I've always believed in magic intuitively but thought maybe it was just something I was making up. As I've gotten deeper into my spiritual practice over the past twelve years, I've realized how "real" it actually is.
It's crazy that you posted this today because I wrote about it in my post yesterday:
"We think we are so smart. See, touch, taste, smell, hear. Apparently, the scientists 'discovered' a sixth sense! Wow! Thanks to them, we’re now granted access! But is that it?
What a bunch of monkeys we all are. Just because we’ve, on a number of occasions, surpassed our atmosphere, we think we deserve a throne. In reality, we’re hardly a gene or two away from butt-scratching chimps. If we think we’re so smart, why do we give ourselves to such wasteful, empty endeavors?
What are these other senses? Well, I don’t know. If, however, you cannot, or will not use them until someone who spent a decade of their life in the confines of some concrete building to 'study' puts a name to the unnamable, then I reckon you’ve got no need for them anyway.
If you listen closely enough, they’re still there. But you’ve gotta listen, you’ve gotta be quiet.
Magic is real, and science killed it."
Sorry for the long quote, but I need to share it because the synchronicity here is awesome. I notice, for some reason, people often write about similar things at similar times . . . As if the Muse dictates, at large, our collective inspiration. Very cool stuff, would love to exchange some ideas one day.
The collective consciousness is very real and part of the magic we are talking about. And there are far more than five senses. Thank you so much for your comment!
Yes. And there is logic in magic as well. Patterns and formulas . Recognizable energies. You know when it's working . Music is a good example of logic & magic in orchestration together.
I’ve been pondering a post about this. “Magic” gets thrown around pretty loosely as an adjective in the arts, but art, and maybe especially music, is literally magic. A song is a ritual by definition, an incantation and intentional manipulation of sound waves to create an emotional transformation in both the performer and the listener. 🧙♀️🎸🎶
Your writings always resonate with me. Profound, food for thought. I too have found myself on a treadmill and it literally gets me no where. Time to rethink and slow down, meditate, enter the spiritual. Perhaps it's what the world needs now. Keep writing and connecting with the magic.
💯 agree with all this. Thinking of life through magical moments increases our sense of wonder and spontaneity. Logical things make sense using a metric system which isn’t our own. That’s why magic is so important; we can have a collective sense of magic, but it’s deeply personal to our own life and journey.
I started by simply sitting quietly by myself paying attention to my breath, no apps, pay attention to what arises and let things arise and dissipate. This is the thread that got me started: https://x.com/naval/status/1261481222359801856
Thank you Clintavo! I'll check it out. It's amazing how many things I've been reading lately that bring up meditation as a way to clear the mind of stress. It's a stressful world of late ;-)
It’s a lot more than that, but that’s a good reason to start (and that’s the reason I started, imagine my surprise the first time I felt one with the divine, which certainly clears the stress out….)
Spent many years locked in the grasp of the left brain (including a BS in Physics!?!?!). The last four years of working full time as an artist have been more fulfilling than the years working in problem solving or prevention mode.
Good point on the economists. May apply to pollsters, too.
Understatement! The people who run the world use (Satanic) magic, have been doing it forever. It isn't just witchcraft and all the psychological and spiritual deception that causes. They literally work directly with demons and fallen angels, that they can physically lay their eyes on, often using ancient magical rituals to summon them (yes, just like we see in video games, they materialize out of geometric seals that light up, etc. They often materialize right in front of you) The people who do this sacrifice children, they sometimes even have to seal the more hostile demons, to protect themselves... for now. There's a lot of different methods to do very powerful magic. Anyone can do magic - you walk by people every day who are doing demonic things and having demonic thoughts, actions, etc. New Age is witchcraft, which is obviously a popular type of magic, that even dumb little girls know how to utilize. Gaslighting used in the media and the medical industry is actually a lower form of demonic magic. Magic is everywhere, and people with demons controlling them are absolutely everywhere, including churches. (i.e. "tares")
WARNING: Magic obviously sounds cool. But if you have any chance of getting to know God, NEVER do magic yourself! It's pretty much a sure-fire ticket to Hell. But it's completely foolish to not understand how many people are doing magic every day, literally the education system and higher education has a witchcraft element to it. Witchcraft is used to control people, get them to work for Satan, who is the god of this world. Read the Bible, and consider taking the bulk of it at face value, because it really is the book of truth!
