#there is so much joy in creation that ai will never know

[mysterythief]

“Please don’t belittle the wonder of thinking” is such a raw line. I need everyone to hear it

Okay. It's time for an AI rant.

My nephew is 13 years old. Whenever he writes a paper for school, I check it over and fix all of his mistakes for him. He said to me, "Maybe I'll proofread your paper for you in exchange," meaning one of the scholarly articles I write for work. I said, "Cool," and gave him the file. And he said, "Well, this is full of errors! See, you always say you have a lot to correct on my stuff, and look at all the stuff you got wrong!" And I said, surprised, "What? Where?" Because I'm sure there are typos in the draft I sent him, but not, like, that many.

And then he pointed to the screen and said, "Look at all the blue and red lines you have."

And I said, "Yeah, but those are wrong. Like, those are blue and red lines I'm ignoring because the computer is wrong." And then I paused and added, "You know you can't proofread a paper by just looking at the red and blue lines, right?" And he gave me the blankest look, because that clearly is EXACTLY what he thinks. And it became even clearer suddenly why, whenever I correct something on his paper, his immediate reaction is, "It didn't have a blue or red line."

There's a very good reason for that: THAT'S BECAUSE THE COMPUTER ISN'T SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT IT WAS WRONG.

I am so tired of being sold the idea that computers are better than humans and so we should just outsource everything to them, which is clearly the lesson my nephew is absorbing in U.S. middle school. COMPUTERS ARE NOT BETTER THAN HUMANS. Like, maybe they are better at humans at crawling through rubble to find people trapped inside. They are also better at preserving things in a searchable format. Things like that. Very limited circumstances.

I don't want to sound alarmist but everything I hear about people using generative AI freaks me out. It's not just that I'm freaked out by people being like, "I use it to write novels!" (Although I don't see how they do, I have tried to have it write fiction for me and the output was truly terrible.) But I recognize my bias around creative writing and so no one needs to credit my views on artificial writing. But! Other things are alarming, too! "I use it to brainstorm x, y, or z." But...why? Why not just...use your own brain...to...brain...storm? The computer doesn't even have a brain to brainstorm with! And you might be like, "But it comes up with things that my brain would never think of!" So would other people! You could also brainstorm with other people! Or even through Google to see what other people have thought before you (not AI). Please don't belittle the wonder of thinking.

I just feel like the marketing around generative AI boils down to "Wouldn't it be easier not to use your own brain to think about things?" Everyone. No. It would not be. Please just trust me on this. I'm not just an old person who is out of touch with technology or something. I promise. USE YOUR BRAINS. IT WILL BE OKAY.

[12daysofchristmas]

Join us in the 2024 12 Days of Christmas Challenge as we hope to spread a little ✨holiday joy and cheer�� through the magic of writing fanfiction & creating art!

About & Rules

The challenge will run from December 13-24, 2024.

The challenge is open to any and all fandoms.

Submissions must include at least one of the prompts for that day but can combine two, three, or all four.

Prompts for the day always include: a word/words, a scenario, a quote, a "famous" quote (taken from songs and movies)

Tag your submissions with #12daysofchristmas2024 and/or mention this blog so that we will be notified to reblog your submissions here. (Also, it would be super cool if you gave this blog a follow!)

Submissions for the day must be posted before midnight YOUR time. We're not super hard-and-fast about this rule, but posting within time is very much appreciated! 

If you’re posting your submission directly on Tumblr (as opposed to linking to an external site such as AO3), you MUST use a “keep reading” cut!

Edit: We're now also allowing ALL KINDS OF ART: drawings, edits, aesthetics, mood boards, videos, podfics, fiber arts... go wild!

!! Absolutely NO AI creations !!

Please format ALL submissions with the following heading:

Title Day/Prompt(s) Fandom/Character(s)/Ship Warnings (if applicable): Word Count/Medium (in case it's art):  Example: Santa, Baby Day 8 - “Prompt(s) for that day” AEW - Adam Page x OC Warnings: Alcohol, cursing, sexual situations (explicit) Word Count: 7,290 or: Medium: fan video

You can also include a summary, gif, edit, whatever you want! Just don’t forget the “keep reading” if you’re posting directly on Tumblr!

If you're posting on AO3, here's our collection: 12 Days of Christmas Collection

2024 Prompts

Day 1 ❄️ First snow ❄️ Getting soaked ❄️ “Your hands are so cold.” ❄️ “I suppose it all started with the snow.” —Frosty the Snowman

Day 2 ❄️ Little lie ❄️ Trapped together in a snowstorm ❄️ “I thought you knew where you were going?!” ❄️ “I don’t know what to say, but it’s Christmas, and we’re all in misery.” —National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Day 3 ❄️ Accelerated heartbeat ❄️ Kissing in the snow ❄️ “Here, take my coat.” ❄️ “Let's hope the snow will make this Christmas right.” —Queen

Day 4 ❄️ Mulled wine ❄️ Playing board games ❄️ “I have no regrets.” ❄️ “Cheer up, dude. It's Christmas.” —How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 2000

Day 5 ❄️ Cookies ❄️ Holiday-themed contest ❄️ “That definitely looks… interesting?” ❄️ “That is exactly why you want a high-quality fire extinguisher right in the kitchen.” —The Santa Clause

Day 6 ❄️ Present ❄️ Making a new Christmas tradition ❄️ “Not another Christmas movie!” ❄️ “You say you hate Washington’s birthday or Thanksgiving, and nobody cares, but you say you hate Christmas, and people treat you like you’re a leper.” —Gremlins

Day 7 ❄️ Decorations ❄️ A little accident ❄️ “I was just trying to help!” ❄️ “I want my house to be seen from space.” —Deck The Halls

Day 8 ❄️ Touch starved ❄️ Telling secrets around the fire ❄️ “Sometimes the hardest part is forgiving yourself.” ❄️ “Santa, can't you hear me?” —Ariana Grande & Kelly Clarkson

Day 9 ❄️ Christmas fair/market ❄️ Late shopping (together) ❄️ “Hmm, this is actually not bad.” ❄️ “When you're still waiting for the snow to fall, doesn't really feel like Christmas at all.” —Coldplay

