Professional Non-Ancap Wario Enjoyer

“Fallen Prototype”

Blue velvet worm, Euperipatoides rowelli, Peripatopsidae

Euperipatoides rowelli occurs in humid, temperate forests of southeastern Australia. Its main habitat is decaying logs on the forest floor, where it lives in crevices and feeds on small invertebrates.

Specimens are rarely found alone, usually forming groups of a few individuals containing females, males, and juveniles. Laboratory observations on behavior concluded that these groups present some sort of hierarchy with dominant females.

But you know what I find really fascinating about the hard anti-AI sentiment... all the sci-fi nerds (using this affectionately as a bit of a sci-fi nerf) grew up wanting this technology until it was actually here.

Perhaps one of the most wanted pieces of tech in science fiction was the Holodeck from Star Trek.

And that Holodeck? That's the PINACLE of generative AI. It's complex 3 dimensional generative AI images with AI-generated dialogue spoken by AI voices.

Now, am I saying that we're on the cusp of making a holodeck? No. What I'm saying is that in order for the holodeck to be at all possible, you have to start somewhere. And that somewhere is right here.

Now, I don't think a real holodeck like we see in Star Trek is physically possible. But I think a more realistic version would be something in VR with a headset. Let's say, a VR program that used GenAI images to make rooms wherever you go, and LLMs that generated dialogue for NPCs and gave them instructions on what to do. And of course, each NPC would need a unique GenAI voice.

Now, trying to do this with current tech would suck. None of the technology is where it needs to be in order to make this work. Some isn't even close. And I don't know when it will be. Like, I genuinely have no idea. AI could be a bubble that's about to burst which would massively push back the timetable. But it could also see huge advancements that seemingly come out of nowhere.

But this isn't me saying, "oh, you should support genAI so we can get a holodeck."

This isn't about the pro-AI vs anti-AI debate.

It's about our relationship to science fiction and the fact that...

Nobody considered the repercussions!

Because yeah, if a holodeck exists and can generate any scenario, it stands to reason that such technology would put real artists out of work.

And this seems to have happened in the world of Star Trek, with television becoming a dead medium because people could just make any scenario they wanted, having it written by a computer.

The Star Trek universe is one where all entertainment has been completely overtaken by AI slop!

And the fascinating thing about this is that if you had asked people 20 years ago if they wanted a holodeck to exist in real life, I think most would have said it sounded cool.

But the cost for that technology in the Star Trek universe was the destruction of art. It was the end of television as a medium. Expertly-crafted TV shows with heart behind them, exploring humanity through the eyes of the writers and directors, with real actors putting their hearts into acting out scripts, were replaced with soulless AI-generated entertainment.

I still think a holodeck would be pretty cool.

I imagine it's kinda like with replicators that people appreciate things made by people more than those made by machines and choose to go with things made by people when given an option (much like people irl often preferring hand made things over mass produced things).

Also there's lots of mention of programming and scanning images into the holodeck, so I'm not sure how much of it is actually fully computer generated images and how much are stored assets, although these are obviously still arranged and controlled by the computer.

Also, even in the utopian Federation there are still issues raised around consent and holodecks when we see recreations of real living people, which is another current real concern, so they did actually consider some of the potential issues at the time they made the shows.

Modified version of Super Mario Galaxy artwork where Mario normally looks off to the side, changed to make him look directly at the viewer, seen in a 2007 issue of the UK GamesMaster magazine.

SILKSONG TODAY

SILKSONG TODAY

No. Humans are animals as much as the fish and the bear. We are pack animals who have survived by strong bonds and community.

Do not buy the lie that humans are inherently evil. Societies can trick you into believing this, but it's not the truth of humanity.

Humans crave being together, sharing together, and thriving together.

He lived to between 30 and 45. An incredible age for an ancient hominid. This man couldn't have been a 'sTrOnG pRoViDeR mALe' and yet he lived to the Neanderthal equivalent of mid-80s. Why? Because his family must've taken care of him. His broken eye showed signs of healing, and his withered arm was amputated (perhaps one of the earliest examples of surgery). Despite his existence providing no 'logical benefit' he survived. Because he was loved.

We are often selfish. We are often compassionate. We are often destructive. We are often collaborative. We make rules to try to make the good things happen more and the bad things happen less. And they work more than they don't. But we don't always agree what the good things ARE, so yeah, we still often have conflict, among ourselves, and in our environments.

But here's the thing: You're here at all, looking at this post written by a handful of strangers, on a website built by a few dozen other strangers, on a world-wide network maintained by millions of humans around the world, via a computer that took dozens of different processes and hands to build, based on technology that took dozens-to-hundreds of people to create, based on older tech that took generations to develop, built by civilizations that required millions of humans to collaborate.

Every day you dismiss your own species in a fit of self-deprecation and despair, you are taking for granted the sheer power of human collaboration.

so my lease is up in about a month. i don't have a place lined up yet but we're looking and at the very least i have someplace i can crash for a couple months failing that and i'll at least be out of y'all's hair during that time.

i was able to make a decent chunk of change at a local art show but i still need a fair bit of help, so please do if you can spare it and share it if you can't. love you all ❤️

KO-FI

VENMO

CASHAPP

please help me, i’m worried i won’t be able to make my goal in time. my personal financial support system is crumbling so i don’t know if i’ll have anything to fall back on it failing this

I hate having to ask this again but I need help. Nobody is obligated to give anything but I greatly appreciate anything anyone is willing to give to help me hold things together. I am still super grateful for the help I got before and am so sorry for having to ask again. If you can help, please and thank you. Hopefully I can hold things together and July shows mercy and gives me the reprieve I need to get back to stable but until then any help is appreciated beyond words, even just boosting this post so it finds eyesore anyone who could help. Things are very difficult for everyone and I hope someone hears my cry for help.

0/400

Deadline Monday 6/30

https://cash.app/$pqmiller

5 DAYS REMAINING

4 DAYS REMAINING!

In a 2010 interview, Koji Kondo related a story of how when he met Paul McCartney of the Beatles, Paul and his wife immediately sang the Super Mario Bros. overworld theme unprompted, which was a very proud moment of him to be recognized in such a way by such a prominent musician.