The Dream Machine
Artificial intelligence (AI) has opened up a new horizon in the world of art. The intersection between AI and generative computing has led to the creation of new forms of art that challenge traditional modes of expression. Through the process of iteration, machines can create new content based on previous iterations, much like how dreams build on each other to create something new and unique.
In his book "The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal," M. Mitchell Waldrop explores the history of computing and its evolution towards personalization. One of the key ideas he explores is the concept of generative computing, where machines can create new content based on previous iterations. This concept has been extended to AI art, where machines can generate new images based on previous iterations of the same prompt.
The connection between AI art and generative computing is clear. When given a prompt, AI algorithms can generate a new image based on previous iterations of that same prompt. By building on these previous iterations, the machine is able to create stranger and more generative images. In a sense, the machine is learning from its own output and using that knowledge to create something new and innovative.
This process of building on previous iterations is not unique to AI art. In fact, it mirrors the process of dreaming. According to Sigmund Freud, dreams are a manifestation of our unconscious thoughts and desires. Dreams build on previous dreams, creating a narrative that seems to be a continuation of the previous one. In a way, dreams are like a generative process, with each dream building on the previous one to create something new and unique.
This connection between AI art and dreaming is not just theoretical. Artists have been exploring this idea for years. For example, Anna Ridler's "Fall of the House of Usher" is a series of AI-generated images based on the text of Edgar Allan Poe's short story. The images are strange and abstract, but they also seem to capture the essence of the story. By building on previous iterations of the text, the machine was able to create something new and innovative, much like a dream building on the previous one.
The danger, however, is what is regarded as real, what is abstractly, metaphysically, real– is this a natural outgrowth and one that is a feature of the material world, or is this a regression in our perception of it, and in art, a manifestation of postmodernism's influence on perception, as an artifact.
From a materialist perspective, this process can be seen as a representation of postmodernist metaphysics modifying perception through iteration on an abstract theme. This is because the process involves the creation and manipulation of data, rather than the manipulation of physical matter. In other words, the art is not created through the manipulation of material objects, but rather through the manipulation of data that represents those objects.
This view is supported by critical theory sources, which argue that postmodernism challenges traditional modes of representation by emphasizing the importance of language, discourse, and the construction of meaning. According to critical theorists, meaning is not inherent in objects or ideas, but rather is constructed through language and discourse.
In the case of AI-generated art, the process of iteration involves the construction of meaning through the manipulation of data. Each iteration builds upon the previous one, modifying and refining the data to create something new and unique. This process challenges traditional notions of authorship and originality, as the machine is not creating something entirely new, but rather building upon previous iterations to create something that is both new and familiar.
Moreover, AI-generated art can be seen as a tool for creating new and innovative content, but also a representation of postmodernist metaphysics modifying perception through iteration on an abstract theme. This idea is rooted in Critical Theory, which explores the way power dynamics influence culture and society.
One of the key ideas in Critical Theory is its concept of ideology, which refers to the dominant ideas and values of a society. These ideas and values are often taken for granted and seen as natural, when in reality they are constructed and maintained by those in power. Postmodernism, a philosophical movement that emerged in the mid-20th century, challenged the idea of a stable, objective reality and the dominant ideologies that reinforce it.
From this perspective, AI art can be seen as a tool for challenging dominant ideologies and disrupting traditional notions of art and perception. By generating new and innovative images based on previous iterations, the machine is able to create something that is not tied to a specific material reality, but rather to an abstract theme or concept. This abstract theme or concept can be seen as a representation of postmodernist metaphysics, which emphasizes the role of language and discourse in shaping our understanding of reality.
In addition, the process of iteration in AI art can be seen as a representation of the way power dynamics influence culture and society. By building on previous iterations, the machine is able to create something new and innovative, but also influenced by the dominant ideologies of the society in which it was created. This process of iteration can be seen as a reflection of the way dominant ideologies are reinforced and perpetuated in society.
