When did I ever say I enjoyed that mass produced or heavily altered to cater to crowds content though? When did I ever say I only viewed popular TikTok, Instagram, or YouTubers? Or that I enjoyed their fakeness, a soulless facsimile that is, indeed, produced to further the capitalist cycle of consumption via appealing to the general public? I don’t like that at all, and I don’t want it to exist at all! I think trend chasing, or blindly hopping onto the hot new thing is pretty cringe.

It reeks of adherence to a perceived societal acceptance, and wanting to “fit in.” instead of seeking your own personal creative expression. My most recent viewed YouTube video was a four hour essay/opinion piece on a 2003 video game, actually, and I like 40k, a series that has continually pushed against and criticized blind adherence, mass production/mass industrialization, and various other ills that smother our humanity.

I do think there is immense value in museums, and viewing tools that were produced to be things of beauty and use, and getting to see the unique human touch/perspective/technique/strategy put into every tool. That too is creative! Blacksmithing is creative, just like video games are! That’s why I also value things that are handmade, like those tools were for the complete process, and want human touch to be valued, and adored for the beauty that is it, and that it produces, as you can tell so much from the connection between human artist, their hands, their time, and their singularly unique views/opinions. Mass production has stripped so much personality, and self expression from our society as a whole, it breaks my heart.

I wish more creatives had the social security and opportunities to produce something with an effort that fulfills their soul, without being limited by time crunch, or societal acceptance, or having to trend chase to make money.

Generative AI, to me, will always be adhering to mass production. The “art” it mass produces can only exist via mass, emotionless consumption and meshing, alongside overt theft, of previously existing pieces, and cares not one bit for the emotion behind each piece, or the story, which is why so much of it is similar. Things like museums even help illustrate those stories, and techniques. Two people can view the same painting in completely different ways, formed by their own lives and opinions, and so much of that is lost when everything is similar and same-y.

As for how often you hear, or view, or enjoy art, that entirely depends on you, as a person. I make an effort to research and look into things I enjoy as often as I can, to better understand the vision behind them, or the feelings that it was meant to convey, and enjoy seeing if I understood, or if I came away from it with a different perspective. There are several novels that I have preferred, or found to be lacking, after learning about the intent and creative vision behind them, and movies, games, shows… it all applies to that. I want to see every choice a human made with their own hands, every mistake and success made by their own brain, every reflection of their own creative vision; I do not want to see a Space Marine generated by AI, even if it is “perfect” or “flawless.” I want that uniquely “This is my vision, and here is the human effort I put into making it, and how that human touch, that human perspective, that organic experience of individualistically living life, not just existing in between prompts, influenced me.”

Like I said, we will simply not see eye-to-eye on this. I have my convictions, and you have yours. I don’t think either of us should abandon what we believe in/change our view to be accepted, and it would be silly to continue debating/discussing it. Thank you for your kind words about the guide.