"Content Creation" Is Hard Work
At first glance, you'd think writing would be easy.
"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." - Ernest Hemingway
Maybe for some writers, it's easy. I have yet to meet one, at least a good one. Don't let anyone fool you; consistently creating high quality content is hard work.
My Robot Writer?
Photo courtesy of Siyan Ren and http://unsplash.com
With few exceptions, I agonize over my topic. I write a draft, read it, re-write it, and grumble a little. I don't like the flow; back to the keyboard. Thank God for computers, or I'd be buried a mile deep in crumpled paper!
But what if writing were effortless?
What if content creation were automatic? Some days, I wake up wishing I had a robot to do my chores for me. Seems like everyone else does.
Be careful what you wish for! Think about it. What would we, as content creators do?
"Robbie, turn out a bit of flash fiction, would you? Sci-fi, with a dash of romance and a happy ending. Let me know when you're done, I'll be down on the beach."
Where's the creativity in that? The job satisfaction?
Look around you. More and more tasks are being automated, taken over by heartless machines.
Typesetters were replaced, first by linotype machines, later by computer editors. Now the newspaper industry is dying. Assembly line workers, pushed out by industrial robots. Everywhere you look, machine replacing man.
In Philadelphia, Uber drivers no longer drive. They merely sit behind the wheel of an autonomous vehicle, satisfying some obscure government regulation. How long will that last? Better dig out the classifieds.
Long-haul truck drivers will all be on unemployment before long. Their big rigs will be driven by other truckers, automatons that won't need a truck stop waitress to smile at them, or a bathroom break.
Thank God, AIs haven't yet matched human creativity.
I think we writers are safe, at least for a little while... Or are we?
If Ray Kurzweil, Vernor Vinge, Elon Musk, and other futurists are right, we'd better watch our backs! We'll be the next working stiffs to be involuntarily retired. I can see us now, languishing on the shoulder of the Information Superhighway, watching cyber-witty popular content flow by, hoping to hitch a ride.
Can you say "Artificially intelligent, autonomously self-perpetuating, content-rich blockchain?" That's what I thought.
I can say it, but do I want it? I don't think so. I'm not quite ready to retire this 100 billion neuron, 1.35Kg collection of grey matter. Not just yet.
~FIN~
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.
⬇️To Check Out @creatr's World⬇️CLICK Each Image Below⬇️
|
|
|
That's something to think about... Technology - no matter how helpful it may be - always feels like a heartless, soulless thing, at least, to a lot of us. Whatever future holds I hope someday humanity will live in the green utopia with nature and technology in synergy.
Back to the topic - have you read "So Bright the Vision" by Clifford Simak? It's extremely relevant to your post.
I do of course recognize Simak as a classic Science Fiction author. I know that I've read things he's written in the past, but at the moment can't recall what.
On your recommendation, I will try to find "So Bright the Vision." Thank you for mentioning it! ;)
It sure can be difficult to always try and come up with new things to research/write about. Is the writing market safe from AI taking over? I know they can already spit out essays etc now that are written by robots/programs but the grammar just doesn't fit right/sound the same as a natural writer or so I've heard and seen from visiting different writing sites
I often wonder about AI... I remember it being strongly hyped while I was growing up, the subject of endless fictional accounts. Then it seemed to peter out, never live up to its promise.
We now have impressively almost unbelievably faster computers, vastly larger databases. We still aren't close to 100-billion neuron equivalent machines. I sometimes wonder, can a machine "wake up?" Will it? What would it write about if it did?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@renzoarg/is-it-plagiarism-or-is-it-innovative-a-bot-written-article-by-laura
I'm stuck in a grid maybe? Hey can you help me move I seem to be stuck here :D And then it's everywhere trucks included I guess :D don't tango with AI's :D
Wow, thanks for the link. I just read a few of Laura's articles. Scary! :O
Now you've got me wondering how he does it... I read a couple of the follow up articles that go into details of how word selection is varied, but what I don't (yet) get is how Laura does the overall article structure... Hmmmm...
we have one right here and it does a pretty decent job. It feels a bit off but that's about it. Sure it's no AI but whatever. I've linked below if you hadn't checked it out It's actually good food for thought. Use them as compilers as Google has DEEP mind show your self stop analyzing my patterns :D ZING :D
After reading your thoughts and the first comment, I like this quote even more.
"Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity." - William Zinsser
Three out of four (for our future AI masters), not bad?
But could an artificial writing intelligence ever develop "humanity?" I wonder... Made in the image of Jesus our Creator, I have a driving desire to create. Can I create another creator?
Nope. :)
The artificial is not able to be official. The sinner is incapable of making perfection. We already tried to reach heaven with the Tower of Babel. That didn't work out too well.
I'm not speaking of doing so in any sense as an act of rebellion... Babel, along with all immoral human government, is rebellious in nature. It is an attempt to elevate oneself to the status of godhood.
I'm speaking of creating a mind as an act of worship. In the same way a child imitates his parent, seeking to imitate God's creative nature. When they try and fail, do we chastise our children for attempting to imitate our work?
Ahh, sorry about that, haha.
That is an interesting thought. I could see it developing. I wonder what kind of robot rules we would create.
Have you ever read Isaac Asimov's robot stories? Asimov devised the Three Laws of Robotics. That might be a good start.
hey Cowboy Beebop might be a better start I couldn't get past Asimov's writing it's like climbing the great wall of china :D sideways :D
Actually, "I Robot" is IMHO some of his better stuff... I admit I had trouble with some of his Foundation series - too much talk, not enough action - but the Robot series (in my dim memory) is much better, shorter stories, more action, generally more interesting. If you like Sci-Fi at all, give "I Robot" a shot!
