doomed

We find ourselves, quite naturally, at a question – where does this leave humanity? The sorts of AI tech we discussed in our last column need not stop at lighting – the same sort of analysis / generation could fit into a theoretical framework for mixing music tracks, generating audio samples or even voiceovers in specific voices, or doing anything else within the realm of “content creation”. Splash in some advanced natural-language processing¹ and you’ve got yourself an entire show run by robots. Are we all to lose our jobs, destined to eke out an existence delivering pizza in the Metaverse and subsisting on chiseled SPAM? Where, in this techno-dystopian (optimism?) future, do we meatbags fit in? Questions about what… Read More »SkyNet: Your Friendly Touring Lighting Designer, Part II

Skynet: Your Friendly Touring Lighting Designer, Part I I wonder, sometimes, at the sorts of scenarios that military specialists imagine, particularly specialists tasked with dreaming up out-there scenarios like Klaatu landing on the South Lawn of the White House or (perhaps somewhat more likely) something both armed and dangerously experimental escaping from Boston Dynamics. Fun to think about, for sure, but also important. Even if any number of these scenarios is unlikely, this sort of imaginative play is vital to staying agile across a variety of domains. “What if…” is, and has always been, a question that we should ask from time to time. While not as (militarily) dire as, say, a Skynet scenario, an economically and – perhaps artistically… Read More »Skynet: Your Friendly Lighting Designer, Part I