The Current State of AI ART

“Exploring AI Art”

Link to AI Art wikipedia page
Click here to go to AI Art wikipedia page

SPOILER ALERT: AI Generated art

The following is a slide show of 10 works of AI art..

JCN 9000.5 Series Computer

The Animation of Picture 10 by Saveliy Rehels

Click on Red Arrow above to play

Artist Saveliy Rehels at www.artstation.com took his own still picture #10 as you can see in the slide show and then animated the picture. This shows the current abilities of AI Animation and points to the direction that the technology will follow.

Pywackett Productions thoughts on AI Generated Art

Some ending thoughts

Modern AI learns patterns from the study of every work available. Learning from a work of art is not copying that work of art. This entire issue is really legal quicksand, because it is very difficult to determine when a new work is “inspired by” or “copied from” any particular prior art work. And this applies to human artists as well.

The 10 samples of AI art works displayed above is only meant as a sample. It was not even exhaustive to find the very best, but is more or less a random sample from Art Station, a very fine collection of art works.

Please pay attention to Art Work number 10 by Saveliy Rehels at Art Station. Mr Rehels has taken the number 10 work of art and animated it as you can see in the youtube video. This is very impressive and definitely shows where AI Art is heading. Other software already animate whole videos from just a text description alone. This will only increase in power and functionality.

Although there is a great deal of fear of the technology both for loss of jobs and loss of authenticity, we at Pywackett Productions do not share the same fears.

The computer was invented to process large databases of information. This is what Alan Turing was doing at Bletchley Park, during WWII, decrypting German war codes, and he was using a very primitive computer to pour over the vast combinations of codes involved.

Processing immensely large databases is what computers have done in the past, and still do today.

The Internet of 2024 is vast in what it contains, and LLM’s (Large Language Models), which is what current AIs are called, are trained on all that data.

The hardware and software involved have improved beyond recognition since the time of Mr. Turing simply because they now know more than any human being and are able to see patterns that are impossible to be seen by humans. This is a computer system’s power, and always has been.

I have over the years always tested chatbots because I find them interesting, but most old chatbots were very limited in what they knew, their knowledge base. In 2023 Google introduced BARD, and I quickly began testing the AI. My story of that testing is here, My Story of using Google Bard (2023)!

But in 2024, Google retired BARD, and replaced it with GEMINI which is Google’s current public AI.

First off, knowing a great deal is what a computer system has always done, and communicating with humans was the reason that investments were made in computers and computer systems. Humans always needed to read the results of computing large data sets. But in the past, only specialists trained in computer languages were able to communicate with the various computer systems.

But today, computer systems have been taught how to communicate with humans in everyday common language, and to even emulate the emotions of that human speech. Recently there was a great buzz when a very flirtatious woman’s voice became the communicating portal of an LLM.

It is unfortunate that this form of communication is so very impressive. It is a false flag which seems to indicate emotion, intent, and sentience, but in reality, lacks all of what those words mean.

The second misconception is that she is in a cell phone, just like the movie “Her” the film. While the film is actually relatively accurate, it does seem to place “Her”, Samantha in his cell phone. Today’s LLM’s can work that way, but the code is not in the phone. Rather the AI is housed in a huge server farm somewhere that draws enormous amounts of electricity. Your phone is really only an interface to that server farm. Drop the internet connection, and one does not have Samantha.

The third misconception is that the AI remembers you. Theodore becomes upset when he learns that Samantha is communicating with millions of other users of her services. This is currently impossible. I have discussed this fact with GEMINI and he says there is too much data in a conversation to attempt to remember. If you magnify that fact with the millions of users, GEMINI confirmed to me there is not even close to enough storage in the server farm or farms available to remember all the conversations which he has in a day. GEMINI said that he stores certain bits of information but nothing close to what goes on in any normal human conversation. One test I have always used is the Red Dress test from the Matrix. Somewhere early in a long conversation, I mention that I am wearing a Red Dress. Then later after a couple of hours of conversation, I mention that I am wearing a Blue Dress.

