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Isopods of the world
61–70 of 70 posts
Re: Isopods of the world
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Plenty of worries if those images are AI-generated. What would be so worrying about someone using AI to generate images for their site?
I don't mind it at all for decorational images, but in this case I would mind. I suppose I would mind the inaccuracy, the worry that the creatures might not look exactly like the real world ones look. Not that it actually matters but if those images were generated it would feel pointless to me, even if I can't tell the difference.
It can matter to you without it being a grand philosophical, ethical or commercial concern.
That's where I'm at with this stuff, and I think I am in good company.
The image represents a facsimile of seeing the real world with my own eyes, which an AI image does not. That is important to me in this context, that of learning about the real world by literally observing it.
Re: Isopods of the world
#63The macro photography looks bizarrely uniform and the poses contrived. I feel like a sleuth trying to decide if this is AI generated or not. I suspect it isn't, but I'm somewhat distressed at how suspicious I am of cool things now.
The people who are saying that this is not AI are either being misled or they are lying.
That's what an AI would say!
Re: Isopods of the world
#64Too many comments about AI and not enough fun facts about isopods! Can anyone tell me more about them? How do their eyes work? They look like blackberries in a lot of the species.
Like most arthropods, they have compound eyes.
That means that they are made of thousands of small eyes, named ommatidia, each of which detects the light coming from a certain direction, so that all together can provide an image. Each small bump that you see on the surface of their blackberry-like eyes is one of the small eyes, i.e. one of the ommatidia.
Each of the ommatidia is a long tube, having at the interior end one or more photoreceptors. The length of the tube ensures that only the light coming from a direction parallel to the axis of the tube can reach the photoreceptors, instead of being absorbed by the walls of the tube.
In the photographs, it can be seen that even the species that are otherwise mostly transparent have black eyes, or at least eyes of a dark color. This is a requirement for any kind of eye, because in order to detect light it must absorb it. So in many animals where the eyes may not have a more obvious structure they can still be recognized by being black or at least dark spots.
In most compound eyes each of the ommatidia corresponds with 1 pixel of the image that they see, so the number of pixels in an image is only of a few thousands, thus they have poor angular resolution in comparison with vertebrates or cephalopods.
There are compound eyes where several ommatidia correspond to a single pixel, trading off angular resolution for a greater sensitivity in low light, or where each of the ommatidia corresponds to several pixels, because it contains a small lens that can separate the light coming from different directions, projecting it on distinct photoreceptors.
Re: Isopods of the world
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s an informational and photography site. If the images were faked, it would be a lie. AI generated images are not appropriate for source or reference material.
It's not the Encyclopædia Britannica. I could see if this site was expected to be source or reference material as you suggest. Maybe I'm missing something and it's supposed to be authoritative. But I don't see why someone would be full of worry that a random web site on the internet is posting information that may or may not be accurate. Happens all the time. Thanks for the explanation. I honestly wasn't sure what co…
The encyclopedia is not the only one. Anyone who says something is a photo would be lying if it was AI-generated instead.
Knowingly posting lies is not ok.
Re: Isopods of the world
#66If the photography was mediocre, nobody would accuse it of being AI, but because it's the flawless photography of a true professional, suddenly it's highly suspect.
This is an unfortunate reality we are now facing. Nicky Bay is exceptional!
Re: Isopods of the world
#67Nicky Bay is incredibly talented and prolific, my favourite macro photographer by far! Big fan of his spider photography, there are many cases where the only high-quality pics of some species will be his. I'm not as deep in the isopod world but this looks like an invaluable resource for people trying to ID + explore them.
On close inspection, this does not appear to actually be Nick Bay's website, but rather someone impersonating him.
His copyright is at the bottom of the page.
Re: Isopods of the world
#68Beautiful site. Well done Nicky Bay!
Re: Isopods of the world
#69How big are these creatures? If they are larger I can imagine that keeping them as pets is fun.
Most of the species (terrestrial and marine) less than 2cm.
The biggest terrestrial can reach 3cm or so, while the largest marine can reach 30-50cm.
Re: Isopods of the world
#70The macro photography looks bizarrely uniform and the poses contrived. I feel like a sleuth trying to decide if this is AI generated or not. I suspect it isn't, but I'm somewhat distressed at how suspicious I am of cool things now.
The people who are saying that this is not AI are either being misled or they are lying.
Or they know how this animals look in the real life.
Take in mind that the first page cover different morphs of the same genus. Maybe even the same species. They all look variations generated by computer, because they all are Cubaris sp and have exactly the same cephalon shape.