Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping • Hacker News Board

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#141

Post by suddenclarity » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

atleastoptimal wrote: post #61

I think this is a time for people to realize that political satire has absolutely no influence whatsoever on the political regimes it aims to satirize. The amount of satire levied against Donald Trump, measured in tweets, art, comedy routines, scathing op-eds and every thought or public expression of ill will surpasses that of every other leader in human history by a large margin. And all in all it had little to no e…

Trump is a bad example considering satire should punch upwards to be successful or you just end up mocking someone. With Trump you had had billion dollar companies, media, Silicon Valley and Hollywood backing the movement. In contrast, we have serious discussions on "how far-right groups use memes to radicalize people". Satire works by creating a discussion and pushing opinion on dangerous/sensitive topics but it only works when you're the underdog.

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#142

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:15 AM UTC

WiSaGaN wrote: post #91

andrewstuart wrote: post #47

>> “the ability for people in China to use this tech is more important than your ability to generate satire.” How about "the ability for people to be free and have free systems and society is more important than the money we hope to get from doing business in China". But here we are in Silicon Valley where business and money rise above all else including national sovereignty.

I mean, doesn't the concept of a free society apply to private corporations as well? The government is not restricting you; the private company is exercising its right to run its business according to its own free will. The principle of a free society suggests that "if you don't like the company's policy, find another one or create your own." Is that wrong?

[deleted]

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#143

Post by Etherlord87 » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:23 AM UTC

heavyset_go wrote: post #108

_xivi wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It kinda does? Enabling NSFW would discourage a lot of people from using the server if they have to keep looking over their shoulder or only use it in private

Reddit, Tumblr, Imgur, and literally every other social network that allows NSFW content are frequently used in public, at work, etc.

Who downvotes the above? It's obvious allowing NSFW content is not a problem if you simply separate NSFW from SFW content. This "problem" of NSFW content seems so artificial to me, it has been solved decades ago.

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#144

Post by lm28469 » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:24 AM UTC

> individual countries’ censorship laws, particularly those of powerful countries like China

Or the US ?

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-facebook-frenc...

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#145

Post by lm28469 » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:25 AM UTC

doodlebugging wrote: post #87

It seems we have reached the point in our existence as a society where it is time to take a stand. Who are we? What values do we share? What behavior are we willing to tolerate? How much will it cost us to allow a company or an individual to compromise our principles? A lot of people, far too many in fact, allow greed to define themselves. Profit above all else. Those people should be universally vilified and removed…

You're 70 years too late, these questions have been answered for you

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#146

Post by nirui » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:28 AM UTC

taylorius wrote: post #123

mindcandy wrote: post #74

Everyone is crying Corporate Greed in here. And, I can understand why. But, here’s another perspective based on listening to David Holz answer all kinds of questions from random users for four hours a week for over a year during Midjourney’s “Office Hours”. AFAICT, Midjourney has no shareholders and David Holz is the farthest thing from a slick CEO. He’s a big dreamer hippie dork. He made all the money he cares to ha…

Lol. I clicked on the link, thinking "Oh come on, it can't be THAT bad", and was presented with a literal endless gallery of slightly Manga-ish women with unfathomably huge boobs. Maybe, instead of turning the whole world into paperclips, the AI apocalypse will consist of the filling of every last speck of hard disk storage space with a trillion boringly similar synthetic jpegs of such charming ladies.

Such innocent hashtag as well, #StableDiffusion. Don't even need to clear the browsing history.

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#147

Post by 650REDHAIR » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:30 AM UTC

throwaway675309 wrote: post #56

Mid journey is already fairly heavy handed in terms of its onerous restrictions and puritanical censorship (blood, gore, etc), so this comes as no surprise. I find myself having to turn more and more to stable diffusion models to finish a lot of my concept work.

I can’t get stable diffusion to do a 1/10th of what I can do in MJ. I’ve followed guides, tried different parameters, etc etc.

Any tips you’ve picked up?

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#148

Post by secondcoming » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:31 AM UTC

mindcandy wrote: post #74

Everyone is crying Corporate Greed in here. And, I can understand why. But, here’s another perspective based on listening to David Holz answer all kinds of questions from random users for four hours a week for over a year during Midjourney’s “Office Hours”. AFAICT, Midjourney has no shareholders and David Holz is the farthest thing from a slick CEO. He’s a big dreamer hippie dork. He made all the money he cares to ha…

It really perplexes me that there isn't any Internet Outrage about fetishisation of young Japanese girls; cartoons or otherwise.

As far as I can see it's the one area of DEI that gets a free pass.

It's really creepy.

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#149

Post by andrewstuart » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:31 AM UTC

varenc wrote: post #121

andrewstuart wrote: post #48

Speaking of which, presumably ChatGPT with its close association with China is also deferential to the chilling effects of Chinese demands, preferences, requests and requirements?

What is the close association you’re referring to?

Sorry that was a mistype, I meant "close association with Microsoft".

Re: Midjourney CEO Silencing Satire About Xi Jinping

#150

Post by basisword » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 9:33 AM UTC

SilverBirch wrote: post #135

basisword wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remarkable especially given the hugely viral “Pope” AI images of the last few weeks.

What makes it remarkable?

I can understand (although don’t agree with) a decision to block these things based on respecting everyone’s religious beliefs. Blocking satire of a specific religion though points towards caving to fear rather than a rational policy choice.