let's THiNK about it

Ryder Richards talks about his exhibition based on Salvador Dali's (1969) illustrations of "Alice in Wonderland." Considering them un-Dali, he asks DALL-E to draw inspiration from John Tenniel, the original illustrator, and re-invent them as a Dali-esque blend.

After several "failed" attempts to achieve his goal, Ryder used ChatGPT, NotebookLM, and Claude to rewrite "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" utilizing Dali's surreal symbology. The resultant illustrations became more compelling and odd, and with practice at developing blended consistency, character, and style, Richards offers a re-envisioned version of the tale.

Lecture delivered at West Texas A&M, Canyon, Texas, on March 25, 2024

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/aiices-odyssey-in-dall-e-land/

0:00 AI-generated art and its applications.

2:36 AI's potential impact on society.

7:55 Cybernetics, control systems, and the future of humanity.

13:11 AI-generated art and its impact on human creativity.

17:36 Art, AI, and creativity.

20:03 Using AI for art generation and creativity.

26:43 Using AI for art generation and consistency.

31:40 AI art, creativity, and ownership.

36:29 Using AI to generate art, limitations and creative choices.

A lecture diving into the promises and perils of AI in art through artist Ryder Richards' recent museum lecture on technology's impact on creativity, humanity, bias, consciousness, and our shared future.

Beyond near-term hype, as AI increasingly penetrates cultural realms like art, urgent questions arise around human creativity versus artificial generation. This lecture traverses philosophical tensions from Cybernetics to Marxism to Silicon Valley god-complexes shaping our AI future, as well as considering aura, human dignity, and the limits of technology.

Ryder Richards discusses how Kant bypasses the conundrum of fate vs. determinism, vouching for the transcendent realm.

Kant introduced a philosophy that actually does have a square grid, with the influential idea of a priori knowledge in one quadrant. This abstract knowledge exists in Kant’s unknowable "noumenal" realm. This marked a departure from Hobbes and Newton, who emphasized submitting to the laws of reality discovered through science and experimentation to uncover the secrets in this realm.

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-81-kant-and-the-rise-of-subjective-realism/

Ryder Richards explores the spectrum between truth and lies, arguing that humanity uses abstraction and catastrophe fantasies to bypass reality and construct dangerous universal rules that validate our desires.

In this podcast, Ryder Richards uses the analogy of a ping pong game with reality as the net to examine how truth and superficiality can become untethered abstractions that escape reality. He explores how truth-seeking can turn into rigid ideology and superficiality into manipulative propaganda. Richards suggests reality should act as a filter to catch the excesses of these abstractions.

He highlights Plato's cave and Disneyland as examples.

The podcast offers two potential solutions - Isiah Berlin's "communicative rationality" based on logic and definitions and meditation to become present. Overall, Richards cautions against abstractions divorced from reality and our reactive desires to blindly believe them.

The Parallax View is an approach by Slavoj Zizek to reconsider Hegelian Dialectics; instead of sublation or overcoming, what if we can adjust perspective and the seeming antagonistic opposition (an insurmountable deadlock) can be seen in as "short-circuiting" - that is, providing an inherent explanation from a new point of view. It is not synthesizing ideas (melding them into One) because the subject needs tension as part of its functioning.

Ryder Richards discusses different methods of reframing one’s perspective in life, such as psychology, meditation, and religion. First, he discusses the cultural background of deconstructionism and Hegel’s idea of “negation” to frame the moment. He then talks about how methods (such as therapy, Buddhism, or Christianity) can help shift one’s perspective to alleviate anxiety and despair, though they may not fully solve the underlying issues. He uses this as an introduction to discuss Zizek’s concept of the parallax view, arguing that one’s focal point shifts as the perspective changes.

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-77-perspective-framing/

In this episode, Ryder Richards explores the concept of concrete universalism and its implications. He discusses the idea of transcending contradictions and how failures can lead to unexpected victories. Richards also examines the notion of the concrete universal through examples such as garbage and Picasso's art, highlighting the tension between specificity and universality.

**Highlights**

Concrete universalism explores the possibility of combining the concrete and the abstract into one concept.

Failures and contradictions can become powerful and unprovable, creating a sense of transcendence.

The concept of concrete universalism is exemplified through the idea of garbage, where a specific object represents the broader category.

Art, like the concrete universal, expresses both expression and concealment simultaneously, commenting on the inability to clearly define itself.

Picasso's art serves as an example of the concrete universal, with different periods and works representing the totality of his artistic practice.

Christianity operates through a lack: we cannot know God, so a “gap” must be filled between God and Humans. Christ is God splitting from 1 into 2, allowing us to identify and get closer to the mystery of God, but in so doing, Christ was subjected to the filth of this world. (Zizek)

The reversal of the one God splitting into two (only to mysteriously re-unify us) is the process of poop: taking all values and reducing them into one homogenous, non-mysterious pile. (Bataille)

Growth can occur from this filth (otherwise known as manure), producing roses. Beauty from secular waste, rather than an excessive effort towards mysteries that only slip away as you approach them. (Hegel)

{{This is a continuation of Step 74: Symbolic Victory}}

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-75-holy-to-holy-s/

Symbols can unite us, but when symbols trump reality, the reversal dismantles order. We begin to exist in a simulacrum.

Symbolic gestures, such as Ranchers chasing Rustlers in the Wild West seem illogical but can provide symbolic protection through irrationality. The issue is that amplifying "grievance" (for power and reputation) dissuades reconciliation for either side, leading to prolonged and continuous conflict.

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-74-symbolic-victory/