John Cave

Arts and Humanities Writings

[yidquotes]

Israel has long served humanity as the sole witness to monotheism. This great project, born of the covenant itself, does not however have to lead us into prejudicial arrogance with respect to the other nations of God’s world. Indeed, the concept of remaining fully monotheistic implies setting the proper example for the nations, not browbeating them into theological submission.

Rabbi Rivon Krygier

[john-cave]

It's a blessing to consider a wide variety of perspectives from a wide variety of experiences. One need not take another at face value 100% of the time. What value is there in calling one's self skeptical (of opponents' words) while saving none of that skepticism for their own sources? Be skeptical then of anyone who believes a single source to the exclusion of all others.

[john-cave]

(Editorial follows the images.)

Consider the following common predictions about the impact of Artificial Intelligence or neural network programming on the place of art and artists in the world:

(B) "A.I. will put thousands of artists out of work who have already been struggling for years to apply their talents and skills in a world that continues to lose its appreciation and understanding of art."

(B) "No computer program will be sufficient to replace the human elements that make artwork function as art."

Now consider a dialectic. Both statements may have truth to them while being a little bit wrong at the same time.

This creates four points. (A) is right AND wrong, while (B) is right AND wrong at the same time.

More than zero artists will lose work because of A.I. We don't know which kinds of artists, which industries will be impacted the most, nor the total jobs, work hours, or earnings taken from the pool of available skilled artists. This is in part because the overall appreciation of of art and discernment of quality has already changed and ultimately decreased. Far fewer people now appreciate fine art than did just twenty years ago. This includes the public, producers in a vast number of industries, and countless others in control of the world's media. "The Media," being almost entirely online/digital media, is now the platform for nearly all art created, presented, purchased, seen, liked, appreciated, and consumed, etc. The devaluing the concept of real art crafted by hand can only continue.

But that doesn't spell doom for art or necessarily artists. Artists change with the times, adopting--and adapting to--new technology for centuries already. Just how many lose their (our) jobs is partly up to us. We can at least partly keep ahead of the wave, encompass the new flesh within some part of the avant-garde. What this will look like we also we cannot fathom. One writer's humble opinion: Strange new leaps in Animation, Interactive and Performance Arts, Sculpture, and the world of media generation at large. So many non-(fine) artists may lose work that the brakes will be applied. Or, as a species, we'll finally confront the fact that the entire nature of work has already slid so far off the cracker that we've got to re-engineer the whole damn thing, and direct resources to people, regardless of how many robots they own to do all the work for them. In other words, "He who has the gold makes the rules," which is bad enough, becoming "He who owns the robots owns everything and everyone" has got to be unacceptable, sooner or later.

Long before we have "robot overlords" or sentient AI viruses to either welcome or revolt against, we'll have, or rather we already have, human(like) overlords (and note how few in comparison to us) in control of nearly our entire ways of life, our means of existence, lifestyles, workhours, free time, almost everything. How much of how we live is dictated by what products we have access to and can afford. Products. It's like the commissary in a prison. Choice has been an illusion for decades, back to at least the fifties. 99% of anyone who might possibly read this were born in a cave of darkness and have barely seen a glimmer of the outside at most.

[john-cave]

[Was] Private post

I go to the blogs I'm cleaning up, because I'm trying to streamline everything and freshen up.

I get super focused. Delete, edit, move, Rename, delete. Whatever

I get focused on priorities, I think. I establish:

Does this have value?

Will this have value five years from now?

Is this for my edification?

Does this help me in the larger scheme of things?

So many of the answers are no that I think I should absolutely delete 75% of my blogs. 8/12. 2/3.

Hours later, and I'm just "WTF am I doing? I'm getting nowhere with any of this. This is a train wreck.

[enjoypaitings-deactivated202409]

Félix Labisse (French, 1905-1982)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Félix_Labisse

picture resolution 2048×2572

More by #félix labisse enjoypaitings

[john-cave]

Blog to blog

[john-cave]

First, I just wanted to repost a couple documentary-type shots from the '70s that I found on another tumblr...

