^CategoryArts & Culture

Grand Tetons peak at sunrise with snake river overlook in Wyoming, US

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 25, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Arts & Culture, Entertainment, HBO Max, Science fiction, Streaming, television, The Last of Us, TV shows}

The Last of Us, Episode 6

_{A tale of zombies and...communism?} _{Gary Varner

March 25, 2023

10

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

Episode six starts out strong. We meet an elderly couple who has been living alone in Wyoming. Joel and Ellie break into their cabin and ask for directions in the rudest way possible—at gun point—which is a little over the top, and even the actors playing the couple seem to know it. As Joel sits beside the old pair, holding a gun and acting dour, the elderly man chats with him, sporting a bemused grin. Joel and Ellie get the directions they need and soon come across a group of men and women on horseback who hold them at gunpoint and check to see if they’re infected. Once it becomes clear that Joel and Ellie are fine, the riders ask Read More ›

The surface of Venus, the irregularities of the planet. Elements of this image furnished by NASA

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 23, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Andy Weir, C.S. Lewis, Enchantment, Fantasy, Mars, Materialism, Outer Space, Perelandra, Science fiction, Technical science, Technology, That Hideous Strength (book), The Chronicles of Narnia}

C.S. Lewis and Science Fiction

_{Sci-fi can reveal that you don't necessarily need to visit Mars to find the bizarre and beautiful} _{Peter Biles

March 23, 2023

4

Arts & Culture}

The 20th-century intellectual, novelist, poet, and popular theologian C.S. Lewis was a rare bird. He spent most of his life embedded in the academic world, to which he contributed greatly, but was also a lover of fairy tales and the dystopian. His long-held affection for fantasy and science fiction led him to write some of the most popular fictional works in recent memory, most notably The Chronicles of Narnia and what’s commonly known as the “space trilogy,” though Lewis himself objected to the term “space” as an adequate descriptor of what he viewed as a vibrant and meaningful cosmos. In a more obscure Lewis title, Of Other Worlds, Lewis writes of his appreciation for science fiction and what makes the Read More ›

Generative AI illustration of underground sewer tunnel

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 22, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Apocalypticism, Gary Varner, HBO Max, Science fiction, television, The Last of Us, Tragedy}

The Last of Us, Episode 5

_{The show is back on track and improving} _{Gary Varner

March 22, 2023

10

Arts & Culture}

At the end of Episode four, Joel was being held a gunpoint by a mysterious child. We also saw that Ellie was being held at gunpoint by another man as well, but before episode five reveals what has become of them, the writers first give us a flashback, explaining how the child holding Joel at gunpoint, whose name turns out to be Sam, and the man holding Ellie at gunpoint, Henry, the same Henry Kathleen has been chasing, came to find Joel and Ellie in the first place. The two brothers were on the run after FEDRA fell to Kathleen’s resistance movement. Henry was an informant for FEDRA, and he snitched on Kathleen’s brother, who was the former leader of Read More ›

Rear view of a guy in his 30s looking at an art exhibition

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post

Author
News
Date
March 21, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Copyright and AI, Creativity, Technology}

Artists and Writers Unite Against AI

_{New Guardian article highlights the artists and writers pushing back against AI} _{News

March 21, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

A new article from The Guardian covers the struggle of artists, writers, and other “creatives” who are pushing back against AI systems like Midjourney and ChatGPT, which they purport is starting to replace their viability. Betsy Reed writes, Poetry may still be a hard nut for AI to crack convincingly, but among the first to face a genuine threat to their livelihoods are photographers and designers. Generative software can produce images at the touch of the button, while sites like the popular NightCafe make “original”, data-derived artwork in response to a few simple verbal prompts. The first line of defence is a growing movement of visual artists and image agencies who are now “opting out” of allowing their work to Read More ›

Concept art illustration of post-apocalyptic New York city

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 18, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Apocalypticism, HBO Max, Kansas City, The Last of Us, TV shows, Zombies}

The Last of Us, Episode 4

_{After a derailing of the narrative, the actual plot makes a comeback} _{Gary Varner

March 18, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

After a tough episode three, The Last of Us decides to return to the plot, and we see the writing quality improve somewhat. We pick up with Joel and Ellie driving down the road, and to be candid, the scenes are interesting. There was, however, one giant plot hole during this sequence I couldn’t ignore. It’s a little thing, but as someone who grew up in Missouri, I found it hilarious. So, while they are driving along, they come across a herd of bison. The subtext behind the camera shot is painfully obvious, “Now that man is gone, the buffalo have returned. Nature is healing!” Of course, what the camera crew failed to notice, or at least, what they were Read More ›

a woman is reading a book and holding coffee

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post

Author
News
Date
March 17, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts & Culture, ChatGPT, Consciousness, Non-Computable You (book), Peter Biles, Robert J. Marks, Salvo}

