Slave to the Slop Bots?
Deeper work is more satisfying
Just before Lent began, I said I was going to give AI slop for Lent. What I meant was that I would be trying to make sure I used collage to make my own images during Lent, rather than relying on automated tools. I found that I enjoyed doing more art. When I started making zines and publishing articles here, I had a sense that I wanted to do more collage. I have done a bit of collage for the Leviathan zine and for this blog. Because of this challenge I set myself, I did some more collage and ended up using collage in videos a lot more. I’ve really enjoyed this!
I’ve also gotten some pushback from folks saying that we can’t avoid the sloplords, AI is coming and we shouldn’t panic about it. I haven’t had a sense of panicking. I just think we should insist on doing enjoyable things ourselves!
On Maundy Thursday I spent about five hours slow cooking a lamb curry and learning how to fry roti (because I hadn’t realised that the roti I had bought were uncooked). I think the recipe for the curry may have been written or published using an automated tool, because it had an awful lot of mistakes in it. (Or maybe it was just published by someone who isn’t allowed the time to proofread? I often feel that pressure.)
Someone else would probably tell me I should have been writing my Good Friday sermon instead of cooking. It’s a whole lot of work, but it’s incredibly satisfying. And I felt much more deeply nourished than if I had bought a cheap frozen curry or paid a lot to get one delivered.
There are things that I would love to be able to automate, things that are simple, meaningless and repetitive. I’d love to be able to automate a system that helps me track when care assessments need to be done and doesn’t try to pretend to be intelligent. That would allow me more time to be present to people and more time to do reflective and creative work.