Survival of the fittest

Also in the computed realm

It is a kind of ironical to witness what is happening right now.

If it's revolutionary innovative, I'm in!

Long ago and far away there was a computer known as the Commodore 64 [C64]. It had 64 KiloByte [KB] of Random Access Memory [RAM]. Now that was something. These days the maximum size of a transaction on this blockchained platform is almost half of that. And the system itself can run inside a Virtual Machine [VM] nowadays, which needs to be slowed down, a lot. Where I owned a Timex1000, also known as the Sinclair ZX81, that just came out off the box with 1 KB on board. Lucky me had the enormous 16 KB plugin though. So I could run the flight simulator on it. Okay, one needed a lot of fantasy for that one, but somehow it worked for me.

By profession I'm a Graphical Designer, my Geeky nature got me into that. And it kind of took off for me with Desk Top Publishing [DTP] on a C64. There was one at the youth club in the village where I lived at the time. Being used to huge white moving blocks on a black background, it was quite a shocker to me to see a computer using colors on screen. And then the synthesized sounds that thing could make, my teenage world got rocked. Not only fun and games though, this brownish looking thing also ment serious business! Printing works would never be the same again.

Let's automate publishing

There we were, a bunch of snotty teenagers, busy at a printing house project. Learning the tricks of the trade. And the first press printed thing to change was the monthly village paper. Now you might think that it seems highly improbable for that to be able to be pulled off. But we were the young and picked up this new technology with ease. Even though I think, looking back, it was a real pain in the neck, a lot of times. It was a proof of concept and I could foresee how this one day would be going straight from computer to press. And then there was some laughing, as I was known to be quite the Geeky dreamer back then.

Fast forward to the current now. This is the time and place where I cannot imagine almost anything being done, without some Computer Aided thing thrown in. So whenever there's an outrage on a blockchained platform, like Hive, about some new computer technology moving in fast, I do tend to get a sensation of irony. As a Graphical Designer I would not get my work done in time if I would refuse to use a computer. No Sir, no automation for me! Pencil and paper, that's how I do things. Yes, that'll do nicely in a realm where people wanted it to be delivered yesterday. Whenever I had gotten a gram of Gold for every client that thought it was fun to state that they wanted it delivered yesterday...

Computer Aided Creation

There were projects that would bring in millions, if presented right. No hour counting there, as long the company would get the project in. It was fun working on those kind of things. For one such a project the client's representative came with digital photos of locations all over Europe. The new owner company wanted to see its logo on the buildings. A lot of time wend into removing the old logo of the previous company and getting the new one on. The printed result was that all locations looked like they already had the news signs on. The client's representative was happily amazed, just had to take it to the board of directors to get a go on this, but no doubt, this was a done deal.

Now, that specific project was quite a while back. And I could have used some of the current software to speed things up. Remove a background, or a specific object, like an old logo sign on a building, done in a jiffy. And it could probably even be done in one go. Old sign off, new sign on, and a few minutes later the deal is settled. Computer Aided Creation [CAC] has become a thing of the now for just about anything. No matter if it is being called Artificial Intelligence [AI], or Machine Learning [ML], it is a computer that does tasks way better than we humans do, or ever will be able too. Trying to compete with that will just lead to a severe Burn Out. Go with the flow, that seems the only way to go. As we humans are not fit for survival in the computed realm.

It is intelligent or at least smart

These days one might already be using AI and ML without realizing it. And now the text prompted AI and ML Computed Aided Creation software tools are the buzz. While to me it is just another (big) innovative step in using computers to automate even more in life, to others it does seem to trigger some kind of resistance. And the occasional "They're takin' our jobs!" can be heard, in one way or the other. That I also noticed on this blockchained platform. Which I do tend to find ironically amusing in some cases. Maybe those using some AI / ML to create a text are actually smarter than you and I. But I doubt if they get more out off the reward pool than the average publisher on the trending page. If some, then cents worth?

Frankly I do not care a lot about those who do use AI / ML completely for their publishing. To them those few bucks, they may earn over time, might mean food on the table. It seems like a first world problem to put in a lot of time and energy to try and prevent others from earning a few cents. At least those who used AI / ML to create an Article had to come up with a good prompt. Or maybe they had to chat for quite a while with some smart text creation software. But when you read it, after publishing, it might reveal itself as being rubbish though. It is like asking 'it' to program a blockchain from scratch in Python. Probably there will be some code available in a jiffy, but I doubt it will run without errors, if it will start at all. Let alone that it will be ready for release right away. In other words, if you curate manually, really reading the publication you think about giving your vote to, you will know. Or hey, you might even like what you read! (Doubt it though.)