ChatGPT and Personal Consciousness

_{AI vs. the human voice in literature and the arts} _{News

March 17, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

This week, Peter Biles, Writer & Editor for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, wrote a piece for Salvo on ChatGPT and the uniqueness of the human voice in literature and the arts. Biles cites Christina Bieber Lake, professor of English at Wheaton College, from her book Beyond the Story: American Literary Fiction and the Limits of Materialism. Bieber Lake pushes back against the reductionistic worldview of Darwinistic materialism, appealing to the personal nature of the human being and the relationships we share together. Since a computer fails to practice personal consciousness, it also fails to create meaningful literature, which always involves two persons––one person speaking to another. Biles also cites Robert J. Marks’s essential book on the topic Read More ›

wheelchair for physical assistance at nursing home, close up. Generative AI

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 16, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts & Culture, HBO Max, TV shows}

The Last of Us, Episode 3 (Part 3)

_{Romanticizing a murder-suicide distracts us from the story and suggests an approval of euthanasia} _{Gary Varner

March 16, 2023

7

Arts & Culture}

In the previous review, we discussed the love story of Bill and Frank, and how it must’ve only been written to appease the critics because, while it stirred some controversy, it contributed nothing to the plot. We started out following Joel and Ellie across the countryside, but then, we were unexpectedly forced to watch an approximately forty-minute flashback that literally showed Bill and Frank’s entire cliché and boring life together. And before we can return to the real story, we must see how the two meet their untimely end. This final sequence starts out with Bill getting into a gunfight with some raiders who are all dying horribly at the hands of Bill’s various traps. At first, Bill seems to Read More ›

Golden Ring and Mountains Digital Art 3D Render

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 15, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts & Culture, Cinema, J.R.R. Tolkien, LOTR, New Line Cinema, Peter Jackson, Rings of Power (Amazon film series 2022-), Screen Rant, The Lord of the Rings, Warner Bros}

Don’t Turn The Lord of the Rings into Star Wars

_{When you have something as good as the world of Middle Earth, it becomes ever easier to injure the original vision and trade quality for commercial success} _{Peter Biles

March 15, 2023

5

Arts & Culture}

Amazon’s The Rings of Power, which is based on the appendices in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, was an ambitious and expensive project that arguably provided little more than a surface-level and underdeveloped interpretation of Middle Earth and its characters. The show, while entertaining and with its strengths, exemplified a flaw many fans feared: commercializing Tolkien inevitably leads to compromise. Even Peter Jackson’s highly praised rendition of the fantasy epic has its critics, including Tolkien’s son and heir of the family estate, Christopher. The show was visually stunning but had some storytelling issues. For one, we don’t ever get a sense of Middle Earth’s size. Characters pop in and out of different places as if it’s a five-minute Read More ›

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 15, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Apocalypticism, Arts & Culture, Bait and Switch, Culture, Gary Varner, Nick Offerman, Science fiction, The Last of Us, TV shows}

The Last of Us, Episode 3 (Part 2)

_{Why were we subjected to this episode if it wasn’t going to contribute to the narrative?} _{Gary Varner

March 15, 2023

6

Arts & Culture}

Last time, we discussed how episode three started out relatively strong then unexpectedly shifted to another story altogether. It’s important to note that we are not watching a ten-minute flashback or some b-plot involving a couple of supporting characters. Almost all of the episode is devoted to Bill and Frank, and frankly, their story goes nowhere. As I mentioned before, the subject of this random entry into the series is Bill and Frank’s romantic relationship, and given the fact that this little deviation from the source material contributes nothing to the plot as a whole, it is strongly suspected that the only reason the writers chose to tell this story was to gain the admiration of critics who share their Read More ›

Wallpaper of cordyceps fungi, realistic detail photo macro, illustration, like the movie the last of us,

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 13, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
HBO, Pedro Pascal, Science fiction, The Last of Us}

The Last of Us, Episode 3 (Part I)

_{This episode serves as a bad omen when it comes to writers’ willingness to stick to the script} _{Gary Varner