God is good and so is magic derived from his source. The only "evil" magic is that which comes from humans out of harmony with the divine. I've read the Bible many times and it tracks with what I am saying unless one insists on sticking to a strictly literal interpretation which if one attempts to do so, runs into many problems which are all resolved when one realized the true spritual journey is in the mind, heart and soul of the human. Much of modern control comes from the mind of man and is indeed 'diabolical' in that it separates one from the divine whereas wholesome "magic" is "symbolic" - unites one with the divine. Obviously in my piece, I'm talking about harmony and unity with The true divine. Thanks for your input.
It's crucial that you're talking about the right God here, because the ''true divine'' IS God. Also, 'diabolical' control/manipulation is way more direct than most people are led to believe. The mind, heart and soul of the human, were all designed and created, by GOD alone. Lucifer (REAL being who is pure evil) manipulates all 3 of those ingeniouly, and the further from Christ (the true divine is Christ) you are as a person, the more you fall victim to Lucifer's keen ability to deceive! So, becoming one with the divine, far ideally, means the process of becoming one with the correct/true God, meaning a relationship with Jesus Christ. There is only one, true God. Only he is perfect, and all knowing! God has revealed himself to people that never even had access to His Word. Wow! He is that good of a teacher! He is that powerful!
Reading the Bible and understanding the Bible are two different things, you simply can't understand the Bible without having a personal relationship with God... which involves talking/praying to HIM, directly! Ask Him questions, and he answers in countless ways! Fear Him! Fearing man and fearing the world is the alternative, which causes you to conform to them instead of God. I live consciously, but I ultimately fear no evil. I fear no man. I do use 'reverse psychology' here and there, but the minute they try to instill fear in me, I can't help but find it humorous, because Scripture says clearly to fear no evil. Man is evil. Man has a god complex, and is not worthy of your fear.
There's people that (literally) summon physically viewable demons. Many people in powerful positions worship the devil, and they rule the world, because they have been deceived, and think Lucifer is their true Lord and Savior; they think Lucifer is good, and thus, they also see good as evil. Inversion of good and evil, comes from Satan first, it's his creation, not man's. Man must first be deceived by Satan. The United Nations for a mere example is full of Luciferianism. WEF has 666 in their logo, really ask yourself why. They're telling you, "We work for Satan himself!" Satan uses man as his foot soldiers, because he likes to remain hidden. If you are a true Christian, Satan can't use you for pure evil like he does with people in power, because Christ is resistant to deception. Christinity is becoming Christ-like. Evil people are literally under spells, they allow demons in, to meet worldly desires in return. For example, there have been celebrities, musicians, k-idols that hint at selling their soul for fame. Selling one's soul is a real thing, and guess who they're ultimately selling it to, even if they are just signing a contract that mentions nothing of Lucifer?
Actually, that is why witchcraft and spells often don't work on Christians, and why true Christians (people who are truly growing in Christ-like reasoning) are never particularly famous or popular/celebrities... UNLESS they're false prophets, which are working again for Satan! "Out of harmony with the divine" just means out of harmony with Christ, like trusting in man instead of trusting Jesus Christ.
For those interested, even "The Why Files" on YouTube conceded recently that celebrities literally sell their soul to the Devil, and it isn't hyperbolic... and the Why Files isn't even a Christian channel! It's all becoming so obvious, that everyone seems to at least acknowledge it.
I read your article, and then read your bio, and saw that you won't use AI for your writing, because it would deny *you* your growth and creation, yet you openly use AI for your illustrations, and deny others that small bit of work, and growth, and satisfaction. I am disappointed, especially after reading about your thoughts on magic. Do you not see that these things are also spiritual? Your writing? My drawing? I am an illustrator. Am I not as worthy as you? Are we not both worthy of magic?
I never said anyone couldn't use AI to complement their art or that anyone isn't as worthy as me. In fact, all of my writing discussing how all humans are divine and worthy.
