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THIS WEEKS BLOG

AI will do to your brain what McDonalds does to your body

That is the title, the blog will not seem like it is addressing that or have anything to do with it...until it becomes clear that it, in fact, does.

Grand Rapids comic con went real good, and my discussion panel on how to get ideas went over rather well...despite me being over caffeinated. The panel was about creativity, remembering how you thought about things when you were a kid, observing the world and funneling it through your imagination. All stuff that I never thought I would have to explain because...I'm from a different era. An era where you didn't need to explain to a teenager how to properly hold a pencil because they've never had to use one. I gave that panel for my own self interest, because, while I am competing on the battleground of ideas, I also would like new things that entertain me. That means someone besides me is going to have to make them.  Eventually that means the generations behind me, who don't yet have the level of skill that I and my ilk do. 

GenX, it's ideas, and what it likes, are still piloting the pop culture ship...which is a hell of a lot to ask of a generation that already made a huge mark on things, far out of scale for how small it is. Let me put the current landscape in perspective, if you're old enough to get the references. Pretend it's 1990, and somehow the top TV star is still Jack Benny, the hit movies are the third remake of Casablanca and several spin offs of Citizen King, the radio stations all still play big band music and the cool kids are wearing vintage Glenn Miller t-shirts. That is essentially what is going on now.

Creatively speaking, the millennials never picked up the bit and GenZ, if they are going to have anything to contribute...have not shown up yet. To be fare, and this is leading into a larger point, they never had a chance in hell of competing with GenX creatively.

Now, before you assume that I'm GenX and this is some big stroke off about how great we are...understand this- I am GenX, and that means I don't give a fuck what you think of us one way or the other. This is about specific societal factors that play into the development of a given generation.

Gen X is a generation that grew up in a prefect storm for being creative, compared to previous and post generations. All the pins, unintentionally, fell into place for them. They did not have to go to work at age 12 to help the family, there was no global conflict going on, they were relatively safe, had no droughts, plagues ect to deal with, were raised by a generation that by and large left them alone to do whatever they felt like, (possibly to a degree that could be called abuse) had a decent amount of pop culture to soak in but most of it was not specifically geared to them, and had not so much of it available that they didn't have to make things up to entertain themselves.

Two or three hours of cartoon programming a day, most of it cartoons several decades old, and the rest of the time that TV was by and large adult programming. 6 to 8 hours of the day they were left to their own devices and nothing to be entertained by that they themselves did not come up with. And it would only be as entertaining as they were able to make it.

They had more breadcrumbs of how things were made than the boomers, an occasional TV special about the making of Star Wars for example, but not so much info that they weren't left with a whole lot to try to figure out for themselves. No internet site that told them how to built a prop, make a costume, write a story, draw something, sculpt something, build something, ect.

Millennials and GenZ, by comparison, didn't have much need to use their imagination. For example, if they wanted to pretend they were Spider-Man, they had videos games with graphics that looked as good as any cartoon, and if they wanted him in a different costume...that was an option. And anything they wanted to make, do or try...there was a website that showed them how.

And they are somehow trying to compete on the battleground of ideas with a generation that had to pretend a shoebox was the millennium falcon, paint over a cobra commander action figure so it looked like Iron Man, and whatever toy gun they had would, in their mind, be a disintegrator ray, a six shooter, or a proton pack...depending on what the day called for. And if they didn't have a toy gun, they'd make one out of cardboard.

That generation learned, to a dramatically high degree, and every single day, how to use their imagination. That is a skill. That skill is important not matter what you do. Not every creative soul ends up in the creative industry. Some of them made music and movies and comics, sure...and some of them invented things, became doctors who created new procedures, businessmen who came up with new logistical options, scientists who concocted new polymers and chemicals or new used for old ones..

That creative problem solving, they learned and applied, saved lives, improved the world around them, and advanced humanity as a whole. That is simply, objectively, provably true. A sociologist or historian would need to suss this out more, but I would contend that GenX was the most creatively skilled generation in history...because of that perfect storm they grew up in. They had all the tools, all the time, none of the danger and no one holding their hands to instruct them how to do anything. An entire generation with 6-8 hours a day of using their imagination/creative problem solving from birth until they learned what sex was. Is there another generation in human history who had a head start like that? I can't think of one.