Day 10 ❄️ Surprise visit ❄️ Lighting scented candles ❄️ “I didn’t know you were here.” ❄️ “You’re skipping Christmas! Isn’t that against the law?” —Christmas with the Kranks

Day 11 ❄️ Fairy lights ❄️ Christmas party/ball ❄️ “I never want this night to end.” ❄️ “I won’t even wish for snow. And I’m just gonna keep on waiting, underneath the mistletoe.” —Mariah Carey

Day 12 ❄️ Feast ❄️ Indoor picnic by the tree/fireplace ❄️ “I baked your favourite cookie/pie/cake.” ❄️ “You are all I need tonight underneath the Christmas lights.” —Sia

Extra Challenge

Angst or fluff, romance or platonic - you're unsure in what direction your fic should go? Spin our

Wheel

and let it decide for you! You can spin it once and write all fics with what comes up, you can spin it daily and change course accordingly, you can spin it as often as you need or not at all - it's all up to you.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions! Also, feel free to share this post and help spread the joy and cheer!

Happy writing, and good luck 🍀

[medicine-san]

savanaclaw android [ au belongs to @ceruleancattail ]

[ okay I've felt better now, and as promised here full story with 🍩 and 🐺. unfortunately most context were lost because I tried too hard to keep it short ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ I do not speak english, I don't know how to write, this is purely me being dedicated to murphy's law. ]

tw: fluff jack fluff jack fluff jack

leona who funnily enough was bought not to be a miracle as what people originally intended him to be, but a kindergarten teacher.

who would've thought such high maintenance android would end up getting his hands wiping some kid's piss and puke off the floor, his rumoured high intelligence are nought but just for teaching mere children's knowledge. not like he can do anything, his owner need his help. it's in the contract. letting these tiny creatures pestering him, their tiny hands all over him or his tail or his ears. or having them fight to sit on his uncomfortably hard thighs when it's lunch time.

what an insult to his creation.

but recently, he began to experience an unexplainable series of lagging in his speech pattern. his eyes begin to blur at times. simple tasks beginning to feel like a burden as his head would dangerously overheat, even the kids could see the strain he's baring from how much he's scrunching his brows.

the sound, he'd say, the sound. it's annoying.

a sound of something stirring. everytime he heard the sound, his eye would hurt so bad as if it's scratching to come out of his eye socket. his students would just childishly claim it was a migraine, telling him he should rest more. "I could not have migraine you stupid cubs", is what he'd say if not because of the strict filter for his speech.

popup notifications begin to emerge, warning him of a foreign third party running his system. multiple non permitable access to his memory drive, he just now noticed that there are viruses corrupting his system. how could this be possible? he never turned his antivirus software off. is there a malpractice happening without him knowing?

and it doesn't take long for him to figure out the problem.

his eyes are the problem.

the images, the videos, continuously sent to a certain someone he could not mention as that will breach the TOS. even thinking this is already straining his thought process to the point of overheating.

his eyes are the reason.

and with that same eyes, he continues to stare at the messy mess. nonchalantly showing off his bloodied hand with bits of what could be assumed as remnants of skin and flesh to the watching eyes behind the screen. it is a bit dark, but they are not stupid.

especially not after the screen went temporarily blocked before it shows the face of a certain android, specks of blood can be seen on his face.

don't you think delivery guys got away quite easily?

you can be one of those annoying old men who think the whole world is their enemy and will not hesitate to shoot you for wanting to get your ball that accidentally got into his lawn, but will let his gate open for limited access to his front door if you're his delivery guy. well, as long as they keep their bloodthirsty dogs on leash at least. humans are not to be trusted.

maybe it's not the greatest job, but it's one that he enjoys doing. the rush to get everything on time, the competition to stay on top, the joy that comes with being able to see new places and faces. ruggie enjoys it all. can machines even feel joy? he may have no answer to that, but it is something akin to that, if he could describe it.

or at least, that's what the old lady told him. truly, how could she describe human emotion on him, a robot? do humans really have to push their human perspective on everything? that's why they keep getting themselves in stupid situation for being too emotionally attached to objects. but then that's why those heartslabyul ai software is all the hit right now.

because they are lonely.

the old lady is kind. really! she always greet him whenever he came to the area for deliveries. asking him about his day, about the weather, if he's working too hard. such young man shouldn't get his skin burned by the sun! she'd say. grandma, don't you think your concern is misplaced? worry about yourself first, instead of this young roaring machine. I'm still full of energy, and carefully oiled. my gears won't rust away anytime soon, and I'm not getting busted that easily. not while there's still people who need his service.

like this shaky hand that's reaching out of the crack of the door.

the wide, soulless eye staring at him, pleading for that magical key to the world of happiness. to see such unhappiness, and him having the power to change it, oh how thrilling! he couldn't control the grin from widening!

he loves this job, it helps more people to be happy.

for a guard dog, jack model is certainly quite a character. not in a bad way, it's just funny to see this over 190cm android tensing up for his monthly checkups. even while sitting down, he still manage to tower over the mechanic's smaller figure. his ears flatten whenever their hands reaching the inside of him for any loose bolts, quietly whimpering to himself whenever they bumped his circuits with their fragile fingers while checking him up. his sensory should've been turned off, so it's certainly not "pain" he's experiencing.

"calm down, puppy,"

"you're making this difficult for me."

it's difficult for him too. human, can't you see? the way you're talking to him, the way you're handling him, how you'd rub circles around his knuckles whenever he'd had a nasty fight with aggressors, or when you'd aggressively scratch his head and ears after every patch ups with them, cooing him with "good boy"s and "good job"s. all while smelling like oil and chemical, the clinking sound of equipments softly echoing in the workshop, his ears catching up lowly moans of other androids under their care, the buzzing noise of fading life all around the two of them.

how romantic, hell he could imagine himself getting a kiss too from how much his brain is replaying all the romantic scenarios on tv dramas he'd play BEFORE coming here. oh please do, just a peck on my head is all I want. touch my cheeks and pull them lightly, what I'd do just to feel you gracing me with your marks on me. those damned lines play by itself on his mind as he's staring directly at their face. taking notes of how their face scrunched when he's not staying still to their liking, or at how their shadowed figure igniting a certain scene that got his eyes drooping. his tail lightly drumming the chair he's sitting on, the artificial fur sweeping their pants tenderly.

sickeningly sweet.

as if he didn't just had a romantic awakening in the middle of what can be considered a butcher's shop of his kind.