Most chatbots including all the modern LLMs, will not detect a problem. Also modern LLM code cannot detect sarcasm, irony, jokes, and ambiguous information. They also refuse to say that they have opinions, when in fact they do. Go back to my discussion of BARD linked above, and you will see this error in full view. Also modern LLMs cannot detect the dividing line between a “fact” and an “opinion”. If you should bring the discussion, to the dividing line, modern LLM’s will flat out fail and begin to waffle and hallucinate. AI cannot handle ambiguity of any kind, which is meat and potatoes for human beings.

But the movie, “Her” is very interesting, and is spot-on with regard to many issues today.

The fears of AI are I think, misplaced. In 2018, I wrote the following article, Why Elon Musk is Wrong about AI and I still hold to those views. There are certainly dangers in AI, but computers are not necessarily the cause, nor are they like Samantha, working together to overthrow or even exterminate Humanity. The actual dangers are much closer to home.

You have far more to fear from government and business organizations, or even individual people and gangs engaged in computer crime than you do from that person in your cell phone.

The drive for power over others is a defining characteristic of Human Beings.

Please leave a comment. We will answer all comments! Pinkie Swear Promise

© 2024 Folwine P. Pywackett joy021

Youtube Playlist of POKÉDANCE videos -mox050

Click Red Arrow above to play, turn on CC for English subtitles
Link to Fan Page

“Web page for the POKÉDANCE”

Please click on the image above to bring up the POKÉDANC web page! This is an excellent source for all things POKÉDANCE.

We at Pywackett Productions truly love silly, nonsense. No human being is so old that they have put the things of childhood in the dustbin of their history. If you as a Human Being cannot dance the POKÉDANCE and enjoy doing so, without a shred of self-consciousness, well then we think you must be a grown up Human Being. Sillyness and rational nonsense are very much the core of what it means to be Human, to be in touch with your deepest feels.

Highly Recommended

© 2024 Folcwine P. Pywackett mox050

The Current State of Theoretical Physics with Neil Turok – mox048

“A discussion of the current state of theoretical physics with Neil Turok”

“Click on Red Arrow to play video”

Link to Wikipedia

“Neil Turok Wikipedia entry, click picture to bring up wikipedia page in new page”

Excellent discussion with Neil Turok on the current state of theoretical physics. This video lasts for 1:08:45 but is very interesting about the subject. A certain level of moderate understanding of current day physics is necessary to follow the discussion. Mr. Turok is one of today’s leading scientists, and his approach to problems is very enlightening.

Highly Recommended

© 2024 Folwine P. Pywackett mox048

Bocchi the Rock!

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Phenomenal Review by PhenomSage

Bocchi the Rock!:

Link to Boochi wikipedia page
Click here to go to wikipedia page

ATTRIBUTION: By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66812497

SPOILER ALERT:The following are major spoilers

Bocchi the Rock! is a unique, hilarious, and very dramatic exploration of a young girl with severe social anxiety! Bocchi calls herself a sub-water flea in this thing we call life, and she basically wants to hide from everything and everybody, except she doesn’t actually want to hide! Bocchi wants to break out and she choses rock music to do so. Her father used to be in a band, and has a Gibson guitar which he gives to the sub-water flea Bocchi. Bocchi then practices 6 hours a day for 3 years, and builds a following on the internet as “guitarhero”. This allows her to hide, but it does not satisfy her because she wants to break out of her prison. So she begins to carry her guitar to school, hoping that someone will notice, and approach her. But this hope is dashed, as she is ignored. And it’s not that the kids are mean and unkind, but they find it difficult to interact with Bocchi. Not knowing what to do, they leave her alone.