Foucault and Jean Baudrillard offer much in the way of context for this. Foucault's concept of power and knowledge emphasizes the way power is embedded in knowledge and discourse, and how it shapes our understanding of reality. Baudrillard's theory of simulation explores the way media and technology create a world of hyperreality, where reality and simulation are indistinguishable. Per Foucault, "From the idea that the self is not given to us, I think there is only one practical consequence: we have to create ourselves as a work of art"; that the creation of oneself as a work of art is a practical consequence of the idea that the self is not given to us, thereby implying that art is a means of self-expression and self-creation, a shift away from traditional art forms towards a more superficial and disposable approach to art-making, is characteristic of postmodern culture, degeneratively anti-human when consumed as holistically and independently creative.
Baudrillard wrote, "We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning," is particularly relevanta concept to AI art as a representation of postmodernist metaphysics. Baudrillard's work explores the concept of simulation, in which reality and simulation become indistinguishable. In a world where information is constantly being generated and disseminated, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern what information has meaning and what is simply noise, in which machines are generating vast amounts of images without necessarily having a specific meaning or intention behind them. By creating images based on previous iterations, AI art can be seen as perpetuating this cycle of information and meaninglessness, ultimately reflecting the way dominant ideologies are reinforced and perpetuated in society.
From a materialist perspective, AI art can be seen as a representation of postmodernist metaphysics modifying perception through iteration on an abstract theme. This idea is rooted in Critical Theory, which explores the way power dynamics influence culture and society. By generating new and innovative images based on previous iterations, the machine is able to challenge dominant ideologies and disrupt traditional notions of art and perception, while also reflecting the way dominant ideologies are reinforced and perpetuated in society. Per Baudrillard, “Postmodernity is said to be a culture of fragmentary sensations, eclectic nostalgia, disposable simulacra, and promiscuous superficiality, in which the traditionally valued qualities of depth, coherence, meaning, originality, and authenticity are evacuated or dissolved amid the random swirl of empty signals.”– the way dominant ideologies in postmodern culture have shifted away from traditional values of depth, coherence, meaning, originality, and authenticity, and towards a culture of superficiality and disposable simulacra. This shift can be seen as a reflection of the way language and discourse shape our understanding of reality, and how dominant ideologies are perpetuated in society. In the context of AI art, machines are generating vast amounts of images without necessarily having a specific meaning or intention behind them, ultimately reflecting this trend towards superficiality and disposability.
How a postmodernist view of these interactions becomes dangerous and alienating is fairly self-evident, but instructively Baudrillard wrote, “the neighborhood is nothing but a protective zone- remodeling, disinfection, a snobbish and hygenic design- but above all in a figurative sense: it is a machine for making emptiness.”; modern society has transformed neighborhoods into sanitized, superficial spaces that lack any real substance or meaning. The idea of a "protective zone" implies that these spaces are designed to shield us from the messiness and complexity of the world outside. However, in doing so, they also create a sense of emptiness and superficiality that can be dangerous. The idea of dreams as a postmodern metaphysics in that both represent a detachment from material reality. Dreams are often seen as a way to escape the constraints of the real world and explore a more subjective, imaginative realm. However, this detachment can be perilous if it leads us to reject objective truth and retreat into a world of our own making.
Similarly, the "machine for making emptiness" described is self-evidently metaphor for the way in which postmodern culture has embraced superficiality and disposability. In the realm of AI art, this can be seen in the way that many works are created solely for the purpose of generating, for example, engagement on social media, rather than as a means of genuine self-expression or exploration; what had the potential for aiding expression became the expression, and the intentionality matters a great deal for the cultural and social import of its existence. This shift away from traditional art forms towards a more disposable approach represents a danger for society if it leads us to lose touch with deeper, more meaningful experiences and connections.
The unreasonableness of AI art generative processes mirroring what it is like to dream elements from another dream, when taken as conceptually what is effectively happening in the computational space,takes us further from material reality, but deeper into a metaphysics that becomes, for all intents and purposes, reality proper, at least while in the dream, and that is increasing becoming in society defined by postmodernist thought, the experience of enjoying art; it doesn't represent material reality, which can be inclusive of the immaterial as metaphorical or explicative in some way, surreal as in extra real, but comes to represent what hopes to pass itself off as the materially constant reality, an enforced metaphysics as your material reality, and the end result is a society much like our own, drawing upon itself to propel further, but imagine the social problems of our society, hyperdilated in a generative process, and this is what we are facing without reorientation of these tools back into tools, and not regarded as intelligences.