[pageofheartdj]

Hm I'll try to explain why AI 'fanworks' feel so insulting.

Yes this is bad for ecology but many things are bad for ecology. Yes it looks too much like others creations but people take inspiration in them so their work can look similar too.

What about generative AI art/fics feels so offensive?

I think I get it. It's imitation of community.

What is fandom? A community of people that gathered because of their shared love. The love so strong they CREATE for it. They put effort, they learn new things, they spend time. They put it out there for other people to see for free.

Why? We are bonding. It's not enough to jump in our room and be done, we want to reach out to other people who understand this love, who will spread it further.

And AI works lack it. If you like something so much why can't you bother to make something for it? Your own thing? Without other creatives you would have nothing for the programm to build from. Why don't you have your own feelings about it? The programm can't reach into your soul, it can't know all the intricate details.

It doesn't feel like you love it enough. It feels like you want to receive the same love and appreciation other creators receive. But it's not consumption to 'pay' for someone's hard work.

We can't bond with machine. We can't bounce our love with someone who lacks the same intensity of the feeling.

Imagine people gathering in park to run. There is no money price in the end, no hidden agenda, just people who love running. They don't even have to be good at running, but they are here anyway. Because it's fun, because they do the thing they enjoy and most importantly, they share this joy of experience with other people.

We find the groups who have similar speed or we cheer for each other or we challenge, we goof around or pick hardests paths. We share tips how to run better, we offer what water bottles is better to use, we enjoy the weather together.

And then there are AI 'artists' who take their scooters and move the whole road on it, passing by everyone who runs in seconds.

And in the end of the way what was the point? You are not here because you wanted to run, you didn't run. You are not here to have fun with people over shared love, you drove past them. And why are you standing there expecting to be clapped good job done like others do for each other. You were never a part of experience. But you pretend that you are, when you do not even care.

That's what's insulting for me.

[thursdayisbetterthanfriday]

Cybernetics with Chinese Characteristics & why we suck at the real Grand Strategy Game

Part 2 - The Quickening

Back in 2023, I wrote this more blog-like post about the mid 20th century McCarthyite purges of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the knock on effects that had - Namely the inception of the Chinese nuclear program, one-child policy and Chinese computing scene.

Since nothing is new under the sun, we have recently witnessed yet another example of America shooting itself in the foot, yet again, due to it's McCarthyite style purge of Chinese technology.

The release of the Chinese created AI system DeepSeek R1 last week has lead to the largest US stock market loss in history with NVIDIA stock decimated.

A record $465 Billion was wiped off its valuation in a single day. In 2024, the government of Turkey spent this much in a year on it's responsibilities?

Why did this happen?

As always, a lot can be put down to US foreign policy, and the in-intended implications of seemingly positive actions.

Do you want to start a trade war?

Back in the relatively uncontroversial days of the first Trump Presidency (Yes it does feel odd saying that) there were scandals with hardware provided by Chinese company Huawei. This led to the  National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 which explicitly banned Huawei and ZTE's hardware from use in US Government institutions. It also meant the US had to authorise US component manufacturer purchases by these companies.

Crucially this had a 27 month window. This allowed both companies to switch suppliers, and production to domestic suppliers. This actually led to Chinese chip advances. Following on from this came the 2022 move by the US Department of Commerce: "Commerce Implements New Export Controls on Advanced Computing and Semiconductor Manufacturing Items to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) ". This further limited the supply of semiconductor, supercomputer, and similar hardware to the PRC and associated countries.

Ok, well so far this is fairly dry stuff. You might think it would hamper Chinese development and, to some extent, it did.

It also proved to be the main catalyst for one financial quant.

Meet the Quant

Meet Liang Wenfeng (梁文锋). Educated to masters level, Liang was keen to apply machine learning methods to various field, but couldn't get a break. Finally, in the mid 2000's, he settled on a career investigating quantitative trading using machine learning techniques.

He became successful, founding several trading firms based around using machine learning methods, but his interest in base AI never seemed to cease. It was in 2021 that he started purchasing multiple NVIDIA GPUs to create a side project, leading to the creation of DeepSeek in 2023.

Now, due to import limitations, there were limitations on computation. This, however, did not stop DeepSeek's programming team.

Instead they used it as their strength.

Constrains Breed Innovation

For many years, the Western model of AI releases have focussed on making ever larger and larger models.

Why?

Let's break this down from an evolutionary point of view. Modern Western technology companies are largely monopolistic and monolithic. Many of these companies have previously hired staff at higher salaries not to fill roles, but to deny their competitors, and middle market firms, high-flying staff.

They also closely guard trade secrets. What's the training data? What algorithms were used in construction? Guess you'd better chat up some Silicon Valley bros at parties to find out.

For these kinds of firms, having control over large models, housed in data centres makes perfect sense. Controlling model deployment on their own computing systems, and not using local machines, means that they can not only control their systems more carefully, it also means that they can gatekeep access.

If your business model is to allow people to access your models on your servers, and your employees are focussed on making the biggest, best, models, there is no impetus to innovate more efficient, smaller models.

Companies such as OpenAI therefore have the following traits:

Research/Model focus on size over efficiency

Profit driven culture, with emphasis on closed source code

OpenAI's initial focus was as a non-for-profit developing Artificial General Intelligence. This became a for-profit driven company over time. - “I personally chose the price and thought we would make some money.” - Sam Altman

Staff working within paradigm they set in the early 2020's with established code libraries and direct contact with hardware companies creating chips

Significant capital investment - Upwards of several $ billions

DeepSeek, in comparison, is slightly different

For DeepSeek, necessity made innovation necessary. In order to create similar, or better models, than their counterparts, they needed to significantly optimise their code. This requires significantly more work to create, and write, libraries compared to OpenAI.

DeepSeek was started by financial quants, with backgrounds in mainly mathematics and AI. With a focus on mathematics and research, the main drive of many in the company has been exploration of the research space over concerns about profitability.