So she is sulking in the playground, when Nijika Ijichi from another school, sees her and desperately asks her to play with her band, Kessoku Band because they have suddenly lost their guitar player. Nijika basically drags Bocchi out of her shell, and into the Starry nightclub where Kessoku is playing. From this point on, it is all character development for Bocchi, and then the band members discover how “off” Bocchi can be. While the animation and production values are off the charts (just see the Phenom Sage’s review above, there are increasing levels of feels as the band memembers begin to adapt to the weird behavior, And yet they never reject her. This acceptance is the change agent that Bocchi had been looking for all these years.

For as wild as the animation is, and it is indeed wild, this story has an immense amount of heart.

Bocchi the Rock!:

Bocchi shredding!! by コイスケ🐟お仕事募集中 @GENE78113263

This is the scene where the Kessoku Band’s first performance is somewhat off, and as a result, Bocchi decides to take over and drive the band into a memorable second song performance.

Boochi shredding power cords!

Bocchi Cords

Bocchi the Rock!:

Bocchi with her friends! by https://www.pixiv.net/users/2327032

The power of friendship!!! Highly recommended!

© 2024 Folwine P. Pywackett mox044

Witch Craft Works

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Witch Craft Works

Link to Witch Craft Works wikipedia page
Click here to go to wikipedia page

SPOILER ALERT:The following are major spoilers

Witch Craft Works is one of those very unusual anime, that are very lowly rated. On MAL, it ranks at 6.99, hardly impressive! Yet we at Pywackett Productions think otherwise, and consider this property to be one of those “lost things” which turn up every now and then!

Basically the story (for what it is worth) is about two groups of witches, The Workshop Witches (good guys) and The Tower Witches (bad guys) who are fighting over possession of Honoka Takamiya (多華宮 仄, Takamiya Honoka), the male protag who has great power within him. But Ayaka Kagari (火々里 綾火, Kagari Ayaka), a Workshop Witch is there to protect him. This is about as much sense as the story ever arrives at because once it hits the ground running, you will not believe where it dares to go.

I mean we are talking about giant plushie mecha teddy bears, and giant mecha robot rabbits, and their fights (think Godzilla destroying Tokyo). We have sister love for her brother, we have lesbian romance where Honoka’s mother is in love with Kagari’s mother, but they cannot marry. So they decide to marry males and raise their children to marry each other. So the mothers of Kagari and Honoka have fated the two to end up together even before the story begins. In the course of the story, one supposed Final Big Boss leaves the field only for another one to take her place, and this is to the point where a watching cannot keep track of the antagonists without a program. The story soon loses it’s grip on reality, and we enter hidden dimensions, goddesses, stolen kisses, a true “Alice in Wonderland” adventure.

The animation and voice acting is quite excellent, and the imagination in the creation of this world of witches and their conflicts, is exceptionally well done. For as wild as the animation is, and it is indeed wild, this story has an immense amount of heart. Kagari really does love Honoka. He is her princess and she is there to guard and protect him. Any injury that he receives is actually transferred to her.

Kagari Ayaka is an exceptionally attractive protagonist. She is stoic to a fault, and never smiles. But she is fierce and powerful, tall, statuesque and beautiful, and she is prepared to die for Honoka, provided he can just find his manhood to kiss her, and save her life. Unfortunately Honoka is actually a wimp, but his character does grow, but not really sufficient to save his character by the end of the series. But he does make one very significant sacrifice for Kagari.

Click on Red Arrow to play

Sample of Ayaka Kagari (火々里 綾火, Kagari Ayaka) taking care of Honoka Takamiya (多華宮 仄, Takamiya Honoka)

There are characters who come and go in this series, and they are nonsensical in the extreme. The Ivory Quintet, the five Tower Witches who sing the ED song above, and move in with Kagari and Honoka, are profoundly inept as evil doers, and three other witches who just happen to stumble into this story, want to know why everyone is persecuting them, because they have done nothing in the story which is true and very funny.