From that, however, have come two entire generations who have never had any real need or inclination to use their imagination, had 24/7 access to pop culture geared directly at them and a screen that will show them whatever they wish, whenever they want...The resulting drop off in creative skill is an EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO OUR SURVIVIAL AS A SPECIES.

Problems are going to arise, that will need creative problem solving, and WTF is humanity going to do when GenX is gone? I ask the question in all sincerity. Creative problem solving is something you develop, you learn it, you refine it, you increase your level of it. Two generations now have not had to bother with it at all. How TF are they going to deal with whatever is coming? How TF are they going to advance anything? Aside from never needing to use their imagination, they never got the time to improve it.

Because the part of that perfect storm GenX was raised in, that is possibly most important, was the amount of time they were left alone, completely unsupervised, with nothing to do. You played star wars with a shoebox for awhile and that got boring...so you'd color the shoe box, glue stuff to it, add some tinfoil, so it looked more like the millennium falcon, then you'd get bored. Then you'd play something else that required you to make something or pretend something, and you'd get bored and make it look better or add a plot twist, make up new rules for the game. The boredom bred advancement, increased the creative problem solving. What can I glue to this to make it better? .

Monumentally important skills and dispositions and habits were accumulated by GenX, that are of high value later in life, for themselves and their fellow man. How can I make this surgery simpler, how can I improve this engine, what if this machine could be modified to two different things?

 Trail and error, happy accidents, taking something that has one purpose and finding some other use for it.  Those are all skills that come with the creative process, no matter what age you are.  Every time you take a shortcut or have something handed to you, you are missing out on the actual benefit and value of being creative.  There's lines not worth crossing, of course...like making your own ink probably ain't going to add much to you as an artist or spark any ideas, but mixing your own colors instead of taking the paint right out of the tube absolutely will.


NOW THEN...I hope I don't have to connect the dots of what I've said here with what an absolute threat AI is to humanity. I hope it is now obvious. I hope the harm and the stunting of growth mentally...the kneecapping of creativity right out of the gate to any idea or endeavor, that AI does, is plain to you.

There are dozens of reasons AI it very very bad. and this is in the top two. People who could become great artists, writers, musicians, come up with new things by trail and error, as they perfect their craft, or just learn simple creativity at whatever age...may now use this to skip everything about the creative process that has value. And they will have learned nothing, they will have developed no skill, the parts of their brain that should be getting stronger, keener, are atrophying. Sad...and when you extrapolate that to all the people who would have advanced science, medicine, engineering, after developing creative skills and tendencies, it goes from sad to terrifying.

Imagine you got cybernetic arm braces...and those let you do 500 push ups. The real problem is not that the cybernetics did those push ups for you, the problem is that your arms did nothing. And are getting weaker and weaker and weaker. Imagine cybernetic leg braces that did all the walking for you, eventually you wouldn't even be able to stand on your own. That is what AI is for your brain. Make it draw you something, have it make you a song, have it write a letter for you...are you getting better? smarter?...no, your brain is turning into mush. It is turning into spindly, atrophied legs that can't support your own weight. Which would be fine if you were in a world of your own, alone. But you are part of a society, a world, a culture, an ecosystem of humanity. Where one thing sparks another and another and we all advance together. Or sink together.

.Anyways...

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MILWAUKEE KRAMPUSNACHT DEC 1ST! The biggest Krampus celebration in the Midwest! Parades, bands, food, booze AND...Arsenic Lullaby will be there INFO HERE

Here's a RARE plug for something other than my own work... NEW  LENORE!!! Though, to be completely honest, a fellow dark humor cartoonist doing well is also good for Arsenic Lullaby. As it's one more book out their reminding stores that there are readers to be had by having more than just MCU bullsh*t on your shelf. But, even aside from that, Roman (the writer and Illustrator) is a good guy, he does great work, I'm looking forward to the new issue. I hope he sells a million copies. ...And how about that, the publisher was actually bright enough to get it featured on the front page of PREVIEWS (that's the catalogue all the stores order from). Imagine if Slave Labor Graphics (the original publisher of Lenore, Squee and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac) had done that. ASK YOUR STORE TO ORDER YOUR COPY NOW INFO HERE