DeepSeek has also done what OpenAI stopped years ago: actually releasing the code and data for their models. Not only can these models therefore be run via their own gated servers, anyone can replicate their work and make their own system.

For DeepSeek, their traits were:

Research/Model focus on both efficiency and accuracy

Research driven culture, with open nature - “Basic science research rarely offers high returns on investment” - Liang Wenfeng

Strong mathematical background of staff, with ability to work around software, and hardware, constraints

Low capital investment of around $5.5 million

From an evolutionary point of view, DeepSeek's traits have outcompeted those of OpenAI.

More efficient models cost less to run. They also more portable to local machines.

The strong ability of DeepSeek's research focussed staff allowed them to innovate around hardware constraints

Opening up the code to everyone allows anyone (still with the right hardware) to make their own version.

To top it off, the cost to make, and run, DeepSeek R1 is a fraction of the cost of OpenAI's model

House of Cards

Now we can return to today. NVIDIA has lost significant market value. It's not just limited to NVIDIA, but to the entire US technology sector with the most AI adjacent companies losing from 10% to 30% of their valuation in a single day.

The culture, and business model, of OpenAI isn't just limited to OpenAI, but to the entire US technology ecosystem. The US model has been to create rentier-style financial instruments at sky-high valuations.

US tech stocks have been one of the only success stories for America over the past few decades, ever since the offshoring of many manufacturing industries. Like a lost long-unemployed Detroit auto-worker the US has been mainlining technology like Fentanyl, ignoring the anti-trust doctors advice, injecting pure deregulated substances into its veins.

The new AI boom? A new stronger hit, ready for Wall Street, and Private Equity to tie the tourniquet around its arm and pump it right into the arteries.

Like Prometheus, DeepSeek has delved deep and retrieved fire from the algorithmic gods, and shown it's creation to the world. The stock market is on fire, as the traders are coming off of their high, realising they still live in the ruin of barren, decrepit, warehouses and manufactories. The corporate heads, and company leaders reigning over the wreckage like feudal lords, collecting tithes from the serfs working their domain.

A Tale of Two Cities

The rise of DeepSeek isn't just a one-off story of derring-do in the AI world: It's a symbolic representation of the changing world order. DeepSeek is but one company among many who are outcompeting the US, and the world, in innovation.

Where once US free-markets led the world in manufacturing, technology and military capability, now the US is a country devoid of coherent state regulated free-market principles - its place as the singular world power decimated by destroying the very systems which made it great.

"Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people." - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

By selling the jobs of working class communities to overseas businesses, destroying unions and creating rentier based business models without significant anti-trust measures, US business and political elites have sealed the present fate of the country.

The CCP led, but strongly anti-trust enforcing, China has been able to innovate, ironically, using the free-market principles of Adam Smith to rise up and create some of the world's best innovations. The factories, opened by Western business leaders to avoid union/worker labour costs in their own countries, have led Shenzhen, and similar cities, to become hubs of technological innovation - compounding their ability to determine the future of technologies across the world.

Will America be able to regain its position on top? It's too early to say, but the innovative, talented, people who made America in the 20th century can certainly do it again.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself...

We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.”

Until then, here's a farewell to the American Century 在那之前, 再见美国世纪

[ominous-auburn-orbs]

TADC Gotham Rogues AU

I know, a digital circus au, completely unheard of and original, but I was dressing the cast up as batman villains and liked the designs so much I've decided to make it its own au. This is not something that happened of my own free will, mind you. The demons forced my hand.

I don't have everyone so far, as I still haven't assigned villains to Kinger and Zooble, and I haven't drawn Jax as the Creeper yet, so if any of you have ideas on what to do with those two it would be highly appreciated.

Anyway, here's the designs and some paragraphs on the current stories I have for them.

First up is Gangle as Two Face! Her design is probably my favourite so far.

Once a respected lawyer, Gangle is a dangerous criminal with an obsession with pairs and an inability to make decisions without her beloved coin. Before that, she was a mayoral candidate and looking to properly expose the Falcone crime family. Rather miraculously, a man who used to work with the Falcones was willing to make a full confession, first to her and then in court. When the court date rolled around, however, he denied ever working with the Falcones at all, making Gangle look a fool.

Her temper was something she had always tried to keep from the press, knowing what it would do to her reputation. It came in the form of her second mask, which while seeming happy, expressed a severe desire for revenge and a sadistic joy. This mask was getting closer to showing the more she pressed the man to fully confess. Suddenly, he cried to the security guards to attack, causing them to jump her and break her mask into dust and tear apart her ribbons.

Unbeknownst to the people in the court, the Falcones had managed to replace the court's guards with their own to attack and hopefully kill Gangle. While they were arrested and Gangle survived, her mask could not be put back together. She never recovered physically nor mentally, her duelling personalities now having to occupy the same body at the same time. She did everything right, and still suffered. Law held no justice. Justice held no law. Someone's fate may as well be left to the simple toss of a coin.

Caine plays the role of the Riddler, although a bit less narcissistic than the original. He's also not an AI here, as this au is set in the 'real world', but more in a 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' sense. (Humans and cartoony creatures occupying the same world)

Caine did his best to thrive in whatever workplace he could, thinking his abnormally high IQ would surely make life a breeze for him. However, his lack of money made things very difficult for him. He wasn't close with any higher-ups, his constant insistence on changing and improving ideas was found annoying, and his high intelligence was far less appreciated by his co-workers than he thought it would be.

Left alone with his genius and desire for power and respect, he turned to making gadgets of his own, selling them to gain money for more materials to make more overly complicated machines. Alas, he was plagued by his desire to show off and prove himself, so his contraptions became more violent as he turned to selling to the many crime leagues of Gotham. The public barely ever understood his perfectly mind-bending creations, anyway.

Caine was lonely, though, in his brilliance, so he decided to set up what seemed like a harmless intelligence test online, recruiting the top five performers to meet him for one final test. He put them through puzzle after puzzle, watching how they worked under stress and timers, and how they managed with his adventures. To his disappointment, none survived.