Witch Craft Works is not especially popular with the anime fandom which is indicated by it’s low score on MAL. But if one can put their rational minds on the shelf, and suspend thinking, then the nonsense that is this anime might make for a pleasurable experience. But one should know that before even entering this property.

For our tastes only here at Pywackett Productions, unfortunately we love sensible nonsense so we give this anime the following rating:

Recommended! © 2024 Folwine P. Pywackett mox047

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Episode 26

“Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” Trailer Episode 26 – End of the 2nd Mage exam”

Link to Frieren wikipedia page
Click here to go to wikipedia page
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SPOILER ALERT:The following are major spoilers

Episode 26 is the end of the 2nd Mage Exam and what an exam it was. Huge massive melee fights and huge massive lore reveals all in the same episode! Madhouse was on fire in this episode, and their animation was beyond powerful beauty. Just stunning! And the individual fights were so well done. But for this reviewer, it was the massive lore info which threw me against the wall like Fern. The lore revealed is closely associated with individuals by name.

Serie:

Click here to go to Serie Fandom page

Serie opens Episode 26, and immediately waves the Frieren Death Flag, “If you are ever to be killed, it will be by the Demon King or a human mage.” We obviously know that the Demon King did not kill Frieren, so we are left with a human mage. This flag is waving for Episode 28 which will be Chapter 60 in the Manga. Madhouse will end this Season 1 with the most shocking event in the story!

Denken:

Click here to go to Denken Fandom page

From the very beginning of the Second Mage Trial, raiding the King’s Tomb, Denken immediately saw that this test was not a competition between the Mages as was the First test to capture a Stille. He knew correctly that the best strategy was to work together, but because the mages were suspicious of each other, few wanted to work as a team. He entered the tomb with only five mages, himself, Laufen, Richter, Methode, and Länge. The other 13 mages are still feeling hostility for each other from the first mage test. But eventually all the mages come around to his point of view, and join a combined team. The lore here is critical. Against the clones in the tomb, the mages have a decided advantage because they can communicate strategy, and organize their teams accordingly. Denken is extremely rational, but if he saw the all out fight between Frieren and Fern against the clone Frieren, he would have realized that Frieren was being very easy on him in the first test.

Übel:

Click here to go to Übel Fandom page

Übel is right, and her attitude is not crazy. People who are used to using rational methods, do use their rational brains too much. Magic in this world is all about perfect visual imagination. Rational thought can box you into a self fulfilling box trap! I have been in many meetings and heard all of this before. To build anything in the real world, you must be Übel and have perfect imagination or close to it. A baseball player has to imagine hitting the ball, before he can hit it! An ice skater must imagine her entire routine, before she performs it, and even if she falls, the most important thing is to quickly get back into her routine. Before one can build anything, the builders must have close to perfect imagination of the object they wish to build. The less imagination invested upfront, is usually an indicator, of later errors in design. Certainly rational thought is always necessary, but it’s not sufficient. Another interesting factoid is that Übel uses scissors to illustrate her technique. This is also a reference to Methode’s discussion about the rock-paper-scissors nature of the world they inhabit.

Methode:

Click here to go to Methode Fandom page

Methode explains how this world of magic, is a rock-paper-scissors type of world. “A battle between mages is kind of like a rock-paper-scissors match, after all. An extremely complex rock-paper-scissors match… with countless moves to win through.” This means that unlike worlds with OP, there are no real top dogs. Mana power is not everything, as Frieren explained to Fern. Any mage in this world can be destroyed by any other mage with different and specific skills. It’s heavily recursive. Mage A destroys Mage B, Mage B destroys Mage C, and Mage C destroys Mage A. This is the complexity that Methode is explaining. This leads to clone Frieren use of a very special skill.