I did, and I understand that AI is here, like it or not, and I agree with you, that is you need to use it for droning work, so be it, but do not try to use it creatively, as that would basically defeat the purpose and sap the humanity from your piece. But then you turned around and used AI illustrations, as if illustrator are so unlike writers. Using AI for illustration (and writing) is so very often just a cheap way to get what you want without using a person. And I found it terribly ironic and sad that you did so in a post about magic in art. I'm not blaming you, or angry (hopefully I don't read that way) but I just really wanted to connect with you (as a fellow divine human) to see if you could see what I did. To understand my view. I can try to understand, too - why you choose AI instead of going to Fiver or something. I would have very inexpensively given you potion bottles with personality (😆)... who knows what other things we could have decided together? It would have been another beautiful human interaction ending in art. But you choose AI and I don't understand why. Maybe you just hadn't thought that deeply about it. 🤷♀️
There is zero market for illustrations for my articles. I do not have the time nor the dollars to hire an illustrator for those posts. So it is replacing stock photography, not human illustrators. My post about magic had nothing to do with AI. So, if I can improve the posts with more relevant images I will. I HAVE thought about it, and deeply too. My Art is not those images, it is the writing itself. It's like telling a visual artists "I found it ironic you used spell check on your bio instead of hiring a human editor." So now you know I have thought deeply about it and hopefully understand why.
The whole "who knows what things we could have decided together" is a straw-man argument. Can you give me those bottles in in two minutes for less than $5 from one or two prompts? No. Then there's no market for those images. If I work them up into a book people pay for, then I can hire an illustrator.
I knew people would misunderstand my whole point in my AI article and make an issue of these the AI images even as I wrote it, even though I address it in the article itself. I guess I was right.
The point is not "Don't use AI, ever." The point is "Use AI to help you in ways that don't rob you of the benefits of your art practice." That's it. Everything else is denying reality. So my advice, again, to artists was: Use AI to help you with the compliments to your art, the stuff AROUND it, not the art itself (and there are even times it can be used for research and ideas for ideas and preparation of making art).
If after this response, you don't understand why, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. But to reiterate - I HAVE thought about it deeply, which is why I have written about it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh I certainly understand it now. You don't value the work put into illustration, OR photography. Neither needs to be paid for when you can get it quick and free. You see it as copy editing, which AI still can't do as well as a human (it misses context). We certainly do disagree, sadly. I'm really disappointed. AI isn't inherently bad - but using it to replace humans because you're being cheap, is. Sorry.
No, you don’t understand. Given all I’ve written about visual art and the fact I run a company for visual artists, you clearly do not. Art is precious and priceless and I’ve hammered that message home for years.
You seem to be virtue signaling. You say AI isn’t inherently bad, and then basically make assumptions about my character because I used it, when I have more than once made my position clear. I am not being cheap, so please don’t impugn my character when you don’t understand. AI opens new possibilities that didn’t exist before. Being able to quickly make an image that is relevant to my writing, which is free, and i make no money from, is a new use case. In the past there would have been no image, a stock photo, or something shitty that I created. This took zero work from a human. There is no scenario in this context where, in the absence of AI, I would have hired a human to make an image for that short article. AI opens the possibilities for me to experiment and play and come up with images that go with my Art. I wouldn’t judge you for using chatGPT to help write a bio or a description to go with an image of your art. It is not fair of you to call someone cheap who is providing something for free. It is simply an attack.
It’s okay to disagree. I’m disappointed too. But I’m not attacking your character.
What’s a case where using AI is “not bad” in your opinion?
You were the one who said you couldn't afford an inexpensive illustration from a place like Fiverr, and didn't want to wait. That's not because of destitution (you're running a business), that's a choice. Which reads as cheap. Hey look, I'm cheap too, when I need to be, but I'm also disabled so I honestly am broke, but still pay for patterns if I sew, or little pdf packs of clip art. I pay artists for their work. But you're cool with circumventing them. You don't see it as circumvention. Why are you saying I'm attacking your character? I am not calling you names or saying you're a terrible human. Are you reading my words with your own malice dusted over them? (No, honestly, I can't tell - I am a neurodivergent). You seem angry that we are disagreeing to disagree. Perhaps it's my tendency to use more formal wording. Am I "virtue signaling"? Maybe. I'm not trying to. I don't profess any "artistic piousness" because hell, I paint profanities on saw blades for money. I just think that if you use AI as your stock image source instead of paying actual people, you're contributing to the problem of artists losing work to AI. That's real. It's not a virtue thing. It's something that's happening, because people are valuing art less and less because they can get it for free through AI. Even though what they're getting is (imo) soulless and devoid of emotion and connection, they don't seem to care. This is me talking about the wider populace in general, not you specifically. Lots of people are okay with this. Does that make them shit humans? I'm pretty sure there are other things that define that, but as we already know I don't think it's a good thing. Just like eating grapes out of your grocery cart before they're paid for isn't right, I think taking art for free that's been programmed from other artists without their consent is inherently... not right. But, we disagree. Why does stating my views have to bulldoze yours? You've explained, I think, that you believe it to be a perfectly acceptable form of free art, and as a way to add to your creative journey if you are able to draw. Which you aren't. You aren't using it as a creative tool to help you with an idea, or a layout, or for color sets. Which are, admittedly, uses that aren't inherently taking from other artists.
