Repetition, variation, and invention

Artificial intelligence discourse has felt existential lately: whether large language models represent a form of consciousness, whether artificial general intelligence will represent a pinnacle of capability exceeding human talent and value, and whether that intelligence deserves to extinguish human voice.

Large language models are trained on a vast historical set of human language data, interpreting and generating from a swimming pool of symbols. The meaning of what is being generated is unknown to the generator while it's generating. The act is reflexive, nondeterministic, based on repetition within the vast body of swallowed knowledge, prone to hallucination — claimed as invention.

We too repeat, vary, and invent, for the love of discovery, experience, and connection — doing this in our bodies and doing this with others is the richness of our lives. Perhaps this is what is so uncanny about the valley of humans claiming generative AI as creative output: its hallmarks hint at a human who didn't value their gift of feeling alive while they still had the chance.

All that to say, here's me fucking around on a pole last week.