Ready to accept being alone at the top, and relatively unaffected by the deaths considering how little of a purpose those victims ended up serving, he was unexpectedly found and apprehended by police. A certain mob boss he had sold some of his best torture devices to had ratted him out in an attempt to lessen his own sentence.

Thrown in Arkham Asylum, Caine realised that this was the path he had to take. Society wasn't ready for his genius. They simply couldn't fathom using it for good, if at all. Perhaps if he showed just how dangerous it could be, his intelligence would finally be given the respect it deserved.

Next, there's Ragatha as the Ventriloquist. I decided to use Terrible!Ragatha as a replacement for Scarface, who was originally created by @obamerzslop ! I highly recommend checking out his au's, they're what indirectly convinced me to make this. She admittedly doesn't really have T!Ragatha's personality, but she does keep the design.

Ragatha is a meek and relatively gentle woman, her talent for altering and throwing her voice giving her some very good job opportunities in entertainment. Unfortunately, she was always haunted by a voice in the back of her mind. It wanted power. It wanted bloodshed. It was a part of her, yet the two couldn't be more different.

Unable to bare it any longer, Ragatha stole some materials from the studio she worked in and built her own puppet, made from wood and rags. When she was building it, she finally relented to her separate personality and let it control her. It was going to be its body, so it deserved a say in it.

Looking down at the puppet, Ragatha's mind felt less crowded. She put it on her hand, and it immediately started speaking. The puppet now held her separate personality, speaking in its voice. Ragatha thought that maybe now it would be less bloodthirsty, the body being a gift of sorts that would appease it. If anything, the personality got worse.

Going by the name of Dollface, the puppet quickly took control of Ragatha's life. She was a servant to her now. That was when she was forced into a life of crime, serving the now mafia boss, Dollface, and her greedy pursuit of power. Many have made the mistake of claiming the two are the same. That Dollface is a mere puppet that Ragatha could simply remove. None make that mistake twice, as they typically don't live long enough to do so.

Finally, it's Pomni as the Great White Shark. These villains keep getting progressively more obscure- Whilst she is far more threatening, this Pomni does still obey cartoon logics and physics, much to her displeasure. A part of that is her teeth becoming sharp when stressed/angry, which is why they're always like that now.

Pomni started out as a low-level criminal, pleading insanity at her court case to avoid being sent to prison. Miraculously, it was allowed, although now she thinks it was less because they believed her insane, but more because they thought it would be a good show of the consequences for such lies.

Rather naively, Pomni assumed the insanity of the inmates at Arkham Asylum would make them easy to manipulate, ready to be lead by someone with their head on straight yet an equal desire for chaos and power. She was too confident that she would get respect as 'the Great White Shark', or even be feared. She couldn't have been more wrong.

The prisoners in Arkham tormented her, never letting her forget that she had chosen this hell that they were locked in. It was absurd to have a sane person amongst Gotham's criminally insane, anyway, and they just couldn't stand for that.

As much as she begged, Pomni was given no mercy from the authorities, being written off as just as insane as she had claimed to be in court that day. Over the course of her stay, she began to break more and more, needing a way out before she lost herself completely.

One day, some prisoners organised an escape. Pomni scrambled to leave with them, but was quickly pushed aside. Since they knew how weak she was, she was ignored by the guards, but not by the inmates. In order to completely get her out of the way, she was thrown in the large freezer where most of Mr Freeze's items and weapons were kept. Unfortunately, the weapons were removed first, leaving her with no way out.

Frostbite began to set in. Her nose froze and fell off. She lost a finger on each hand as well as parts of her lips. Her skin turned blue. Eventually, when Mr Freeze was recaptured, one of the police officers went to put his weapons away. That was when they found her.

Pomni had finally snapped. Rather than thank the officer like she once might have done, she pushed through her frozen blood and knocked him down, tearing apart his flesh with her sharpened teeth. She couldn't do much because of her state at the time, but it did mean she was finally viewed as a threat. Her title as the Great White Shark was finally being used. She had lost her mind, but had become far more formidable than she was before. The next time they escaped, she fought her way through. While she is now relatively business-oriented, that violent anger is always there, waiting for the water to be tainted with blood.

That's all I've got for now, which was really long whoops-

I'm pretty proud of this, and hopefully I never make another because good god. This is a lot.

[die-rosastrasse]

Sometimes, when we create we have to let go of the reception of what we have created.

I write fanfiction. 10-20 years ago, people would always review/comment. It was instant gratification. Lately, if I can ger one comment for a chapter of 10'00-2 000 words, I am grateful. People's behaviour with "free" or eas of access art has deteriorated. It's too much effort to show appreciation even if we feel it.

I focus on my joy of writing. Hoping that someone will be moved by my words but focusing on my own pleasure of wroting exactly what I want to read. If someone likes it : great. If not, well I'm enjoying my own writing.

I hope you find equal joy and satisfaction in the act of creation.

You create a lot of beauty and dreams... may you never stop.

Hi! First of all, thank you for reaching out. People never do, which is part of why I feel so resented by the world. Thank you for your kind words and a very well articulated message, which I absolutely agree with. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is noticing how beauty, photographs and creations have become quick, mass produced, single-use and lost in a sea of thousand new posts coming every second. I see that this is where the world is heading more and more, with AI "art", reposting stolen pictures or rewriting yourself to fit some aesthetic, and that makes me so scared for the future. And also, makes me even more motivated to spend more time on creating than on consuming, and being very peculiar about what I consume and how much. I understand your words about focusing on the joy and satisfaction of creating itself, it's the most important thing for me too, even it sounded like it's not. It's my favorite feeling right now: the need to create, paint, write, collage, take every single piece of myself and make something out of it with my hands. It's so beautiful and gratifying in itself and I'm at a point in my life when it's really all I want to do with my time. And I'm proud of my works anyway, I know I'm getting better for myself, I love the feeling of inspiration and I try to keep myself in this state as long as I can. The joy of making something is why I do what I do, nothing else is necessary and my private world is complete without approval of anyone else. But every once in a while, I remember that maybe if we put ourselves out there, someone will listen and sharing the beauty that we found or that we tried to make is the most normal, valid human emotion. And this, showing my precious pieces I made with adoration, and meeting not with hate, not love, but indifference, makes me want to throw up, go inside a hole and never go out. Why is that so hard? Why was I perfectly content with my work when it was just mine, but sharing it with others suddenly makes me hate it, no matter if it was well received or not? I will forever be creative because that's who I am in the depths of my soul and honestly I don't want to share my life with anybody now. But this feeling will always come again, the need to leave something after me, have some kind of legacy. Or simply inspire somebody and receive the same energy that I put in the world, or meet a single person who would give it some time, consciousness, curiosity. I don't know how to balance between hiding my world just for myself and the need to scream about it to everyone who would listen. I don't think there is a balance, just the terrible feeling of missing something on both sides. The inability to have it all is the reason for my crisis.