Which brings me to when else do I think AI is good? Oh my! Let's see - off the top of my head? For search engines, for language processing (we can speak to whales now!), for certain customer service applications, geez Netflix uses AI to make our user profiles... Amazon uses it to show us things we are interested in purchasing... there's AI used in scientific research, in medicine... there are SO many amazing uses of AI in it lives! We are enriched by it! I'd just prefer we leave the arts - music, visual, writing, dance, etc - to the artists. I know people won't, because it's too easy (and dare I say fun?), but I think that when used in place of real human art, it devalues humans and human connections. And that's... basically it.
Also, I'm sorry/not sorry you got an entire secondary offshoot article down here in the comments! 😆 If anything, it should at least drive your work with the (AI) algorithm. Omgoodness... I find that to be ironic as well. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor... 🤷♀️
Why are you touting Squarespace? Will it do more driving people to my site if I replicate it on Squarespace. Am I just doubling up. Do they simply copy what I have or make it more dynamice. $600 for 2 years. FASO is $360/yr. and has kept prices stable for a long time. Will Squarespace bump it? Is this really worth it? Will my links to PayPal survive the transfer? thanks, Jeff
You wouldn’t use it with FASO. This offer is for people who prefer Squarespace’s software. Faso is faster and easier, Squarespace has a much steeper leaning curve and is missing many artist specific features, however, it is very flexible for those who have needs of things that are harder to do with FASO. So, we offer both. We are not transferring faso sites to squarespace. They ate two separate offerings.
I've always believed in magic intuitively but thought maybe it was just something I was making up. As I've gotten deeper into my spiritual practice over the past twelve years, I've realized how "real" it actually is.
Yeah, me too! The “real” serves the “unreal”
It's crazy that you posted this today because I wrote about it in my post yesterday:
"We think we are so smart. See, touch, taste, smell, hear. Apparently, the scientists 'discovered' a sixth sense! Wow! Thanks to them, we’re now granted access! But is that it?
What a bunch of monkeys we all are. Just because we’ve, on a number of occasions, surpassed our atmosphere, we think we deserve a throne. In reality, we’re hardly a gene or two away from butt-scratching chimps. If we think we’re so smart, why do we give ourselves to such wasteful, empty endeavors?
What are these other senses? Well, I don’t know. If, however, you cannot, or will not use them until someone who spent a decade of their life in the confines of some concrete building to 'study' puts a name to the unnamable, then I reckon you’ve got no need for them anyway.
If you listen closely enough, they’re still there. But you’ve gotta listen, you’ve gotta be quiet.
Magic is real, and science killed it."
Sorry for the long quote, but I need to share it because the synchronicity here is awesome. I notice, for some reason, people often write about similar things at similar times . . . As if the Muse dictates, at large, our collective inspiration. Very cool stuff, would love to exchange some ideas one day.
The collective consciousness is very real and part of the magic we are talking about. And there are far more than five senses. Thank you so much for your comment!
Absolutely!
Yes. And there is logic in magic as well. Patterns and formulas . Recognizable energies. You know when it's working . Music is a good example of logic & magic in orchestration together.
Great point! And I love that example. (Great) Music is indeed magic.
I’ve been pondering a post about this. “Magic” gets thrown around pretty loosely as an adjective in the arts, but art, and maybe especially music, is literally magic. A song is a ritual by definition, an incantation and intentional manipulation of sound waves to create an emotional transformation in both the performer and the listener. 🧙♀️🎸🎶
Your writings always resonate with me. Profound, food for thought. I too have found myself on a treadmill and it literally gets me no where. Time to rethink and slow down, meditate, enter the spiritual. Perhaps it's what the world needs now. Keep writing and connecting with the magic.
The rational always serves the irrational.
💯 agree with all this. Thinking of life through magical moments increases our sense of wonder and spontaneity. Logical things make sense using a metric system which isn’t our own. That’s why magic is so important; we can have a collective sense of magic, but it’s deeply personal to our own life and journey.
