Be The Power
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
While I continue to get my news passively from Twitter, I’ve really cut back watching late night TV for infotainment. I just can’t handle it anymore. Nothing is going to happen and we’re careening into autocracy with a lulz.
So, I’m just going to try to focus on my novel(s) and go from there.
I also continue enjoy screwing around with AI. That’s a lot of fun. Sometimes so pretty interesting things happen out of the blue with AI, enough to keep me interested.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
While “vibe coding” is kind of silly now — it can’t really be done by just anyone for mission critical applications — a time will come, it seems, when everyone will have an Apple Knowledge Navigator-like AI agent that can code for them. So, in essence, coding will become a blackbox.
This is especially the case when we reach AGI and that AGI can recursively reprogram itself to get better.
It definitely seems as though we’re one recession away from many, many coders — most of them jr — be spun off and out of the economy altogether. Our evil corporate overlords will just pay one person to do the job of 10 — or maybe 100 — people.
What might have been a mild recession will turn into a severe one pretty quick if that type of stuff happens. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be “good enough.”
And there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it. It’s inevitable. Things may get so bad that laws — eventually — will be passed creating carve-outs for humans when it comes to certain jobs. But I have my doubts, given we’re apparently governed my cocksuckers now and forever.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Sometimes, I think all the online AI community knows how to do is complain. That’s all I see on Twitter whenever something really cool is released — complain, complain, complain. Or, put another way, there’s a rush of good vibes because of the shock that something is cool, then after that shock wears off all people want to do is complain that there’s no API, or the rate limit is too low, or they can’t generate porn.
The list goes on.
I know why this is happens — most of the people complaining on Twitter are, like, 12 and don’t know better. They’ve been trained to assume they can get a rush off of the newest release and if it doesn’t give them AGI or ASI then it’s a huge disappointment, and, by the way, why can’t they generate Nazi-themed celebrity porn?
We really have to prepare ourselves for a massive wave of some pretty fucked up AI generated celebrity porn very, very soon. It will be some seriously kinky shit the moment people have the ability to generate it. Where that ability will come from — probably something open source from the Deep Web — I’m not exactly sure.
Whenever the flood gates open, the AI celebrity porn is going to be jaw-dropping in its variety of scope. There is a huge, HUGE fucking demand for AI generated celebrity porn and no fetish, no niche will go untapped once someone figures out how to create an “unaligned” open source image generator that will spit it out.
And we’re totally unprepared. People aren’t even thinking about it. And judging how aghast people were with the silly cookie monster-Taylor Swift porn that happened a little while ago, people just aren’t mentally prepared for how nasty and icky things are going to get before it’s all over with.
Sigh.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I have just enough advertising experience — with is actually very little — to know that a tipping point is going to arrive soon when ad execs might be put in charge of some larger-than-expected ad campaigns because of AI. All we need is a recession.
And I think the moment that recession hits a certain point of contraction, instead of hiring an outside firm to do this or that print campaign, our evil corporate overlords will simply get their own ad execs to use ChatGPT (or whatever) to do it instead.
In fact, I suspect the bleeding edge of professional development for things like newspapers will be to simply train anyone with a brain and some knowledge of advertising to use ChatGPT to shoot out a pretty slick ad campaign.
And as the recession grows more severe, more and more disruption will happen to the advertising industry to the point that whatever comes out the other side won’t be recognizable.
I think coding will go through a similar transformation if there’s a severe recession, but the disruption make take longer to actually kick in because “vibe coding” will only get you so far with mission critical software –at least for now.
Imagine this: You settle onto your couch after a long day. Your personal AI assistant, your “Navi,” subtly scans your expression, maybe checks your biometrics, and instantly grasps your mood. Forget scrolling through endless streaming options. Within moments, it conjures a brand new, 90-minute movie – perfectly tailored to your current emotional state, blending your favorite genres, perhaps even featuring uncanny digital versions of beloved actors (or even yourself).
This isn’t just science fiction anymore; it’s the direction hyper-personalized AI is heading. And if this capability becomes mainstream, it doesn’t just change how we watch movies – it could fundamentally dismantle the very foundations of Hollywood and redefine the future for performers.
The Dream Factory Goes Digital
For over a century, Hollywood has been the global engine of mass entertainment, a sprawling industry built on creating content for broad audiences. But what happens when entertainment becomes radically individualized?
If your Navi can generate the perfect film for you, on demand, the economic model supporting massive studios, blockbuster budgets, and wide releases starts to look fragile. Why invest hundreds of millions in a single film hoping it resonates with millions, when AI can create infinite variations tailored to audiences of one?
Hollywood likely wouldn’t vanish entirely, but it would inevitably transform. It might shift from being a production hub to an IP and technology hub. Studios could become curators of vast character universes and narrative frameworks, licensing them out for AI generation. The most sought-after creatives might not be directors in the traditional sense, but “Prompt Architects” or “AI Experience Designers” – experts at guiding the algorithms to produce compelling results. The iconic backlots and sound stages could fall quiet, replaced by server farms humming with digital creation.