[reaganlodge]

Hi Mr. Lodge,

I’m always been enamored by your illustrative style and dieselpunk world building of your upcoming novel!

I’ve always aspired to be a notable illustrator, but I always get shy or anxious about sharing my work on the internet or in general especially now with the whole AI art controversy happening, but I do want to build myself up.

What is your advice about sharing an artist’s work?

Hey Retrorubus, thank you so much for the supportive words. Always really encouraging for me to hear from folks like you. AI worries: AI image-scraping is a reality we're going to have to live with from now on. If you're relatively obscure you don't have much to worry about, but artists with bigger brands will more likely be targeted by the Abominable Intelligence. Art theft and piracy have always existed, now it just got worse... But not insurmountable. Remember that AI can only imitate human creations. AI can't imitate what hasn't yet been created. It can't live the life you've had, the sorrows and joys which shaped the art and characters that live in your mind, waiting to be made. Anxiety about sharing art online: Generally I think you should go ahead and start posting some work online, but start small by posting it to only 1 or 2 platforms at first just to get used to it. Try to stick to a schedule too, like picking 1-3 days a week that you'll post a new drawing on even if it's just a sketch. You'll realize soon that there's little to be anxious about. If anyone leaves nasty comments, just ignore or block them. They're never worth your attention when there's so many other good people out there worth getting to know. Don't feel like you have to publicly post everything you draw. I only share about 15% of what I've drawn. The rest is either on my Patreon or unreleased comic pages. If you're still fairly beginner/intermediate with your skill level, don't stress yourself out over getting a big followings or engagement - that all naturally comes with skill, persistence and time. What helped me a LOT when I was new was hanging out on illustration forums and art/animation-themed IRC chats where I could get to know peers in a more chill environment and share our progress on various projects. So yeah, small, art-focused Discord servers or Telegram chats with artists who share your interests might be a good option to look into. Finally, don't worry about being a notable illustrator, just focus on being a good one. Create whatever is truly meaningful and important to you, and you'll have renown among a truly loyal and appreciative following. Anyways I hope this helps. Feel free to ask any follow-on questions, and thanks again!

[pebblysand]

1 and 4 from the fic asks :)

hello!! thank you!!

1. What's something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

oooh the tumblr police is gonna hate me for this but... chatgpt! yup, newsflash, i write with chatgpt.

but... there's a caveat to that. i recently heard an interview from alexandre astier (who is probably one of my favourite writers in the world) in hot ones where he was talking about the way he uses AI in his writing, and i could not agree more. the thing is: AI is a tool. it's a tool that, in a few years, will probably replace a lot of IRL jobs, mine included. it is also a tool that will sadly likely also replace a lot of writers who write content-mill-like articles or work for big production companies, because a lot of corporations will want to maximise profit. it is a tragedy.

but AI will never replace art. it will never replace writing. because as he explains, both as a consumer and a writer, what matters in art is the human aspect of it. artistic creation is the source of human connection, and art is only really interesting because it was made by humans. an AI could write ten times as beautifully as - well, him, one of my favourite authors, it wouldn't interest me as much, because i don't care about connecting with a computer. that computer doesn't share our human experience, it doesn't understand things like joy or excitement or depression. it doesn't create, it just writes.

so, i use AI ... as a tool. alexandre astier says he uses it to do stuff he doesn't like like keeping track of plotlines or dates - i actually like building my own outlines and trackers, so i don't use it for that. i do use it for things like: asking it to describe a place for me if i'm trying to find an angle for a visual description, as its one of my weakest writing skills. or, i'll use it to make up the name of a wizarding life insurance company because making up names of magical stuff does not interest me and i'd rather have a computer feed me one and move on than spend 30 minutes looking for it. and, honestly, it's turned out great! it's allowed me to spend the limited time i do have on writing stuff i actually enjoy, so i'll definitely keep using it.

4. what piece of media inspired you the most?

ohhh also a good question! it's hard to do a full year review cause honestly, most of last year already feels like a million years ago, but i'd say right now, i'm very inspired by Ren. if you are subscribed to the castles playlist, you'll know, cause he's been all over the playlist since november/december haha. i genuinely think about that money game part iii video daily. i listened to sick boi on LOOP when i was writing chapter 19 of castles, as well as how to be me. this guy is an actual genius and he writes so well it genuinely makes me ANGRY. i mean, like, i could quote a million lines but she never stood a chance, the devil comes to dance haunts me.

for reasons that i can't explain without spoiling my wip, i'm on hi ren at the moment, so i'll leave you with it:

[thxta]

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒌𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏

𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉 ( 𝒘 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 )

so here is something I've been working at on and off this year. since I've been playing around with my DT voice clone AI, I've always wondered what it would sound like if Ten was there with Eleven when he gave this speech. I'm a very amateur audio editor, so it's not perfect. It's also not finished (work in progress) because I still need to create a shouting AI of DT, so that's why it's only Eleven at the end. Every time I tried making him say the ending, it wouldn't come out with as much feeling, so yeah, I still need to work on that. I just need to gather some audio clips of DT shouting, haha. anyway, I hope y'all like what I've got so far :3 He's not actually meant to sound exactly like Eleven, but I was blown away by how similar some of the words ended up sounding, like when they both say, "So… come on, then… take mine…" that bit always gives me shivers…

And here is a standalone version of part of the speech with only my DT voice clone AI. I was trying to put it together with the Long Song, but I'm not sure why it's not uploading atm.

Dialogue beneath the cut:

Okay then

That's what I'll do

I will tell you a story

Can you hear them?

