Comment by soupfordummies
3 days ago
Hard disagree. ESPECIALLY with music and fiction. It cheapens it, makes it feel hollow and is a disappointing letdown. It’s like finding out Santa Claus isn’t real. A big part of fiction and music is the act of human creation meant for other humans. It’s a form of communication and connection.
I think I get where you’re coming from if you’re thinking of fiction or music as just like pure baseless entertainment. But that’s like talking about food and meaning Soylent or a handful of sugar cubes in place of a home cooked meal or pastry-chef crafted dessert.
I get what you're saying and am not trying to argue with it, just presenting more of my viewpoint below.
I was the kid whose parents never lied to about Santa. It felt so weird trying to explain he's imaginary to other kids at the playground. I still liked the whole charade around Christmas. Not the Christian stuff (it was never instilled in me) but the tree with the lights, the guy dressed up as Santa and the presents. I knew what it was and I couldn't care less. When I was painted as a turtle or whatever at the theme park, I knew I wasn't a real turtle. It was quite a bit of fun nonetheless.
I've looked up some of the artists I like. Some have a somewhat interesting story, others have a political agenda and so on, but for most of them I don't even know if they're a one band name or a group, whether they're an Australian woman or a Serbian brother duo - I just don't care.
If there was a tasty and nutritionally complete Soylent or human chow that was ethically sourced, I'd gobble it up. It doesn't have to be "a handful of sugar cubes", though, with all that it implies. It could resemble a home cooked meal. But a perfect meal where every bean is exactly the same size, the same texture, the same amount of soft on the inside, crispy on the outside. Made in a factory by AI, synthesized from rock, for all I care.
Sure, we used to value artists and give them money. Now we don't. We used to value lots of work that's been automated away now. It's life. I'd still love a world with UBI where everyone can pursue whatever they want, where scarcity of the necessities doesn't exit. That would be even more fair to me as right now most people who want to be artists or chefs or athletes... aren't. They end up teaching or working at the same burrito shop for hours every day just to make ends meet. If we structure our society correctly, the fact that art is largely made by AI wouldn't have any negative financial consequences on anyone. At worst, no one will look at your art. But right not chances are you (not you per se) aren't even an artist but a graphics designer for a soulless company or a chef for the same cookie-cutter pizzeria. So in a post-scarcity society maybe no one will care about your art but you'll be able to make art for yourself, for art's sake. If you're doing it for recognition or money, is it really "art"?
> we used to value artists and give them money. Now we don't.
this is wildly self-centered to claim as a general truth
It's just a trend I've noticed due to more piracy, ad-supported content, AI-generated art, free content and/or publishers taking bigger cuts. Obviously people still pay artists and will continue to do so but I don't see a future where artists make nearly as much as they did before. That's OK if we don't treat art as a commodity, if we have UBI or something similar and if we can access enough free art.