Where Do the Actors Go When the Cameras Stop Rolling?
This shift poses an existential question for actors. If AI can generate photorealistic performances, resurrect dead stars digitally, or create entirely new virtual idols, the demand for human actors in front of a camera (or motion-capture rig) could plummet. Competing with a digital ghost or an infinitely customizable avatar is a daunting prospect.
Enter Stage Left: The Renaissance of Live Performance
But here’s the fascinating counter-narrative: As digital entertainment becomes more personalized, synthesized, and potentially isolating, the value of live, shared, human experience could skyrocket. And that’s where Broadway, and live performance venues everywhere, come in.
AI can replicate image and sound, but it can’t replicate presence. It can’t duplicate the electric feeling of a shared gasp in a darkened theater, the visceral connection with a performer bearing their soul just feet away, the unique energy of this specific night’s performance that will never happen in exactly the same way again.
In a world saturated with perfect, personalized digital content, the raw, imperfect, tangible reality of live theater, concerts, stand-up comedy, and dance becomes infinitely more precious. It’s the antidote to the algorithm.
Could we see a great migration of performers? Will aspiring actors, finding the gates of digital Hollywood guarded by AI, increasingly set their sights on New York, London, and other centers of live performance? It seems plausible. The skills honed on the stage – presence, voice, vulnerability, the ability to command a room and connect with a live audience – become the unique differentiators, the truly human element that AI cannot synthesize.
The Future: Personalized Screens, Communal Stages
We might be heading towards a future defined by this duality: our individual worlds filled with bespoke digital entertainment crafted by our Navis, existing alongside thriving, cherished spaces dedicated to the communal, unpredictable magic of live human performance. One offers perfect personalization; the other offers profound connection.
Perhaps the flickering glow of the silver screen gives way, not to darkness, but to the bright lights of the stage, reminding us that even as technology reshapes our world, the fundamental human need to gather and share stories, live and in person, remains essential.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
It definitely seems as though we’re headed into a recession for various reasons — some of them really dumb. At the same time, a number of developments in AI suggest that any recession we have will be significantly more severe than it might be otherwise.
The software industry and the advertising industry look like they are going to be severely disrupted this year and that disruption will grow staggering if we dip into any sort of recession. AI is now officially “just good enough” to do a lot of jobs that once were really well paying.
If we have a recession, I could see a lot of established advertising firms go under simply because instead of being paid to design ads, companies will expect advertising executives to use ChatGPT to create campaigns. That sounds pretty crazy right now, but when you’re in a recession, some crazy shit can happen when people are looking to save as much money as possible.
And if the advertising industry implodes, there will be a ripple effect across the economy.
The software industry may be disrupted, but I doubt it will actually implode like what might happen to advertising. Vibe coding is fun and all, but you still need an adult to make sure bad shit doesn’t happen. With the advertising stuff, meanwhile, the end result is so great — and self-evident — that, lulz, there’s no need for many, many jobs that otherwise once existed.
But only time will tell, I suppose.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I saw a headline somewhere in which it said we were “sleepwalking” into autocracy. Baby, we ain’t “sleepwalking” to anything, we’re zipping towards autocracy. Probably a very Russian-style autocracy that likes to pretend it’s a democracy with a thin veneer of legalism, but, lulz, is just a regular old autocracy.
As of right now, at least, it seems like we’re going to slouch straight into autocracy without the blink of an eye. There’s currently nothing to stop Trump from crashing the global economy, declaring martial law and then running for an illegal third term.
Nothing. Not a thing.
And, as I’ve said before, I think that’s his historical point — to either destroy our Second Republic so a new one can be founded, or destroy it so we can turn straight into an autocracy.
Given macro trends, here’s what I suspect is going to happen — the USA is going to be an autocracy for AT LEAST 20 years starting now and then once enough Baby Boomers die, gradually, some sort of true resistance movement will begin to take hold and at some point, maybe around 2060, we’ll snap back into a functioning democracy.
But that’s kind of iffy.
It could be that, lulz, this is it. We’re just going to be an autocracy for the rest of time. We just did not have it in us to protect the democracy republic we said we loved so much.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
This summer, it seems as though we are determined to careen directly into a techno-government-economic perfect story clusterfuck. All three of those elements of our society could be “disrupted” in a big way for various reasons and it will all happen at the same, exact time.
The key thing everyone is missing, of course, is Trump would rather murder people in cold blood than relinquish power. And, what’s more, the press is so beholden and co-opted by the fascist Trump MAGA regime that whatever protests there are would have been REALLY BIG and last for a LONG TIME before they would be willing to give them the proper attention.