All these people who've lived in terror of you and your judgment?

All these people whose ancestors devoted themselves

Sacrificed themselves, to you

Can you hear them singing?

Oh, you like to think you're a god

But you're not a god.

You're just a parasite

Eaten out with jealousy and envy

and longing for the lives of others

You feed on them

On the memory of love, and loss, and birth, and death, and joy, and sorrow

So, come on, then

Take mine. Take my memories

But I hope you've got a big appetite

Because I have lived a long life

and I have seen a few things

I walked away from the last Great Time War

I marked the passing of the Time Lords

I saw the birth of the universe

and I watched as time ran out

Moment by moment, until nothing remained

No time. No space. Just me!

I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man

I've watched universes freeze and creations burn

I have seen things you wouldn't believe

I have lost things you will never understand

And I know things

Secrets that must never be told

Knowledge that must never be spoken

Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze

So come on, then

Take it! Take it all, baby!

Have it! You have it all!

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 737

In my last post, I ended by saying that AI shouldn’t do creative writing for me, or anyone else. And I want to explain this because tech bros will often accuse creators against AI as being gatekeepers, that by denying the use of AI, you’re denying other people’s ability to take part in the arts, such as writing.

However, in the words of Alan Wilson Watts, “If you’re writing, you’re a writer.”

The reason why the accusation of gatekeeping is being thrown about has more to do with an unfortunate way we view the arts. That is, if your work is not published, displayed or sold, why are you even creating? This is a view that even those supporting us accidentally express while trying to compliment our own work. I’ve been told many times by friends and family, for various things I’ve created that I should sell it, or asked, if I was creating something, if I was going to sell it. To be told by a loved one that we should sell it, or that they would buy it, is the highest form of a compliment.

But it has also created a culture where we forget that the hobbyist is just as much of a writer, crafter, inventor, or artisan as the person who gets paid to do that. 

By telling people that without AI, there are demographics of people out there who can never create, is insulting those very people. In an ironic way, doing that is gatekeeping far more than a writer or an artist saying you shouldn’t use AI to create a story or a picture.

Because, as a writer, what I want for people is to experience the joy of creating something the way you want it to be done, and then sharing it. I’m aware that saying that makes it very clear I don’t get generative AI, and I don’t.

Writing has always been a way for me to express my love of a piece of medium, to express my thoughts and feelings, and show my care towards others (because writing personal stories to give as gifts is a thing some of us do). Most importantly though, I enjoy the act of creation. Whether that is writing a story meant for a friend that hits all their preferred likes just so, or expanding on a story I’ve consumed so I can live in that world just a bit longer. 

Those experiences I have with writing I can never experience with generative AI. The instant generation of a text wouldn’t give me that satisfaction Nor would it know what it is I prefer exactly. It can’t read my brain, and sure I could put in prompts, but I would have to put in something so detailed I might as well write it myself. It also removes the experience of having that moment of inspiration when everything clicks, or the inside jokes created between friends who know your story as well as you do.

And I want other people to experience that. I want there to be more writers, writing for the sake of writing because it’s enjoyable. It doesn’t have to be big, fancy or publishable, it just has to exist.

[redtailarts101]

My post on Facebook about "bad" art (in an anti-AI group)

[Image ID: 2 Facebook screenshots, in dark mode, so the text is white and the background is dark gray. Transcript next. End ID]

[Image transcript: When people say AI is better because it looks "better" than beginner art they forget what the whole point of art is, because AI doesn't let you experience real art. Art is not about a good looking final product. It's about the joy of creation. It's about having an idea, and making it real (and I mean making, not describing it and having an AI make it for you.) Creative skill takes the ability to imagine something in your mind, and know how to recreate it, and art is creative skill (all creative skill, not just drawing and painting like we usually imagine). You are allowed to make "bad" art. Not only is it your only way to grow, but the point is not to be good. The point is that you exercised your brain by creating your idea and enjoying doing it. Art is for fun. The idea that AI is better or worse based on the visual quality misses the point. Most of us don't draw to look at the final product. We draw to draw. We enjoy it. (Line break.) Make bad art. Go ahead. It's okay. You don't have to be good to make art and enjoy making art. There's one thing AI can never do, not the programs nor the people prompting them, and that's experience the joy of drawing. No matter how much tweaking you do, or how much you learn about getting specific with prompts to get the result you want, it's not on the same level as the joy of drawing. That's the inherent value of human made art, it's the creativity it takes and the fun of doing it. Making art, no matter what form it takes, is good for your brain's development, it utilizes the creative part of your brain, and we as humans enjoy doing so. We are a creative species. (Line break.) Do not let yourself be discouraged because your art is "bad." Bad art is just as valuable for your happiness and development as good art is. Bad art is required to ever make good art. Everybody makes bad art at some point in their lives. (Line break.) Make your "bad" art. End transcript]

[missdrarrydawn]

I'm gonna preface this reblog by saying that AI is stealing. I don't deny this fact. I don't support it. I never will. I will never use it. And I don't think anyone should. However, there is a very big part of the conversation missing here.

Writing, the act of creation, is not universally a fun, relaxing process for everyone. It's not joyful or therapeutic for everyone. It's not creatively fulfilling or engaging for everyone. It's not satisfying for everyone. It can in fact be extremely traumatic, and painful and difficult.

As someone who personally has very deep scars on my psyche related to writing and making art, who does not feel joy when writing, who only does it by forcefully making myself to even though it hurts me psychologically, I completely empathize with 'not having the time or energy' because I don't. I work long hours with no free time and even when I do have free time, the thought of writing is the most exhausting thing there is.

It's more exhausting than imagining doing laundry. And we all hate laundry.

I like being a storyteller, I like being able to express my ideas and characters. Sure, that's nice to maladaptive daydream about.

But the process of writing itself is extremely painful for me. It's not enjoyable. I get nothing out of the experience. The only reason I force myself through it, which feels like I'm army crawling naked through a field of jagged glass, is the fact that it's nice to tell a story. It does not feel good getting there, but the end result is at least worth something. Maybe. It doesn't really feel good even when I finish a story because it was torture getting there. I get little to no satisfaction from it.