Couldn't agree more. Embracing intuition has become a bit of an obsession for me lately. Life can't help but evolve the more you try it.
Would appreciate any insights into the type of meditation that you find most useful?
I started by simply sitting quietly by myself paying attention to my breath, no apps, pay attention to what arises and let things arise and dissipate. This is the thread that got me started: https://x.com/naval/status/1261481222359801856
Thank you Clintavo! I'll check it out. It's amazing how many things I've been reading lately that bring up meditation as a way to clear the mind of stress. It's a stressful world of late ;-)
It’s a lot more than that, but that’s a good reason to start (and that’s the reason I started, imagine my surprise the first time I felt one with the divine, which certainly clears the stress out….)
Spent many years locked in the grasp of the left brain (including a BS in Physics!?!?!). The last four years of working full time as an artist have been more fulfilling than the years working in problem solving or prevention mode.
Good point on the economists. May apply to pollsters, too.
Cheers,
Beautifully said!
Understatement! The people who run the world use (Satanic) magic, have been doing it forever. It isn't just witchcraft and all the psychological and spiritual deception that causes. They literally work directly with demons and fallen angels, that they can physically lay their eyes on, often using ancient magical rituals to summon them (yes, just like we see in video games, they materialize out of geometric seals that light up, etc. They often materialize right in front of you) The people who do this sacrifice children, they sometimes even have to seal the more hostile demons, to protect themselves... for now. There's a lot of different methods to do very powerful magic. Anyone can do magic - you walk by people every day who are doing demonic things and having demonic thoughts, actions, etc. New Age is witchcraft, which is obviously a popular type of magic, that even dumb little girls know how to utilize. Gaslighting used in the media and the medical industry is actually a lower form of demonic magic. Magic is everywhere, and people with demons controlling them are absolutely everywhere, including churches. (i.e. "tares")
WARNING: Magic obviously sounds cool. But if you have any chance of getting to know God, NEVER do magic yourself! It's pretty much a sure-fire ticket to Hell. But it's completely foolish to not understand how many people are doing magic every day, literally the education system and higher education has a witchcraft element to it. Witchcraft is used to control people, get them to work for Satan, who is the god of this world. Read the Bible, and consider taking the bulk of it at face value, because it really is the book of truth!
God is the highest most high above all magic or demons or anything .
The source. The original note from which all music of the universe springs.
God is good and so is magic derived from his source. The only "evil" magic is that which comes from humans out of harmony with the divine. I've read the Bible many times and it tracks with what I am saying unless one insists on sticking to a strictly literal interpretation which if one attempts to do so, runs into many problems which are all resolved when one realized the true spritual journey is in the mind, heart and soul of the human. Much of modern control comes from the mind of man and is indeed 'diabolical' in that it separates one from the divine whereas wholesome "magic" is "symbolic" - unites one with the divine. Obviously in my piece, I'm talking about harmony and unity with The true divine. Thanks for your input.
It's crucial that you're talking about the right God here, because the ''true divine'' IS God. Also, 'diabolical' control/manipulation is way more direct than most people are led to believe. The mind, heart and soul of the human, were all designed and created, by GOD alone. Lucifer (REAL being who is pure evil) manipulates all 3 of those ingeniouly, and the further from Christ (the true divine is Christ) you are as a person, the more you fall victim to Lucifer's keen ability to deceive! So, becoming one with the divine, far ideally, means the process of becoming one with the correct/true God, meaning a relationship with Jesus Christ. There is only one, true God. Only he is perfect, and all knowing! God has revealed himself to people that never even had access to His Word. Wow! He is that good of a teacher! He is that powerful!
Reading the Bible and understanding the Bible are two different things, you simply can't understand the Bible without having a personal relationship with God... which involves talking/praying to HIM, directly! Ask Him questions, and he answers in countless ways! Fear Him! Fearing man and fearing the world is the alternative, which causes you to conform to them instead of God. I live consciously, but I ultimately fear no evil. I fear no man. I do use 'reverse psychology' here and there, but the minute they try to instill fear in me, I can't help but find it humorous, because Scripture says clearly to fear no evil. Man is evil. Man has a god complex, and is not worthy of your fear.