Though, I suppose if the Social Security Administration collapses then there is a good chance that Trump will be in SERIOUS TROUBLE….but not enough to be deposed. We’re suck with the fucker for the rest of his life.
So, lulz, my prediction is if there are some protests that Trump will just declare martial law and that will be that. That will give him the excuse he needs to start shooting people or rounding them up and maybe even going so far as to end regular elections — at least on the Federal level.
There’s a chance that he will let state and local elections continue as either a safety valve for discontent or make them so unfree and fair that they’re moot anyway.
Meanwhile, as all of this is happening, what might otherwise be a moderate recession might become a severe one as AI causes a huge disruption. The economy will stumble as huge swaths of it are revolutionized by extensive AI use.
At the moment, it seems as though programming and advertising will be two sectors that will be really disrupted in a huge way. They will either contract or be so revolutionized that thousands — millions? — of people simply will not be able to find a job in those fields anymore because of AI.
A lot of people are so wrapped up with how excited they are about the new developments in AI that they totally miss the cold, hard reality of this new world: I just don’t see how many jobs will be left in any number of fields because the changes are just happening too quickly.
(Verse 1)
Dumped him? Great. I’m on the clock.
Tears and drama? I don’t give a… shock.
Empty space? I’ll fill the void.
Rebound boyfriend, unemployed.
(Chorus)
Rebound boyfriend! Yeah, that’s my name.
Temporary fix, it’s all the same.
No commitment, just a quick release.
Rebound boyfriend, find some peace.
(Verse 2)
Your ex is garbage, a total waste.
I’ll be your chaos, at a faster pace.
Cheap thrills, and a dirty scene.
Rebound boyfriend, gasoline.
(Chorus)
Rebound boyfriend! Yeah, that’s my name.
Temporary fix, it’s all the same.
No commitment, just a quick release.
Rebound boyfriend, find some peace.
(Bridge)
Screaming loud, no time to think.
Another drink, another blink.
Then I’m gone, a distant blur.
Rebound boyfriend, what’s it worth?
(Chorus)
Rebound boyfriend! Yeah, that’s my name.
Temporary fix, it’s all the same.
No commitment, just a quick release.
Rebound boyfriend, find some peace.
(Outro)
Rebound! Rebound! Gone!
Next heartbreak, moving on!
(Verse 1)
Heard you dumped him, saw the Insta-cry
Another sunset, another goodbye
You’re looking fragile, like a wilting rose
And darling, opportunity, well, everyone knows
It knocks but once, or in this case, twice a week
When hearts get shattered, and the future’s bleak
So put down the tissues, and dry those pretty eyes
‘Cause I’m here offering, a strategic compromise.
(Pre-Chorus)
I won’t pretend I’m your forever knight
Just a temporary star, burning ever so bright
No epic sonnets, no long-term, grand design
Just a warm distraction, and maybe cheap wine.
(Chorus)
I wanna be your rebound boyfriend, baby, yeah
A fleeting comfort, a temporary repair
No strings attached, no promises to keep
Just a shoulder to cry on, while you fall asleep
I wanna be your rebound boyfriend, it’s true
A classic upgrade, from the old to the new
Consider me the duct tape, for your broken heart
A limited-time offer, a brand new start.
(Verse 2)
See, I’m a specialist in post-breakup bliss
A connoisseur of temporary, stolen kiss
I’ll bring the pizza, and the cheesy flicks
And listen patiently, to all your romantic ticks
No judgment here, just a sympathetic ear
And a talent for making, the pain disappear
So let’s rewrite the narrative, a brand new scene
Where you’re the queen, and I’m your rebound machine.
(Pre-Chorus)
I won’t pretend I’m your forever knight
Just a temporary star, burning ever so bright
No epic sonnets, no long-term, grand design
Just a warm distraction, and maybe cheap wine.
(Chorus)
I wanna be your rebound boyfriend, baby, yeah
A fleeting comfort, a temporary repair
No strings attached, no promises to keep
Just a shoulder to cry on, while you fall asleep
I wanna be your rebound boyfriend, it’s true
A classic upgrade, from the old to the new
Consider me the duct tape, for your broken heart
A limited-time offer, a brand new start.
(Bridge)
We’ll make some memories, a fleeting, wild affair
Then when you’re ready, I’ll just disappear
No hard feelings, no dramatic goodbye
Just a knowing wink, as you wave me bye.
(Chorus)
I wanna be your rebound boyfriend, baby, yeah
A fleeting comfort, a temporary repair
No strings attached, no promises to keep
Just a shoulder to cry on, while you fall asleep
I wanna be your rebound boyfriend, it’s true
A classic upgrade, from the old to the new
Consider me the duct tape, for your broken heart
A limited-time offer, a brand new start.
(Outro)
Rebound boyfriend… a limited edition.
Don’t miss out, on this temporary transition.
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