As an artist, I think it is a net negative for us. Disregarding the copyright issue, I think it’s also consolidating power into large corporations, going to kill learning fundamental skills (rip next generation of artists), and turn the profession into a low skill minimum wage job. Artists that spent years learning and perfecting their skills will be worth nothing and I think it’s a pretty depressing future for us. Anways thoughts?

  • @redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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    51 year ago

    I want to make a few points and perhaps reiterate what @kig_v2@lemmygrad.ml said: you can see it more now that others joined in the conversation, but there is no set view on art by communists, so don’t let a few disagreements put you off. Also, it may be helpful to separate the views of individual communists from the idea of communism. And that’s what I wanted to clarify…

    Communism is the end goal. It’s never been achieved. People may call themselves communists who aspire to bringing in a communist (or, first, a socialist) revolution. But it’s not possible to talk to anyone who has lived in a fully communist society to find out what they think of art. We can only ask people who are imperfectly working things out under the distorting influence of capitalism.

    The question in the OP was about thoughts on AI art, so that’s what people discussed. Most people answering that question in any setting, even artists, communists, or communist artists will not be basing their view on considered art theory. Commenting on posts like this on Lemmygrad is a way for people to work out what they think. And people around here regularly change their minds after a mini struggle session.

    As kig_v2 said MLs (Marxist Leninists) will propose that their view aligns with Marxist theory – it’s what Marxists do. This can result in the type of comment that I think has particularly annoyed you. This is where an ML remarks on a historical fact, such as that AI technology is here, and that capitalists will use it to their advantage like they use every other technology.

    MLs can appear to be nihilistic in this and imply that we cannot or should not do anything about the historical fact. But that’s a mischaracterisation, I think.

    Some very brief theory to help make the above clearer. The Marxist world outlook is called dialectical and historical materialism. From this perspective, Marxists criticise capitalism not just for its moral failings but also (perhaps mainly) because they see that capitalism is not sustainable for being riddled with unsolvable contradictions. Marxism is the study of the process of change, and it sees change as driven by internal contradiction.

    This applies to everything. Including to the internal contradictions of AI, and AI art – as processes interconnected with other, broader processes.

    Anyway, if you’re interested in what someone has to say about art who has both read art theory and Marxist theory, you may enjoy John Berger’s, Ways of Seeing. His Landscapes and Portraits are also very good compilations of vignettes on famous artworks.

    • @belo
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      11 year ago

      Thanks for the book recommendations, I’ll check it out!

      • @redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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        31 year ago

        You’re welcome. Berger also made a BBC series with the same title (the book might be based on the series) but I’ve never been able to find a copy (I haven’t looked that hard, mind).

        • @belo
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          21 year ago

          After being on this thread today, I decided I’m going to take a break from being online at this point at least as it relates to politics. Thanks for the book recommendations and also your insight about communism.

          There has been a couple of people here who have been very nice and seem to be interested in socialism to help other people and are taking into account these big questions about what it means to he human, and what makes life worth living. I appreciate yours and their insight in this thread.

          Thanks very much for your insight and also the books recommendations. I’ll see if I can find a copy at the library and keep thinking about these issues. Maybe I can try to see if there’s a way that Marxism fits and offers any insight and answers.

          I thought about it and we live in a really difficult time with all of these changes and everything that is going on with the world. It isn’t easy.