I have been meaning to revisit and expand the thing I wrote about how generative AI is fascist because it intrinsically de-contextualises and aestheticises¹. But then there is also the other part where people love chatbots for the same reason they talk too much at meetings, especially when showing up for the first time in left-y spaces: everyone feels so damn lonely and powerless. Having a space where you are heard is so rare.
It’s Benjamin’s: “Fascism attempts to organise the newly created proletarian masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves. The masses have a right to change property relations; Fascism seeks to give them an expression while preserving property. The logical result of Fascism is the introduction of aesthetics into political life.”
… but more atomic and more melancholic. The masses haven't dissolved but there is also something else.
Maybe writing out the first part will help me resolve the second part?
[1: And if that doesn't make sense … that's exactly why I have been meaning to revisit and expand the thing I wrote :blobcatfingerguns:]
#AI #WalterBenjamin