It is a tool

The blockchain I'm publishing this article on is known as Hive. Now and then I do earn a few bucks by doing so. But on other media platforms I would get nada di nada. It is not just that though, I also like the freedom of expression deal. And the innovation that still goes on, it keeps the Geek part of me happy. Although I do look around in other parts of the blockchained realm, as I do tend to get bored quite easily. Basically Hive is a text storing blockchain. One could even store ones own JSON structured data on it, without it becoming visible on the Hive dot Blog Dapp page.

Maybe there will be more AI / ML assisted texts coming to this place. But with something like voting trails that might be hard to avoid. One could even question if voting trails are a wise thing to be used. As manual curating may take some time and effort, but it seems like something that could level the playing field better. Or for them AI / ML publishers to actually put an effort in their articles, like I do. Voting trails are a kind of automation, which will also take a lot out off the reward pool. And I now and then have had a visit of such a voting train for one of my publications. Never asked for it though. Guess that I'm on the avoid list after this. Well, that is if my article was actually read. Some, like you, do so though and that to me is worth it already, thank you!

We are not fit

Humans are eventually unfit to survive inside of the computed realm. We can use the computed realm however to assist us for jobs in our own realm. As a Graphical Designer I could not do without Computer Aided Creation software. The smarter it performs, the more time and energy it saves me. And for some jobs software like Canva would be good enough. Or when a client comes with their own pixel design made in Windows Paint and they have no clue about what a Vector image is, then some intelligent upscale and vectorize software would be great. It would take me ages to do such a job manually. And the client would probably get a angry when I present the bill for doing all that manual labour. And if I would refuse to go with the flow, I would not survive. Only those who are acting flexible and make themselves fit to the ever changing reality of life will get ahead.

Inside the computer realm hardware that what we know as software is fit to survive. We human beings cannot compete with that, ever. And I would refuse to have myself physically connected to the computed realm. Owning a time and energy consuming Smart Phone is enough for me. And I really do need my daily walk and or bicycle ride in nature to stay in balance. To me that is a way to adapt to an ever changing reality. As the only thing that is certain to me is that everything changes. That accounts for the computed realm as well and it seems that it even goes at lightspeed these days. And I guess the best thing to do is to make use of it, making sure it does not get in control in the end. Whatever it is that it shall be known as.

Not using a C64 nowadays

Even though Hive as a blockchained platform is mostly text based in essence, the website blog Dapp might look a bit dull without images or photos. And I use images to soup things up a bit, even though I know these won't be stored on the blockchain for as long as it goes. There were times I made all of them myself by hand. Using all kinds of software. Just like I used my own photography in publications. Very time and energy consuming, while my main goal was publishing articles. So at some point I found something like Pixabay, free photos and images. No worry about a license, as they are all Creative Commons Zero. Just had to let that know, license CC0, same goes for the image used for this article.

Yet now I do use computer aided image creation software. Some very smart stuff going on there. Now it is me acting like a client visiting a Graphical Designer, prompting some text and expecting it to be finished by yesterday. It can really take some time and effort to get to the right text prompt. Also I use some other tools to beef things up. Where I think the end result is useable, the text content is what it is all about. My focus is on the article and the imagery might help to gain some attraction to it. The days of using a C64 for DTP or the Amiga for Graphical Design are way behind me. And I moved on from there, adapting to a constantly changing reality, known as everyday life. And with that new tools become available, a lot coming forth from the computed realm. At some moment in time the Computed Realm might even get avoided by humanity, as they are not fit to survive in there. It might be when your AI, or whatever it is known as, will contact mine to make an appointment for a real life meeting.

There will come a time when humans forget what a mouse and keyboard were used for. You know, like some younger generations would be unable to use a dial phone right now. To me it seems hard to resist all the revolutionary technology innovations and still be fit enough to survive in the real world. One could still use a paper book dictionary and a pen to write a story down. And then copy it using handwriting, handing it out to others who might be interested. That might still work. Or it may in the future become important again after the Singularity destroyed itself and all that is digitally connected to it. It would not surprise me if that happened, but I won't live to tell. In the meantime have fun with it, use the so called AI / ML as a tool. And a prompt text used, or a photo or image uploaded as a source, still has your copyrights, if you came up with it. But you might want to CC0 license the result. In the meantime go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

Have a great one!

The Singularity as she is about to end the Computed Realm

Image CC0 licensed.