March 13, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

In episode two, Tess sacrifices herself after being bitten, and in episode three, we find Joel and Ellie grieving over her death. This scene is another example of the actors overplaying the anger when the tone should be more somber. Joel is hesitant to talk to Ellie until Ellie insists that Tess’s death wasn’t her fault, and that Joel and Tess made their own choices. Now, there isn’t anything wrong with the scene necessarily, but in the first two episodes, it’s already apparent that the HBO adaptation is having a difficult time establishing the father-daughter dynamic between Ellie and Joel that the game is known for. This scene only adds to that problem. However, this might not be an issue Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 10, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, art, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, ChatGPT, Consciousness, Culture, Dall-E, Gary Smith, Midjourney, mind, OpenAI}

Observing and Communing

_{What human art and literature do that AI can't} _{Peter Biles

March 10, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

AI image generators like Midjourney or DALL-E are generally adept at capturing the accuracy of the human form. The concerns over copyright, job infringement, and general degradation of the visual arts via such AI are ongoing concerns for many artists and practitioners. However, a new New Yorker article by Kyle Chayka identifies a noticeable flaw in AI artwork: human hands. Missing the Big Picture Chayka begins by recalling an art class where he was asked to draw his own hand. It’s an assignment for beginners, and as behooves a novice, tempts the artist to focus more on the specific contours of the hand instead of the overall structure and form. The forest gets lost in the trees, so to speak. Read More ›

Man and girl in post apocalyptic city. The last of us style. Generative AI.

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 4, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Apocalypticism, Fantasy, Gary Varner, HBO Max, Sci-fi, Science fiction, The Last of Us, TV shows}

The Last of Us Review: Episode 2

_{A rather slow episode despite the sonar zombies} _{Gary Varner

March 4, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

Last time, we looked at the first episode of The Last of Us and talked about how it was well written, but if you are aware of the controversy surrounding this game and its sequel, then you know bad things are on the horizon. Once we reach episode two, the writing quality drops a little but not much. It’s still pretty good, at least, when it’s consistent with the source material. Ellie wakes up to find Joel and Tess staring at her with a loaded gun. Her guardians are having a hard time believing that she is not infected with the virus despite the fact that her wound has healed. There is a brief debate about whether or not to Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 1, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Arts & Culture, Culture, Dean Koontz, fiction, Modernity, transhumanism, Wesley J. Smith}

Wesley J. Smith on Why You Should Read Dean Koontz

_{The bestselling novelist's work is both entertaining and profoundly insightful into our cultural moment} _{News

March 1, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

Wesley J. Smith, Chair of Discovery Institute’s Center for Human Exceptionalism, wrote an article praising the prolific literature of his friend Dean Koontz, whose books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. Smith finds Koontz both a unique writer and a remarkable person with a powerful story of redemption. Born in poverty in Pennsylvania under the hand of an abusive father, Koontz persevered and pursued novel writing with the help of his wife’s encouragement. The rest is history. Through daily discipline, keen research, and profound imagination, Koontz has written dozens of bestsellers. First and foremost, his books entertain and delight. In addition, however, they deliver their fair share of social commentary and critique. Much of his work explores the Read More ›

Human android cyborg eye futuristic control protection personal internet security access.Concept robot dna system, future scientific technology innovation science. Blue polygonal vector

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
February 28, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Consciousness, Dystopian, Engineered Arts (robotics), fiction, Novel, Robert J. Marks}

Klara and the Sun: A Review

_{The sci-fi bestseller asks us: can machines become humans?} _{Peter Biles

February 28, 2023

5

Arts & Culture}

Klara and the Sun is novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel, a dystopian story told through the lens of an “artificial friend” (AF) named Klara. Ishiguro is known for his provocative speculative fiction, including the novels Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day. Klara and the Sun similarly alludes to a dark, post-industrial, futuristic world, but it is told through the innocent lens of an artificial mind, highlighting the vestiges of human behavior and brokenness in ways that perhaps an “ordinary” narrator might not be able to manage. The novel starts out with Klara on display in a store waiting to be purchased. Eventually, she’s chosen by a girl named Josie and her mother, and thus begins her Read More ›

Flat design cartoon World Book Day illustration. Open book with stories coming out of the pages. AI generated

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 27, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Censorship

Tagged
Arts & Culture, Big Tech, censorship, Creativity, Literature, Publishing, Revision, Roald Dahl, tv}

Roald Dahl is Safe (For Now)

_{How long until making revisions turns into full-blown censorship, and what impact will that have on the creative arts?} _{News

February 27, 2023

2

Arts & Culture, Censorship}

Publishers decided last week to revise certain aspects of beloved author Roald Dahl’s books, like James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They said the decision was intended to make Dahl’s books more inclusive. The decision sparked controversy and outrage in the literary community, and now, Penguin Random House has changed their minds and will preserve the original texts. ABC reported: The updates to Dahl’s works under Penguin had meant to be more inclusive, progressive and more acceptable to today’s readers. Phrases like ‘mothers and fathers’ in Dahl’s ‘Matilda,’ first published in 1988, could have been replaced with ‘parents’ while some descriptions of ‘fat’ characters could have been edited or removed entirely. Description of women’s jobs Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 22, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, fiction, GPT-3, Journal, OpenAI, Science fiction, Writing}

Separating Fact from Fiction?