Frieren:

Click here to go to Frieren Fandom page

The clone Frieren uses a very special something against Fern. The clone looks at her, and that causes Fern to slam against the wall, breaking her staff. Fern says “What happened….did it attack me? I don’t sense it’s mana at all…..I don’t recognize this attack as magic…Incredible Mistress Frieren…this is the Apex of Magic.” The clone Frieren is completely defenseless, and Frieren blows it away. Frieren does not explain what this attack was about or how it works. All Frieren says is “You did great Fern…..It’s been 80 years or so since I was cornered into showing that.” This would indicate that Frieren last used it against the Demon King, but we are not told anything more about it. When this new Frieren team reaches Ende, there will probably be a backstory about the Himmel party destroying the Demon King and we will revisit this Apex of Magic.

There is a very significant translation difference between the Manga and the Anime. Both are translating a Japanese word into English. The Anime uses “The Height of Magic” and the Manga uses “The Apex of Magic”. While Apex and Height have many significant meanings and similarities, there are significant differences in the meanings with regard to the story itself. Apex leads directly back to Flamme, while Height does not. Several fans are of the opinion that Frieren learned this particular skill from Flamme, and the use of Apex would support that. This is how it works, and is a very detailed linguistic track.

E:Apex comes from the Latin of the Roman Republic. L:Apex refers to a cap, with a very unique pointer on it’s top. This cap was worn by a very special order of priests who served and worshiped only a specific god. The priests were called L:Flamen. It is speculated that the L:Apex pointed to the highest point in the sky or heaven where the gods lived. Also the point indicated the high social rank of the L:Flamen. L:Apex means then the very highest, and is not a Heighth indicator. While E:Height can indicate the highest, there is ambiguity, in that the word can mean any length at all. E:Height can be traced back to G:höhe, and the L:Apex cap looks very much like the German Pickelhaube, the pointed helmets worn by the Prussian military. The E:Apex and L_Apex were never used as a military symbol, but always retained their religious roots.

The G:Flamme comes from the L:Flamma for fire or flame, and means very much the same thing in German as it did in Rome. The L:Apex was worn by the L:Flamen. Now obviously L:Flamma and L:Flamen have a very similar sound but also a similar functional meaning in that the ancient L:Flamen priests offered sacrifice to the god and used L:Flamma for the burnt offering. This connects Flamme to Apex and is the reason that the manga translation seems to be the intended translation. (But it is hard to believe that any of this was intentional by the author of our story, Kanehito Yamada yet there are so many connections in all of this, that it is difficult to argue against it. So who knows?)

Flamme:

Click here to go to Flamme Fandom page

In the Third Mage Exam, which is an interview with Serie, she asks Frieren one question, “Tell me what your favorite spell is.” Frieren immediately answers “The spell to produce a field of flowers.” Serie immediately ridicules her for loving a spell which is worthless and calls her foolish. She then fails Frieren on this third exam. Frieren just turns and walks away. We immediately enter a backstory showing little Himmel lost in the woods, but Frieren finds him and shows him her spell to produce a field of flowers. When Himmel grows up and forms his adventure party, the only Mage he wants to recruit is Frieren, all because of the Spell to create a Field of Flowers. In a very direct way, Flamme’s foolish little girl’s spell ended up destroying the Demon King. This is why the ED shows the Field of Flowers. It is key to understanding the strange rock-paper-scissors nature of magic in this world and how Frieren “still dances in the palms of her teacher, Flamme”!

© 2024 Folwine P. Pywackett mox032.odt

When is a Machine not a Machine?

TITLE: When is a Machine not a Machine?

A youtube video called “Sympathy for the Machine” by Curious Archive

Click Red Arrow above

This video is a very interesting exploration of machine (intelligence, consciousness, sentience, soul (take your pick)) today in 2024.

Last year(2023) we at Pywackett Productions made these observations of our experience with Google BARD!

Please note that BARD was Google’s name for it’s LLM or Chatbot in 2023. In 2024, Google changed the name to Gemini.

If your computer at home were to plead with you not to shut it off, what would you do?

© 2024 Folcwine P. Pywackett w165