There's people that (literally) summon physically viewable demons. Many people in powerful positions worship the devil, and they rule the world, because they have been deceived, and think Lucifer is their true Lord and Savior; they think Lucifer is good, and thus, they also see good as evil. Inversion of good and evil, comes from Satan first, it's his creation, not man's. Man must first be deceived by Satan. The United Nations for a mere example is full of Luciferianism. WEF has 666 in their logo, really ask yourself why. They're telling you, "We work for Satan himself!" Satan uses man as his foot soldiers, because he likes to remain hidden. If you are a true Christian, Satan can't use you for pure evil like he does with people in power, because Christ is resistant to deception. Christinity is becoming Christ-like. Evil people are literally under spells, they allow demons in, to meet worldly desires in return. For example, there have been celebrities, musicians, k-idols that hint at selling their soul for fame. Selling one's soul is a real thing, and guess who they're ultimately selling it to, even if they are just signing a contract that mentions nothing of Lucifer?
Actually, that is why witchcraft and spells often don't work on Christians, and why true Christians (people who are truly growing in Christ-like reasoning) are never particularly famous or popular/celebrities... UNLESS they're false prophets, which are working again for Satan! "Out of harmony with the divine" just means out of harmony with Christ, like trusting in man instead of trusting Jesus Christ.
For those interested, even "The Why Files" on YouTube conceded recently that celebrities literally sell their soul to the Devil, and it isn't hyperbolic... and the Why Files isn't even a Christian channel! It's all becoming so obvious, that everyone seems to at least acknowledge it.
I read your article, and then read your bio, and saw that you won't use AI for your writing, because it would deny *you* your growth and creation, yet you openly use AI for your illustrations, and deny others that small bit of work, and growth, and satisfaction. I am disappointed, especially after reading about your thoughts on magic. Do you not see that these things are also spiritual? Your writing? My drawing? I am an illustrator. Am I not as worthy as you? Are we not both worthy of magic?
I don't think you read my article about AI.
I never said anyone couldn't use AI to complement their art or that anyone isn't as worthy as me. In fact, all of my writing discussing how all humans are divine and worthy.
I did, and I understand that AI is here, like it or not, and I agree with you, that is you need to use it for droning work, so be it, but do not try to use it creatively, as that would basically defeat the purpose and sap the humanity from your piece. But then you turned around and used AI illustrations, as if illustrator are so unlike writers. Using AI for illustration (and writing) is so very often just a cheap way to get what you want without using a person. And I found it terribly ironic and sad that you did so in a post about magic in art. I'm not blaming you, or angry (hopefully I don't read that way) but I just really wanted to connect with you (as a fellow divine human) to see if you could see what I did. To understand my view. I can try to understand, too - why you choose AI instead of going to Fiver or something. I would have very inexpensively given you potion bottles with personality (😆)... who knows what other things we could have decided together? It would have been another beautiful human interaction ending in art. But you choose AI and I don't understand why. Maybe you just hadn't thought that deeply about it. 🤷♀️
It's not ironic though, and I gave my reasons for it, and suggested other artists do the same in: https://clintavo.substack.com/p/an-ai-writer-is-no-writer-at-all
There is zero market for illustrations for my articles. I do not have the time nor the dollars to hire an illustrator for those posts. So it is replacing stock photography, not human illustrators. My post about magic had nothing to do with AI. So, if I can improve the posts with more relevant images I will. I HAVE thought about it, and deeply too. My Art is not those images, it is the writing itself. It's like telling a visual artists "I found it ironic you used spell check on your bio instead of hiring a human editor." So now you know I have thought deeply about it and hopefully understand why.
The whole "who knows what things we could have decided together" is a straw-man argument. Can you give me those bottles in in two minutes for less than $5 from one or two prompts? No. Then there's no market for those images. If I work them up into a book people pay for, then I can hire an illustrator.
I knew people would misunderstand my whole point in my AI article and make an issue of these the AI images even as I wrote it, even though I address it in the article itself. I guess I was right.
The point is not "Don't use AI, ever." The point is "Use AI to help you in ways that don't rob you of the benefits of your art practice." That's it. Everything else is denying reality. So my advice, again, to artists was: Use AI to help you with the compliments to your art, the stuff AROUND it, not the art itself (and there are even times it can be used for research and ideas for ideas and preparation of making art).
If after this response, you don't understand why, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. But to reiterate - I HAVE thought about it deeply, which is why I have written about it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh I certainly understand it now. You don't value the work put into illustration, OR photography. Neither needs to be paid for when you can get it quick and free. You see it as copy editing, which AI still can't do as well as a human (it misses context). We certainly do disagree, sadly. I'm really disappointed. AI isn't inherently bad - but using it to replace humans because you're being cheap, is. Sorry.
