Discussion The War on Art

[ma0]

There is almost nothing in this world worth living for, that much is obvious to everyone on this forum. However though, I must admit, if there's one thing that must be preserved, it's art.

Whether it be music, drawing, painting, writing, theater, film, even video games, art should be cherished and worshipped as the only thing that has made me feel. It has been the only thing keeping me somewhat sane, and I owe my entire life to it. If I end up not CTB'ing, I'd love to create art.

So please can someone explain to me why humanity lately have chosen to wage war on this sacred creation? People abandoning creativity, shunning those who wish to express their emotions, "streamlining" the process with AI, completely missing the point of creation in the first place. The one good thing this species has created, and we are choosing to run it into the ground.

There is so much slop nowadays, horrid creations designed not to express emotions, but to be mass produced, churned out and turned into profit. I have found it increasingly impossible to support independent ambition, because the competition has been taken over by soul sucking corporations, who's only goal is to demolish art in exchange for their own gain.

It's not just elite billionaires either. Think of how people, especially conservatives, are trying to silence authors from delivering their message, banning media, and deplatforming people who wish to spread love and compassion through creating.

Art is in danger. As the single positive force in a world full of hate, I don't want this medium of passion to succumb to those who don't want to see people happy.

Why is this happening?

 

[WhatCouldHaveBeen32]

I'll explain really quickly, some people get their dopamine fixes from drugs, alcohol, unprotected sex, cheating, societal status that comes from money , correcting others and being "better than them" and "knowledge", top it off with fatty foods and drinks. You need money for all that, people want money to fulfill these "needs" and some people don't care about how they get that money or who it damages, this goes for everything

There is your answer. You can hug a killer polar bear all you want and try to explain to him things that could move even the toughest killer, if it wants to kill you for dopamine and then eat you to get more dopamine, he will kill you, if you scare him with power, you are not really teaching him love or anything like that, you are just keeping him in check, replace polar bear with humans.

It's pointless really, I gave up a long time ago, can't talk with current living beings and can't indoctrinate newborns because it's fake molding , it's not their own will, waiting for some random depressed person that somehow beat all the genetic odds went through hell and still chose to be good with no external influence, sounds like wanting to win the lottery to me and it's pointless anyways because we are likely a genetic mutation, not a representation of humans in 5000000 years , excessive empathy might even be considered a disease in the genetic code in a couple thousand years, I wouldn't be surprised.


Just look at the world talent, in my opinion the only talent is the talent to want to be alive and then wanting to do something with your life, the rest is just jealousy, some people like cars, some people like guitar some drawing, the guitar guy can't drive nor draw, the driver can't play guitar nor draw , the drawing guy can't play guitar nor drive. There is no talent there, it's just that all 3 have the same amount of love but in different activities, of course the guitarist and artist wishes for self driving cars and the driver for neural network AI music and drawing , why wouldn't humans just be the shittiest thing to touch planet earth, instead of playing into each others strengths we want to have everything to ourselves

 

[Grav]

I don't see a war on art, speaking as someone not "into art". Societies go through changes regarding value and beauty, art is subjective. When it comes to art for me I'm like Monty Burns "I know what I hate". There is art that to me is just a waste of time & material, some that I see and acknowledge as something someone made but am indifferent to, and sometimes I find some that "touches me". I don't actively go out to destroy those I don't like but I also don't give them support either. Regarding AI: to me (not an artist and not into art) it seems like a quick way to make things and companies that can use it for their goals will do so. I paint miniatures: all of them used to be carved or sculpted by hand and that took a talent I can't imagine. Now with 3d printing people are able to make them much easier, eventually just copy-paste will be the norm. To me it's not bad, just changed. Should people appreciate art more? Probably but it's never been that way. Maybe it's that the people who could engage with art is much wider now than in the past and with social media and the way the world communicates their opinions are out there more than in the past and not all of those opinions will agree.

 

[ForgottenAgain]

You took the words right out of my brain, I feel the exact same way.
Why is it happening? In my opinion, it's simple: greed.

Why bother dealing with the complexities of humans and needing to pay a living wage when you can pay a subscription and have an advanced Photoshop do all the work for you? No need to pay maternity leave, increase wages, retain talent, just make use of the companies that stole all Internet content they could get their hands on and pay for some crude copy/paste machine to create the art you want.

There's no moral code, no honour, it's all about making money at as little expense as possible.
It is a truly depressing world...

Instead of using technology to help with menial/dangerous tasks and having humans do creative work, we're heading towards the opposite.
Let's make sure enough humans are doing data entry tasks so that the AI can focus on making paintings. Revolting to say the least...

 

[mikgazer6]

Art is the reason why I'm still here as well. I don't think genuine art, the art with made with soul, passion, and expression, will ever go away but I do think capitalism's commodification of everything and censorship are strongly hurting it and the AI trend is for sure not doing any favors. Another thing although less related that bothers me are k-12 creative classes (can only speak on US) which get little to no funding.

 

[Jadeith]

AI is just a tool. And as any tool, it can be used as intended or abused. Just as Photoshop (or other similar tools) before it.
You can take beautiful photo or make it beautiful or even create it beautiful.
Same goes with hand-made things. My partner paints on porcelain (mugs, tea cups and such). There's always someone asking - why these products are "so expensive" when one can get finely painted mug from a store for one tenth of the price. Hand-made items are unique and there are people still willing to pay for that uniqueness. And some don't and go for mass produced items.
I don't see a "war" here. Just different people with different needs. Some people want "fast and cheap, preferably for free even" and this approach is obviously more popular so people offering such products became "more popular" as well. And there are people demanding expression of mind, emotions and skill, unachievable by AI or other means of mass production and they aim for crafters, artisans, artists which, by definition, are smaller in numbers (and popularity) and so are their products.

Art is not dead, just covered by layers of mass production.

 

[Hvergelmir]

[On AI specifically]
There's no war on art, just a piece of disruptive technology. I think any artist ought to use it!
Partly because it's a great tool, and partly because it brings peace of mind to experience its limitations first hand.

I don't think it's more significant than cameras, gramophones, or spell checkers - all of which have made their mark on art. They allow more people to create and experience things, but they're not in conflict with the essence of art.

"Why would anyone spend hours making an oil painting, when I can snap a much more accurate picture with my smart phone?" (Taking pictures have become it's own art form, but it's not really competing with painters.)

 

[Skallagrim]

[On AI specifically]
There's no war on art, just a piece of disruptive technology. I think any artist ought to use it!
Partly because it's a great tool, and partly because it brings piece of mind to experience its limitations first hand.

I don't think it's more significant than cameras, gramophones, or spell checkers - all of which have made their mark on art. They allow more people to create and experience things, but they're not in conflict with the essence of art.

"Why would anyone spend hours making an oil painting, when I can snap a much more accurate picture with my smart phone?" (Taking pictures have become it's own art form, but it's not really competing with painters.)

I agree with this, wholeheartedly.

I don't think art is about the process used to create it, but about what the creation represents and whether or not it moves people. We're not looking to push the limits of human ability, but explore what moves us. To that end, if someone uses AI to create an image from a sketch they made, or to put some music to lyrics they wrote, that's actually enhancing, not diminishing human creativity, but giving people with lots of creativity but not much skill give form to what exists inside of them.

There is a potential for abuse there, don't get me wrong. But I think that there is also there are potential benefits as well.