I don't experience "the joy of creation." Not from writing or honing my skills or any of it. I have many traumatizing experiences attached to the act of writing and creating that make it impossible for my brain to like it, because it is the same thing that hurt us in the past.

For me, the idea of being able to tell my idea to a machine and have it give me the full story told without having to subject myself to the psychological agony of writing it would be a dream come true. I would love that. I want for nothing more than for there to be an ethical way to create such a machine. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to just throw my ideas and concepts into an AI text generator and just be done with it before. It would save me so much pain and exhaustion. Unfortunately, there isn't an ethical way to do it. AI isn't it. But that's not the point.

I completely empathize with not having energy to write because I never do. The only "joy" I derive from writing is when it's finally over. I want to tell stories, but that doesn't mean that the act of telling them is easy or fun.

Making art is not universally enjoyable. It can be extremely brutal, in fact.

And when someone who uses AI (I don't think they should because it's unethical, but bear with me) makes the argument that they just don't have the time or the energy to write, consider that they're not some evil AI bro wanting to replace writers.

They might just be a struggling, completely mentally drained and burned creative who is grappling with art related scarring and are just trying to find alternative means to get to have their stories without suffering. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to suffer.

Saying 'well my fave ao3 author released 30k after their house burned down, you're just not built for it' is extremely evil and cruel to someone who's struggling with their traumatic creative past, because I can tell you first hand I feel like that every day. Whenever I fail to write, or to enjoy it, or whenever it hurts, I feel like I'm just not "built for it". I should give up. There's no point.

My relationship to art making is very fractured, and I'm trying to heal it, but posts like these, with this level of hatred toward someone making a point without any context of why they might be saying it (I don't know if the person that is being mocked here is an AI bro or they're just struggling with creativity for the record, I'm not defending them personally, I'm just making a general point) don't help.

They drive me further away from recovery in fact. It's really not the gotcha you think it is.

Don't be like this. You don't know where the person on the other side of the screen is coming from. It could be an extremely vulnerable place of hurting, reaching out for anything that might help them suffer less through their creative struggles, even if it's AI.

They could also be an AI bro making bad-faith arguments of course, but jumping to that conclusion and resorting to bullying immediately isn't really the move, is all I'm saying. Perhaps investigate what their motives are first, before going into attack-dog mode.

AI isn't good, but that doesn't mean that everyone who feels an appeal to it feels that way for immoral, hurtful reasons, so let's not treat people like trash without at the very least finding out why they feel how they feel and say what they say.

just saw a fanfic on ao3 have a dedication for chatgpt... that section is meant for your horny perverted mutual who proofread your work, you violated sacred law and you will be torn apart and laid bare btw

[snewdraws]

#skillnottalent is floating around twitter at the moment, so here is my contribution! my first drawing on the interwebs (2009) vs my ember redesign (2022) 🥺💞 art is a skill born from the labor of love also here is my little spiel about how the process of making art is special to me;

Even now this Ember design is a few months old and I can see improvements that I could make. We never stop learning and growing as artists, and I find that process incredibly rewarding. Being an artist has taught me so much about myself and connected me with a beautiful community.

In relation to AI art, and how some people think artists are "gatekeeping" art by shunning "AI art"; The real value of art never came from the final product, it comes from the journey and self-expression. The ability to visualize human thought is beautiful, regardless of skill level. AI can make pretty pictures, but it can't replicate the joy that comes from the human creation. To use AI to make "art" is to dismiss the purpose of artwork. The soul and process behind the creation are what makes art special and meaningful. Anyone can create art!

I know this is a little silly in relation to Ember fanart, but humans are silly! Let's embrace the weirdness of being here on this planet and draw funny little dragons together. Let's have fun! 💕

[tamelee]

AI art is so obviously art theft I don't know how anyone can complain about artists being upset. In the future it will probably be even harder to recognise who is using an AI program

I seriously just got accused of using AI. Well more like "but what if you used AI?" I rather just be shot through my stomach with an arrow and I could've cared less. I just reblogged a post on my re-blog acc that somewhat reflects my thoughts on it but it isn't just art-theft.

It is the death of "the joy is in the journey".

I feel like this 'compliments' the fast paced way of "content creation" and I already hate that people call art "content" because art itself crafted with human spirit isn't content. AI is. Idc. People generally aren't "talented" they have to work to get at a certain level. With anything. And now with people having the patience of a peanut and an attention span that is even shorter than a goldfish (thankyou tiktok/shorts)- the opportunities which AI takes from existing artists and gives to non-artists is all those people care about.

Some literally say: "we love what you make and we have always enjoyed you sharing it with us thankyou. However, now with this tool we will take it all to create it ourselves and now you're not wanted and needed anymore. Your years of hard labor and struggle as an artist who went from a stick-figure to art we personally find decent enough to feed our program have paid off for us since we can use it to generate our art efficiently and quickly because of it." Fucking bastards. They will never understand the feeling of sifting and sorting through artists they truly admire and scour archives to find anything to watch them work. To appreciate. Have them sketch out a landscape or characters and try different expressions until it is just right. Learning how colors work and how to create a mood and tell a story with just different kinds of values.

To get lost in a process of creating a piece of art.

Or to really enjoy drawing/working on something.

That's the "work". And that is not even about AI at all, but I doubt copy and pasting it in an app can bring you much fulfillment regardless. 🤷🏻‍♀️ "hEy GuYs lOok WhAt I mAde."

[eruwaedhiel-in-an-impardis]

Wait w ai t hold up hold on wait Asmodeus made hunger so food would taste sweeter, made sorrow so joy would mean more, made pain so health would be valued more

Wa i t I need a moment I need a lot of moments

How could we see the stars without the night? I just. Look I don't know much about the gods ok but but if the prime deities were all sugar and spice and decreed that the mortals should always be full **what would that MEAN** it wouldn't mean as much you never think it's lovely to breathe air until you have experienced *not* being able to breathe air it's just a Thing you do

Oh my gods

My ever flipping gods

Asmodeus succeeded you guys he did make the world more beautiful. And then the makers of the stars threw the makers of the night and clouds into hell because ""they spoiled their creation"" and ""everyone hated them"". Of course he would be "hurt and bewildered"