Not the book, I watched the iRobot movie, haha. Thanks for the reminder. :)
The book, one of my "childhood reads," is more than worth the time. So much is lost in the movie rendition! :O
Yeah it was a good one, when you disregard the insane story. on a few levels and the plot holes deeper than the matrix :D
I think creative people will always look for ways to express themselves in an authentic way. We're all unique but we have influences. Should we go the route of total automation then there would be no need for beauty or spirituality or creativity. People will always relate to people. I believe technology will keep moving forward - may even feel like it's taking over - but then we will embrace a more analogous way again because it's cyclical and... well... nature always wins.
If you had an writer AI and copied it to another computer, and gave the two the same inputs, would they produce the same art?
If so, would it be plagarism?
If art can be machine-produced... Society isn't really built with that in mind.
depends on the code, your thinking is quite flawed they can have different inputs I mean change their own "interpretation" they can even learn from before and add more in, you are thinking in terms of code that is "dead" nowadays you can do so much more so much faster. You can program it to swap modules to swap inputs/outputs to iterate and improve to add in new ones and so on. :) Aren't we all just autonomous machines taken out of the universe :)
It will be fascinating to watch the ongoing development of machine thought, that's for sure! ;)
I would say that art is in the eye of the beholder. :)
We do have similar conflicts of interest, even among humans. It is not at all unusual for "the time to be ripe" for some particular invention. There have been inventors (as one myself, I recognize invention as a high art) who have come up with the same conceptual breakthrough at about the same time. Both are original; who "owns" the idea?
In the case of duplicate writer AIs, I would be inclined to credit the AI software author. ;)
maan you will love cowboy beebop, not much AI's but it entertains some pretty awesome concepts.
That would be a sad day, indeed. Maybe the best new career choice is professional machine-oiler. Then again, they're electronic. So nevermind. Thanks for the post. It's late, I have to turn off this machine, and go to bed. Tomorrow is another day, and this new "thing" just refuses to write itself. How dare it. Such fun, such work, such fun. Write on.
I used to be a professional machine oiler... i.e. a "maintenance man." We would talk about how that job would never become obsolete! Things are always going to break, right? ;)
lol the wire resistance :D we can probably put on the war vs the skynet :D oh we are making it hummm the contradictions :D Yeah I know how you feel with the sleeping thing :)
Staying up late with the writing machine seems to be a common thread on this Steemit thing. I suppose there are worse happenings than missing a few ZZZ's to build creativity. Thank goodness and Steem on.
Would AI be able to carry off the unique idiosyncrasies that we hear in a writer's voice? Would they develop their own?
Greetings, @opheliafu,
Those are indeed excellent questions. In our humanity, we have an incredible range of capability and expression. Our lives and experiences are so vastly divergent and unique. I imagine the first "effective" AIs all being "cut from the same cloth," i.e. all running the same program. However, if left around different people and in different environs, I suppose they would eventually diverge into differing "person"alities... :O
great question, probably after some time it might, depends on how complex it can calculate and what it's "ideals" are currently scripting languages are quite quick, in a few years time maybe we will have our first AI identity theft. :D Blade Runner here we come, btw BR 1 is the best movie, ok not the best but still :D ad BR 2 is in the making I think, so another rehash is on the rise, read the original, is there a book btw ;D
We are all expendable to AI.
what if you are wrong, what if it needs us and it's already playing dead :D, what if it is feeding off our own stupidity to be creators? In a field where there are so many people stuck in a grid, where is all the energy going, down the tubes and who is below ? robot town :D :| where is the simple life based on fantasy and mysticism :D I'd like to run around with a stick again maybe in a few years time AI-stein will be proven right :| I think i just gave somebody a stupid idea :|
so i think differently, maybe you can too :)
Ah, I sincerely hope you are wrong about that, my friend! :) :O
some of us produce content - some art...AI would do well with the former, the latter? not so much
Ah, but when those robots start rusting and singing the Squeaky Wheel Blues, what then? ;)
then, you get your motor runnin' - get out on the highway LOL!!
(see today's tale @ 230-300 pm - The Island.) ...“Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.” ― Albert Camus
some priceless quotes flying around here :)
ha ha ...that's @creatr for you :)
BTW,
I absolutely love this!!!! Are these your people? :) :) :)
THANK YOU, thank you, I LOVE this! :) :) :)
no, they're a family I borrowed. I do that when my own's not enough ha ha
Understood!
Don't give 'em back, they're keepers! ;)
I just can't stop smiling...
Please, the next time you see them, tell Mark and Karly that they absolutely made my day! :) :) :)
I like your post keep up the good work..can you follow me..thank you
he probably can, but WILL he ? :D and if he does will it change anything :)
btw I would follow you too if you didn't post so much every day, not to disregard your interests just wait until the 7th there is still a 4 post per day soft rule, the pay drifts off after that, but keep it up and you will build a following if you take your time :)
Cheers mate :)
and how about that golem, :D I'm looking for someone to invest maybe you can! currently I'm struggling, getting coffee from my piggybank :D it looks like a awesome initiative and I'm a bit let down somebody is making it for me :D I had the idea first :D although they look like more suited for the job :| damn those words :| but yeah it will raise that's for sure. The golem will raise :D