September 2024 Links
80s tech and 90s sexuality, the questionable usefulness of AI, Calvin and Susie, and more. 9 links.
First, here are some crowdfunding efforts you might appreciate. First is a graphic novel based on Always With Honor from Passage Press. And then the second book from Brian Niemeier’s prequel series. It’s important to support independent efforts, so if either of these looks interesting to you, make a pledge and claim a reward.
On the rediscovery of the movie First Man. I haven’t watched it yet, but it’s on the list.
The revival of interest in the movie is well-deserved. The film is deeply underrated, and there is a lot to recommend it to those who are interested in great filmmaking and traditional masculinity. But there is also a good reason it didn’t generate this level of enthusiasm when it first came out.
Were the 90s the real breaking point for our sexual insanity? Quick thread on the portrayal of sex in pop culture.
The 90s parents who were worried about the kind of messages their kids were absorbing from pop culture were actually right. it was never as benign as the memes imply.
Is AI actually useful? Has it improved anything? Did anyone want it? I find it amusing and useful as a stock image creator, but has it improved that part of my process?
Suppose you could make a robot capable of writing something of similar style to Lord of the Rings. Would you really want that? Tolkien’s novels are as much about the story of the creator as they are about the creation itself. It’s a kind of divine act for him. Would you really be satisfied reading a robotic synthesis of high fantasy? It’s a bit like the arrogance of Aule, making automatons because of a desire to have rather than receive. If you could have a robot write and sell the book (for you, presumably), what does that say about you? You can’t create.