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A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

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Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#101

Post by whatwhaaaaat »

quartz wrote: post #10

We've been living in the (golden age?) of crowdsourced information for a while now. AI-generated content at scale (especially if it has marketing dollars behind it trying to influence future models) may well cause a resurgence of curated / authenticated information services.

We didn’t stop trusting “authenticated sources” because of “crowdsourced information”.

We stopped trusting “authenticated sources” because they constantly lie to fit whatever agenda is being pushed.

I can say with certainty that genie is not going back in the bottle no matter how much censoring websites past their prime implement.

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#102

Post by mattlondon »

ericd wrote: post #81
mattlondon wrote: post #70

Meh - I don't know. At least in the UK, "History" classes at school were less about memorising the facts, and more about questioning the who, what, why of some source of information. One thing that stands out in my memory is multiple different teachers always drilling into us: "never trust photos" (you don't always know who took them, for what reason, and if they were real or staged or whatever) If 12 year old kids a…

Your history classes sound a lot more useful than the ones I sat through in the US - ours was mostly delivered as a set of settled fact.

We never "learnt" any facts (like who was king/queen/PM/president or whatever) - usually you'd study one very narrow period for an entire year.

So one year you'd learn about the Roman empire's withdrawal from Britain, the next it was the Russian revolution, the year after it was the Wars of the Roses or whatever.

Exam questions were always always always in the form of "The Roman withdrawal from Britain was inevitable. Discuss" or "The Industrial revolution led to the fall of the British Empire. Discuss". I.e. long-form essay answers, perhaps 2 or 3 essays within a single 2 or 3 hour exam. You never had to just recall naked facts on their own - you needed to know some to answer the essays of course, but you never just recited.

So pros and cons - I have no idea about what order the Prime Ministers were in or Kings and Queens or if the Edwardian Era came before or after the victorian era etc. I lack historic knowledge, but I guess the skills learnt were useful?

I have no idea what it is like now - my experience is a couple of decades out of date.

edit: looks like things are more or less the same still. Example paper with questions specifically asking you to critique historic sources (page 3): https://cdn.savemyexams.co.uk/uploads/2023/01/1hia-11-que-20.... Moar: https://www.savemyexams.co.uk/gcse/history/edexcel/-/pages/p...

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#103

Post by coolbreezetft22 »

whatwhaaaaat wrote: post #101
quartz wrote: post #10

We've been living in the (golden age?) of crowdsourced information for a while now. AI-generated content at scale (especially if it has marketing dollars behind it trying to influence future models) may well cause a resurgence of curated / authenticated information services.

We didn’t stop trusting “authenticated sources” because of “crowdsourced information”. We stopped trusting “authenticated sources” because they constantly lie to fit whatever agenda is being pushed. I can say with certainty that genie is not going back in the bottle no matter how much censoring websites past their prime implement.

eyeroll

I read the economist on a weekly basis and can confidently say that that form of curated professional journalism is much better than random partisans on twitter loudly shouting about everything

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#104

Post by carlosjobim »

jxy wrote: post #66

Well, just like Printing press had destroyed history, religion, culture, literature, and etc. Radio had destroyed music industry. Cassette player had destroyed music industry the second time. Internet had destroyed music industry the third time. ...

I will argue that mass media (print and broadcast) has been the most devastating force against culture in the world. You could count preaching in this category, as in the past the broadcast was a person traveling to spread a message and then a weekly church broadcast.

People used to have different customs and culture in different towns and regions. What are today's nation states used to be a rich conglomerate of different people. But countless oral traditions and stories were lost forever, or altered permanently as monotheistic culture gobbled them up.

When radio later came about, mass media became a tool of total control, and almost instantly the world was thrown into war and upheavals, as those who mastered the new medium could play the masses.

The same with TV as a propaganda tool. Those nation states that destroyed the tribes and took in them are now themselves getting quickly destroyed by a global monoculture.

Sure, there will be some traces left of the old, but a lot is lost every day.

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#105

Post by tombert »

ericd wrote: post #81
mattlondon wrote: post #70

Meh - I don't know. At least in the UK, "History" classes at school were less about memorising the facts, and more about questioning the who, what, why of some source of information. One thing that stands out in my memory is multiple different teachers always drilling into us: "never trust photos" (you don't always know who took them, for what reason, and if they were real or staged or whatever) If 12 year old kids a…

Your history classes sound a lot more useful than the ones I sat through in the US - ours was mostly delivered as a set of settled fact.

You know, it's been a long time, but even growing up in Orlando Florida, I felt like a lot of my history was about "why" more than anything else. Maybe it's just because I had multiple history classes in a row taught by retired lawyers, but I actually felt like I got a fairly interesting perspective of history.

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#106

Post by tivert »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #21
unethical_ban wrote: post #8

Let me get my broken record out to say that "trust" in certain institutions, as well as cryptographic signing, will become even more indispensable over time. Webs of trust where items and documents are signed by trusted organizations to be authentic/unaltered, since we won't be able to trust our eyes or ears.

HDCP lasted... I think it might have been three years, the second time? Or maybe four years, I can't recall. Why would any kind of camera photo signing algorithm fare better?

> Why would any kind of camera photo signing algorithm fare better?

You probably wouldn't even have to bother. If you want to fake history, just launder your images: setup rig where an SLR camera can telecine the images off a high resolution screen. With some optics you could probably also adjust the other camera parameters (like focus, f-stop) to make it more convincing.

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#107

Post by fullshark »

hospitalJail wrote: post #94

On the flip side, I'd really like to see AI make pictures of historical things that were only written about in detail. It will forever be impossible to see these, but these would be a chance to make historical moments feel real. Its too easy to forget there were real people living through them.

A lot of our conceptions of various historical events are based on artistic interpretations and maybe this will happen at a larger scale. I.e what do you think Washington crossing the Delaware or the Last Supper looked like?

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#108

Post by mym1990 »

Animats wrote: post #95

This is not a historian. It's some guy who's into wet-plate photography. His style can now be easily replicated. His wet-plate work is now just an unimportant hobby.

So as everyone's photographic style becomes easily replicated, that means all of photography will become an unimportant hobby?

Re: A.I. imagery may destroy history as we know it

#110

Post by tivert »

VaiDeN wrote: post #82
tivert wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once they let go of their pride and stop focusing on the wrong things, everyone will realize the incredible benefits AI can offer humanity. It's worrisome that some individuals would rather hold onto their own importance than embrace the potential of AI to help everyone. This mindset is unfortunate. Yeah, people. Let go of your pride, come to terms with your newfound uselessness, and accept your newfound poverty li…

People should believe in themselves because they will always be useful. Many jobs will go away, but new ones will appear. The key is to work with AI, not against it. Everyone must start working together with AI to find their place in the future world.

> People should believe in themselves because they will always be useful.

Some people may always be useful, but that doesn't mean you will be useful.

Every change looks good if you insist on looking at it through the eyes of the winners, however small that group may be.

> Many jobs will go away, but new ones will appear.

Maybe there will be new opportunities for prostitution, for people desperate enough.

> The key is to work with AI, not against it. Everyone must start working together with AI to find their place in the future world.

A sanguine platitude, but what if your place in the future world is at the bottom, in poverty? The arc of the most recent waves of automation have included increasing inequality that has caused a lot of bitterness and loss.

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