected and the importance of a single person's ability. You can guarantee a higher up doesn't care, the tech doesn't exist to help artists, it exists to cut corners and costs, and we all KNOW where the bloated slices of the money pie goes in game and film production.

I've also noticed a trend that it's very often artists who're advocating and speaking out against industry crunch. This goes for ALL facets. We're not against programmers, we're against grifters and people who exploit art and artists. We rarely, if at all, see the AI advocates present a both sides argument when they demand one of artists, who in a fair few cases do see merit in AI art when used ethically and on a personal level.

But in the end, us digital artists rely on good programmers to make good programs. Thing is we -pay- for those programs. Even Adobe where I'm the 'you can always pirate it' guy has to make money, and they do, they're industry standard. But the thing about the market is that we can move on to buying a different program, like I did with Clip. Yes, they can demand money for their programming skill, but people who program AI art generators are doing so off the backs of people who don't even realise it's happening to them. So yes, we're hostile because they wouldn't EXIST without us, and there's no compensation whatsoever.

This is the part that made me mad about Auth telling us we had to read that godawful thing that ended in the term 'democratization'. Like fuck you dude who said that, stealing isn't a democracy, and even if it was it certainly doesn't make it right. At that point the advocates shouldn't even try to justify anything, should just stay quiet and soulless, carry on without trying to be some philosophical genius who can take a higher ground because they can. They have no defences and they should stop trying.

In the end, we see what they're doing. They're the tracers who get called out on FA and are run out of the community and make sad journals about how everyone was mean to them and find a bunch of weird friends who're also outcast because they don't understand that good artists tore themselves apart to get to where they are. The product matters more than the ethics, and in a world where rich people can no longer convince the masses that those without the same money are jealous, we see exactly what's going on.

It fucking sucks man.