I'd usually do a proper re-blog, but I don't have my marbles together right now.

I just really like the few dozen photos I've looked at so far. Kind of reminds me of where I grew up. Looking at the pictures was very comforting. Now that I really think about it, I'd love to live in a predominantly black neighborhood again. Anyhow, I really needed the comfort for some reason.

Meanwhile, non sequiturs...

I've been trying to figure out a lot of blog stuff for weeks and weeks now. Some if it's just me and the difficulty I've always had making anything on the web. Anything! Ever!

But now I have to pick from like five options what two blogs to continue or start from scratch. AND what platform? I'm seriously leaning toward twitter! of all things. I never would have thought.

I'm completely undisciplined about blogging (and any other online presence or whatever. I start anything... a facebook page, something as basic as a folder on my phone or PC... a twitter account intended for very few topics... anything I start sooner or later goes awry. A mess. Cluttered, disorganized, sidetracked, no focus whatsoever, no direction. And it's all the same with my blogs. I get distracted by so many topics. I just end up reblogging whatever drifts in front of me.

Oh, shiny! Oh interesting! Oh compelling! Oh important! Relevant to the immediate events in the world! Controversial! Oh, pretty! Oh, beautiful art! Oh humorous story, video, comic, screenshot! Everything all the time... nausea. Disappointment. Failure. Abandonment. Dejection. Confusion. Self-doubt. Degenerated motivation. No locus.

So, what blogs do I start over with? What do I want to ACCOMPLISH with them? The purpose. The most recent one (not here) was supposed to focused on art of a certain slant that could probably get flagged on here, so I didn't put it here. But I started to lose the focus this week. I started thinking, "But I should include art that's not going to get targeted... it's not fair if I ignore tons of art out there just because it has no controversy."

See what I gotta deal with in my brains? That's just a tiny sample.

But, heck, I'm really focused on censorship! So... heck! I should stick with it. That blog can post current art, historical art, articles or other content about censorship and other critical matters around art, freedom of expression, opposing narrow-mindedness, etc. As long as it's about art that faces troubles. If the art doesn't have value, then I'll have to decide what side to take, call it moot, or don't say nothing.

Okay, done, right? I hope.

That's my big interest right now, so whatever other blog (or whatever) I invest my time into could just be for my own benefit. But I have no interest in the random miscellaneous messes my blogs turn into. No more re-blogging, re-posting, please. I can't spend time re-circulating what's already circulating just fine without me. It could be something adjacent to censorship.

#how do I do hashtags? #I don't see it,

[artist-tissot]

The Plague of Flies, 1902, James Tissot

Medium: gouache,board

[jenzelart]

Karen crow, acrylic painting on cardboard

[jenzelart]

Dangerous crow, acrylic painting on cardboard

[grammar-user]

[danskjavlarna]

From Nebelspalter, 1930.

Shiver in wonderment: Weblog ◆ Books ◆ Videos ◆ Music ◆ Etsy

[john-cave]

I have an idea for a new version of the Fugitive... call or fax me for details. Thanks!

[softest-archive-deactivated2023]

I’m ok. I’m gonna be ok. I’m gonna live a beautiful life and I’ll get to know beautiful people. I will create things of beauty and be surrounded by flowers. And I’ll love myself, and I’ll be soft, I’ll be kind. And I’ll be ok.

[notpulpcovers]

Lilith – Deep Lady Of Death

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

  “Democratic Socialism” is a Boogeyman Republicans use to scare people into voting against their own self-interest.

[john-cave]

One of many long-term campaigns to turn people--us--into willing slaves: Consumerism The Addiction Industrial Complex The Dismantling of Our Educational, Health, and Mental Healthcare Systems ... and more soon...

[turnipoddity]

Frodo and his band are gon save rock n roll ✨🤟

[john-cave]

Shared from Photos app

[john-cave]

Boris Yelltsin: April 2009 - October 2019