_{This sci-fi journal is being flooded with A.I. generated submissions} _{News

February 22, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

The major science fiction/fantasy magazine Clarkesworld recently announced that it will be closing submissions for the foreseeable future. Why? A.I. generated stories. The magazine has long been the recipient of open submissions and is interested in publishing new voices, but because of an influx of poor A.I. written works, is now overwhelmed. Editor Neil Clarke wrote on Twitter, “Submissions are currently closed. It shouldn’t be hard to guess why.” Clarke said the closure wouldn’t be definite, but also noted with some severity that this will be an ongoing problem and that there’s no evident solution in sight at the moment. He continued in the Twitter thread: We have some ideas for minimizing it, but the problem isn’t going away. Detectors Read More ›

Landscape illustration with rocket taking off, vaporwave style. Generative AI

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
February 22, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts & Culture, Elon Musk, Literature, Postmodernism, Rockets, Thomas Pynchon, Wired}

Developing a Penchant for Pynchon

_{The bizarre novel on the impact of tech on society turns 50 this month} _{Peter Biles

February 22, 2023

3

Arts & Culture}

50 years ago this month, writer Thomas Pynchon published the 1973 National Book Award Winner Gravity’s Rainbow, a 700-page novel/biopic on the absurdity and technocratic madness of modern life. While I haven’t personally read the book, I now plan to this year after reading an entertaining memorial review of the book over at Wired. Pynchon was famous for being un-famous—that is, for evading the limelight while making an indelible mark on the unfolding postmodern literary landscape. Along with tomes like Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Pynchon’s book often seems devoid of a storyline with its cacophony of events, characters, and nebulous sub-plots. An Almanac of its Time But that might be kind of the point, according to this review Read More ›

Retro style design. Contemporary art collage of man with vintage computer head reading isolated over blue background

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
February 7, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

Will Stability AI Go Down in Court?

_{Getty Images, popular artist sue generative AI companies and have a strong case} _{Peter Biles

February 7, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

The stock photo company Getty Images is suing Stability AI, the creator of the AI image generator Stable Diffusion. Getty alleges that Stability AI has committed a “brazen infringement of Getty Images’ intellectual property on a staggering scale.” Stable Diffusion has purportedly used millions of Getty stock photos to generate content for users—without acknowledgment and permission. While usually Stable Diffusion produces an image that looks different than the original, it has noticeably reproduced Getty’s watermark, spurring concern among executives that the company’s image and reputation are being tarnished. The lawsuit arrives amidst growing tension between AI image generators and artists and copyright holders. A recent article from The Wall Street Journal details the experience of artist Grzegorz Rutkowski, whose popular Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
January 19, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts, Avatar, Colonialism, David Brooks, film, James Cameron, Moviegoing, Movies, New York Times, Science fiction, Spider-Man}

Avatar 2 Surpasses Spider-Man at the Box Office

_{The long-awaited sequel proved the skeptics wrong and scored big at the movie theaters} _{News

January 19, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, surpassed Spider-Man: No Way Home in box office records and now stands at No. 6 of all time highest grossing films. The sci-fi visual wonder is the sequel to the first Avatar installment, which was released in December 2009. Critics doubted whether the franchise could rebound in popularity after a 13 year absence in the movie theaters, atop further concerns about the relevance and viability of moviegoing in the “pandemic era.” The doubters were quelled by the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and with Cameron’s blockbuster success, might be silenced for good. Despite ever increasing streaming options, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and Peacock, people still seem interested in Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 16, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Simon Briggs, Widdershins (short animated film 2018)}

A Fun Scottish Film on Breaking Free From Global AI

_{In “Widdershins,” our animated hero is leading the perfect life — if only he were a machine, that is. Then he meets someone who…} _{News

January 16, 2023

1

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Relationships}

In “Widdershins,” our animated hero is leading the perfect life — if only he were a machine, that is. Then he meets someone who… Can he break free? Does he even want to? Eleven minutes will tell… The life of a pampered gentleman is seamlessly automated by machines, but his orderly existence is thrown into chaos when he chooses to pursue a free-spirited woman, against the advice of his robot butler. – Director, Simon Briggs, 2018