No, you don’t understand. Given all I’ve written about visual art and the fact I run a company for visual artists, you clearly do not. Art is precious and priceless and I’ve hammered that message home for years.
You seem to be virtue signaling. You say AI isn’t inherently bad, and then basically make assumptions about my character because I used it, when I have more than once made my position clear. I am not being cheap, so please don’t impugn my character when you don’t understand. AI opens new possibilities that didn’t exist before. Being able to quickly make an image that is relevant to my writing, which is free, and i make no money from, is a new use case. In the past there would have been no image, a stock photo, or something shitty that I created. This took zero work from a human. There is no scenario in this context where, in the absence of AI, I would have hired a human to make an image for that short article. AI opens the possibilities for me to experiment and play and come up with images that go with my Art. I wouldn’t judge you for using chatGPT to help write a bio or a description to go with an image of your art. It is not fair of you to call someone cheap who is providing something for free. It is simply an attack.
It’s okay to disagree. I’m disappointed too. But I’m not attacking your character.
What’s a case where using AI is “not bad” in your opinion?
You were the one who said you couldn't afford an inexpensive illustration from a place like Fiverr, and didn't want to wait. That's not because of destitution (you're running a business), that's a choice. Which reads as cheap. Hey look, I'm cheap too, when I need to be, but I'm also disabled so I honestly am broke, but still pay for patterns if I sew, or little pdf packs of clip art. I pay artists for their work. But you're cool with circumventing them. You don't see it as circumvention. Why are you saying I'm attacking your character? I am not calling you names or saying you're a terrible human. Are you reading my words with your own malice dusted over them? (No, honestly, I can't tell - I am a neurodivergent). You seem angry that we are disagreeing to disagree. Perhaps it's my tendency to use more formal wording. Am I "virtue signaling"? Maybe. I'm not trying to. I don't profess any "artistic piousness" because hell, I paint profanities on saw blades for money. I just think that if you use AI as your stock image source instead of paying actual people, you're contributing to the problem of artists losing work to AI. That's real. It's not a virtue thing. It's something that's happening, because people are valuing art less and less because they can get it for free through AI. Even though what they're getting is (imo) soulless and devoid of emotion and connection, they don't seem to care. This is me talking about the wider populace in general, not you specifically. Lots of people are okay with this. Does that make them shit humans? I'm pretty sure there are other things that define that, but as we already know I don't think it's a good thing. Just like eating grapes out of your grocery cart before they're paid for isn't right, I think taking art for free that's been programmed from other artists without their consent is inherently... not right. But, we disagree. Why does stating my views have to bulldoze yours? You've explained, I think, that you believe it to be a perfectly acceptable form of free art, and as a way to add to your creative journey if you are able to draw. Which you aren't. You aren't using it as a creative tool to help you with an idea, or a layout, or for color sets. Which are, admittedly, uses that aren't inherently taking from other artists.
Which brings me to when else do I think AI is good? Oh my! Let's see - off the top of my head? For search engines, for language processing (we can speak to whales now!), for certain customer service applications, geez Netflix uses AI to make our user profiles... Amazon uses it to show us things we are interested in purchasing... there's AI used in scientific research, in medicine... there are SO many amazing uses of AI in it lives! We are enriched by it! I'd just prefer we leave the arts - music, visual, writing, dance, etc - to the artists. I know people won't, because it's too easy (and dare I say fun?), but I think that when used in place of real human art, it devalues humans and human connections. And that's... basically it.
Also, I'm sorry/not sorry you got an entire secondary offshoot article down here in the comments! 😆 If anything, it should at least drive your work with the (AI) algorithm. Omgoodness... I find that to be ironic as well. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor... 🤷♀️
Why are you touting Squarespace? Will it do more driving people to my site if I replicate it on Squarespace. Am I just doubling up. Do they simply copy what I have or make it more dynamice. $600 for 2 years. FASO is $360/yr. and has kept prices stable for a long time. Will Squarespace bump it? Is this really worth it? Will my links to PayPal survive the transfer? thanks, Jeff
You wouldn’t use it with FASO. This offer is for people who prefer Squarespace’s software. Faso is faster and easier, Squarespace has a much steeper leaning curve and is missing many artist specific features, however, it is very flexible for those who have needs of things that are harder to do with FASO. So, we offer both. We are not transferring faso sites to squarespace. They ate two separate offerings.